004: [visual] - Look for the girl with the broken smile Ask her if she wants to stay a while

[littlestcastle]

Alexis stood outside the steps of the Sanctuary and for a moment she stared up at the building where they'd been stuck for three weeks, then down at her tablet. Her expression was confused, and there was slow growing worry in her eyes

Comments

[aklingonside]

"I'm sorry."

The apology was awkward but genuine. B'Elanna was sorry that the girl had lost the friends that she'd made in the city - and, with them, the place that she'd been staying - but, at the same time, that was the way Taxon worked. They were bound to be a lot happier in their own world and no amount of sympathy would bring them back.

"There are plenty of rooms in the Sanctuary," she suggested. B'Elanna, for her part, spent most of her time in the Delta Flyer. Which definitely didn't have a threshold. Advice was all that she could offer.

[littlestcastle]

It was slowly getting easier to think, to deal with the sudden loss of people she knew, but the quaver still clung to Alexis' voice. "Thank you. I know people go home all the time, so it shouldn't be a big deal..." Alexis trailed off. Unable to find anything more to say, she instead changed the subject. "Yeah there are... but are you sure the Sanctuary isn't just going to trap us all again?"

[aklingonside]

"But it still feels like a big deal for the people left behind?" B'Elanna finished for her, "I know. My best friend in the city disappeared a few weeks ago. He had a lot to get back to and I'm happy for him, but I still miss having him here."

Kirk had earned her respect and she'd deferred to him as if he'd been her captain, despite the differences in time period and universe between them.

"I'm not," she said, "But they trapped us in the Sanctuary while they rearranged the city. It should be a while before they do that again."

And, theoretically, a while before they had the resources to do it.

[littlestcastle]

Alexis bit her lip, and nodded. "Kate was more my dad's friend, really. And Dr. Reid was Kate's boyfriend," she explained. "I didn't know them that well, but it was just nice having an adult from home here."

She looked up at the city, as if considering the woman's words. "I suppose so." She turned back to the screen of her tablet and smiled at the woman. "Thank you. I'm Alexis Castle."

[aklingonside]

It was good to have anyone from home here. It served as a reminder that Taxon was temporary and that there was a real world out there to return to.

"B'Elanna Torres," she offered in return, with a half smile of her own. "Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres. Not that Taxon has a branch of Starfleet for me to work for."

She doubted that Alexis had heard of Starfleet at all.