CHAPTER 48 – FUTURE PLANS

There was no doubt about it. Elizabeth was hopelessly in love with the most handsome, nicest, smartest, bravest man in the universe. As she had just told him for the third time in the last twenty minutes.

"No. No. and NO," Jack said forcefully for the third time when Elizabeth once again requested a favor after flattering him repeatedly.

"But Jack –

"No."

"If you loved me –"

"If? If?!" Jack cut her off again. "I love you more than I love myself. I love you enough to stay on a planet colony for two years," he exclaimed. "How can you even say that?!"

Elizabeth sighed at Jack's irritated response and his stunned look.

She decided that he had been most disagreeable ever since he had been placed on the half-rations list like most of the rest of the transporter passengers and crew.

The ship would be arriving back on Earth in a week, and Elizabeth wondered how much worse it would get. In fact, she was probably the only person on the transporter that wasn't in a hurry to get home. Not since her recent doctor's check-up.

After the recent biological threat which had required a lock down, life on the transporter had been tedious. Unless you counted the fights that had broken out repeatedly over the past two weeks due to grouchy passengers and crew members.

The ship was moving along at a slower than usual speed, food was being rationed, and people, even Jack, were becoming more and more irritable. Never fully sated, usually bored, and fed up with the space travel, they were anxious to get home.

Jack reached for a bottle of water on his desk and then paused before he had brought it all the way to his mouth. He growled in frustration and set the bottle back onto the metal surface. He could wait awhile longer.

The regulation of water didn't help with anyone's mood, Elizabeth realized as she watched Jack.

In an effort to conserve water, clothes were no longer washed except for underwear. Drinking water was still provided but was carefully monitored to make sure it was actually being drunk and not taken for additional body washing. In addition, the water from the swimming pool had been filtered and was now used for the minimum showering that was allowed.

Candy, who worked in water purification had gotten plenty of mean stares and rude comments when she cut everyone's remaining water minutes in half.

Elizabeth, due to her pregnancy, was still on full food and water rations as were the children on the flight. Several times, she had tried to pass some of her meals to Jack but he had refused.

She should have realized that when his stomach was grumbling and feeling thirsty, it was not the best time to whine to him about her recent doctor's visit.

She stood across from him in his small security office and tried to be polite but firm.

"And I love you for staying on Coal Valley with me, and I love you for everything you've done, but that's beside the point. The point is I need you to convince the National Health Services that I should not be admitted as an inpatient, I need you to not interfere when I use my family name to pull some strings, and I need you to hide me if necessary," she once again informed Jack of her demands

"I am not going to convince the NHH of anything. Your family name is Thornton, not Thatcher, in case you've forgotten. And the only thing I'm going to hide is my frustration with you. And actually, I'm not even going to hide that."

Elizabeth tore off her lead apron and theatrically threw it onto the nearby chair. "I put up with everything! Why can't you be on my side?"

"Why can't we just wait and see what happens when we arrive back home?"

"Because it will be too late by then! For all we know, Doc will have arranged for an ambulance to be at the tarmac waiting to whisk me off and imprison me for the next four months."

"You are not going to be imprisoned for goodness sakes. You are going to be observed," Jack replied in disgust.

"I don't want to be observed!" she whined. "I am not a guinea pig. They'll want to do experiments on me. On our baby!

"Stop exaggerating. They are not doing experiments on you or our baby. I will not let them. But I will let them observe you. It's for the baby. To make sure that he or she is healthy."

Elizabeth crossed her arms against her chest, pushed the lead apron onto the floor, and plopped down in a huff.

"If you let them take me away, I swear I'll never kiss you again," she said as she glared at him.

Jack raised his eyebrows at Elizabeth's threat but remained silent.

"I swear it's true. I won't kiss you again," she declared again for emphasis.

"Fine," Jack agreed. He flipped some switches and looked at the various computer screens which lined one of the walls of the security office. Imagines of passengers and crew members moving about the corridors and rooms flashed into view.

"Fine? Fine? You're okay with me never kissing you again?!"

Jack, with mild irritation, looked at his wife and considered her somewhat hysterical manner. She had been overly irrational upon learning of the medical officer's plan to have her extensively evaluated when they arrived back to Earth.

Turning his attention to the screens again, he calmly answered her question. "Yes, I will be fine if you never kiss me again. There are plenty of other things you can still do to me. Things I like very much. And I'll still kiss you."

"I'll just stand there," she hotly threatened. "Immobile. Indifferent. Not moving. Frozen in place. Stationary."

"Yes, Miss Thesaurus. I get your point."

"I'm serious. I'll never kiss you again."

Jack turned and closed the short distance between them. Bending down so that their faces were level, he placed his hands on the chairs armrests, and stared at her.

She was imprisoned between his strong arms.

Elizabeth met his gaze and refused to blink. She glared at him despite feeling her pulse quicken at his closeness.

Before she quite knew what was happening, he was kissing her. And she was kissing him back. Deeply. Passionately.

Oh my, I love how he kisses, she thought as she tried but hopelessly failed to remain stoic.

Jack pulled back with a self-satisfied smile. "You know, you may want to get a dictionary when we get back to Earth. Because I'm thinking you don't quite understand the meaning of immobile, frozen, stationary, or any of those other words you used."

Elizabeth sulked. Although, to be honest, she wasn't quite sure if she was sulking because he refused to give in to her demands or because he had stopped kissing her.

Elizabeth was starting to believe that men just did not hear things the same way as women. As she accompanied Jack on his rounds through the various levels of the transporter, she couldn't stop thinking of her earlier medical check-up.

While the transporter's doctor had been explaining his plans to the couple, Elizabeth had distinctly heard the words isolation, observation, testing, panel of scientists. But Jack had only seemed to hear the words health of your wife and baby, top doctors in the field of neonatology, no cost to you, best medical care.

"Elizabeth, we, and I said WE, are going to follow the doctor's recommendation and get you checked out by the National Health Services, the Department of Health and Human Services, the North American Pediatric Society and anyone else who might be involved. If you have to be admitted for a full battery of tests – SAFE tests-that's what we'll do," Jack said calmly.

The elevator door opened and they exited onto a floor which appeared to be empty of personnel.

"But, Jack-", she tried to interrupt, but her husband would have none of it.

"IF prenatal surgery is needed for a birth defect, we'll have it done. If radiation therapy is needed, we'll have it done. If you need shots of vitamins -which I highly doubt given the amount of kale and tomatoes you've been engulfing – we'll get you vitamin shots."

"But Jack-"

"WHEN you are given a clean bill of health, we'll go visit your family for a week or two. Don't you want what's best for our baby?"

"Don't you dare suggest that I don't care", she retorted before giving up in defeat as they stopped in front one of the large floor to ceiling windows and stood side-by-side, holding hands and staring into the universe. Stars twinkled in the vast darkness like miniature Christmas lights.

Jack had won this battle.

Upon arrival back on Earth, she would be admitted to the country's top medical facility for the world's most thorough study of the first human pregnancy in space after long-term space travel.

Finally, realizing she had no choice but to get thoroughly examined by eager scientists, Elizabeth did the only thing she could do, and it wasn't even intentional.

"Come on, don't do that", Jack moaned when he looked sideways at her.

"I can't help it," she sniffled as she wiped away tears which had suddenly spilled out of her eyes.

Jack wrapped his arms around her.

"I just want to go home," she whined. "It seems like we'll never get there."

"We don't have a home yet," he reminded her with a poor attempt to lighten her mood.

"You know what I mean. I want to be cozy. After two years of being in space, I want to sit in a soft thick robe in a comfy chair in front of a fireplace –"

"It's summer-time in North America right now," Jack interrupted. "We wouldn't have a fire in a fireplace even if we had a home."

"But I get what you mean," he added as she wiped her runny nose on her arm.

"I just want to be normal," she explained with soft teary eyes. "I want to go grocery shopping and walk through the woods and plant a garden and go to the mall. I want to visit family and friends."

"And you will. Our families will be there to meet us when we land. We'll get hugs and kisses and more hugs and kisses, and then we'll go get you checked out."

"You haven't even met my mom and dad yet in person. Dad's still waiting for you to ask his permission to marry me", she noted.

"I think that ship has sailed. And I'll meet your folks. And you'll meet my ma. You can even have our moms go with you to the hospital. But if something needs to be done with the pregnancy, the sooner we get it taken care of the better. I don't want to think that our little boy or girl needs something and we're off relaxing in front of a fireplace-

"No fires. It's summer time" she reminded him as she sniffled.

"- or shopping at a mall or walking through the woods. We've known since the beginning that your pregnancy is unique."

"They want to study me like I'm some kind of anomaly."

"You are. You're going to be the first person in the world to give birth to a healthy baby after two years in space. So, let a few doctors feel like they're important and let them write their papers on you."

"What if I have to stay there for the rest of my pregnancy?"

"Then that's what you'll do."

"But I'll be lonely," she pouted.

"What about me? Are you bored with me already?"

Elizabeth gave Jack a bewildered look. "But you'll be with family. Just visiting me sometimes. Like everyday. Please"

Jack looked at her comically and smiled at her perplexed and pleading expression.

"Won't you?" she asked in confusion.

"In the last twenty four months, I have not gone more than a few hours at a time without seeing you. I'm not about to start when we get back to Earth."

"You'd give up your freedom and visiting your mates and family dinners and ballgames and everything?" she asked in awe. "Even though we're just getting back to Earth?"

Jack grinned. "You've become a necessity to me. Kind of like oxygen. I'm going to stay with you at the hospital."

"You'd do that for me?"

"You and me. Together. Forever. You know that," he affectionately reminded her. "And besides, I'm not about to let my wife go off without me and be stared at without her clothes on by a bunch of curious doctors who are going to be in awe of her."

Elizabeth met his grin with her own as she nestled into his arms. There was no doubt about it. She was hopelessly in love with the most handsome, nicest, smartest, bravest man in the universe. Forever.

Up Next: Chapter 49

Dear Readers: Like many of you, I have watched WCTH to enjoy an hour a week of light-hearted TV. Presently, I have to say that I am disgusted with how they are handling Jack. While my Vignettes under the name jellybean49 have drama, they always end happily. With my woolenslipper stories, I intentionally try to keep Reversal of Fortune mostly light-hearted and I hope it gives you quite a few laughs when you read it. With this story, I also am determined to always show the love between Jack and Elizabeth, and more importantly, without despair. I want you to look forward to my chapters, not dread them like I now dread WCTH. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I DO appreciate you and your feelings.

On a totally different note, did you read the Parade article this week where Dan said he liked space and would like to go to Mars? He's already on a far away planet in this story! 🙂