=/\=

It was five o'clock in the evening when the kids finally had a moment to themselves. They had been in separate rooms; talking with various reporters and having their picture taken while their parents were in debriefings. Natalie hadn't seen her mother since they transported down, but one of the commanders who was in charge of the forty children told her that her mother would see her soon. Natalie didn't take much comfort in that. She had heard that many times before from various aliens who had taken them hostage. The commander was a man of forty, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, with creases in his face from concentration. Natalie wondered if his face was plastered in a frowning position. He reminded her of a Vulcan.

Bored with talking with a young ensign woman who had no social skills whatsoever (Natalie attributed this to the fact that both her parents were in Starfleet and the woman had spent most of her life preparing for Starfleet in one way or another, or so the woman said). Natalie excused herself and went into the another room. Anna was sitting in a chair under a bright light, speaking with a man while another man held a vidcamera. Natalie hoped she wouldn't say anything stupid. Anna tended to talk, a lot, and when she talked she often said things that weren't something to share with the rest of the universe.

"Baby Jane!" Anna called, motioning with her hand that Natalie should join them. Natalie smiled and meekly walked over. The vidcamera was facing her now, and the attention made Natalie nervous.

"Hi," she said, clearing her throat. "Airbear, whatcha doing?" .

"I'm just talking with Gary," Anna replied. "He's very nice. He's from the Starfleet Reporter." Natalie nodded a salutations and Gary stuck out his hand which Natalie shook firmly but briefly. Anna stood up, offered Natalie her seat, which Natalie took, and then Anna positioned herself on Natalie's lap.

"May I have a few words with you, Miss Janeway," Gary asked, a Southern accent penetrating. Natalie nodded her approval.

"What was it like growing up on a starship?" Gary asked. He pronounced starship "stah-ship" and Natalie smothered a smile.

She pondered the question, wanting to phrase her answer in the best way. "It was great," she replied. "It was really great because it was like a little community on a ship in space and everyone knew each other and liked each other and we all got a long real well." Gary jotted this down on his PADD, thanked Natalie and left.

"He's very nice, don't you think?" Anna asked.

"Yes," Natalie nodded. "Very nice."

=/\=

Natalie and Naomi met with Jim that night at the bar at Starfleet Academy at seven o'clock at night. Natalie and Naomi had to sneak away from the security of Starfleet who were still watching them while their parents were in meetings. It was dinner time and the security staff at forty children to take care of, so it was rather easy for two experienced escapees to vanish from site.

They entered the bar breathless. They spotted Jim by the window, fidgeting, rearranging napkins, drinks, and silverware. First he put his bag on the chair next to him, then on the ground, and then on back of the chair, but that was uncomfortable, so he put it back on the chair next to him and hoped they wouldn't want to sit there. Natalie and Naomi giggled silently together. It was cruel, true, but they enjoyed having a fan.

"Hi Jim," Natalie called out, casually.

"Hey Jim," Naomi echoed. They graciously sat down in the chairs across from him.

"Hey, glad you could make it," Jim said, trying to sound calm, cool, and collected.

"No problem," Natalie replied. "So, where would you like to start?". Jim fiddled with his PADD, scanning it, looking for the right opening question. When he finally came to it, he sat up and prepared to record the answer. He cleared his throat. "So, Natalie, Naomi…"

=/\=

Blake couldn't find them. Neither could Emily. Andy had looked for an half and hour and Noah and Anna had looked for an hour. Seth was questioned six times about the whereabouts of his sister. Blake overhead one of the commanders say, "Whatever you do, don't tell Admiral Paris we've lost the heir to Voyager". Blake smiled. Natalie would crack up.

"Find them?" Blake asked as Emily returned into the room. She shook her head.

"You know those two," Emily replied. "They outwit the Borg, you think Starfleet's going to find them?". Emily flopped down onto a hard metal chair next to Blake. "I'm not worried. They're somewhere."

"Of course their somewhere," Noah added. "The question is how come they didn't tell any of us they were leaving?". Noah hated when people did things without telling him. He prided himself on being one of the few kids on Voyager who were in the loop with the senior kids.

"Maybe they got kidnapped," Anna suggested.

"Naomi and Natalie? Kidnapped?" Blake questioned. "Unlikely. That odds of them being kidnapped on Earth without everyone knowing about is about as likely as Tuvok laughing at one of Neelix's jokes." Emily cracked up at that one. She loved to make fun of Tuvok because he was the only one on the ship that wouldn't fight back. As Emily thought about the joke she remembered she hadn't seen either of them since the day before, and she missed Neelix. Only a handful of time had she gone without seeing Neelix for more than twenty-four hours.

Emily looked at her chronowatch. 22:16 is what it read. Wow, she thought, it's really late.

"Excuse me, Commander Lachayev," Emily asked a Bolian male. "When will we see our family?" Commander Lachayev walked towards them.

"You'll see your parents at breakfast," Lachayev replied. "You'll will be assigned quarters for the night". Emily sighed and nodded her head in acknowledgement.

=/\=

A half an hour later, Natalie and Naomi appeared.

"Naomi!" Anna cried. Immediately, all the Starfleet officers that were occupying the room rushed over to the two and began rambling of a serious of questions: "Where were you?" "How are you?" "Are you hurt?" "Were you kidnapped?" "Did you run away?" "Why were you gone?" "Did you think to contact us?" Naomi couldn't make sense of what they were saying and simply put up her hand. The officers went silent.

"We went to see a friend," she simply stated and went over to where her younger half-brother brother was sitting. "That's all you need to worry about." Natalie kept her mouth shut and sat down next to Blake. Naomi leaned over and gave Seth a quick hug. The officers' faces were ashen.

"That's it?" Commander Lachayev questioned.

"That's it," Naomi replied. "No need to worry. We kept Starfleets little secrets."

"Your parents will hear about this," Lachayev responded.

"No doubt," was Naomi's answer.

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