Chapter 9

Kriss couldn't stop smiling, she was the happiest she had ever been. Chloë was happy, Llewey and Jim-Bexley were happy and now she was having another girl. There was nothing that could make her feel bad, everything was perfect.

"Do you like being a Mum?" Dave asked her

"That's out of the blue, Dave" Kriss answered "why do you ask?"

"Just wondering" Dave smiled "well do you?"

"I love being a Mummy" she told him "it's better than being a Navigation Officer" Dave was surprised by this

"I didn't think you liked it that much" he told her "wow"

"Sometimes I wonder why I went through all that training when my perfect job was right under my nose" she confessed "but then I realised why"

"Why?" Dave asked her "Why waste all that time and money?"

"If I hadn't gone to cadets school, if I hadn't got my two degrees, I wouldn't be here" she smiled "I wouldn't have had an affair with Arnold and had Chloë, I wouldn't have met you and have Llewey and Jim-Bexley and I wouldn't have Alicia-May growing inside of me right now! If I hadn't gone to Cadets school, I wouldn't be me"

"I never thought of that!" Dave told her "I'm glad you did go to cadets school, I'm glad you did get two degrees, I'm glad you did everything"

"Me too" Kriss smiled, went over to him and sat on his lap

"Have I told you today that I loved you, Kriss?" Dave asked

"No" she replied

"Well I do, I don't say it enough, Kristine Kochanski I love you!"

Dave pulled her towards him and they kissed! It was one of those lovely long kisses, one that you don't want to end. They healed onto each other and hugged, they were so in love!

Suddenly something broke the concentration between them, it was a sound that Kriss dreaded, a sound that sent her into severe panic and worry. Chloë was crying!

"That's Chloë!" she shouted, Dave opened the door and Chloë ran in and over to Kriss "What's wrong precious?"

"Daddy shouted at me!" Chloë told her

"Why darling?" Kriss asked. Chloë couldn't breathe she was crying so much "Chloë, Chloë look at me" Chloë did exactly as she was told "calm down, and tell me why Daddy shouted at you"

"I spilt my milk on Daddy's music" she told her "he called me a stupid girl"

"Okay, darling you're not stupid" Kriss reassured her "Dave can you go and get Arnold?"

"Sure" Dave replied

"What music was it, my love?" Kriss asked Chloë "was it Daddy's Hammond Organ music?" Chloë nodded

"I didn't mean to" Chloë told her "it was an accident"

"I know" Kriss told her "but you've got to be careful"

"Are you cross with me Mummy?" Chloë asked, she sounded really worried

"No my darling" Kriss told her "I'm not cross at all"

Dave made his way to Arnold's quarters, he knocked on the door and walked straight in, Arnold was wiping the discs down

"Arnold" Dave said sternly

"Oh look" Arnold said sarcastically "it's the perfect father"

"Do you know where Chloë is?" Dave was angry

"No" Arnold answered, "She ran off"

"Do you care?" Dave couldn't believe what he was hearing "do you care where your daughter is, aren't you worried?"

"Yes, I do care" Arnold told him, still cleaning the milk off his discs "and no I'm not worried, I've got other things to worry about"

"Like what?" Dave asked, "What can possibly be more important than your daughter?"

"She's ruined my discs"

"She's three years old! She didn't mean it, she's with Kriss sobbing her heart out, why would a three year old want to ruin her father's favourite things?" Arnold didn't have a response to this

"Is that all?" Arnold asked "did you come her just to have a go at me or is there something else?"

"Kriss wants to see you"

"Oh great, the perfect end to a really smeggy day!"

Dave shook his head he couldn't believe what he had heard Arnold say it was disgusting, almost like he didn't care about Chloë.

"Why did you shout at Chloë?" Kriss was not pleased

"She threw milk on my Hammond Organ CDs" Arnold replied, "They're the most important thing to me"

"More important than Chloë?" Kriss was getting angry "more important than our daughter?"

Arnold realised what he had said "of course not"

"Okay" Kriss said, "So you tell me why she came to me crying!" Kriss got angrier and angrier "You tell me why she thinks she's stupid, why she thinks you don't like her and why she's sobbing her heart out in there with Dave!"

"She just ran off, I couldn't stop her, I…"

"Hold on" Kriss realised what Arnold had said and was livid "you're telling me that she came all the way from your quarters to my quarters on her own? You let her run off? Did you come looking for her?"

"No"

"Can I ask why?"

"I wanted to clean up my discs"

"So you're telling me that you let a three year old run round a ship five miles long without even telling Holly?"

"I didn't think"

"Too bloody right you didn't think, you never think Arnold, she could have got into a air lock, do you know what an air lock is? There's no air, that's why it's called an air lock. She could have died"

"She's not that stupid"

"She's three"

Arnold started crying, "I'm sorry Kristine" he sobbed "I'm so sorry"

"I can't trust you Arnold," she told him "I can't trust you at all!"

"What are you saying?" he asked

"You can't see her on your own"

"What?"

"I'm sorry Arnold, not until I can trust you again"

"But, Kriss, it wont happen again!"

"How can I be sure?"

"Trust me"

"Do you know what? At the moment I trust Cat more than you"

Arnold was really hurt, Cat, trustworthier than him? Never "Kriss I…"

"Just go Arnold"

"Kriss"

"Go"

Arnold was very upset but he knew it was his fault. "Kriss, can I apologise to Chloë first?"

"Okay" she agreed, "Chloë does need an apology"

Chloë was on the bed with Dave, he was giving her a lovely cuddle, when she saw Arnold she buried her head into Dave's shoulder

"Chloë" Arnold stroked her head "Chloë I'm sorry, I'm sorry I shouted at you, I love you Chloë"

Slowly but surely Chloë's head came out off Dave's shoulder

"I'm sorry I spilt my milk" Chloë told him

"It's okay" he replied

"I want to stay with Daddy Dave" Chloë told him

"We're having a lovely cuddle aren't we?" Dave added

Chloë nodded "I lovely cuddle"

"Okay" Arnold smiled "I'll see you tomorrow"

Kriss couldn't sleep she was still angry with Arnold; Dave was tense and couldn't sleep either.

"Kriss darling, you don't need this" Dave told her

"I know" Kriss agreed, "he always does this, gets me wound up"

"Calm down, angel"

"Sorry"

"It's okay"

"Oh" Kriss seemed surprised "wow"

"What's wrong?"

"She's moving"

"What?"

"Alicia-May is moving"

Dave put his hand on Kriss' stomach and felt her

"Wow" he said, "that's amazing"

Kriss was obviously still thinking about Arnold "he just makes me so angry" she said

"I think Alicia-May is trying to tell us something"

"What?" Kriss was puzzled

"She's saying forget about Rimmer and think about me!"

"I need to think about Chloë as well" she told him

Dave smiled "get some sleep darling"

"I'll try"