Disclaimer: Paramount owns Enterprise and everything connected with it, except Tia Anlor (Tee-ah' Ahn'-lor), who belongs to me and I'm not sharing. (G)
This is the 22nd story in this series.
This story takes place about a month after 'Cross and Crown', two weeks after 'Clara' and a week after "Humiliatum". Later stories will include 'Sufferance', 'The Court Martial of Hoshi Sato', 'Extreme Prejudice' and 'Fractured'.
Rating: T (a.k.a. PG-13). Adult topics.
N.B.: Chapter 7 concludes with the scene of how 'Star Trek: Enterprise' should have concluded its run, and would have if I had been producing it! You'll know it when you see it!
Of course, it is not the end, so long as there are stories to be written!
"Life is. And we must take it as it is."
Life Goes On
By JMK758
Revelation
Hoshi Sato hurries into the Mess Hall, extremely embarrassed to have overslept. It is true that crewmen do not have to punch a clock, yet they are expected to arrive for their shifts on time, and this morning the bed had felt too good to abandon. She had looked at the chronometer, seeing she had nearly an hour before she had to be dressed and out of her quarters in time for breakfast; and the next time she had looked she had five minutes!
She'd thrown off her bedclothes, leaving them where they landed as she hurried into her shower, scrubbing frantically under the heavy jet of water, drying herself as quickly as she could and pulling on underwear and a fresh uniform, but she bites back a curse when she sees she is still five minutes late.
When she arrives for breakfast, most of the Alpha Shift crew are either finishing or have already departed. She forcibly brings herself to a stop, glancing at the chronometer. Her mad rush has made up some time; she has about fifteen minutes before she has to report to the Bridge.
Elizabeth Cutler is still at their usual table, though their other usual companion Tia Anlor has already departed for her shift in Life Sciences. When Hoshi selects sausages, eggs and orange juice from the buffet table and sits down, the woman is staring so hard at her meal she barely realizes Hoshi has arrived. "Sorry I'm late. I overslept."
"Sure." Liz says distantly, not looking up. Hoshi glances at her, struck by the melancholy tone in her friend's voice, but Liz does not look at her, continuing to stare at her plate. As Hoshi begins hurrying through breakfast, Cutler finally focuses on her.
"Don't cram it all in. You're going to choke."
"Sorry." She says, taking a drink of juice. "I told you I was late."
"Late!" Liz exclaims, scoffing at her, her voice surprisingly high. "You don't know what it is to be late! You're a Linguist!"
Hoshi pauses, as much surprised at the insensible connection as at the real anger in the unexpected put-down. "Huh?"
"I said you're a Linguist! I'm a Biologist! I know what it is to be late!" Hoshi glances at the chronometer on the wall, wondering what has made her friend lash out at her so bitterly. The chronometer reads 0748.
"All right." She answers with a smile, unable to see the cause of the woman's growing anger but trying to defuse it. "I've got twelve minutes before I'm declared 'missing' and Lt. Reed sends out search parties." She takes a bite of her eggs. "How late are you?"
"Five days." Hoshi stops dead at her friend's doomed whisper, mouth half full, eyes locked on Liz's, totally silent. In that brief, silent exchange, Hoshi knows all she has to. A few moments later she remembers to chew, but it is not until after she has a drink of juice that she trusts herself to speak.
"Excuse me? Did you just say –?"
"Five days!" Cutler repeats with an emphasis born of anguish and dread. "And I'm as regular as a cesium chronometer!"
Hoshi stares at her friend, not knowing what to say. Her natural reaction is to exclaim 'Congratulations!' and hug her, but Liz does not seem at all in the mood for congratulations; and if there is any hugging to be done it is probably not going to be celebratory. So she forces her own response down, and asks the question her friend's mood seems to invite. "If you're sure, does Jim know?"
Liz shakes her head dismally. "And I'm not sure. I'm just … pretty sure."
"Well, what does Phlox say?"
Again her friend shakes her head. "I've been too scared to go." Her voice quivers despite her best efforts to control it. "I don't – I don't want to know!"
Hoshi, surprised at this reaction from her normally well secured friend, looks pointedly toward the woman's abdomen before again meeting her eyes.
"You're going to find out."
x
Liz closes her eyes, her hands covering her face, and a few moments later her shoulders start to shake. Hoshi is astounded! She's known Elizabeth Cutler to deal with all sorts of calamities aboard this ship and barely bat an eyelash. But that slight motion is the only indication her friend gives that she is crying.
Hoshi glances about them, but no one seems to have noticed. She picks up a napkin, pressing it to her friend's hands. "Come on. Dry your eyes; put on a brave smile and we'll both walk out of here like we don't have a care in the world."
"Then what?" Liz's soft voice is muffled by both her hands and her misery.
"We see Phlox and get a definite 'yes' or 'no'. And then we'll deal with things."
xxx
Elizabeth Cutler sits on the edge of the biobed, her hands gripping the side so tightly her knuckles are white. Hoshi Sato stands as close to her friend as Phlox will allow, trying to offer support by her silent presence. She has already called to the Bridge and Life Sciences, giving explanations as vague as she could dare for their lateness. Fortunately the Enterprise officers do not 'punch a clock'. The binary star system they had arrived at four days ago had not yielded the anticipated 'Minshara Class' planet, so there had been no surface exploration. They had been so long out from any planet-fall that there is very little pressing work waiting for her companion.
When they'd entered the Sick Bay, Phlox had been standing beside the bed of Andrea Carstairs, carefully observing several readouts displayed over the woman. She was thoroughly asleep, sedated and still suffering the effects of her attempted suicide.
The two women wonder if she would ever recover. The stab wound to her chest had been deep, piercing a lung, but she was no longer in critical condition, no longer on the verge of death.
But the inner wound to her soul that had led to her attempt to take her own life was deeper by far, and could well prove to be fatal to her spirit unless she could get the proper treatment. They knew it would take the combined efforts of Phlox and Rev. McCabe as well as those of her friends if the woman was going to have a chance to recover her life as it had been.
So the pair spoke quietly to Phlox after he had drawn a curtain about the sleeping woman's bed, bringing him news of their own distress.
x
Now Liz sits stiffly, clutching the edge of the biobed, her breath coming in erratically controlled gasps, her manner more suited to an execution than a medical examination. Even the normally jovial Denobulan's manner is subdued by her overwhelming apprehension.
Finally Phlox puts down the biomolecular scanner, wishing the woman would simply relax. "Well, Ensign;" he begins with a cautious though hopefully reassuring smile, "judging by your tension, I'm not sure if you'll regard this as good or bad news, but it is definite.
"You are pregnant."
Liz pulls her white hands away from the edge of the bed in time to press them to her face as she starts to sob.
x
Phlox and Hoshi look at each other, neither sure how to deal with this unexpected reaction. The last time he had made such an announcement had been over a year ago, to Trip Tucker after the man's encounter with the Xyrillian Engineer Ah'Len, and he had taken the stunning news far better.
Hoshi holds up her hands helplessly. They look at the woman, who is crying even harder. Finally Phlox looks at Hoshi with a definite message in his eyes: 'You're a woman, you're human; you deal with this.' He backs away, letting her take 'point'.
'Thanks.' She thinks with little compassion.
Not knowing what else to do, she steps up to Liz and puts her arms about her. The crying woman puts her own arms about her friend, buries her face on Hoshi's shoulder and sobs loudly; giving vent to a flood of tears that she had been holding back for nearly a week. Hoshi holds her, patting and stroking her back as violent sobs wrack the woman's body, and hopes she is doing enough.
x
Inevitably, though it takes many minutes of violently cathartic release, Liz reaches the point where she simply can not cry any more. With Hoshi's help she pushes herself upright, her body trembling and weak, her eyes red.
"Ready to talk?" Hoshi asks quietly.
Liz shakes her head. "Ready to die!"
Hoshi frowns. "As you sometimes so eloquently say; 'Bull! Shit!' Now you talk to me!" Her anger at her friend's broken condition surprises even herself; and she tries to force it down. "Now what's wrong?"
The woman cannot meet her eyes, hanging her head miserably. "No marriage; can't stay out here with a baby; not ready for a child; not ready to give up a career; don't want to leave Starfleet or Enterprise; scared as hell; don't know what he'll say; never been pregnant before; never expected this; thought I was still protected when it … happened. Pick any of them, they're all there!"
Hoshi takes her shoulders, her quiet patience forcing Liz to meet her eyes. "You hang in there! We're going to get through this!"
Liz holds her eyes for a few seconds; then nods weakly. Hoshi helps her off the bed, supporting her as they start toward the door.
x
But before they reach the door Liz stops, turning to the watching Phlox. "Abort it!"
"What!" Hoshi exclaims.
"I will not!" Phlox retorts, outraged.
"Why? It's my body, and I should not be pregnant!" Liz cries.
Phlox holds up his hand, silencing everyone. He waits until the anger in the room dissipates. It is nearly half a minute before he answers. "In a case where neither the mother nor embryo is in medical distress, there are two circumstances where I will not even discuss aborting a pregnancy – and both of them apply here. I will not entertain the subject unless both parents are in agreement, neither will I when the mother is hysterical."
Liz starts toward Phlox, but Hoshi restrains her. She shakes her friend's hand off her arm, but holds her ground. "I - am - not - hysterical!"
"Neither are you thinking clearly. Go back to your quarters; you're relieved of duty. I'll inform Lt. Abrams, but I won't tell him why. Come back this evening; with or without Ensign Cein, but preferably with. In any event, don't come back before you have calmed down."
x
Liz is furious; so angry that she cannot even prevent herself from being turned toward the door and escorted out of the room.