More Questions

 Month 14 Day 26 (day of wedding)

1001 Hours

Dr. Drake MacGregor

 Now that Ngu had left, Drake looked to the captain, wondering which of them would go next. Jane nodded, to indicate he should. He turned his attention to the redhead. "How are you feeling, Mac?"

"Tired," she answered. "I've been waking up every hour, seems like, to try and find a more comfortable position. And to move my thermal bandage to a new spot."

"You've still got it set on cold, haven't you?"

The un-bruised side of her mouth turned upward a bit. "I do know how to care for a bruise, MacG."

"Of course. I'm being a worrywart. It comes with the job."

"They're just bruises," she told him.

"They're a lot bruises, and large. Come to sick bay before you get dressed this afternoon. Maybe Temple can hide that facial bruise with some makeup. Better yet, I'll have her come to you. She can help you get dressed, and get you to the ceremony."

He was surprised to see her jaw harden, and a quick flash of her one open eye towards the captain. "No need, MacG. There isn't going to be a ceremony."

Surprised, he glanced at the captain, whose face revealed no emotion, and then he pasted a smile on his face. "Postponed it, did you? Probably a good idea, if you can't trust your legs to hold you up. Give it a week, and you'll be fine." Good enough to get married, anyway.

Mac stared at her hands while the color drained from the non-bruised side of her face. It looked like some of the color even drained from the bruised side. "I didn't postpone it, I cancelled it."

"What?" What happened to her determination to marry Smitty, no matter what?

"That's why I'm here," Jane spoke up. "I took your message to Mr Smythe, as I assume you expected me to do. You did specify in your message that you would not be marrying him this evening. He was shocked at the news, but convinced himself that you needed time to heal, and that therefore, you intended to postpone the ceremony."

A tear left Mac's eye and crawled down her purple cheek. "I apologize for not being clearer with my message. It was late, I was... in pain... But I should have made it clear that this was not a postponement. My intention was to cancel the engagement."

The room was silent for a long moment. Drake's thoughts whirled as he tried to figure out why Mac had changed her mind about marrying the man she had been so determined to marry. Perhaps the captain's mind was likewise occupied during the silence, but she calmly asked, "May I ask what changed your mind?"

Mac looked all around the room, apparently trying to figure out how to phrase her answer. "Captain, I had my reasons for accepting his proposal."

"I would assume so."

"And he had reasons for proposing."

"Yes."

"At first, I didn't care what his reasons were. I didn't feel they were important. That we'd work things out." Jane's mouth was a thin line, but she didn't interrupt. "And then... I was convinced that... that those reasons why he had proposed could pose problems for us that I had neglected to take into account sufficiently. And last night—" She stopped, swallowed hard and finally went on, her voice strained and husky. "Last night, I discovered those potential problems were already in play, and far worse than I had ever imagined they would be." She raised a hand to let tears soak into the bandage wrapped around it. "I was such a fool! So naive! I should have listened to Bugsy!"

Jane took a deep breath and coldly said, "So you hit a bump in the road, and you immediately gave up. You're quite right, the marriage should be cancelled." Jane started for the living room to leave. Mac said nothing to stop her.

"Captain!" Drake called out.

Jane stopped to look back at him. "Marriage isn't for the faint-hearted, doctor. If it's going to last, both participants need to be willing to fight for it, not beat a hasty retreat at the first disagreement." She continued on her way out of Mac's quarters.

Drake stepped over to the bed, helped Mac sit up, and then gave her a long hug, only vaguely aware of her tears soaking into his tunic. He didn't ask any questions, but Mac soon opened up. "He thinks I'm pregnant, MacG! Can't imagine who he thinks the father is. But he's planned out our entire life together, based on that one belief. I tried to tell him the truth, but he wouldn't listen! It's almost as if he didn't want for it be untrue."

He shushed her, and held her, and eventually her tears subsided. "That must have been quite a shock," he told her.

"I ran probabilities on Oaks' computer, trying to figure out if it would be better to let him believe I was pregnant, or if I should tell him that I'm not."

"It's usually better to be truthful," Drake told her softly.

"Well, that seemed to be what the probability studies said, so I went to him last night to tell him the truth. And before I could get it out, he said he already knew! That it didn't matter! So I thought, he really does love me. And there was nothing to keep us from getting married. I was ecstatic!"

"But something happened," Drake guessed.

"I was so happy, I... I gave myself to him," she admitted, her eyes downcast in embarrassment. "We were going to be married, and everything was right with the universe. But then he started laying out these plans he'd made for our future. Even warned me that any future children would be his. Like he couldn't trust me to be faithful if he didn't spell it out."

"Oh. That's not good," Drake murmured. "So you left?"

"Well, we had sex again. I knew it would be the last time, and I needed the memory of holding him. He fell asleep, and then I left."

"But... do you love him?"

"Yes. But I can't see living under the constant suspicion that I'm not being faithful." She was silent for a time, and she looked up at him. "I know you two are friends. I don't want you telling him any of this."

"Have you given any thought to what you're going to do now?"

"All I can think of is to wait 3 or 4 months, until it becomes obvious that I'm not pregnant, and then see what happens."

She's hoping that proving to him that she's not pregnant will make it possible for them to get married and live happily ever after. Poor girl. If he was marrying her because he thought she was pregnant, proving she's not probably isn't going to get her where she wants to be. I'd better warn Bugalu. Hopefully, she'll let us help her pick up the pieces when things don't go the way she wants them to.