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"How did I find out? How did I find out?" Wedge asked rhetorically, repeating himself for emphasis. "From Mirax, all of Rogue Squadron, friends, enemies, strangers, droids, my mail... His voice trailed off as he took a painful deep breath. "It seems that everyone knew before my wife chose to tell me!"
Reina stood up and walked over to face him. "Wedge, I didn't mean for you to find out that way. I wanted to tell you earlier, as soon as I found out, but-"
"But what, Reina? You're four months pregnant! You've known for some time. You certainly knew before you left."
She was shocked that he knew how far along she was. He read it in her face.
"Yes, I know that too. Your doctor was not compliant at first, but I eventually brought her around to my position – I made her tell me!"
Reina shuddered at the possibilities behind the imagery of his statement. She gestured for him to sit next to her on their bed, but he wouldn't budge from his perch on the dresser. She held out her hands to him, but he refused to reach for them in return.
She sighed. "Actually Wedge, I'll be a full 16 weeks tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, first thing."
"At what time?" he said with concern. I want be there with you."
"It's at 0630. "
"We'll go together, then." This was said as if there was to be no room for debate, but he was just afraid that she would want to cut him out of something he really wanted to be a part of.
"That's good. I'd really like for you to be there with me. It'll be the first time I've seen the 3-D image."
"Oh, so you haven't done that yet?"
"I wasn't going to do that without you." Knowing this put Wedge at ease…somewhat.
"Are you…have you been all right, Rei? During your mission? Was everything OK…for you and the baby?"
"Yes, well, I think so. I'm feeling better now."
"What do you mean? What happened?"
"I got food poisoning along with about a third of the crew nearly three weeks into the mission. Our food refrigeration unit had been going offline and then self correcting. It wasn't noticed until some of us started getting sick. I couldn't hold anything down for days. We were dead in the water because I couldn't fly and so much of the crew was out of commission. We encountered the meteor storms just as I was able to keep something liquid down. Thank the Force for Arlen! He comes from a family of healers too and he was a great help to me. I don't know what I would have done without him. He helped me get through-"
"Arlen!" Wedge growled. "It's obvious to me just how much he'd like to help himself to-"
"Honey, he's a childhood friend, but that's all. His friendship has been a great comfort to me. When you see him next, be sure to thank him for what he did for me and the rest of the crew. I don't know if we all would have made it back here, if it wasn't for him!" Reina was weary of the tension between the two men. They both seemed to go out of their way to antagonize each other, from time to time. She found it exasperating and beyond comprehension.
There was a long strained silence between the two. Then, they both started speaking at the same time. But, Wedge continued on, drowning out his wife. "So, just how many people did you tell?" He obviously wasn't ready to let this go yet.
"I told my parents, of course and my little sister Sera. I told Winter, but she swore secrecy. And Luke-"
"You told Skywalker before you told me!" Wedge was getting angry again.
"I actually didn't have to say anything to him. I'd only found out the day before your lifeday celebration. At the time of your party, only my doctor and I knew. Luke came over and took my hand and asked me to dance. When he touched me he smiled and told me that he felt there was something very different about me. I burst into tears because I knew that he knew that I was pregnant. He took me away from the crowd to talk. I told him that I hadn't told you and that I was considering not telling you until after my mission. He said that he understood and would keep my confidence until he heard the news from you."
Reina left out the part where Luke told her that he had a very bad feeling about it. He thought it would be best if she told Wedge before she left for her mission, feeling certain that Wedge would not interfere. Reina argued that she knew better.
"Yes", Wedge said. "I remember. I got up to look for you since you were not holding court on the dance floor. I spotted you with Luke across the hall. You looked like you were very upset and he was consoling you-holding both of your hands. I wanted to go over to you, but something made me think better of it. Luke is one of my closest friends. We've been there for each other countless times. I felt you were in good hands, but it bothered me. I didn't think about it until the end of the night when Arlen decided to get friendly with me. He made a comment about you and Luke and I just wanted to deck him. Oh, that Luke-is he ever going to hear it from me!"
"Please leave Luke out of this. It wasn't his place to say anything."
"Right, that responsibility belonged to you, my wife."
"Okay, okay, Wedge." Reina raised her hands in mock submission. "Look, I also told my cousin, Tasmina, no doubt the original source of the leak. She probably told Wes. They seem to have started a relationship. I should have known better. She talks too much. "
"No, you just should have told me! Even if I wasn't the very first to know, even if you didn't want to tell me first, you should have told me before you left."
Wedge sighed heavily, running his fingers through his hair with his one good hand. For someone on a medical leave, he looked exhausted and judging by the way his pants fell away from his hips, he was much thinner than when she'd left him. He started pacing back and forth as he spoke, not looking at her, but gesturing for emphasis.
"I was checking my mail two weeks ago when I got the news from Mirax, congratulating us", he gritted his teeth on those last two words. She had heard from your cousin Tasmina when they met up at an art auction. Mirax also came across Ooryl while he was on assignment and shared the news with him. Then there were the perfect strangers, even new recruits who stopped to congratulate me. And the droids!" He stopped to look at her. "I should not have had to hear it from droids, Reina."
He paused for emphasis in the way that commanders learn to do when reprimanding subordinates, giving them time to reflect on the consequences of their behavior and the disruption and difficulty it has caused. For Reina, this was her husband's most annoying trait. It was the one other thing she wanted him to lose besides his tatty old blanket.
"It put me in a very awkward position. Every time someone would ask me when the baby was due I had to just say that it was our little secret, because I had no idea. I had no idea at all when my own child would be born! Then, I began to wonder if it was really true. Suppose it was a big rumor and when you came back, I found out that was indeed the case. So, I had to speak with your doctor. She, of course, believed that it was a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality to tell me anything, in spite of the fact that I am your husband."
Wedge mocked the doctor perfectly. "If you can't get your wife to tell you something of such a deeply personal nature, don't expect me to do it for her. Could it be that she's taken issue with your rash Corellian nature?" And she gave me that condescending glare and I…I had to…I felt I had to…oh, never mind."
Reina cringed at the thought of what he might have done. Obviously, in hindsight, it must be something he regrets…somewhat.
"What did you do?"
He refused to answer or look at her. This topic was not open to discussion either.
Perhaps his behavior in the medicalbay was the reason he was at home and not there right now. The doctor could hold her own in a fair fight and she'd dealt with his occasional intransigence before, as he was known to be a very difficult patient. Even the Em-Dee droids were pleased to see the back of him.
Wedge's agitation was making his shoulder hurt worse and it hurt Reina to see that he was in such pain, particularly because he would not let her comfort him. Nevertheless, he soldiered on.
"Then, I had to deal with people who were wondering why I let you go on this dangerous mission when you were pregnant. I've protected the lives of my pilots, friends and comrades with my skill and firepower. But you! No, you wouldn't give me a chance to do the same for you, would you?" Wedge paused for a moment as if to collect his thoughts while trying to overcome the pain he was in.
"Honey, I hope that you don't think that I don't love you or that I don't care about our baby because I-"
"I am not done here, Reina, and I didn't give you permission to speak!" he barked at her, completely forgetting himself.
"'Permission to speak', Captain?" Reina crossed her arms. "Please don't speak to me that way. I am not under your command, just married to you. It's important that you continue to understand the difference, Wedge, and that you remember to leave your rank at the door! I think we have had this discussion before." She spoke to him as if he had tested her patience for the last time before serious consequences would follow. "And why do you think that you need to yell. Is my hearing in question too?" She was dead-calm in manner and dead serious in intent. He knew to back off. The warning wasn't just in her words; it was in her body language as well. Han always used to joke with him that he would just shut Leia out when she got on his nerves, but he always heard her body language. He believed that it'd saved his life on more than one occasion.
Wedge continued on more thoughtfully, but without an apology. "After those meteor storms interfered with communications…I was very worried about you. The scout ships had found what looked like wreckage consistent with the metal hull plating of your ship. I had wanted to try to find you myself, but I wasn't able to fly. I thought that I might never see you again. I thought that I'd never get to see my child born. Those were the three longest days of my life…until we heard from you again. He paused again and turned to look at her.
"Then, when I was briefed about the extent of your mission, I was furious at you. Joyriding through the galaxy to collect roots and rocks in contested space! And in the "Rig"! His escalating anger and pain left him almost breathless, but still he kept going.
"I was working on my X-wing. Mynock kept badgering me about you and the baby when I didn't want to talk about it. I threatened to erase his memory and I climbed out of the cockpit to complete repairs, but my mind was elsewhere. I was so distracted that I forgot about the hit I'd taken near the hatch's seal. The metal was razor sharp, but easily avoidable if I'd been paying attention. I sliced this hand to the bone with the lightest touch. Then I lost my footing and fell. I landed on my shoulder and cracked my ribs on the spanner in my jacket pocket." He opened his and for her to see and touched his ribs gingerly.
"News was probably half way across the galaxy before I knew anything of it and that was simply wrong of you Reina and you know it."
He paused to look at her.
Reina sat, thinking. Is he just setting up for a strafing run on me or is the worst over? We still have yet to discuss the 'details' of my mission.
"You're awfully quiet. Ranat got your tongue, darling?" he said with a bitterness she'd never heard from him before. "I'd really like to hear what you have to say. Did you consider me at all when you made your decision not to tell me anything?"
Wedge was standing with a hand on his hip and his agitation was continuing to build. But, Reina refused to be intimidated by someone with his arm in a sling, who had fallen from his own vessel, who could not court-martial her, who definitely was skating on thin ice by continuing to speak to her in command mode. She had no legitimate defense that would be acceptable to Wedge. But she did have her reasons for not telling him sooner. For the moment, it didn't appear that he would even try to understand.