OTFC #09 Hanging Out with Friends

PLEASE READ: I am taking the 30-prompt OTP challenge fav.me/d5dn7ex and CHANGING it to be "OTF"--"one true family," not "one true pairing." Hopefully it's obvious that Scotty and my OC, Orin, have a COMPLETELY INNOCENT, father-and-daughter-type bond, but I just wanted to make that extra-clear here. Most of the themes on this challenge are G-rated and can apply to parent-and-child relationships just as easily as romantic (and I thought they were just too cute to pass up, hence me jumping on the challenge bandwagon ), and the few that aren't, I of course will be finding innocent substitutes for.

~~~

Day 09: Hanging Out with Friends

"Oooorrrrrriiiinnn... wake ooooooopppp, Lassie!" Scotty's voice sing-songed happily as he leaned over his little bairn. She stirred gently, still snuggled in her coverlet.

One of the good things about being retired was the luxury of sleeping in. Scotty wasn't a very strict parent on the matter of bedtimes. He didn't mind letting Orin stay up an hour late, playing on his lap while he read a technical journal--and he certainly didn't mind letting her rest her wee head well into the morning while he quietly got up and fixed breakfast. Today, though, there was a special treat in store.

Orin's brown eyes blinked softly up at her adoptive parent, questioning, though not protesting.

"Orin Bairn," Scotty whispered, scarcely able to contain his grin. "Guess who's here!"

Orin's eyes instantly lit up, as did her open-mouthed smile. "Is it *today*?!"

"Aye, Lassie, they're both downstairs," the old engineer chuckled, reflecting how he had told his little charge about the planned visit the previous afternoon--and yet how, to a child of Orin's age, a single day still lasted the space of a week. Her reaction was understandable. How many days had passed in that little head just while she lay dreaming?

Orin was instantly out of her bed, stumbling to the floor in her pajamas.

"Whoops--" Scotty tried to catch her, but she had heard the pitter-patter at the foot of the steps and was already hurrying that way.

"Unca Chekkyyyyy! Auntie 'huraaaaaa!!" Orin squealed, reaching for the two laughing, bright faces in the stair hallway.

"Wait, Lassie, ye gotta get dressed first--!" Scotty had pulled Orin's favorite shirt and pants out of her closet, but the three figures below him didn't care.

"Oreen! Vhat have you been up to?"

"Come here, Sweetheart, don't waste all your sugar on Chekov, I want some too!"

Orin was giggling up a storm, latching her little arms around Chekov and Uhura's necks and kissing them repeatedly (as they did her). Orin was very close to all of Scotty's friends, the former crew of the starship Enterprise--but Uhura and Chekov (along with "Dr. Bones") had always been extra-special to the little Dinarian, and to her caregiver. That was why she had dubbed them her "Auntie" and "Unca," just as she had Scotty.

Scotty just stood chuckling again, shaking his head at the top of the stairs as he watched the reunion. Then he barreled down, too, and swept the entire group into a burly hug.

Orin and Scotty had kept in touch with all their friends ever since moving to Brackenfife. The crew of the Enterprise had holophone conversations nearly every day, and Orin was forever pestering Chekov and Uhura with funny pictures while Scotty traded news and jokes and recipes with them and Dr. McCoy.

Scotty and Orin had been invited to a weekend visit to the doctor's new home just that month. Captain Kirk had shown up there too. Some of the conversation was a bit over Orin's head, and she had mainly spent time doodling or watching the day-moths in the flower garden while the three men talked and joked. But she had still had fun at the lovely, quaint, Southern house, and of course had given the slightly grumpy but kind doctor a big hug. She had missed Bones.

It was shortly after their arrival back home in Scotland that Orin had practically insisted that Scotty invite Chekov and Uhura over to *their* house.

Scotty had already been having much the same idea.

The three adults teased back and forth while Scotty started flipping fried sandwiches in the air for breakfast. Orin soon bounded back downstairs in her day-clothes, chattering over the pleasant sizzle of the skillet. Somewhat unlike she had been with McCoy and Kirk, Orin was very much a part of the conversation this time. She asked Chekov all about Russia, his keychain, his new pet cat (she had of course brought her own pet tribble, Squiffles, down to play and say hello, and had pushed the fuzzy lump in Chekov's face), and everything else she could think of, while Uhura gave Scotty a surprise kiss on his chubby cheek, enjoying the familiar sight of him melting into a silly grin.

Finally, after a few moments of lounging in the living room with full stomachs, the little group strolled outside to their destination for the afternoon--Scotty's new boat, the Cur-Leis, moored at Brackenfife's small Loch. The friends planned to catch fish for an onboard lunch while playing games and trading stories amidst the spray.

"Wheee..." Orin cheered softly as Scotty hoisted her on his shoulders and Chekov and Uhura each reached an arm up to clasp her little hands. Scotty gallantly offered his own arm to Uhura, and the four dear friends went on their merry way through the fresh green hills.

It was good to be together again. It always would be.

~~~

I like to think of Chekov, Uhura, and McCoy being particularly close friends with Scotty, and of course with Orin too, in my world. McCoy's a tenderhearted old fellow and around Scotty's age and experience; and I think Scotty has some paternal feelings toward Chekov (just watch the two of them in "Tribbles" and, on a more serious note, "Spectre of the Gun"); and while I don't out-and-out ship "Scohura" for my own stories and pictures (mainly since it would complicate things a bit, what with my main focus being Scotty and Orin's single-parent father-daughter relationship), I do like to portray them as very dear, affectionate friends who like to teasingly "play the lady/gentleman" around each other. And I often like seeing (G-rated) "Scohura" stuff by other folks, and of course their cute scenes in The Final Frontier (movie V).

PS: I'm not entirely satisfied with the name I came up with for Scotty's boat (I threw the boat and fishing idea in this story as a nod to Scotty's reference of it in movie VI, The Undiscovered Country, and to a clip I saw of Jimmy speaking at a convention and mentioning that he liked to fish). If anyone can think of a more fitting and/or better-sounding name than the "Wavebeamer," please let me know. No promises, but I'm open to suggestions.

===EDIT===

Changed the ship's name from "Wavebeamer" to "Cur-Leis," after 's suggestion that I name it "Enterprise" in Scottish. I went to an online Scots-Gaelic dictionary and typed it in, and "cur-leis" was my favorite of the possible results. It basically means "courage" or "initiative." Anyhow, thanks for the idea, Vulcan!