AN: I'm sorry. I forgot to update. Here's a gift. Normally this would be a shot update but because I forgot, I'll give you two for the price of one.
It was late and everyone was in bed. Caboose finally was sleeping in Church's bed where he had always wanted to be. Now that Tucker knew not only about the two of them but also about the baby, Caboose finally was feeling free to sleep with him. The warmth was amazing. The sound of Church's breathing soft against his ear let his mind wonder to other things. Things he had not given thought to since arriving at Blood Gulch; like his home. Oh how his missed his family… They had all been killed by the Reds when the War started. This was a main reason for Caboose's interest in Church's ability to care young. His young. Caboose's child. Maybe it will turn into children some day. One at a time, right?
As Caboose kissed his love and fell back to sleep, another Blue woke up.
Tucker's face was flushed. It felt like all the blood in his body had rushed from his suddenly limp cock to his cheeks. He pressed his head into his hands and rocked back and forth. He raised his hand to his mouth and bit it but not even the pain was enough to make the image leave his mind.
Why was this happening? This crush had come on as quickly as that storm when Church came back. Yes he had feelings for her before! Of course he did. He was a straight man in the middle of box canyon with only other men so when she showed up of course he wanted to bed her. Yes he had dreams like this one before. He would be lying if he said he never dreamed about making out with her but now… But now he would be a lying bastard if he said he never dreamed of making love to her.
Tucker just couldn't take it. He started crying. He had never been in love with anyone before but love is the only thing this could be! When she walked to close to him, his breath became caught in his throat. When she talked to him, he wanted to hide his face. When she simply looked at him…
And it hurt. It hurt so bad. She would never return his feelings. She had been with Church for crying out loud! There is no way she would take some one like him after Church…
"Damn it Tex…. I hate you so much I love you…"
A knock at his door made him jump so much when he landed he twisted his ankle.
"Tucker? Are you okay?"
Oh fuck! Fuck fuck! It's Tex! Dear God don't let her have heard me….
"Yeah," he called. "I'm fine."
"I want to come in."
He very quickly forgot the pain in his ankle and stared at the door. "What?"
"I would like to come in."
He glanced down at his mostly naked body. Should he make her wait and get some clothes on? Would she mind seeing him like this? Would he?
He never got to answer as the freelancer opened the door and stepped in.
Tucker couldn't believe it but he blushed even more than he did before. She closed the door and ignored his wet face and bare chest.
Sitting down, she said, "Tucker, we need to talk."
She heard me…"Bout what?"
She closed her eyes and, as if gathering strength, said, "Us."
Tucker blinked. "But there is no 'us'…"
"I know. Not yet." She looked at him. "Listen. I know what you're going through. And yes I did hear you." FUCK! "That's why I came in. Don't worry; all it did was conform what I already thought." She frowned. "Look, Church needs me right now. Once the baby is born…" Her voice became very soft and Tucker had to strain to hear what she said next, "he will not need me any more…"
"Why?"
She looked back at him. "Until then though, my answer's no. After, I'm changing it to yes." With that she stood up and left.
What was that about? Is she always that cryptic?
Months later...
Church stretched as much as his stomach let him. Caboose might find his very pregnant belly attractive but Church did not. In fact he hated it. Not the life inside of it, kicking him as its usual 'good morning' greeting, just the size of it. Truth be told, he loved the little baby that was moving around in him. The tiny movements were enough to forgive it for the morning sickness, something that had returned, the pain in his back and the cramping in his feet. None of this mattered anymore because he loved his child.
"Two more weeks, right?"
Church rolled his eyes.
"Nice to know someone is looking forward to your child more than you are, isn't it?"
"Yes, Caboose, just two more weeks."
Church couldn't see him yet but he knew Caboose was smiling. He looked like he was sick with permanent happiness. Caboose always had that smile on now a day. That silly smile told Church everything would be fine. Caboose would make a wonderful parent. Maybe he didn't have to tell him… It would take so much away if he had to tell him…
Church felt Franz give him a mental push. It was the AI's way of saying, tell him damn it! And ruin Caboose's happiness?
No, he loved Caboose too much to hurt him like that.
Caboose got up and stretched and Church watched every movement of it, hating Caboose's flexibility for his was long gone. Being nine months pregnant was enough to remove anyone's flexibility; expectably the guy's who wasn't the best to began with. Caboose caught the look Church was giving him and paused in mid stretch.
"…What?"
"Nothing. I just miss being able to do that."
"Do what? Stretch?"
Church nodded. He hadn't been able to stretch properly in two months. Even since he hit his seventh month, everything had become a chore; walked, bending over, rolling over, racing to the bathroom to throw up when morning sickness came back for a visit and of course stretching.
"Ya know something?" Caboose said, smiling yet again.
"What?"
"I like the fact you can't move."
Church gave him a different look: a look that asked what his lover was planning.
"It means you can't avoid this!" And Caboose jumped on him, careful as always around Church's large stomach, and started to tickle him. Around month six, Caboose had found that the baby loved it when Church was tickled. It didn't matter to the baby where Church was tickled, just as long as he was tickled.
Church laughed as Caboose's fingers found all the places where he was ticklish; by this time, Church assumed Caboose had their places memorized.
And as predicted, the baby reacted. At first it was a simple push with a hand against Church but then the baby kicked. Caboose stopped tickling Church long enough to press a hand to the swell of his stomach. Caboose leaned down and said, "Good morning baby. I hope you slept well."
Church snorted. "Slept well. Wouldn't let me change positions last night. If I tried, I'd get kicked."
Caboose kissed Church's stomach and looked up. "But the kicks don't hurt?"
Rolling his eyes, Church answered. "Not when you're tickling me. Let me tell you something, when this baby feels like it, it can make me black and blue."
That smile was back. "Guess I shouldn't stop tickling you then."
This is what woke Tex up. She had been planning to get up early anyways but that baby was a morning person and woke Church up every day before her alarm went off. She groaned as Church laughed again. Why can't they wait to do that until later in the day?
Either way she was up. Not like she had planned to do anything but she was up so she might as well make the best, or worst, of it. Maybe she would talk to Franz. About what she had no idea. There was Tucker… only he was getting more and more clingy. Church still had two weeks before the baby was due therefore Tucker still had two weeks to kill before Tex would let them be together.
That thought made her pause. Did Church know she was making that kind of personal sacrifice for him? If he did, would he care? She gave a mental shrug and rolled off her bed. She found out very early in her career as a freelancer that one had to alert from the moment one woke up. After struggling with this issue for a while, she was lucky enough to be present on Gemini when a bomb went off hours before her alarm. The impacted forced her to fall out of bed. Very literally; she had to see a med about the large bump on her head later that day. The pain along with the adrenaline was enough to wake her more than any amount of caffeine, something she later swore off.
Getting up from the cold floor, Tex did a proper stretch; after all it's very hard to stretch when confined between some walls. Something else she had given up; stretching in bed. Quickly she cracked her back. Once the final crack faded she picked up her gun and strapped it to her leg.
Morning routine finished, she left for the mess hall. Tucker was there, playing with…
"Are those cards?"
Without looking up, Tucker nodded. "Just found them. Think they used to be Flowers'."
Tex never had the… pleasure… of meeting the old Captain but sometimes she wished she could have. He sounded like quite a character.
"Do you play?"
"What?" Tex looked back at Tucker who was staring at her.
"Do you play cards?"
Tex shook her head. "Not real ones anyways."
Tucker nodded and Caboose walked in. His face was slightly flushed; it looked like Church had given what he got in tickles. When Caboose saw the two, he smiled warmly and went to the fridge. After getting a drink he sat down. The three of them sat in silence for some time. None of them really wanted to talk with the other there. Tucker wanted to talk to Tex about her promise. Tex wanted to talk to Caboose about Church. Caboose wanted to talk to Tex about the baby, for some reason he thought she would be more informed because she was a female.
The unrelenting quite was interrupted when Church came in. Truth be told he wasn't as large as he should have been at nine months. This is what worried Caboose and Tex. They didn't have the equipment to see if something was wrong with the baby. All they had was Franz who kept telling them two things: the baby was fine; Church just hadn't gained all the weight he should have. And the AI kept reminding both of them he could tell them more about what the baby was doing better than any other machine.
"Come on! I'm hooked up to the guy. Give me a little credit here!"
Even with Franz's reassurance, Caboose still worried. His worry was still mainly overridden by his happiness. A baby, not just any baby, his baby. It was still something he was getting used to. It was still something that amazed him and scared him all at the same time. Caboose got and walked over to Church who was heavily leaning on the door jam. As he hugged his lover, one of his hands rubbed the round belly. The movement was rewarded with a kick. Smiling at the baby, Caboose asked softly, "How are you doing?" His voice was soft, he found Church didn't like letting everyone know what was happening with him and the baby. If Caboose had asked loud enough for all to hear, Church would have just shook his head, remaining silent, no matter what.
"I think there is something outside…"
"Like a Red?"
"No. Like an animal." Caboose rubbed Church's stomach again; the baby kicked again. "Please." Something else that they all had noticed about Church during his pregnancy especially as his due date grew closer he had become timid. It reminded Tex of a child who was sure there was a monster under his bed, each night asking his mother to check. Caboose, ironically enough, played the role of the mother beautifully.
"What kind of animal?"
Church shrugged. "Something big."
"Okay. I'll get rid of it."
"Thank you."
Tex watched Caboose leave and was about to sit down when Franz's voice come in over her implants.
"Go with him."
She sighed but Franz knew what he as talking about. He always did. Damn AIs. She got back up and followed Caboose out of the room. He turned and stared at her.
"Franz told me to help."
Caboose frowned but nodded. "Guess if Franz says I need the help we'd better get a weapon."
"Just what I was thinking."