"Truth Scores" by A. Rhea King Rating: PG Disclaimer: Don't own them, CBS/Paramount does. Genre: Humor Description: They're ewoks? Diaper 1 and Malcolm 0, the finer points of Animal Crackers is discussed, Travis and Archer find themselves on the business end of a cranky feline, and Trip shows Eartik a thing or two about gravity. Practicing Parenthood (2) Archer didn’t look up when Trip knelt beside him to pack another crate. “You should say something to her,” Trip said. Archer didn’t reply. “She didn’t mean to—” “Trip, enough,” Archer said. Trip looked back at the shuttle. Navta was sitting on a crate where Archer ordered her to sit and wait and was crying silently while she stared at her feet. “She wasn’t trying to get Zyg hurt, Cap’n.” Archer closed the lid of the crate and walked over to another one to pack it. Trip glanced back at Navta and then at Archer. “This needs to go in there,” Ensign Cutler said, approaching Archer. Archer reached up to for the equipment she handed him and packed it in the crate. “Is this the last one?” Archer asked. “Yes, sir.” Archer turned and walked over to Navta. “On the shuttle,” Archer ordered. “Go sit down on the bench.” Navta got up and walked onto the shuttle. Archer followed her in and waited for her to sit down. Navta sniffed back tears. “I’m sorry,” Navta whispered. Archer slowly sat down next to her, looking up at the ceiling. Archer looked down at Navta, talking in a quiet voice, “Navta, I asked you not to play with those animals, Navta. I asked three times and you ignored me. Then one almost attacked you and Zyg ended up getting hurt trying to protect you. What if there hadn’t been two shuttles? We would have had to leave people here in order to get him back and this place is dangerous. I know this is hard for you, Navta, but if you don’t start listening, I’m not taking you on any more away missions.” Navta started crying, looking down at her feet. “You hate me?” “No. I don’t hate you.” “Are you sure? Cuz when you yelled out there—” “Navta, look at me.” When she didn’t look at him, Archer gently ordered, “Navta, please look at my face.” Navta looked up at him. “I will never hate you. Ever. I might get mad and yell like I did, I might ground you, but I will never, ever hate you. Do you understand me?” Navta nodded. “Can I help load the shuttle?” Archer reached out and laid his hand on her cheek. “You made me really, really angry so I want you to stay in here and wait. I’d rather not yell like that again today, okay?” Navta nodded again. Archer got up and left the shuttle. He slowed to a stop outside and turned. Trip, Hoshi, Malcolm and Ensign Cutler were standing against the shuttle, pretending to be busy to cover that they had been eavesdropping on his conversation. “Load the shuttle, people,” Archer ordered, resisting smiling. They quickly obeyed. In an hour they were leaving the planet’s atmosphere and on a two-day trip back to Enterprise. # Archer began shutting down systems, listening to the loading bay doors close under him. The shuttle came to a gentle rest on the doors when the docking arm let go. Archer turned the chair, staring at the crew. Trip was asleep in the navigation chair and Malcolm was asleep in the chair across from him. Hoshi and Navta were asleep on the benches and Ensign Cutler was curled up in a blanket on the floor. Archer stood up and reached out, shaking Trip’s shoulder. “Wake up,” Archer said. Trip opened his eyes, looking out the window at the shuttle bay. “We home?” “Yep,” Archer shook Malcolm’s shoulder. “And it’s late. Wake up Malcolm.” Malcolm stretched with a yawn. “Oh. Can’t wait to crawl into bed. What time is it?” “Oh two hundred and twenty-eight hours.” Archer walked over to Hoshi and gently shook her shoulder. “I’m gonna sleep right here,” Hoshi muttered. Archer laughed to himself. “Go to bed, Hoshi.” “We home?” Ensign Cutler sat up, looking around. “Yeah.” Archer stepped over her to the other bench. He reached down and picked Navta up in his arms. “Are we leaving?” Navta muttered. “No. Go back to sleep,” Archer whispered to her. Navta laid her head on his shoulder, drifting back to sleep. Archer turned and smiled. The four were watching him. “What are you going to do the day she stops calling you K’pan and starts calling you daddy?” Trip asked. “Adjust. Good-night people.” Archer walked to the hatch door and pressed the button. He walked out of the shuttle bay and made his way to his quarters. Archer walked in, greeted by Porthos. “Lights, thirty percent,” Archer said, “Hey Porthos. You been a good boy? Huh?” The lights came up and Archer walked over to the couch. He laid Navta down and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch, spreading it over her. Archer walked to his bed, changed out of his uniform into a pair of shorts and climbed in bed, falling asleep immediately. He woke once, an hour later, not surprised to find Navta curled up next to him with Porthos snuggled between them. Archer placed a tender kiss on her forehead before falling back to sleep. Back to Chapter 1 Continue to Chapter 3

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