Family and Friend Picnic Time

Posted on 20 Jun 2016 @ 5:10am by Lieutenant Commander Adam Casey & Commander Terry Walsh

1,698 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Risky Business
Location: Holodeck
Timeline: MD 1, 1630pm

Terry was off duty finally and trying to relax, what with everything that had been going on all day. So in order to help himself relax, put on a pair of tan cargo shorts and a white t-shirt. After that, he started wandering the corridors. About twenty minutes later, he found himself outside of a holodeck.

“Eh, I’ve got a few programs I could use,” he said. “Besides, grilling always helps.” He liked the smell of red meat on the grill, especially if it had the right seasonings. He grinned as he remembered that he had a new Italian seasoning mix to try. He walked into the holodeck ready to activate his program and found that there was already one running.

“Oh no, I knew I should’ve checked it first,” he said. The doors closed behind him and the arch disappeared. Off in the distance, he could see an adult man and two children. He thought he recognized the man from the briefing back at Unity, but couldn’t remember his name.

"May I have another sausage roll papa?" Maria asked. Adam smiled, and handed her the pot.

"You can have anything you want." Adam replied.

"Can I have a pony?" Amy asked, grinning.

"Within reason." Adam added, although he was smiling as he said it. He heard the doors to the holodeck open, and saw someone standing a distance away. "Girls, I'll be right back." Adam said, standing up and heading over to the person. He recognised the face from the personnel files, but hadn't met the man. What was his name? Wish? Wash? No, that was a character from a play, a character called Wishy Washy.

Walsh! That was it. Tim Walsh..."Commander Walsh, isn't it? Adam Casey." Adam introduced himself, holding out his hand.

Terry shook the man's hand. "Nice to meet you, Adam. And you can call me Terry. Sorry I interrupted your program. I should have checked it first to see if there was anything running."

Terry! Not Tim. "It's fine Terry. Just having a picnic with my daughter's. You're welcome to join us, we always make more food than we need. Force of habit really, the girls like to pick at things." He said, with a pleasant smile.

"Your daughters?" he said. "Huh, I knew there had to be children on board, but I never thought I'd actually see them. And thanks, I'd be glad to join you." He smiled. "What are you guys having to eat?" He was accustomed to large meals...his dad always ate a lot.

"Well, we have southern fried chicken, sausage rolls, sandwiches, crisps, cocktail sausages, chocolate, pasties...all of the goodies." Adam said, as he led Terry towards the girls. "Girls, this is Terry, he's going to join us."

"Hi Terry." Amy and Maria said at the same time, grinning and waving.

Terry smiled back at the two little girls. "Hey there," he said, and waved back. "Your picnic sounds really good." He looked at all the food that Adam had mentioned. "And it looks good, too." He turned back to Adam, "Thanks. It's been a while since I've had some this. But I don't think I've ever had a pastie."

"They're yummy!" Amy exclaimed. "They have meat in them, and they taste yummy."

"The girls would eat them all day if I let them." Adam said. "Try this one, three kinds of cheese inside." He said, handing a blue pot to Walsh.

Terry took one of the pasties and bit into it. He smiled as he tasted the harmony of all three cheeses. After swallowing, he nodded and said, "This is really good. You were right, little one...yummy. Thanks Adam." Terry sat down on the ground and crossed his legs.

"Try the chicken!" Amy said, handing him a southern fried chicken drumstick.

"I warn you, these two will feed you up." Adam said, smiling as he bit into a cheese pastie.

Terry laughed as he took the chicken leg. "Hey, if there's one thing this ole boy knows how to do, it's eat." He took a big bite of the chicken. "MmMmm." After swallowing, he took another bite of the cheese pastie. "So," he said a moment later, "what do you guys have to drink?"

"CHERRY COLA!" Amy practically shouted. Adam rolled his eyes.

"Took me about six months to get a replicator pattern so perfect for their favourite drink, but I managed it." Adam said. "It was worth it, since they love it so much." Adam said, pouring out a glass for Walsh. "So how long have you been aboard for?" He asked.

"Oh, a little over a year now," he said. "I started out in Flight Control as the Assistant and filling the Chief Support Craft Pilot position secondary. You just came on, though, right?" Terry picked up his glass and nodded a thank you before taking a drink.

"Yeah. I was on vacation, and Harvey asked me to reactivate my commission. He and I used to serve together, until I was drummed out of the fleet for a violation of the prime directive. Harvey had crashed on a primitive planet, and Starfleet wanted to leave him. I didn't." Adam explained.

He swallowed the bit of chicken he had taken while listening to Adam. "It sounds like you two are pretty good friends then. And your actions remind me of an old Starfleet Marine adage...never leave a man behind. It was also drilled into our heads as Marine fighter pilots."

"He's one of the closest friends I have. Besides, he was the Chief Medical Officer. Do you know how hard it is to train new ones? It was easier than going through the drill of getting a new one up to speed." Adam joked, with a grin as he took a bite of his chicken.

Terry laughed. "No doubt, Adam, no doubt. So that's what he did before he was a Captain." He took another drink of cherry cola and looked down at the girls. "So which one of you should I be more afraid of? Cindy or Dora?" Terry grinned at the girls. He didn't know their names and was just being silly with them.

"Oh, both of them. The tallest one is Amy, the short one is Maria. Girls, show Terry why he should be afraid of you." Adam said, grinning. Both girls leapt at Walsh, and began to tickle him, giggling as they did.

"Ahhh!" Terry exclaimed as he fell back. He began laughing uncontrollably and even snorted a few times. He tried to roll over, but was afraid of crushing Amy or Maria. There weren't very many people that knew how ridiculously ticklish Terry Walsh was. Now there were three more. "Oh for the love of...!" He finally reached around and was able to start tickling them back.

Adam laughed as he saw the girls rolling around, giggling as they were ticklish. He finished his pastie and leant back a little. "You had to ask." Adam said, a grin on his face. "Alright girls, I think you've taught him a lesson. Computer, add changing rooms." He said. Four changing rooms appeared, which looked out of place in the scene, but it didn't matter. "We're going swimming in the lake. Care to join us?"

Terry caught his breath and sat up as the girls backed away. "Yeah, I had to ask. That'll teach me." He watched as the changing rooms appeared and had to wonder. "Oh, I didn't see the lake earlier. Sure, I'll go for a swim. But I didn't bring my swim trunks."

"The computer can replicate you some, and the lake hasn't been added yet. I didn't want the girls to get everything wet." Adam explained. "Computer, add lake." He ordered. The grass a short distance from them shimmered and changed to show a clear, blue lake, ready to be swum in. "We do this at least once a month, I take them out somewhere and do something fun, no stress, no problems, just a fun day out."

Terry chuckled. "Well, now that makes a lot of sense. I don't imagine soggy fried chicken, or soggy any of this, would be too good. And that's a good idea, spending time like this with them. These are good things they'll remember." Terry called up a replicator and went over to give the computer the size, length, colors, and design description of what he was looking for. In just a few seconds, the replicator delivered his a pair of swim trunks. Terry retrieved them and had the replicator removed.

Adam smiled and went over to his changing room, with his swimming outfit, a pair of trunks that would look out of place in Hawaii, but ones he found very comfortable. He took less than a minute to change, and saw the girls ready and waiting for him. "Alright, let's wait for Terry and then we can go for a swim." Adam said.

Terry came out a moment later and looked at the lake. He grinned at the girls, then at Adam. "Can they race?" he asked. Amy and Maria reminded him of two of his nieces. Though, they were a couple years older. And what little kid didn't like racing...with their dad's permission, of course.

Adam nodded. "Make sure you win girls." Adam said, with a smile. The girls giggled and began to ran towards the lake.

Terry looked at Adam and said, "You know, they make me think of my nieces. I used to have all kinds of fun with them and then send them home to their parents. Usually, all hopped up on sugar. I never heard the end of it." Then he took off running to the lake.

Adam grinned as the girls reached the lake first and leapt in, sending water upwards. Adam smiled at the scene, the girls happy, another member of the crew as a friend, and a sense that his family was happy again, something they hadn't been for a while now. He grinned as he took off to run towards the lake.

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