Off-Campus Apartment

"I can't believe this place is ours!" Bea said with a huge grin as she looked around at the great place they'd scored.

They had gotten the apartment, a huge two bedroom, a week before. Since they were now forth year students in Starfleet Academy, the rules were different and they were now allowed to room off-campus.

Bea and her cousin Lina shared one bedroom while Jan and her cousin Rosemary shared the other. The bedrooms were very large. Bea and Lina decided to take advantage of the space of their large room and put up bunk beds and a huge area rug. But Rosemary and Jan decided to split their room literally down the middle. The ladies had flowers in vases all over the apartment.

Since there was a strict pet policy in the building, Jan had brought her betta fish Captain Wentworth along but no one else was allowed to have a pet. It was the only thing, in their opinion, that sucked about the apartment. Lina had given thought to getting a fish but still hadn't made up her mind.

They had moved in and applied some serious elbow grease to clean the place up. "It's time to go get Stevie from daycare," said Lina.

"Oh, that's right!" Bea said with wide eyes. "What time does his mom come to pick him up?"

"She'll be here at six."

"Okay, so we keep the little rugrat for one hour a day for two month until her new position starts?"

"Yep," Lina answered.

"Let's go get him."

Rosemary and Jan were on their way into the apartment just as Bea and Lina were on their way out.

"Hey, guys," said Bea. "This weird salesman guy came by for you, Rosemary."

"Me?" she asked. "What did he look like?"

"Well he said he was a Romulan senator or something, but who believes that?" Bea waved it off. "He had all these products he was trying to give me for you, but I know he was just trying to sell them or something. Probably some kind of druggie. He did look all skinny and lizardly. We gotta go get the rugrat now. See you guys later."

The door closed and the two girls still there started putting dinner together for the four ladies. Captain Wentworth, in his fishbowl, was very happy to see the woman that fed him. "How's my baby doing?" Jan cooed at him as Rosemary shook her head in disbelief.

"I cannot believe you talk to that fish."

"He's the only boyfriend I've had since we got to Starfleet Academy," Jan sighed.

"None of us have had any luck in that area," Rosemary tried to make her feel better. "So technically you've had a man the whole time and none of us have."

Jan looked at the fish. "You hear that, Cap'n Wentworth! Over two years and we're still going strong!"

##

"So what did he do to that was wrong?" asked Bea of the daycare worker.

The lady, a stiff-faced thing with a bun that looked too tight, declared, "That boy is a menace!"

Lina had the boy by the hand, a little four year old by the nickname of Stevie. He had the most angelic face and deep dark hair and eyes. "Oh come on, lady, he's four," said Lina. "Who's the adult here, you or him?"

"That boy has been nothing but trouble since he arrived at this institution of early learning!" the woman declared.

Bea sighed. "Ok, fine. We'll tell his mom to call you and you can talk to her about it. We're just his babysitters, after all."

"Fine!" said the woman with a pinched expression.

They walked out of the place and Lina was asking him, "What did you do now?"

"I opened the outside door and I let the cats in from outside the classroom!" he said with the hugest grin. "And then I said a bad word out loud!"

Bea and Lina frowned. "Don't say any bad words out loud anymore," Lina upbraided him.

"But I just shouted it just like this! BOOTY!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Half the heads on the street turned and looked at him with stark disapproval while Bea had to squelch a deep well of laughter trying to roil to the surface. "Don't do that anymore," she finally got out. Lina had to turn around and laugh into her hand, she had been so caught off guard by the boy shouting his 'bad word' out loud.

"Let's go home," Lina forced out while holding in the rest of her laughter.

##

By the time the ladies got home, they could smell eggplant parmesan baking in the oven. "That smells so good!" declared Lina as she hugged Rosemary. "Have I told you lately I love your cooking skills?"

"Yes, you have. But you have to make desert," she reminded her.

"I got fruit earlier. I was going to make parfaits tonight with gluten-free graham crumbs. I got coconut soygurt for yours."

"Excellent!" Rosemary declared with a huge grin.

Jan was tossing a salad off to the side when Bea said, as she looked out of a window, "That Romulan is back again!"

Not five seconds later, there was a knock at their door. Lina was the first one there and she opened the door only a tiny crack. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Vreenak found himself face to face with the suspicious face of a short brown girl with very curly long hair. "I was trying to ascertain if Rosemary is here?"

Lina squinted at him. "Stay right there." She closed the door. "Rosemary, should I tell him to go away?"

"Would you guys stop being so suspicious?" she upbraided Lina and Bea. "He could be perfectly harmless!"

"Or a crazy axe murderer," Jan said out of the side of her mouth as she put the salad on the table. As soon as the door opened fully and they all saw the Romulan standing there, Jan couldn't help but notice her fish swam into his little fishy house and would not come back out. She looked down at Stevie and whispered, "Captain Wentworth doesn't like him very much."

"So I wanted to know, Miss Rosemary," Vreenak was saying with a huge smile on his face, "maybe you would like to accompany me on a-"

But Stevie wasn't having it. He got to the door and shouted at the Romulan, "Captain Wentworth doesn't like you!" and slammed the door in his face.

"Stevie!" said Rosemary, horrified.

Bea and Lina were able to hold in their laughter since they were used to the boy's antics by then, but Jan, having been caught totally off guard, was really laughing out loud. Rosemary gave her cousin the dirtiest look and then flung the door open to see if she could catch Vreenak, but he was already long gone.

Vreenak walked down the street, fuming with anger. "Who is this Captain Wentworth? I will find him and ruin him!"