Daddy Issues

Posted on Sun Mar 15th, 2026 @ 5:32am by Ensign Henry Taylor & Tessa di'Orion

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Henry's Quarters
Timeline: After De-Lighted

At some point in their life, many guys are asked if they're a "boob guy" or an "ass guy". Henry was coming to the conclusion that he was a "knee guy." Not that he found knees particularly sexy or anything, but ever since their first chess game, Henry found that sitting with his hand on Tessa's knee brought him an unexpected level of calm.

He'd found multiple reasons to drop in on her, and they'd eaten lunch in the recovery room. At the end of his shift, Kally had discharged her. He offered to carry her all the way to his quarters, but she promised she could walk the distance. Now, they were both on his bed, Tessa propped comfortably against his pillows and her legs over his lap as he sat against the bulkhead. His hand was idly rubbing her knee while she worked on refining Kally's recommendations. He was spending his time staring into the distance, deep in thought.

"What do you think?" Tessa asked him, having just been talking seemingly to herself as she paged through the recommendations while taking notes on the PADD itself for what she thought would work better.

It took Henry a moment to realize she'd said something and he blinked and did a double take. "Hm?" he said, looking over at her. "About what?"

She smiled fondly at him leaning forward and beckoning him forward to reward him with a brief kiss. "A specialized replicator menu for me. It may mean we have to be careful when we order the same thing to make sure that we get the right plates, but it would definitely get me the supplements needed. I'm not sure I particularly like the thought of daily scans, but it is definitely going to be convenient because of working in sickbay. I think I'm going to be more of a test subject than anything else, but it'll be important, too."

"Yeah...that should help," Henry said. "And I think scans will only be needed for the first few days to make sure it's working," he said idly. He looked at her for a long moment and squeezed her knee gently. "Just so long as you're safe," he said, distractedly.

"Now that we know what happened, we know what we need to keep an eye on." She smiled at him brightly, "While I was in the recovery room I was checking out the blood tests that Lady Kellerman analyzed from both Cass and myself and compared them to my current levels through the scans." She gave a shrug, "Right now, I'm still severely deficient with my phosphate level right at 8.3 milligrams per deciliter, but that would be considered very high for you. Back when I came aboard, I was at roughly the Tialan normal of 23.6 milligrams." She gave a slight shrug, "It's better than the 2.7 I was at when I collapsed."

"Yeah, that's a big difference," Henry said, nodding. "We'll have to keep an eye on that when you glow."

"You know, we could test things to see what my luminescence level is like at this point?" Tessa asked with a sly smile, but already knew what his answer was going to be. An answer, however, wasn't forthcoming as Henry stared at the other side of his quarters, lost in thought.

Tessa gave him a curious look, some concern on her face as he didn't respond to her good-natured teasing and reached up to him to press her palm to his cheek gently, "Is everything all right, Henry? You seem distracted by something... I promise, I'm all right now, and this won't happen again."

Henry looked at her, his eyes haunted. "Sorry, Angel, my mind was...elsewhere."

"There's no need to be sorry for that." She smiled warmly at him, "Did you want to talk about it?"

Henry looked down. "You remember, I told you about how my mother died?" He swallowed. "I remember....when she was sick, my father always looked so upset. I thought he was angry at her for getting sick, which made no sense, but it's how he came across. After she died, that anger never went away. He wasn't cruel, but he was...short tempered. He was strict and he was overbearing. I always tried to be the Good Son, the one who followed the rules, did what he was told, and tried to make him proud."

He took a breath to steady himself, caressing her knee gently. "I....I think I get it now, though. He wasn't angry at her, he was angry at the universe, because he was scared. He was scared of losing her, and he was scared after she was gone."

A tear dropped out of each eye. He didn't like being so vulnerable, but if there was anyone he trusted to be that way around, it was her. "I know you're all right, and I know we won't let this happen again, but that doesn't change how scared I was. It just made me rethink everything about home."

She undulated her body to shift her position to be sitting on his lap and used her core strength to sit upright and wrap her arms around him in a hug that pressed her against him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. She couldn't tell him how scared she'd been, it would only make things worse for him, so she just held him. "I can't imagine what it was like, but I know he's proud of you, there's no way he couldn't be."

"Yeah there is," Henry said, quietly, holding her tightly. "We haven't spoken in four years. Not since my first break home from the Academy. He doesn't know what ship I'm on, or that I'm head nurse, or that I'm holding the most wonderful woman in the galaxy. He doesn't know we're trying to get him more grandchildren, and several other major details of my life."

"Then we need to get in contact with him." Tessa said quietly, "I know we're far away from your homeworld, but if we can manage it, we should go visit him in person." She finally released him enough to pull back to look him in the eyes, "Family is important, possibly THE most important thing in the galaxy. I know I can't say much, given that I didn't inform my father in person that I was leaving, but he would have objected and I would not have been able to disobey if it had been face to face. He'll get over it, and mother will help. You need to see him, to talk to him, to make up for lost time. I'll be on my best behavior, I promise."

Despite the feelings that all the turmoil the last twelve hours had dropped in his lap, the feelings he had for the person currently in his lap were more than capable of shoving everything else aside. He finally looked Tessa in the eyes, really looked at her, and smiled genuinely, warmly, without hesitation. "God, I love you," he said finally. He put a hand on her cheek and smiled. "Someday," he said, "we will go to Earth, and you will meet all of them. I know I promised to show you the town I grew up in, boring as it is, and I will keep that promise. And someday, we'll go back to Tial, and you can tell your Father why he should be so proud of the kind, honorable woman he helped raise."

He sighed and shrugged. "But until then...I don't know if he even wants to talk to me. I've spoken with Mary from time to time, but that's the only family contact I've had, really. And even then, it's been a while since we've been in range to get a message to Earth. I guess I should get around to it. Maybe tomorrow." He leaned in and kissed her softly. "For now, you and I have an appointment with one of Earth's finest delicacies, and a screening of a classic movie: Father Goose."

"We do?" Tessa asked him, then hesitated a moment before nodding, "We do." She confirmed, not wanting to take a chance on missing out on one of their normal activities. What did you have planned for the meal? I know you've got good taste in movies, so I'm not worried about that!"

Henry smiled and placed her gently back against the pillows and stood up. "Well, you did suggest this morning that we should just cuddle up with dinner and a movie, and I think that's a wise idea." He walked to the replicator and called up his personal list. A moment later, a tray appeared with a plate containing two large sandwiches. He put it aside on his table and replicated another tray, this time with three and a small, covered dish. He replicated two glasses of synthale as well.

He carried the second tray and a synthale over to Tessa and placed the tray over her legs with the drink on the nightstand. "Allow me to introduce you to The Polish Boy: The finest cuisine in Cleveland, Ohio."

The monstrosity in front of Tessa was definitely large, she could say that for sure and there were THREE of them!" She lifted one off the plate and inspected it from all angles, "What in the name of Urd's tits is this?"

"It's a type of sandwich," Henry said. "A smoked sausage called kielbasa, covered in a creamed vegetable medley we call coleslaw, those French fried potatoes you love so much, and a tangy, vinegar-based sauce, plus a little hot sauce for kick." He stood up and went back for his own tray and drink, bringing them over and sitting down on the other side of the bed from her.

By the time he'd finished talking it up, she had already taken one delicate bite of the sandwich and had a thoughtful look on her face as she sampled the flavors before swallowing and taking a far larger bite of the concoction in obvious approval. Clearly her appetite was fully back in force as she worked on quickly demolishing the first of the three sandwiches. It was almost that there wasn't a food she didn't like, and this was one of those many. "Vis ish gud." She said through a mouthful with her eyes bright, then she swallowed and glanced at the covered plate, "And what is this? Dessert?"

"Sort of," Henry said, with a cheeky smile. He pulled off the cover and revealed a hypospray. "A dosage to get you ready for tomorrow."

"For tomorrow? Not tonight?" She asked as her brain went into overdrive with calculations. The atmosphere wasn't going to help, but the food, with this 'booster' would bring her up and out of severe deficiency into just deficient. With the proper diet and additional boosters, she'd likely be back to 'normal' within the next few days. Even for her, there was a point where she could be in an overdosed level despite being in deficiency.

Henry leaned in and kissed her softly. "Tonight, you rest and recover. But tomorrow," he looked her in the eyes intently. "We see just how strong that glow can get."

Her eyes brightened as she leaned forward a smidge and gave him a return kiss, "No take backs. I consider this a promise, and it can even be in the evening if you want to monitor my levels before we start. Or both morning and evening, you know I'll never say no to you on that."

"Let's see how you feel when we wake up," Henry said, grinning. "But I've made arrangements with Kally to have tomorrow off to 'monitor your recovery' so we have all day together."

"You have yourself a deal." Tessa reached up with a hand to touch his cheek, getting a bit of barbeque sauce on it and giggled, "And we can binge-watch something as well. I saw a series from Earth that looks absolutely thrilling! I don't think we can get through it all in one day, but we can get a good start to it!"

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

Her eyes brightened as she reached up to swipe away the BBQ sauce with the tip of one finger before offering it to him. "It's called 'The Game of Thrones'. The reviews says it has swords and armor and wars! And the trailer I saw looks like it could even be set in Ancient Tial!"

"Not one I'm familiar with, but it'll be interesting to see what it has in common with Tial," Henry said. He picked up a sandwich and sat comfortably. "To your health," he said, saluting with it and taking a bite.

"Swords, armor, armies, hopeless causes?" Tessa said before stuffing the remainder of her first sandwich into her mouth, "Whuf nof to luff?" She asked, reaching for her drink, "Fupoffed t' haff a 'illr flot!"

Henry grinned at her and chuckled, his bad mood dissipating as they enjoyed another meal together.