by February Grace
81005.23
After By His Side
and The Night Sky
-=Sickbay, USS Serendipity=-
81005.23
After By His Side
and The Night Sky
-=Sickbay, USS Serendipity=-
Having had to listen as she suffered through her third fit of hiccups in the past four hours, the LMH had finally had enough of February Grace.
"Hypo." He ordered, handing the device to her. "Anytime they strike, just stick this on your arm and you'll be right as rain in no time."
"I don't know," February bit her lip, considering what modern medicine had done her to under the guise of 'helping' her in the past. "Are you sure it's safe for the...you know," she lowered her voice, wondering if there was anyone left in Sickbay who had not put two and two together.
She knew at least one person had not, her husband. He was still sleeping off his over-sedation at the hands of Sylph puppet-in-residence, Landry Steele.
"Safer than it'll be to be around me if you wake up my patients one more time!" McKay sighed with exasperation. "Go home, Lieutenant. Your husband should be awake by morning. Soon as he opens his eyes and can walk a straight line, I'll send him home to ya. Most important thing for you and..." he stopped, eyes dropping down toward her stomach, "is for you to be well rested. Take tomorrow off, my orders. Go on, get."
February cast a last longing glance at Dabin, and trusting he was in good hands, she made her way back home. *Love you,* she thought, even though she knew he couldn't quite hear her.
-=0900: Quarters of Grace and Reece=-
"Honey, I'm home!" Dabin stumbled through the doors. He needed a shave, his steps were more sideways than in a straight line, but he was traveling under his own power.
"Hello," Bru smiled shyly. She rose from her favorite gliding rocking chair in the corner of the room and hurried to hug him. "Are you hungry?"
"Hungry, tired, but most of all filthy," Dabin groaned. "Shower?"
"I'll get you some clean clothes. Go ahead, I left towels over the shower door for you." She purposely began filling her thoughts with as many random subjects as she could, to try to stall off his ability to read her, just a little longer if she could.
"Whoa, man," he shook his head, dizzy from the internal traffic jam going on between her ears as he began to try to process it. "I don't know what you've been up to while I've been gone but you must've been busy. Seems like you have an awful lot to tell me."
*You have no idea,* Bru thought, as again she smiled at him. Gently, she steered him toward the bathroom. "We'll talk soon. Just enjoy your shower, I'll get you some breakfast when you're ready."
He nodded, and disappeared into the bathroom. No sooner had he gone, then Bru felt a now familiar sensation building up inside...and cringed.
"Here we go again."
She began to hiccup, groaning between them as she tried to stifle the noise by holding a pillow over her face. She didn't want him to find out until she told him- and that was proving to be a very good trick indeed.
"Something wrong with the cat?" Dabin asked, sticking his head back out of the bathroom. "I heard a really weird noise a minute ago. I hope it doesn't have hairballs again."
"He's fine!" Bru managed between hiccups. Finally, she relented and took the hypo that McKay had given her. Within a minute of applying it to her arm, the hiccups slowed, and then stopped completely. She caught her breath, and flopped back down into the chair.
The cat jumped into her lap, eyed her warily, and then departed, running to hide beneath the bed.
She picked up the skein of yarn and hook she'd been working with, and returned to the task at hand. She lifted the work closer to her face, struggling to see the tiny stitches needed to complete the work in progress.
A short time later, Dabin emerged from the bathroom, looking and feeling like a new man. He approached her and leaned down, kissing her softly on the forehead. "Don't you look cute today, check you out."
Indeed, she did look very cute, she was wearing a delicate white blouse, a pink skirt that fell to her ankles where it met the top of her beloved pink Converse high tops. Her hair was twisted into a bun at the back of her neck, and secured with two chop sticks, each bearing the image of a small, pink cartoon rabbit whom Dabin had come to know all too well as a favorite from Bru's childhood, My Melody.
"You are as pretty as one of Fleur's frosted sugar cookies." Dabin smiled. He sighed, sitting down on the ottoman beside her.
*Those aren’t the only thing in the oven,* February thought, rolling round blue eyes up toward the ceiling.
"So, it's a lot quieter in here now," he tapped his forehead with his index finger. "I want you to tell me all that's been going on. Don't leave anything out, but first," he leaned forward again and kissed her once quickly. "I love you."
"I love you too," *You have no idea how much is going on around here,* She thought, as she tried to keep from bursting into tears right this minute.
"What's happened, well, as you may have heard...the Captain and her Away Team successfully rescued Carrick O'Sullivan...everyone is very proud of them..." She beamed, and he waved her off with an 'aww shucks' gesture.
"Yeah, that was quite a trip. After I write my report and am debriefed I'll tell you the details."
She nodded.
"Oh! Keiran is back aboard the ship, and some new Admiral has taken over The Alchemy Project,"
"Good. Vox should be strung up from the nearest tree if you ask me...and...wait, did you say Keiran is back?" His eyes widened, as he considered his conversation with Zanh Liis during the mission and wondered what this would mean for her. Good things, he hoped.
"Mmm hmm." Bru answered dreamily, losing her train of thought momentarily as she continued crocheting.
"I heard from Fleur, finally. She's met a lot of people in the Plains, and is working very hard..." She tried to remember what else she wanted to say in leading up to the big announcement. "Vedek Jariel is still on Bajor as well, I haven't heard from him though...and Doctor Hubbard has apparently been transferred to some top secret assignment."
She looked up at him as he reached down to pat the cat on the head as he passed by. "But before Hubbard left, I went for my check up."
"About time!" Dabin clapped his hands once. "You put that off for far too long. Well, as lovely as you look today I'm sure he gave you a clean bill of health?"
"Mm hm." Bru continued crocheting until she finished the last row of her work in progress, and then she held it up to him. "What do you think of this?"
"I think it's just about the most adorable thing I've ever seen. But who has a foot that tiny? Aww man, you’re not going to make the cat wear those, are you? He'll hate them, you know."
*They're not for the cat,* Bru thought to him, clearing her mind of all other matters.
*They're not? But then,* Dabin paused, then the sound of his laughter echoed in her head. *You know, it's funny, February. Those almost look like baby booties.*
"They are.*
*Of course they are! What else could they be?* He took the small object from her and marveled at the craftsmanship. *White yarn eh? Whoever you're making them for must not know whether they are having a boy or girl huh?*
*Not yet. I wanted to wait to find out until you got home.*
*Find out what?* All of a sudden, nothing she was thinking was making sense to him at all...
*To find out whether we're having a boy or a girl.*
*Right! Because you have to find out if we're having a boy or a-*
His eyes grew to the size of saucers, and he tossed the bootie across the room and took both of her hands in his.
"Wait." He said aloud, and he noticed that she was no longer looking him in the eyes. "February," He laughed again, then appeared alarmed as she began to cry.
"Honey, what? Wait. Just a. Bru?" He tilted her chin up until she looked at him.
"The Reassociation, Dabin. What if,"
"Bru," He dropped to one knee before her and kissed her hands. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters, but you, and me, and our..."
A grin spread across his face, but it was quickly replaced by the determined look of a man vowing to himself that his child would never suffer for any decision he ever made, if he could help it. This child would grow up proud of its parents, and proud to be Trill.
"Our baby." he whispered again, and then he rose and quickly walked across the room to the computer panel.
"What are you doing?" Bru asked, sniffling softly as she tried to sort out his rapidly changing thoughts.
"Something important. Just a second..." He tapped commands into the panel nonstop for a good ninety seconds. Finally, he held up his hand to her in a gesture for her to 'wait a minute' and tapped the final button.
"Good morning, Serendipity! May I have your attention please?" He yelled, as he commandeered the ship wide com-system. "I have just one thing to say to you all..."
He cleared his throat and inhaling deeply, began to wail...a chorus from We Are The Champions.
He then ran across the room, pulled February into his arms, and kissed her tenderly…
...even as the voice of Admiral Lassiter screamed over his combadge that she demanded to know what the hell was going on around here.
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Lieutenant February Grace
Senior Flight Controller
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Lieutenant February Grace
Senior Flight Controller
USS Serendipity NCC-2012