All Good Things
Chapter Seven - Welcome to the Gang
On Board the Enterprise
December 2273
Bones
They were all in the captain's ready room, working on the final report on what Jim kept calling 'the sick bay fuck-up'. He didn't like that tag at all, and protested loudly every time he heard it. "Look, you idiot, this mess affected the whole ship. It wasn't just sick bay where things happened as a result."
"But it was only there that the results were unplanned pregnancies."
He sighed. "That weird area of space we flew through reversed polarity on things all over the ship. There were burnt-out circuits everywhere. And failed controls on lots of things. We all had to eat that Masturtian buggle-weed stuff for three days, remember? Because it all thawed out and you can't refreeze that stuff or it just liquifies, and the chef refused to throw it all out the hatch. And half the turbolifts would only go down and the other half would only go up, which meant pretty soon we were all climbing the Jeffries tubes, until they got them running right again. It's not my damn fault that the only medication in the entire sick bay that was affected was the contraception shots. We were just damn lucky that there was only one carton out of stasis at the time."
Spock was nodding slightly. "The doctor is correct. This misfortune was not the responsibility of anyone on the medical staff. There was no way for them to know that the medication had been rendered useless. We are indeed fortunate that there were no more unplanned results than actually occurred."
Jim looked at them both, and then sighed. "Okay, okay, so it wasn't your fault, and it wasn't limited to sick bay. It's still a mess."
He had to agree. "The counselors were busy for a couple of weeks. But we only had two women who insisted on abortions. Neither of them was married, and they weren't ready for that responsibility. Everyone else adjusted. You even get to perform a marriage because of it!" And here he grinned.
Jim grinned back. "And in only a couple of hours, now. We need to get this thing done, so that I can go and get changed."
Spock looked at the two of them. "I am sure that the unplanned pregnancy is not the only reason that Lieutenant Rand is marrying Dr M'Benga."
He laughed. "No, from the way those two are acting, it would have happened pretty soon anyway. This just gave them a little added impetus."
They bent their heads back to the report they were finalizing, and soon it was ready to send off to StarFleet Command, leaving them free to join the celebration about to take place in the largest rec room on board.
Spock
He went back to their quarters and retrieved Nyota, who was already dressed in something bright and floaty. She had taken the children to day care while he was busy, and was eager to set off for the wedding.
They managed to sit next to Kurik and Chris, who was now heavily pregnant herself. It could not be more than a few weeks before their daughter was born. He observed the same glow about Chris that he had seen about Nyota when she was carrying their children. It must be partly happiness shining through. It was while they were sitting there, talking together, while the dancing and drinking were going on, that they finalized the plans for the Vulcan welcome dinner they had been talking about. He felt that their quarters were going to be extremely crowded. Perhaps it would be necessary to open up the play room for dining. When he suggested it, both women latched onto the idea eagerly. Kurik looked at him, and wondered how much furniture moving they would be doing. He was surely correct that it would take the women more than one try to decide on how they wanted things. They would have to get Tanik to help. When Charlene and Tanik came by shortly thereafter, the plans were solidified.
As it turned out, it took the three men most of the day before the dinner to arrange things to suit the women. But when they carried the hot boxes back and turned them over to the women, they were surprised to see how well everything looked. The banner that Nyota had made was admired again by the other two men, who kept looking at it, hoping that their own bondmates would take the hint. Nyota already had the music playing softly, discs that Sarek had sent them, recorded on New Vulcan. Quickly the food was set out, buffet style, on the table where the plates and tableware already waited. And then the door chime began to sound. He spent the next half hour introducing people.
"Nyota, this is Lieutenant Wurok. He is an experienced Navigator and is on beta shift. Chris, this is Lieutenant T'Vela, who is bonded to Lieutenant Commander Falon. She is a Quarters Configuration Expert, and has taken over this responsibility from me. She is the one who designed the addition to your quarters."
"Charlene, this is Lieutenant Tilek, who is a shuttle maintenance specialist. He is interested in discussing the work you did on the computerized controls. Tanik, I do not believe you have met Lieutenant Commander Falon, who is a structural engineer."
"Ensign T'Vre, this is Lieutenant Rand. Ensign T'Vre is the new botanist in charge of the arboretum."
"Dr M'Benga, this is Lieutenant Deltk, who is an Astrophysicist."
He looked around to see whether there was anyone else standing alone, but everyone seemed to be involved in conversation. He caught Nyota's eye and nodded toward the buffet and she sent him "ten minutes". He assented and set a timer to alert him to make the announcement, and then joined in the conversation going on between T'Kam, the new nurse, and Dr McCoy and Apask, the new biologist. T'Bel, who was in the medical lab, joined in about the same time and he was very surprised when his timer went off, because it seemed that almost no time had passed.
He raised his hand to catch everyone's attention, and directed them to the buffet, where Nyota and Chris were removing the covers from the dishes, handing them to Charlene. People began to migrate in that direction, and soon the tables set about the playroom were full of people. He managed to make it through the line while there was still a good selection and found that Nyota had saved a chair for him at her side.
They were almost finished eating when Cathy Kirk suddenly made a strange sound and turned quite pale. McCoy was at her side in a moment, and then Nyota was up and headed for the children's bathroom, coming out with a towel, which she hurriedly used to mop up under Cathy's chair. McCoy was calling sick bay to send up a stretcher, and Jim had turned a very strange shade of green. He had not been aware that humans could turn green.
After all the confusion was over, the party never quite got back on track. But it was late enough that Grayson and Amanda were beginning to look glassy-eyed, and Nyota took them and tucked them into the bed in the master bedroom, out of the noise in the playroom.
They were soon saying goodbye to their friends, and all the new crewmembers, who seemed pleased with the evening. Charlene and Tanik stayed long enough to help clean up, and then left, and they were alone. He went into the bedroom and lifted up Amanda and carried her to her own bed, and then Grayson as well. He returned to find that Nyota had locked up and dimmed the lights, and was waiting for him, with a small square of chocolate in her hand. He wasted no time at all in taking that from her, his eyes darkening with desire as soon as he saw it. Perhaps he was not tired, after all.
Chris
It was the week after the party that she started feeling really odd. Her feet were swollen, her back ached, and she had trouble sleeping because of the activities of their daughter, but she hadn't really felt odd until after Cathy's water broke at the party. She vowed she wasn't going to let something that embarrassing happen to her. She would just stay right in their quarters until it was time to head to sick bay. Kurik did not understand her attitude at all. And so, of course, it was the night that he insisted that she accompany him to the mess hall, to sit and talk with her friends, that she went into labor. She sat there and yelled at him, while he tried to soothe her, and Nyota sat at her side and giggled.
