More Than a Lifetime #1: Delta Wild

Chapter 3

Now 17, Dani stood staring unbelievingly at Kathryn. She had pulled stunts like this before, and it'd never produced this outcome.

"Grounded?" Dani asked.

"Yes," Kathryn said. For some reason, Dani couldn't accept that this was her punishment. She could accept kitchen duty or something to that effect, but not this.

"But-" Dani started to argue, but Kathryn cut her off sharply. "GO!"

Dani didn't have any choice but to do as Kathryn said. She walked across the living room and entered her room. The doors closed quietly behind her.

In the living room, Kathryn decided that it was the perfect time for coffee. She crossed over to the small dining room and ordered a cup from the replicator. As the coffee was materializing, the Chakotay entered the room from the corridor. She was surprised to see him, for he had said he would be in engineering for most of the day. However, she was glad he was there.

"Chakotay," Kathryn said, picking up the cup of coffee, "I thought you were going to be in engineering all day?"

"That was my plan, but B'Elanna said she had all the help she needed. Besides, it was a little crowded in there. So, I decided to get started on next week's duty rosters." He held up PADD and walked over to his desk. As he sat down, Kathryn walked over to the desk. "Where's Dani?" His hand skipped over the buttons on his desk.

Kathryn took a sip of her coffee. "I sent her to her room." Chakotay looked up at Kathryn.

"Why?" he asked.

"Chakotay, do you know what she was doing today?" Kathryn asked. When he shook his head, she went on. "She went space diving on the holodeck."

"Space diving?" Chakotay said. "What on-"

Kathryn cut him off. "We're not on Earth." Chakotay stood and walked around his desk, shaking his head.

"What was she trying to do? Kill herself?"

"No. She claimed she was just bored." Chakotay sighed. "Chakotay, the girl's gone...Delta wild." Chakotay merely smiled at his wife's new expression. "I grounded her. I'm also going to revoke her holodeck privileges for a month and give her kitchen duty."

"Well, don't call Neelix just yet," Chakotay said. "Let me talk to her."

"Gladly," Kathryn said, sipping on her coffee. Chakotay walked past Kathryn to Dani's door.

Inside her room, Dani heard her door chime.

"Go away!" she said.

Outside, Chakotay looked back at Kathryn. She raised her eyebrows and took another sip of coffee. He turned back to the door and chimed again.

"I said GO AWAY!" Dani reiterated. It was to no avail, however, because she heard her doors slide open. Someone walked in. The doors slid closed. The visitor took a few steps towards Dani's bed. Dani had her back to the door and the visitor, but she knew who it was. It wasn't her mother, because her step was lighter, and this person had a heavy step. She looked to her right in time to see her father sit down on the bed beside her.

'Oh, great,' she thought. 'Another lecture.'

Chakotay surprised her by saying, "I'm not here to lecture you." Dani looked down at the floor. Chakotay went on. "I just want to find out what's going on with you."

"Nothing, Dad," Dani said looking at Chakotay. "I'm fine."

Chakotay studied his daughter's face. Her skin was a pale brown, an exact medium between his brownness and her mother's paleness. She had inherited many of her mother's traits. Even though her eyes were dark like his, they were definitely her mother's eyes. They had the same piercing quality. She had her mother's facial structure and was the same height as she. She had inherited many of his traits, also. She had his dark hair and his mouth. She even had his smile. It was almost identical to his, except she only had one dimple, and he had two. However, she was not smiling today.