Two Can Play

Month 16 Day 7

1432 Hours

Drake MacGregor

Drake sat in a borrowed medical office to answer the call from Capt Burke. He'd been sound asleep when he'd been awakened, and had hurriedly put his wrinkled uniform back on, but the brisk walk to the med bay had him wide wake now. He signaled communications that he was ready to receive his call, and the screen immediately formed an image of Jane on the bridge. "Captain—" he began.

"Just a minute," she answered, and the screen changed to the view of her seat behind her desk in her office. In a moment, she appeared on the screen and took her seat. "What in space is going on over there?"

It was such an open-ended question, he couldn't imagine what she was talking about. "Uhh, I've been sending you daily messages about what we're doing in med bay; I assumed Smitty was doing the same for engineering."

She waved that away. "His reports indicate he and MacDowell are working opposing 12-hour shifts."

"That's true," he confirmed, and wondered what else she might want to know.

"So they don't see each other at all, except at shift change?"

"Well, I understand there's about a half-hour or so overlap as they brief each other."

"Right. But they haven't been... dating while they're over there?"

"Can't imagine when they would. You know what Smitty's like during repairs; he's intense. And if he's serious about repairs, Mac is also."

"Well, it doesn't sound like you have any light to shed on this matter."

"Umm, what matter?"

"A message from Smitty came in while I was at lunch. Basically, he asked me to light a fire under Headquarters regarding his marriage request. Said it was imperative he get married as soon as he can. Just how extensive are her injuries? I thought she was being released for light duty last night."

"She was. And she hadn't returned to med bay by the time A shift was over, so she must have tried to work the full 12 hours."

"Has she been disfigured or something? Something a dermal healing session or two can't take care of?"

"Ahh." He'd known he'd have to tell the captain at some point, but he'd hoped it could wait until he could tell her face to face. "It turns out we can't use a healing ray on her, captain. For fear of starting some unintended complications."

"Can't use a healing ray? What's wrong with her?"

He took a deep breath and told her, "She's pregnant."

Jane took a moment to absorb that news. "You told me she wasn't."

"At the time, she wasn't. She's only 5 to 6 weeks along."

Jane gave a slow nod. "Which gives her only 6 weeks before I lose her planet-side. And now, possibly Smitty, too. Has he talked to you about his plans, once he's married?"

"No, he hasn't. We had a... falling out after Mac's injury. And we haven't been seeing much of each other since we got here. I'm working A shift, and he's working noon to midnight."

After a deep sigh, Jane seemed to have settled the problem in her own mind. "Okay. I'll do what I can with Headquarters. Don't let him work his team half to death. He's got others over here he can call on. Abdulla, in particular, has already volunteered. Repeatedly."

"I'll remind him of that," Drake stated. I'm not surprised. Abdulla's happy with her position in communications, but occasionally likes to tackle something more complicated.

"I just hope he's behaving himself while the two of them are over there together. I'll let you go back to bed," she said, reached forward, and the screen went blank.

Drake sighed. So Smitty's come to his senses, apparently. But how does Mac feel about it? Has he actually asked her to marry him, again? Or just assumed it will happen? The girl deserves a choice. Especially if there's any doubt in his mind.

He turned the screen to computer mode, pulled up the form for requesting permission to marry, and filled it out, then sent it to Abdulla to send on to Headquarters, with a copy to Jane. With the copy, he sent a brief note: 'Mac deserves an understanding husband, and I'm willing to fulfill that position for her.'

Stifling a yawn, Drake left the office, saw Bugalu having a word with Beth. He walked over to join them.

"Sorry, Bugalu," Beth was telling the helmsman. "She came in looking exhausted, with a gravy stain on her uniform. Ivy said Mac just about fell asleep trying to eat. So the nurses put her to bed right away. She was asleep before they even started putting the blue glop on her back."

"Well, then I guess I'm just a messenger today," he answered, tapping the plastic-hidden uniform he had brought.

"Beth, if her dirty uniform has a stain, it should be sent to the Fireball immediately for cleaning," Drake stated. "Could you go in and get it for Bugalu to take back?"

"Sure." She rose from her chair and took the package from Bugalu on her way into ICU.

"How's she doing, Doc?" Bugsy asked.

He glanced over the display on the console. "Sleeping deeply. Looks like she's doing fine, just tired." He lowered his voice. "Listen, I just heard that Smitty told Capt Burke that it's imperative they get married as soon as possible. Wants her to try to rush through his request to marry Mac."

The negro seemed nonplussed. "Well, I... guess that would make her happy."

"Will it? Didn't seem to be the way she felt yesterday. And the last time I saw him, he was none too pleased to be 'forced' into marrying, which didn't make any sense, considering how he felt a month or so ago. All I'm saying is, if you think she deserves a choice, you'd better get your request to marry her sent in quickly. Before Headquarters makes up their mind. Not saying you have to, but you did make the offer, and if you still mean it..."

"I thought requesting permission to marry was just a formality."

"Usually, it is. It takes some pretty unusual circumstances for Headquarters to say no."

"Here you go," Beth stated, handing over a hastily bundled uniform in a bulging plastic container.

"Thanks, Beth," Bugsy said. "Thanks for letting me know, Doc. I'll get right on that." He hurried out of med bay, headed for the shuttle bay.

Drake stifled another yawn and headed back for the barracks.

Making an Effort

Month 16 Day 7

1129 Hours

Smitty

Smitty stepped onto the lift and sent it towards engineering. He stared at the floor, thinking about the strange dream he'd had.

Drake had been behind him, and whispered in his ear, "You're as fertile as the proverbial rabbit."

He had turned around to face the doctor in surprise. "What?"

"You heard me. So stop pretending this baby isn't yours and do the right thing. Before I do it in your stead." The doctor's face had morphed into something that rather resembled a rabbit, and he added, "You're so fertile, you could impregnate the entire female portion of the crew. If their shots also happened to fail."

It had shaken him, that dream. So much that he had stopped by the med bay on his way to breakfast and asked to speak to Dr Fong. In private. Fong had needed to borrow an office for the meeting.

"Fertility test?" Dr Fong had asked him in surprise.

"I asked for it last night," he had told the psychiatrist. "I wondered if the results were done yet."

"Well, let me look," Dr Fong had said, and opened a file on the computer. Then he sat back in surprise. "Well. It seems your birth control shot has utterly failed. I can't explain it, but I'll schedule you for a new one as soon as we return to the Fireball. Or would you like one now?"

A stupid grin had spread over Smitty's face, and a sense of... pride had filled his heart. "I'm about to get married," he told Dr Fong. "Let me talk it over with my bride." Then he had left, not wanting to answer any more questions.

The lift deposited him outside engineering and he walked inside, made his way to the office. Colleen was sitting at the desk, her head propped up to see the computer screen. What's she doing? I remember a time when she was in that same pose, supposedly studying, back when she couldn't pass her probational.

Well, we've come a long way since then, Smitty. And still a ways to go. This is where you start winning her back, get her to marry you. "Colleen?" he asked timidly, and then chided himself for starting out in such a weak position.

She hasn't moved. Is she asleep? She was, that time she had been supposedly studying. He closed the door and locked it. Moving around to the other side of the desk, he could see that her eyes were closed, her face relaxed. She is asleep. Should have gone back to med bay at the end of 8 hours, I suspect. He reached out and gently squeezed the hand that lay limply in front of the computer screen. "Colleen?"

Her hand clasped his warmly for a moment, and then she opened her eyes. "Smit," she greeted, and let go of his hand to try and stifle a yawn. "I was trying to get some of your paperwork done for you." She reached out and shut off the computer screen.

Paperwork's not a thing you should be trying to do when you're tired. It never works for me. "You should have gone to the med bay," he told her softly. "Still, I'm glad you didn't. I was hoping to talk to you."

She glanced at the clock and stood up. "I've only been asleep about 5 minutes. I think I can last through debriefing." She looked around the office. "Where is everybody?"

"They'll be here in a minute."

"Oh. I expected them to be here by now."

"Soon," he reiterated, and took hold of her hands, turned her to face him. "I want... I have to apologize to you for the way I behaved. When I heard you were pregnant."

"Oh." Her tired face took on a touch of color, and she lowered it, refused to look at him. "It couldn't have been too shocking."

"No, it wasn't. I knew... I mean, I let myself be convinced you were pregnant some time ago. The shock came at how recently it happened."

"I wanted to tell you myself," she said softly.

"I know that now. Before—when I thought you were pregnant—none of the details mattered to me. But when I heard you confirm you were pregnant, and even gave a date for it happening—"

"It was the night we had sex," she whispered.

"So you said," he murmured in return. "And suddenly, I froze. As if all choice was being taken away from me, and now I had to marry you. Whether I wanted to or not."

She looked up quickly, her eyebrows knit into a frown. "Even on Gaelund, the man isn't forced to get married. All the blame lands on the woman."

We aren't on Gaelund. Still holding her hands, he raised one and placed a forefinger on her lips briefly. "There's nothing for anybody to be blamed for. Now that I've had some time to calm down and think things through, I've realized that no choice has been taken from me. I wanted to marry you before, and I still want to. And I want to be the best father I can be; that hasn't changed, either. I hope you let me make it up to you." He leaned forward and gently touched his lips to hers.

It was intended to be a gentle, tender kiss, but it soon became much more intimate and full of hunger.

The office doorbell rang. They sprang apart.

"Oh, Black Space," Smitty fumed.

"At least they didn't walk in on us," Colleen stated. "I would have hated to be caught by Capt Valentine."

Smitty let go of her hands and moved toward the door. "They didn't walk in because I locked the door." He unlocked the mechanism.

"Oh, that was a good idea," Colleen breathed in relief.

"I thought so, too," he agreed as the door opened and 2 lieutenants looked in at them. "Come in. Let's get this debriefing done. How many systems have been repaired since midnight?"

So the debriefing began. He kept it moving along quickly, remembering that Colleen was not just pregnant, but recovering, and was thus doubly tired after her 12-hour shift. As he eventually dismissed those going off-shift, he allowed himself to cast a soft smile at the redhead as she headed for the exit with Wilson. There. So much for Drake's proposal, and Bugalu's, too. She didn't say she'd marry me, but that kiss was full of promise of a beautiful future together.

An Ernest Conversation

Month 16 Day 7

0032 Hours

Lt Cmdr Facchini

It was possible Smitty wouldn't come tonight. Even though Smitty said he came to see Stinky, it seemed the Englishman had more interest in the redhead. If I had once been engaged to her, I'd find it hard to leave her alone, even if the wedding was called off.

[After the nurses had pulled the curtain between the 2 beds , Stinky had heard an occasional 'ow' from time to time as they worked on the redhead. Half an hour later, the curtain had been drawn back, and a beautiful vision stood beside his bed.]

["Hello, Mr Facchini," she said with a smile. "Mr Smythe wanted me to introduce myself. I'm Colleen MacDowell. May I call you Ben? In private, of course."]

[Surprised, he answered, "In private, you may call me whatever you please."]

["Be careful, Ben. I often morph a person's name into something they barely tolerate."]

[And then she had left—]

"Are you awake or dreaming?"

Stinky pulled himself away from the memory, to find Smitty had shown up after all. "I wasn't sure you'd come," he stated. "What with Red being released."

"It's not a full release," Smitty responded. "She'll be back when she gets tired."

"So, she was the one you were engaged to."

" 'Was' being the operative word," Smitty stated blandly.

"What's wrong with her? How can you possibly let her go? Granted, I've only known her a day, but she seems lovely."

"She is lovely," Smitty agreed. "Intelligent, talented, imaginative, cheerful, sexy... She's got it all in one fantastic package."

"Then what's the problem?"

Smitty grimaced and looked around the room. His gaze seemed to linger on the other bed, despite it not being occupied. "It's complicated."

"Complicated!" He rubbed a still-bandaged hand over his no-longer bandaged face. "Complicated is dating a woman while on shore leave, and then finding out she's the station master's wife! The only thing I've seen about Red that might be considered complicated is that she's pregnant."

"She told you that?"

"She said it to one of her visitors, but I remember hearing it. It was right at the end of my dermal repair session."

Smitty took a look outside the room, but the nurse seemed busy with something at the ACU display panel. He lowered his voice. "Okay, so you know. She's also claiming it's mine."

"Is it impossible?" Stinky whispered back. "You were engaged, for space's sake."

Smitty scowled but kept his voice low. "No, it's not impossible. But how do I know it's mine?"

"Oh." Picked a popular woman. I can see how it happened, but still... "She dates a lot of men, does she?"

Now the Fireball engineer seemed uneasy. He dropped his head to his chest, wrung his hands together, and finally admitted, "Not that I know of. But I don't follow her around all the time!"

"Then ask for a paternity test."

"I can't! She'd think I don't trust her!"

"Well, apparently, you don't," Stinky pointed out.

"You can hardly blame me! The reason I proposed was because she was pregnant! That was 2 or 3 months ago I heard those rumors!"

Stinky stared at his friend in disbelief. Even at the Academy, Smitty scoffed at gossip. Wouldn't put up with it. "You proposed because of rumors?"

Smitty blushed and cleared his throat. "Well, that, and the captain caught us together in my office, so I had to."

"In your office? Smitty, you know better than that!"

"Well, yes," he agreed. "In all honesty, we were only kissing, but it was enough to make the captain explode, so I said I'd proposed."

"You're lucky Red didn't deny that lie."

"We'd been... seeing other. In secret. I had to hope she'd go along with it, at least until the captain had time to calm down. After a week or two, I figured, we'd be able to find a reason why it 'wouldn't work.'

"I see." Stinky didn't like it. Smitty's used the girl and then tossed her aside, as soon as it was 'safe' to do so. I never would have believed it, if he hadn't told me himself. "And what reason did you give for calling the wedding off?" he asked coldly.

"I didn't!" Smitty declared. "She called it off on the very day we were scheduled to get married! When I finally got her to talk to me, she said she didn't like my personal opinion of her. Whatever that means."

"Well, it could be she didn't like that you thought she didn't know or care who the father was."

"Well, the rumors were wrong, because she's just 5 or 6 weeks pregnant now!"

"And you're still wondering who the father is," Stinky pointed out.

"I don't want to care who the father is! But still, there's a little voice inside of me that wonders how I can know it's mine."

"But you can't ask for a paternity test, because she'd know your opinion of her hasn't changed."

"Exactly."

"Do you want her?" Stinky asked. "Do you think you can make it work?"

"I can hardly think of anything else, when she's around," Smitty admitted. "Even when she's not. Yes, I want her as a part of my life. A big part. I'd do everything I could to make it work."

"You'd better convince her of that. And soon, before you lose her."

"What do you mean?"

"I asked her today if you're the father, shouldn't it be you she married. And she said she's not sure she'd accept, if you were to ask."

"How would that come up?"

"It was her visitors. The first one came in just as they finished my dermal healing session. She called him Bugs. Or something like that."

"Lt Bugalu," Smitty identified him. "The B shift helmsman on the Fireball. He's been piloting the shuttle back and forth."

"I listened as a distraction from my pain. She reminded him of that stupid rumor. Then said it had come true, and now she was pregnant. And she didn't think you'd marry her. He said if you didn't, he would. She said a woman doesn't marry her own brother. Then that doctor from the Fireball, the one who's working A shift, he said it made more sense for her to marry him, and listed options that marrying him would give her. So I broke in and asked my question about you."

"They both offered to marry her?"

"Well, it doesn't count if one of them is her brother."

It looked like Smitty was thinking hard, but he managed to utter, "They aren't related."

"You'd better convince her in a hurry to marry you. She's only got about 6 weeks before she gets sent planet-side."

"I thought MacGregor was joking, but Bugalu..." Smitty muttered to himself, still caught up in his own thoughts.

"Did you hear me?"

"Yes," Smitty responded, looking at his friend. "Hurry up. We've only got 6 weeks. I'll see you later, Stinky." He turned away.

"Hey!" Stinky called after him.

Smitty, already half way to the doorway, turned back in confusion. Stinky waved him closer. "Not a paternity test," Stinky said. "Ask for a fertility test." Smitty's forehead crumpled in confusion, and it was plain he wasn't putting the pieces together, so Stinky explained. "If your shot has failed, then you could be the father. Maybe that will help."

"Maybe," Smitty agreed, and prepared to give his old friend a friendly punch on the arm, then stopped. "Thank you, Stinky. Now I've got to get some sleep."

Stinky watched him leave, saw him stop to talk to the Fireball doctor. The 2 of them moved away. Stinky, having nothing better to do, settled down to sleep. Smitty didn't once mention engineering. Well, sometimes, a man's love life has to take precedence. Even for an Englishman.