| Date & Time: | Day 01, 1103 |
| Location: | James & Paige Cohen’s Quarters Promenade |
| Written By: | Captain James Cohen Paige Cohen |
| Post Date: | 02/26/2026 |
| Episode: | Ep. 2 – On Shaky Ground |
Paige sat at the desk around the corner from the bulkhead where her bed met up with it, she’d heard the door open just as she’d ended the call with Hayden and she breathed a sigh of relief when she looked around the corner and saw her father entering their shared quarters. “Okay, that was too close,” The twelve-year-old mumbled under her breath as she got up from the chair.
She came around the corner, “Hi Daddy,” She said, “You’re back early.” Paige pointed out to him after checking the time on the chronometer. The girl at least got to say goodbye to Hayden, she’d not told him that she’d not said anything to her father yet in the week since getting to the station. It was the weekend, school didn’t start back up until tomorrow.
James eyed his daughter carefully, “I heard you saying goodbye to someone as I came into the quarters, who were you talking to?” He thought she was acting a little strangely, but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. He also considered the possibility that he was hearing things.
“Oh, I was talking to Grandma,” She lied while pointing over her shoulder. “I missed her and wanted to talk to her, it’s been a little bit since we left Earth.”
James nodded slowly, “Oh, okay,” He said. James’ knew his mother had passed, but Mia’s mother was still alive. James decided to change the subject away from him hearing her talking to someone and return it to the reason he’d come back earlier than planned. “I thought maybe you’d like to have some lunch with your Dad.” He told her.
“The Vulcan restaurant just opened two days ago, I know you’re not really into vegetables like that. But it’s something a little different, what do you say?” James asked her.
Paige smiled warmly, and with some relief that her father didn’t press for too many details. It meant, at least for the time being, she didn’t have to put much effort into her lie. “Sure, sounds good,” Paige answered her father. She simply hoped her father didn’t ask too many questions about why she’d just willingly accepted his offer of getting lunch together.
James found it odd that his daughter had just gone along with this way too easily, but something told him this was something he needed to just let go. “Okay come on,” He told her and even took his daughter by the hand before leading her out of their shared quarters. James was trying to figure out why his daughter was acting so strangely, but as they walked through the cross way into the promenade he decided to just let it go for now.
The Vulcan restaurant was just around the corner and they entered without too much difficulty. It wasn’t all that busy, the promenade wasn’t busy either. The ships that were expected weren’t coming in until later in the day. Things on the station had settled down in the past week as life started to settle into something normal.
The visitation from the Cardassian Union hadn’t gone completely unnoticed, but since so few civilians were on board it wasn’t questioned. Nobody seemed to worry about the fact that the Uvel System was on the edge of Federation controlled space. He sat down across from his daughter as one of the Vulcan waiters came around and dropped the menu off for the two of them.
Paige began reading the menu before picking something to eat, “I have plans with Ashley later,” Paige told her father. “We’re going to watch an incoming transport ships and the passengers coming off the ship they’re on.” She idly mentioned to her father, hoping it was enough to satisfy any curiosity he had about her behavior.
“Oh,” James replied with a slow nod, “So you agreed to lunch so I would let you go spend time with your friend?” The Captain asked his daughter with a slight smirk on his face, “I don’t have a problem with you spending time with Ashley this afternoon, just be back in time for dinner. Unless you’re eating dinner with her?”
Paige thought about it, “I’ll let you know Daddy,” She answered. Paige didn’t really have plans with Ashley that extended super late into the afternoon. The twelve-year-old had ordered her food and sat the menu back down onto the table. “Is it quiet up in Operations?” She found herself asking.
James shrugged as he finished ordering and stacked their menus on top of each other before handing them to the waiter. “There’s not much going on today, just some ships coming in. It’s been quiet all week, not that I’m complaining about that.” He looked across the table and realized just how much his daughter reminded him of her mother.
He didn’t like that his daughter was growing up faster than he would have wanted, it seemed like yesterday when her face was scrunched and being held by Mia. James tried to drive the thought of his head. “Is there a reason you want to watch a civilian ship coming in?”
Paige shrugged, “There are always strange aliens on those ships, Ashley and I like watching them as they come out of the airlock.” She answered. It was a strange ritual, but as traffic to and from the station came and went both her and Ashley would watch when they could. “Besides, my homework is done and I have nothing else better to do.”
She also liked getting to spend time with her friend, and there might be boys on the transport ship too. But, Paige didn’t tell her father that part. She also liked Hayden a lot and part of her wanted to see if he was coming off the ship even if he’d not mentioned a visit to the station. Paige knew Hayden wanted to talk his mother into it, but so far hadn’t done that.
Paige found herself missing him more than she missed her grandparents. She tried to drive her thoughts away from him as their food came to the table. Paige looked at it and immediately lost her appetite but to keep up appearances she pretended to like it.
James didn’t buy that his daughter was enjoying her lunch even if she acted as if she was, but he allowed her to continue. He didn’t see any harm in it, “You really need to stop growing Paige,” He told his little girl as he started to eat.
“Never Daddy,” She answered with a shake of her head. A devious grin appearing on her face as she refused to obey that. The twelve-year-old looked at her father for a brief moment and realized sooner or later she needed to talk about Hayden. She simply didn’t know how just yet.