Hiya! Sorry it took so long to update. I was busy, so busy.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I hope you like this chapter. It's Trip and Travis' turn to shine! Not
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Travis and Trip looked at each other, then at the baby between them.
"We're grown men. We can handle this" Travis stated, but he didn't sound so sure.
"Yeah. She's only a baby. How hard can it be?" Trip agreed.
Then, Celeste began to cry.
Loudly.
Trip and Travis exchanged equal looks of horror. Trip handed her to Travis.
"Here" he said. "You grew up around kids. You take her."
"Me!?! Yeah, I grew up around kids, but I've never had the responsibility for one. I've never even babysat! Besides," he handed the now screaming child back to Trip "Don't you have nephews and nieces?"
(A/N Can't you just see the two of them standing there passing a screaming baby back and forth between them? LOL)
"Whenever they started to cry, I gave them back!" Trip almost shouted.
Celeste was really reaching a noise so loud that Trip was sure the windows in the viewing port would explode. The other occupants of the mess hall were covering their ears, though a few were grinning at the sight of two senior officers flustered. Trip saw, this and switched into command mode.
"Alright" He shouted over the din, "The next person who laughs gets to help us take care of her" Trip was pleased to see the smirks wiped off their faces. "Travis, go to the cabinet and get her something new to eat" Travis scrambled to the food cabinet, while Trip sat down at their table, and bounced the baby. It didn't work.
He tried singing to her. She cried even louder.
Travis came running back to the table, a piece of chocolate cheesecake in his hand.
"It's all that was left" he explained, handing Trip a spoon. Thankfully, it seemed to work. Celeste tasted it, looked a bit surprised, and then reached for more. All was blissfully silent for a few minutes.
It didn't last long though.
Trip tried to rock her to sleep, after she had finished, but she squirmed to get down. As soon as she landed on the floor, she took of like a shot. She had crawled halfway across the room before either man left their chairs.
Travis was worried that she'd bang into something, especially when she got to her feet. She looked a little unsteady, and he was afraid that she'd fall, and bang her head, and since Travis really, really liked living, he wasn't going to bring her back to Malcolm with added bumps and bruises.
They tried to catch her, but she ducked under tables and between chairs. Neither man was fast enough to stop her, much to the amusement of the crew. Finally, they caught her, and she started squealing "Nononononnonononono!!!"
Determined to stop her before she started into another full fledged tantrum, Trip rummaged in the bag that Hoshi and Malcolm had left them, looking for something to amuse her. When he looked up, he saw Celeste standing on Travis, pulling his ears. It looked quite painful, though Trip guessed that the young helmsman would die before he'd admit it.
Saving his friend, he took the toddler from him, and sat down. He held her on his lap, and gave her the doll that he had found in the bag. Her squeal of delight told him that he had chosen correctly. She squirmed out of his lap, and sat down under the table, babbling to herself and her doll.
"Oh my God!" Trip exclaimed. "I can't believe this. We are two intelligent, grown men, and she has us running in circles."
"I know." Travis agreed. "Now I know why my mom always looked so tired when we were small."
"Imagine more than one!" Both men's eyes glazed over at the thought, and Trip rested his head against the table. "I couldn't handle it" he stated.
The mess hall was becoming busy again. Most of the crew who had witnessed their earlier humiliation were leaving. Chef's stewards were re-filling the cabinets, and Alpha shift officers were coming in for their evening meal.
T'Pol was one of them.
She scanned the room, and when she saw them, she made her way towards them.
"May I join you?" she inquired.
"Of course Sub-Commander"
"I was led to believe that you were taking care of Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato's child."
"Oh, we are. She's playing under the table. Why? You interested in having one?" Trip teased. He was delighted to see a slight blush stain her features.
"Perhaps. Jonathan wished me to become... acquainted with her." she replied cryptically. "May I see her?"
"Sure thing" Trip replied, leaning under the table. "I'm sure that... uh oh." He jolted upright in his chair, his face pail.
"Uh oh" he repeated.
"What?" Travis asked, growing alarmed. "Why uh oh?"
"She's gone!"
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Celeste sat under the table, playing with the doll daddy made her. She babbled to herself, happy. Until she started thinking about her daddy. And her mummy. Where were they? The big people who gave her that yummy food were not her mummy and daddy, though they were fun. They had fun ears.
The big swishy thing that mummy and daddy left through was opening and closing a lot. It was very near. She decided to go find them. She saw a lady walking towards them, and when she sat down, Celeste crawled away. The big swishy thing opened again, and more big people came in, but they didn't see her.
She found herself alone, in a long hall. She stumbled to her feet, and toddled along the corridor, babbling to herself. She stopped suddenly. There was something coming towards her. It was small, and had different colours on its fur. She sat down in surprise, and the animal licked her nose. It tickled.
She giggled, so it did it again. She got up, and they started walking again. Another swishy thing opened, and a lady came out. She had towels slung over her shoulder, and turned away from Celeste. She hadn't seen her. Before the door closed, the two escapees ran inside.
The room wasn't too big, but there were bunk beds in it, along with chairs and a desk. Celeste started yawning. She was tired. She tried to get up on the bed, but couldn't. On her third attempt, she pulled a pillow off the bed. It fell onto the floor, so she lay on it. It was warm and soft. Porthos lay down at her feet, and the two fell asleep.
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"What do you mean she's gone?" Travis cried. "How can she be gone?"
"Don't ask me!" Trip shouted back, getting up. "She just is."
"Perhaps she is still in the mess hall" T'Pol ventured, secretly amused at the two officer's plight.
"Right. Good think. Alright, listen up everybody" Trip called, shifting everyone's attention to him. "Look under your tables. Please tell me that Celeste Reed is hiding under one of them."
"You lost Lieutenant Reed's daughter" Crewman Rostov asked, barely hiding his laugh.
"Yes Crewman" Trip snapped, which only made Rostov laugh more.
There was a chorus of murmurs as people checked their tables, but they all reported that no, she wasn't there.
Trip and Travis both stood and left the mess hall. The corridor was deserted, and stretched in both directions.
"Right, you take left, I'll take right" Travis said.
"Right. If one of us finds her, comm. the other immediately, ok?"
"Right. Happy hunting."
Trip headed down the empty corridor, praying for a sigh of their charge. Malcolm was going to kill him! Hoshi too. All the doors were closed, and Celeste definitely wasn't tall enough to open the doors. That left out the turbo lift too, thank god!
He had run almost halfway around the ship, and was starting to despair. She was no-where to be found.
"Trip" Trip turned to find Captain Archer coming towards him. "Have you seen Porthos?" Jon asked his friend. "He's escaped again."
"No. Sorry sir. And I'm kind of busy right now, so I can't help you look for him."
"Aren't you supposed to be looking after Celeste?" Jon asked him.
"Uh huh. That's why I'm busy" Trip replied, looking around the corridor frantically. All he saw was Crewwoman Green coming from the direction of the showers.
"You lost her, didn't you?" Jon asked, vastly amused.
"Uh huh"
"You realize that Malcolm is going to kill you, don't you?"
"Uh huh. Unless Hoshi gets there first."
They were interrupted by a shout of surprise coming from one of the rooms along the corridor. Crewwoman Eva Green came out into the corridor, a smile on her lips.
"Sirs" she said. "I think I've found what you're looking for."
They followed her into their room, and stopped, smiling at the image in front of them. Celeste was fast asleep on a pillow, Porthos at her feet. The dog woke up when Jon came in. He yawned widely, but he didn't move, just wagged his tail lazily.
"Come on you" Jon said, bending to lift his pet. "Time to go home. Good luck Trip" he called over his shoulder, as the engineer carefully lifted the sleeping child into his arms. She shifted in her sleep, but didn't wake. Trip nodded his thanks to Eva, who was looking on, a small smile on her lips.
He walked over to the comm. on the wall.
"Tucker to Mayweather."
"Mayweather here sir. Did you find her?"
"I did. She and Porthos decided to escape for a while."
Travis' sigh of relief was audible. "Um, sir?"
"Yes Travis?"
"I just remembered, I promised Crewman Maxwell that I'd..."
"Oh no. no you don't Ensign. If you abandon me, I'll bust you back down to Crewman Second Class!"
"Aye sir" Travis sounded resigned.
"Alright, swing by the mess hall, and grab her bag. Meet me in my quarters, B Deck."
"Aye sir."
"Tucker out."
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Four hours.
They had been looking after Celeste for four hours, and so far, they were exhausted. She had woken up once Travis had arrived at Trip's quarters. She had pulled everything off his desk, off his bed, and then her nappy...
Changing her nappy had been an experience, one that neither man wanted to repeat anytime soon. Travis was sitting staring into space, and Trip was at the end of his rope, and had taken to running his hands through his hair. Celeste was chattering away to herself, happy.
The door chime sounded, and Malcolm and Hoshi entered the room. Trip had never been happier to see anyone in his life! He felt like hugging them, but settled for letting them take over care of Celeste.
"What happened Trip? "Malcolm asked his exhausted friend. "We were only gone for four hours."
"What happened? What happened!?!" Trip exclaimed. "Your child ran circles around us, that's what happened."
Hoshi smothered a laugh. "She does tend to do that" she smiled.
"I don't know what happened." Travis spoke up from the floor. "It started out just fine..."
He told them the entire story, knowing that if he didn't tell Malcolm that he had lost his child, someone else would. Instead of being angry, like Trip expected, Malcolm and Hoshi were highly amused.
"Trip, I though you were smart." Malcolm laughed at the end of the tale.
"Huh?"
"Commander" Hoshi explained. "Celeste has only eaten fruit, vegetables, and occasionally, meat. You gave her chocolate cheesecake, which is full of sugar. Which..."
"Gives kids more energy that they know what to do with" Trip groaned his head in his hands.
Malcolm and Hoshi stayed chatting for a few more minutes, but Celeste began to yawn widely again, and they decided to leave.
"Thanks again Trip" Malcolm said as they left. "Thanks Travis"
Travis, who hadn't moved, only nodded in response.
"Yes, thanks guys" Hoshi added. "We'll keep you in mind when the twins are born."
"T..Twins?" Trip gasped, all colour leaving his face.
Travis started mumbling to himself, and put his head in his hands.
Malcolm and Hoshi left, huge grins on their faces.
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There you have it. What do you think? If anyone can think of anything else that could have happened,. Just email me and I'll try to write it in.
The next chapter should be up in a few days.
R & R please.
Lieutenantslady
