TITLE: F Is For… Family Tree
SUMMARY: Kathryn looks through an old family book
RATING: G
DISCLAIMER: Story – mine, characters – not mine!
The book was old and the pages were growing brittle with age. The case it came in had done little to ease its passage through time. Each page listed names and each new page was titled with the name of the oldest child of the family. Not every name was a Janeway, but they were all direct descendants of the name before.
Kathryn glanced through it, smiling as her eyes took in each photograph of her ancestors. As she turned each page she knew that she was getting closer to that empty page where her name should go. It was tradition that each oldest child would write in their details, the name of their spouse, followed by the name or names of their children.
A lump formed in her throat when she turned the page and found her father’s name, written in his own hand. Her mother’s name was there; listed underneath along with the date they had married. Below that were the names of their children – Kathryn and Phoebe. Traditionally, the younger children were listed on the same page as their parents, while the older child would be presented with the book at a certain time of their lives.
She recognised Phoebe’s handwriting, detailing the life events that had happened since Kathryn had disappeared into the Delta Quadrant. Her sister had dutifully kept up the tradition and Kathryn’s heart rose when she saw that although her father’s date of death had been included there was no such date beside her name. Phoebe had kept up that shred of hope, even when others had moved on with their lives. Throughout time there had been occasions when the second child had inherited the book due to the oldest one’s death, and their name had taken its place at the top of a clean page. But Phoebe hadn’t done that, and instead her family details were listed underneath the name of Edward Janeway.
Kathryn sighed and turned to the next empty page. As the years had gone by she had determined that her page would be incredibly bare. Once, she might have envisioned Justin’s name on the page, then Mark’s. But fate had conspired that life be different. Phoebe should have kept the book, she thought. She would have been perfectly within her rights to do so; she had family.
“You knew all along, didn’t you,” Kathryn whispered to her absent sister. Picking up the old fashioned pen, she added her name to the generations.
KATHRYN JANEWAY
b. 2335
m. 2375 CHAKOTAY
Children: 2376 – AMELIA, 2377 – EDWARD.
FINIS
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