Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News
Posted on September 4th, 2018 by Emilaina Acacia

Emily arrived via transport at Starfleet Academy, duffle bag slung over her shoulder, her cat Apollo in a small carrier in her off hand. She had, at last, after years of research, received her Doctorate after her thesis had been finalized and published, coincidentally just before the ship she was posted on had been scheduled to arrive back at earth. She hadn’t even had time to tell her new Captain before shore leave had started, but she had already all but forgotten for the excitement of seeing her family. She had planned to visit and thank her professors anyway, but they had contacted her first to ask her to give a series of special lectures in her research area for Starfleet Medical.

She was going to visit her home after her lecture, but she didn’t have time to find a better place for her things, so she found herself and her cat in the lecture hall a half hour early, writing out some DNA sequences on the chalkboard, her duffle bag tucked under the desk– the professor’s desk.

“Emilaina Acacia, Medical Doctor and Doctor of Medical Research… now that suits you,” a voice came from the back of the hall. Emily whipped around, nearly dropping her chalk as she made a running beeline for back, tackle-hugging the source of the voice.

“Tori!” Emily squealed, squeezing her younger sister within an inch of her life, “How have you been?”

“There’s a lot to go through,” Torinessa replied, pulling back to get a look at her sister’s face, “You’re coming to dinner, right?”

“Of course,” Emily scoffed, bemused by the notion of skipping out, “Are you… staying for the lecture?”

“It might be a bit over my head, but I’d love to see you teach,” Torinessa claimed a seat near the front of the class. The two were beginning to chatter when the first of the Starfleet Medical students arrived, and Emily changed tunes to begin acting more upright.

—

The whole experience was a bit overwhelming. By the end of the lecture, Emily had answered more questions than she even knew she would know the answer to, and shaken hands with half of the professors at Starfleet Medical. Students and professors particularly interested in her research exchanged business cards with her. She stayed for almost a full hour after the lecture was over, waiting for the last of the interested students to speak to her one-on-one. She took one last look at the mostly empty hall, briefly flashing back to attending one of her father’s special lectures. She returned to her sister’s side, and her sister walked with her to the transport that would take them home.

—

“EMILY’S HERE! AND SHE’S A REEEAL DOCTOR NOW,” Tori shouted into the house as she threw open the door. Emily rolled her eyes as she sat down Apollo’s carrier. She turned him loose, the cat quickly darting off to find something to eat or destroy. Some sort of clanging metallic chaos ensued in the kitchen, Emily’s mother scrambling to put lids on all the pots on the stove before darting out into the foyer to embrace Emily in a tight hug.

Emily’s intuition twinged as she wrapped her arms around her mother. Being half Betazoid, she could sense a familiar, rather distinctive presence in the house. It also wasn’t as hard to detect as her sisters, considering he was a full-blooded telepath.

“…is dad here?” Emily posed, her mother visibly distraught the moment the words left her lips.

“Bah! You girls and your psychic powers, can’t even have one tiny surprise for my little Doctor,” Janessa Acacia lamented dramatically. Emily released her, moving into the living room and hugging her father right through the floor-length curtain he had so vainly attempted to hide behind. The man laughed, lamely brushing the fabric away to escape from his hiding spot. He grabbed Emily by the shoulders, smiling down at her warmly.

“You know, I told you not to go into medicine. And if you did, I specifically said to stay away from germs,” he joked. Emily’s mother scurried back into the kitchen, followed by Tori. Emily gripped her father’s hand, beaming up at the much taller man.

“I recall,” she mused, “I just didn’t listen. You know how I can be.”

“Emily?” Janessa called from the kitchen. Emily made her way in, and immediately covered her face in embarrassment. There was a cake topped with lit candles on the table, and a computer sitting at one of the places with her elder sister Averianna’s smiling face on it. She was in uniform, in her quarters on her posted ship, and she had replicated her own slice of cake. It was rare for her whole family to be on earth at once with three of them being stationed on different starships, and it seemed today was no exception, yet her family still had to find a way to throw her a party.

It took coaxing to get Emily to sit down, but when her mother started bringing out dinner, of course comprised of Emily’s favorite foods, she was able to relax and even somewhat enjoy the attention. She got to have dinner with her father in the flesh, and her family got to do their catching up. She learned about her father’s adventures, including a brief posting on a deep space vessel, and her elder sister’s promotion to Lieutenant Commander. Averi was a Starfleet Engineer, and Tori had just started her sophmore year at a non-Starfleet college with a major in psychology.

The Acacias were a lively, rowdy bunch, laughing unabashedly all evening. After dinner and cake, they played some card games together. That night Emilaina slept in her old bed. It was nice, but still somehow, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars taped to her bedroom ceiling, she already missed the Atlantis. This was the night that she became certain, once and for all, that joining Starfleet was the right choice.