Kate wasn't the Big Ship officer she had once been. She was used to all the sights and smells of an FFV, even the horrid stench of rotting trochus and as much as she hated the smell it never turned her stomach the way it had that first time. Which is why she felt a sudden sense of dread as her stomach rebelled and she found herself folded over the gunwale, vomiting up everything she'd eaten in days. Her eyes stung once she was finished and she swallowed down a useless gag against her already empty stomach.

"Ma'am?" Dutchy's voice was cautious, concerned. She waved him off.

"I'm fine. Let's finish the boarding." He turned away reluctantly, leading 2Dads and Bird into the cabin. She met Swain's eyes before she followed them. He was frowning at her, concerned.

"Later." She told him and he sighed and tucked in behind her as she followed the others inside.

Swain gave her until she'd locked away her weapons and was unbuckling her vest. He reached up to help her slide her vest off and she was too aware of his warmth against her skin. Her stomach has settled but it still rolled with ill timed arousal.

"Come on Ma'am, let's get you checked out." While everything in his approach was concerned medic she couldn't help but feel somehow revealed in the way ma'am rolled off his lips. But she saw only concern in Dutchy and the others' eyes and so she stowed the last of her gear and followed him to the ward room.

His eyes were intent from the moment the door shut behind them.

"Have you eaten anything the others haven't lately?" He asked as she took a seat. She shook her head.

"Only Bird's cooking." She replied with a grin he didn't quite return. He opened the med cabinet and started rifling through it.

"I can give you something for the nausea." She rose to join him and after a moment he handed her a small box, but he didn't release it. She looked up to meet his eyes.

"Have you thought about the other possibility?"

Kate let her breath rush out. And that was the gut churning possibility that had hit her the moment her stomach rebelled.

"I can't be." Her voice didn't even sound confident to herself. "I'm on birth control."

He met her eyes and she could see the same anxiety that was in her. He reached out a hand to cup her elbow.

"You know that's not one hundred percent effective." His voice was soft and her eyes shut for just a moment. She'd never been one to take risks and the one time she had it might come back to haunt her.

Swain pulled away and she almost reached for him but he stepped only far enough to rifle through the cupboard again. She knew what he would be pulling out but the purple box was still a punch. He held it out and she forced herself to take it. She turned towards the door and his voice stopped her.

"Kate." She looked at him. "Come back while you wait?"

She met his eyes and saw the same vulnerability that she felt and nodded.

She'd somehow made it to her mid thirties without ever having to pee on a stick and squatting in the cramped head felt seedy in a way she'd never felt before. She tucked the stick back into the box and waited for a set of footsteps to fade outside the door.

Swain was waiting for her when she returned, perched against the edge of a shelf.

She put the box down on the shelf between them and glanced at her watch.

"Three minutes left."

He stared at it for a long moment, shifting on his feet before he reached his hand and took hers, squeezing gently as they watched the clock tick.

As soon as the time had passed Kate reached out decisively and opened the box, pulling out the stick and flipping it over on the shelf.

There were two lines.

Kate felt that like a punch in the gut and heard the same shocked noise in Swain.

Kate stared at the stick, unable to fully parse what was happening. She was not the woman who had unplanned pregnancies.

"Pregnant." Swain wasn't asking a question, just saying the word aloud as though he needed to hear it to believe it. He tore his eyes from it and looked at her. "Am I?"

He didn't say the word 'father' and she was glad for that. It felt like too much.

She nodded. "Probably, Mike and I used protection." She winced a little as she said it, she'd been the one to insist her birth control was enough, and she was the one who found herself unable to definitively name the man who impregnated her.

Swain saw the wince and guessed at least part of it.

"I could have said no." He shrugged, smiling a little in remembrance. "I just didn't want to." He reached a hand up to cup her cheek and she was suddenly utterly glad for his role that gave them this privacy, as limited as it was.

She leant into his kiss, craving his solid touch as everything else went wild around her.

The knock on the door had them both jerking back and they took careful steps away from each other before Swain called towards the door.

"Come in."

Mike was the last person Kate wanted to see come through that doorway and she was suddenly acutely aware of the pregnancy test sitting on the shelf.

Mike turned his attention towards Swain as though asking him her condition would hide his unplatonic concern.

"How is she?"

"She's...uh…" Swain cut his eyes towards Kate. They'd had no time to decide what she wanted to do, let alone what she wanted to say but Mike's authority and Navy regulations had them against a wall.

"It's okay Swain." She met his eyes and nodded. "I can explain if you give me a moment."

He looked reluctant to leave her and she wanted to be able to reach out and touch him reassuringly but Mike's eyes were on her, confused and too sharp.

"Okay." He said reluctantly after a long moment and she felt the 'accidental' brush of his arm against her in reassurance as he left the room, closing the door behind him. She breathed in the contact to steady herself but before she could ready herself to speak, Mike's keen eyes noticed the test.

"You're pregnant?" His voice was incredulous, a mix of frightened and just a little excited.

She bit down her frustration at him and nodded.

"Five weeks I think." She thought she could see him doing the math behind his eyes and saw him come to the logical conclusion.

"About when we slept together." She opened her mouth to tell him the truth, that he was unlikely to be the father but he continued on without allowing her to speak.

"We'll have to get your transfer sorted as soon as we can." He looked at her, but his focus was elsewhere. "It's early enough we might be able to hide the timeline."

Kate stared at him, aware that he thought of her career as much as his but his presumptuous planning left a bad taste in her mouth. She had dreaded upsetting him with the truth of the possibilities but the way he had assumed without asking drew a frown.

"I would obviously need to post off anyway, it's the first step for any pregnant sailor." She looked at him sharply and he looked surprised enough to be interrupted that she hated him for a moment. "But you've made two assumptions. One, that I was planning on keeping it and two, that it's yours."