A Little Time to Be Home

Posted on Tue Oct 13th, 2026 @ 3:16pm by Lieutenant Commander Arlen Reacher

2,250 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 121 - "Where There's A Section, There's A Way"
Location: Reacher Family Ranch, Earth
Timeline: During Leave of Absence

For the first few mornings after arriving on Earth, Arlen Reacher woke expecting to hear the familiar hum of Starbase 400. Instead, there was the soft stirring of the house, the occasional call of a bird outside the bedroom window, and Kate sleeping beside him without an alarm waiting to interrupt them. He would lie still for a moment, looking toward the sunlight working its way around the curtains, before remembering that there was nowhere he needed to report. Their quarters aboard the station were home, with all the routines and belongings that made them theirs, but the ranch offered something they rarely found there: room to let a day unfold without fitting it around his duty roster.

They had all come back together. Leaving Kate and the children on the station while he took leave had never been what Arlen wanted. He wanted mornings with them, meals that nobody had to hurry through, and enough time to discover what Katie and Tess were thinking about beyond the brief answers they sometimes gave when he returned from a long shift. With James still so small, he also wanted to be present for the ordinary changes that seemed to happen between one duty day and the next. Packing for five had proved considerably more complicated than packing for a deployment, but after watching Kate identify three things he had forgotten before they had even left their quarters, he had wisely stopped insisting they were ready.

Their arrival at the ranch had been anything but quiet. Katie and Tess wanted to explore, James wanted attention, and Arlen stood in the entrance hall surrounded by bags while Kate opened windows to let fresh air into the house. There was dust to wipe away, food to organize, and a property that had continued growing while they were gone. By the time they had settled the children and brought everything inside, his carefully imagined peaceful first afternoon had become a succession of small jobs.

That evening, however, they ate together at the kitchen table with the windows open and the last sunlight falling across the floor. Katie talked about the horses. Tess wanted to know whether they could walk out to the far pasture the following day. James watched everyone with solemn interest before deciding, quite suddenly, that he had been patient enough.

Arlen took him while Kate finished eating. His son settled against his chest, one small hand catching the fabric of his shirt, and Arlen looked across the table at his wife.

“What?” she asked, noticing his expression.

“Nothing,” he answered, gently shifting James into a more comfortable position. “Just glad we came.”

It took him several days to stop checking his PADD whenever the house grew quiet. He told himself he was making sure nothing needed his attention, although Kate pointed out that he had requested leave precisely so other people could attend to things for a while. One morning, she found him on the back porch reading a message while his breakfast cooled inside.

“Is someone waiting for an answer?” she asked.

Arlen glanced at the screen. “No.”

“Then Katie is waiting for you at the stables.”

He looked up to find his daughter standing beyond the porch, already dressed and trying to appear as though she had not been waiting very long. He switched off the PADD and left it on the table. After that, checking in became something he did at an agreed time, rather than something that followed him through every room of the house.

Katie took a particular interest in the horses. Arlen began with the practical things: approaching calmly, paying attention to their movements, and understanding that an animal could be uncomfortable even when it had nowhere to go. She listened closely, then asked enough questions to keep him occupied well beyond what he had planned. He showed her how to brush them properly and inspect their hooves, staying beside her until she grew comfortable with the work. When she finally looked back at him with a pleased smile, he realized he had spent most of the morning without once wondering what was happening aboard the station.

Their rides started close to the house. Arlen kept the pace easy and allowed Katie time to find her confidence, offering corrections without crowding her with instructions. Kate joined them when she could, while Tess sometimes preferred to walk along the paddock fence and watch before deciding whether she wanted a turn. On one afternoon, Katie became frustrated after struggling with something Arlen had made look simple. He dismounted, came alongside her horse, and rested a hand against the saddle.

“You’ve watched me do this for years,” he told her. “You haven’t been doing it for years. Give yourself a chance.”

She looked down at him, still unhappy, but nodded. They tried again. When she managed it, Arlen made certain she knew he had seen.

Tess often sought him out when he was working around the property. Sometimes she helped; sometimes she sat nearby and talked while he repaired a latch or replaced a weathered length of fencing. He found those conversations easier when he kept his hands occupied and allowed her to choose where they went. She could move from a question about the ranch to something she had been considering for days, and Arlen learned to recognize when a casual remark deserved more than a casual answer.

One afternoon, she accompanied him on a walk toward the edge of the pasture. They stopped beneath a tree where the shade offered some relief from the heat, and she began correcting his pronunciation of a few Vulcan and Romulan words. Arlen repeated one with considerable confidence and received a look that immediately told him his confidence had been misplaced.

“That bad?”

Tess demonstrated it again.

He tried once more, more carefully this time. She considered his effort before permitting a small nod, which he accepted with exaggerated gratitude. By dinner, Katie had heard about the lesson and wanted to test him herself. Kate listened from across the table as both girls took turns correcting him, until Arlen looked toward James for support.

“You’re staying on my side, aren’t you?”

James answered by striking the tray in front of him with an open hand.

“That sounds like agreement.”

“That sounds like he wants his dinner,” Kate said, reaching for a cloth.

With James, Arlen’s days filled with smaller tasks that demanded just as much attention. He took early mornings when the baby woke before the rest of the house, carrying him into the kitchen while Kate slept a little longer. Sometimes James settled quickly. Other mornings, Arlen paced between the kitchen and sitting room, quietly talking to him about everything from the weather to the state of the stable roof. His son seemed equally interested in both subjects.

There were occasions when Arlen finally sat down with James asleep against him and discovered that he did not particularly want to put him elsewhere. He would support the little boy’s head, watch his face relax, and remain there while the house gradually came awake around them. Katie and Tess learned to come through the room quietly, though their whispered discussions about whether he was asleep too often made that impossible.

Kate found them one morning with James resting against his chest and both girls sitting nearby, attempting to negotiate what they should do after breakfast.

“Have you moved at all?” she asked Arlen.

“Some.”

“The coffee is still where I left it.”

He glanced at the untouched mug. “I’ve been busy.”

She leaned down to kiss him, then brushed her fingers over James’s hair. “Clearly.”

They made time to leave the ranch as well. There were trips into town for supplies, lunches that stretched longer than expected, and walks where the destination mattered less than the chance to be out together. Arlen let Katie and Tess help choose things for supper, accepting that their suggestions would occasionally produce a meal no reasonable person would have planned. Kate imposed enough order to make it workable, and the girls were given jobs in the kitchen while Arlen prepared the grill outside.

One evening, a brief shower drove everyone back into the house just as he was getting started. He stood beneath the porch roof looking at the rain, utensils still in hand, while Katie offered a cheerful assessment of his timing. Tess laughed, Kate took the uncooked food back inside, and supper became something assembled in the kitchen with everyone getting in one another’s way. Arlen caught himself smiling as he washed dishes afterward. He could not remember what he had originally intended to cook, but he suspected the children would remember him standing outside trying to argue with the weather.

Not every day went smoothly. The girls disagreed, James cried, and tiredness occasionally made a minor problem feel larger than it was. Arlen had to catch himself more than once when an impatient instruction came too easily. At work, he was accustomed to giving an order and expecting movement. At home, he needed to stop, listen, and find out why someone was upset before deciding what should happen next. Kate helped when he missed it, sometimes with a word and sometimes with a glance he understood perfectly.

One evening, after an argument had finally settled and the children were asleep, he remained at the kitchen table while Kate put away the last of the dishes.

“I thought I’d have more patience once I got away from work,” he admitted.

Kate turned toward him. “You’re tired here sometimes too.”

“I know. I just don’t want to spend the time correcting them.”

“Then notice the other things as well.”

He thought about Katie patiently brushing a horse that morning, Tess bringing him water without being asked, and the way both girls had tried to make James laugh while Kate prepared his things. There had been plenty to notice. He had simply allowed the noisy end of the day to overshadow it.

The next morning, he made a point of telling them.

As the leave continued, Arlen began picking up his old guitar in the evenings. At first, he played only when the children had gone to bed, his fingers slowly remembering movements he had neglected. Later, Katie and Tess stayed to listen, making requests without much concern for whether he knew the music. He attempted what he could and admitted defeat when necessary. Kate sat nearby with James, smiling whenever Arlen paused to work out a passage he was certain he used to know.

Sometimes they moved outside after supper. The porch lights stayed low, and the sky opened above the pasture with a clarity the children did not often see from their quarters on the station. Arlen pointed out what he recognized and answered questions about places he had visited. When the conversation turned toward work, he kept his answers simple enough to preserve the evening. There would be time aboard Starbase 400 for uniforms, reports, and everything that came with them.

Here, Katie wanted to know whether he could see a particular star. Tess wanted him to repeat a word she had taught him. James had fallen asleep in Kate’s arms, and his wife was looking at him across the porch as though she could tell he was finally beginning to relax.

On one of their last evenings at the ranch, Arlen and Kate remained outside after taking the children to bed. The house behind them was quiet except for the faint sound of the monitor resting beside her chair. Arlen stretched his legs, feeling the pleasant ache of a day spent repairing fencing, and watched the darkness settle over the land.

“I’m going to miss this,” he said.

Kate reached for his hand. “We can come back.”

He nodded, rubbing his thumb over her fingers. “I don’t just mean the ranch.”

“I know.”

For a while, neither spoke. Their return arrangements were already made, and soon there would be bags to pack, belongings to locate, and three children to get ready for the journey back to Starbase 400. They would all be going together, returning to the quarters and lives they shared aboard the station. Arlen was grateful for that. He would still hear the girls talking over breakfast, still carry James when he needed settling, and still find Kate beside him at the end of the day.

He wanted to keep more of this time in those ordinary days.

“Hold me to it,” he said quietly.

Kate turned toward him. “To what?”

“Being there. Even when things get busy.”

She studied him for a moment before squeezing his hand. “I will.”

From inside the house came a small, unmistakable cry. They both glanced toward the monitor, then at one another. Arlen pushed himself out of his chair before Kate could stand.

“I’ve got him.”

He went inside, following the sound through the warmly lit hallway. James was awake and unhappy about it, reaching upward when Arlen leaned over him. He lifted his son carefully, settled him against his shoulder, and began the familiar slow walk around the room.

“All right, little man,” he murmured. “I’m here.”

Beyond the doorway, Kate paused to watch them. Arlen met her eyes, smiled, and kept walking until James’s cries softened. There was still packing to do in the morning. For tonight, he had nowhere else he needed to be.

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