[Sickbay]
Lizzie's demeanor seemed to change a bit. She seemed... lighter, somehow. After a couple of minutes, Jackson handed Alys back to her. "Thanks, Doctor. If you need help with anything, I'm available whenever I'm off-duty." Lizzie had nurses to help with anything she needed, but it couldn't hurt to have someone else on-call, right? Then, Jackson turned lightly to leave.
The break was great, and he loved the little baby, but it was about time for his daily workout, now that the holodeck was functioning properly again.
CMO's OfficeLizzie took Alys back from Martin and smiled.
"I'll remember that Mr Jackson." She replied softly as he went out the door.
Deciding there was no time like the present, she decided to try and reach her parents. Checking the chronometer, she figured it would be late afternoon in San Francisco, hopefully both her parents would be home. Though she could never tell with her Mother.
Still carrying the little girl, she sat behind her desk and activated her terminal.
=/\=Computer. Please establish a subspace link to my parents house in San Francisco.
=/\=Acknowledged. The Computer replied.Several seconds later, her Father's face appeared on the screen. When he saw his eldest, he smiled.
"Lizziebear! It's good to see you." Alun Vaughan, a tall man with craggy outdoor features and hair that had once been brown but was now almost entirely grey, replied with feeling."Hi Da. Is Mum around, I need to talk to you both."
"She's just got in. I'll get her." He replied before turning away. "Mary, Lizzie's on the com!" He called out.Seconds later, the screen split in two as her Mum opened the link in her study.
"Lizzie darling, we've missed you. Not that it's not nice to hear from you, but you rarely call us.
What's the matter?" Mary Vaughan, who was the spitting image of her Daughter and whose Red hair had not yet dulled, asked with a concerned look on her face."Nothing is the matter Mum." Lizzie replied. "It's just I have some news for you." Lizzie paused, not quite sure how to say this.
"Well don't leave us on tender-hooks Lizziebear!" Alun said, easily recognising when Lizzie had something important to say but was not sure how to say it."I want you to meet someone." She said, after another pause.
With that she lifted Alys up so her parents could see her.
"She's beautiful." Mary said, immedately guessing why her independent eldest Daughter would take the time to call them and introduce them, to what her experienced eyes told her, was a newborn baby."Indeed, very attractive." Alun added. "Though she's not pure Cardassian is she? I would say she is probably only half Cardassian and probably half Bajoran if the nose ridges are anything to go by!" Alun remarked.Lizzie giggled at this.
"Trust you Da! You always could tell peoples ancestry just by looking at them." She replied, knowing her father was considered a genius at anthropological identification.
"What's her name?" Mary asked softly."I've called her Alys. Her Cardassian Mother abandoned her shortly after giving birth and both the Cardassian and Bajoran governments have refused to accept responsibility. She's in my care for the moment." She added.
"For the moment?" Alun raised an eyebrow. "I sincerely doubt that you called us up if this was only a temporary situation Lizziebear!" He finished."And you have given her your Grandmothers name. You always said you would name your first Daughter after her." Mary added, smiling at her daughter."It seemed to fit. She was all alone almost from birth and Nana did so love taking care of those who needed it! Lizzie said, getting a little teary.
"Indeed she did." Mary replied. "Well I can't think of a better name for the newest addition to our family. When will you be bringing her some so the whole family can meet her?""I've got some leave coming up soon. I'll let you know the dates and we can try and get the tribe back together."
"Good. Now make sure you call your Sisters and eldest Brother. No need to call Jimmy as he is staying here at the moment. We'll tell him when he get's home." Alun said.Lizzie raised her eyebrow at this. Her baby brother James always seemed to be leeching off their parents and unlike with her and her other siblings, her parents seemed to allow it.
"Ok Da. I'll give them a call. Mum, do you still have the christening robe?" She asked.
"Of course." Mary replied indignantly. "Thirteen generations of our family have worn that robe, this little girl will make fourteen. I'll get it out and send it priority to you. Should be with you in a week or so." "Thanks Mum. I'll let you know when the Christening is so we can set up a link if you want."
"That would be lovely Darling!" Mary replied. "Now I'm sure you have lots to do so we won't keep you."Bye Mum. Bye Da. I'll see you soon." She replied.
"Goodbye Lizziebear. Take care of that little girl." Alun said, getting a little weepy himself."I will Da."
"Goodbye Darling. And dong forget to send us lots of pictures." Mary said, trying her best not to sniffle.The channel closed and Lizzie smiled while drying her eyes. She then looked down at Alys.
"Well it looks like you are a hit with Nana and Grandda." She said smiling at the little girl. "Now lets see if we can get hold of your Auntie Gwen." She said, activating the terminal again.
=/\=Computer. Please establish a subspace link to the Terran Embassy on Andoria. For the attention of Gwen Vaughan.
=/\=Acknowledged. The Computer responded.A short while later the screen came to life and a tall young woman with brown eyes and matching shoulder length hair, appeared.
"Lizzie?" The woman asked."Hi Gwennie. Sorry to disturb you at work, But I have something I need to tell you." Lizzie said to her eldest Sister.
"No problem. Besides, you have to be busy to be disturbed. It's really quiet at the moment. So what is it?" Gwen asked, knowing her elder Sister would not be calling for just a chat."I want you to meet someone." She said, holding up Alys so her Sister could see her.
"Aw, she's so precious. What's the occasion?" Gwen asked directly."She was abandoned at birth so I have decided to adopt her." Lizzie replied.
"I'm gonna be an Auntie?" Gwen squealed."Yes you are. Gwen, meet Alys. Alys, this is your Auntie Gwen."
"You named her after Nana?" Gwen remarked, cooing at the baby."Yes I did. It seemed appropriate. I'll hopefully be coming home in a few weeks ad you'll be able to meet her properly."
"Great! Let me know when and I'll get some time to join you." Gwen replied as a door chime sounded. "Got to go. See you soon hopefully." Gwen replied."Bye Gwen." Lizzie said just before the channel closed.
"So you've conquered Gwen. How would you like to try someone who will be harder to please?" She asked.
Alys gurgled back at her and Lizzie activated the terminal again.
=/\=Computer, establish a link to the Federation Archaeological Survey and get the current location of my Brother, David Vaughan.
=/\=Acknowledged. The computer replied. Several seconds later it beeped. =/\=David Vaughan is currently on assignment to the Caitian system. He is investigating ruins on the 4th planet.=/\=Please send him a message asking him to call me when he has a chance=/\=
=/\=Acknowledged. The computer replied.=/\=Computer, please get a message to MIT for my Sister Emily to call me back whenever she is done with whatever theory she is working on at the moment.
=/\=Acknowleged. The computer replied again.Lizzie closed the terminal down, got up and went over to the replicator.
"One bottle of newborn formula at 20 degrees and a mug of iced tea, peach flavour at 8 degrees." She announced.
The replicator beeped and the the bottle and Mug appeared.
Moving both to her desk, Lizzie sat down again.
She had just taken a drink when the com-channel beeped.
=/\=Ops to Vaughan. We have a private message coming through for you from the Caitian system. Vaughan to Ops. Please patch it through to the terminal in my office.
=/\=Will do Doctor. Ops out!=/\=Lizzie activated her terminal and seconds later, her brothers face appeared.
"Hi Lizzie, I got a message you were trying to get hold of me" He asked, his green eyes and red hair almost identical to his Sisters, though he was a good foot and an half taller standing almost 7 foot tall."Hi Davie. Thank you for calling me back. I wanted to introduce you to someone." Lizzie said, raising Alys so her Brother could see.
"Yeah, it's a baby! So what?" He asked in his usual short manner."Well this is your new Niece. Alys Vaughan." Lizzie replied, not taking her Brothers' lack of manners personally. He got on better being on his own, this made him a great field archaeologist, but destined never to become more.
"Niece Huh?" He replied. "Figures you would not wait to get married!" He added.Lizzie tried not to frown, but it seemed like her Brother would never let it rest.
"Well I thought you should know." Lizzie replied. "I'm going to try and make it back to Mum and Da's in a few weeks. You should try and be there."
"I'll try. I'm due to be here for another month, but after that I'm returning to Earth for a bit. If you're still there when I arrive, I'll pop by and say hello." He replied, his attention already waning."Alright Davie, I'll let you get back to it. See you soon."
"Bye Lizzie." He replied.The channel closed abruptly. Lizzie turned to her Daughter.
"Well we'll have a better chance when we see him. Don't mind his manners, he's not bad really." She said to Alys before picking up the bottle and begging to feed her.
The terminal beeped again and a message popped up.
Lizzie
Can't speak at the moment as I'm trying to prove the Riemann hypothesis for a bet. Message me back if you need anything in particular.
Emmy Lizzie shook her head slightly. Only her mathematically genius Sister would try and solve a supposedly unsolvable maths problem for a bet. Then again, she had solved P versus NP before she was 21 and that was for a bet too.
Lizzie e looked at Alys and smiled again.
"What are we going to do with her?" She asked Alys. "Let's record a message for her. So when she gets out of the cloud she is living on, she will have the good news too." She added, taking the bottle that Alys was not drinking from and standing up.
=/\=Computer begin audio visual recording.
The terminal beeped, indicating the recording had begun.
"Hi Emmy, it's your Sister and I have some news for you. I've adopted a little girl." She paused and showed Alys to the device. "I'm hopefully coming to Earth in a few weeks so you can meet her in person. Her name is Alys and I'll send you some pictures when I get some taken. I'll hopefully see you soon and good luck with Riemann. Bye."
Lizzie stopped the recording and sent it as a reply to the one her Sister sent her.
Once it was done, she leaned back in her chair and took a drink.
=/\=Computer play 'Peter and the Wolf' low volume.
She announced.
Soon the sounds of the famous children's piece came softly through the speakers. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax a bit.