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I rewrote an old piece of mine and made it J/C. No one beta’ed this so if any mistakes are distracting, you can blame moi.

 

DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns the Starfleet Academy uniform and the PADD invention, but these unnamed characters belong to me.

 

Janeway realizes the Golden Boy has been with her all along.

 

* * *

 

A tawny-haired slip of a girl and an intense-eyed boy with golden skin take the same hover train every morning to work in San Francisco. The first time he notices her, they're smashed up against one another in a crowd during rush hour. He is dressed in a white shirt, overcoat and scarf to keep out the damp chill, and carries a knapsack. She is in a suit of cobalt blue, balancing a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and holding a news PADD in the other. The bright-eyed girl is engrossed in the daily 3-D crossword puzzle – her answers unsaved - on the way to her destination, but she never manages to finish it.

 

For weeks, the Golden Boy quietly observes her – sometimes sitting beside him, other days soft-scented shoulders in front - going through the same routine only to be frustrated by the end. Unable to resist, he reaches over and keys in the last few letters to complete the words she can't solve on her own. She barely has time to look up and see him leave. Upon realizing how difficult the answers were to arrive at, she's intrigued.

 

The weeks continue to pass and her routine becomes theirs. She welcomes his presence. When there is an open seat beside her, he takes it. There are always a few words left he knows the answers to. He never rushes her to finish and waits quietly until she no longer fills in the blank spaces. They speak no words to each other. This is their courtship.

 

In any courtship, there are rough patches. At times she is preoccupied and barely fills in half the puzzle. One day she stomps off the train before his stop. He finds a cracked news PADD in her usual place. The next day, the data device is repaired, wrapped in a red ribbon, and waiting alone for her when she boards the vessel. She keys it awake to find that the previous day's crossword is finished for her.

 

There are little changes. She saves her answers as she goes, more sure of herself than before. When he steps onto the hover train each day, she greets him with a cup of hot tea. Intuition tells her he’d prefer it over coffee. When he is absent, the doe-eyed Girl keeps that crossword for him to solve the next day. For a period she is absent. Weeks pass. He worries he may never see her again. He tries a different hover train. He comes earlier. There is no sign of her.

 

One morning he wakes early to arrive at the stop where she usually embarks. Unfortunately it is a central station, the aorta within a system of transportation veins and arteries. Many signs point him in different directions. Just as he randomly decides where to go and disappears around a corner, she appears and heads for a different line, to a different part of the city. She is dressed in a Starfleet Academy uniform and carries a case with her coffee. She huddles in amongst new strangers on a new train, doing her puzzle with sadness.

 

* * *

 

Time, life, love, death and war pass. What was Spring now is Fall. His homeland has been destroyed. He is bereft of bloodline, yet rich in family, reborn in the company of that tawny-haired slip of a girl who has since grown into a porcelain-muscled Woman Warrior. His father’s winged tattoo and well-earned wrinkles keep her from seeing the Golden Boy she never got to know and doesn’t realize she misses.

 

Trust, belief, faith are challenged. They punch through together and hope leads them home. Duty is done. Winter has come. That tawny-haired, weary girl boards the hover train once more, pushes into an empty car with that patient-eyed golden gentleman, away from the cacophony of homecoming. A discarded news PADD lies on the seat beside them. As they wait for two stops to diverge their lives, she revisits her love for those crossing words. He smiles silently, observes her every answer, waiting for that inevitable moment.

 

Her brow furrows and she is puzzled once more. Taking a hopeful breath, he keys in the last letters and completes the final word. A familiar memory forces her backward, to a time when her bones ached not at all, her mind was free of worry and her heart knew no boundaries. She looks past the earned wrinkles, battle scars and winged tribal markings. She finally sees the Golden Boy in the man beside her.

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