Another Kind of Kinship

Synopsis: Janeway&? story. Response to a JetC17 Challenge requiring the use of a starting sentence. Set in Season Five of the series. This only makes sense if you've seen the episode, "In the Flesh."

Disclaimer: The toys belong to Viacom/Paramount. I just play nicely.
I have coffee with your mum, she seems so glad to see me.
��I expect those were the last words you thought you'd hear from me.
��Such a strange image it conjures in your mind, I see it! You can't picture me in the sun-drenched kitchen of your childhood home, cradling a steaming earthenware mug of coffee, chatting companionably with your mother. But I've done it now, enough times for it to become a habit which we both enjoy. Even though I make no conscious effort of will, every few days I find myself on her doorstep.
��You never thought I'd do this, did you? But you should have known that I couldn't resist the opportunity when it presented itself. "Know thy enemy." Which one of your philosophers or writers said that? It is as true for us as it is for you.
��My enemy, my sister, my other.
��You and I are locked in a dance of mutual suspicion. We both have such heavy burdens: the survival of your ship; the survival of my species.
��So I have coffee with your mum. The excuse is to know you better. Why are you surprised? Do you think I'd stop with Boothby and the Academy when there was obviously so much more to you, behind you, beyond you. This woman who gave birth to you, raised you and tended you: by studying her, I have learned much about you. I see now where your strength, your faith and your hope comes from. I can see more clearly now where those qualities might lead you in the future. All of value to me and mine: but it is more than advantage that brings me back to her kitchen table.
��We are becoming friends, she and I. Yes, she knows who, what I really am. And it caused some fear and surprise when first I revealed myself to her. But, like her daughter, she is stronger than she seems, and wiser too. She understands me better than I thought any human could.
��"You like her," she accused with gentle humour just this morning.
��I startled at the comment, then serenely smiled, welcoming the thought. "Yes, I do. We have much in common."
��"Does your kind have mothers?," she asked, as she refreshed her cup.
��"Not precisely--not in the human sense," I admitted, tracing one finger around the rim of my steaming mug. "We are hatched and raised communally. It is our way."
��"Ahhh," she answered. The silence lengthened and finally I was forced to meet her gaze.
��"Knowing what I now know of humanoids; it must seem strange."
��She smiled, secretively. "I have known stranger."
��I laughed uneasily. "Not much!"
��"No. That, I will admit."
��We sat for a while in companionable quiet. Finally, I rose to leave.
��"Thank you for coming."
��"It is my pleasure."
��The polite demurrals continue all the way to the door before she drops her facade. "Please do come back." The longing in her words is palpable, even to someone like myself.
��"I will, as long as I can."
��She stood, framed by the doorway as I exited her house. "You're all I have of her, you know. Sometimes I think it was easier, before you started coming, before you gave me such hope. . . ."
��I paused on the porch and looked back. "If you'd rather.. . ."
��"No. Please do come back. And bring me more news of her."
��I stepped away from the house, a safe distance from anything valuable in the material realm in order to make theinterdimensional transferance between realities. And all the time she watches, while my human seeming fades and my true appearance is revealed. We have no secrets, she and I. I shimmer out of existence on earth and, through the dimensions, re-evoke my human-seeming self across the galaxy, here on this simulation of Earth where you await me.
��So now you know one more of my secrets. I watch while expressions flit across your face: rage, longing, control, sorrow. You will not speak to me now? Ah well, we will talk again later. We have much to say. Maybe we'll meet for coffee? I've grown fond of that beverage.

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