More Than a Lifetime #5: Return to Normal

Chapter 3

"Bridge to Lt. Janeway. Lt. Janeway, report to the bridge."

Dani rolled over, and her eyelids slowly fluttered open.

"Lt. Janeway, report to the bridge immediately."

Dani blinked a few times and yawned.

"Bridge to Lt. Janeway. Lt. Janeway, come in."

Dani's eyes popped open. "Computer, time."

"The time is 0820 hours," the computer said in a seemingly cheerful tone.

"Shit!" Dani exclaimed as she bolted out of bed. She'd overslept. 'What the hell happened to my alarm?' she thought frantically before coming to the conclusion that she must've forgotten to set it.

"Shit!" she exclaimed again.

"Lt. Janeway, please report!" Will's voice came boomed through her comm badge.

Dani looked to her nightstand. Not there. "Where is it?" she asked aloud. She dropped to her knees and crawled around on the floor looking for her badge. She crawled over to her dress uniform top and picked it up. 'Bingo!' she thought. She picked the badge up as another summons from Will was coming through.

"I'm on my way," Dani replied, hurriedly.

Dani was dressed in 15 minutes. As a result of her hasty dress, however, her hair was, simply pinned up, in a condition a little lacking of its usually pristine appearance, and she'd forgone any make-up at all.

In another 15 minutes, it was nearly 0900 hours, and Dani was just walking onto the bridge. When the turbolift doors opened, Dani hesitated a bit before stepping out onto the bridge. All eyes were on her. She looked at Will. He was giving her a highly-peeved gaze, and he wasn't kidding or exaggerating in the least.

As Dani stepped onto the bridge, Will quipped, "Glad you decided to join us, Lt."

"I apologize, Commander," Dani said walking to her station. "It won't happen, again."

"See to it that it doesn't," Will almost yelled. "Man your post."

"Yes, sir," Dani said, sitting down at the Ops station.

"Current operational status, Lt?" Will requested brusquely.

Dani's fingertips danced over the station's console. "All systems functioning within acceptable parameters, sir."

Xxx

During her lunch break, Dani found herself in Ten-Forward, alone at a table near a viewport. She hadn't even been on board 24 hours, and she was already screwing things up. She'd been threatened with court-martial by an admiral the night before, and this morning there had been the whole ordeal with her being late for her very first bridge shift.

Dani looked up from her lunch and saw Will walk by with Deanna, Geordi, and Data. Dani was overcome by an wave of embarrassment. All of them had been present this morning to witness her incident. Dani quickly switched chairs so that her back would be to the newly-arrived group.

Deanna sensed an overwhelming feeling of embarrassment coming from someone in the room. She sat down and scanned the room, curious to discover who the embarrassment was originating from. Her eyes fell on a lone person sitting at a table near a viewport across the room.

"Will," she started, "isn't that Dani?"

Will followed Deanna's gaze to the person she had determined to be the producer of the dismal emotions. His heart sank. He imagined she must feel terrible.