This is part of my 400/500 follower promptathon on tumblr from awhile back. Ripperblackstaff prompted: Belle is pregnant and has the weirdest cravings ever. Rush tries to comply, but where and how can he find shrimp?
Shoutout to Charlotteashmore for being my beta for this. Hope you guys enjoy it!
Nicholas Rush had survived many things in his life.
He'd endured living in a slummy rundown apartment near the shipyards of Glasgow, often times fighting to keep what little his family had. It had been hard, but he had survived. He'd worked two jobs while balancing school from the moment he'd been able to work, countless nights had gone by where he'd gotten no sleep. He'd been constantly exhausted, but he had survived. He'd gotten a scholarship to Oxford and he'd worked harder than ever, every day spent trying to show he belonged with those who'd looked down on him. He'd never gained their admiration, but he'd survived.
He'd married Gloria, many years of shared bliss had passed and for once he'd been happy. He'd lost her to cancer and died inside, but he had survived. He'd met Belle, as time passed he'd found her heart was as broken as his. They'd fallen in love, and together they had survived. He'd been stranded on an Ancient ship, weeks and months had gone by with only one person to call his friend. He'd been hated once again, but he had survived.
He'd been left alone on a planet, every second which passed reminding him that he had been left to die. He'd been taken in by aliens, but he had survived. He'd had a tracker placed in his chest while he was conscious, time had lost all meaning except when the pain had seeped through the numbness. He'd been freed by his enemy, and he'd survived.
Nicholas Rush had survived many things in his life, but he wasn't sure he would survive Belle's pregnancy.
When Belle had first come running to him with the announcement of her pregnancy, that they were going to have a child together, he had been struck with a sort of fear like he had never felt before. As much as he loved Destiny and believed wholeheartedly in their mission he'd known it was no place to raise a child.
Every day they were faced with challenges that could easily be the choice between life or death. They didn't have a constant supply of water, they had to hope that Destiny would drop out by a viable planet to restore their supply. Food was a little easier to come by since the hydroponics lab had been set up, but what good would that do for an infant? The Nakai were no longer constantly beating down their door but the threat of them and the Lucian Alliance was always present. It also wasn't ideal that the majority of Destiny's crew and company hated him. While he had never believed in the old adage that it took a village to raise a child, but if half the village hated the father, what hope did that child have?
Even though he had more fears than he could count – and he could count pretty damned high - he had never made them known to Belle. She'd been happy about the child, and if she was happy, he wouldn't burden her with his fears. He would love their child regardless, just as he loved Belle. He wouldn't ruin her happiness with his negativity. Instead he would help her in every way possible.
When her nausea had left her spending most of the morning with her head in Destiny's toilets, he had been right there beside her, holding her hair back and mumbling all sorts of soothing nonsense. When she had lamented over the fact that her jeans no longer fit he'd let her wear his while he wore the fatigues, enduring the strange looks from the crew and muffled laughter from the military presence. When her feet would swell and her back would hurt he'd offered massages to soothe the ache away. When her hormones had gone crazy and she wanted nothing more than to keep him in bed all day, well he'd had no problem obliging her there either. Even when she'd voiced her own doubts about the pregnancy and what kind of life their child could live aboard Destiny he had no problem shoving his own worries aside to assure her their child would be fine and loved and safe, something he couldn't promise. He had handled all of those issues with relative ease, but he wasn't sure he would survive Belle's cravings.
At first her cravings had been easy to handle. Salty foods had proven no issue for him, even if they ran low on normal table salt it was a piece of cake to evaporate salt water and get sea salt. Next came her phase where everything had to be smothered in ketchup. This had proven a bit harder but once they'd finally managed to grow proper tomatoes in the hydroponics lab, everything had been fine. The problem came with her latest craving. Shrimp. How in the hell was he supposed to find shrimp when he was trillions of light years away from earth?
He had hoped that the water creatures found on various planets would sate her craving, he'd even gone off world to help fish for and capture them, but he hadn't been so lucky. Becker had tried all forms of cooking Destiny had to offer in order to get the strange critters to taste similar enough for Belle, but nothing had worked. "It's just not the same," Belle had told him.
His next plan had required something even more humiliating than wading hip deep in water trying to net some squiggly lake creature. No, for this plan to succeed he had to humble himself even further. He was hoping that if he and Belle used the communication stones to return to Earth and he was able to take her out for her blasted shrimp that, even if she wasn't in her own body, her mind would recognize the craving had been sated.
The problem lay in the fact that he and Belle weren't even on the list of people in line to use the stones. He had never seen the point of using them and allowing some incompetent military influenced scientist to take over his body and have access to Destiny. Belle had cited that she had no friends or family on Earth, that she had everything she needed aboard Destiny with him. It had never been a problem before, but now the waiting line on the list was at least a week long, and that was if no major catastrophe took place. Belle couldn't wait that long, and frankly neither could he.
Finally he'd forced his pride to the back seat and humbled himself before Camille and Young, begging them to allow him and Belle to skip ahead of the list and use the stones for the day. It had made his stomach churn to go to them for favors, Young especially, and he had hated seeing the smug little looks on their faces as he had asked them, but he'd do it all over again if it meant Belle would be the two of them had agreed and that's how he found himself using the body of some middle aged scientist who apparently was more than happy to give up use of his body if it meant seeing Destiny. He hated thinking of what could be done to his ship in the amount of time they would be on Earth, and a look over at Belle, or the female lieutenant she had switched with, showed that she was as pleased about the switch as she had been when he proposed it. She was running her hands over the flat plane of the lieutenant's stomach, even poking it slightly, and frowning.
Thankfully the two of them had agreed and that's how he found himself using the body of some middle aged scientist who apparently was more than happy to give up use of his body if it meant seeing Destiny. He hated thinking of what could be done to his ship in the amount of time they would be on Earth, and a look over at Belle, or the female lieutenant she had switched with, showed that she was as pleased about the switch as she had been when he proposed it. She was running her hands over the flat plane of the lieutenant's stomach, even poking it slightly, and frowning.
"What's wrong Belle?" He asked, momentarily shocked by the strangely high voice that came out. His host sounded more like a prepubescent boy than a thirty something man.
"I can't feel the baby, Nick." Belle's host eyes met his and even though she was wearing another person's face he could picture her bright blue eyes instead of the green ones she had now. It was those blue eyes staring at him with fear and shock that had him wrapping his arms around her, something that felt weird since his body was now several inches shorter than her. "I can't feel it! I know only the mind transfers with the stones but I thought the connection would still be there. How do we know that it won't be hurt? There's someone else in my body with our baby! Anything could go wrong!"
"Belle, stop!" Rush interrupted. He held her face in his hands, wiping away the few hysteric tears that had slipped down her cheeks. Only when her breathing had returned to normal did he continue, "Listen to me sweetheart. The baby is fine; TJ used the stones while she was pregnant and nothing went wrong. You know Lieutenant Jennings is a mother herself and will take good care of your body. Plus it's not like anyone on Destiny will let anything happen to you, or our child."
Belle looked down at him shyly as she replied, "You think I'm being silly, don't you?"
"Of course not. It's only natural that you are concerned about the baby. If you want, we can go back. We don't have to do this, we'll find another way to get you your shrimp. If I have to go to thirty different planets and collect every creature with fins or gills to make you happy I'll do it. It's all up to you, sweetheart."
He meant it. It didn't matter that he had broken his pride for this, if she wanted to go back to the ship he'd do it. Belle was more important than his pride. Belle was more important than anything.
She chewed on her lip, the little quirk of hers revealing that her mind was running about a mile a minute, before meeting his eyes again and shaking her head. "No Nicholas, you put so much effort into this I don't want it to be for nothing."
That was his Belle, always putting others before herself. "Are you sure, Belle? If you want to go back I don't mind."
Belle shook her head firmly. "No, I want to stay." Her voice brooked no argument but it was the shy little smile and meekly added, "Plus I really do want shrimp", that sealed the deal for him. If his Belle wanted shrimp, shrimp she would get.
Once they were decided it didn't take them long to be on their way. The drive to the nearest Red Lobster was surprisingly short and soon they were seated at a table, and Belle was ordering every type of shrimp available on the menu.
The moment had gotten a wee tense when their pimple faced waiter had questioned if they planned on more people coming with how much had been ordered. Belle had glared at him and told him she was pregnant only for the idiot to stare at her flat stomach in rude disbelief before Rush had snarled, which was slightly less effective in this voice, for him to do his job and bring them their damn food. He was slightly worried that the reminder of her absent pregnancy might bring back her worries from earlier but it appeared that Belle was doing her best to enjoy their short sojourn to Earth.
For the next hour Rush watched with amusement as Belle devoured more shrimp than he thought was even possible and he was rather glad that O'Neill was picking up the tab for this lunch. Conversation was limited as Belle threw herself fully into enjoying her indulgence, but he didn't mind. He had found a way make her happy, and that's what mattered.
When Belle was finally full, the tab paid, they made their way back to HWC Belle having decided that she didn't want to spend any more time out of her body. Once back in their own bodies, he watched as she ran soothing hands over her baby bump, as if checking to make sure it was still there. Soon after, someone came running into the room insisting that the two of them were needed in the control room. Vacation apparently over, they both went to work and it wasn't until much later when they were both collapsed in a pile on their bed that Rush realized his idea must have worked.
"Nick…"
"Yes Belle?"
"… I still want shrimp"
Apparently not. Nicholas Rush had survived many things, but he didn't know if he would survive this pregnancy.
That's all! I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please tell me what you think!