Gone Away

Posted on Wed Feb 8th, 2023 @ 9:20am by Major Chiyo Shimada & Alice Shimada

848 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Sand Sea Fun and Surf
Location: After 'To Taiga and Ryuuji'

Chiyo and Alice arrived back at their hotel room late. Alice was whining about how she was hot and sweaty and how her feet hurt.

"Sweetie, why don't you go take your shower first." Chiyo suggested once the door closed. "I'll take mine later on."

"Okay, mom." Alice said. "Do you have to pee first?"

"No, I'll go back down to the lobby if I need to." Chiyo said. Even though they were on a high floor, the turbolifts were pretty fast.

"Okay." Alice said, heading into the bathroom to get out of her dress and hop in the sonic shower.

As Alice got undressed, Chiyo let her hair down; a relief from the tight buns they had been tied into all night. After letting her hair down, she made her way over to the kitchenette in the room (Chiyo had upgraded to an extended stay suite as her treat to herself and Alice) where there was another sink to wash off her makeup. It wasn't perfect, but at least her makeup wouldn't drive her crazy until Alice got out. Once her makeup was mostly off, Chiyo slid out of the Chinese dress she had been wearing and took off her bra before sliding into a pair of yoga pants and a comfortable shirt.

Once Chiyo was finally in wind down comfort mode, she grabbed her bag from the closet and pulled from it her picture of Tatsuo, which she took from her quarters back on the Tokyo, as she didn't want anything to happen to it while the repairs were ongoing. Chiyo's tired eyes looked at Tatsuo's beach bum smile, and she sighed heavily.

"It was beautiful, Tatsuo:" Chiyo said. "Another happy couple has tied the knot."

Tears began to well in Chiyo's eyes, which fell onto the pane on the picture.

"I know that thinking about you during another person's wedding is about the most selfish thing I could do." She admitted. "But, seeing other couples tie the knot while you're still waiting for your wedding bells to chime... It's a bit of a knife to the heart each time."

Setting the picture onto the bed beside her, Chiyo reached further into her bag and pulled out a small photo album she also kept in her quarters. She opened the album up to the first page, which started with her and Tatsuo's first date. She flipped through the pages of the two of them happy and smiling, distant memories from another time. Tears fell as Chiyo flipped through the album. She stopped when she saw the picture she had taken of her hand with Tatsuo's engagement ring on her finger.

"Hard to believe this was almost 14 years ago." Chiyo lamented, flipping through engagement pictures until she saw the last picture she had taken with Tatsuo:

It had been taken the last day she had seen Tatsuo. Tatsuo was all dressed up in his Starfleet uniform, preparing to board a shuttle, and Chiyo had been wearing a t-shirt which ironically read 'See Ya Real Soon.'

"I swear I still have that stupid t-shirt." Chiyo chuckled. "I think it's back in Japan."

The next picture in the album was of Chiyo's positive pregnancy test, taken mere days after regs had shown up to break the bad news of the Redemption's loss.

"Perhaps my biggest regret is that you never got to see this test." Chiyo sighed, flipping through ultrasound pictures. "Or these ultrasounds as they happened."

Chiyo reached the pictures of baby Alice, including one with an evidently-tired Chiyo smiling for the camera with her newborn daughter.

"And that you never got to hold your baby girl..." Chiyo muttered as she flipped through pictures of Alice's early childhood. "Or watch her grow up... Fuck, I have a lot of regrets. But I still think you'd be proud of the fine young woman our daughter is growing into."

Chiyo closed the album and reached into her bag once again. This time, she pulled out a small ornate box and flipped it open. Embedded into the cushioning in the box was the engagement ring Tatsuo had given her: Chiyo had stopped wearing it after she nearly lost it on an assignment. The ring was now old and battered, the once-gleaming jewel was now tarnished and faded, but the most important thing was that the ring still fit on her finger.

Chiyo slammed the box shut and stuffed it, the album, and the framed picture back into the bag before burying her face into the pillows on the bed and began crying into them. Chiyo had heard the shower start up while she'd been looking back on her memories, indicating that Alice had gotten in. It was quite convenient then, that Alice had gotten into the shower before the weight of everything became too much for Chiyo to bear, and she could have her cry in peace. Because while she loved Alice dearly, sometimes, Chiyo needed to be sad and get over it by herself.

Posting by

Captain Chiyo Shimada
Marine Commander

Alice Shimada
Civilian child

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