ten_fwd | 1st Story - Ten Forward

One minute, Henry had been sitting on a bus to Boston, the next, he was standing in a room with lots of other people having experienced a large flash of light. Looking around, he realised he had no idea where this place was. It wasn't in the book, it hadn't been described by his father and he certainly wasn't back in Storybrooke.

Glad that he still had his bag, he clutched it tightly and moved to stand in a corner out of the way. Closing his eyes for a moment, to stop himself from panicking, he took some deep breaths before opening them again and taking a proper look at his surroundings.

First thing he noticed was the bar. It spanned the length between the two sets of doors and behind it was a smiling woman. On the other side of the room were...well they looked like windows but all he could see out of them were white dots on a black background. And between them, only chairs and tables, people and drinks. And no one he immediately recognised either.

Moving towards the strange windows, he touched one, unsure if he wanted to believe what he thought he saw. They looked like...stars.

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"Yeah. I hope we don't get in the way too much." Henry would much rather be home in Storybrooke than here on the Enterprise. Or rather, have his father here than the other Gold.

"If you like. I mean, just Henry is fine. But if you need to make it more formal, that's okay." As long as he's not Mr Gold. It just feels weird.

As for that last question, Henry does nod. "I'll try my best. But I'm Mr Mountain Forehead will keep me in line." His nickname for Worf.

He isn't expecting the boy to be so considerate. It gives him pause, and flusters him perhaps more than anything else would have. Complaints he is prepared for; aggression, anger, bargaining. His shoulders straighten as he realizes that, for a young man, Henry is already quite mature.

"I appreciate that," he nods, hunting for his next words. Luckily, Henry provides them for him. "Mr. Mountain Forehe—? Ah."

Worf. Picard's lips twitch.

"You mean my chief of security?" he asks.

"Oh...er...yeah. Sorry. I'm not used to Klingons so I made up a little nickname for him."

Henry saw the lips twitch so he's fairly certain Picard finds it amusing also. But he's not sure if he's made a big mistake or not. This is the captain after all.

"I'll try and call him Lt. Worf from now on." Maybe that'll help.

It can be hard to tell, when the captain's countenance tends more toward severe, or uncomfortable at best; however, when Henry apologizes, he holds up a hand.

"No, that is all right," he says. To be honest, he would be curious to see Worf's reaction to the nickname. He wouldn't outright encourage the child to address him as such, though; Worf is under enough strain as it is with the new arrivals. There's no telling what reception Henry would get. "You may inform me if he troubles you, but his bark is much worse than his bite."

Henry smiled again. "I'll do that. Thank you." The phrase amused me. Reminded him of his father.

After a moment of silence, Henry spoke again. "I know I'm just a kid, but is there anything I can do to help you while I'm here?"

Now, that is a cruel trick. Captain Picard had thought he was off the hook when the silence set in, already preparing to move on, and yet the boy speaks again. Not all that unlike Mr. Crusher when he first joined the complement. Picard finds himself at as much of a loss now as he was then. He handles it a little better, however; he at least gives it consideration, rather than dismissing it outright.

"You would like to help?" he repeats, lips pursed. "All right, then I have two very important missions to ask of you. First, that you stay out of trouble and cause none for those older than you. Second, keep making your notes. If you see anything untoward, write it down and hand it in to one of my officers."

That, perhaps, should give the boy something to occupy his time with. And you never know what a pair of keen eyes might uncover.

Henry sighed. He'd felt perfectly fine until this point. But now he was back to feeling like any old kid. Patronised. Those important missions were just stuff he already doing. And certainly nothing interesting ship-wise.

But this was the captain. He wouldn't complain. So he nodded instead. "Consider it done, sir. Maybe one day I'll show you the notes regardless. I can be quite thorough."

With his ship in a state of emergency and all procedures thus in flux, it will take quite a feat indeed to get Picard to give any more responsibility than that to a boy his age.

However, the months that lie ahead for him may soften him yet, and he was not dismissing him when he mentioned his notes. If Henry were to come to him again, perhaps his answer would be different.

"I believe you can," he concedes, smiling tightly. "Thank you, Henry."

"You're welcome, Captain." And that was the man's cue to go if he wanted. Henry would do those missions to the best of his ability and report back when he'd completed a significant portion of notes. Maybe that would prove he could handle more.

Little did either of them know that Henry would be considerably older by the time that event came.

1st Story - Ten Forward

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