Later Days {Star Trek Enterprise Fan Fiction}

The Pivot Point

On the USS Zefram Cochrane, a naked woman stared at her reflection in a mirror and then took a pull from a bottle. Where once her skin had been a lovely shade of mahogany, it was now ashy grey. She took another pull.

The lump in the bed nearby stirred. "What're you doing up?" he asked.

"It's nothin', Aidan," she drawled, her voice the honey of Titania, where everyone sounds like they're from the Carolinas. "Go back to sleep." She hastily put the bottle into a drawer and did her best to quietly shut it.

He got up and approached her. He, too, was naked. "I can make it worth your while, Susan." He stood behind her and leaned over to kiss her neck.

She didn't turn, just stared at her own reflection. "I am sixty-six years old," she sighed. "But I look like I'm eighty-six, I swear."

"No, no, you don't," Aidan insisted. He then sniffed her breath. "It's oh three hundred hours." He sighed. "I guess I know why you're up at this hour. Gotta get one last snort in before bedtime, is that it?"

=/\=

On the ISS Defiant, a naked woman stared at her reflection in a mirror and then took a pull from a bottle. Where once her skin had been a lovely shade of mahogany, it was now ashy grey. She took another pull.

The lump in the bed nearby stirred. "What're you doing up?" he asked.

"It's nothin', Aidan," she drawled, her voice the honey of Titania, where everyone sounds like they're from the Carolinas. "Go back to sleep." She hastily put the bottle into a drawer and did her best to quietly shut it.

He got up and approached her. He, too, was naked. "I can make it worth your while, Susan." He stood behind her and leaned over to kiss her neck.

She didn't turn, just stared at her own reflection. "I am sixty-six years old," she sighed. "But I look like I'm eighty-six, I swear."

"Aw, don't worry about it," Aidan said. He then sniffed her breath. "The Empress doesn't like it when you're hammered all the time."

"It'll be fine. Her kids are older," Susan said. A display on the wall slid to the date – January first of 2176 – and then the time – oh three hundred four hours. "Jun is almost twenty; Izo is nearly fifteen. They don't need much more teaching, ya'll know this, and they don't need real care anymore."

"Yeah, I know," he confirmed. "And what'll happen, do ya think, when they stop needing a babysitter like me, and a teacher like you? What'll the Empress Hoshi do to us then?"

=/\=

"I'm sorry," Susan said; her head down. "I just, you know, it's the first of the year. Ya'll ever do new year's resolutions?"

"Sure. Usually it was to lose a few kilos," he admitted. He looked at himself in the mirror. "Yeah, I could use that, m'self. Think Commander Reed and Captain Archer would give me time off, to work out more?"

"Probably not," Susan stated, "but you can always ask. Aidan, I, uh, do you know why I do what I do?"

"Tell me." He turned her to face him.

"I just, life's overwhelming sometimes. I like being the Ship's Teacher. I do. Don't misunderstand me. And I love you."

"Well, I love you, yanno." They kissed.

She smiled up at him – he was quite a bit taller than she was – and explained, "But it's stressful. I, I don't love this about myself. I am; I am not proud of it."