Behind the Scenes of
2. About Face
by Denise Felt 2011
This story just begged to be written. Not only were my readers insistent that I continue, but my mind wouldn’t let the story end there either. So this story has a very different mood than the first in the series as Straker tries to put his office back together and ends up finding joy.
Chapter 1 – Our story begins at the art gallery, where we meet a few interesting people, among them the artist who so captured Straker’s attention all those years ago. Cait, of course, doesn’t remember him – at least on a conscious level – which makes for an entertaining scene when they meet again. The reader (and Straker) knows the way things really are. He is compelled to ask her on a date, and she (mistrusting studio types) almost refuses. But his gentle manner wins her over, and the reader can sigh with relief that this first hurdle has been cleared.
Next we meet Antoine, who is one of my favorites of any of my incidental characters! He’s a delightful queen from New Orleans with a sharp eye for art and beauty, as we see from his response when he spies Straker. Antoine is actually a conglomeration of several of my own friends over the years all rolled into one. And since I choose my friends for their wit, you can bet that Antoine usually has something sarcastic, ironic, or funny to say! But he’s a wise little man for all that, and even Straker comes to value his opinion by the 3rd story of the series.
Cait (for all her years) isn’t very experienced in the dating scene, and this leads to some humor and horror when her friends realize that she refused a lift from her date to the restaurant. I really wanted to emphasize that she’s a country girl at heart, full of common sense and practicality – traits that Straker finds very disarming.
Chapter 2 – It would have been extremely self-indulgent of me (besides bogging down the story) to have given a word-by-word account of their first date, although if pressed, I could easily do so. *grin* So I merely stuck to the highlights, giving the reader just enough to set the tone of the date and how it went for both of them. And we see that although Straker has second thoughts about the wisdom of pursuing this relationship further, once she is there, he ignores them in favor of the joy he experiences in her company.
A note about him bringing up his unused vacation time. I absolutely loved it in Star Trek: Insurrection when Picard tells Anij that he has some back holiday time he intends to use now that he’s met her! So I borrowed that idea for this story and sighed to hear Straker telling Cait that he would be seeing her again.
Chapter 3 – Friends are a very large part of our lives, and if you’re like me and are fortunate to have some very good and loyal friends, then your life is rich beyond measure. However, friends tend to care about us, even when we don’t want them to – so there is a downside to friendship. And Cait finds this out the day after her big date as her two friends grill her for all the ‘deets.’ She doesn’t enjoy being put in the spotlight or being forced to discuss an evening that had a huge impact on her, so she takes refuge in the lack of time and slips away from their questions as soon as she can. But her friends – being good friends – aren’t fooled by this and continue to worry for her.
Then we cut to Straker, who has to deal with an interfering friend of his own – Alec. Of course, he hasn’t confided in his friend anything about Cait, especially since he can be pretty certain how Alec will react when he finds out that Straker even took her out! Instead, Alec is worried about Straker’s plan to go to Scotland to check out what’s going on up there (but we know the real reason why he’s going.)
And the chapter ends with the commander once more at dinner with Cait, this time in Scotland. And he is determined to spend at least some of his time here with her, as he makes plans for her to show him around the area. That’s Straker all over. He never seems to be capable of doing anything for just one reason, and he uses the excuse of needing more information about the locality in order to spend time with the woman he still loves.
Chapter 4 – The switch from the gentler Straker on a date with Cait to the man in full command mode at the outpost is abrupt – and also very like our dear commander. He’s used to this dichotomy within himself after years of working at both the studio and HQ, and doubtless doesn’t even think before switching from one manner to the other. We see Col. Lake (who knows nothing of his new diet requirements) offering him coffee. And Straker, who could have easily taken advantage of her ignorance to have a cup of his beloved coffee, merely sets it aside with a sigh.
The next day we find him out with Cait exploring the countryside. I love Stonehenge, as well as the many standing stones that can be found all over the globe, but especially in Europe. So when I was researching Scotland and found the Aldourie stones, naturally Cait had to take Straker there. *grin*
I don’t know exactly how the thought of Straker as a magpie collector of trinkets came to me. Perhaps it is due to the fact that in the show, he’s constantly toying with something or other. Bishop often said in interviews that he did this to add realism to the scenes, since people often do other things while speaking instead of simply standing around with their arms hanging down. (I don’t think they got a lot of direction cues for their scenes, just from the comments that have been made over the years.) But this trait fits with what we see in the show, so when he admits to Cait that his mother called him a magpie, I had no trouble accepting this as a part of his personality. And to me, it added a sweet dimension to his boyhood that made him even more loveable.
When they talk over tea, we find out how he really feels to be a studio executive. The show didn’t really tell us much about this aspect. Mostly, it downplayed it or even poked fun at it in a tongue-in-cheek way. But he did it for years, so he must have come to some sort of terms with it over time – or he’d have changed it. He’s far too determined a man to simply put up with things just because that’s the way they are. So we find out that he likes his job, even though it casts him in an unfavorable light. In typical Straker fashion, he ignores the downside of his work and focuses on the positive aspects. But he worries that Cait might judge him the way some of his co-workers do.
And we learn an interesting detail of Cait’s life. She has a child. Placing this fact at the end of a chapter should be a clear warning to my readers that it has some significance. (You can be pardoned for not noticing it only if this is the first story of mine you’ve ever read.)
Chapter 5 – I don’t keep you in suspense for long. Straker gets to meet Cait’s daughter, who is a lovely twelve year old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Hmmm. How interesting! And the commander gets a grilling from Cait’s mom. I enjoyed writing her parents very much. They reminded me a little of my own parents (go figure!)
The scene with the washing up of dishes after dinner was one of my favorites for this story! Straker being Straker, he wouldn’t understand why Cait is so distressed at him drying her dishes. But this isn’t something that any woman would take in stride! He’s so delightfully oblivious at times. It’s one of his many endearing qualities.
I also enjoyed giving the reader a glimpse into the mother-daughter relationship between Cait and Shannon. Shannon was a lot of fun to write, reminding me a lot of my own daughter at that age. I hope someday to give Shannon a story of her own in this series, although for now it’s done at three stories. But she really wants to tell her own tale, so I hope she eventually gets the chance.
Straker is in full command mode and spitting bullets as Col. Lake gives him the details about Cait’s ex-husband and the paternity suit he has filed against her. She doesn’t get why he’s so upset, but the reader shouldn’t have any trouble understanding. As he tells Dr. Jackson at the end of the chapter, they have a “problem.”
Chapter 6 – We find Cait painting an abstract, one that features an unusual color combination. Cinnabar for the alien spacesuits, dark crimson for blood, and transparent green for the oxygenated liquid in the suits. Gee. I wonder where she got the idea for this painting?
Straker doesn’t have any trouble figuring out where she got the idea, and it’s one more thing for him to worry about where she’s concerned. They talk, and both of them end up declaring their feelings for each other. In typical Straker fashion, he’s worried that she won’t want to leave her home, where she paints and her daughter goes to school. *sigh* I haven’t met a lot of men in my life who are consistently considerate of others above themselves, which is probably why I make this an essential part of Straker’s personality. It’s my fantasy world, after all. I can have him act any way I want. Somehow, my readers like this aspect of his character too. (Maybe they’re like me and haven’t seen this a lot in reality either.)
The scene in Inverness was written for Louise, since she was vacationing in Scotland at the time I was writing the story. She always wanted an Orion tattoo, so I gave her one for the scene in the whiskey shop.
But Straker’s work – it seems – is never done, and he gets a call from Alec when he returns to the Bed and Breakfast. The aliens are back and ruining his plans for the evening. The next day his plans to take Cait somewhere special (gee, I wonder what for?) have to be scrapped when she arrives at the B & B in a state. Once in his room, she tells him the results of the paternity test and her confusion over what to tell her daughter. However, just as he had to keep her in the dark once before, he is forced to keep silent about the truth even though she is in distress. But he does take the opportunity to comfort her (as he states in the 3rd story) ‘the only way he is allowed.’ He proposes, and she accepts. Woo-hoo!
Epilogue – Straker’s bluff is a last-ditch effort to make this entire impossible situation come out well. He banks everything on it – his work, his happiness, even his life. And the doctor falls for it, either aware of the commander’s desperation or else fooled by the ruse. I don’t say, and in fact, leave the interpretation up to the reader. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Straker wins, and we can all sigh with relief. He and Cait can finally be together!
But have their troubles ended? Stay tuned for the 3rd story in the series!
This story just begged to be written. Not only were my readers insistent that I continue, but my mind wouldn’t let the story end there either. So this story has a very different mood than the first in the series as Straker tries to put his office back together and ends up finding joy.
Chapter 1 – Our story begins at the art gallery, where we meet a few interesting people, among them the artist who so captured Straker’s attention all those years ago. Cait, of course, doesn’t remember him – at least on a conscious level – which makes for an entertaining scene when they meet again. The reader (and Straker) knows the way things really are. He is compelled to ask her on a date, and she (mistrusting studio types) almost refuses. But his gentle manner wins her over, and the reader can sigh with relief that this first hurdle has been cleared.
Next we meet Antoine, who is one of my favorites of any of my incidental characters! He’s a delightful queen from New Orleans with a sharp eye for art and beauty, as we see from his response when he spies Straker. Antoine is actually a conglomeration of several of my own friends over the years all rolled into one. And since I choose my friends for their wit, you can bet that Antoine usually has something sarcastic, ironic, or funny to say! But he’s a wise little man for all that, and even Straker comes to value his opinion by the 3rd story of the series.
Cait (for all her years) isn’t very experienced in the dating scene, and this leads to some humor and horror when her friends realize that she refused a lift from her date to the restaurant. I really wanted to emphasize that she’s a country girl at heart, full of common sense and practicality – traits that Straker finds very disarming.
Chapter 2 – It would have been extremely self-indulgent of me (besides bogging down the story) to have given a word-by-word account of their first date, although if pressed, I could easily do so. *grin* So I merely stuck to the highlights, giving the reader just enough to set the tone of the date and how it went for both of them. And we see that although Straker has second thoughts about the wisdom of pursuing this relationship further, once she is there, he ignores them in favor of the joy he experiences in her company.
A note about him bringing up his unused vacation time. I absolutely loved it in Star Trek: Insurrection when Picard tells Anij that he has some back holiday time he intends to use now that he’s met her! So I borrowed that idea for this story and sighed to hear Straker telling Cait that he would be seeing her again.
Chapter 3 – Friends are a very large part of our lives, and if you’re like me and are fortunate to have some very good and loyal friends, then your life is rich beyond measure. However, friends tend to care about us, even when we don’t want them to – so there is a downside to friendship. And Cait finds this out the day after her big date as her two friends grill her for all the ‘deets.’ She doesn’t enjoy being put in the spotlight or being forced to discuss an evening that had a huge impact on her, so she takes refuge in the lack of time and slips away from their questions as soon as she can. But her friends – being good friends – aren’t fooled by this and continue to worry for her.
Then we cut to Straker, who has to deal with an interfering friend of his own – Alec. Of course, he hasn’t confided in his friend anything about Cait, especially since he can be pretty certain how Alec will react when he finds out that Straker even took her out! Instead, Alec is worried about Straker’s plan to go to Scotland to check out what’s going on up there (but we know the real reason why he’s going.)
And the chapter ends with the commander once more at dinner with Cait, this time in Scotland. And he is determined to spend at least some of his time here with her, as he makes plans for her to show him around the area. That’s Straker all over. He never seems to be capable of doing anything for just one reason, and he uses the excuse of needing more information about the locality in order to spend time with the woman he still loves.
Chapter 4 – The switch from the gentler Straker on a date with Cait to the man in full command mode at the outpost is abrupt – and also very like our dear commander. He’s used to this dichotomy within himself after years of working at both the studio and HQ, and doubtless doesn’t even think before switching from one manner to the other. We see Col. Lake (who knows nothing of his new diet requirements) offering him coffee. And Straker, who could have easily taken advantage of her ignorance to have a cup of his beloved coffee, merely sets it aside with a sigh.
The next day we find him out with Cait exploring the countryside. I love Stonehenge, as well as the many standing stones that can be found all over the globe, but especially in Europe. So when I was researching Scotland and found the Aldourie stones, naturally Cait had to take Straker there. *grin*
I don’t know exactly how the thought of Straker as a magpie collector of trinkets came to me. Perhaps it is due to the fact that in the show, he’s constantly toying with something or other. Bishop often said in interviews that he did this to add realism to the scenes, since people often do other things while speaking instead of simply standing around with their arms hanging down. (I don’t think they got a lot of direction cues for their scenes, just from the comments that have been made over the years.) But this trait fits with what we see in the show, so when he admits to Cait that his mother called him a magpie, I had no trouble accepting this as a part of his personality. And to me, it added a sweet dimension to his boyhood that made him even more loveable.
When they talk over tea, we find out how he really feels to be a studio executive. The show didn’t really tell us much about this aspect. Mostly, it downplayed it or even poked fun at it in a tongue-in-cheek way. But he did it for years, so he must have come to some sort of terms with it over time – or he’d have changed it. He’s far too determined a man to simply put up with things just because that’s the way they are. So we find out that he likes his job, even though it casts him in an unfavorable light. In typical Straker fashion, he ignores the downside of his work and focuses on the positive aspects. But he worries that Cait might judge him the way some of his co-workers do.
And we learn an interesting detail of Cait’s life. She has a child. Placing this fact at the end of a chapter should be a clear warning to my readers that it has some significance. (You can be pardoned for not noticing it only if this is the first story of mine you’ve ever read.)
Chapter 5 – I don’t keep you in suspense for long. Straker gets to meet Cait’s daughter, who is a lovely twelve year old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Hmmm. How interesting! And the commander gets a grilling from Cait’s mom. I enjoyed writing her parents very much. They reminded me a little of my own parents (go figure!)
The scene with the washing up of dishes after dinner was one of my favorites for this story! Straker being Straker, he wouldn’t understand why Cait is so distressed at him drying her dishes. But this isn’t something that any woman would take in stride! He’s so delightfully oblivious at times. It’s one of his many endearing qualities.
I also enjoyed giving the reader a glimpse into the mother-daughter relationship between Cait and Shannon. Shannon was a lot of fun to write, reminding me a lot of my own daughter at that age. I hope someday to give Shannon a story of her own in this series, although for now it’s done at three stories. But she really wants to tell her own tale, so I hope she eventually gets the chance.
Straker is in full command mode and spitting bullets as Col. Lake gives him the details about Cait’s ex-husband and the paternity suit he has filed against her. She doesn’t get why he’s so upset, but the reader shouldn’t have any trouble understanding. As he tells Dr. Jackson at the end of the chapter, they have a “problem.”
Chapter 6 – We find Cait painting an abstract, one that features an unusual color combination. Cinnabar for the alien spacesuits, dark crimson for blood, and transparent green for the oxygenated liquid in the suits. Gee. I wonder where she got the idea for this painting?
Straker doesn’t have any trouble figuring out where she got the idea, and it’s one more thing for him to worry about where she’s concerned. They talk, and both of them end up declaring their feelings for each other. In typical Straker fashion, he’s worried that she won’t want to leave her home, where she paints and her daughter goes to school. *sigh* I haven’t met a lot of men in my life who are consistently considerate of others above themselves, which is probably why I make this an essential part of Straker’s personality. It’s my fantasy world, after all. I can have him act any way I want. Somehow, my readers like this aspect of his character too. (Maybe they’re like me and haven’t seen this a lot in reality either.)
The scene in Inverness was written for Louise, since she was vacationing in Scotland at the time I was writing the story. She always wanted an Orion tattoo, so I gave her one for the scene in the whiskey shop.
But Straker’s work – it seems – is never done, and he gets a call from Alec when he returns to the Bed and Breakfast. The aliens are back and ruining his plans for the evening. The next day his plans to take Cait somewhere special (gee, I wonder what for?) have to be scrapped when she arrives at the B & B in a state. Once in his room, she tells him the results of the paternity test and her confusion over what to tell her daughter. However, just as he had to keep her in the dark once before, he is forced to keep silent about the truth even though she is in distress. But he does take the opportunity to comfort her (as he states in the 3rd story) ‘the only way he is allowed.’ He proposes, and she accepts. Woo-hoo!
Epilogue – Straker’s bluff is a last-ditch effort to make this entire impossible situation come out well. He banks everything on it – his work, his happiness, even his life. And the doctor falls for it, either aware of the commander’s desperation or else fooled by the ruse. I don’t say, and in fact, leave the interpretation up to the reader. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Straker wins, and we can all sigh with relief. He and Cait can finally be together!
But have their troubles ended? Stay tuned for the 3rd story in the series!