Bump in the Road & More Hands to Help

 Bump in the Road

Month 16 Day 7

2358 Hours

Smitty

After the others stepped out of the office, Colleen gave a soft sigh and told him, "I never actually told you I'd marry you."

Shocked, Smitty exclaimed, "But you have to!" At once, he realized what that sounded like, especially to outsiders, and turned to shut the office door. "No, I don't mean that the way it sounded. You must do what's best for you and the child, of course, but I hope that includes me. I need and want you in my life in a big way. You and that little bundle you carry. I can't imagine my life without you and the child in it, intimately part of it." He paused as a vague idea of what life would be like hit him. He cleared his throat and admitted, "Well, I can, but it's pretty bleak."

There was silence for a second before she spoke. "That's a huge turn-around, practically overnight. From not wanting anything to do with... us, to what you've just said. How am I supposed to... believe it?"

He considered the question for a long moment. "It's from the heart. I meant every word of it. What do you want me to do? How can I prove myself?"

"I don't know," she answered simply. "You... described an option for going forward, once. It involved a ship-building station."

"I thought it the best option for us," he answered. "But if you don't like the idea..."

"It didn't sound... horrible," she stated. "Frankly, I don't know what options I might have. I know the Fleet doesn't allow children living on their ships, so I will have to find a job either planet-side or on a station somewhere, and I don't know how to find one of those, or how to tell if it's a good fit for me. Or how to land such a job. My whole future is completely unknown. I haven't got a clue how to proceed, in any direction." A tear slid down her cheek.

Smitty swallowed. "I could hunt up other options for you. Us. We could discuss the possibilities."

She considered that and then nodded slowly. "That would help."

He wanted to step closer and hug her, but her back didn't need that kind of pressure, and he wasn't sure how she was feeling towards him right now. "If we're discussing options, I suppose I should point out that you could go to MacGregor and... have the fetus removed."

She shook her head. "I'm not inclined to consider that."

He sighed in relief. "Good. I'm relieved. Then I'll set to work on what other options you have."

"Thank you, Smit. That means a lot to me."

 

 More Hands to Help

Month 16 Day 8

0854 Hours

Abdulla

Abdulla caught sight of a certain redhead almost as soon as she entered the St Elmo's engineering department. She veered over to approach the warp alcove and hissed in sympathy when she saw the stripe of angry skin up the back of Mac's head.

"Hello, Abs," Mac greeted her. "Caught sight of my seared scalp, did you? Don't worry, it doesn't hurt much anymore. I'm hoping the hair might start growing back before I return to the Fireball."

"We heard you'd been hit with some diflaxibrophine, but that you were back to light duty already. Nobody mentioned you'd lost some hair. Are you doing this alcove on your own?"

"No, Ivy's helping," Mac answered as she tightened the restraints to hold the 3rd crystal in position. "She did all the upper access panels I couldn't easily reach, and now she's working on the bottom access panels."

"I'm almost done," Ivy's muffled voice came from inside the console. "So, you couldn't resist a total rebuild, eh, Abdulla?"

"Well, you know, it's something different from working communications. So, what do you need me to do?"

"Want to tackle a nacelle?" Mac asked. "It's airtight, but hasn't even had any diagnostics run yet."

"By myself?"

"I don't think so," Mac answered, and turned from the crystal mechanism. "Let's find Lt Zolka and see if he's got a team together yet. I'll be back shortly, Ivy."

"Take your time," Ivy answered.

The 2 women walked to the office, where Mac operated the intercom and requested, "Lt Zolka, please report in."

It only took a moment to get a response. "Lt Zolka. What do you need, Mac?"

"Have you put together a team to work on the starboard nacelle?"

"Ah, I've got an ensign, a technician, and me. I don't suppose anybody else has finished up whatever they were working on, have they?"

"Not that I know of, but I'm sending you help anyway. Lt Abdulla of the Fireball. Don't let her communications uniform fool you; if she would transfer to engineering, Mr Smythe would make her a shift supervisor."

Abdulla opened her mouth to protest that proclamation, but before she could, Zolka said, "Well, send her out. And ask her to bring a Hodges' spanner. I seem to have forgotten to bring one."

"You got it," Mac answered, and closed the channel.

"What in space does he need a Hodges' spanner for in one of the nacelles?"

"It's a test," Mac answered. "To see if you know what one is. After all, you're only a lieutenant of communications. That means something here." She took a deep breath that turned into a yawn, and then shook her head. "Well, it's the starboard nacelle, and you know where the spanners are, if you feel like carrying one there."

"You look tired, Mac," Abdulla observed. "I imagine it must be difficult, working 12 hour days when you're still trying to recover from your burns."

"It doesn't help that Smit treats me like I'm extremely delicate or something. Sometimes I just want to scream at him to stop treating me like an invalid."

"He doesn't want you to wind up back in med bay, unable to help him at all."

"Oh, it's more than that." She turned to face her friend squarely. "Because of my injury, they discovered I'm pregnant."

Abdulla blinked and stared at her friend for a moment. "I'd heard the rumors, but I didn't believe them."

"The rumors were wrong," Mac declared. "Back then, I wasn't. But now I am. About 6 Earth weeks, according to the diagnostic bed."

"That gives you about 7 weeks before they ship you planet-side," Abdulla observed. A heavy sadness fell over her. The Fireball won't be the same without Mac on it. How will Bugalu take her absence? "Does Bugalu know?"

"Oh, he's not the father," Mac stated hurriedly, and rolled her eyes. "But he proposed, anyway, the silly gerkat. Anyway, I need to explore my options. And that's hard to do right now, with 12 hours on shift and the rest of my day in med bay, trying to get better. Anyway, you'd better get moving, or Zolka will be positive you don't know your way around."

"Yes, I understand. We'll talk later," Abdulla stated, and turned away, pausing at a locker to pick up a Hodges' spanner, which was not used on any piece of equipment associated with the warp drive.