Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek: A Peaceful Moment

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Lael Rosek

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Sep 21, 2020, 1:06:35 AM9/21/20
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((Fort Mackinac Tea Room, Mackinac Island, Michigan, Earth))

{{Time Index: Day 27 of Shore Leave, Mid Morning}}

 

As they walked up the beach, a restaurant with an expansive outdoor patio came into view. The patio itself was surrounded by a white picket fence. It was nippy out, though not quite as cold as it got in the winter months. Still, it was enough for the heaters that were placed at strategic points around the outdoor tables to be turned on. A light breeze coming from the lake not too far away ruffled Lael’s hair. 


Maddy walked a bit ahead, chatting with her Gramma Adelynn. Lael smiled as she watched the two. When she was a kid, her mother had been no-nonsense and very stern. Strangely, she was every bit the doting grandmother. Lael wasn’t sure if it had been the years that had tempered the fierce fire or if her father’s sudden reappearance in their lives had anything to do with it.


She hadn’t missed the worry lines that had found their way onto her mother’s face since her father had been exiled from Leya-I. They were all worried about him. Though Lael imagined the strange circumstances brought more worries to Adelynn. It was exactly why she hadn’t wanted a relationship with Toryn. Her mother would likely be put through the same feelings of inadequacy when her father needed to be intimate with another woman once every few years.  


Aldek still experienced seasons and until the drug she’d used with Jon was perfected, her father would need to find another full-blooded Al-Leyan to mate with. She knew it would hurt her mother when it happened and she wasn’t sure any amount of doting and spoiling on her father’s part would be enough to make up for that.


Mentally shaking the thought from her head, she turned her attention toward more pleasant things. The weather was changing and that meant the approach of autumn. Eventually, the air would grow colder and give way to the holiday season. A smile touched her lips. It felt different now that she had Maddy. 


They’d both miss Chythar, of course, but there was always video calls. Maybe the interference in the Shoals would cooperate just long enough for them to open their gifts together. It would be their first Christmas as a family and she was determined to make the best of it. She made a mental note to do a bit of early shopping if they had the chance, though it would be difficult with Maddy around.


At last, the trio arrived at the restaurant to find breakfast well underway. Lael would have planned for an early dinner if she hadn’t needed to be back for the party on the Chin’toka tonight. She’d attended enough of these occasions in the last few years to suspect there was a surprise in store. High-ranking officers didn’t come from all around the fleet for just any party and the fact that dress whites had been ordered only increased her suspicions. 


From what she’d read, Commander Thoran had been serving the Atlantis faithfully for a year. She’d seen officers in his position promoted after a shorter time as commanding officer. A smile turned up the corners of her lips. The crew seemed loyal and dedicated if there response to his serious injury was anything to go by. She suspected that he deserved it.


M. Rosek: Mom, hurry up! 


The sound of Maddy’s voice drew her from her thoughts and she glanced in the girl’s direction, her breath catching in her throat as it hit home what Maddy had called her. Mom. She’d wanted for so long to be a mother. She’d always thought that she’d have a child of her own by this point. When she’d first started praying for it, she’d never imagined it would happen like this. The way it had come about--it could only have been God.


Picking up her speed, she reached the other two and Maddy took her hand, guiding her toward one of the open tables. There was something about the warmth of the girl’s small hand wrapped in hers. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes as she relished the moment. She’d been so convinced that she’d never see Maddy again when Maddy’s father had forced her hand. But here she stood, about to have breakfast with her daughter and her mother. 


They sat alternating between discussing the menu choices and their plans for later that day. A sense of peace like nothing she’d ever known settled over her. Her family. The only thing that could make this moment more perfect would be to have Chythar, her father, and her brother here with them. She prayed that someday, circumstances would allow all of them to enjoy moments like this together.

 

----

Chief Engineer
USS Chin'toka, NCC-97187
I238110RH0
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