Homecoming

Posted on Sun Feb 12th, 2017 @ 10:16am by Major Edward Maxwell & Splendora Sage

1,513 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 94 - Return to Rashanar
Location: Docking Bay
Timeline: MD4 mid morning

Fighter Transport 1:

Ed was sore, after a night of restless sleep, his body ached. Muscles that had taken a beating during the fighting had tightened up while he slept and made their displeasure at the abuse well known. Add to that his three busted ribs and really he didn't sleep for crap. A few minutes here, half an hour there. It was still more than he had gotten a night during Hell Week, and he didn't have the busted ribs then either. Plus, on the other side of the bulkhead was the docking bay on 400, which meant his son was just out of his grasp yet.

The pilots who had fighters to fly had disembarked the carrier when it dropped out of warp and were returning to their respective hangar bays. Ed and a couple dozen pilots without birds were going to be walking, a lousy way for a pilot to get home, but it beat coffins, which some of his pilots were in, he reminded himself. He'd been writing condolence letters most of the trip back to base.

Approaching the Docking Bay:

Ryan was practically pulling Splendora down the corridors. He'd been literally bouncing with excitement since she'd told him Dad was arriving soon. He'd been ready to see his Dad since he arrived the day before.

"Come on Dora!" He said excitedly, tugging on her hand again. "Hurry up before we miss Dad's arrival!" He pleaded with a big smile on his face.

Splendora smiled and let Ryan pull her long. "Alright. Remember hun I'm an old woman and can't move as fast." She laughed at the look he gave her and hurried along.

"You're no older than Dad." The youngster retorted with a snort, but nonetheless he slowed down... a little. "Uncle Will sent me your file." He admitted with a cheeky grin.

Splendora laughed. "I see. I guess I can't fool you." She gave him a wink and sped up.

"Sometimes you can." The boy said looking back. "I'm only a quarter Betazoid. Dad's half."

She smiled at him. They arrived and took their position to wait. It would be only 15 more minutes. Splendora turned to Ryan. "Ryan, honey are you doing okay?" She knew this might be an emotional time. She hoped that Captain Maxwell greeted his son with the same enthusiasm as the boy had for seeing his father.

"Be even better when Dad's back!" He said with a big grin.

Tag

Fighter Transport 1:

"Okay people, settle down." Ed called over the low rumble of pilots waiting to disembark from the ship. "Wounded off first and then we're off." He reminded them. Though there were only a handful of wounded pilots who had to be transported off the ship on anti-grav gurneys, they still had the priority. When the hatchway opened and the medical techs moved the wounded off, Ed and the rest of the pilots followed close behind. Ed scanned the small crown that waited for the pilots of the 181st here and not the hangars. In particular he was looking for a little boy that looked much like he did at that age. And he saw him standing with a rather attractive woman. 'Must be the woman Will told me about.' He thought to himself.

"Ryan!" He called out with a grin as he moved away from the crowd of fighter jocks. When he saw his boy start to run towards him, he knew his side was going to try and murder him, but it would be worth it.

"Dad!" Ryan yelled, letting go of Dora's hand and running for his dad. She'd catch up after all, right?

Ed grinned as he bent down to grab his boy as he reached him and scooped him up and spun him around a time or two. "Odin's eye, is it good to see you kid." Ed said as he hugged the boy tight to him, letting the adrenaline rush of having his boy in his arms blot out most of the pain. Unfortunately not enough to keep him from wincing as he took a shoe to his bad side.

Splendora followed smiling. She caught up pretty quick. "I guess I don't have to ask for ID in this case." She sensed such joy from both her Betazoid senses felt overwhelmed.

"You must be..." Ed started as he freed one hand to offer to shake hands with the woman only to be interrupted by Ryan.

"Dad this is Dora! Uncle Will asked her to watch me while you were gone." The boy explained excitedly.

"So I gather.' Ed said with an amused smile and shook his head, wincing against another unintentional kick. "Hey, easy with the feet kid. Dear old Dad's a little banged up." He said and reached up to ruffle his son's hair. "As I was trying to say, thanks for watching the kid here for me." He smiled and managed to extend a friendly hand this time.

Splendora smiled. She shook his hand. "He's an amazing boy Mr. Maxwell." She studied him. "Now how about we go see another friend of mine Doctor Hades." She held out her hand to Ryan. "Come on sport. Let's get your dad looked at and then we can take him to that cool burger joint."

"The Doc's already looked at me." Ed commented sourly. "And grounded me for two weeks light duty while my ribs knit back together. Then I can get reevaluated." He said, annoyance clear in his voice. No pilot liked being grounded, no matter how long it was for. "And as for the Mister Maxwell bit, the names Ed. Mister makes me sound old."

She laughed. "You are just a ray of sunshine when not feeling well aren't you? Well then if the doc has seen you let's go get some grub." She ruffled Ryan's hair. She'd grown quite fond of the boy in the short time.

"I'm a pilot." Ed shrugged slightly. "Pilot's don't like being told they can't fly. Makes us grumpy." He said with a smirk. "Okay kid, your leg's not busted, shoe leather express for you." He said setting the boy down, causing a pain to shoot through his side.

"Piggy back instead?" Ryan grinned up at his father, not knowing how serious his father's injury was.

"Not until my ribs are fixed up kiddo. Picking you up hurts." Ed shook his head, but offered the boy a hand to hold instead.

"Spoilsport." Ryan laughed and took his fathers hand.

Splendora trailed after the two as they walked to the restaurant. Once again they were seated and menus were placed in front of them. Splendora studied the two. "Glad you two are back together." She said.

"It'll take adjusting to, but I'm glad too." Ed agreed. "So what's good here kid?" He asked looking at his son.

"Bacon cheeseburger is all I've had yet." Ryan shrugged. "But it was good. Not as good as yours, but not far off."

"Not far off huh? We'll see about that."

Splendora smiled. The child was diplomatic. They each placed an order and chatted while the food came. When it did finally come Splendora looked over at Ed. "Mr. Max...Ed. If you and Ryan need anything please know that my door is always open."

"We may have to take you up on that offer." Ed nodded somberly. "It'll be an adjustment for both of us, him living here with me."

Splendora smiled at them. "Adjustments are hard but I have a feeling you two will be okay." She sighed. "Well my friends what shall we have for dessert?"

"Chocolate shakes." Ryan said with a big grin, since he'd passed one up before during their last visit.

"Sounds okay to me." Ed said with a chuckle and ruffled the boys hair.

Splendora let the boys order. They sipped their shakes and chatted happily. Splendora excused herself and on the way to the bathroom paid the bill for the group. She also asked the server to pack up some chocolate cake.

The waiter approached Ed and Ryan at the table. "This Chocolate cake is for your young man." He handed it to Ryan.

Just as the waiter was leaving Splendora came back and sat down. "Now that was a great meal!"

Ed thanked the waiter politely and as Splendora returned to the table, he nodded to the cake and raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

Splendora smiled. "For you to take with you. It's home made Chocolate cake. So delicious." She smiled at Ed and Ryan. "Well Ryan I am certainly going to miss having you around."

"Well, if you're willing to let him hang around with you, there's times my schedule goes crazy, like anytime an emergency comes up or a detachment of the Wing get's deployed." Ed said with a grin. "Maybe he can hang out with you during those times."

Splendora smiled. "Absolutely!!" She smiled at Ryan and ruffled his hair. "Anytime he's welcome. Now I should get going."

"So should we." Ed said with a smile. "We both need to unpack."

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