CHAPTER 33 - CHANGING ROOMS

Two days later, Elizabeth had had enough of Jack's refusal to be intimate with her on the assumption that she might possibly have uterus didelphys, the technical term for a double womb. Determined to settle the matter once and for all, she waited until her morning class was over and then marched in her specially made shoes down the corridor to the infirmary.

I'll just ask the doctor to do an ultrasound to prove that I only have one womb.

I'll ORDER him to do an ultrasound.

Thirty minutes later, a befuddled Elizabeth walked out of the infirmary and wondered how her visit had gone so terribly wrong.

All of it hadn't gone wrong; she had to admit that much. The ultrasound had actually gone well.

Although she wasn't far enough along in her pregnancy for anything more than the gestational sac to be seen, the doctor had confirmed that she only had one womb. She had even made him write it down on a piece of notepaper so she could prove it to Jack.

That was when the bartering began.

The doctor refused to give her the note until she had accepted his latest gift.

When Elizabeth had blatantly rebuffed the item, the stern doctor had not only withheld the note but threatened to call Jack to the infirmary that instant and inform him that Elizabeth was not taking her pregnancy seriously.

Despite scoffing at the suggestion, it seemed that the doctor got a perverse pleasure in making Elizabeth uncomfortable.

Elizabeth scowled as she walked with heavy footsteps to the security office. She needed sympathy and Jack to defend her. After all, that's what husbands are for, she reasoned. She wasn't sure it was stated in their marriage vows but it should have been.

This is pathetic! she grumbled as she considered the doctor's suggestion. Or rather, his medical order. As he informed her when she resisted, he was the transporter's medical officer and had authority over these matters.

How am I supposed to be taken seriously by my students if I'm wearing this?

How am I supposed to do anything wearing this?

How am I supposed to look attractive to Jack wearing this?!

Jack will talk some sense into the doctor.

"Elizabeth, if the doctor thinks it's a good idea, I think you should wear it," Jack stated plainly as he watched her pace the small office which served as his duty station while on-board the transporter.

"It's an apron!" she unnecessarily exclaimed in despair. "And it's awkward!"

Jack picked up the article of protective clothing which Elizabeth had thrown onto his desk. He ran his hands along the thin rubber exterior as he examined it, feeling the heaviness of the lead interior.

"I'm not saying it's always going to be comfortable. But it will protect your stomach from potential radiation. There's always some exposure that can get through the transporter's shields no matter how thick they are. We all signed a liability waiver on that when we took our assignments. Heavy ions, high energy protons, and when we get closer to Earth, there will be solar flares. I think it's a good idea."

"Then you wear it!" Elizabeth retorted.

"If I could, I would for you. But you need to be the one to wear it," he replied as he reached his arms around her waist and tied the straps of the apron securely. "Just remember that you are doing this for our baby."

Elizabeth sighed in resignation as Jack gave her a kiss on the cheek. "A baby that can't even be seen yet on ultrasound it's so small. I'm less than four weeks along. The idiot doctor couldn't see anything."

"He's not an idiot doctor. He's a very good doctor. . . I think. Let's forget about it and go eat. And if you eat all your prescribed but disgusting food, I'll slip you some of my dessert."

"Promise?" she asked hopefully.

"Promise," he replied with a chuckle.

"I've got something for you too," Elizabeth said with a smile as she pulled a piece of paper out of the back pocket of her jeans.

Jack read the doctor's note and smiled. "We can always skip eating and go straight to our living quarters," he suggested.

Elizabeth laughed. "No. I want my dessert first."

As the couple made their way down the hallway, Jack informed Elizabeth that he had had another talk with Seth. It turns out Seth and Colette had gotten the wrong impression of what their daughter Tess had overheard through the adjoining living quarters one afternoon when they had left her alone.

"So, she told them that she sees us kissing all the time, and that she heard us screaming 'I love you'. Which they seemed to think we said in the throes of passion because she also heard the word 'sex' ?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Yep. She told them that you said something about careless sex, and me turning you on. She was confused by that phrase, a little worried you might be a robot, and asked them how I turn you on."

"Eeek."

"They had a debate about whether to let her believe that you were a robot or be upfront and explain what 'me turning you on' really means."

"I hope they didn't let her think I'm a robot!"

"No, they delicately explained that married people like to kiss and my kisses make you happy like a light bulb being turned on."

"Oh," Elizabeth said. "Okay, that's not so bad."

"But then she told them that she overhead us talking about romance and tangoing."

"That's not so bad either."

"Except she said that she also heard us talking about me acting like a fireman and carrying you around. Which they assumed meant we were doing some kind of kinky sexual role-playing."

"We were also talking about space alien babies. Did they think we were role-playing alien sex?" Elizabeth scoffed.

"Yeah, that part kind of creeped them out," Jack replied.

"Jack, we can't keep this a secret much longer", Elizabeth declared after their meal in the cafeteria. "Between my strange diet, my shoes, and now a lead apron, I am getting a lot of strange looks. Abigail practically vaulted over the counter to hug me. I felt like she was going to put her hand on my forehead and check my temperature. She thinks I'm dying."

"She does not think you're dying", Jack snickered. "But you're right. People are starting to stare. And whisper."

"I only have a few students but you know every single one of them is going to be asking why I'm wearing a lead vest like a dental patient ready to get an x-ray."

"Maybe we can say it's some kind of experiment?"

"Do you think –"

Elizabeth was about to ask Jack if they should just tell people about the pregnancy, when they turned a corner and noticed three men dressed in crew uniforms entering their living quarters down the hall.

"What's going on? It's not laundry day," a perplexed Elizabeth noted.

"And laundry doesn't take three men," Jack said sternly as they quickened their pace.

"I get a top berth," a male's voice called out.

"No problem. I like the bottom," another man answered.

"I'll notify the Thorntons to move their stuff out. And then Steve and Marty can move in. Go ahead and put your stuff in the empty lockers," a man with a small computer pad noted as he looked around the room.

"What's going on? Why do we need to move our stuff out? Where are we going?" Jack asked. They stood in the doorway of their room and watched as the men chose berths and made themselves at home.

"Officer Thornton, I'm Ensign Powers," the man with the computer said in a friendly tone as he turned towards Jack. "I was just sending a message to you and your wife. You two are being moved to another room. "

"Why?"

"Orders of the ship's doctor. He wants Mrs. Thornton in a room with the least amount of exposure to space's radiation. Not sure why but that's what he ordered. This room is closer to the ship's outside walls so we're moving you to a more interior room. It's in the crewmember section of the ship but that has the least possibility of radiation from space or the power supply room."

"Now?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

"Yeah, the doc says he can't believe he didn't think about it earlier."

When the flabbergasted couple just stood there, the crewmember continued. "If you can clear out your lockers, that'd be great. I've already notified the laundry to change all the bed sheets and towels."

Elizabeth and Jack, carrying their bags, looked at room numbers as they made their way through the ship. After clearing out their lockers, Ensign Powers had rescanned their transporter bracelets; thereby, changing their access codes to their newly assigned room.

Elizabeth decided it was best not to complain about her heavy shoes and apron as Jack grumbled in the elevator that he was once again carrying the twenty-five-pound geode she had brought aboard.

"When I said I was looking forward to some physical activity in our room, this isn't what I meant", Jack said sourly.

She gave him a soft smile as they approached their quarters. "I'll still have just one womb in our new quarters. We can have plenty of physical activity."

"Do you think the crew living quarters are any different than ours?" Elizabeth asked as Jack stopped in front of a door.

"We'll find out soon enough."

When Jack scanned his bracelet across the sensor, the metal door slid open revealing their new living quarters. Metal. Plastic. Berths attached to walls. It looked similar to their old room.

With one notable exception.

An attractive woman wearing a sports bra and very tiny shorts was dancing to music in the center of the room.

Her perfect skin glistened with small beads of moisture.

Her long hair bounced in curls as she jumped up and down to a beat only she could hear.

"Excuse me. Miss. Excuse me. Miss," Jack called out as Elizabeth stared at the woman, whose headphones had kept her from noticing the door sliding open.

"Oh my gosh!" the girl exclaimed in surprise when she turned around in a dance move and noticed them."

She lowered her headphones and smiled. "Sorry about that. I didn't hear you. I'm Candy. We met the other day at the gym. Welcome, roomies."

Elizabeth and Jack looked at each other in confusion and then back at Candy.

"Roomies?" Elizabeth asked as she mentally took appraisal of the lithe woman in front of her.

"Yeah. Didn't you get the message? . . . You must have because you're here," she added with a laugh. "The guys were moved to your room and you were moved here."

"We get that. But what are you doing here?" Jack asked. He was still holding their bags which seemed to be heavier by the second.

"This is my assigned room. I'm in berth B."

Elizabeth and Jack looked around the room and for the first time noticed that it was slightly larger than their previous one.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Six berths. Elizabeth silently counted.

Six berths?!

Jack set down the bags, ran his hand across his forehead, and scowled when he remembered the design of the ship.

Passengers were assigned to four-person cabins; crew members, with the exception of the Captain and the First Officer, were assigned to six-person interior cabins. Which also meant that instead of eight people sharing a washroom, there were twelve people sharing it.

"Even though only the two of you are moving down here, the billeting officer decided to move four to your place. So that this place won't be so crowded for you. Obviously, all of us couldn't move because your cabin only had four berths," Candy said good-naturedly as she took a sip of water from her thermos. When she lifted the bottle to her lips and tilted her head, Elizabeth couldn't help but notice the smooth skin of the woman's perfect long neck.

"So it's you, me, and Elizabeth in this room?" Jack asked curiously as he looked around again as if by some miracle there was another private suite attached.

"For the next four months?" he added. He tried to keep the worried anxious shrillness out of his voice, but he had a feeling it came out anyway when he thought about a lack of privacy for the rest of the voyage.

"No of course not –", Candy answered with a laugh.

Whew, thank goodness, Elizabeth thought with relief and let her shoulders relax. She must be moving somewhere else . . . and taking her perfect butt with her.

"Becca's here too," the woman replied with a nod to the shower door.

Just then, the door slid open and a woman in her mid-twenties, wrapped in nothing but a skimpy towel, walked out.

If Elizabeth had been told that she would have a roommate more attractive than Candy, she wouldn't have believed it. Until she saw Becca. The woman casually dropped her damp towel on a berth and reached into her locker for some clothes.

"Hi guys, you must be our new roommates", the naked unconcerned woman said in a friendly manner as she bent over, and slipped one foot and then the other into a neon pink pair of panties.

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