Hello Old Friend - Part One

Posted on Sun Feb 23rd, 2020 @ 11:42pm by Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Yamaguchi & Ensign Paul Harrison
Edited on on Wed Jan 18th, 2023 @ 8:07am

Mission: Mission 6: Q-ualty Time
Location: Various Locations - Starbase 400
Timeline: 1000Hrs - February 16th, 2389

The new father was worried about his wife and child as they were still in the infirmary and he wanted to bring his son home but the medics said that Savannah would be released the next day so he turned his attention to other matters so he was heading home as he spotted someone he knew from a long time ago on the starbase.

"Paul Harrison....you're still here..." he narrowed his eyes as he picked up his pace to catch up with the other guy, he was three inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier then Paul Harrison was but from what Rachael had told him, the man was no pushover. "Paul!" Gabriel called.

Paul stopped and turned around, "Hi."

"Hey... Its been a long time..." Gabriel greeted the other man. "Don't tell me, Elizabeth was hitting on you again?"

"Doesn't she always?" He sounded down in the dumps, "I suppose Rachael said something to you."

"Nope, Rachael didn't tell me anything... I guessed.." he narrowed his eyes. "Are you alright?"

Paul shrugged, "Not really. Rachael and me had a fight."

"Ahh.." Gabriel nodded sagely. "Then let me walk with you to your destination." he commented. "Its good to see you Paul... Rachael sings loudly of you're praises, she thinks your the best thing since artificial gravity was invented...." he paused. "but you don't think so?"

"Ever since she started developing her abilities, she's changed. She acts like that now she can do certain things, she has to be the strong one, the brave one. She doesn't need me anymore."

"Paul... you forget I've been in your situation except for me, it was a friend at the academy right after Savannah told me she was pregnant, you think I was prepared to be told that before either of us would graduate that we were going to be parents?." he smiled. "No... it was a serious shock..." he looked off into the distance.

"I don't get why you are telling me this. It's not the same thing."

"The point of why I'm telling you all this is because we all make mistakes and yes Rachael told me of what happened while she was looking for advice on what to do, she truly thinks your friendship is over.... I've never seen her so devastated..." Gabriel explained as he raised a hand to stop Paul's certain to be angry retort. "Paul... I told her to look on this as a life learning experience," he explained. "Savannah spent more time reassuring her that everything would be alright while Mom and Dad are not going to get involved." he paused. "Beth is another matter.... depending on her mood, you may need to make nice with her to get to Rachael..." he sighed. "those two have so much in common, it can be sometimes hard to tell them apart, despite their age differences."

"Isn't Beth much older than her? "

"Ahh yes... Elizabeth lost almost half her power when her bloom ended." he explained. "it weakened her drastically so she had to develop and hone her skills to keep what she had left... that said she is a formidable presence but nothing like Rachael..... who will also fade when her bloom ends... by how much?, we can only guess..." he sighed softly. "It bothers her..." he admitted. "but the question you need to ask here is.... does Rachael still mean anything to me?"

"Of course she does." He seemed a little peeved, "I was hoping that I could sort all this out in my head before, well, you know."

"Well you had to know you'd run into one of the other Yamaguchi's soon enough and secrets do not survive in my household." he commented. "Can you make time for lunch?. " He inquired. "Come on...the lounge on the Courageous does a hell of an Irish stew and you could do with getting away from here for awhile."

"Okay. I guess I can spare a moment."

"Good.." Gabriel replied as he turned right at the next intersection and twenty minutes or so later the two men walked into the Lounge on the USS Courageous as the barkeep waved. "Cadet Yamaguchi, the man of the hour!" his voice boomed as every head turned his way as Gabriel took a seat at the bar. "Two bowls of your Irish stew. and two glasses of Orange punch"

"Done." the barkeep said as he looked at Paul. "Do you want anything special?

"No thanks." Paul sat there, looking kind of defeated.

Gabriel turned his attention to the younger man. "Okay... Let me hear whats on your mind..." he commented quietly. "I'm not going to judge but I know you need to speak about it..."

Paul exhaled, "I'm not sure if I am the right guy for Rachael. Her abilities make me feel uneasy. For example, there was a dinosaur where we were and instead of letting me get us out of there, she does some stupid ass thing and attacks the dinosaur. It wasn't necessary. We weren't in immediate danger but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was fight the creature. I'm supposed to be the strong one in the relationship but she won't let me and it makes me feel bad. It's bad enough that I still get treated like a kid. I'm almost a man."

Gabriel listened in silence as he looked at the smaller man spill his feelings on the matter. "Its a simple matter of give and take my man..." he commented.
"Rachael is headstrong because of her abilities but it won't last long."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want her not to use her abilities. But I want her to think before she jumps into danger."

"You two will find a way around it.... it was the same for me and Savannah..." he commented. "and look where we ended up. married with a child in her arms." he smiled. "Do you see your future with Rachael in it?" he inquired. "because if so then you better go talk to her before what happened gets any worse and if you don't then tell her straight to her face that she has no space in your life..."

Paul thought about it, "I do see her in my future but I'm kind of scared."

"That's to be expected." Gabriel answered as their food arrived. "You've never dealt with people like the Yamaguchi's have you?" he inquired.

"My dad didn't let me socialize much and at my school, there weren't many kids from alien worlds their. I really didn't get any exposure until I came here. But I didn't even know about Rachael's abilities until recently. As for the rest of the Yamaguchi family, they are certanly different."

Gabriel nodded as he swallowed the mouthful of food in his mouth before responding. "Rachael, Elizabeth and I are half Halanian so we inherited our mothers psionic abilities, we will pass those along to our children..." he commented. "consider that if you and Rachael do make a serious chance at life together, you will face the prospect that your children will have Rachael's abilities.... its a lot to consider... but at least we don't have our mothers issue.... she mates for life... Rachael, Elizabeth don't have that issue.." he then shrugged. "But I do." he added.

"Ah. You've given me something to think about."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Whats that?" he inquired.

"That I need to get used to Rachael's abilities because I'm going to have to deal with kids like her."

"Paul... you don't need to deal with anything if you don't want to." Gabriel commented. "Don't charge headlong into it if you feel you don't have to do it..." the larger male commented as he regarded Paul. "Rachael's children will have her abilities... same as my children will have mine." he commented.
"someday you'll have a family of your own but.... the question is.... are you going to rush headlong into it?" he inquired with a smile. "I know my Mom and Dad would not object to you being intimate with Rachael... because I can tell its come up in conversation at least once in the last few months.."

Paul got a little nervous, "I won't lie, we've thought about it. How did you know?"