The creek of the bedroom door prompted the opening of one eye. Creaky doors could be lifesavers, indications of danger trying to sneak up on you or someone with really bad intentions slipping into your room. Ben shifted his arm that was slung under Pasha’s pillow and reached for the knife tucked down the head of the bed. Old habits died hard. His arm tightened around his wife’s waist, ready to throw her off the bed and out of the way of immediate danger at any indication that this silent intruder’s intentions were malicious. Better an angry wife then a dead one. His grip on the handle of the knife only loosened when he heard the distinctive shuffling of feet and felt being dragged on the floor. The bolts were drawn, the locks had been pushed and that was the all too well known sound of his infant daughter trying to climb into their bed for the third time that week.
Ben sat up and shook his head with a small laugh at the sight of Lissa peeking around the door of their bedroom, stock still as she realised that she’d been caught. How she kept getting out of her crib and bedroom was a mystery to everyone but she had a knack for escape that he wasn’t keen to rid her of. Survival skills would never be a bad thing for this child to have.
“C’mere.” He whispered, not keen to wake Pasha, carefully slipping out of bed to scoop her up under one arm with a kiss to the top of Lissa’s head. She was one already and more child than baby. Her chubby little legs were beginning to grow and become leaner and while she hadn’t started to walk constantly she was getting stronger at holding her own weight. “You should be in bed.” He told her, poking her in the stomach. Lissa giggled in response and held onto his arm before uttering the dreaded. “No!” For the past three month that had been her favourite word. Eat everything on your plate Lissa. No. Do you want to feed the ducks Lissa? No. Stop pulling Christine’s hair Lissa. No. He quickly shushed her and pressed a finger to his lips, a gesture that she copied.
Ben carried her out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him as quietly as he could so as not to wake the sleeping dragon in the bed. A quick glance at the clock in the living room told him that it was still the early hours of the morning as he dropped Lissa onto the couch and flicked the television onto cartoons. “Mom thinks these rot your brain. So don’t tell her. Okay?” Ben sat down with a huff of air, getting comfortable as Lissa crawled over his legs only to throw herself down on his chest with a mumble that Ben took to be a confirmation of their agreement not to tell Pasha. She had Marty the Turtle clutched in her left hand and promptly began chewing on his leg once she was comfortable.
They were lucky. It still felt unreal that they were here in a safe world. That luxuries like television and fracking spaceships and refrigerators that made ice were just readily available. It had been two months but Ben still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was going to disappear at any minute. He couldn’t help but glance in the direction of the suitcase and emergency bag that sat primed by the front door for any hint of disaster, danger or imminent apocalypse. It seemed that after everything that had happened in Bete Noire and Dagaz that something was incredibly amiss about a world where they didn’t have to constantly uproot their lives or save the world every other week. That being said San Francisco was a whole world of it’s own. They’d been fortunate that Jane was enough of a fast talker to wrangle Pasha the maternity leave that she would have been owed is Lissa had come along in this world. It shielded them all from the intense scrutiny of Starfleet for at least until they got their bearings and on their feet.
Lissa shrieked with laughter at a piano falling from the sky and crushing a cartoon duck. Her laugh was enough to pull Ben back into the future and laugh along with her, putting a protective arm around his daughter. This world might be new and calm but there was far more to lose here then there had ever been before.
(1)
“What do you mean. ‘There was an accident’?” Pasha’s voice came over the communicator worried and crackly from the distance. She was away with Starfleet for what was meant to be a brief trip to Vulcan that has turned into a full on weekend. No doubt thanks to Jane, Ben thought to himself. Her image on the screen was mildly fuzzy and blurred but it was easy to see that the colour has drained out of her cheeks.
“What is is. Are you okay? Is Lissa? Who’s hurt-“ Came the furious flurry of questions before he managed to cut over the top of her. “Pash, babe, don’t worry. Pasha. Look, it’s fine. No one’s hurt. There was just an accident you should probably know about before you come home and kill me.” It had been done with the best of intentions. He’d thought long and hard about it before he’d done it and it seemed like a good idea. Pasha was away and busy and while Ben wasn’t exactly leaping for joy at the thought of being left behind like a househusband he couldn’t object to being left with his little buddy.
“Ben.” The way she said his name was a warning in itself.
He sighed and pulled back the wriggling three year old that was trying to crawl away by the back of her dungarees. “So you know those jean-pant things that Bert got Lis that you hate?” He started, before readjusting his plan and just coming out with it. Blaming anyone but himself was going to end up in Pasha bringing her fury down on someone else. “Look, I tried to get Lissa a haircut. But I didn’t realise you took kids to different ones.” He winced at Pasha’s look of alarm. “And.” She prompted with an increasingly concerned expression. Ben lifted Lissa and put her on his lap were the camera could see her. “They kind of thought she was a boy.” The toddler’s near shoulder length beautiful brown curls had been buzzed into short cut. Pasha’s mouth dropped open as her face closed in on the communicator. “Are. You. Kidding. ME?” She near growled out. “Lissandra starts pre-school next month! We can’t send her looking like that! Her ears are sticking out!” Lissa waved at the communicator at the sound of her name before announcing “Daddy bought me a new doll and a book.” Which had been her bribe not to cry when she’d seen her hair falling to the floor and he had realised his fatal error.
“Lissa likes it!” Ben objected. “I do!” She chimed in, commandeering the communicator. “I look like Daddy!”
Pasha stared at the screen and sighed. At least nobody was hurt. “Okay.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m not mad, but please be a little more careful in future.” She warned before moving swiftly on. “Are you still coming to meet me on the landing pad on Thursday?” Some things, like genuine accidents weren’t worth fighting over, which was something they’d both learnt the hard way.
(3)
They both sat down awkwardly, perched on classroom chairs meant for far tinier butts, with a wary glance to each other.
“What was it this time?” Pasha asked, somewhat wearily. The teacher smiled apologetically. Ben simply kept his eyes on Lissa who was staring out the window of the classroom but clearly listening intently.
“Well, Mr and Mrs Braeden-Chekov. It’s hard to put into words…” She began, leaning against her desk. “You know we just love Lissa’s enthusiasm for learning. But she has somewhat of an attitude problem.” Lissa snorted quietly. Ben was forced to bite his tongue to keep himself from doing the same. Pasha nearly died a death of embarrassment. “You know. Lissa’s reaching that awkward age for little girls. I’ve been an educator for fifteen years now I’ve always dealt with this grade but Lissa’s just been that one special pupil who’s always pushed me as a teacher.” Lissa’s cocky smirk was clear as she flicked her curly hair over her shoulder. At eleven years old she was a strange amalgamation of both parents; the curls and sheer academic might had come from Pasha but the quick wittedness and brown eyes had come from Ben.
“What did she do exactly?” Ben asked, ever questioning of authority figures.The teacher bristled. “Lissandra was very rude.” He pulled a face in return before questioning “Yeah, but how?” Pasha, rarely, instead of interjecting deferred on the point and nodded. Before she was going to discipline her daughter she needed to know the exact details. It was the teacher’s turn to flush at the sudden turn around and Lissa’s turn to chip in. “She was wrong and she didn’t like that I corrected her, Dad. She wanted me to apologise ‘cause she was wrong. How’s that fair?” Ben and Pasha turned to face the teacher with joint wrath.
“That’s not the point, Lissa. The point is your attitude is not the kind of attitu—“
“You don’t discipline my daughter.” Pasha abruptly cut in. “Was Lissa correct?” She asked with an arched eyebrow.
“I mean…” The teacher faltered and spluttered. “Yes but—“
“But she hurt your ego, right?” Ben chipped in with a laugh and a shake of his head. “You don’t like that an eleven year old corrected you.”
“Sashka, get your coat sweetheart. We’re going home.” Pasha stood, brushing off her skirt and going to gather her daughter’s things while Lissa pulled on her jacket.
“We aren’t finished discussing this.” The teacher objected as Ben stood up also. “Nah, we are.” He said with a shake of his head. “See, we were worried about this for a while now. Lissa needs a school for kids like her. With people who can keep up with her. So, that attitude problem of hers isn’t something you’re going to have to worry about anymore.”
Pasha put her hand on Lissa’s shoulder and guided her out of the classroom with Ben following up behind. “You do have to work on that attitude problem though, kiddo.” Ben said as they walked out of the school.
(11)
“Dad. Can I talk to you?”
Lissa was biting the inside of her cheek. Her cheeks were red. There was evidence of a crumpled up tissue in her hand. Ah shit. This was it. The moment he’d been dreading since they’d first set eyes on her. It was a boy. It was totally a boy. Ben swallowed thickly. It was easy to be tough but there were few things more devastating than seeing his little girl upset.
“Sure. Come on. Sit down.” Ben jerked his head towards to couch. Lissa bobbed her head. “What’s all this about.” He nodded towards her general everything.
“Sorry. I would have gone to Mom but…I mean…you know how Mom is. She doesn’t know how to be cool about stuff.” Shit. Teenage pregnancy? Ben balked. They had been young when they’d had Lissa but she’d just turned fifteen. He’d been chasing girls at that age but Lissa was his daughter. But she needed him to be cool right now. He mutely nodded his head, silently thinking about all the places he had weapons hidden around the house and how he was going to decimate the asshole that had put his daughter into this state of distress.
“D’you wanna start at the beginning maybe? I mean. Must be some serious stuff if you need to talk about it.” Ben commented, trying not to freak out too much. How the hell was he going to stop Pasha from flying off the handle about this? They were too old to be grandparents.
“I just-“ Lissa started before pulling herself up and just coming out with it. “I want to know if you and Mom are getting divorced.” She blurted out.
Ben cocked his head. That was not what he’d been expecting. “Huh?” That’d come totally out of the left field.
“I heard you arguing. About me. And I don’t want to be the reason for you fighting.” Ah. That had been one hell of a fight. Ben wanted Lissa to have a normal life, Pasha wanted to push her to join Starfleet like she had. Nobody had won that fight. It had been a full scale blow out. “Lissa.” He sighed and opened an arm. “C’mere sweetheart.” Lissa hugged him and looked up to him, expectant of his answer. “No, Lis. Your Mom and I aren’t getting divorced. And we’d fight even if you weren’t here. That’s just how we are. It’s how we’ve always been.” They were both stubborn as hell and neither willing to relent most of time. “We love each other. And even when we fight it’s because we’ve been together now for nearly eighteen years. We’ve grown up together. We know each other’s weak spots.” He kissed the top of his daughter’s head. “And you’re weak spot number one.”
“When you came it just gave us another thing to fight about. Because we’re always fighting for you. Even against each other sometimes.”