Author's Note: Post-finale, another installment in my series of Wash/Taylor fics, though all that's really needed to be known from those is that Wash is alive and now married to Taylor. Starting with chapter 3, this will build off of certain plot points of A Phoenix By Any Other Name, specifically as they relate to how Wash escaped death and later escaped the Phoenix Group - this story started as a baby fic, but it is actually far more than that, thanks to my muse. Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal.
Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.
Three Weeks Later
It's late afternoon, and Nathaniel gets back from a short trip OTG with Reilly and Dunham. He's surprised when they roll through the gate, because Alicia isn't there waiting for him. Upon entering his office in the command center, he understands why she wasn't there.
He is greeted by the sound of retching coming from the small bathroom attached to the office. He immediately drops his armor on the desk and walks quickly to the bathroom. Opening the door, he sees Alicia on her knees in front of the toilet.
He enters the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He drops to his knees next to her, taking hold of her ponytail to make sure it doesn't end up in the line of fire. A minute or two later, the retching subsides, and she sinks into a sitting position, her back against the wall. He gets up and gets her some water to rinse her mouth, and as he hands it to her, she mutters, "Morning sickness my ass."
He chuckles at that as she takes a mouthful of the water and swishes it around before leaning forward and spitting it into the toilet. She sets the cup of water on the floor next to her, pulls her knees up to her chest and drops her head onto them. She lets out a muffled laugh. "If this goes on for another 4 weeks, I'm going to be 20 pounds lighter."
"Don't you have an appointment with Elisabeth in the morning? Maybe there's something she can give you for this."
She shakes her head and immediately regrets it, the motion making her queasy again. "I can ask her, but I hate to take something if it's just for throwing up. It's only been a week or so, and so far, it's only in the afternoons."
"I know, but I really hate seeing you miserable like this." He looks at her, his brow furrowed with worry.
She gives him a game smile and reaches up to cup his cheek with her hand. "I'm OK. This part won't last forever."
He smirks. "You know, I'd kiss you now, but…" He takes her hands and stands up.
She rolls her eyes and lets him pull her to her feet. "Well, you could bring me a toothbrush, couldn't you?"
"I put one under the sink." He grins at her. "I'll be out in the office."
She pretends to kick him as he leaves, and she can still hear him laughing through the door. As she brushes her teeth, she thinks about the last few weeks. After his less than stellar reactions after she first told him about her being pregnant, he has been gentler with her than ever before. Of course, she knows that it's in no small part due to the fact that he fears Elisabeth's wrath.
She rinses her mouth again and then has to smile. The thought of the small doctor having Nathaniel so cowed is pretty entertaining to her. Her smile fades a little as she scrutinizes her face in the mirror.
She still looks tired, even though she's stopped doing workouts with the soldiers and is only walking the perimeter with Nathaniel once a day. There are circles under her eyes, and her now daily bout of nausea has left her drawn and pale.
Putting her hand on her still-flat stomach, she sighs and rubs it gently, and the smile returns to her face. The simple, reassuring motion has become a habit of hers, making her feel better every time she indulges in it. The idea that there is a baby growing inside her is still somewhat surreal to her, but with each new symptom of pregnancy, it feels more real.
The fatigue she began feeling a few weeks ago was only the beginning. The nausea came quickly after, along with bouts of dizziness. Not surprisingly, Nathaniel has been quite enthusiastic about the fact that her breasts have already gone up almost a full cup size. Much to his chagrin, however, they are so damned sore that she won't let him touch them. Her smile grows into a full-blown grin at the memory of the disappointed look on his face when she told him that.
She goes back into the office to find him at his desk, digging through the pile of plex pads she left there, all containing different construction requests from various colonists. She walks over and perches on the edge of the desk. "I'm sorry I wasn't at the gate when you got back."
He looks up. "Well, I think you have a legitimate excuse. It would've been slightly awkward for you to have been throwing up by the gate."
"Only slightly awkward?" She raises an eyebrow at him, drawing a light laugh. "Don't you need to leave for perimeter check?"
He shakes his head. "No, since we didn't know when we'd be back, Guz and Shannon are taking it."
"Did they ask why it's not me?" They've told everyone that she's anemic and that Elisabeth has made her cut back her physical tasks until it's corrected. With Elisabeth's blessing, they've used that to cover both her cutting sparring and the afternoon perimeter walk. On days when she feels up to it, she'll still walk part of the afternoon walk with Nathaniel, but not the entire thing. Now, she only does the full walk in the mornings.
"Nope. Neither of them. It looks like, at least for now, that everyone is buying the story." He stands up, looking at her appraisingly. "All minty fresh?"
She snorts. "Kiss me and find out."
With a grin, he leans down to her, catching her lips with his. She slides her hands up his arms and the kiss is deepening when they hear someone clear their throat. They break apart, both looking at the door. Shannon is there, a teasing look on his face. "Sorry to interrupt." His face makes it very clear that he isn't actually sorry at all. "Guz and I were about to head out on patrol, and I thought I'd check in first."
"Thanks, Shannon. Be sure that you and Guz check the far west fence line. We had a crew out there today repairing some damage that looks to maybe have been done by a carno." Nathaniel looks at her. "Can you think of anything else, Alicia?"
She shakes her head. "No. That's all we saw that wasn't in shape this morning."
Shannon nods, and then he gets a shit eating grin on his face. "Well then, we'll be off. As you were, you two."
"Not a bad idea." Nathaniel reaches out and draws her back to him, trying to take her mouth again.
She pushes him away. "Behave, Nathaniel."
"Why? Who am I going to get in trouble with?" He smirks at her.
"With me, Commander Incorrigible. I'm ready to head home to make dinner, and you, sir, are slowing me down." She grins back.
"Lead the way, Mrs. Taylor. Far be it from me to get between the pregnant lady and food."
**WT**WT**WT**
The next morning, as they walk the colony's perimeter, Alicia can't stop fidgeting. After twenty minutes of it, she can tell it's starting to either worry or annoy Nathaniel. "Something on your mind, Lieutenant?"
She jumps a little at the sound of his voice, providing him with even more cause for concern, if the look on his face is any indication. "Sorry, Nathaniel. I'm just thinking too much this morning."
He stops walking, grasping her shoulder and making her face him. "Are you worried about the appointment with Elisabeth?"
She starts to deny it, but she knows he'll see right through her. Hugging her arms around her torso, she looks down at the ground, once again annoyed with herself for the tears she feels welling in her eyes. "She said we should be able to hear the heartbeat this week."
"OK." He uses his hand to tilt her face up to look at him, his face registering surprise when he sees that she's about to cry. "Alicia…"
"What if we can't hear it? Elisabeth said that my symptoms, the fatigue, the dizziness, nausea and such were good signs. I woke up this morning feeling better, and now I can't stop thinking that it means something's wrong."
His face softens instantly into understanding, and he reaches out and pulls her to him. Their respective body armor makes the hug awkward, but she doesn't mind. She wraps her arms around his waist and buries her face in his neck as well as she can. "I know I'm being ridiculous and overthinking everything, but I can't turn it off."
He turns enough to drop a kiss on her forehead. "I know there's nothing I can say that will help, Alicia. But whatever happens, not just today, but for the rest of our lives, I'm going to be standing right next to you holding your hand."
She hugs him tighter, sniffling. "That actually helps a lot, you know."
They stand there silently for a moment, holding on to each other. Then, he says, "Did you just get snot on my shirt? Because that's a little gross."
She huffs out a laugh at that and pushes away from him. He looks at her, smirking, and she says, "I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to take my mind off of it."
"Did it work?" He raises an eyebrow at her.
"Maybe a little."
"Good." He takes her hand, and they resume their walk. "Let's get done with this and get to the infirmary." Despite the fear knotted in her chest, she doesn't argue, just lets him take her with him.
Less than an hour later, she sits on a biobed in a private room at the back of the infirmary, waiting for Elisabeth. Nathaniel stands next to the bed, as promised, holding tight to her hand.
Elisabeth enters the room, and in spite of herself, Alicia tenses up. Nathaniel must notice, because he steps a little closer to her and squeezes her hand. Elisabeth starts rattling off questions, and Alicia answers them all almost robotically, just wanting to get to the scan.
Finally, after about 5 solid minutes of questions, Elisabeth says, "OK, Alicia, why don't you lie back on the bed, and we'll take a look?"
Alicia complies, stretching out flat on the biobed. Nathaniel is clearly reluctant to release her hand, and so she brings their joined hands up and drops a kiss on the back of his hand before giving him a nod and releasing her grip. After a beat, he lets go, and Elisabeth begins the scan.
Almost immediately, the image of Alicia's insides pops up, and Elisabeth nods and points out different things on the image. Then, Elisabeth smiles and touches a button on the side of the biobed. The room is suddenly filled with a fast, rhythmic whooshing sound, and Alicia looks at Elisabeth. She feels Nathaniel reach down and grab her hand again.
Alicia's eyes fill with tears yet again. "Is that…?"
Elisabeth grins and nods. "Strong and steady at one hundred sixty beats per minute."
"And everything looks OK? That rate is good?" Nathaniel is the one to speak up this time.
"That rate is just right, and everything appears to be perfectly normal and on track. It actually looks better than I expected." She looks at Alicia. "You're doing great, Alicia, and so is the baby."
Alicia releases a breath. "Thanks, Elisabeth."
She smiles at Alicia and Nathaniel. "Now you two get out of here. I have actual sick people waiting. I'll see you next week, same day, same time."
With that, she's gone. After the door swings shut behind her, Nathaniel leans down and kisses Alicia. When he pulls away a moment later, he presses his forehead to hers. "You OK?"
She leans away from him and twists up into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. "I'm good." She rubs her hand across her stomach, and he reaches down, placing his hand over hers.
"Good." He smiles and beckons towards the door with his head. "Hungry?"
She grins. "These days? Always." Hopping off the table, she heads towards the door. He follows close behind her, laughing quietly.
**WT**WT**WT**
A few days later, Alicia is returning from a short trip OTG with Shannon, and she is seething. He is blissfully ignorant of both her anger and the cause of it. She knows she shouldn't be angry with him. She knows she's being ridiculous and irrational.
At this moment, however, she doesn't give a damn about being rational, because the son of a bitch sitting next to her in the rover stole and ate the lastchocolate chip cookie out of her bag. As they roar towards the gate, her terse, one-word replies and cold demeanor must finally sink in, because Shannon asks, "Wash, is everything OK?"
At that, she shoots him a look that could turn fire to ice. Without responding, she looks back towards the gate and revs the rover's engine. They skid to a stop inside the gate, and Alicia is out almost before they stop moving. She tosses the rover keys at Reynolds and shoves her backpack at Nathaniel before stalking off in the direction of the command center.
Reynolds seems surprised, but Shannon is downright puzzled. He looks at Nathaniel, but Nathaniel wisely just shrugs in response and follows her, leaving a confused Jim Shannon by the gate.
When Nathaniel gets to his office, he hears grumbling, water running, and the sound of things being slammed around coming from the bathroom. A moment later, Alicia emerges, still clearly pissed off, but with a clean face and clean hands.
"Alicia, what happened?" Nathaniel is almost afraid to ask. "Did you have a problem delivering Dr. Callahan to the outpost?"
"No. That was fine." She starts pacing the floor of the office.
"OK, then what happened, Alicia?"
She stops pacing and looks at him. "That bastard ate my last cookie."
"Who, Dr. Callahan?"
She gives him a withering look. "No, of course not Dr. Callahan." He meets her look with an expectant expression. She huffs out angry breath and almost hisses. "Shannon. Who else?"
He looks at her for a moment. She must look as though she could spit nails, because he immediately stands up and heads for the door. As he disappears through it, though she is still incensed with Jim, she can't help but feel a flash of amused affection for Nathaniel. He's adapted quickly to her flashes of anger over food.
He learned within days to not eat the last one of anything. His education had come the hard way, when he had eaten the last of her favorite kind of fruit at home. She knows he'll probably come back with not only cookies, but also with several other kinds of snacks, just in case her cravings have changed.
She settles at his desk to write up a quick report on the trip OTG. As she's finishing, she hears him come back into the office. She looks up, a smile on her face. He has, as expected, a few different bags of food in his hands. She's surprised, though, by the apologetic look on his face as he enters.
A moment later, she understands it when a chattering Jim Shannon follows Nathaniel into the office. Nathaniel flashes her a warning look as he drops the food in front of her on his desk.
Shannon is oblivious. "Wash, there you are. What the hell was going on in the rover today? You were pissed off, and I have no idea why?"
She frowns. "Forget it, Shannon."
"No, I need to know what I did so I don't do it again. Or, you know, so I do it over and over." He gives her a shit-eating grin.
She almost laughs out loud as she senses Nathaniel take a step back towards the wall, but her irritation with Shannon overpowers her humor. "Seriously, Shannon. Forget it." Her voice is almost a growl.
The foolish man laughs. Laughs. Her seething kicks up a notch. He must see it in her eyes, because he tries again. "Come on, Wash. Tell me. It can't be that big a deal, or I'd already know what I did."
Her eyes narrow, and from behind her, Nathaniel warns, "Careful, Shannon."
The man really is oblivious. "Not you too, Taylor. What the hell? Is this just irrational anger day here in Terra Nova?"
When she replies, her voice is actually low and dangerous, and she knows she'll regret her ire later. But right now, it feels perfectly justified. "Fine, Shannon. You ate my last goddamned cookie. You just stole it out of my bag. You didn't even ask."
He blinks, and then, incredibly unwisely, laughs again. "That's it? I took a cookie out of your bag? That's all this is about?"
Nathaniel, who had stepped between them just in case, literally drops his face into his palm and mutters, "I warned you to be careful, Shannon. You're on your own now."
She ignores her husband and advances on Jim. "No, you jackass, you didn't take a cookie. You took my last cookie." By the time she stops talking, she's inches from the man.
He finally begins to see just how irritated she is, and he takes a step back. He bumps into the conference table, stumbling slightly. "OK then. Sorry about that, Wash. Won't happen again."
She gets right in his face. "See that it doesn't."
He looks like, as the old saying went, a deer in headlights. He stammers an apology and scurries out the door, muttering under his breath about crazy women and cookies.
When the door closes behind him, she hears Nathaniel burst out laughing. She turns on him, glaring. He holds his hands up placatingly. "Hey, I brought you food. On the desk. Remember?"
There's a teasing glint in his eye as he speaks, and she can't help but laugh too. She goes back to his desk and roots through the food until something catches her eye, a box of dried fruit. She begins to pick at it, and he comes over, clearly trying to gauge her mood with his eyes.
After a moment, she says, "I think he may have actually wet himself."
He snorts out a laugh at that, and steals a piece of the fruit from her, earning himself another glare. She starts to say something, but she stops when she hears boots pounding on the stairs to the command center. They both look worriedly at the door. Seconds later, a winded Shannon reappears.
He enters the office, closing the door behind him. Before either of them can ask him what's going on, he looks straight at Wash and says, "You are not anemic! You, my friend, are pregnant!"
Her mouth drops open in shock. He crosses his arms and gives both her and Nathaniel a knowing look. At that, she drops her head, knowing she can't argue with him. "Shit."