"Skitters have been spotted near the south and eastern border." General Porter informed the small group. He was pointing to various locations on the map that dominated the large oak table they were gathered around. The scouts had been called into the debrief nearly half an hour earlier and Maggie was beginning to lose all focus. Porter's words were becoming muffled and unclear in her ears, the more she tried to concentrate the worse it got. This had been happening regularly for several months now, it was expected to happen with pregnancy. At least that was what Anne kept telling her, but Maggie was sure it was supposed to get better as time went on, not worse.
The nausea started as soon as Porter began dividing up the scouts and assigning orders to each pair. There was never a question of who Maggie would be partnered with. She and Hal had always been a team and always would be as far as she was concerned. They knew every move the other would make before it was even done, they knew exactly how they would react in any given situation…almost any situation. Telling Hal she was pregnant was something Maggie had no idea what to expect and that scared her more than anything she had faced in the last four years, since the aliens had arrived. They had never talked about marriage, much less a baby. In fact they didn't say much about the future. Hal was a pessimist by nature and he left all talk about a better life Tom. So telling him that they would soon have a tiny human to care for and bring into the mess that had become their lives seemed the most terrifying thing. She was sure he suspected something. He found her puking her guts out at all hours of the night in their shared room and he was the one that forced her to finally see Anne.
Maggie remembered when she finally found the courage to share her news with Hal, three days after finding out herself. They were walking up from the ammunition locker in the ground floor of the underground complex after a routine outing. It was getting late and the large corridors were nearly vacant, the strictly enforced curfew took everyone back to their barracks before 10 p.m. Very few were allowed clearance to seen after that hour and Hal and Maggie happen to part of those who had clearance. Apparently being willing to risk your life on a daily basis for the good of the colony did come with a few perks. Hal wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her tight against his side as they made their way back to their apartment. It was an unconscious act, so natural that she would have never thought twice about it. But now she felt guilt as she felt his closeness.
"Hal," She broke the silence between them.
"Hmm," He responded.
"Hal," She let some of the anxiety she had felt slip into her voice and he immediately slowed his step and looked intently at her, she could not help but do the same. He looked tire, like he had not slept in a while. And he was in need of a haircut, it now wisped around his ears, messy and neglected. He had been battered and beaten in the last four years, terrorized by a past love and had seen every horrible thing imaginable. But he was still the best thing to every happen in her life. With that final thought, Maggie fears that she would lose him, that he would disappear like every good thing did and she was unable to find the words she needed.
"Maggie? What's going on?"
"I…" She started. "I have something to tell you." She paused again.
"What is it? Is it the cancer? Is it back?" Oh god, she thought, I've made him think that I'm dying.
"No, no, it's nothing like that." She hastily promised him. "As far as I know I'm tumor free."
"That's not very reassuring." Hal admonished. They had stopped walking and were alone in the long hallway for now.
"Sorry, that's all I can offer."
"I'll take what I can get I guess." He grumbled.
"Hal," She took a breath and swallowed down the rest of her hesitation. "I'm pregnant." She blurted and watched as every emotion imaginable pass across her partner's face. She held her breath while she waited for him to land on one he could properly express. Then what happened next surprised her. Hal smiled. It was a smile he rarely offered to others. It was genuine and real and erased the last four years off of his face. Without a word, he pulled her to his chest and crushed his lips to hers.
"You're not mad?"She asked breathlessly when they parted.
"Of course not." He laughed softly. "I'm happy."
"Happy?" Maggie was openly baffled.
"We deserve something good to happen to us, something to show that we have sort of future besides aliens and routine border patrol." He gently explained. She thought about it for a moment and then offered her own smile.
"I hadn't thought about it like that." She said. "I'm happy too."
"Good." Hal tucked a lock of blond hair behind her ear. Then in a sudden burst of excitement, he wrapped his arms around her waist and spun her around, his inaudible hollers echoing off of the cement walls.
"You're going to wake everyone up!" She tried to muffle her squeal of surprise against his dusty shoulder. Hal gently placed her back on her feet but kept his arms securely around her.
"We're going to have a baby." He whispered in her ear.
"You better believe it."
That was three months ago and Maggie still experienced regular morning sickness at any hour of the day and a constant threat of being obliterated at any moment by aliens. Apparently fate did not change because of life altering event between two reasonably insignificant people. Which is exactly why Hal, Maggie and over a dozen others were required to attend weekly debriefs and why Porter was allowed to keep them there as long as he pleased. This was at least how Maggie was beginning to see it as the nausea she had been feeling continued to build in the pit of her stomach and in turn made her limbs feel weak and shaky. After a moment, she discretely leaned into Hal, who, as always, stood next to her. He wrapped an arm low around her in response to her touch and gently rubbed his thumb along the small of her back. Maggie tried her best to concentrate on the touch and not the impulse to puke all over General P's map.
As soon as Porter began to sound like he was wrapping the meeting and eventually excusing his audience, Hal was pulling her out of the room, down the hall, up a flight of stairs and to the small room then shared in the barracks. She in turn pushed past him and ran to the adjoining bathroom in a matter of seconds. Hal was behind her, holding her long hair back as she knelt at the porcelain bowl. He knew better than to say anything while she was in this state, he was lucky she allowed him to remain in the apartment at all.
When she was done and sure there was no threat of more to come anytime soon, Maggie slowly picked herself off of the floor and began to meticulously brush her teeth. Hal had left the small bathroom as soon as she had stopped gagging and was probably waiting for her to finish cleaning up. She had long since stopped caring about him seeing her so weak and sick, it had been a daily show for five months now. But she still detested it. It reminded her too much of the time she spent in the hospital.
Hal was standing just outside of the bathroom door, her favorite flannel jacket in hand. He knew her so well. She wordlessly pulled the worn fabric around her and allowed him to tug her toward the bed. "They're going to wonder where we went." She protested.
"We don't need to be on shift for another two hours. Porter just told us that." He fell onto the thick mattress, dragging her down with him where they lay face to face. She rested her head on his outstretched arm while his free hand found its way to her stomach. A small bump showed itself more and more each week, announcing to anyone who saw what Maggie and Hal had not. They had told only those who needed to know.
Anne had been the one to tell Maggie about the baby, but she let the young couple tell the rest of the family the news. Even though he would never admit it, Maggie knew that Hal had been nervous to tell Tom about the baby, likely because of some deep seeded fear of a teenage boy having to tell his dad that he knocked up a girl. But Tom proved they had nothing to worry about. He was happy for them, ecstatic really. His son had been completely independent since the end of the world came and now at twenty, he had every right to start a family with the girl he loved.
Ben demonstrated the quiet reserve he always did in front of others, congratulating them on the baby and offering Maggie a brief hug. But Maggie saw the two boys share a brotherly embrace later, after Hal went to talk to him one on one. Ben was definitely different than many of the others in the compound and most of the time it seemed like only his brothers could really get through to him. Matt on the other hand was beyond excited, he adored his little sister Alexis, now two years old. But he could not wait until he had a little nephew. Hal tried to tell him that they could just as easily have a baby girl, but Matt would not hear any of it.
General Porter and Captain Weaver were the only other two people that they cared to tell, Hal thought it was better that they knew ahead of time that one of their best fighters would eventually need to be on maternity leave, instead of blindsiding them in a few months time. Their disappointment was obvious, Maggie and Hal had both become some of the strongest fighters they had, both holding high ranks and respect from the others in the community. But they both knew that even their fighters need to have some sort of normalcy in their lives. Maggie began to hear the rumors that spread around the compound not long after, but she did not care to confirm or deny any speculation and neither did Hal.
"I'm sorry." Hal's soft voice interrupted her thoughts.
"For what?" She asked.
"That you are so sick." He said. There was genuine guilt in his eyes and Maggie had to scuff at his apology.
"It takes two to tango." She told him. "And if I remember right, we had some fun doing it."
"Definitely," Hal smiled at the thought but quickly became serious again. "I heard you telling Anne that it was a lot easier the first time." He was referring to when she was pregnant before, when the world was still normal and awful. Maggie knew what he was talking about, at her last doctor ordered check up. She had told Anne about how less sick she had been then and the complete lack of energy she felt almost constantly now. Anne immediately began to hypothesize about the change of diet and the rigorous lifestyle Maggie had been living for the last several years and any other factors that may be contributing to her discomfort, few of which Maggie had any control over.
"There is nothing that I would change or take back if given the option." She told him, her voice soft but clear.
"But…" Hal began and Maggie quickly cut him off.
"This pregnancy is so much easier than whatever experience I had in the past and do you know why?"
"Why?" Hal's focus had gone to her abdomen and she could feel him move his had back and forth between her navel and around her hip, a comforting habit he had begun to do as soon as she began to show.
"Because I have you," she said. "And as long as I have you, that is all I need." Hal sensed a bit of foreboding or apprehension in the sound of her voice and his eyes immediately went up to meet hers.
"You'll always have me," He assured her. "I'm not going anywhere."
"You don't know that." She suddenly looked frightened, and Hal knew this was not just something she had been worried about in this moment. "For all we know you will get caught up in some Mech ambush or something. Sooner rather than later, I'm not going to be there to haul your but out of trouble."
"Don't remind me, I'll probably be paired up with Weaver himself. Can you imagine?" The couple shared a small chuckle at that. "But I'm going to do everything possible to stay here, with you, just like I always have."
"Promise?" This vulnerable side of Maggie always scared Hal a bit, it was not often that she displayed it, even to him. And he knew that it only happened when she was seriously concerned about something.
"I promise."
"Good because I am going to need someone to show me how to parent this kid. I have not a clue how." Her mood changed to sudden lightheartedness.
"You'll make an incredible mom." Hal said. "Beside's what makes you think I will be able to do any better?"
"You have had much more practice than I with your little brothers." She explained. "And you were practically Alexis' sole provider when your dad and Anne both had the flu last year and she as happy as she ever was."
"That was only for a week, my parenting skills cannot be judged on the few days I spent with a twelve month old."
"You were up with her all night, every night the entire time just to make sure she wasn't sick too. You practically lived in the nursery." She reminded him.
"So did you." Hal said.
"Yeah but I was just there for the ride, you called all the shots." Hal huffed at her stubbornness and he ended their short bicker the same way he always did, with her having the last say.
"I love you." He finally said and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"I know."