Chapter 17
Kriss decided to tell Cat and Kryten first. She arranged for them to come to her quarters.
"What's this about ma'am?" Kryten asked
"Hurry up and tell us" Cat added "I wanna get back to my sleep"
Kriss giggled. "Well" she started "I'm pregnant"
Cat's mouth was so far open that he could've fit whole salami down there and Kryten went into shock mode
"How long?" Kryten asked her
"Three months" she told him "I can't wait."
"And you're happy with this, Sir?" Kryten asked Arnold
"Very, very happy" he said
"Congratulations buddy" Cat hugged Arnold "Congratulations officer bud-babe" Cat hugged Kriss "you're going to make wonderful parents"
Kriss sat on her bed browsing through the latest pregnancy book that Arnold had given her. She had a whole pile of them now that was so high she could use it as a bedside table. She hadn't really read any of them of course. Suddenly she could feel movement in her stomach.
"Wow" she said to herself "you're moving for me aren't you darling" she was talking to the baby; they didn't know whether it was a boy or a girl yet so they resorted to calling it darling. They had chosen names for the baby though. Chloë for a girl and Llewey for a boy. They chose the strange spelling of Llewey because Kriss didn't like the normal way and preferred to spell it differently.
Kriss needed to let Arnold know about the latest development of his unborn child but he was on yet another Canary's mission this time with Dave, Cat and Kryten so there was absolutely nobody she could tell and no way she could contact him. She decided to try and sort out Arnold's Canary's leave and started to make her way down Ackerman's office. Chloë or Llewey was making her very uncomfortable but she tried to ignore it and carried on. She lightly tapped on the door
"Come in" Ackerman told her
"Ah, Kristine Kochanski" he looked at her "what can I do for you?"
"I'd like to talk to you about Arnold's paternity leave" she told him
"Go on" Ackerman ordered
"Right, well" she was surprised that he was even considering listening to what she was going to say "I'd like him to have from my due date until when the baby is born off"
He looked at her
"Why are you requesting this?" he asked her
"Because he's the father of my baby" she answered, obviously "and I want him there when it's born"
"Fine," he said "but the next mission after the baby is born and he is on it"
"Thank you" she told him "thank you very much"
Kriss walked down to the medi block.
"I'd like to arrange for a scan" she told the receptionist "I'm pregnant and I need my first scan"
The receptionist typed something into the computer and replied
"We've got a slot in 10 minutes" the receptionist told her
"When's the next available one?" she asked
"Tomorrow morning 9 o'clock"
"I'll take it" Kriss told her, she needed Arnold to be there, he couldn't miss the first picture of his baby.
The next thing Kriss needed to do was arrange some prison leave time to see Yvonne. She wanted to take any pictures of Chloë or Llewey with her though so she'd ask for tomorrow night. She was sure Arnold wouldn't mind, after all it had been nearly 6 months since she last saw her.
"Next" Kriss could tell that the man at the desk wasn't particularly happy with his job just from the way he said next; in fact he seemed clinically depressed
"Hello"
"How can I help you ma'am?" the depressed man asked
"I'd like to request some prison leave and send a letter to Miss. McGruder" Kriss spoke to the man in the most polite way possible.
"Fill in this form" he handed her the form and she went away and filled it in. He looked at it and signed it. "That's fine madam" he told her just write your letter, put it in the box and it will be delivered tomorrow morning."
Kriss went to the nearest table and filled in the little postcard. She wrote: 'Dear Yvonne, have some wonderful news for you tell you all about it later meet me 5.30 officers club, lots of love Kristine' and put it into the box.
She went back down to her room to find Kryten there.
"Hey Kryten" she said, "oh, does that mean Arnold's back too?"
"Yes ma'am" he told her
"See you later, Kryten," she yelled
Arnold was waiting to see Kriss; he gave her a big hug and kiss.
"Listen to me" she told him "I've got a few things to tell you"
"Okay" he replied
"The baby's started kicking" Arnold darted over to her and placed his ear to her stomach "Arnold," she told him "it's not kicking right now"
"I know" he answered, "I just don't wanna miss the next one"
"Right," Kriss shook her head "anyway, we've got a scan booked for 9 o'clock tomorrow morning"
"Right"
"And I'm meeting Yvonne in the evening, she doesn't know about the baby yet"
Arnold got up from where he was kneeling and looked at her.
"I'd rather you didn't" Arnold told her
"Why not?"
"I want to be with you"
"But I haven't seen Yvonne for ages"
"Fine" he said "I'll see you in the morning for the scan, goodbye"
He pushed her out of the door and into the wall and slammed the door in her face.
Just then Dave came down the corridor he was drinking a milkshake and humming.
"Hey Kriss" he called to her, he looked at her tiny bump not realising she was crying, "Hey, you're starting to show" Dave put his hand on her stomach and felt a drop of water land on it. He looked into her eyes.
"Kristine, what's wrong" he put out his arms to hug her; she moved forward and accepted this hug.
"He just pushed me back against the wall" she sobbed
"Who?" Dave asked "Rimmer?"
She nodded; Dave couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was pregnant and Arnold had pushed her
"Not hard, he didn't push me hard" she assured him
"Why did he do it at all?" he asked her "I told him I was going to see Yvonne tomorrow evening and he just blew"
"That's no reason to push you," he told her "that's no reason to even get a bit angry"
"But he did" she sobbed "he got angry and he pushed me out of his room"
"Do you want some milkshake?" he asked, passing it to her "it's chocolate"
Kriss smiled and drank some of it
"Hey," he asked her "do you want a hug?"
She nodded and hugged him for a split second everything felt right for Kriss, for a split second she wished that Dave was Chloë or Llewey's father but only for a split second.
"Can you tell Arnold I'll see him tomorrow" she asked "9 o'clock"
"Sure" he said see you at breakfast.