Getting Stuck with the Bill - Part One

Posted on Thu Mar 19th, 2020 @ 6:28am by Commander Ennis Cullen & Lieutenant JG Rachael "Ripcord" Yamaguchi-Cullen

Mission: Mission 98: Building Our New Home
Location: Various Locations - Starbase Vanguard
Timeline: 1830Hrs - July 15th, 2393

Staff Warrant Officer Rachael Yamaguchi-Cullen smiled as she regarded the two infants that were not hers by marriage as she was fostering Tienn Iteela and Nebris Yamaguchi's children. Nebris was the male version of Rachael who had been born much sooner then Rachael herself was and while Hobbie and T'Ree were not hers. Rachael would look after them until further notice.

Yamaguchi-Cullen was sitting on the ground as she gently passed a beachball towards Hobbie who giggled as he was clearly having a great time with this fun game. T'Ree was lying on the sofa and she was asleep, Rachael was content to let the small child sleep there before she finished wearing Hobbie out and then she would put both children to bed, these two were a handful but what really made it exhausting was that she was alone and Ennis wasn't with her. It was only now that she had come to rely upon Ennis's guiding hands and his watchful eye with the twins and the other kids, he was able to handle Saki's level of special which could border on downright crazy at times and insane at other times.

Suddenly the com system beeped at her, Yamaguchi-Cullen smiled as she tapped the small display which was sitting next to her on the coffee table. "Authorization. Yamaguchi-Cullen Two Two Delta Nine Five," she commented evenly as she gently touched the ball that Hobbie had sent to her before she gently rolled it back to him as the face of her husband appeared on the screen. "Hey Rachie."

"Hey, Ennis." Yamaguchi-Cullen instantly cheered when she noticed her husband. "What's going on?"

Ennis Cullen was seated behind his desk, he was in uniform as he had been finishing the last of his paperwork but he was at home and Saki was busy handling her martial arts while Sarah was working on her homework, Daniel and the twins were asleep with the holonanny looking after them, this allowed Ennis to work on the last of his paperwork. He had been wanting to contact his wife for a few days now and now he was doing it. "Rachie, you look disgruntled, what's wrong?"

Cullen regarded his wife as she was not sitting behind her own desk, more rather she seemed to be down on the floor. "Rachie... Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Yamaguchi-Cullen answered with a gentle smile. "I'm looking after Tienn Iteela's children." she turned her attention to a ball which came into view before she sent it back to whoever she was playing with. "What happened?" Cullen asked of her.

"Tienn wanted some time to sort things out with Nebris but he's had it, she has been fucking him around for a while now and he's not able to hack the relationship, so things are crumbling, I've taken these two in so they are not facing it," Yamaguchi-Cullen explained evenly. "I'm seriously considering taking these two in permanently but, I wanted to discuss the idea with you first."

Cullen knew exactly what his wife was trying to tell him without saying it, she was missing him and their children, both biological and otherwise but she was also saying that the situation she had become ensnared in was going to deteriorate and could do so without much warning. "How bad is it?"

"Nebris can't hack it, he was never ready to become a father and he was already having issues with being a man, as he had spent his entire life, being happy as a woman," Yamaguchi-Cullen explained. "I think he's getting truly sick of being a man and wants to go back to becoming a woman. I'll also be shocked if he doesn't stick in for reassignment."

Cullen regarded his spouse. "Did he give you his children, because he felt he owed you a penance for what he did to us?" as he sighed softly. "He led me to think that he was you."

"I know." Yamaguchi-Cullen nodded with a subtle nod of her head. "I had thought about it. But that's too simple as Nebris is not that subtle." before the ball appeared near to her. "Sorry, Hobbie... Mommy is talking to dad," she commented in much the same tone she would use when talking to Daniel or the twins.

"Dadda." Hobbie chortled as only a year old child could.

Cullen smiled as a second face appeared next to Rachael, this child was a one-year-old female who had many of Rachael's looks but with the Bajoran's nose ridges, she smiled when she saw Ennis and then a moment later she was gone as she moved out of the field of view, but she appeared again as she jumped onto Rachael from behind. "Whee!" she yelled in Rachael's ear as she clung on for dear life. "Yay!" she added a moment later.

Yamaguchi-Cullen simply endured it as best as she could, she slid her arm around to support the small child's weight, to prevent her from falling over or falling off of her. "Ennis. This is T'Ree." Yamaguchi-Cullen indicated the small female who was clearly having a great old time at her guardian's expense.

Cullen smiled. "Hello sweetie." he addressed the small child. "Rachie, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I can foster them for now, until something more permanent comes along. one of Tienn's kin might want to raise these two as I seriously doubt Nebris is interested and Tienn cares." Yamaguchi-Cullen gave her husband a look that said many things. "I carried the twins and I got screwed over by several people, yet we struggled through without issues. Tienn goes on being an idiot and nadda happens to her."

"It's not fair," Cullen answered. "To them, I mean... You are cleaning up after her yet again. I could argue that she has a thing against the women of your family and they are made to suffer in light of her."

Hobbie came over to join his sibling as he sat down next to Rachael, he knew she was not his mother as he didn't have the same connection with her that he did with Tienn but subconsciously, he could feel in his soul, that he held a connection with Rachael, one that was far deeper than the one with his mother. This was something that most of the Yamaguchi's directly related to Torilla Yamaguchi would share for another generation or so.

Ennis noticed the second child as he entered the display's view, they both looked very much like Rachael but there were subtle differences, they had more rounded faces and both had different colored eyes to Rachael. "Hey, kids." Cullen greeted the two infants.

T'Ree regarded him in silence as Hobbie gently tapped the display. "Oooh," he commented, for him, this was a new experience as he had never seen a computer display before, as Ennis watched a white burst from where the small toddler's finger had impacted the screen on his end. "Rachie, are you going to be okay with looking after them?" he asked of his wife.

"I've managed so far." she gave him an impish grin. "But with a little help from other family members, I should be alright. Grandma Rachael is present and she has been a great help to me, she babysits often and when she's not in the field, doing whatever she's doing, she's here, helping me with these two." Yamaguchi-Cullen explained. "It helps her to reconnect with her humanity and it helps me with the second pair of reliable hands."

"Nice. How's everyone else doing these days?" Cullen inquired of his spouse.

Yamaguchi-Cullen regarded him. "Well let's see. Savannah has stopped taking hair dye so she's rocking a full head of grey hair now, Elizabeth is pregnant with her second, technically her third child. Selendis is engaged to be married and is also pregnant, it seems Atin and her really are keen to make their relationship work." she smiled sweetly. "Ahh, young love, ain't it grand?"

Cullen chuckled softly. "Considering how we ended up together." he regarded her.

"Yes, well it was rather educational. I heard Siaxx was a real animal to you." Yamaguchi-Cullen added with a rather zesty grin. "Who'd have thought that the little Bolian would be like that. You'd think she'd prefer gentle as she doesn't have a lot of room for screwups, muscle tears and other wounds from rough sex." Yamaguchi-Cullen raised an eyebrow as Hobbie peered at Ennis through the display. "Who dat?" he asked.

"That's Ennis. My husband." Yamaguchi-Cullen answered with a smile.

"Oh," Hobbie answered.

Yamaguchi-Cullen smiled. "Hows things on your end.?"

The two discussed various subjects, the fallout from the recent episode at the school where several children had been sent to sickbay to have injuries tended to because the teachers were not doing their jobs, it did not help that Captian Hunt had gotten involved either. Cullen nodded. "My next communications will be via text as we're going to pass out of communications range with Vanguard, sometime in the next few days," he commented. "So it might be a while before we chat like this again okay?"

"I know," Yamaguchi-Cullen answered evenly, in truth, she had been expecting this and a few moments later, after saying their goodbyes, the time Yamaguchi-Cullen shared with her husband was over and she was back to looking after the kids.