"So Anya, she looks great." Beverly cooed as she snapped the last of the child's jumper back together and handed the now thriving four month year old back to her mother.
"She's a wonderful child." Anya agreed. Anya had settled into life back on the starship as if she had never left. Sometimes while she was on her shifts, it was like her life never had changed, but then she would remember Carina or look at the picture of Kyle on her desk in her lab and realize that things had changed.
"You continue to breast feed her?" Beverly inquired as Anya prepared to leave.
"Yes," Anya nodded and followed Beverly into her office as Beverly asked.
"Ensign Johnston is just about ready to give birth. She's been doing a lot of research about parenting and what to expect. Since the only other mother with an infant on board right now is Lieutenant Spencer's wife and she's Peceptinarian and they don't feed their offspring their own breast milk I was wondering if you felt comfortable talking with Lonnie about how you feel about breast feeding." Beverly asked and Anya nodded her head.
"I will gladly talk with her." Anya agreed and moved Carina onto her shoulder to pat her back just as they heard a door swish open behind them.
"Captain Picard? What brings you to sick bay?" Beverly asked as she stood up and Anya also started to stand. Jean Luc waved them both to sit down again. "I was just on my way to Ten Forward and thought I'd stop by and see if you were free to join me, but as I can see I interrupted…"
"You didn't interrupt anything important. We were just finishing up…" Anya quickly returned and she started to stand up again.
"This is your child?" Jean Luc asked suddenly more interested in the smiling child that sat comfortably in her mother's arms than his normal attitude towards children usually was.
"Yes, this is Carina. We were just having our four month checkup."
"It's been four months already?" Jean Luc asked in surprise.
"Yes." Anya nodded.
"I've read your research that you submitted a few weeks back. Very well presented, I'm sure your findings will be useful for those at Starfleet Medical." Jean Luc noted and Beverly nodded in agreement.
"I almost forgot to tell you that as well. Excellent findings." Beverly shared. "I was going to ask what you did to find those results, as I've tried to grow the Hysopic Balm several times and have had never gotten those results before. I thought perhaps it was related to the gravitational pull of the planets related to the sun's distance.." Beverly started and then paused as she looked between both Anya and the Captain.
"Thank you, I continue to put more information together from my research I did while I was on Bruderholf." Just as Anya tried to leave Carina turned around to look at Jean Luc and smiled brightly at the older man. Jean Luc was a little taken back but suddenly felt the urge to smile back. "She's in a good mood. Did you want to hold her?" Anya asked boldly not sure if the man would be interested. Jean Luc held out of his hands and the baby went to him without any hesitation. "She trusts you..." Anya shared wisely.
Jean Luc held the baby and Carina put her hands to touch the captain's face. Not sure quite what to do, Jean Luc let the child feel around and naturally blew onto the baby's hand as Carina tried to put her fingers into his mouth and the baby smiled. Both women just watched for what felt like a long time before Carina tired of the captain and turned her attention back to her mother.
"I will let the two of you go. I need to put Carina down for a nap." Anya graciously made her exit from the office.
"You looked very comfortable holding onto that baby." Beverly commented as they left her office together.
"I'm not all that comfortable with babies, but there is something about Anya that I find very remarkable and her little one has already started to develop very similar qualities. Remarkable really." Jean Luc shrugged and then turned his attention to Beverly and didn't speak of the interaction again the rest of the time they were together.