Living Together

Month 16 Day 24

20:32 Hours

Jane Burke

Jane entered Smitty’s living room and found him sitting at his desk, probably reading a technical manual. He looked up from his computer screen with surprise on his face, which changed to uneasiness as he recognized her. He sent a quick glance toward his bedroom. “Good evening, captain.”

Has he got a woman in his bedroom? And him out here reading? No, probably not. Well, there’s no easy way to say this. He is not going to be happy when he hears it. “Smitty, I’ve got a response from HQ about your request to be married.”

A guarded look took over his face as he looked at her. “It doesn’t look like good news.”

“Your request has been denied,” she stated bluntly.

His face took a moment to run through disbelief, headlong into anger. “For what reason?” he demanded.

Jane let out a long breath. “They reviewed MacDowell’s records, and decided she’s a trouble-maker. Admiral Longview spoke to me off the record, trying to ascertain whether or not MacDowell had trapped you into proposing by threatening to file some sort of charges against you.”

“Ridiculous!” Smitty snorted. “I hope you explained to him what an asinine idea that is!”

Easier said than done. “I tried to, but all the previous charges she brought against earlier supervisors didn’t work in her favor.”

“You did explain that once I realized how good she is at engineering, I made her my protégé, didn’t you?”

“He was aware of it, but felt that was also probably the product of blackmail.”

“Blackmail!” He swore under his breath and turned off his computer. “Where would he get an idea like that?”

“It turned out her former captain, Nash, admitted that the only reason he approved her for a transfer to the Fireball was because she blackmailed him into it by threatening to file sexual harassment charges against him. By the way, he's been demoted, and his wife has filed for divorce.”

“Every one of those charges true, most likely,” Smitty bit out. He got up, went to his alcohol cabinet and poured himself a stiff drink, tossed it down his throat. “You tell Admiral Longview that I’m not giving her up! If we can’t get married within the Fleet, then we’ll both resign and get married outside the Fleet.”

“You’re threatening to resign?” Jane asked, just to be sure she had understood what he said. It isn't necessary for them both to resign. If she's a civilian, he can marry her no matter what HQ says.

“It’s not a threat!” He declared. “It’s a promise!”

“No, that’s not necessary,” said a soft voice, and MacDowell appeared in the doorway from the bedroom. She wore a long robe and had her hair in a towel.

Guess I was wrong, Jane thought.

“I won’t be told I can’t marry you!” Smitty declared adamantly.

“But if I resign and become a civilian, then you can marry me, right?” The girl asked. "I mean, if you still want to."

“Yes, but… We wouldn’t be able to work together.” It was plain Smitty wanted to be with the woman every minute of the day. Jane had turned a blind eye to his ‘forgetting’ to take his days off this past week. He had spent them in engineering, where he could be close to his intended.

“Lots of married couples don’t work together,” she stated matter-of-factly. “We’d be together. Surely there’s a place you could transfer that would allow you to have a wife and, and family with you.” Smitty lowered his head to consider possibilities, and she went on. “It looks to be a year before I could work, anyway. By then, we’d figure something out.” She smiled and suggested, “Maybe Kolla and S’thyme would send us another technual, and once I got it translated, we could work on that new project together.”

Jane cleared her throat. “That gets a little tricky, Fleet personnel and civilians working on the same project together. You have to keep flawless records as to who works how much, so the correct amount of credit can be apportioned.”

“We can do that,” Smitty declared, his emotions having quieted somewhat. “Darling, we’ll have to go through those jobs we’ve been looking at and see what are still feasible, if I’m in the Fleet and you’re not.”

“Yes, but at the same time, it narrows down our options, so we have fewer to look through. Makes it more manageable,” she returned optimistically.

“So, recap what your plans are, if you don’t mind,” Jane requested. In any case, I lose 2 engineers. I wonder if Admiral Longview paused to think about that. Probably not.

MacDowell took a deep breath and let it out, walked over to sit on the sofa. “I’ll be resigning, or retiring, rather than accepting a transfer to… where ever they would send me, since I’m pregnant.”

“And I’ll be requesting a transfer to somewhere that will let me have a wife and family living with me,” Smitty stated. "Perhaps you can marry us once she’s resigned and before we leave. Or else we can get married on our way to my new assignment.” He hesitated, looking thoughtful. I’m sorry it’s come to this, captain, but I have to think of my wife and child.”

“I knew I’d be losing MacDowell, of course, as soon as I heard she was pregnant and planning to have the child. It’s only natural that you’d want to make a family. I hate to lose even one of you, but I will do my best to smooth your transition to your new lives.”

“Thank you, captain, that’s very good of you.” MacDowell’s voice trembled just a touch, and she rose to her feet to face her. "Captain, I did force Nash to approve my transfer here, but it wasn't my idea. His wife, who acted as the ship's legal council, had a long talk with me, and told me she'd get me a transfer. Asked if I could go anywhere I wanted, where would it be? Next thing I knew, I was transferred here. I couldn't believe it was real until I got here." Now she turned to Smitty, who stood only a few feet away. “Suddenly, I’m very tired, Smit.”

He walked forward to give her a gentle kiss. “You go to bed. I’ll only be a few minutes behind you, darling.”

Confused, Jane watched as the young woman returned to the bedroom. This is beginning to look like… “Smitty…”

“Colleen’s moved in with me, captain,” Smitty stated evenly, if apprehensively.

“I didn’t hear that,” Jane stated. “And I don’t want to hear it.” She turned to face the doorway. “I can’t condone it, so I can’t know about it. Just be as discreet about it as you can.”

“Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it,” Smitty stated. “She’s been here since the St Elmo.”

“Enough! Don’t say any more! Good night, Smitty.”