Lars/Taylor/Marlo/Craes - Dinner Part 2

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.


<tags: Lars--Marlo and Taylor can come in when I say so and not before >

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"


(much more managable this way )

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.


<tags: Lars>
(I certainly thought so )

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.


<Tags: Lars and then you other two can join. >

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.


<Tags: Anyone>

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinising.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinising.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.


<Tags: Marlo and then the boys>

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

"Wow, even at dinner it's nothing but narrowed eyes and pretending to be civil," Lillian said as she set her utensils down. "We're off duty here and we don't need to use titles. You are both in my home sitting at the table with my family, who just want to get to know you better, and you're acting like children. My father just thought it would go with the meal and you're turning it into some personal attack on each other and it's not fair."

With that said, she took the Bourbon that Lars had poured that was sitting in front of Taylor and took a swig of it, pregnant or not. She was just making a point because while she knew that Taylor hadn't been serious about the poisoning bit, she was hormonal enough already and stressed from the day and they were ruining it. Family was important to her and so were the two of them and they weren't even trying and she was done trying to make them simply try.

"There, it's not poisoned." Lillian told him, feeling exhausted and upset. "I have had a very long, very stressful day and the two of you can't stop narrowing your eyes at each other and rolling them and making flippant remarks and I am at my wit's end. If you hate each other so much, don't even talk to each other. Excuse me, Dad, I need to take a breather."

When Lillian got up to leave the table and head out to the balcony, Megan very slowly reached for the glass by Taylor in the silence and pulled it toward her. She knew that Lillian was in a mood and she just wanted to keep eating and try and make things merry once again since Lillian had certainly just exploded. Whatever was wrong between Lars and Taylor wasn't an easy fix and she didn't want to deal with it.

"I'm just gonna...drink this..." Megan said with a nod, deciding to change the subject. "Good choice, Dad. Also, Mom--excellent stew. What kind of meat did you use?"


<Marlo next>

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

"Ma'am? We were friends once you know. Everyone is fine, even little Sareth who's all the way across the table from me. I just want to hug him and Megan--we almost lost them today--and I'm not sure if I would be able to take it." Marlo said.

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

"Wow, even at dinner it's nothing but narrowed eyes and pretending to be civil," Lillian said as she set her utensils down. "We're off duty here and we don't need to use titles. You are both in my home sitting at the table with my family, who just want to get to know you better, and you're acting like children. My father just thought it would go with the meal and you're turning it into some personal attack on each other and it's not fair."

With that said, she took the Bourbon that Lars had poured that was sitting in front of Taylor and took a swig of it, pregnant or not. She was just making a point because while she knew that Taylor hadn't been serious about the poisoning bit, she was hormonal enough already and stressed from the day and they were ruining it. Family was important to her and so were the two of them and they weren't even trying and she was done trying to make them simply try.

"There, it's not poisoned." Lillian told him, feeling exhausted and upset. "I have had a very long, very stressful day and the two of you can't stop narrowing your eyes at each other and rolling them and making flippant remarks and I am at my wit's end. If you hate each other so much, don't even talk to each other. Excuse me, Dad, I need to take a breather."

When Lillian got up to leave the table and head out to the balcony, Megan very slowly reached for the glass by Taylor in the silence and pulled it toward her. She knew that Lillian was in a mood and she just wanted to keep eating and try and make things merry once again since Lillian had certainly just exploded. Whatever was wrong between Lars and Taylor wasn't an easy fix and she didn't want to deal with it.

"I'm just gonna...drink this..." Megan said with a nod, deciding to change the subject. "Good choice, Dad. Also, Mom--excellent stew. What kind of meat did you use?"

Marlo wasn't the biggest alcohol consumer, but she had watched it being made, and was going to drink it, just to ease the tension she could feel even without being a Betazoid...tension which she was contributing to a little without meaning to.

"It's so good to see you all again! Though I wish it was under better circumstances like Lilly's second wedding or something, but there are some things we can't control, right? I haven't seen Leonard at all this trip. Do you think he'll come to see us off?" Marlo asked, looking around the table.

She wanted to go drag Lillian back in by her ear, but she needed space, so Marlo let her have it, hoping no one else tried to go after her...because they might come back with a black eye...K'nok had once.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

"Ma'am? We were friends once you know. Everyone is fine, even little Sareth who's all the way across the table from me. I just want to hug him and Megan--we almost lost them today--and I'm not sure if I would be able to take it." Marlo said.

"Yeah then you became executive officer and we don't get much time for our sparring sessions." replied Taylor rather sullenly. He liked Marlo because she based her opinions on people rather than departments, a crime even Taylor was guilty of. It sounded like he actually missed their times of punching the crap of each other which he was.

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

"Wow, even at dinner it's nothing but narrowed eyes and pretending to be civil," Lillian said as she set her utensils down. "We're off duty here and we don't need to use titles. You are both in my home sitting at the table with my family, who just want to get to know you better, and you're acting like children. My father just thought it would go with the meal and you're turning it into some personal attack on each other and it's not fair."

With that said, she took the Bourbon that Lars had poured that was sitting in front of Taylor and took a swig of it, pregnant or not. She was just making a point because while she knew that Taylor hadn't been serious about the poisoning bit, she was hormonal enough already and stressed from the day and they were ruining it. Family was important to her and so were the two of them and they weren't even trying and she was done trying to make them simply try.

"There, it's not poisoned." Lillian told him, feeling exhausted and upset. "I have had a very long, very stressful day and the two of you can't stop narrowing your eyes at each other and rolling them and making flippant remarks and I am at my wit's end. If you hate each other so much, don't even talk to each other. Excuse me, Dad, I need to take a breather."

When Lillian got up to leave the table and head out to the balcony, Megan very slowly reached for the glass by Taylor in the silence and pulled it toward her. She knew that Lillian was in a mood and she just wanted to keep eating and try and make things merry once again since Lillian had certainly just exploded. Whatever was wrong between Lars and Taylor wasn't an easy fix and she didn't want to deal with it.

"I'm just gonna...drink this..." Megan said with a nod, deciding to change the subject. "Good choice, Dad. Also, Mom--excellent stew. What kind of meat did you use?"

Marlo wasn't the biggest alcohol consumer, but she had watched it being made, and was going to drink it, just to ease the tension she could feel even without being a Betazoid...tension which she was contributing to a little without meaning to.

"It's so good to see you all again! Though I wish it was under better circumstances like Lilly's second wedding or something, but there are some things we can't control, right? I haven't seen Leonard at all this trip. Do you think he'll come to see us off?" Marlo asked, looking around the table.

She wanted to go drag Lillian back in by her ear, but she needed space, so Marlo let her have it, hoping no one else tried to go after her...because they might come back with a black eye...K'nok had once.

Marines had a saying; don't pet a burning dog. This time Lillian was the burning dog and it took every ounce of discipline to not rise from the table and come calling to her on the balcony. He had no intention of petting it or even getting near it. She was mad and rightly so and somehow 'he started it' wasn't going to help the situation. "It could have been poisoned." he huffed barely under his breath like a child might say when he thinks his mother is just out of earshot.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

"Ma'am? We were friends once you know. Everyone is fine, even little Sareth who's all the way across the table from me. I just want to hug him and Megan--we almost lost them today--and I'm not sure if I would be able to take it." Marlo said.

"Yeah then you became executive officer and we don't get much time for our sparring sessions." replied Taylor rather sullenly. He liked Marlo because she based her opinions on people rather than departments, a crime even Taylor was guilty of. It sounded like he actually missed their times of punching the crap of each other which he was.

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

"Wow, even at dinner it's nothing but narrowed eyes and pretending to be civil," Lillian said as she set her utensils down. "We're off duty here and we don't need to use titles. You are both in my home sitting at the table with my family, who just want to get to know you better, and you're acting like children. My father just thought it would go with the meal and you're turning it into some personal attack on each other and it's not fair."

With that said, she took the Bourbon that Lars had poured that was sitting in front of Taylor and took a swig of it, pregnant or not. She was just making a point because while she knew that Taylor hadn't been serious about the poisoning bit, she was hormonal enough already and stressed from the day and they were ruining it. Family was important to her and so were the two of them and they weren't even trying and she was done trying to make them simply try.

"There, it's not poisoned." Lillian told him, feeling exhausted and upset. "I have had a very long, very stressful day and the two of you can't stop narrowing your eyes at each other and rolling them and making flippant remarks and I am at my wit's end. If you hate each other so much, don't even talk to each other. Excuse me, Dad, I need to take a breather."

When Lillian got up to leave the table and head out to the balcony, Megan very slowly reached for the glass by Taylor in the silence and pulled it toward her. She knew that Lillian was in a mood and she just wanted to keep eating and try and make things merry once again since Lillian had certainly just exploded. Whatever was wrong between Lars and Taylor wasn't an easy fix and she didn't want to deal with it.

"I'm just gonna...drink this..." Megan said with a nod, deciding to change the subject. "Good choice, Dad. Also, Mom--excellent stew. What kind of meat did you use?"

Marlo wasn't the biggest alcohol consumer, but she had watched it being made, and was going to drink it, just to ease the tension she could feel even without being a Betazoid...tension which she was contributing to a little without meaning to.

"It's so good to see you all again! Though I wish it was under better circumstances like Lilly's second wedding or something, but there are some things we can't control, right? I haven't seen Leonard at all this trip. Do you think he'll come to see us off?" Marlo asked, looking around the table.

She wanted to go drag Lillian back in by her ear, but she needed space, so Marlo let her have it, hoping no one else tried to go after her...because they might come back with a black eye...K'nok had once.

Marines had a saying; don't pet a burning dog. This time Lillian was the burning dog and it took every ounce of discipline to not rise from the table and come calling to her on the balcony. He had no intention of petting it or even getting near it. She was mad and rightly so and somehow 'he started it' wasn't going to help the situation. "It could have been poisoned." he huffed barely under his breath like a child might say when he thinks his mother is just out of earshot.

From down the table Lars did his best to look contrite. He disliked upsetting Lillian even if it did make Taylor look bad, and the implications of how anti-social this social gathering was turning out made him frown. Gulping his drink, the same drink that had caused some much animosity, he tried to think of a solution but continually drew a blank as to what to say.

Then it hit him. He turned to the table, grinning and gesturing with his drink. "So did I ever tell you all about the time on Starbase 7 when Lillian was CMO and I went in for a checkup? So she does a full exam, runs the tests, consults with Dr. Stone and everything, but still comes back to me with a perplexed look on her face. 'Lars,' she says to me, 'I can't find any reason for your stomach pains. Frankly, I think it must be due to drinking."

He paused for effect, chuckling already at his own wit. "So I say to her, 'Well, Doctor, in that case I'll come back when you're sober!" After that he could only sit back and wait for the effect of the joke, and remembered too late that his jokes had never been too popular in the first place.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

"Ma'am? We were friends once you know. Everyone is fine, even little Sareth who's all the way across the table from me. I just want to hug him and Megan--we almost lost them today--and I'm not sure if I would be able to take it." Marlo said.

"Yeah then you became executive officer and we don't get much time for our sparring sessions." replied Taylor rather sullenly. He liked Marlo because she based her opinions on people rather than departments, a crime even Taylor was guilty of. It sounded like he actually missed their times of punching the crap of each other which he was.

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

"Wow, even at dinner it's nothing but narrowed eyes and pretending to be civil," Lillian said as she set her utensils down. "We're off duty here and we don't need to use titles. You are both in my home sitting at the table with my family, who just want to get to know you better, and you're acting like children. My father just thought it would go with the meal and you're turning it into some personal attack on each other and it's not fair."

With that said, she took the Bourbon that Lars had poured that was sitting in front of Taylor and took a swig of it, pregnant or not. She was just making a point because while she knew that Taylor hadn't been serious about the poisoning bit, she was hormonal enough already and stressed from the day and they were ruining it. Family was important to her and so were the two of them and they weren't even trying and she was done trying to make them simply try.

"There, it's not poisoned." Lillian told him, feeling exhausted and upset. "I have had a very long, very stressful day and the two of you can't stop narrowing your eyes at each other and rolling them and making flippant remarks and I am at my wit's end. If you hate each other so much, don't even talk to each other. Excuse me, Dad, I need to take a breather."

When Lillian got up to leave the table and head out to the balcony, Megan very slowly reached for the glass by Taylor in the silence and pulled it toward her. She knew that Lillian was in a mood and she just wanted to keep eating and try and make things merry once again since Lillian had certainly just exploded. Whatever was wrong between Lars and Taylor wasn't an easy fix and she didn't want to deal with it.

"I'm just gonna...drink this..." Megan said with a nod, deciding to change the subject. "Good choice, Dad. Also, Mom--excellent stew. What kind of meat did you use?"

Marlo wasn't the biggest alcohol consumer, but she had watched it being made, and was going to drink it, just to ease the tension she could feel even without being a Betazoid...tension which she was contributing to a little without meaning to.

"It's so good to see you all again! Though I wish it was under better circumstances like Lilly's second wedding or something, but there are some things we can't control, right? I haven't seen Leonard at all this trip. Do you think he'll come to see us off?" Marlo asked, looking around the table.

She wanted to go drag Lillian back in by her ear, but she needed space, so Marlo let her have it, hoping no one else tried to go after her...because they might come back with a black eye...K'nok had once.

Marines had a saying; don't pet a burning dog. This time Lillian was the burning dog and it took every ounce of discipline to not rise from the table and come calling to her on the balcony. He had no intention of petting it or even getting near it. She was mad and rightly so and somehow 'he started it' wasn't going to help the situation. "It could have been poisoned." he huffed barely under his breath like a child might say when he thinks his mother is just out of earshot.

From down the table Lars did his best to look contrite. He disliked upsetting Lillian even if it did make Taylor look bad, and the implications of how anti-social this social gathering was turning out made him frown. Gulping his drink, the same drink that had caused some much animosity, he tried to think of a solution but continually drew a blank as to what to say.

Then it hit him. He turned to the table, grinning and gesturing with his drink. "So did I ever tell you all about the time on Starbase 7 when Lillian was CMO and I went in for a checkup? So she does a full exam, runs the tests, consults with Dr. Stone and everything, but still comes back to me with a perplexed look on her face. 'Lars,' she says to me, 'I can't find any reason for your stomach pains. Frankly, I think it must be due to drinking."

He paused for effect, chuckling already at his own wit. "So I say to her, 'Well, Doctor, in that case I'll come back when you're sober!" After that he could only sit back and wait for the effect of the joke, and remembered too late that his jokes had never been too popular in the first place.

"That's rather riveting." said Taylor who was blatantly lying through his teeth without worrying about covering it up. "However I distinctly remember you claiming you were medically exempt from check ups. Something you mentioned during us talking about that psychotropic compound? I assume of course this is a fictional story because you seem to be talking about it as if you weren't exempt at all?"

Another point about Taylor not being drunk was that he possessed his treasonous memory that usually faulted people if they got events wrong. Usually it was just minor things and for a joke but he wanted to know if Lars disobeyed the order for medical scans and thereby sure he wasn't under the influence when he ordered his men to butcher people in the promenade or not. Somehow Taylor thought that no one was medically exempt from any scans. If the captain had to do it, so did the CIO.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

"Ma'am? We were friends once you know. Everyone is fine, even little Sareth who's all the way across the table from me. I just want to hug him and Megan--we almost lost them today--and I'm not sure if I would be able to take it." Marlo said.

"Yeah then you became executive officer and we don't get much time for our sparring sessions." replied Taylor rather sullenly. He liked Marlo because she based her opinions on people rather than departments, a crime even Taylor was guilty of. It sounded like he actually missed their times of punching the crap of each other which he was.

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

"Wow, even at dinner it's nothing but narrowed eyes and pretending to be civil," Lillian said as she set her utensils down. "We're off duty here and we don't need to use titles. You are both in my home sitting at the table with my family, who just want to get to know you better, and you're acting like children. My father just thought it would go with the meal and you're turning it into some personal attack on each other and it's not fair."

With that said, she took the Bourbon that Lars had poured that was sitting in front of Taylor and took a swig of it, pregnant or not. She was just making a point because while she knew that Taylor hadn't been serious about the poisoning bit, she was hormonal enough already and stressed from the day and they were ruining it. Family was important to her and so were the two of them and they weren't even trying and she was done trying to make them simply try.

"There, it's not poisoned." Lillian told him, feeling exhausted and upset. "I have had a very long, very stressful day and the two of you can't stop narrowing your eyes at each other and rolling them and making flippant remarks and I am at my wit's end. If you hate each other so much, don't even talk to each other. Excuse me, Dad, I need to take a breather."

When Lillian got up to leave the table and head out to the balcony, Megan very slowly reached for the glass by Taylor in the silence and pulled it toward her. She knew that Lillian was in a mood and she just wanted to keep eating and try and make things merry once again since Lillian had certainly just exploded. Whatever was wrong between Lars and Taylor wasn't an easy fix and she didn't want to deal with it.

"I'm just gonna...drink this..." Megan said with a nod, deciding to change the subject. "Good choice, Dad. Also, Mom--excellent stew. What kind of meat did you use?"

Marlo wasn't the biggest alcohol consumer, but she had watched it being made, and was going to drink it, just to ease the tension she could feel even without being a Betazoid...tension which she was contributing to a little without meaning to.

"It's so good to see you all again! Though I wish it was under better circumstances like Lilly's second wedding or something, but there are some things we can't control, right? I haven't seen Leonard at all this trip. Do you think he'll come to see us off?" Marlo asked, looking around the table.

She wanted to go drag Lillian back in by her ear, but she needed space, so Marlo let her have it, hoping no one else tried to go after her...because they might come back with a black eye...K'nok had once.

Marines had a saying; don't pet a burning dog. This time Lillian was the burning dog and it took every ounce of discipline to not rise from the table and come calling to her on the balcony. He had no intention of petting it or even getting near it. She was mad and rightly so and somehow 'he started it' wasn't going to help the situation. "It could have been poisoned." he huffed barely under his breath like a child might say when he thinks his mother is just out of earshot.

From down the table Lars did his best to look contrite. He disliked upsetting Lillian even if it did make Taylor look bad, and the implications of how anti-social this social gathering was turning out made him frown. Gulping his drink, the same drink that had caused some much animosity, he tried to think of a solution but continually drew a blank as to what to say.

Then it hit him. He turned to the table, grinning and gesturing with his drink. "So did I ever tell you all about the time on Starbase 7 when Lillian was CMO and I went in for a checkup? So she does a full exam, runs the tests, consults with Dr. Stone and everything, but still comes back to me with a perplexed look on her face. 'Lars,' she says to me, 'I can't find any reason for your stomach pains. Frankly, I think it must be due to drinking."

He paused for effect, chuckling already at his own wit. "So I say to her, 'Well, Doctor, in that case I'll come back when you're sober!" After that he could only sit back and wait for the effect of the joke, and remembered too late that his jokes had never been too popular in the first place.

"That's rather riveting." said Taylor who was blatantly lying through his teeth without worrying about covering it up. "However I distinctly remember you claiming you were medically exempt from check ups. Something you mentioned during us talking about that psychotropic compound? I assume of course this is a fictional story because you seem to be talking about it as if you weren't exempt at all?"

Another point about Taylor not being drunk was that he possessed his treasonous memory that usually faulted people if they got events wrong. Usually it was just minor things and for a joke but he wanted to know if Lars disobeyed the order for medical scans and thereby sure he wasn't under the influence when he ordered his men to butcher people in the promenade or not. Somehow Taylor thought that no one was medically exempt from any scans. If the captain had to do it, so did the CIO.

Lars smiled pleasantly, this time not addressing Taylor not like a child but rather an alien who was unfamiliar with the concept of humor. "Yes Colonel, a fictional story. Humans often use a fictional anecdote as the setup to a joke, a comical arrangement of words designed to produce a positive reaction due to their order or unexpected conclusion…as a means of facilitating social interaction," he said, stressing that last part.

"I am simply permitted to receive medical attention from a physician of my choosing. And as I recall, general medical scans were not much use in locating that particular compound. That's why you and the away team were able to bring it back with you from that freighter to infect the station," he said through a smile full of gritted teeth now. Two could play this game.

"After all, the way I hear it our delightful CMO at the time gave you several thorough scans in the runabout's sickbay and she didn't come up with anything. Of course, I don't know exactly what sort of tests she was running on you then." Lars offered that comment with what would hopefully be taken as naivety by everyone but Taylor, who would likely detect the smug sarcasm in the message. He made a mental note to thank the person who had provided him with that little nugget of information if the two of them ever crossed paths again.

"But let's not waste this fine meal discussing ancient history. Tell me, Ambassador. What do you think about the latest round of treaty negotiations with the Klingon Empire?" Lars asked Minas, gesturing respectfully with his drink.

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

"Ma'am? We were friends once you know. Everyone is fine, even little Sareth who's all the way across the table from me. I just want to hug him and Megan--we almost lost them today--and I'm not sure if I would be able to take it." Marlo said.

"Yeah then you became executive officer and we don't get much time for our sparring sessions." replied Taylor rather sullenly. He liked Marlo because she based her opinions on people rather than departments, a crime even Taylor was guilty of. It sounded like he actually missed their times of punching the crap of each other which he was.

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

"Wow, even at dinner it's nothing but narrowed eyes and pretending to be civil," Lillian said as she set her utensils down. "We're off duty here and we don't need to use titles. You are both in my home sitting at the table with my family, who just want to get to know you better, and you're acting like children. My father just thought it would go with the meal and you're turning it into some personal attack on each other and it's not fair."

With that said, she took the Bourbon that Lars had poured that was sitting in front of Taylor and took a swig of it, pregnant or not. She was just making a point because while she knew that Taylor hadn't been serious about the poisoning bit, she was hormonal enough already and stressed from the day and they were ruining it. Family was important to her and so were the two of them and they weren't even trying and she was done trying to make them simply try.

"There, it's not poisoned." Lillian told him, feeling exhausted and upset. "I have had a very long, very stressful day and the two of you can't stop narrowing your eyes at each other and rolling them and making flippant remarks and I am at my wit's end. If you hate each other so much, don't even talk to each other. Excuse me, Dad, I need to take a breather."

When Lillian got up to leave the table and head out to the balcony, Megan very slowly reached for the glass by Taylor in the silence and pulled it toward her. She knew that Lillian was in a mood and she just wanted to keep eating and try and make things merry once again since Lillian had certainly just exploded. Whatever was wrong between Lars and Taylor wasn't an easy fix and she didn't want to deal with it.

"I'm just gonna...drink this..." Megan said with a nod, deciding to change the subject. "Good choice, Dad. Also, Mom--excellent stew. What kind of meat did you use?"

Marlo wasn't the biggest alcohol consumer, but she had watched it being made, and was going to drink it, just to ease the tension she could feel even without being a Betazoid...tension which she was contributing to a little without meaning to.

"It's so good to see you all again! Though I wish it was under better circumstances like Lilly's second wedding or something, but there are some things we can't control, right? I haven't seen Leonard at all this trip. Do you think he'll come to see us off?" Marlo asked, looking around the table.

She wanted to go drag Lillian back in by her ear, but she needed space, so Marlo let her have it, hoping no one else tried to go after her...because they might come back with a black eye...K'nok had once.

Marines had a saying; don't pet a burning dog. This time Lillian was the burning dog and it took every ounce of discipline to not rise from the table and come calling to her on the balcony. He had no intention of petting it or even getting near it. She was mad and rightly so and somehow 'he started it' wasn't going to help the situation. "It could have been poisoned." he huffed barely under his breath like a child might say when he thinks his mother is just out of earshot.

From down the table Lars did his best to look contrite. He disliked upsetting Lillian even if it did make Taylor look bad, and the implications of how anti-social this social gathering was turning out made him frown. Gulping his drink, the same drink that had caused some much animosity, he tried to think of a solution but continually drew a blank as to what to say.

Then it hit him. He turned to the table, grinning and gesturing with his drink. "So did I ever tell you all about the time on Starbase 7 when Lillian was CMO and I went in for a checkup? So she does a full exam, runs the tests, consults with Dr. Stone and everything, but still comes back to me with a perplexed look on her face. 'Lars,' she says to me, 'I can't find any reason for your stomach pains. Frankly, I think it must be due to drinking."

He paused for effect, chuckling already at his own wit. "So I say to her, 'Well, Doctor, in that case I'll come back when you're sober!" After that he could only sit back and wait for the effect of the joke, and remembered too late that his jokes had never been too popular in the first place.

"That's rather riveting." said Taylor who was blatantly lying through his teeth without worrying about covering it up. "However I distinctly remember you claiming you were medically exempt from check ups. Something you mentioned during us talking about that psychotropic compound? I assume of course this is a fictional story because you seem to be talking about it as if you weren't exempt at all?"

Another point about Taylor not being drunk was that he possessed his treasonous memory that usually faulted people if they got events wrong. Usually it was just minor things and for a joke but he wanted to know if Lars disobeyed the order for medical scans and thereby sure he wasn't under the influence when he ordered his men to butcher people in the promenade or not. Somehow Taylor thought that no one was medically exempt from any scans. If the captain had to do it, so did the CIO.

Lars smiled pleasantly, this time not addressing Taylor not like a child but rather an alien who was unfamiliar with the concept of humor. "Yes Colonel, a fictional story. Humans often use a fictional anecdote as the setup to a joke, a comical arrangement of words designed to produce a positive reaction due to their order or unexpected conclusion…as a means of facilitating social interaction," he said, stressing that last part.

"I am simply permitted to receive medical attention from a physician of my choosing. And as I recall, general medical scans were not much use in locating that particular compound. That's why you and the away team were able to bring it back with you from that freighter to infect the station," he said through a smile full of gritted teeth now. Two could play this game.

"After all, the way I hear it our delightful CMO at the time gave you several thorough scans in the runabout's sickbay and she didn't come up with anything. Of course, I don't know exactly what sort of tests she was running on you then." Lars offered that comment with what would hopefully be taken as naivety by everyone but Taylor, who would likely detect the smug sarcasm in the message. He made a mental note to thank the person who had provided him with that little nugget of information if the two of them ever crossed paths again.

"But let's not waste this fine meal discussing ancient history. Tell me, Ambassador. What do you think about the latest round of treaty negotiations with the Klingon Empire?" Lars asked Minas, gesturing respectfully with his drink.

"Oh it's simple lieutenant commander, she wasn't running scans. We were shagging." replied Taylor who itched under his cybernetic eye as if ignoring the social faux pas of mentioning intercourse at a dinner table. However he betted that he knew a lot more about Betazoids than Lars did. There were no taboo subjects amongst those who had solid black eyes. If anything such talk was encouraged as it bred a feeling of trust and understanding. Not to mention a lack of awkward silences. "Actually on the subject of the more physical aspects of life Ensign Pena gave me a comm chime on the way here. She wanted to report you for unwanted sexual advances. Apparently you were giving her the chance to exchange bedroom favours for advancement or preferential treatment inside the Intel chain of command. Your wandering eyes did little to ease her. At least that's what she said. Of course I'll have to raise her concerns with the higher ups."

Smiling at himself he turned to Minas and indulged in the subject of diplomacy. Unlike most marine officers he dabbled in other fields to keep himself updated with everything going on. "I hear the Klingons have been pushing on the Cardassian government, trying to take advantage of their post-war state. Since they Dominion War they've become more aggressive in their diplomatic efforts."

||Betazed
||Crae Residence
||TBD


Leona smiled a little at Lars and laughed. "With my husband? Of course we do. Sareth, honey? Megan is fine on her own at the table, can you show Lars where Grandpa keeps his special stuff?"

"I think you'll like the selections," Megan told Lars with a laugh. "Dad has some pretty terrific choices."

Even though Sareth wasn't quite sure what they were all talking about, he went up to Lars and took his hand, leading him to the liquor cabinet. He wasn't allowed to touch it, but the grown-ups were and he was listening to his grandmother so as not to incur her wrath or anything. Smiling up at Lars he pointed to it, glad to be of service of the man that Megan seemed to like so much.

"Just try not to take too much." Sareth told him.

"Well then, I'm deathly afraid all those expensive spirits will be wasted on a crude colonial boy like me," Lars told Megan and her mother jokingly, then allowed Sareth to lead him to the cabinet without further protest.

As they walked he eyed the boy, noting the Betazoid and Vulcan features present, and remembering a message he had read on Starbase 7. An unofficial memo, from a friend of a friend, requesting that he keep tabs on the boy as a potential future asset. Nothing had ever come of that plan though…as far as he knew. So in the presence of so many telepaths, he pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. When they arrived at the cabinet Lars slid it open, and after a cursory examination of its contents he smiled and nodded to Sareth.

"Very good, operative," Lars said happily, treating Lillian's son with more respect and maturity than he had Taylor. After all, when was the last time Taylor had led him to an alcoholic bounty of this magnitude?

As he deftly mixed himself a passable drink, he continued his discussion with Sareth in the same tone he might use with a valued subordinate. "Your pathfinding skills are excellent, operative. So tell me…are you excited about living on a starship again?"

Sareth didn't have anything against Lars, even knowing that Taylor and Lars didn't get along because Lars had been there when Taylor had gone missing. He was just a little boy and he knew his mother and how his mother always gave out second chances and he certainly didn't know the full story. All he knew was that Lars had always been nice to and that he made his aunt happy so he didn't mind him being in his home or around him one little bit.

"Mostly I just want to be with Momma again," Sareth admitted with a gentle shrug. "What about you? Are you going to be on the ship too like you were on the starbase? Are you and Aunt Megan getting married?"

He was an innocent--such questions just seemed the natural order of things.

Gently stirring vermouth and gin together, Lars nodded companionably at the boy. "I can understand that, your mother feels the same way about you. And it's exciting to be sailing amongst the stars, don't you think? But me, I'll be stuck on Earth again soon enough. Boring office stuff," he said, glossing over the particulars of his work for the sake of polite conversation.

He chuckled slightly at Sareth's other question, and glanced over at Megan. "Married? Might be a little early for that, my friend. But if it happens, I'll let you know. Or let me know, if you hear about it first." He winked at the boy, then tested the drink, smacked his lips in satisfaction and added the olives. "Not too bad," Lars commented to no one in particular. Idly he wondered what Minas and Taylor were discussing upstairs in the study, and allowed himself to imagine someone getting chewed out by their future father in law.

"So how's your grandmother's cooking?" he eventually asked Sareth with a conspiratorial grin.

"You should come to the ship too then--it would be more fun," Sareth said with a smile, Megan laughing a little and watching Lars and Sareth talk to each other.

She hadn't really thought about what was going to come next because part of her was so sure that she was going to die this time around. Sareth had been a bit worried about it too, but that was to be expected as he was a child and just assumed that he and his aunt would bite it. Now she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and putting on a brave face and so was Sareth...but Sareth enjoyed talking to men as he never really had a father in his life and now he had Taylor and Lars was being kind too.

"Her cooking is better than Momma's--but don't tell Momma I said that." Sareth said quickly.

"Don't worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me," Lars said conspiratorially, tapping his gray Intel uniform with a gloved hand to emphasize that point. He gazed across the room to the stairs to see Lillian making her way back down, and wondered again what was being discussed up there. To try and keep from chewing his lip, he sipped his drink and tried to focus on the conversation at hand.

So, twirling the toothpick with the olives around in his fingers, he looked back down at Sareth. "So how do you feel about getting two new family members soon? A new dad and a new brother or sister, right?"

"Brother--hopefully. Momma says its too early to tell yet and even if she did know, she wouldn't tell me because Daddy doesn't want to know and I'd be too 'inclined to tell'." Sareth pouted, but he perked up when he saw his mother come over.

Lillian smiled a little bit. "You would totally tell Taylor."

She decided not to make a big deal about him calling Taylor "Daddy" for now since Taylor wasn't there--they could deal with it on their own time. Besides, Taylor was really the only father figure that Sareth could call his own because his grandfathers and his uncle didn't count, and neither did Emmett even though Emmett had tried to get back in the game there through Sareth. Still, Lillian held Sareth to her and ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at Lars and so did she.

"It think it would be best if you sat next to Megan and Marlo and then Sareth, Taylor and I sat across from you and my parents at their heads of the table. That way you and Taylor don't have to sit next to each other." Lillian told Lars with a gentle shrug. "Dad also wants the good Bourbon, so if you could grab that and come to the table with me, I'm glad to finally get a dinner out of you like I didn't on Seven. Scoot to your chair, mister," she told Sareth after she kissed the top of his head.

When Taylor came out of the study with Minas he was laughing and smiling, his uniform perfumed by the cigar smoke that both men had been indulging on during their 'heart-to-heart' conversation. Truth be told Taylor preferred his potential in-laws to his actual family, minus Reneé his sister of course since she was golden hearted. They were a lot warmer than his parents though Leona was obviously going through the recon phase of him so Taylor expected some scrutinizing.

Once he had settled in his spot he gave a small sigh of relief being able to sit down and relax a little. "Minas where did you actually get those cigars? Probably the best I've had in years."

"Bourbon, eh?" Lars asked Lillian jovially, finishing his martini. "All right, couple of Old Fashioneds coming right up!" As he was pouring the whiskey a thought occurred to him, and instead of two drinks he made three. One he set down at Minas' place, and the other two he carried back to his place and set them down. He gave a surreptitious nod to Megan, to indicate she should pass the extra drink down the table to Taylor. It was a small gesture, but it was all Lars was willing to make at the moment.

"Just a little supplier I know--top secret Ambassador stuff," Minas told Taylor with a wink, to which Lillian rolled her eyes and laughed and sat next to him, Sareth on her other side, who had immediately started talking to Marlo, whom he hadn't seen in a while. "Thank you very much, Lars," he said as Lars handed him the drink and then he smiled at the gesture for Taylor. "Don't worry, Lars--after dinner I'll take you upstairs for a heart to heart and then you can all leave whenever you want to."

Megan blushed a bit at that and took the glass, handing it to Lillian, who handed it to Taylor and gave him a nod to let him know that she didn't mind if he had any. She didn't control him or anything and that was his choice to do so, but she also knew that this was kind of the special guests thing that her father did and she wanted Taylor to participate if he wanted to. In fact it was really good Bourbon--she'd tried it herself--but she was sworn off of alcohol since she had a little one growing inside of her right now.

"So, Marlo...thank you for coming up with the cure with me," Lillian told her with a smile on her face--Marlo had come into the house when Taylor was upstairs and Lars was with Sareth and Lillian was glad she was there.

"It was the least I could do--I love Betazoids, and Megan and Sareth are my family too...even though Megan made me be naked at your wedding. I was perfectly content in my blanket." Marlo teased taking her seat next to Leona at the one head of the table, and Lars in the middle.

She and Lilly, had spent the majority of the afternoon distributing the cure, and it was long and exhausting--all she wanted was something warm and spicy. She was still wary of Lars, but she wasn't going to destroy everyone's good time by tainting the air with her apprehension. She knew that being surrounded by Betazoids meant that they felt her apprehension, and they didn't hesitate to read her mind, but she was willing to give Lars the benefit of the doubt. She didn't know the whole story and hadn't taken the time to act. Maybe Lars was just a victim of circumstance recruited because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Who does a girl have to cure to get some hasperat around here?" Marlo said, doing her best to keep the mood jolly.

"You'll have to see, I don't know if Betazoids do spice." teased Taylor with a wink to Lillian who took the glass. He knew exactly where it came from so he placed it onto the table and just looked at Lars with something of a deathly stare. For all Taylor knew it was probably drugged or poisoned, probably part of his little popularity contest with the Craes. Either way it was against his rules. "I don't drink in uniform." he told the table while looking at Lars. He was still in his freshly made duty uniform in gleaming condition, straight from a replicator. "But I appreciate the gesture commander." he added with words that felt like bile in his mouth before erasing the occasion in his memory.

Instead he turned to Marlo and decided to seek some conversation there. "So ma'am, I take it that everyone who was feeling poorly is on their way to being fighting fit?"

"Ma'am? We were friends once you know. Everyone is fine, even little Sareth who's all the way across the table from me. I just want to hug him and Megan--we almost lost them today--and I'm not sure if I would be able to take it." Marlo said.

"Yeah then you became executive officer and we don't get much time for our sparring sessions." replied Taylor rather sullenly. He liked Marlo because she based her opinions on people rather than departments, a crime even Taylor was guilty of. It sounded like he actually missed their times of punching the crap of each other which he was.

Lars rolled his eyes and took a sip of his own drink, pointedly straightening his own uniform as he did so. Looking up at the ceiling, he spoke wearily "Well don't let such fine bourbon go to waste. Perhaps Commander Bakel would care for the refreshment? If not, pass it down here and I shall dispose of it with fitting solemnity." With those somewhat flippant words said, he mentally retreated from the pleasant conversation all around him, sullenly gazing down at his drink and brooding.

With narrowed eyes Taylor gave a small noise as if he was clearing his throat. In actual fact he was not impressed with how Lars was behaving. First it had started with an offering of a drink which Taylor thought he declined rather politely, if a little bit firmly. Now Taylor was just tired of Lars acting like some type of upper class fool sipping on fine drink. "If I was to let you dispose of it lieutenant commander, it would surely go to waste." quipped Taylor who folded his hands in front of him. "Of course my manners, if someone else other than the lieutenant commander there would like my share I'm happy to let them. I never drink in uniform it's a rule I've always stood by. I've decided to cut out the alcoholic intake in my life since my younger years are getting blurry. I'd hate to miss anything because of that now that my family is all together."

"Wow, even at dinner it's nothing but narrowed eyes and pretending to be civil," Lillian said as she set her utensils down. "We're off duty here and we don't need to use titles. You are both in my home sitting at the table with my family, who just want to get to know you better, and you're acting like children. My father just thought it would go with the meal and you're turning it into some personal attack on each other and it's not fair."

With that said, she took the Bourbon that Lars had poured that was sitting in front of Taylor and took a swig of it, pregnant or not. She was just making a point because while she knew that Taylor hadn't been serious about the poisoning bit, she was hormonal enough already and stressed from the day and they were ruining it. Family was important to her and so were the two of them and they weren't even trying and she was done trying to make them simply try.

"There, it's not poisoned." Lillian told him, feeling exhausted and upset. "I have had a very long, very stressful day and the two of you can't stop narrowing your eyes at each other and rolling them and making flippant remarks and I am at my wit's end. If you hate each other so much, don't even talk to each other. Excuse me, Dad, I need to take a breather."

When Lillian got up to leave the table and head out to the balcony, Megan very slowly reached for the glass by Taylor in the silence and pulled it toward her. She knew that Lillian was in a mood and she just wanted to keep eating and try and make things merry once again since Lillian had certainly just exploded. Whatever was wrong between Lars and Taylor wasn't an easy fix and she didn't want to deal with it.

"I'm just gonna...drink this..." Megan said with a nod, deciding to change the subject. "Good choice, Dad. Also, Mom--excellent stew. What kind of meat did you use?"

Marlo wasn't the biggest alcohol consumer, but she had watched it being made, and was going to drink it, just to ease the tension she could feel even without being a Betazoid...tension which she was contributing to a little without meaning to.

"It's so good to see you all again! Though I wish it was under better circumstances like Lilly's second wedding or something, but there are some things we can't control, right? I haven't seen Leonard at all this trip. Do you think he'll come to see us off?" Marlo asked, looking around the table.

She wanted to go drag Lillian back in by her ear, but she needed space, so Marlo let her have it, hoping no one else tried to go after her...because they might come back with a black eye...K'nok had once.

Marines had a saying; don't pet a burning dog. This time Lillian was the burning dog and it took every ounce of discipline to not rise from the table and come calling to her on the balcony. He had no intention of petting it or even getting near it. She was mad and rightly so and somehow 'he started it' wasn't going to help the situation. "It could have been poisoned." he huffed barely under his breath like a child might say when he thinks his mother is just out of earshot.

From down the table Lars did his best to look contrite. He disliked upsetting Lillian even if it did make Taylor look bad, and the implications of how anti-social this social gathering was turning out made him frown. Gulping his drink, the same drink that had caused some much animosity, he tried to think of a solution but continually drew a blank as to what to say.

Then it hit him. He turned to the table, grinning and gesturing with his drink. "So did I ever tell you all about the time on Starbase 7 when Lillian was CMO and I went in for a checkup? So she does a full exam, runs the tests, consults with Dr. Stone and everything, but still comes back to me with a perplexed look on her face. 'Lars,' she says to me, 'I can't find any reason for your stomach pains. Frankly, I think it must be due to drinking."

He paused for effect, chuckling already at his own wit. "So I say to her, 'Well, Doctor, in that case I'll come back when you're sober!" After that he could only sit back and wait for the effect of the joke, and remembered too late that his jokes had never been too popular in the first place.

"That's rather riveting." said Taylor who was blatantly lying through his teeth without worrying about covering it up. "However I distinctly remember you claiming you were medically exempt from check ups. Something you mentioned during us talking about that psychotropic compound? I assume of course this is a fictional story because you seem to be talking about it as if you weren't exempt at all?"

Another point about Taylor not being drunk was that he possessed his treasonous memory that usually faulted people if they got events wrong. Usually it was just minor things and for a joke but he wanted to know if Lars disobeyed the order for medical scans and thereby sure he wasn't under the influence when he ordered his men to butcher people in the promenade or not. Somehow Taylor thought that no one was medically exempt from any scans. If the captain had to do it, so did the CIO.

Lars smiled pleasantly, this time not addressing Taylor not like a child but rather an alien who was unfamiliar with the concept of humor. "Yes Colonel, a fictional story. Humans often use a fictional anecdote as the setup to a joke, a comical arrangement of words designed to produce a positive reaction due to their order or unexpected conclusion…as a means of facilitating social interaction," he said, stressing that last part.

"I am simply permitted to receive medical attention from a physician of my choosing. And as I recall, general medical scans were not much use in locating that particular compound. That's why you and the away team were able to bring it back with you from that freighter to infect the station," he said through a smile full of gritted teeth now. Two could play this game.

"After all, the way I hear it our delightful CMO at the time gave you several thorough scans in the runabout's sickbay and she didn't come up with anything. Of course, I don't know exactly what sort of tests she was running on you then." Lars offered that comment with what would hopefully be taken as naivety by everyone but Taylor, who would likely detect the smug sarcasm in the message. He made a mental note to thank the person who had provided him with that little nugget of information if the two of them ever crossed paths again.

"But let's not waste this fine meal discussing ancient history. Tell me, Ambassador. What do you think about the latest round of treaty negotiations with the Klingon Empire?" Lars asked Minas, gesturing respectfully with his drink.

"Oh it's simple lieutenant commander, she wasn't running scans. We were shagging." replied Taylor who itched under his cybernetic eye as if ignoring the social faux pas of mentioning intercourse at a dinner table. However he bet that he knew a lot more about Betazoids than Lars did. There were no taboo subjects amongst those who had solid black eyes. If anything such talk was encouraged as it bred a feeling of trust and understanding. Not to mention a lack of awkward silences. "Actually on the subject of the more physical aspects of life Ensign Pena gave me a comm chime on the way here. She wanted to report you for unwanted sexual advances. Apparently you were giving her the chance to exchange bedroom favours for advancement or preferential treatment inside the Intel chain of command. Your wandering eyes did little to ease her. At least that's what she said. Of course I'll have to raise her concerns with the higher ups."

Smiling at himself he turned to Minas and indulged in the subject of diplomacy. Unlike most marine officers he dabbled in other fields to keep himself updated with everything going on. "I hear the Klingons have been pushing on the Cardassian government, trying to take advantage of their post-war state. Since they Dominion War they've become more aggressive in their diplomatic efforts."

Lillian hadn't been unaware of the conversation that was happening and all Megan was doing was sipping the Bourbon and letting it all happen. Leona and Minas were just observing the two and figuring out more about them while Marlo reached over the table to cover Sareth's ears so the five year old wouldn't have to hear such things since his mother was out of the room. When she realized that her little speech and storm off had done absolutely nothing, however, Lillian returned to the table and thanked Marlo, who returned to her food instead of her protection of the five year-old.

"I don't care what happened before," Lillian told Lars and Taylor, looking at them both. "It was the past and the past is over, let it lay to rest. I came home to hear about my family and Megan's new job and Dad's new piece of artwork and what Sareth's been up to while I've been getting a ship ready for his arrival and I think we'd all like to know what you two have been up to since Megan has missed Lars immensely and my parents need to know my future husband, but no more fighting. I'm serious. This is going to be pleasant, so don't talk to each other and no sarcastic comments, keep them to yourself. We are going to have a nice family dinner and if that doesn't happen for me, I will personally beat both of you up. We clear? Good. So, Dad, where did you get the new statue?"


(Damn-it, I really wanted to answer before you guys went at it again, lol. We ready to end it?)

Yup, finished