CHAPTER 31- TANGO

"We're going to have little space aliens!" Elizabeth wailed in despair.

"Stop saying that! We are not having space alien babies!" Jack said harshly as he anxiously raked his hand through his hair.

The couple were back in the small living quarters after hearing the news from the transporter's doctor that Elizabeth was approximately two to three weeks pregnant. The walk down the corridor to their living quarters had been filled with emotions. Mostly tension, shock, and anxiety. With a strong emphasis on shock.

"How could you do this to me?" Elizabeth asked angrily as she walked past Jack and into the shower room. She gripped the sink edge and stared into the mirror. The reflection that stared back at her wasn't a relaxed blissful glowing pregnant woman.

"Me? How could I do this to you?!" Jack asked in disbelief through the open doorway.

"Yes, you. Who else?!"

"You had something to do with it too", Jack reminded her sternly. "It takes two to tango."

"If we had just been tangoing, we'd have stubbed toes. We wouldn't be in this situation. We were doing a whole lot more than tangoing." Elizabeth's voice was bitter.

"Let's just be calm and think about it," Jack suggested. Although he felt anything but calm. People did not make babies in space. It simply wasn't done. There were too many unknowns.

"I don't want to think about it!" Elizabeth wailed. "I want to take back this whole afternoon."

"Well, you can't! So stop blaming me for getting us in this situation."

"Situation?! You knocked me up!"

"I had sex with you because I love you! That's what people who love each other do!"

"I love you too but that is not the point!" she said furiously. "On earth, people can have sex carelessly. But not in space! We should have been more careful!"

She heard Jack swear under his breath.

"It was that damn x-ray," she mumbled. "And then you carried me."

"Excuse me?" Jack questioned.

"You carried me. In that way you carry me when I've been injured," she reminded him as she moved a few steps back into the main room. She tore off her t-shirt and grabbed a fresh one out of her locker for no reason other than it gave her something to do.

"What?"

"I hurt my back and wrist, and after I was x-rayed, you carried me back to our room," she again reminded him as she pulled the shirt over her head and furiously sat on one of the bottom berths.

"Because I felt bad for you! And carrying you did not get you pregnant."

"You know it always turns me on when you're romantic like that," she said accusatorily. "And one thing led to another."

"I wasn't being romantic! I was just carrying you!" Jack replied defending himself.

"I've told you before it's romantic!"

"We don't even know if that was the night," he shot back.

Elizabeth glared at him but said nothing.

"I should have done the fireman's carry! But noooo," he mocked her. "You once told me that I should never carry you like that. Even if you're unconscious."

"I'd like to make you unconscious right now", she muttered.

When Jack gave her a look conveying shock and hurt, Elizabeth sighed deeply. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

"I'm sorry", she repeated. This time truly meaning it.

"I'm sorry too," he said softly as he sat down on the berth opposite hers. He put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands.

Elizabeth wiped away a tear which had somehow found its way out of one of her eyes and landed on her cheek. This was their first big argument in their marriage. It should have been a happy time. Not one filled with hurtful words and accusations brought on by worry.

"Do you think if we were home on Earth we'd be fighting?" she questioned sadly.

"I think if we were home on Earth, you'd already be picking out baby names and we'd be planning a nursery," Jack replied wistfully.

"The doctor said he's never heard of anyone getting pregnant in space. Especially not on a deep space colony. There's no blueprint for this. No literature on it", she said as she tried not to let her voice quake.

Jack stood up and moved next to Elizabeth. The mattress sinking down as he sat down and allowed their thighs to touch. His arm wrapped around her and she tilted her head so it leaned against him.

"It's going to be okay," he whispered reassuringly. "You're healthy. I'm healthy. We're going to have a healthy baby."

"Not a space alien?"

"Not a space alien," he replied as he kissed the top of her head. "Most definitely not."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Two hours later, Elizabeth looked up from her journal when the metal door to their living quarters slid open.

"How you feeling?" Jack asked as he walked in and looked at her hesitantly.

"Okay," she shrugged. "I taped a hologram to send home but then I erased it. No reason to tell them now and get them all worried."

"I was in the communication room using their server. I had the doc come with me and we did some research."

"He said it's never happened before", Elizabeth reminded him. "Because all women are implanted or in menopause before they're allowed in space."

"It turns out he was wrong. There have been three cases."

"Three?" Elizabeth asked hopefully. "I'm not the only one?"

"Nope, you're not the only one."

"Tell me. Tell me," she ordered as she scooched to the edge of the mattress and looked at him eagerly. Like a child about to get a present from Santa Claus.

Jack's initial joy at finding information on other women who had been pregnant in space suddenly diminished when he realized how excited Elizabeth had become. Perhaps I shouldn't have sounded so hopeful, he thought with chagrin when he remembered that the other women's situations weren't entirely similar to hers.

"Well," he began slowly. "There were three other cases. One woman actually got pregnant two weeks before going into space. Her device was faulty, and she had only been in space for a week when they discovered she was pregnant. She took a mini-transporter back to Earth."

"She didn't get pregnant in space and her body wasn't subjected to years of possible gamma rays, sun bursts, gravitational fluctuations, or anything else unusual. And her fetus was only in space for a week," Elizabeth noted with raised eyebrows.

"That's true. But she had a healthy baby boy", Jack said with an attempt at a smile.

"Good for her," Elizabeth said flippantly. "She was nothing like me. Other than a woman and pregnant."

"And she had been to space", Jack volunteered, trying to find another similarity to appease her.

"The other ones? What about them?"

Jack looked at his notes. "Um. One of them had been in space for a month when she got pregnant. She hadn't had a device implanted because she thought she was sterile. Turns out she wasn't. She ended up having a beautiful baby girl."

"Any problems with the pregnancy?"

"She was full term when born with no delivery problems."

"And?" Elizabeth asked when she noticed Jack avoiding looking her in the eye.

"She was healthy. A perfectly healthy baby girl. She'll probably end up being a scientist one day."

Elizabeth felt herself relax. The other woman's one month in space wasn't anything like her own two years but it was something. "Did she have all her fingers and toes?" Elizabeth asked eagerly with hopeful optimism.

"The mother?"

"The baby." Elizabeth said with a comical shake of her head.

"Um. She did. . . . .and a few extra," Jack said meekly.

"A few extra?!"

"The baby had twelve fingers," Jack admitted with a frown.

"Twelve fingers?!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

She paused and took a deep breath. "Okay, I could handle that. How many toes did she have? Please tell me she had ten toes."

"She did. But . . ."

"But what?"

"They were webbed together."

A gob-stopped Elizabeth stared at Jack before she could find her voice.

"Webbed together?! I don't want my baby to look like a duck! And have twelve fingers?!"

"Now, calm down. The doctors don't think it has anything to do with space. Apparently, the woman, a scientist, liked to dabble in making her own relaxation drugs before and during her pregnancy."

"What about the third woman?" Elizabeth asked nervously.

"The third woman?"

"You said three women were pregnant in space", Elizabeth reminded him.

"The third woman got pregnant on Mock Earth, which has some similar conditions to what we had on Planet Assaymark."

"It is kind of similar," Elizabeth agreed, getting more hopeful. "How long was she there?"

"Six months before she got pregnant and then she was pregnant for a month on Mock Earth before she was sent home."

"So, she had seven months in space compared to my twenty-four that I'll have had by the time we return," Elizabeth said pensively before smiling hopefully again. "Still, it's something."

"Exactly. It's something similar to your situation. And she had a healthy pregnancy and delivery."

"And?"

"Perfectly healthy. No problems. Normal number of toes and fingers."

"AND?" Elizabeth prodded when Jack again avoided her gaze. There was something he wasn't telling her. Something about the way he said 'normal number' of toes and fingers rather than ten of each.

Jack paused as long as he could before finally answering.

"She had identical quintuplets. Five healthy identical baby boys."

The mattress made a thumping sound as Elizabeth fell back against it.

Up Next: The Stares.