Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

Part 27 - Flight of the Swan

"So that's third-hand information," Lili deduced, as she watched Aaron taking various replicated dried spices off the shelves. "Don't forget the cumin."

"You put cumin in the sauce?"

"Just a touch. It gives it a smoky air. Now, what other tales has Maria Elena been spreading about me?"

"She's worried about you. And I am a little, too. You've been like a mother to me, ever since the decline took my own mother."

"I'm sorry, Aaron. It's just; I really don't think you need to call Malcolm on my account."

"It's José," Brian reminded her, "Lili, Aaron just called your husband, José."

"Ah, well, of course," she replied, "now, mix a few grinds of fresh black pepper in with the cumin. And let's replicate a little lemon juice, too."

Craig flipped open his communicator. "Willets to Sick Bay. Uh, it's weird. Lili's a little forgetful all of a sudden, it seems."

"Well, she is ninety," Andrew reminded him.

"Right, of course. But she's really forgetful now, and she wasn't before. She just referred to José as Malcolm."

"Oh, boy," Andy sighed, "Bring her in. Miller out." He sighed and turned to Phlox. "I wonder if she's had a small stroke or two."

"It is possible," Phlox allowed, "Now, Ali," he said to Crewman Hamidi, the son of Maryam Haroun and Azar Hamidi, "Let's titrate that sample again."

=/\=

José got to the galley as soon as he could. "You wanted to see me?" he asked Lili.

She looked at him a little strangely. "Is Jay coming?"

"Jay – Jay Hayes?"

"And Doug, too. Or Ian, maybe."

"Ian, you, you used to dream of this Ian character," José told her, "Come, I will get you to Sick Bay now." She started to wave him off, but he took her arm and he was insistent. "I will not take no for an answer, my loud one."

"My, my North Star – we're making empanadas, my love."

AG looked at Brandi , "Can you handle this?"

"Uh, sure."

He flipped open his communicator. "Maria Elena, get the kids and meet us in Sick Bay. There's, uh, something going on."

=/\=

José and AG ended up getting a stretcher and carrying Lili to Sick Bay. She protested that she was just slow and tired, but they carried her anyway. The rest of the family arrived and she looked at them. "What's going on?"

"I'm going to check you out," Andrew started up the controls on the movable scanner bed.

"I feel fine! I'm just sleepy."

"Please," he implored.

While Andy was working, Phlox brought the family to another part of Sick Bay. "It's the forgetfulness and the fatigue that are concerning us the most. You were right to bring her in."

Maria Elena and AG had their two children with them, Sally and Jacob Henry. Jake had his wife, Mindy Ryan, with him. She was holding their infant daughter, Marie Helêne, named after Lili's mother. "Is Grammy going to die?" Sally asked.

"Maybe," Phlox admitted, "Let's see what Andrew's found, shall we?" They returned to where Andy was getting Lili out of the imaging chamber.

She lay back. "I could just nap here. Talk amongst yourselves."