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Author's Note:
This story takes place after
Dark Frontier, but before Equinox. The earth day is
March 14. According to my
calculations, Naomi's earth
birthday is March 14, because that is the original
airdate of Deadlock (the episode
she was born in). So, this
means that in Mortal coil Naomi was around 1 1/2 years
old. During the beginning of
Season 5, up until Dark
Frontier, Naomi was 2 1/2 years old. The aging process
will be explained in the story.
****
Three-year-old Naomi Wildman was skipping
along in the corridor on Deck 8. The little red-haired
girl was very
excited. Not only was it her third birthday, but
the Captain had called her to her quarters! Naomi had
asked if she
was in trouble, but the Captain assured her
everything was all right and that she just wanted to
show her
something. Now Naomi was hurrying down the hall,
practically running, although she knew she wasn't
supposed
to. She rounded that corner and BAM! Right into
the legs of Ensign Tom Paris. Uh-oh, was the first thing
that
came to Naomi's mind.
"Hey, Squirt, where's the
fire?" Tom asked, smiling.
"Don't call me Squirt,"
Naomi pouted, putting her hand on her hips.
And then, very regally, she replied,
"The Captain has requested that I come to her
quarters. It is very urgent
and I must go."
Tom nodded his head. "Oh, I see,"
he said. "Well, have fun. But don't run next time.
You might run into someone
a little less tolerant than me."
Naomi knew who he was talking about. Naomi,
being the perfect child she was, walked slowly and
carefully until
Tom was out of site and then started up again,
her pace growing faster. Just a little further... Naomi
reached the
Captain's door. Hesitantly, with a slightly shaky
finger, Naomi buzzed the door.
"Come in."
The doors swooshed open and Naomi poked her
head in.
"Naomi, sweetheart, come on
in."
Captain Kathryn Janeway was dressed in
normal civilian casual clothes, consisting of dark
purple slacks and a
green sweater. Naomi obeyed, stepping a little
further in. She had never been in the Captain's quarters
before and
she didn't want to do any damage to any of the
Captain's things.
"Naomi, don't look so
frightened, it's okay. Come here, sit down."
Naomi went over and carefully sat down on
the comfy, cushioned blue couch. Naomi adjusted her pink
floral
dress and pink T-shirt.
"So, how are you today,"
the Captain asked, putting her coffee cup down and
turning to face her.
"Very well, Captain, and how are
you today?" Naomi said.
She sat up straighter and put her hands in
her lap, like she had seen Seven do when she was
required to sit
down.
"Oh, I'm fine, dear, thank
you," Janeway replied. She paused, then continued.
"Naomi, I wanted to show you
something, and if you like it, you
can have it. Stay there, I'll be right back."
Janeway got up and went into the other
room. With an offer like that, Naomi could hardly stand
the extra minutes
waiting for the Captain to return. When she
returned, the Captain was holding a small, red
velvet-like box in her
hands. She sat it down on the table in front of
Naomi, but decided to sit across from her, in the
matching chair.
"Why don't you open it?"
Naomi took the little box and set it on her
lap. She lifted the clasp up and slowly brought the lid
back. It revealed
a small silver necklace with a green pendant the
size of a quarter. Naomi stared at it for a minute,
unsure of what
to do. She wished her mother was there.
"Happy Birthday, Naomi, and
congratulations, you're Voyager's new Captain's
Assistant," Janeway said.
Naomi was speechless and quite surprised.
Her mouth dropped a bit, but she quickly shut it,
embarrassed.
"Thank you, Captain," Naomi
said, fingering the pendant.
"It's actually from your mother,
but she wanted me to give it to you for your birthday
and also for having you as
my new Captain's Assistant," Janeway
clarified. "The pendant is a jewel called ramyan,
which is almost the
equivalent to an Earth diamond, but it's not
nearly as expensive. Your mother said she got necklace
like that
when she was nine years old, but hers was jewel
called an emerald. She wanted her daughter have one when
she was nine."
Naomi looked up, in surprise. She wasn't
nine yet. It was probably her K'tarian heritage. It
always played a role
in her life. She never understood how it worked.
The Doctor had explained it to her a few months ago, but
she
didn't understand anything. Here she was,
receiving a gift six years too early, all because she
looked and acted
like a nine year old. She had to give it back to
her mother. She had to wait until she was really nine.
Even if it
made her look like a thirty year old.
"Is something wrong?"
Janeway asked.
"No, it's cool, thank you,"
Naomi quickly answered. She smiled. "Thank you,
again. I should go thank Mom
and tell her about me being the new
Captain's Assistant."
The Captain smiled and stood up with Naomi
and walked to her to the door.
"Bye Captain, see you tomorrow.
My first day at Captain's Assistant. I can't wait!"
she called, waving as she
walked down the hall, holding the box
in her right hand and waving with the left.
Naomi returned to her quarters. Her mother
was waiting for her in the living area.
"Hi, Mom," Naomi said as
she walked in.
"Happy Birthday,
sweetheart," Samantha Wildman replied. "What
did the Captain want?"
Of course, Sam already knew what was going
on. The Captain had already told her about Naomi being
the new
Captain's Assistant earlier that day, when
Sam had given her the box.
"I'm the new Captain's
Assistant," Naomi said excitedly. "And she
gave me this box as a birthday present and
a congratulations present. She said
you gave it to her to give to me."
"Yes, I see you do have the box.
How do you like it?" Sam asked.
"It's great, Mom, but..."
Naomi trailed off, not sure what to say.
"But what?" Sam asked.
Naomi crawled on to her mother's lap.
"I'm not nine yet," she
said bluntly.
"Oh..." Sam said.
"That's it." Sam cleared her throat. "I
guess we never really talked about you growing up so
fast. You've probably noticed this
before, haven't you?"
"Well, yeah, Mom, I mean,
whenever we go on shore leave and stuff, everybody
always thought I was like six
or seven, when I was really only
two," Naomi replied. "And now that I'm three,
I guess people are going to start
thinking I'm a nine year old. Mom, am
I going to get wrinkles and stuff before you? Am I going
to die before you
do? I don't want to die."
"Oh sweetheart! Of course not,
no," Sam replied. "You'll slow down, I
promise. I researched this when I was
pregnant with you and I found that
for the first three to four years of your life you'll
grow at about 3 times the
normal rate of humans. Then, for the
next couple years, about 2 1/2 times as fast. After
that, only 2 times as
fast. And soon, you won't even
notice. Most doctors, including ours, agree that by the
time you're around fifteen
to eighteen, you won't even be able
to tell. Of course, this is different than normal
K'tarians. They age rapidly all
the way until they hit puberty, you
know what puberty is, don't you?"
Naomi nodded her head.
"Then they pretty much stop
aging. And then, when they get really old, they'll start
aging again. But you have
nothing to worry about. I know it's
going to be hard because when we go down to planets and
places like that
you'll have to play with older kids,
but I know you can do it."
Sam lightly kissed Naomi forehead, right
next to her K'tarian inherited bumps.
"Thanks, mommy," Naomi
said.
They hugged tightly.
"Now, would you like to wear
that necklace and your olive green dress to the mess
hall for your birthday party?"
Sam asked.
"How about I just wear the
dress, and I can wear the necklace when I'm really
nine?" Naomi suggested.
Sam smiled.
"I think I like that idea,"
she replied. "Go and change. And hurry!"
Naomi came out five minutes later in her
olive green dress swirled around her. Her mother fixed
her puffy blue
sleeves, like all mothers do, and they were off.
Naomi was excited about her third birthday party. It was
her first
birthday party as the official Captain's
Assistant. She couldn't wait to tell everyone!
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