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.