Mama

Posted on Sep 15, 2014 @ 2:38pm by Ambassador Xana Bonviva
Edited on on Sep 15, 2014 @ 2:38pm

Mission: Absolute Power

“Mama”



=/\=

“Being a good mother is being a hero. Right?”

from Francesca Lia Block’s “Necklace of Kisses”

=/\=

Location: EARTH, Venice, Italy

Scene: Bonviva Villa

SD: [2.14] 0915.0104


In the time it took her to come home from San Francisco to Venice Xana’s life went from fantastico to misero.

Erika was peering out the window of the door as Xana walked quickly up the steps from the pier, avoiding the press. “I do not comment on matters of my family,” she called out repeatedly.

“Commander Crichton was sent--”

“Secretary Bonviva just a comment--”

“He was sent to Papakura Stockades--”

Xana stood at the gate to her property just before the security measures. Whipping her white hair around she stared down the press but did her best give soothing smile. “I know you’re doing your job, but as I’ve said many times today and before that -- I do *not* comment on my family. *Any* member of my family. Please now, I need to go inside to them.”

With that she stepped back behind the security field, effectively shielding out the press; whirling around the azure woman walked up the steps and opening the doors she ushered in the teenage girl. “How long have you been here?” she asked.

“I’ve been waiting for you all day,” Erika sighed. The young woman, caught on the edge of childhood but cusp of adulthood, shook her head. “Dahila and Ben know.”

Stomping inside she yelled back. “And Taz,” she called out referring to the targ, “threw up in my shoes.”

Resisting the urge to find the closest bottle of wine and chug Xana called back, “Anything else?”

Erika paused for a moment. Pausing for a moment she stopped in the doorway, shoeless (Xana finally noticed that) and looked over her shoulder at her adoptive mother in a look that was frighteningly reminiscent of her mother. “Captain Kane called for you,” she finished off.

As Erika walked off in a flourish, Xana decided since her day was officially going to all 99 Hells at once, she was ok going for that wine now.

=/\=

[[Please leave a message for Kane, Michael Turlough, Captain, after the beep.]]

“Of course,” Xana muttered as she looked up to the ceiling of her den. It was after dinner; a very painful dinner of Dahlia picking at her carrots, Benito jumping at every noise outside insisting it was Jake returning and Erika frustrated at her inability to go anywhere or turn on the holovid (the last measure instituted by Xana since for once Bolian/Human didn’t want the news which suddenly found Jake fascinating). Now everyone was more or less in their own corners while she was sorting through messages.

[[...]]

[[...]]

[[...]]

[[Beep.]]

“Michael, this is Xana,” the former Secretary of Starfleet began. Although they were not what one could call close or even at a time civil; but it didn’t mean Xana was going to stand on ceremony. “I understand from my daughter you called and I’m sorry I missed it. I presume it’s about Jake.”

Looking over on her desk to her wedding picture that she had taken from her old office. For a moment she let her fingers dance along the edge of the picture before shaking herself out of her reverie and brought her attention back to screen in front of her. “I’ll be around tonight if you get this but tomorrow I imagine I’ll be traveling; however, I’ll be sure to let my family if we miss each other again to have them let you know where I am. Please let me know if there is anything you need from me. Bonviva out.”

At that Xana got up and dusted herself off before she heard a series of beeps before the computer announced, [[Incoming message from THE GOLDEN TOUCH]].

“Oh Gods,” the half Bolian muttered as she looked for more wine. She didn’t normally mind *who* was calling but tonight it wouldn’t be a good conversation.

However before more wine could be procured her kids whooped it up and went running into the office. “It’s Grandma and Grandpa!” they yelled. Clamoring up before the monitor they eagerly pushed their mother out of the way and turned on the monitor. Calls from THE GOLDEN TOUCH were some of the few the kids were allowed to answer on their own and for good reason.

A lovely brown-haired woman with traces of silver was on the other side. {{There are my grandkids!}} Melissa Crichton beamed with great charm. Throwing up her hands as if she could hug them from across the monitor she leaned in and said with great enthusiasm, {{Look, almost all of you are there! Now this is a treat.}}

As they all tripped verbally over each other to talk to Melissa Crichton, Xana gracefully stepped back but stayed in the room. Tilting her head to the side as she watched she remembered from so many years ago, she remembered Melissa’s worry how difficult it would be for Xana and Jake to date -- Xana was older, widowed, and with a child. On the day they got married Jake was not only marrying Xana and taking on Xana and Dahlia but also Daisy’s kids too. But by that time the Crichtons had embraced all the kids -- insisting they all call Melissa and Brian (who accepted it with a little less ease than Melissa) “Grandma and Grandpa” -- and when Benito had come a little over a year after they were married, it had more or less sealed the deal. While the Crichtons weren’t a daily presence in the kids’ life like Xana’s parents (since her parents did happen live on EARTH) the Crichtons did an admirable job of sending messages to keep in touch with the kids.

{{Well now I wouldn’t put it past your Mommy to figure out something,}} Melissa said. {{Speaking of your Mommy mind if you give me a moment to talk to her?}}

“MOOOOOM,” Dahlia yelled as if Xana wasn’t standing there not even five feet behind her.

“Right here, Dahlia,” Xana sighed.

“Grandma wants to speak to you,” Dahlia said as she jumped off the chair. While she and Erika made their way inside talking about ice cream, Benito sat there looking at his Mom and Grandma.

“Benito,” Xana said softly with a small smile, “why don’t you go join your sisters?”

“I’m good,” Benito smiled.

Melissa laughed on the other end of sub-space at that. {{Ben, your Mommy and I need to talk.}}

“Otay,” Ben nodded, still not moving except to swing his legs in and out.

Xana sighed. “Benito, Grandma and I need to talk. Alone,” she clarified.

“Ohhh,” he exhaled. Jumping off the chair he muttered, “Fine.” Then he went running off after his sisters yelling about ice cream.

As Melissa laughed she turned and looked at Xana. Leveling her daughter-in-law with a look she said, {{I wish I could say that I was calling just because I missed all of you. Well I do.}}

Xana sighed. “You saw the news,” the azure woman filled in.

The engineer of THE GOLDEN TOUCH nodded. Leaning in she said, {{Xana, you’re going to do something...right?}} When Xana said nothing Melissa pressed on, {{Xana, you’re going to make this right. You’re not going to let Jake just sit there, right?}}

The reality of the situation was that Xana was now an out of work politician, so any political capital she had was drying up. Her husband had for whatever misguided reason left room for doubt. And even if Xana could use that little bit of capital with a bit of reason, the truth was it wouldn’t probably be enough. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help Jake, her heart ached to do so from the moment she had heard of Jake’s arrest. Hell that was who they were -- go rushing during stupidly unachievable odds to help each other.

Except this felt like really stupidly unachievable odds. And that was saying a lot for a couple who first got to together in an Abyss.

As Xana went to say that she saw the look on Melissa’s face, the way her throat worked up and down to keep her emotions in check. It was the same look Jake often had; Gods knew that Xana had seen it enough. But that wasn’t right; when Jake had that look it was often because Xana had hurt him (and that hurt her in all kinds of ways). No...Melissa was hurting now because…

Xana’s own breath caught in her throat as she realized it. Melissa was in pain because Jake could be a grown man but he was still *her* son and now he was in visible pain and there wasn’t a thing Melissa could do about it.

Turning to the side to avoid that Xana saw her children in the doorway, blatantly listening to the conversation. Now for the first time she saw the pain and confusion etched on their faces.

Surrendering to the inevitable, that she was about to go on a quixotic quest to try to save her husband, probably fail, and in doing so fail miserably in everyone she loved eye’s she turned back to Jake’s mother. “Of course, Melissa.”

=/\=

TI: Next morning

“Ma, really it’s not that difficult.”

Yanthe Bonviva, dressed in swirling red and black Bolian robes, stood in Xana’s kitchen. “I mean really Xana, I am *not* your personal secretary.”

Rustling around her kitchen, Xana tried desperately to find the tea to serve her mother. “Look, I’m not asking for that much.” At her mother’s sniff Xana amended, “For the rest of humanity, it’s not that much,” she muttered under her breath.

“Was that one of your jokes?” Yanthe demanded. “It’s not funny.”

“It was funny,” Xana protested. Whirling around while the tea kettle was boiling, the younger blue woman ticked off the items, “I’m asking you to please take the kids to school. Dad will pick them up. If someone named Captain Kane calls, tell him that I went to Paris. I have some houseguests -- they can come and go as they please, so don’t worry about entertaining them. Meanwhile during all that I’m going to Paris to see what I can do about getting Jake released. How damn difficult is *that*?”

Yanthe stood there and tilted her bald blue head to the side. “This would be easier if you hadn’t quit your job in a fit of guilt.”

As if Xana hadn’t already thought this a hundred times in the last hour she glared at her mother, nevermind it had kept her up all night. “Oh here we go,” she muttered. Pulling the tea kettle off the stove Xana made some Bolian yellow swirl leaf tea. Passing a cup to her mother she said, “Here.”

“You know I’m right,” Yanthe pointed out. When Xana said nothing but tapped her foot, the elder woman pointed out, “You had a successful career, and it was one you could have kept where it was or moved up. Why you left was beyond me.”

“It was damaging my family,” Xana argued.

“The children needed more security,” Yanthe agreed.

“And my marriage?” Xana asked. As Yanthe gave an elegant shrug, Xana rolled her eyes. “Lovely answer, Mother.”

“Look, we all must make sacrifices. You know the Gods ask no more of us than we can give,” Yanthe said.

“Well then maybe the Gods expect more of me than they should,” Xana argued. “I wasn’t prepared to sacrifice that.”

Yanthe paused before sipping her tea. “Well then maybe you should go back to BOLARUS IX and tell the priests and priestesses you want to give up your designation as Avatar.” When Xana cursed, Yanthe sipped her tea. Placing the tea cup she said, “I thought so. And watch your mouth.”

“I can’t give up that,” Xana argued.

Yanthe shrugged in a move designed to infuriate Xana. “Well then you know your responsibilities to your Gods--”

“What about my responsibilities to my family--” Xana spat back.

“How can you raise children to honor their commitments if you can’t honor your own?” Yanthe challenged.

“Oh you’re a good one to talk about *that*,” Xana glared.

“Cheap shot,” Yanthe replied even as she nodded in agreement. As the two women stared down each other, it was the older woman who finally broke the silence. “Xana, what do you want? You want it all? That’s a young woman’s folly. To say she can have it all and all equally. You know that now. You have to make choices and they’re hard. And I’m sorry for you that you have to make those choices. But I’m saying as your mother, you have a drive that’s...well it’s envious. I just don’t want you to look back and wish you could have done more.”

Xana sighed. “I am their only mother,” she said. “And Jake’s only wife. There are plenty of other politicians. That’s what I know.”

Yanthe gave her a look. “Tell me how much that will help today when you go to Paris.” Giving Xana a kiss on her brow, she said, “Look, I’ve always liked Jake and when you married him I was thrilled to get another son. But those things, nice as they are, won’t help you today.”

Letting Xana go, Yanthe Bonviva sighed, “But as with so much with you, I hope I’m wrong. I hope it’s love that sees you through Paris.”

=/\=

Scene: Lahinch Beach, County Clare, Ireland

It had taken several hours in Paris but finally the answer was clear: thank you for visiting but you need to leave.

It was Secretary Martine, the last of the visits, who had offered the most clandestine and fruitful clue. Standing in the doorway she said, “I’m going for a drink, stay and relax.” Before she left the room Martine glanced back at Xana she said quite bluntly, “I don’t know whether to admire or be frustrated with your stunt before the Council.”

“To be fair most people have that opinion of me, and not just about me before the Council,” Xana admitted as she petted Angus.

Martine looked down at a PADD then at Xana. Walking back to her desk she dropped the PADD, gave Xana a long look, and walked out the room.

It took Xana all of 3 seconds after Martine left to read the PADD, which was a standard government bureaucratic form, but it gave more questions than answers. At least it was *something*; and it lead her to this remote area of Ireland. After being left at the hoverport, Xana walked down a long and winding road along a low rocky cliff, listening to waves of the Atlantic crash against the shore. Following the directions she obtained, Xana juggled the packages she had while whistling for Angus to follow her.

The locals were curious about the strange azure woman juggling two packages and a large black and tan dog but still nodded at them. Finally when they reached the end of the main road, Xana turned right, walked down three houses and walked up three steps. Looking down at her dog she said, “Well here goes nothing.”

Nudging the buzzer she stared at the wide airy white house waiting for someone to come. Finally after several moments, the door opened to show a lovely dark haired woman in her early 30s dressed a long flowing red dress. “Hello,” she smiled. “Can I help you?”

“Alanna? Alanna Edgerton?” Xana asked.

“Yes?”


“I know this is strange,” Xana admitted. “But I was hoping to talk to you. You see I used to work with your husband and well…”

Alanna smiled broadly, “Well then come on in! Richard isn’t in, but please we don’t get many visitors. If you made the trek you must be tired.”

Holding out the packages Xana said softly, “And I brought something for the baby.”

Alanna Edgerton blushed. “It’s still very early. Well I mean not early - it’s my second trimester but still I’m still so afraid to tell people and I know Richard hasn’t told many people….how did you know?”

“A mutual friend told me,” Xana smiled. “Anyway come let me help.”

So the women, and dog, went into the house. Alanna joyfully opened up the gift - which was a music box that the baby could play with and some holovids to play to the baby once he or she was born.

So while Xana made tea and biscuits, the azure woman opened up about her life. And the new mother-to-be peppered the azure woman with questions which she had no problem answering - mostly about pregnancy and childbirth. In some ways it felt so natural, like they were friends not that Xana was about to use this very sweet, trusting woman.

“So how do you know my husband again?” Alanna asked as she petted Angus and sipped the chamomile tea.

“We used to work together,” Xana answered.

Alanna looked at Xana; narrowing her eyes she murmured. “Xana...Xana….”

Realizing the moments of camaraderie were coming to a close she said, “He’s probably referred to me by my last name, which is Bonviva.”

Sitting back, Alanna’s hand dropped. “Oh,” she said, her mouth hanging open.

“Yes,” Xana nodded.

Alanna looked around before saying, “Why are you here?”

Xana sighed, noticing that instinctively the Irishwoman wrapped an arm around her midsection. Leaning in she she folded her hands under her chin, “Because in spite of everything you’ve heard about me, I’m a mother first. I told you about my children. And they love their father. He may not be all of their father - except for one - by blood. But damn it if he doesn’t love them all the same. And they absolutely love him. Right now they need him, and if I had to guess, he needs them.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat she admitted, “And so do I.”

Gesturing to gentle swelling of the other woman’s midsection she said, “You know how you think of every kick, every flutter, and worry constantly. It gets no easier, I promise you. But yet...you’ll love them anyway. And you’ll do incredible things...like trek across a place you don’t know, to beg the wife of a man who hates you, for your husband’s clemency, all so your children will look at you with hope in their eyes again.”

Alanna Edgerton sighed, tears forming in her emerald eyes. “I think you need to go.” Pushing the packages across the table she said, “I can’t take this.”

“Sure you can,” Xana smiled sadly as she got up.

“But your kids--” Alanna began.

“That’s *not* what my children need,” Xana said firmly as she left the table. Placing a hand on the other woman’s shoulder she said, “Don’t worry about the childbirth. I know it’s scary but it will be the least of your troubles.”

=/\=

NRPG: Hope that was enough of a twist for you all! The idea of Edgerton having a child was something Shawn and I have been playing with for awhile so I thought I’d start that ball rolling.

Shawn: Hope that works for you! Also your post with Jake (sarcastically I know) thinking about his mom, got me thinking about her too - so I couldn’t resist. Anyway let me know if this was all ok.

Jerome: See and you said no one had any Irish characters! Now we have Edgerton’s wife ;)

=/\=

Sarah Albertini-Bond

Xana Bonviva