"Have you got the results yet?"
"No, I'm still waiting, the vet hasn't come back yet."
"Ok, well call me when you get the results back."
"I will, I promise; Bye."
"Bzzt," Marlene turned off the walkie talkie and laid it beside her. She sat in a cold, metallic confinement; she sat alone, with herself and her thoughts. Her head was swimming. "Could it be? Could I really be pregnant, with his child? How?"
She sat in silence pondering the possibility, she could be pregnant with Skipper's child. She didn't understand, not how but what, "What will happen if he is the father, will he leave? No. It's Skipper, he would never walk out… or would he? No, he wouldn't, but what would happen if he gets killed in combat or something? I don't want our child to be fatherless, it'll need its father," Marlene's head pleaded.
She was an emotional wreck. Tears clouded her vision while her emotion drowned her thoughts, she wept. She didn't know why she was so nervous, she just was, she paced back and forth in the cage, "Just calm down Marlene, everything will be fine," she told herself.
She had been pregnant for a while now, but hadn't told anyone until last month. Technically she didn't tell anyone, Skipper stumbled upon it while he and the guys were in Alice's office. When he confronted her about it she confessed.
Marlene wasn't prepared to be a mother, she had told herself when she was a pup that all she wanted were children of her own. Now that her dreams were becoming a reality she began to panic and doubt her decision. "What if I am not a good mother, what if the child hates his is father. This is all too much, I wish I didn't have to go through this."
Marlene started hyperventilating, she freaked out way too easily. Skipper always told her that she was a "Nervous Nelly."
Skipper, the one name she couldn't keep off her mind. Skipper was caring, selfless and noble; a perfect role model for young'uns. He would be a great father, Marlene was sure of it, but perhaps not to their child; if it is his child.
"I will, I promise; bye."
Marlene turned off the walkie talkie, "Bye…" Skipper trailed off. Skipper was sitting under a canopy of trees, he was deep in the heart of the Redwood Forest.
He waited impatiently. Skipper was restless, Skipper was never edgy. Typically he would be as cool as a cucumber but this, this was nerve racking, heart churning, and in a few minutes his life could change. He could have his own child.
A child that depended on him, a child that trusted him, a child that loved him, someone much like Private, but his own; his own flesh and blood. His head and heart ached, they ached with a soreness, a tightness much like a stranglehold. He prayed, he pleaded, he begged for the pain to loosen its grasp, he needed to recompose himself, but he didn't. He couldn't.
He reached for an audio recording device and pulled it close to him. He flipped a read switch and clicked the fourth button from the left. "Skipper's log; It is 0500 hours and I'm in the heart of California's beauty, the Redwood forest. My mission, to find a secret facility which is presumed to be operated by none other than my Arch Nemesis, Dr. Blowhole." Skipper was about to turn off the recording, but he restrained himself. "I'm waiting on news… about my girlfriend and our son, or so we think he is mine. She's seven months pregnant and healthy. She's been doing all the typical things you could expect, Craving—, Whining—, Hallucinating, all that junk," he paused and cleared his throat. "You know, what if I'm not good enough for him, what if, wh- what if, I'm not as good as, a- a- as a father as I am a commander," He choked and stammered over his words. "I go on a lot of missions, a whole lot of missions, this is just another mission. Yeah… That's right another mission, but my hardest mission. I'm not sure if I'm ready or if my partner is. It's a lot to deal with. It's a lot to bear. I'm not sure if I can do it." Skipper paused. His eyes began to up, but he wouldn't cry. He wouldn't allow himself to. He felt as a leader he couldn't be weak. He couldn't be soft. He couldn't let his emotions show; Skipper felt he needed to bottle up his emotions, "—but I have to. I must and I will. If he is my child or anyone else's I will care for him as my own. It couldn't be too different from raising Private, could it?"
Skipper then realized he was still recording, he clicked the same button he used to start the recording, the audio then ended. Skipper inhaled and exhaled, slowly, it was a lot for him to come to terms with but he had to. For this child and for Marlene, he would. That would mean protecting them, staying by their side, and leaving the covert ops; for them, he would do anything.
The walkie talkie abruptly derailed Skipper's train of thought. "Skipper," Marlene muttered.
Skipper waited for a moment to compile all his thoughts, his heart beat slower and slower and slower and slower, each second that he waited.
"Skipper?"
Skipper reached for the walkie talkie and exhaled one last time.
"I'm here, any news?"
Marlene didn't answer for a few seconds, then she spoke, "Yeah— It's…"