Klingons Under The Bed, Chocolate Cereal & Tummy Tickles

Posted on Fri Oct 16th, 2026 @ 4:43pm by Lieutenant Karane Inda & Lieutenant Commander David Erickson
Edited on on Fri Oct 16th, 2026 @ 8:39pm

1,991 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X07: Feeling Like a Kid Again
Location: David's Quarters

The ship seemed so big, at least to the now child version of the ships chief engineer Karane Inda. It was late into the 'night', and many of the ships senior officers were already in bed. However, little Karane found herself at a door to a certain set of quarters. She looked like someone who was lost, more specifically a lost child. She was dressed in a set of matching pajamas, light pink with long sleeves, yet slightly cropped to expose her midriff. In her arms she clutched a fluffy, stuffed teddy bear. Overall, the only world to describe her was: cute.

She reached up and pressed the chime. She wasn't feeling like sleeping alone, especially since she wanted to feel safe, and there was only one person she knew that could provide that.

David groaned. He'd been working almost nonstop since the incident. With only a handful of people on board who could actually make the ship function, he'd been stuck in Engineering all day and well into the night. Even a teenager needed sleep eventually when he was worked all day, and he was not thrilled. "Whoever that is, I'm going to give them the biggest smack," he grumbled. He dragged himself out of bed, fixing his boxers so they looked presentable to company and stumbled to his door. As it opened, he saw nothing, then looked down a bit and saw a blonde blur. He rubbed his eyes and realized who it was, and withdrew his vow of a smack. "Hey, babe," he said, trying not to wince at the irony of the affectionate term. He looked her up and down and couldn't help but smile at how she looked, then frowned in concern. "Are you okay?"

Karane sniffled, as her face blushed bright red. "Can I stay here tonight?" she asked, clearly trying to hold back tears. "My quarters are scary and there might be Klingons under the bed."

David's smart-ass teenage brain went through about twenty responses, half of which would've earned him a punch from his full-grown girlfriend, and another six of which would be absolutely hysterical to him, but would go over her head. In the end, he settled on nodding and stepping aside. "My quarters are your quarters," he said. "Make yourself at home."

She nodded in response as she stepped into his quarters. "So..." she asked as she looked around. She had obviously been in his quarters before, but that's when they were adults. "Can I sleep alongside you? Like I did with my big sister when I got scared?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, mostly registering the word 'sleep' in her sentence. He bent in half and leaned down and kissed her cheek, turning back to his bed.

After the doors swished shut behind her, she held out both arms. "Cuddle?" She whimpered. "Klingons are scary! Like really really scary!"

He stopped and looked back at her. He wanted to snark off at her, but those eyes just dragged him back in as they always did. He sighed and leaned over, grabbing her and lifting her up, holding her to him. "I know someone scarier," he teased, kissing her cheek. He carried her over to his bed and pulled back the covers, slipping them into bed and tucking them in, one arm never letting her go.

He sighed as he laid down, holding her to him and kissing the top of her head. "You're safe here, Karane," he said, softly. "I won't let any mean ol' Klingons hurt you." And vice versa his mind added.

Karane snuggled down into him, and the moment her head touched the pillow she was fast asleep. She pulled the blankets tight over her and then it happened, a soft rumble from her middle as her stomach complained at not having been fed the evening before. No doubt that she had either skipped her dinner, or not been confident enough to venture to the mess hall.

David frowned at the sound, but held her tight, closing his eyes and drifting off as well.

---

David opened his eyes at the sound of his alarm and groaned. What idiot sets an alarm that early? You. You're the idiot, his mind handily supplied as he reached blindly to his nightstand and hit the kill switch.

He felt someone's hand on his chest and a head on his arm and looked down to see Karane still snuggled up against him, sound asleep. "Well, what I wanted in theory," he muttered to himself. He rubbed his eyes and carefully extricated himself from her and slipped out of bed, heading for the bathroom.

He emerged a few minutes later, refreshed and cleaned up, and felt his stomach rumble. Remembering hers, he made a decision and quickly threw on some clothes. He rushed out of his quarters, heading for the mess hall, figuring room service was in order.

He'd stocked two containers with what he could get. Most of the kitchen staff wasn't able to safely operate the appliances, but there were enough people there that with him pitching in (again) they were able to keep things going. He left with a stack of food containers and a carafe of milk and went back to his quarters as quickly as he could, praying she hadn't woken up in a panic that he wasn't there.

By the time he had returned, Karane was still fast asleep. However she had kicked off the covers and was now spread out like a starfish on her back. Her trouser legs had ridden up to her knees and her cropped pajama top had ridden up to the bottom of her ribcage, exposing her entire stomach and cute little belly button. Fresh drool leaked from a corner of her mouth as she laid there flat out, seemingly without a care in the world. To an older sibling, or a parent she made the perfect and irresistible 'tickle target'.

David rushed into his quarters and set the containers down on his table before he dropped them, then the carafe. He turned and saw Karane on his bed and briefly wondered if she was baiting him, but then watched her chest rise and fall and realized she was still sound asleep. After fighting it so long, his 'inner voice' won out, and he tiptoed over with a mischeavous gleam in his eyes. He sat down on his bed and ran a finger up along the sole of her foot, watching her twitch, then did it again. As her eyes fluttered open, he put one hand on her knee, squeezing gently, and the other on the side of her ribs, tickling her with an expertise that only an older brother could possess.

Karane shot awake immediately. Uncontrollable laughter escaped her as she squirmed and wriggled, trying to escape this tickle torture. "Davi...d!" She called through the laughs. "Stop" she laughed as his fingers kept moving fast across her sensitive skin. More laughs escaped her. "I'm up! I'm..." she still wriggled and squirmed. "I'm up!" She continued to laugh and giggle from his playful tickling.

David gave her an evil grin and waited a moment more before relenting. He leaned over and gave her a kiss and then tickled the bottom of her foot once more. "Good morning, Karane," he said, sweetly. "I have breakfast."

Karane was now breathing heavily as she laid there recovering from the tickling. There were tears in her eyes from the laughter. "Morning..." she said as she sat up. "Why the tickles?" She asked curiously.

David shrugged. "I could say something sweet or romantic like, it's a way for me to keep being close to you in our current situation," he said. "But the truth is...you were there, you were tickle-able and the older brother in me was pretty much compelled." He grinned at her. "Although, as a bonus, you have a really cute laugh."

Karane blinked a few times in surprise. Truthfully, she wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Fair enough. At least you didn't get my most ticklish spot..." she said, her gaze drifted down to her exposed stomach briefly resting on her belly button before quickly looking up at David. There was an almost expectant look in her eyes, as if she was giving him permission to tickle her some more. She would never admit to him, that she actually enjoyed him tickling her awake.

David rolled his eyes and pounced, his arms wrapping around her as his hands attacked her stomach. He stood up and held her aloft, tickling her mercilessly as he carried her over to the table. "All right Miss Giggles, had enough?" He kissed her cheek then blew a raspberry on her neck.

Karane giggled as he tickled her. She continued to let out cute giggles as he carried her. "You got my belly button!" She laughed before he plonked her down on a chair at the table. Eventually her laughter subsided. "You'll make a good daddy one day." She commented as she pulled the tray towards her. "Oooooh! Choco Crispies!" She said. She pulled the bowl of chocolate cereal towards her as if it was precious to her. Within seconds of him pouring in some milk, she was shoveling it into her mouth happily munching without a care in the world, or apparently without any sort of table manners.

David watched her in shock and shook his head. He took his own bowl with strawberries and as he started to pour his milk, stopped in his tracks, looking up at her. Being a dad wasn't something he'd thought of in some time, and while he'd assumed that'd be something in the cards someday....

"Shit," he said, quickly stopping the flow of milk as it reached the top of the bowl. He leaned down and quickly slurped some back, saving his table from a mess, and then cleared his throat. "Well," he said, blushing hard. "Hopefully when this is all over, we can discuss that possibility." He shoved a spoonful of food into his mouth as a distraction, looking down at the slowly-changing milk.

Karane looked up. "Discuss what?" She asked her head tilting to one side slightly as she continued to munch on her chocolate cereal.

"Well..." David cleared his throat. "Us...and what our future holds." He looked at her. "I didn't think I'd be saying this to a six-year-old, but I love you, and when we're ready...I'd like to talk about our future together and see if we're on the same page. Obviously not right now, but...someday." He shrugged, realizing he was babbling.

She smirked at him in response. She tried to reach over the table to punch him playfully in the arm, but just couldn't reach. She withdrew her arm with a huff and crossed her arms. "Usually I'd tell you to knock it off and punch you with love. But, I can't reach." She said to him with a pout. "But you're stuck with me! And one day we can play house!" She said as she stuck her nose up into the air proudly as if gloating.

She put the spoon down in the now empty ball and hopped off her chair. "I'm borrowing your shower, thanks, bye!" She called out giving him a little wave as she trotted off through the doors into his tiny ensuite bathroom.

David watched her go, his spoonful of cereal halfway to his wide-open mouth. He sat there for several moments watching the air where she'd been sitting, and finally put his spoon down. "Well," he said to himself, "that pretty much guarantees me an appointment with Doctor Johnson."

He ate the last few spoon-fulls and stood up, heading to put on his uniform. It was going to be another long day in Engineering.

David Erickson
Really Good Dad
USS Ark Royal

Karane Inda
Teddy Bear Guardian
USS Ark Royal

 

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