Good Bye

Posted on Mon Aug 19th, 2019 @ 4:44am by Lieutenant Commander Jacob "Jack" Devine & Lieutenant Elara Evander
Edited on on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 @ 2:24am

Mission: Preludes
Location: Docking Port of SB211
Timeline: 2367

He had turned seven and had two front teeth missing. He'd grown a little but Jacob was still just a bit shorter than Elara who was nearly two years older than him. Standing in the docking port with their families the two faced one another while the adults talked over their heads and Leo stood off to the side watching the ships come and go on the other side of the observation window.

Jacob didn't like this. He didn't like it one bit. He and Elara had plans. LOTS of plans. But no one seemed to care. His father had told him to not to cry because he'd only make Elara cry too and they were already sad over the departure. Jacob had promised to try but it wasn't easy. "I can't believe you're leaving," he said softly, the dragon figure he typically carried, held tightly in his arms. "I'm gonna miss you till I can find you again." Maybe the Fleet could separate them for now but some day they'd be big enough to do whatever they wanted to do. Then nothing would stop them from being together.

She'd been crying all morning, trying to tell her parents anything that meant keeping her and Jacob together. At one point Leo had seemed sufficiently irritated and posed that they should go with their Betazoid heritage and just go ahead and betroth her and Jacob and leave Elara behind with the Devines. He'd thought he was a genius and had laughed about it. Elara had half wished that her parents would agree to it just so that she could stay with Jacob. Her mother had said things like they wouldn't be as far as it would feel and that it would be good for both of them. Elara felt like she was wrong. Her father had tried to remind her that they'd still be able to talk and that they'd try to make it back for vacations and such. Elara just felt like he especially didn't understand. As tears streamed down her face, all she could think was that no one understood...only her and Jacob.

"I don't want to go," she whispered. Jacob's words, though, brought her some hope. Leaving him didn't feel as final as it had felt earlier, though there was still this feeling of dread in Elara. "You think? You think you will find me?" She wiped tears away. "I will look for you everywhere..."

"Always," Jacob answered with a smile that showed off the visible gap in his teeth as he held out his dragon to her. "And you can keep Pippin 'till I do." He still thought it was a silly name for a dragon but Jacob knew that Smaug was just going to have to deal with it while Elara took care of him. Besides, he couldn't bear to see her any more unhappy than she already was.

She did love that dragon, but she didn't feel right taking Jacob's dragon and not giving him something of hers. Her pegasus was packed away and already on board the ship they were going to be leaving on. Elara felt like she was going to start crying all over again because she wanted to take Pippin with her so she'd have that piece of her best friend with her. She looked down at the bracelet that she'd just gotten for her birthday. It was large on her wrist, but she'd absolutely loved it so her parents had gotten it for her. It was made from a leather-like thick cording with a channel of several different blue stones, each one different with its variations and coloring. It had reminded her of the ocean from Earth that she wanted to swim in one day. She'd barely gotten to wear it and she'd wanted it so badly, but she and Jacob would not be separated forever... Removing it, she held it out to him. It would likely be too big for him like it was for her, but he'd have something of hers to remember her by. "You should have this...until I can give Pippin back," she said as she eyed the dragon. "Because they can't keep us apart forever..."

"No, they can't," Jacob said firmly as he eyed the bracelet. It was sorta girly but one look in Elara's eyes and he knew it was important to her and what it meant for her to give it to him. "Like the ocean," he murmured as he tried to put it on but couldn't quite figure out how to hold it in place and fasten it too. He looked up at her. "I'ma gonna need your fingers," he said helplessly. He smiled when she gave him that exasperated look that always brought the mischief out in him. "WhadamIgonnadowithoutyou?" The words were all rammed together in a bit of a rush as he watched her fasten the bracelet for him, Pippin tucked under one arm. When she was done Jacob threw his arms around her and hugged her tight. "It's gonna be alright, El. I promise."

She held tight to him, not sure she could really let go. "I wish I felt that way," she whispered sadly. Elara just wanted to be able to glimpse the future, to know that in a year or two that they'd be together again...which felt painful without time even passing. Anything further, she felt would be unimaginable.

"Can we please just go now?" Leo complained to his parents, who were saying their goodbyes to the Devines. "I wasn't such a baby about leaving my friends."

"Leo, let your sister say her goodbye," Tucker told his son.

"I don't want to leave you," Elara whispered to Jacob, still clinging to him.

"I know," Jacob whispered into Elara's hair. "I know." He could feel the tears creeping up on him and he'd promised his father he wouldn't cry. He sniffed once and bit his bottom lip as he held onto her.

"We should probably let you board your transport," Philip said, a concerned look at their pair of children latched onto one another. If they didn't break it off soon there was bound to be hysterics even if Jacob did promise.

"You will call us once you're settled into the new place," Elania said, giving Elara's mother, Gwendolyn, one last hug. "Then we can let the little ones see that this is not the end of the world."

Gwendolyn pulled away and gave a nod. "We will. I'm sure things will settle down for both of them, they'll see that things will be fine." She reached out for Elara, pulling her lightly by the shoulder. "Come along, Elara..."

"Please, tell them we have to stay," Elara argued as she was being pulled from Jacob.

"I still think we should leave her," Leo piped up.

"Hush," Tucker countered.

Elara pulled away once she was definitely out of arm's reach of Jacob and ran back the couple steps to him. She placed a kiss on his cheek. "You're my favorite, Jake."

His hand came up in surprise as she retreated to cover her kiss. Jacob looked at his father and noted that his father was laughing. He then looked back at Elara. "You're my favorite too, El. Be careful." Watching her walk away with her parents brought tears to his eyes but he had promised not to cry and so he bit his bottom lip and raised his hand to his opposite wrist to run his fingers over the bracelet she had given him. "I will find you!" he called after her, earning him several looks of amusement from other bystanders. None of them understood and he knew they never would.

"Come on, Jake, my love," Elania said to her son. "It's time to go."

Philip scooped his son up in his arms. "How about we watch their ship pull out?"

"You're not helping," Elania exchanged looks with her husband but the small family moved toward the big windows that looked out on the docking stations.

"Which one is hers?" Jacob asked, sniffling a bit as he laid his head on his dad's shoulder and stared out the window.

"That one, right there," Philip said, pointing with a finger.

Jacob stared at the starship, traced its outline with his eyes and silently promised Elara that he would remember. Always.

---

As Gwendolyn and Tucker guided Elara and Leo onto the ship, the tears didn't stop and Elara didn't feel any better about the separation. The dragon that Jacob had given her was held tight to her body, held so tight that she hoped that it would somehow extend her connection to Jacob somehow and bridge the distance that she already felt.

"It'll be fine, Sweetheart," Tucker tried to tell his daughter and pull her away from the window that looked back at the station. "You just need to have some time to calm down and breathe and you'll see."

"It's not fine! Jake is my favorite and you're making me leave him!" Elara shouted upset at her father with an unusual stomp at the end. She was upset and she didn't want to be made un-upset by anyone other than Jacob.

"I told you we should have left her there," Leo piped up.

She watched as her father shook his head. "Not helping, Leo."

Her mother pulled her into a hug, holding her, though not as tight as she held Pippin. Her fingers running through Elara's curls. "I know it's hard when you connect with someone and have to be apart, but it won't be forever," she told Elara calmly.

"It already feels like forever."

"That feeling of forever won't be forever."

And Elara hoped that her mother was right.

=*=