=/\= Chief Counselor's Office =/\=

 

Aaliyah had by now returned to her office and as soon as she had stepped through the door the great big pile of work, and seemingly never ending stream of people hit her. What amazed her, though, was that for the first time in a long time she actually wasn't too stressed out about it. Something had changed inside her. Something had made her feel better for the first tie n a long time, and whatever it was she hoped that it would re-present itself, because for all her knowledge of the mind she could never work her own out.

 

She sat back in her chair, legs crossed as she picked up the next PADD in the pile. scanning the text she discovered that this one was about Lt Faulkner. He had been inundated since the attack and had been suffering from some sort of marital unrest and was popping in to see her later on to talk to her about it. Or so she thought. This PADD revealed that he had requested an extended leave of absence in order to sort out his children. She sighed heavily and shook her head, her hair falling in front of her eyes as she did so. Sweeping it back she thought about the fact that her department had seemed to change a lot over recent months, and how the 'family' unit had changed. It was difficult, but somehow thy would get through it. Without Michael though she would be much busier and she would have to reallocate whatever work he would normally have done. She made a mental note to send something to Michael to say thank you for all his hard work.

 

Her next worry was Zaria, who was getting better, but whom she hadn't been able to see in the last week. Thankfully she was supposed to be coming to see her in the next short while in order to discuss where she went from here. She hadn't had the easiest of times since she had arrived on Astate, what with her career change early on in her arrival. The upset she had been having with her family, mainly in the shape of her nephew and the upset with the recent attack. None of it had been plain sailing, but Zaria was getting through it and really shaping up to be one heck of an officer.

 

As if by command Zaria then appeared at her door. She gave Aaliyah a sweet smile "Hello Boss" She said with an almost nervous tone in her voice. "Are you ready for me or should I come back?" Zaria continued, having noticed that Aaliyah had been apparently been caught in a shower of PADDs which were strewn around the room. No change there really, except that they had seemed to vastly multiply since the last time she had graced the office.

 

"Sure thing!" Aaliyah said excitedly, jumping up out of her chair and pointing over to the plush sofa. "Please sit down. How are things with you at the moment? Getting better" Aaliyah asked inquisitively, wanting to know when she could get her back to work.

 

"Well....." Zaria said. "My nephew has been an absolute pain in the rear end, but I think I might have persuaded him to go home. Which would probably be a good thing because he has been trying to wind Yavyn up." She said, trying to laugh but somehow finding herself frown, just as she had been doing an awful lot lately with her nephew. He just didn't seem to get on with Yavyn very well and kept telling her horrible things about him, which if she didn't know Yavyn better she might have thought were true. However, she knew fine rightly how much effort Yavyn had been putting in with Reittan and it was something she greatly admired about him; his ability to rise above the cajoling to make sure her family were accommodated for, even though it was hard for him.

 

"And how is Yavyn? And how are things with him?" Aaliyah replied, curious to find out the gossip ore than anything, but also to find out if she was being supported in her route back into work.

 

"Well that's something else I wanted to talk to you about." Zaria said, nervously shifting on her feet.

 

It felt as though Aaliyah's heart had sank "Oh?" She anxiously replied, not knowing what was coming next, but fearing the worst.

 

"Well you see I thought you would already know that as Yavyn has been offered a post on Captain Fisher's new vessel, USS Leviathan, and I have been offered the opportunity to go with him should I decide to do so. "

 

Aaliyah simply nodded in reply.

 

"And I wanted to talk to you about it before I made my decision, and before I told Yavyn what my decision was." She said, desperately trying to avoid the gaze of Aaliyah, knowing and feeling that she was quite shocked at the words that were coming out of her mouth.

 

"Well all I can say is that I know how happy he makes you, and not only that, but if you were to think of taking up a crew position on the Leviathan I think it would be a fantastic opportunity." Aaliyah didn't want to let her go, but she had to do what was best for her.

 

"I know you're finding it difficult, and I know you want the best for me" Zaria said with a smile, now able to look her mentor in the eye. "Thank you for making this easier. As soon as I know what I a going to do for certain I will of course let you know. Next step is to talk to Yavyn about it."

 

"Good idea!" said Aaliyah.

 

"Well then wish me luck!" said Zaria getting up off of the sofa and turning in order to discuss her eventual future with Yavyn.

 

 

LtCmdr Aaliyah Becker

Counselor

Astate Colony

 

and

 

Cdt Zaria Hagan

Counseling trainee

Astate Colony