By: Keleshnar
Disclaimer: I haven't gotten my present yet, so I don't own them, but I am making money off this now! – well, if you count the dime I found while writing this. Okay, okay, so I'm not making any real profits…
Spoilers: Stigma
A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting. I meant to have this chapter out last week, but, well… let's just say time management isn't my strongpoint. The next update should be faster.
This story is now entering the second of its three stages. If you didn't know, the first five chapters were part of Stage One: The Pon Farr. The second stage (what you're reading right now) is called The Birth. It's about the events leading up to the birth of Jon and T'Pol's child (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go read the last five chapters). As always, Mana and Faith = very helpful beta-ers, and REVIEWS ARE GOOD! A thank you to all of you who have reviewed already; I appreciate it greatly. If you spot something, even a misspelling or a grammar mistake, please point it out to me. I like people who nitpick. Oh, and I am evil, again (except this time it will turn out differently). Read on to understand, but just know that I'm holding the next chapter hostage until I get some reviews. And I hope that the paragraphs that switch between the bridge and the ready room aren't too confusing. If this were an episode (I wish!), you'd have the scene panning between the activities in the bridge, and in the ready room.
Okay, that was a long authors note. Sorry! Now to the story…
Stage Two: The Birth
Chapter 6: Another Partner in Crime
"Captain, there is a class M planet coming up that is unusually rich in trilithium," T'Pol stated, looking down at her scans.
Captain Archer looked at his science officer with a blank face. T'Pol could feel that he didn't understand what was so different about the planet, especially when he responded, "And…"
"Trilithium is a fairly rare element, and such abundant quantities would have a unique effect on the fauna and flora. Collecting samples from the planet could be highly useful and interesting."
"Oh, would you suggest sending down an away team?"
"Yes, Sir. The atmosphere is 5% carbon dioxide, 30% oxygen, and 65% nitrogen, and there might be creatures that would be harmful to us on the surface, so I would suggest wearing EVsuits."
'And not setting things on fire' Jon finished and chuckled in his head.
"Alright, Malcolm, get a team together of security officers and scientists and meet me in the situation room."
"But Sir," Malcolm objected, "Shouldn't Sub-Commander T'Pol come down also since she's the science officer?" Jon could feel T'Pol's questioning and annoyed gaze on his face, as well as in his head, and he briefly met her eyes before getting up and walking toward the situation room.
"Uh… right. Join us as soon as you've notified the science team, T'Pol." And with a nod from Malcolm, T'Pol notified the science officers.
'That was odd…' Hoshi thought, looking around from her communications station, where she had been silently observing the whole interaction. 'Why would T'Pol not go on a science mission?'
Then, as Malcolm and T'Pol filed into the Captain's situation room, Hoshi noticed, not for the first time, that the Sub-Commander had gained a little weight recently. Not much, but it was more obvious than it would be otherwise since she wore a tight-fitting suit. It wasn't her old uniform, but it was similar in many respects with the crossover front. Hoshi was pretty sure she was the only one that noticed this, first, since she was good at noticing things, and second, she was a woman, which contributed to the first thing.
A few minutes later, Malcolm walked out of the situation room and back to his station, and when T'Pol didn't follow, Hoshi though, 'I bet she's giving Captain Archer a piece of her mind.'
Indeed, T'Pol was doing that exact thing. Except she, unlike Hoshi, knew why Jon had tried to avoid having her on the away mission, "I am still very capable of doing my job, Jonathan. I am only two months pregnant. If I don't go, it will be for a very illogical reason, and the crew will notice. I had heard that human fathers could be overprotective, but this is extremely unnecessary and out of proportion."
"Whoa, alright… sorry," Jon put his hands up in front of him as a gesture of apology and defeat, "I just still don't like the idea of you down there," he motioned to the planet with his head, "where there could be harm just waiting to get you two at every turn."
Meanwhile on the bridge, Hoshi's mind was wandering again, 'T'Pol has been having little bouts of sickness, too - nausea. Like when she had just sat down to her station at the beginning of the shift, and she had to get up suddenly and run to the turbolift. Yeah, that was really weird. Almost like…'
There was a little *click* in Hoshi's head as she put together the information, and her eyes widened as she finished her thought, 'morning sickness! Oh my God! T'Pol's pregnant!!' it all made sense now – the weight, the new suits that she'd seen being carried in, the over-protectiveness of the Captain… Another little *click* went off in her brain, and Hoshi almost had to cover her mouth to stop the scream of surprise and excitement, 'Captain Archer's the father! Oh my God!' She couldn't believe it! Okay, maybe she could, she realized once she thought about it. She'd been noticing some small things for a while, but never suspected this! She had to tell them how happy she was for them. She knew it was only the Captain and the Sub-Commander in the situation room, because Malcolm was at his station, so she decided to go tell them now. Nervously, she walked up the ready room door and rang the chime.
When the door opened, Jon and T'Pol were at opposite sides of the table, with T'Pol looking at some scans on the screen and Jon looking at a PADD. Hoshi suspected, correctly, that they had not been in those positions until just before she'd entered. She stood there nervously, biting her lip, for a minute, but at Jon's questioning, "Ensign?" she couldn't hold the excitement in anymore.
"Congratulations, Sir, Ma'am!" and on an impulse, Hoshi went over and hugged T'Pol. Afterwards, all three of them in the room looked shocked. Jon looked sideways at T'Pol with an unsure glance, and then said,
"What do you mean, Hoshi?" T'Pol, however, knew that the woman had caught on, and didn't try to deny the pregnancy.
"Thank you, Ensign," Then T'Pol did something amazing, for her – she half-smiled. "How did you know?" she continued.
"Oh, you know, just my instincts." Though Jon was clueless as to what this meant, Hoshi and T'Pol understood. This incident was the first bond of their soon to be strong friendship.
Once that moment of bonding had passed, Jon moved over to Hoshi, accepting that she knew, and hugged her. He also silently accepted that she would not tell anyone else, which Hoshi knew not to. A wide grin then lit upon his face, and he proceeded to talk very excitedly with Hoshi about babies and such, as if he'd been holding back for a while but had really been wanting to talk to someone. T'Pol suddenly felt very Vulcan at that moment, and very excluded. To her, it almost seemed like she was watching them talk through someone else's eyes, and having no mouth to input her own comments into their conversation. She saw how they were both so excited, moving their hands animatedly to help them communicate, and she could feel the emotions radiating vibrantly from Jonathan; emotions that she herself wasn't sure how to express.
When there was a pause in their conversation, Jon seemed to feel that T'Pol was feeling slightly confused and lonely, and put his arm around her, pulling her into their 'circle' of conversation literally and figuratively by saying, as though no one had known it beforehand, "And we're gonna have a baby." He then just turned to T'Pol, and smiled a very deep, contented smile. T'Pol could feel her unhappy emotions slide away as she realized how much he truly understood her and her needs, and that he was a constant in her changing life that she could count on.
* * * * *
Upon later contemplation during mediation, T'Pol fully realized how much Jon really wanted to have someone know about their child besides the two of them and Phlox, and to be able to talk to them. Dr. Phlox had been very helpful, like when they were bringing the Doctor the samples she'd collected from the planet they'd visited; the two men had gotten into a discussion about when T'Pol should not be allowed on away missions. T'Pol had been quite irked that she was outside of a conversation that involved her directly. But it still wasn't the same as talking to a human.
She remembered how, when she and Jonathan had first found out about their child, he had almost run down the deserted halls, shouting for joy. She could feel his total gleefulness, and that he wanted to share it with everyone, but they both knew that they couldn't - not yet. She'd had to send reassuring thoughts to him to help keep all of the feelings inside. When they got to his quarters, so that he could feed Porthos, Jonathan had picked the beagle up and danced around the room with him, shouting, albeit quietly, "We're gonna have a baby! Can you believe it? We're gonna have a baby!" When Porthos was set down and fed, T'Pol became his dance partner, and as they did their silly dance of joy around the cabin, T'Pol had laughed freely for the first time in her life. She knew that that particular day would stay in both of their minds forever.
* * * * *
Vulcans weren't usually impatient, but at the moment T'Pol was feeling very much so. She was supposed to meet Jonathan here, in the mess hall, five minutes ago. They were to meet with Doctor Phlox about the results of the blood and DNA tests that T'Pol and their child had taken days before. The two of them had planned on taking late lunches today so that they could meet privately in the mess hall to eat and then go to sickbay. Only Jonathan was late.
Thinking about the blood tests only added to the worry that had been plaguing the back of her mind for a while. There was no way to know whether their child had contracted her Pa'Nar Syndrome because of his or her totally unique genes. The syndrome had been in remission well since she had given Phlox that other information from Doctor Yuris. They were able to slow the progression much more than before, but she had a feeling that with the excess hormones realting to being pregnant, it could rear its head again. The Doctor had told her after the tribunal in front of the Science Directorate that the disease could not be transmitted cross-species, as far as he could tell, which was fortunate.
As T'Pol turned these ideas - as well as the annoyed impatience - over in her head, she did not hear the doors of the mess hall swish open, nor did she see Hoshi until the woman had gotten her lunch and came over to T'Pol's table to try to join her.
"Ma'am? May I join you?" Hoshi asked, somewhat hesitantly. She had seen the concentrating, slightly angry look on T'Pol's face and didn't want to be on the receiving end of that anger.
Hoshi's words brought T'Pol out of her reverie - she wasn't angry, though. Her face assumed its normal expression, which actually lacked any expression, and she took an extra second to think through what the Ensign had said before replying, "Of course."
Truthfully, though, she wasn't thrilled at all about having someone in the mess hall with her. The only reason that she and the Captain were going to meet in the actual mess hall instead of the Captain's mess was that they assumed it would be empty. But, she reasoned, of all the people to show up, Ensign Sato was definitely the best choice.
"I was just finishing charting some of that new language we heard a few days ago. I wanted to finish before lunch, or my lunch at least, so I was surprised to see you here so late…" Hoshi rambled on slightly, trying to fill the silence, which was becoming uncomfortable. 'Hoshi,' she added in her mind, 'you call yourself a good communications officer, and here you are nervous talking to the Sub-Commander! Get with it, and actually talk about something!' When she looked up from a bite of her turkey salad, she noticed that T'Pol was looking off into space again.
"Is there something wrong, Sub-Commander?" Hoshi asked. When T'Pol turned to her, Hoshi knew that there was definitely something on her mind from the well-hidden expressions of unease and indecision flitting across the older woman's face. Unknown to Hoshi, T'Pol had just had a debate within herself, and decided that it would be helpful to have a… friend, and someone to confide in.
"I am worried about my child," T'Pol stated simply. Hoshi didn't expect to be confided in, but she recovered quickly and set out to be as helpful as possible.
"Anything specific?" A pause as Hoshi realized something and added, "Does it have to do with your having lunch so late?"
T'Pol looked the Ensign directly in the eye, and said, "Yes… I was supposed to meet the Captain here almost ten minutes ago so that we could find out the results of some tests Doctor Phlox ran…"
"And you're worried about the tests, and why Captain Archer didn't show?" T'Pol noted once again how proficient of an officer Ensign Sato was, and was opening her mouth to reply when the wall comm rang, and T'Pol stood to answer it.
"T'Pol here."
"T'Pol? Are you alone?" Jonathan's voice came wafting through the comm unit, and though Hoshi half tried to tune it out, as it was a private conversation, her curiosity got the better of her, and she couldn't help but listen.
T'Pol looked from the comm to Ensign Sato sitting at the table, and decided to put some trust in the Ensign.
"Alone enough," Hoshi looked up at T'Pol at this comment, forgetting she wasn't supposed to be listening, and locked eyes with T'Pol. A pathway of understanding and trust flowed between the two at that moment.
"Okay…" Jon continued. T'Pol could feel his confusion through their link, and could almost see his brow wrinkling with that same sentiment, but he trusted her, and so continued, "Uh, Admiral Forrest just contacted me with a live comuniqué, and I need to answer it because it's probably going to be the last live message from anyone for a while. I had to get Trip to boost the receiver's power just to get it, so…" T'Pol understood what he meant – since they've been in the expanse, communication with Star Fleet was getting harder. Every message was important, too, and Jonathan couldn't attract attention by not answering one. She could feel his sincere disappointment and apology at not being able to go with her, and she forgave him; it wasn't directly his fault anyway.
"I will go alone," T'Pol didn't like the prospect, but she had to keep the appointment with Phlox: there were only certain times of day that they could visit him together and not be seen.
"I'll talk to you afterwards. Archer out," This may have not seemed like a very good end for their conversation to anyone else, but T'Pol felt the feelings that went with it, and it was very adequate.
There was a pause where T'Pol walked back to the table and sat down for a moment, Hoshi watching her. She swallowed the food that was in her mouth and said,
"I'll go with you, Ma'am, if you'd like," Hoshi understood to a point how worried T'Pol was; Hoshi herself had pondered about the possible outcomes if the child was, or conversely, wasn't viable. It was a whole lot for a person to go through by herself. She didn't totally expect to have her offer accepted, but when T'Pol answered,
"Yes, I'd like that Ensign, thank you," Hoshi made a mental note to start being more confident in their forming friendship.
* * * * *
"Well, Sub-Commander, I do have some good news." Phlox stated as he walked around a bio-bed towards T'Pol and Hoshi, who were standing in almost the center of sickbay. He had wondered somewhat at the Sub-Commander's choice of companionship, but once it was explained, he thought that it was a very good idea. It would be hard to receive some of this information alone.
"It seems that your child is quite healthy, and is growing as normally as can be expected," Phlox could hear T'Pol let out a breath that she probably didn't even know she was holding in a big 'whoosh'. He smiled and continued.
"Would you like to know the gender?"
"Yes," T'Pol replied. She and Jonathan had talked about it and decided that they would like to know beforehand. Just as Phlox was starting his next sentence, Hoshi interrupted,
"Uh, before you continue, I think that Captain Archer should be here when you find out the gender," she said, looking to T'Pol. "I'm just here for moral support."
T'Pol nodded in agreement, though she gave Ensign Sato a look that said 'you're more than just moral support'.
Phlox's smiled faded as he cleared his throat and went on,
"I do, however, have some bad news…"
cont…