The Becoming Of A Crayterian

[Doreen]

She was nervous, at least, a little anyway. Everything was happening fast....faster than what she imagined. Nerves caught her momentarily as she took a deep breath to counter some welling in her eyes. She feared of another incident like in Omega 41 many years before.
She transferred some information to him from her datapad, "Dock two is where my ship is and here are the lock and access codes."
She then softly smiled, "Ben, Bennie, Benjen, any of those are fine to him. He's been through a lot. He's quiet and probably will stay close to me for awhile. As I said, I'm all he has."

She finished her wine and stood up. She fixed her long, red hair just a bit over her shoulders and grabbed her purse. "I need to go get Ben." Taking about three steps, she stopped and turned back around only to take a step back to Frank. "Thank you," she said softly through a kind smile, "Thank you for your patience and help. I only ask for continued patience. I'll meet you at the Gaia-II in about twenty minutes."

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She found Benjen playing with the youngster that he had met. When he saw her, he jumped up, ran to her and hugged her. "Mommy!" he yelled.
"Hi, Sweety," she said to him smiling as she held him tight.
"Look, Mom!" He was pointing to the mess of toys and his new friend. "We've been having fun here. Can we stay just a little longer?"
She couldn't say no and let him play another ten or so minutes. As they did, she spoke to the mother of the other child. The mother thanked her for her help and her son's companionship.
"Rodek has friends on station but someone new is a plus to him," she said.
"Benjen doesn't have many friends," replied Doreen, "Nor do I for that matter."
"Well you can consider me one," the mother replied, "And anytime you're on this station, we will be here."
Doreen only smiled her approval.

"Ben, Honey," she said, "We have to go."
Benjen was bummed. He wanted to stay but knew that he couldn't. He could only pitifully walk up to his mother.
"Mommy, can we come back some time? Please?" he asked
She just smiled, "I promise."
Ben smiled back and hugged her.
"Come on, Sweety, it's time to go."
Together, they walked to where the Gaia-II was docked.

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