What are little girls made from? Part Two

Posted on Wed Feb 7th, 2024 @ 1:39am by Lieutenant Commander Aurelia Taylor & Captain Gary Taylor & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik

Mission: Season 6: Episode 4: Memory Lane
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Present
2377 words - 4.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Lia to Gary, report to sickbay asap. Little Lia is down."=/\= Lia Taylor hurried along the corridor carrying her daughter, in her mind the worse case scenario played out. Behind her somewhere, trailed Alicia, perhaps she and the CMO could shed some light on what was happening.

Gary voice was back in an instant. =^= I'm on my way, =^= Though his voice was calm and unruffled, his thoughts were racing. *What could have happened to lillte Lia?*

Alicia was cursing herself, she should have known that little Lia was harbouring mental trauma from the loss of her parents. This was all her fault, and she couldn’t help but feel guilty.

As they entered Sickbay Alicia motioned to her father, updating Sthilg on the situation.

“Am I glad you’re here! We were in a Counselling session, all I did was mention to Little Lia that she was Betazoid. It appears she thought she was Human, the realisation seems to have caused her to become completely catatonic.” Alicia shook her head. “Dammit father! I should have known there’d be hidden mental trauma!”

Gary entered seconds later, he saw Alicia talking to the doc, so he made a beeline towards Lia, "What happened? What's going on Lia?"

Turning to face her husband, Lia took a deep breath before answering. "We were having a counselling meeting about little Lia's psychic abilities, I was worried that my problems might be impacting on her. Plus I had noticed her abilities seemed to be getting stronger, so I turned to Alicia for help." Lia now pointed to her child, "Gary, she thought she was Human. And this is what happened when she found out she wasn't."

Gary looked at where little Lia lay unconscious on the biobed. He reached a hand out and felt her pulse. "She's breathing normally, and her pulse is strong. I think this all may have been a shock to her. The question is why it is a shock. Surely her parents had to let her know her heritage." He looked back to where Alicia and the doc were talking. "Let the doc examine her make his diagnosis and then we can come up with a treatment plan for her."

Nodding, Lia stepped back and let the CMO through. Then a thought came to her, "You don't suppose she blocked her real parents out because of what happened, then when Alicia told her she wasn't Human this was her way of blocking it out again?"

"That is an excellent observation, Lia. It could be that little Lia did just that. The loss of her real parents was traumatic, so she blocked the episode from her mind." Gary replied.

"You're most likely correct" Alicia walked across to Gary and Lia, offering an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault. I should have known there was buried trauma that Lia was blocking out."

"Nonsense Alicia. It is no one's fault. You aren't a mind reader. It is an unfortunate occurrence that we now have to deal with and fix." Gary replied to his friend and counselor.

"Thank you Gary" Alicia nodded appreciating Gary's understanding.

The gorn had been running his scanner over her. " Sssomeone get one of the Ssstearo fish." he said to his nursing staff.

"Coming right up doctor" one of the nurses responded, she returned a few moments later. "Stearo fish Doctor."

"I think I've heard you mention those before" Alicia looked across at Sthilg. "What is it they do?"

" Block out physssical brainwavesss in the brain." The lizard replied as he picked up the rocky fish from the tank and placed one on the girls forehead.

Alicia nodded as she offered Lia some support. "Why don't you sit by Little Lia? hold her hand, talk to her, let her know that you're there."

Nodding in almost pure reaction, Lia sat down and took little Lia's hand. Her own mind began to reach out to her daughter, which was doomed to fail as she wasn't psychic. But little Lia was, and somehow a connection was made. This shocked Taylor, and now her brain kicked in. "She talked to me! In my head, you know how you Betazoids do. She spoke to me!"

Gary stood behind Lia, his hands on her shoulders as he squeezed them softly. "That is wonderful Lia. Keep up the conversation. Let her know you are there and listening to her." Gary quietly urged.

Alicia was surprised. "It sounds as though Little Lia is quite a strong telepath, her parents trained her well. Let her talk to you, focus on what you want to say to her, let her feel your love for her. It'll help to guide her back to us."

"I don't know how to do that, but I have an idea." Lia Taylor now did something she had never done in public before, she began to sing.

Dango dango dango
dango dango dango
Daikazoku

Dango dango dango
dango dango daikazoku

Yancha na yaki dango
yasashii an dango

Sukoshi yumemigachi na
tsukimi dango

Osumashi goma dango
yotsugo kushi dango

Minna minna awasete
hyaku nin kazoku

Akachan dango ha itsumo
shiawase no naka de

Toshiyori dango ha me
wo hosometeru

Nakayoshi dango te wo tsunagi
ookina marui wa ni naru yo
machi wo tsukuri dango boshi no
ue minna de warraiau yo

Usagi mo sora de te wo futtemiteru
dekkai otsukisama
ureshii koto kanashii koto mo
zenbu marumete

She looked around and stopped singing, "She asked me to sing this to her once before, it helped then I'm hoping its going to help now. Am I wrong to do it?"

When Lia stopped her lilting singing and asked her question. Gary spoke up. "When your child is involved, nothing is wrong Lia. No stone is left unturned. You were right to sing it. I'm sure it helped little Lia, know just how much she is loved."

Taking a deep breath, Lia looked at Sthilg and Alicia. "I'm not a Betazoid, I can't do the talking in my brain thing. But I know my little girl liked that song, maybe just maybe she'll hear it and come back to me."

"Lia, talk to LL, like you would if you were home with her or like would if reading her a bedtime story." Gary suggested.

Alicia smiled warmly. "You're doing great Lia, I've no doubt Little Lia can hear you." She offered a smile hoping that Lia's love brought her little girl back to her sooner rather than later.

"Alicia, she had a dream some time ago about the big light. I thought she meant the filament, but I'm not so sure now, If she remembered the filament, why superimpose Gary and me over her real parents?" Lia turned to Gary, "Just what did her parents do to her? Even Alicia has said her ability is well developed, do you suppose they accelerated her development somehow?"

Alicia looked at her father, he was the only one who could really tell them that. She looked towards Sthilg. "What do you think? is there anything showing up in Little Lia's medical scans that would suggest that?" She looked towards Lia and Gary. "You do realise that if Little Lia's parents did enhance her in any way it could cause big problems when we get home. You know how Starfleet is with genetically enhanced individuals."

" I'm afraid i can only ssspeculaite at the moment. The fedration doesss have newer lawsss to protect individualsss who had genetic engineering done against their will. I'm sssure ssshe'll be covered. I'd like to know how the ssshipsss computer missssed she was genetically engineered." The gorn said as he switched on another scan. " With your permission i'd like to draw sssome blood and deep tissue sssamplesss." he asked Gary and Lia.

Alicia looked between the three. "I'm not saying Little Lia is engineered in any way, she just might be a very gifted little girl. But it might be worth the tests just in case."

Lia nodded, "Sure Doc, go ahead. I'm hoping they come back negative, and little Lia is just gifted." She turned to Alicia, "Listen Alicia, this isn't your fault. This mission has affected everyone, some more than others." She now looked at Gary, "Here's to little Lia coming back to us, and we can get back to a normal happy life."

Alicia offered a warm smile. "Thank you Lia, that means a lot."

Walking over to Alicia, Lia put her arms around her and gave a gentle hug. "Your always there when I need you, and you've been there for little Lia. I wouldn't and couldn't hold anything against you for trying to help, and that's all you did. Help."

Alicia gently hugged Lia back, "Thank you Lia, I'll always be there for all of you. Anytime you need me just call me."

Gary took a step back from Lia and Alicia as the two women comforted and consoled each other.. He felt like a third wheel. This was about Lia and Little Lia and their bonding, getting closer and he couldn't be happier.

Strange. The gorn thought no sign of genetic engineering so why hadn't the computer picked up that she wasn't human? " Well, no genetic engineering jussst a very ssstrong Betazoid. "

Taking hold of the edge of the Bio bed to support her, Lia let out a long sigh of relief. "Thank the Goddess for that, at least that's one thing off the list." She glanced at the CMO, "So what do we do next and why did she react this way?"

" My bessst guesssss isss her brain had jussst fooled itself into thinking itssself asss a human that it jussst for a better word popped like a cork when it delsssion was revealed. I can replicate a psychic nullified that she can wear till ssshe learnss to control her powersss." the doctor reply came as he wrote down some notes.

"I don't want any thing nullifying being used on her Doc, she's a child and so we need to find another way. I'm sorry if that will cause problems, but it's just how I feel." Lia reached out and took little Lia's hand and closed her eye's, "Come back honey, we miss you."

Alicia offered a warm smile. "She's there Lia, I can feel her. She's afraid, but your encouragement is helping. Keep talking to her, let her know you're there. Little Lia will come back to you."

Lia now took both of her child's hands in her own, and gently began to sing again:-

Dango dango dango
dango dango dango
Daikazoku

Dango dango dango
dango dango daikazoku

Yancha na yaki dango
yasashii an dango

Sukoshi yumemigachi na
tsukimi dango

Osumashi goma dango
yotsugo kushi dango

Minna minna awasete
hyaku nin kazoku

Akachan dango ha itsumo
shiawase no naka de

Toshiyori dango ha me
wo hosometeru

Nakayoshi dango te wo tsunagi
ookina marui wa ni naru yo
machi wo tsukuri dango boshi no
ue minna de warraiau yo

Usagi mo sora de te wo futtemiteru
dekkai otsukisama
ureshii koto kanashii koto mo
zenbu marumete

This time tears ran down her cheeks and fell onto little Lia's hands, the child stirred. Lia stopped singing and simply held her daughters hands and prayed to the sun goddess Amaterasu, it was one of the few things she could speak in pure Japanese. The rhythmic chant seemed to drift along, but slowly the child's eyes opened. Turning to Sthilg she nodded to him, "Can you please check little Lia again Doc, I think she's a bit more with it now."

Sthilg nodded and ran his scanner hand over the young girl. Picking up the fish from her head he looked down at the young girl who was beginning to stir. " Welcome back Lia. " he said gently as her eyes slowly began to open.

The child looked confused and a little scared, she looked at her mother and moved back with a frightened look on her face. "Where my mummy?"

Lia closed her eye's and slowly let go of the child's hands, taking a deep breath she reached back out but didn't make contact. "I'm going to be your mummy now, if you want me to be."

Little Lia looked around the room and at the people there, her eye's settled on Alicia. "Why you want me to hug Lia? I is Lia."

Alicia smiled warmly as she moved over to Little Lia, gently taking hold of her hand. “I know you’re Lia, Actually we call you Little Lia because here...” She motioned to Lia, “Also likes to be called Lia. You’ve been living with Lia and Gary...” she looked towards Gary, then back at Little Lia, “because they want to be your mummy and daddy now. You can feel how they feel, how much Lia loves you. She’s been very sad because you’ve been ill. She’s been singing you songs to help you find your way back to us.”

"Dango song, Lia been singing Dango song." The child pointed to the Woman standing with tears in her eye's, "You sing me Dango song again please."

Taylor just nodded and held out her hand.

Little Lia climbed off the Bio bed and headed for the woman who was now her mother, "You be my mummy cause my other mummy gone away?"

Kneeling down, Lia again just nodded. Only now she reached out and took the child in her arms, "I promise I'll love you for ever, Lia."

Hesitant at first, little Lia allowed herself to be swept into Aurelia's embrace. "Love you mummy."

Alicia wiped away a tear as she watched the emotional scene unfold. “I think my job is done for now” She gave Lia and Gary a warm smile. “If anyone needs me I’ll be at home.” She gave her father a warm smile before heading to go spend some time with her own children.

"Thank you Alicia!" Lia called after Alicia, as the woman left the sick bay. Turning to Sthilg, Taylor smiled. "There are times I wonder about you Doc, then at times like this I wonder what we would do without you. Thank you Doc, thank you very much."

A small voice now piped up, "Fank you Doc!"