I sit back in my chair, stomach ready to burst; "Let it never be said that replicator food can in any way compete with actual, home cooking."
"Mmm. I am completely, one hundred percent satisfied. Possibly one of the best meals I've had in the last seven years." Jean Luc looks about as painfully stuffed as I am.
"Agreed. They were right about the Bajoran Feed. Makes me wonder what full Bajoran cattle tastes like! Next vacation: Bajor. First stop: steak house." I laugh.
"Indeed." He smiles as he takes a sip of wine.
"I must say, Jean Luc, I am in total agreement with the 2360 vintage. Much fruitier and a little more floral than the 2365."
"I think we had a longer summer in 2360 and I think my father might have let the grapes ripen a little more."
"Well whatever it is," I take another sip, swish it around my mouth and savour the delicate flavours "it's magnificient."
"Everyone in this town seems lovely, I think the fates chose a good place for you to practice, Beverly."
"Mmm I agree. What a change this is going to be from the Enterprise or even Starfleet medical!"
"Do you regret the lack of variety?"
"No," I reflect, "no I think it will be good to simplify things for now. I've never admitted it before, but remember that incident with Worf a while back when the cargo container crushed his spine?"
"Yes. I remember. He asked Will to take his life." He replied sadly.
"I've never told anyone this, but what happened really shook me. I'm versatile; don't get me wrong Jean Luc. And, I do like a challenge, but I think for now I'll be happy with something a little less… intense."
/
"Hello, I'm Dr. Beverly Picard. My license currently says Crusher, but I inquired two days about getting surgical privileges at County General."
"Let me see here," the floor receptionist scans the console in front of her, "Dr. Picard - I see you right here! Yes. The chief of surgery will be happy to meet with you. If you just take a seat over there, he'll be right out."
The County General hospital is small, coming in at about 100 patient beds and four fully functional operating rooms equipped to do microsurgery, laproscopic surgery, and open surgery. I have to admit that it's been a while since I did open surgery. Actually, I think Worf's procedure was the last major one that I did.
I'll admit I've done some rather off-kilter procedures like when I had to place Odan's symbiotic life form around Will's abdominal aorta. I'm still not sure how that worked completely, but I think that the life form was deriving neural energy off of the hypogastric plexus.
That was odd and my relationship with Odan was even stranger now that I think back on it. I was a little bit like a silly schoolgirl with a fleeting crush. I regret it hugely. I regret how much I fell apart. Most of all I regret how Jean Luc had to pick up the pieces. When I met Odan I thought he was just an attractive male and I was so flattered that he was so taken with me. But, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. And in the end, like a child who touches a hot burner, I quickly withdrew.
"Dr. Picard!" A large Bolian male comes towards me. I've always like Bolians. They're very jolly as a race and their blue skin makes them such a lovely oddity. We had two Bolians on board the Enterprise, and they were both extremely lovely and easy to get along with.
I stand to meet him and extend my hand in greeting, "Beverly, please."
"Beverly, so nice to meet you. My name is Hal Miklis. I have to say that when I received all of your documentation, I was very impressed. It's not every day that such a famous physician graces our halls!"
"You are too kind." I blush.
"Not at all. We're more than welcome to have you come and put in some time in the OR. Of course, you can bring your own patients and we'll also put you on rotation. I must say that you have done some remarkable procedures. You'll have to tell me all about them sometime!"
"Of course!" I'm flattered by this man's enthusiasm, "anytime."
"Well, I've put everything through with human resources and you'll be able to start whenever suits you. I hear that you'll be working with Hope. She's a wonderful physician and surgeon. What she usually does is put her name down on rotation every second month. She'll do a variety of procedures. And then every so often she'll take call. Is that something that you'd be interested in doing?"
I nod my head. "Sounds perfect."
"Wonderful. Well then we'll be in touch when my secretary makes next month's rotation schedule. Now," I see him look behind his back to the clock on the wall, "I really must be going, I have a micro vascular repair to do on a young woman with endometriositis".
"Not a problem."
"I'm sorry that our meeting was so short, but at this point it was just a formality. Good to have you on board and we'll be seeing you soon."
Before I could put another word in the tall Bolian was off. Well, I sighed, that takes care of that!
/
"Jean Luc?" I whisper, "Jean Luc?" The man is out cold. That's another thing that's changed about Jean Luc since we left the Enterprise; the man actually sleeps. In fact, he sleeps better than I do! Now he doesn't have to worry about being woken by hostile alien fire or red alerts.
His body is curled around mine, holding me securely against him. I look over at the chronometer near the bed. It's 4am. He doesn't seem to feel ill. He runs a little warm, but I don't seem to sense anything abnormal. But I can't shake the feeling that I am about to vomit. Tomorrow is my first day working with Hope. It could just be my nerves. Right? If it were dinner, then Jean Luc would feel ill as well. But he's fine. He's sleeping normally and from what I can tell, he hasn't woken up since we fell asleep after making love.
Maybe if I just try to go back to sleep, I'll feel better. I nestle back into Jean Luc's warm embrace.
Nope.
Oh God.
I quickly but quietly get out of bed, using every bit of will power to control my upper oesophageal sphincter until I can reach the bathroom. I unconsciously shut the door behind me and make it just in time to the toilet.
I retch and retch until there's nothing left. I never had morning sickness with Wesley. His was the most agreeable pregnancy. This has to be dinner; something just didn't agree with me. I'm scared to take out the tricorder, but I have to check in order to let Hope know whether or not I can make it in to work tomorrow.
I rummage in one of the sink drawers for the med tricorder. It springs to life with the turn of a button. I select the gastrointestinal option as I wave the scanner purposefully over my stomach.
The readout says that all systems are normal. Nothing outside of normal limits; neutrophil count is normal so no bacterial infection, lymphocytes are not elevated ruling out a virus, and eosinophils are basal, excluding any sort of parasitic infection.
Temperature though is elevated 2 degrees above normal and basal metabolic rate has increased by 300kcal. It can't be. No it can't. We want it so much, but it's just not possible. Is it?
My fingers are shaking as I select the gonadal and reproductive option from the main menu. I carefully wave the scanner over my lower abdomen. Oh. My. God.
HCG: 30mIU/ml. ELEVATED.
We're pregnant! I let out a small cry of relief and happiness. I can't wait to tell my husband.
