Jeck: Wait… this isn't Sunday?
Raxsah: No, not it is not. However, due to future conflicts, Sunday is not working out. And posting sooner is better rather than later.
Jeck: I am having surgery tomorrow for my gallbladder and Sunday I will be returning home to my Raxsah! :D
Raxsah: YAY! All will be right in the world again. So, I have finally counted out the chapters, yay for me. And after this, it's only two till the Epilogue. It's official, I counted it!
Jeck: I was not here for the counting of this. But I believe her. The epilogue is going to be LONG! Mad long!
Raxsah: Like, it could probably be it's own story long. But we didn't want to leave anything open for a sequel. Believe us, other than side stories, we are done with this story.
Jeck: Yeah, we're SOOOOO done. But we will be doing a side story for SWfangirl21 who was our 100th reviewer! YAY!
Raxsah: Yes, if she ever get's back to us with what she wants. Hahahaaa, Anyway, we still have the most reviewed so keep reviewing away! Only a couple more chapters left since we're not including the epilogue for the counting.
Jeck: And currently, the two people who reviewed the most aren't being counted in the running. Third is tied between three people, so we'll see what happens. Your reviews will make me happy while I'm recovering from surgery. And they'll just make Raxsah happy in general.
Raxsah: Yes, Reviews brighten my day which, as of recently, has been drowned in homework and bullshit. So please, make me happier. Lol. Anyway, No warnings for this chapter, to be honest, I think this was one of our last ideas type of thing. I think it coulda been funnier, but we just wanted the story to be done at this point. Hahahaaaa.
Jeck: We're still in that whole throwing all our ideas into the story all at one time. But we're winding down now.
Raxsah: I know. I'm almost sad to see it done… almost. It's almost a relief. I will miss the many reviews and pissing people off with the horrible cliffhangers.
Jeck: Like this chapter? Yes. Mawhahahahahahaha!
Raxsah: Yeah, we are mean. Another cliffhanger. Hopefully it's not as bad as last time. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Hahahaahahahaaaa
Jeck: Read on and be angered. Mawhahahahahahahahaha!

Chapter 25: What the Heart Wants

Ryan closed his final report and leaned backwards in his chair. He'd been finding it harder and harder to concentrate since Claire left his office earlier in the evening. He wanted to talk to Anna about perhaps starting a family and getting married. He wanted to, but he was finding it difficult to face his fears. No feelings remained for her, but Ryan couldn't get his mind off Colleen. The home wrecking bitch.

"Ryan, just the man I was looking for!" Jim greeted as he walked into his officer. Ryan raised an eyebrow.

"Now why would you want to see me?"

"I just received a call from the engineering deck and I want you to come take a look at some signal they've picked up with me. If it's dangerous, I'm going to need the chief of security there with me," Jim explained. Ryan nodded and jumped up from his desk, grabbing his belt containing his phaser. Jim led him out of the room and they traveled in complete silence through the semi-crowded halls of the Enterprise. Finally, they reached the engineering deck. Rupert and Oliver were standing next to Scotty who bore a solemn look on his face.

"What's all this about?" Ryan asked. Scotty furrowed his eyebrows.

"Surprisingly, Oliver stumbled across a message from a space trader. Apparently, two men stopped by his business earlier in the week. One went by the name of Riley and the other Griffin. This trader sent us coordinates of his location," Scotty explained. Both Jim and Ryan felt their hearts ache at his words. The two men exchanged looks, noting the same look of pain held behind the grey and blue sets of eyes.

"It might be a trap," Ryan offered. Jim nodded.

"I thought so too, but if we proceed with caution, we might stumble upon the whereabouts of them," Jim pointed out. Ryan nodded.

"We'll proceed with caution then. Inform the trader that we'll meet him in a different location. I want the area we meet in to be a neutral zone," Ryan ordered. Oliver shot his hand in the arm, waving it like a child in the classroom. Scotty turned to his fellow engineer.

"Oliver, we do not raise our hand in front of the captain or chief of security. Speak like a real man," he ordered. Oliver nodded.

"The trader gave us orders to meet him at his location. He has good business in the area," he informed them. Ryan folded his arms as Jim scratched his chin.

"Fine, inform the trader that we'll meet in this new location and that we'll also do business with him for any information he has," Jim informed them. The three men in engineering nodded as Jim pulled Ryan outside of the room.

"I want you to prep your security officers for the rendezvous with this trader. Pick an area in a safe part of space, possibly near a space station or a planet friendly with the federation. Understood?" Ryan nodded and looked at Jim.

"Yes sir, any place you had in mind?" Ryan asked. Jim shrugged.

"I don't know, flip a coin I guess. Just make sure that we're not near anything hostile." Ryan nodded.

"Yes sir."

"You think I still have a chance with Liam?" Alex asked. Claire sighed as she rested her feet on her best friends lap. Both of them were stuck doing charts, and Claire was practically exhausted. Being pregnant sucked.

"Write him a love poem and see what happens," she replied, yawning.

"I tried that, he just called me gay…" Claire looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" Alex rolled his eyes and grabbed another chart, ignoring her statement. Claire leaned back and ran a hand through her hair and yawned once more.

"How is the pregnancy thing going?" he asked. She shot him a look and sat up a bit.

"How do you think it's going? My morning sickness is driving me crazy, I'm tired all the time, and my boobs hurt. I even had to pass up on sex because they were hurting so much." Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Why the hell would you pass up sex, even if they were hurting?" he asked. Claire turned to him and shot him a look.

"Because, their boobs, they are a key part in sex. Duh."

"They're only a key part if you make them a key part," Alex pointed out. Claire crossed her arms.

"Well, unlike you, Jim knows how to please a woman." Alex stopped and glared at her.

"Those mood swings are a pain in the ass too," he snapped.

"Who's having mood swings?" Liam asked, looking down at the two of them.

"Claire, she's being a major bitch," Alex told him. Claire kicked Alex's leg and turned toward her gay boyfriend.

"I'm not being a bitch, Alex is just an asshole." Liam rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, did you know we're stopping at a station soon?" he asked. Alex and Claire exchanged a look.

"No, when did you find this out?" Alex asked.

"Like an hour ago… Anna told me," he informed them. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Why are we stopping at a station? It wasn't that long ago that we had shore leave. Besides, we're well stocked and haven't had any damage to the ship," he mused out loud. Liam shrugged.

"I'm just passing the information along," he snapped at Alex. As soon as he did, Liam regretted it when a hurt look crossed Alex's face.

"Right, whatever," he said a sad tone of voice as he rose from his spot and left the room. Claire angrily crossed her arms and glared at Liam.

"What the hell was that for? He was comfortable!" She snapped at him. Liam sighed as he took Alex's former spot.

"Sorry."

"Why can't the two of you act like normal people around each other? Jesus Christ, it's obvious that the two of you love each other," Claire continued, the angry tone in her voice not wavering. She wasn't normally a patient person, but the pregnancy was making her more easily agitated than usual.

"I… don't know…"

"The trader has informed us that he's already in position and is ready to do business," Scotty informed Jim from his spot at the computer for the transport deck. Jim nodded and turned to look at Ryan.

"Have you assembled an away team?" He asked. Ryan nodded as a few people entered the room. Oliver, Anna, and Alex entered the room. Ryan smiled.

"Anna is one of the top members in my security team. Oliver has been in contact with the trader the whole time. And it's always a good thing to have a doctor on handle, especially one you can take care of himself, so Alex will be joining us too," Ryan explained. Jim nodded in approval at his selection.

"Very well, let's get this over with. Energize," Jim commanded, as everyone was on the transporter pad. The team soon found themselves on a space station, and a man with an acne problem greeted them.

"Hello, welcome aboard," he said. Jim gave a nod and led his team out into the main part of the station.

"Do you have any idea who he is?" Jim asked. Oliver nodded and scanned the bar area, his eyes resting on a man who wore a dark cloak.

"That's him, he said he was wearing the cloak. Kind of like an undercover Jedi," he said. Jim shot the man a strange look, but nodded. They all walked to the table, and Jim gently knocked on it.

"Hello," Jim said. The man looked up, his gaze making Oliver jump. One eye was bright green, while the other was red.

"You must be the Captain," he said. Jim nodded and his gaze hardened when he saw the dagger the man held.

"Yeah, you the trader?" he asked. The trader nodded and gestured to the seat across from him with the dagger, causing Anna and Ryan to let their hands rest on their phasers.

"Sit, I'm not going to hurt you. No need to be so defensive," he said, pulling out a block of wood and chipping away at it with the dagger. Jim gestured for Ryan and Anna told calm down, and sat across from him.

"I suppose you know why we are here?" Jim asked. The man nodded and smiled slyly.

"Aye, you want to know about that Riley and Griffin fella. Am I right?" he asked. Jim nodded.

"Yes sir," he replied. The trader nodded and looked up at the rest of the small team.

"Well, quite a lot you brought just for some questions… and business," the trader muttered.

"Standard protocol. We're willing to do some business, as long as it's legal…" The trader scoffed and shook his head.

"Nothing worth having in this world is legal, let me tell you." Ryan sighed and shot a look at Anna, who was slowly getting annoyed.

"Just tell me what you know about the two men," Jim said. The trader shook his head and held his hand out, palm side up.

"Business first," he stated. Jim pressed his lips together, but motioned for Oliver to hand him the small stack of money. The trader took it from the man and counted it before nodding.

"Aye, that's be enough." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a small block looking thing. "Here, I've been trying to get this off my hands for years, it's yours." Jim took a hold of it and furrowed his eyebrows, not quite sure what it was. He handed it off to Ryan, who simply pocketed it.

"Now, back to the information," Jim demanded. The trader nodded and smiled wickedly at the group, his rotten teeth making Anna and Alex cringe.

"You'll be liking what I got for you. The two men were searching for small parts from me. Only a few things. But I contacted a few of my fellow traders and found out they'd been paid a visit by the two men as well. Apparently, they've been jumping from random trader to trader searching for small parts. I've composed a list of things they've taken from me as well as the traders that I know that were visited," he explained, passing the captain a crinkled piece of yellow paper. Jim's eyes scanned the list and looked up.

"This isn't much," he stated. Ryan's hand wasn't too far from his phaser, in case the trader decided to pull a fast one on them. However, the man merely smiled.

"I did tell you that, I did. There were many other traders that were visited by these men, of that I am sure. However, I don't know them nor do I know what was bought," he stated. Jim bit his lip as he analyzed the list before him.

"What could they want with these things?" He wondered out loud. The trader leaned back in his seat and placed his feet on the chair next to him.

"These men are smart. They could've bought all these items from me, but they didn't. They're purposely buying all these materials separately so no one can figure out what they're using it for. What are they making? I couldn't tell you. These things could make just about anything," the trader explained to them. Ryan peered over Jim's shoulder at the list, examining each item.

"Is this all you have for us?" Jim asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over the table. The trader patted his pocket and grinned.

"Indeed. And I do believe the business was worth it," he stated with a sneer. Jim rose from his seat and handed the paper to Ryan.

"Thank you for agreeing to this meeting. We'll overlook your illegal trade because of your help, but only for this one time. Good day," Jim said, forcing himself to keep a serious straight face. The trader nodded and knocked back a pint of beer as Jim let the away team away from the table. Ryan sped up his pace a little and moved next to Jim.

"What are you thinking?" He whispered as they hurried out of the bar. Jim sighed.

"They're building something. That's all we have," he mumbled as he sent a signal to Scotty over his communicator. All five of them were beamed back up to the ship where Scotty, Spock, and McCoy were waiting.

"So what'd you find out?" Before Jim could reply, the ship jerked violently and all the people in the transporter room were thrown to the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Ryan asked, trying to raise back up to his feet. Scotty got on his knees and crawled over to the computer to check.

"It's the space station… it was just blown up!"

"What?" Anna asked.

"It just… blew up. There were no survivors… nothing." Jim sighed and stood up and glared at the floor.

"Why do I have a feeling this wasn't just a meeting." Spock looked over to Jim and raised an eyebrow.

"Do you suspect a set-up?" he asked. Jim sighed and turned to Ryan, who was clenching his fist.

"What do you think?" he asked. Ryan shook his head.

"I have no idea… it might have been, but we can't find any other ships in the area…" Jim sighed.

"Let's just get out of here for now. We'll investigate this later." Anna and Ryan nodded, both of them taking that as their cue to leave.

"What do you think is going to happen?" she asked.

"I don't know… I guess we're just going to have to wait and see." Anna nodded and looked up at her boyfriend. Before they got to the lift, she put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"Ryan… you alright?" she asked. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Just… all this stuff with Griffin… it's bringing up memories I wanted to forget," he confessed. Anna frowned and pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry, I know you hate having to relive this," she said softly. He nodded and kissed the top of her head.

"You know I love you, with all my heart right?" he asked. She nodded and leaned up to kiss his lips.

"Want to show me how much?"

Claire glanced up from her book as Jim walked into the room and kicked off her shoes.

"Hey, you're back earlier than usual," she commented. Jim took off his uniform shirt and sat on the bed, his back facing her.

"It's been a long day," he told her. Claire put her book down and moved so she was right behind him on the bed. She placed her hands on his shoulders and began to gently massage him.

"Your muscles are so tense, are you sure it was just a long day?" she asked. Jim sighed and enjoyed the massage as she kneaded his tense muscles. He leaned back a little, and she leaned forward her chin resting on the top of his head. "Jim?"

"It's Riley…" he said softly. She sighed and wrapped her arms around him, and let her head rest on his shoulder.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We ran into a trader who he bought a few things from. He's building something and we have no idea what it is. Then, to top it all off. The station blew up, so we can't question the trader again." Claire frowned and placed a kiss on his neck.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered. He shook his head and kissed her lips tenderly.

"I love you," he told her.

"I love you too." He smiled and stood up, getting ready for bed. After a moment she looked up at him. "Jim…" he turned back to her.

"Yeah?" he looked so tired, and so annoyed. Maybe now was not the best time to tell him she was pregnant.

"Hi…"

"I don't like you." Griffin looked up from his work to see Nuhir standing in the doorway.

"I don't really care," he replied, returning back to work. There was a lot that needed to be done before their confrontation with the Enterprise and Griffin felt like he was the only person on the ship preparing for it.

"This is my plan!" He snapped, stepping into the room. Griffin ignored the man's outburst and continuing working on the box that sat on his desk.

"But this is my creation. You came up with the plan, but both Riley and I know that the only person to design this without any flaws is me. You're idea was good, but you lack the engineering needed to make it real," Griffin lectured, making the Romulan feel very small. His fists clenched, but he tried to calm himself.

"Are you almost done at least?" He snapped. Griffin placed his screwdriver down and sighed.

"No, Nuhir. Riley is looking for a way to get all the pieces we need. Until then, I'm building the shell," he explained, leaning back in his chair. Nuhir might have gotten on Riley's good side with the plan, but it was now all in his hands. And Griffin wasn't going to let the Romulan get any of the credit after they succeeded. Nuhir stormed forward and slammed his fists on Griffin's work table.

"How dare you? You come onto my captain's ship and you completely strip me of my rank. Do you know how hard I worked to get where I am? And you just take it from me as if I was nothing!" He yelled. Griffin felt the edge of his mouth twitch into a smile.

"Oh, but you are nothing Nuhir. You're nothing on your home world and you're nothing to Riley. Just an expendable man. He'll suck you dry of all your ideas and use your body as a weapon. He cares nothing about your wellbeing and he cares nothing about your status," Griffin said with his evil grin. Nuhir felt his heart ache at Griffin's words, but his rage got the best of him. He gripped the edge of Griffin's desk, causing the wood to snap and break.

"You're full of lies, Griffin. I am Riley's right hand man," Nuhir told him, releasing his iron grip. The indents of Nuhir's hands remained in the table which only fueled the sinister look on Griffin's face.

"No, Nuhir. You're wrong. You're merely Riley's right hand glove. You'll be tossed away whenever you stop being useful," Griffin snarled. Nuhir bite his lip hard, tasting the bitter metallic taste of his own blood.

"I hate you," he snapped. Griffin nodded.

"That's nice. Now take your hatred somewhere else," he ordered. Nuhir wanted to jump across the work table and strangle the man before him, but instead he just turned and walked away. Griffin chuckled as the door slammed shut behind the Romulan and he turned back to his work. The confrontation had put him in a better mood as he returned to building the box.

"Ryan, what on Earth are you doing? It's four in the morning!" An angry Anna called from her spot on the bed. She awoke to his side of the bed empty again, but noticed his hunched over position at the desk on the other side of the room. A small lamp lit the small machine on the table.

"I'm tinkering with this stupid machine. The trader is gone, but I'm hoping that this little device might have some clues to what's going on with Riley and Griffin," Ryan said, the tone of his voice getting angrier as his ex-best friend's name rolled off his lips. Anna sighed and ran a hand through her bed hair.

"Ryan, come back to bed. You'll have plenty of time to work on it later," Anna ordered. Reluctantly, he placed the tools he was using down and switched off the desk lamp.

"Fine, fine. But it's coming to work with me tomorrow," he said with a yawn. Anna rolled her eyes and smiled as Ryan rejoined her in bed.

"Later today, you mean," she corrected him. Ryan sighed.

"Right, right. Let's just go back to bed. You're so not pleasant in the morning," he mumbled as he snaked his arm around Anna's waist and closed his eyes. Anna smirked.

"Yeah, screw you too," she replied. Ryan smiled, his eyes still closed.

"You love me, don't deny it."

Claire ignored the sound of Jim's worried voice as she emptied last nights dinner into the toilet. She hated being pregnant, and everything that came with it. Though, the morning sickness was worse than she thought it would be. After a few more dry heaves she finally calmed her stomach enough to wipe her mouth and start a shower. She knew that Jim was probably annoyed that she just jumped into the shower without letting him know what was going on. She had been trying to tell him what was going on with her for a week, but every time she tried, something came up.

She leaned her head against the wall of the shower and sighed. She hated keeping things from him, but she couldn't bring herself to talk to him. After a few long minutes in the shower, she finally got out and wrapped a towel around herself. She scrunched her hair and brushed her teeth before exiting the bathroom and coming face to face with her boyfriend.

"Claire," he said. His gaze wandered down her body, realizing she was in nothing but a towel, but forced his eyes to her face.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to take a shower real quick."

"Claire, what's wrong? Are you sick or something?"

"No, I'm fine. It's just a bug. I mean, you haven't gotten sick, have you? I'm fine." She went to walk away, but Jim grabbed her arm.

"Claire, what's wrong? What happened? Are we…" Claire shook her head.

"No, no… we're fine. I'm just a little sick. McCoy said it should be over soon." Like in nine months. Jim sighed and kissed her forehead.

"You'll tell me if something was wrong, right?" Claire quickly debated the question, not wanting to lie to her boyfriend. Technically, there wasn't anything wrong with her. Having a baby was supposed to be a good thing.

"Of course I would. There's nothing wrong with me, I'm just a bit under the weather," she explained. Jim nodded and pulled the towel covered Claire into his arms.

"So, how about a quickie before we start the day?" He asked with a sly smirk. Claire rolled her eyes and smiled back, but the sudden urge to empty her stomach again arose and she dashed to the bathroom once again.

Tre'gok ducked to the left as Nuhir roundhouse kicked the Klingon. He used his left hand to support his body as he rolled to the side and kicked his Romulan competitor in the side. Nuhir grunted as he went down.

"You're not very focused today, Nuhir. What's on your mind?" Nuhir didn't respond. Instead, he threw his right fist towards Tre'gok who merely ducked under the punch. He sprung backwards onto both of his hands and delivered a kicked upwards into Nuhir's jaw. After a sickening crack, Nuhir finally fell to the ground. Tre'gok rose to his feet and looked down at the Romulan.

"I hrate rim!" Nuhir shouted through his broken jaw. Tre'gok noticed the blood pouring down his friend's face and sighed. No one was really friends on this ship. They all just had a common goal. But Tre'gok liked to think of Nuhir as a friend. They sparred together in their spare time and Nuhir came to him with his anger towards Griffin. Tre'gok watched over time as Riley rejected Nuhir as his right hand man and this strange ex-Starfleet member took his place. Nuhir hated him with all his being and as his friend, so did Tre'gok. But he didn't like accidentally breaking his 'best friend's' jaw.

"Let's go get you cleaned up and we'll write a program on the holo-deck where you can kick his ass over and over again," Tre'gok told him in his best soothing voice. As a Klingon, that really didn't exist. It came out more as a statement of pity, but Tre'gok tried anyway. It's what a real friend would do, right?

"You still haven't told him?" Alex asked in almost a whiny voice as he and Claire made their way to sickbay. Claire turned to glare at him.

"No, I haven't. I'm just waiting for the right time," she snapped. Alex shoved his hands into his pockets as they walked.

"Jesus Christ, if I have to put up with this shit for nine months, I'm going to have to rip that parasite right out of your body…" he mumbled. Claire stopped to turned and beat him, but Liam appeared next to her.

"You've got a parasite? You're sick?" He asked, a curious look on his face. Alex smirked at Claire as she frozen and tried to come up with an answer.

"I… yeah. I'm sick. So, so sick. But I'll be fine," Claire explained nervously. Liam looked from Alex to Claire and back to Alex, who still bore the same smug grin.

"She's pregnant, isn't she?" He asked. Alex nodded as Claire gave a frustrated sigh.

"You're not supposed to tell anyone!" She snapped. Alex shrugged.

"It's not my fault you won't tell Jim or your brother. People are going to find out. Hiding a pregnancy isn't easy. Besides, surely Jim has started to noticed the morning sickness everyday," Alex countered. Liam nodded, but froze.

"Wait, you haven't told Jim or Ryan yet?" Claire rolled her eyes and glared at him.

"Liam, you say anything to anyone, I will personally make sure you never have children for as long as you live," she hissed.

"Then she's going to apologize and try and help put your balls back, because by then the violent mood swing will be over." Claire turned around and Punched Alex's shoulder and glared at him.

"You shut your mouth," she snapped.

"Claire, Alex is right. You need to tell Jim and Ryan. Ryan because he's your brother and you know how he is about family. You definitely need to tell Jim, seeing as he is the father of this child." Liam paused, "He is the father, right?" Claire looked at her best friend offended.

"Of course he is! What, do you think I'm some sort of slut?" she asked.

"No Claire, it was a joke. Though, you have been known to get a little crazy after a few shots of tequila…" Claire rolled her eyes and grabbed a chart.

"I'm going to tell him, I just need to find the right time. I can't just spring this on him at the wrong time," she said softly.

"Well you're running out of time. Alex is right, it's hard to hide a pregnancy, especially with your figure, but it's even harder to hide a baby. I mean, you could try, but even Jim is going to catch on. He's not that stupid," Liam reminded her. Claire slammed her chart down and glared at him.

"Fine, I'm going to tell Ryan, right now," she said confidently.

"Why not tell Jim?" Alex asked.

"He's in a meeting, I'm not about to just interrupt him to tell him I'm… sick," she said, looking around sickbay. She didn't give the boys a chance to answer before she bolted out of the room and left them alone. Liam sighed and picked up her chart.

"I love her, but she's such a dumb blonde sometimes," he muttered. Alex nodded in agreement.

"That sad part is, she's the smartest blonde I know." Liam shrugged.

"Even monkey's fall out of trees."

Ryan pressed his lips together as he looked at the small device in his hands. He had been looking at it for a couple of hours and had yet to figure out what it did. He was about to throw it at the wall when the door to his office opened and Claire walked in.

"Hey, Ryan," she said, forcing a smile on her face.

"Hey, you alright?" Ryan asked, looking back down at the device in his hand and picking up a tool to try and open it.

"Yeah, I'm just great… what are you doing?" she asked. Ryan shrugged and put his tools back down, leaving only the small broken device in his hands.

"I'm trying to see what this is," he confessed. Claire leaned in and raised an eyebrow.

"It looks like it's broken," she told him. He rolled his eyes.

"I know that, I've been trying to fix it, but it's not working." Claire nodded and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, look, I've got to talk to you about something," she said.

"You think if I tried to hook it up to a computer, I could make it turn on?" he asked. Claire paused but shrugged.

"Uh, maybe. Ryan, I need to tell you something and it's kind of import-"

"I should ask Rupert to take a look at it, maybe he can get Scotty to get it to work," he muttered. Claire rolled her eyes and gave a frustrated sigh.

"Ryan, flip the damn on switch!" she hissed. Ryan paused before seeing what she meant.

"Oh, there it is," he muttered, switching it on. After a second the device turned on and a bright light engulfed the room, causing both Ryan and Claire to black out for a minute. Claire fell to the floor as Ryan fell forward on his desk. After a few minutes, Ryan's eyes fluttered open. He blinked a few times, trying to focus on the small fat bolts on the ceiling. Claire woke up seconds later, face down in her own drool.

"What the hell happened?" Claire asked, lifting her head off the desk. Ryan propped himself up on his elbows and gasped at what he saw. He was looking at himself sitting at his desk. He looked down at his own body to see the familiar blue doctor's uniform. Claire turned around in her chair to come face to face with herself.

"Claire?" Ryan asked hesitantly, noting the higher pitch of his voice. Claire nodded, completely in awe of the situation. She looked down and realized that she was dressed in the security uniform.

"What the hell happened to us?" She asked breathlessly, standing up and touching her now bare chest. Ryan watched her actions as she assessed the situation. Claire looked down at her brother who was still in her body and glared.

"Don't sit like that! You're in a skirt," Claire snapped, her voice low and almost sounded like a growl. Ryan returned her glare.

"Fine, then don't stand like that with your hand on your hip. It makes me seem like a girl," he countered. Claire scoffed.

"I am a girl, genius," she pointed out. Ryan folded his arms, realizing how thin Claire's arms really were.

"You're a girl in a man's body. My body. So therefore, you'll stand like a man," he commanded. Claire rolled her eyes.

"Then close your legs," she ordered. He stood up and looked down at her/his body. It was definitely not something he was used to. After a minute he looked up at her.

"Why am I nauseous?" he asked. Claire froze and ran a hand through her/Ryan's hair. She scrunched her nose when she realized how short it was and sighed.

"I don't know, Ryan you have to fix this. We need to tell someone," she told him.

"Oh yeah, let's just tell people that we switched bodies, that'll go over great." Claire gave a frustrated groan and paced a little, her hands on her hips. It was weird being in a mans body, especially since her brother's build was significantly different than hers. While he was tall and buff, she was on the short side and had very little muscle on her. The only muscle she accumulated was leg muscle from running in the gym with Anna when they could. It seemed as though Ryan worked out every free moment.

"Ryan, we can't just stay like this. I have patients, and McCoy is going to figure something is off when you aren't treating them," she pointed out.

"We just have to act like each other for a day, two tops. I'll fix the device and we'll be back to normal." Claire frowned and pressed her lips together and crossed her arms over her chest.

"This is not good. Shit…" Before Ryan could offer a word of comfort for his sister, a beeping echoed through his office.

"Sickbay to Doctor Conaway, you are needed in sickbay." Claire was about to answer but stopped and looked at her brother, who was looking at her confused. She gave him a look and he suddenly got a look of realization.

"Oh, um, I'll be right there," Ryan answered. He scrunched his nose at the sound of his new high pitched voice and shook his head.

"Here, take this and fix it. Just tell Alex that uh… you're not feeling well and need to go lay down. If he asks why just tell him the uh… thing is bothering you. He'll know what you mean," she told him. Before Ryan could ask anymore questions, the door opened and Rupert walked in.

"Oh, hey Claire. They just called you down to sickbay not too long ago," he said. Ryan gawked at the fact that he now had to look up to talk to his best friend, but nodded.

"Yeah, I'm leaving." Rupert raised an eyebrow as 'Claire' left, and turned toward Ryan.

"She alright?" he asked. 'Ryan' shrugged.

"No clue, you know women…" Claire gave an awkward chuckle and hoped she was convincing.

"Hmm, well, a few of the guys down in engineering are going out tonight to drink, you want to go with?" he asked. Claire's first reaction was to say yes, then stopped.

"Uh, I'm… well, um… I'm spending the night with… Anna?" Rupert furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged.

"Whatever mate…" at that, he left, leaving Claire alone.

"Ugh, this is gonna suck."

Ryan walked into sickbay, trying his hard not to stumble on his own two feet. He had no idea how Claire, or Anna for that matter, did their job in heels. He didn't ponder it further as he walked up to the medical station.

"Hey, there you are. Did you tell Ryan?" Liam asked. Ryan furrowed his eyebrows, Claire went to tell him something? Did she? He couldn't remember.

"Uh…" Alex scoffed and shook his head.

"Of course she didn't. She's chicken-shit. If she won't tell Jim what makes you think she'd tell Ryan?" Alex muttered. Liam shot him a look and turned back to 'Claire.'

"You need to tell either one of them. McCoy is getting on your case about it." Ryan couldn't take any more of it, it was like they were speaking in riddles and he needed to figure out the missing piece.

"Tell him what?" Ryan asked. Both Liam and Alex stopped to look at him.

"You know… about the… parasite?" Liam said. Ryan's eyes went wide.

"Parasite?" Alex furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"You know, the baby. Jesus, did you hit your head and forget you were pregnant?" Alex asked. The words hit Ryan like a brick wall, and he suddenly felt extremely sick.

"I'm going to throw up," he said, running to the bathroom. Alex rolled his eyes.

"Morning sickness…" he mumbled. McCoy walked into sickbay, scanning the room for someone.

"Where is Conaway?" He asked. Liam pointed towards the bathroom.

"She's vomiting again," he told him. McCoy sighed and ran a hand over his stubbly face.

"Alright, when she gets out of the bathroom, send her back to her room. I don't want her working if all she's doing is puking," McCoy told them. They nodded as their boss left them alone.

"Claire's kind of acting weird, don't you think?" Liam asked. Alex shrugged.

"I don't pretend to understand pregnant women," he replied. Liam nodded and they returned back to work.

"Hey babe," Claire looked up from Ryan's device to see Anna standing in the doorway with a lustful look in her eyes. Claire swallowed, remembering the last time a girl gave her that look. Melissa. Ugh.

"H-Hey Anna," she replied, trying to remain calm.

"What are you up to?" she asked. Claire gave a small awkward cough and shifted in her seat a little.

"Uh… work. You know how it is," Claire replied. Anna nodded and walked so she was sitting on Ryan's desk, facing Claire.

"How about I take your mind off that work?" Anna asked, a wicked smirk on her face. Claire resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she saw Anna 'discreetly' lift her skirt a little. It was one of the oldest tricks in the books, and she wasn't falling for it.

"You know, I'm alright babe," She flinched at calling Anna 'babe' but continued on. "I have a lot to do and I want to get it done," she told her. Anna moved so she was straddling 'Ryan's' lap, and Claire had to fight the urge to push her off.

"Come on, one quickie. It'll take some stress away," she said, leaning in to kiss Claire.

"Anna, this is my office, come on now," Claire said, hoping that would make her stop.

"You never had a problem with it before," Anna whispered, pressing her lips onto 'Ryan's'. Claire immediately froze and had to try not to scrunch her nose. She went to shove Anna off, and almost knocked her into the table, forgetting how strong she now was. Anna looked back at her wide eyed.

"Anna, I'm sorry. I just… I'm a little stressed and just not in the mood," she told her. Anna pouted but stood up.

"Yeah, I should probably get back to work," she said. Claire immediately recognized the dejected tone in her voice. She had used it plenty of times with Jim.

"Anna, I'll make it up to you, I just… can't right now." Anna rolled her eyes but smiled.

"I'll see you tonight," she said. She gave Claire a quick kiss on the lips before leaving the office. Claire gave a frustrated sigh and practically slammed her head on the desk. She felt horrible about rejecting her, but there was no way in hell she was about to have sex with her. The situation was awkward enough. Claire looked over at the device and glared at it.

"I hate you."

Ryan returned from the bathroom a half hour later. The truth had been revealed and as Ryan looked into the mirror, he noticed the slightly bloated stomach that Claire had been hiding from them. It still completely blew his mind that she'd been keeping this from him, but they had more important things going on right now.

"Hey, how're you feeling now?" Liam asked as Ryan entered sickbay again.

"A bit better now, thanks," Ryan admitted. Liam nodded as Alex strolled into the room.

"McCoy gave you the rest of the day off. It's a good time to go tell Jim and Ryan what's going on in your female bits," he suggested. Liam turned to glare at Alex.

"I didn't think you could make it sound any weirder, but you've proven me wrong once again," he snapped in a playful tone. Alex shrugged.

"Go on Claire, get outta here," he ordered. Ryan nodded.

"Alright, I'll go see Cl- uh, my brother. Later," he said before practically storming out of sickbay. He entered the lift and practically slammed the button into the control panel. He need to fix this so he could yell at his sister properly. It didn't feel the same if he was in her body, and nauseous. God, if this was how she was feeling all the time he was a little sorry for her. He doors opened and he walked straight into his office, where he saw Claire fumbling with the small device.

"If this is what Riley and Griffin were trying to build, they were wasting their time. This thing is a piece of crap," she muttered. Ryan just locked the door and sat across from her, grabbing the device and beginning to mess with it. One good thing about being Claire, her surgical fingers came in handy when handling something so small. Claire pressed her lips together as she saw the annoyed face on, well, her face.

"Um… are you alright? You seem a little… mad," she commented.

"I am a little mad," he confessed. She racked her brain trying to figure out why he would be mad, but was coming up short.

"Well… um, you want to talk about it?" she asked. Ryan just glared at the device in his hand as he grabbed a screw driver.

"You want to tell me why you didn't tell me you were pregnant?" he asked. Claire gave a heavy sigh and buried her face in her hands. She took a deep breath and looked up at him.

"Look, I tried to tell you, but… it's not an easy thing to tell," she told him.

"How hard is it to tell? 'Hey, I'm pregnant.' How difficult is that?" he snapped. Claire scrunched her nose, hearing how her voice got a little higher in pitch when she was angry.

"Look, I just… it's hard. I know how bad you want a family and I guess… I felt a little guilty," she admitted. Ryan looked up from the device and looked at her.

"Guilty? Why would you feel guilty?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Because you tried so hard to make a family work, and it just kind of happened with me. To be quite honest, I wasn't in a rush to have a kid, and then I get pregnant. I mean, Jim doesn't even know, and I'm almost afraid to see his reaction," she said. Ryan pressed his lips together and took a deep breath.

"Are you… keeping it?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yes. Even if Jim doesn't want it, I'm not going to make it suffer just because things… happened." Ryan nodded and began to fix the device again.

"Well, if Jim doesn't want it, I'll make sure it's taken care of. I'll help you," he told her. Claire smiled and felt a tear slip from her eye.

"Thanks Ryan," she said. Ryan looked up and saw the tear and began to cry himself.

"Jesus, you're making me cry. Stupid hormones…" Claire chuckled and passed him a tissue.

"So, can you fix it by tonight?" she asked. He looked down at it and sighed.

"I was really hoping that I could just flip the on switch to off, but it appears as if the switch is missing. So no, probably not. I need to tinker with it for awhile. So tonight, we're just going to have to put up with this chaos," Ryan said as he played with the small machine. He was so used to his rough callused hands instead of Claire's small soft hands. Claire sighed.

"Which means Anna is going to want some loving from you tonight. And Jim's probably going to be in a frisky mood. Are you happy with what you've done?" She snapped. Ryan looked up at Claire shocked.

"What are we going to do?" Claire shrugged.

"I don't know… either you sleep with Anna as a girl or you pretend to be me and sleep with my boyfriend," she suggested. Ryan's face lit up.

"Girl on girl?" He asked, but Claire shook her head.

"No. You know what, you don't have a choice," she said, quickly covering her butt. She did not want to sleep with Jim as a man. It was just too weird. Though sleeping with Anna didn't sound any better. It was either her being a lesbian and Ryan being gay or Jim being gay and Anna being a lesbian. Claire felt a headache coming on as she placed her face in her hands.

"You're no fun, you know that? Besides, I'm not going to sleep with Jim. The only penis I ever need to see is my own," Ryan stated. Claire sighed.

"Yeah, well you've lost that privilege the moment you switched us," she snapped, her frustration taking over. She could practically feel her blood boil and remembered Ryan's anger issues. He'd been in control of them for awhile now, but it wasn't him controlling it now. It was her.

"Stop blaming me! I didn't know what was going to happen!" Ryan cried out in Claire's body, tears rolling down her face again. Claire sighed and patted Ryan on the shoulder, watching him sob.

"Alright, calm down." he groaned and wiped his face. He wanted his body back just as much as Claire wanted hers back. However, that didn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

"God, is this the pregnancy? I don't remember you being this moody," he commented. Claire rolled her eyes.

"Yes, it's like being on permanent PMS for nine months, probably more. Just be thankful you only get a couple days of it," she said. Ryan sighed and stood up.

"We need to get to dinner… then… yeah," he said. Claire sighed and nodded.

"It's going to be fine… we just have to convince everyone that nothing is wrong… we can do that," she said. Ryan nodded and ran a hand through his/Claire's hair.

"Yeah… it's worth a shot."

"Oh my god, my body actually finds that appealing?" Claire said, looking at the food of choice her brother chose. He had a steak that was smothered in ketchup and mustard on a bun with sharp cheese. She wasn't even going to look at the fries covered in chili, something which she always found disgusting despite the fact that all her friends liked them. She knew the minute she got her body back, she would have to spend a few hours at the gym running that off.

"Yeah, but it's so good. I can't wait to try the pudding cake," he said. Claire rolled her eyes. The things that came out of the generator boggled her mind.

"Hey guys. Claire, what are you eating? Anna asked. 'Claire' looked up from her streak sandwich and shrugged.

"It's good, you want some?" Anna shook her head and moved a little closer to 'Ryan' who just stared down at his burger.

"Hey, glad to see you're feeling better," Liam said, sitting next to Claire.

"Oh… yeah. I'm feeling much better," Ryan said, placing a hand on his stomach. It was still really weird to know that a human was growing inside his body, but knowing that the body he was in wasn't even his. It was kind of mind-boggling. He wasn't looking forward to the moment when he had to use the restroom.

"Aw, are you not feeling good?" Anna asked, placing a hand on 'Claire's' forehead. Ryan leaned into the touching, wanting nothing more than to curl up in his girlfriend's arms. He was tired and this whole charade was not making things better.

"It's just the pains that come along with being pregnant," Ryan explained, having no qualms against revealing Claire's secret. Claire stopped mid-bit of her burger and turned to glare at her brother in her body.

"Really? Ryan, did you know? Why didn't you tell me?" Anna asked, taking Claire's hand within her own. Claire forced herself not to flinch at the action, but forced a smile upon her brother's face. She wasn't really into the whole touchy feely thing with Anna, but she wasn't going to ruin this for her brother. She just reminded herself of the things he would be sacrificing for her and Jim later. Whether he wanted to or not.

"I was processing it all afternoon. You happened to come in right after she told me," Claire lied, trying to save her brother's ass. Even if he did just reveal her secret. She had no problem telling Anna, but she really wanted to tell Jim before anyone else.

"Did you know she hasn't told Jim yet?" Liam pointed out, taking a bit out of his salad. Anna felt her eyes get wide as she stared at Claire.

"You haven't told Jim yet? Your boyfriend? The father?" Anna asked, completely appalled. Ryan shrugged. He didn't agree with it, but it was Claire's problem and not his.

"I just haven't found the right time yet," he lied, trying to cover up for his sister while digging into his meal again. The conversation ended as everyone tried to avoid looking at the monstrous meal on 'Claire's' plate.

"Haven't found the right time? Jesus woman… you need to tell him!"

"I know!" Claire hissed, though it came from Ryan's lips. The table stopped and glanced over at Ryan, who was blushing like crazy.

"Babe… you alright?" Anna asked. Claire nodded her head, trying to figure out a way to cover herself.

"Yeah, I mean like, I know, she needs to tell him!" Ryan resisted the urge to laugh by stuffing some food into his mouth.

"Wow… you're really pregnant?" Anna asked. Ryan nodded his head, but kept his gaze down at his food.

"Yup…" Claire looked at her brother, watching as he tried to reply to that question. Maybe everyone else had expected it to happen, but Ryan had no clue. Or he at least pretended that he had no clue.

"So, let's get off the topic about Claire being pregnant, I'm sure there are other things we as adults can discuss." Both the Conaway kids were very thankful for Alex's interjection, and gave him an appreciative smile before turning to their meal.

Claire flopped down on the bed as she ran a hand through her brother's hair. She knew Anna would be coming in soon, and she was not looking forward to it. If Ryan was right, Anna would be wanting Sex, and Claire was not about to satisfy her. Ryan's body or not, it was not happening. She was already mortified enough when she was forced to take a shower. She knew she would never be able to look at her brother the same way ever again. The door opened and Claire quickly slipped under the covers, trying to pretend she was asleep. Anna simply slipped into bed and draped and arm around her waist.

"Ryan, come on baby, you can't be asleep already?" she whispered in her ear. Claire tried not to barf as she felt Anna's lips on her neck.

"Anna, it's been a long day. Maybe tomorrow," Claire said, trying to make Ryan's voice as tired as possible. Anna continued to kiss her neck as he hand wandered farther down than her waist.

"Maybe right now," she said. Claire grabbed her hand.

"Anna, I'm tired… please, can we just sleep?" Claire asked. Anna frowned and sat up.

"What's wrong? Are you mad at me or something?" she asked. Claire sat up, looking down at her friend.

"No, no… I'm just… tired, stressed, and a whole bunch of other stuff that would make me not want to have sex," Claire said. Anna furrowed her eyebrows.

"Did that make sense in your mind?" Anna asked. Claire paused and shook her head.

"No… I guess not. Look, I really am just tired," she said softly. Anna paused before letting a smirk break out on her face.

"I know what can get you pumped." Before Claire could reply, Anna lunged forward and kissed her heatedly. Claire froze and put her hands on Anna's shoulder. Anna took it as a different sign and let one hand drop into Claire's crotch and gripped her, or really Ryan's, junk. This caused Claire to push herself away and fall off the bed.

"I can't do this, I'm sorry! This is not happening," Claire said, standing up and walking away.

"Ryan, what the hell is going on?" Anna asked. Claire gave a frustrated groan.

"I can't do this anymore. I'm not Ryan," she said. Anna froze and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I know this is hard to believe, but I'm Claire. Ryan was messing with this doohickey and switched our bodies. So now I'm stuck being him and he's stuck being me." Anna was silent for a moment before standing up and shaking her head.

"You know Ryan, I don't know why you are doing this, but it's not funny."

"I'm not joking… I really am Claire!"

"Really, prove it!" Anna demanded.

"Alright, I told you where Jim's birth mark is the other day." Anna rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, and every other whore in the galaxy knows where it is too." Claire flinched at the thought.

"Harsh, Anna…" Claire muttered. Anna just raised an eyebrow.

"Well?" Claire gave a heavy sigh and walked up to her, looking down at the Latino woman.

"When you were fifteen, you walked in on your brother having his first time with-"

"OH MY GOD!" Anna squealed.

"I told you," Claire said. Anna looked at her wide eyed.

"I have only told Claire that I found Esteban with Hector… together," Anna whispered. Claire shook her head.

"I can't believe you dated a guy named Hector." A silence fell over them as Anna looked at what she thought to be her boyfriend, but a closer look into his eyes she could see that it was not, in fact, her boyfriend, but one of her best friends instead.

"Dios mío, Claire?" Anna breathed. Claire nodded and watched as her best friend passed out. She was only thankful she fell forward onto the bed.

"Well… that was awkward…"

Ryan bit his lip as he sat helplessly on Claire and Jim's bed. Jim had sent a message ahead that he was running a bit late, but he'd make it up to her later. Ryan cringed at the thought of Jim making it up to his sister/him. Ryan sighed and let his head drop to his chest, causing Claire's blonde hair to fall and frame his face. Ryan had spent an hour in the shower, trying to complete the task with his eyes closed. Just touching her body made him want to vomit profusely. It was just wrong on so many levels.

"Claire? You in here, baby?" Jim asked, entering the room and stripping his shirt off after a long day at work. He missed her, not even getting the chance to see her at dinner. Ryan looked up to see the shirtless Jim and felt his stomach lurch. This was not going to be a fun night.

"Hey Jim," Ryan said nervously, his voice getting higher from his panicked state. Jim smirked as he kicked his boots off.

"You waiting for me?" He asked as he crossed the room and planted a gentle kiss on his girlfriend. Ryan moved at the last second, his kiss landing on her cheek. Jim didn't say anything at the strange action, knowing how moody Claire was acting lately. She probably just didn't want to get him sick.

"So… how was your day?" Ryan asked, trying to move the conversation along in a non-sexual way. Jim shrugged as he undid his belt and began to remove his pants, much to Ryan's dismay.

"It was fine. There was a small radioactive wave onboard the ship earlier today, but everything seemed fine. How was your day? Bones told me he gave you the day off," Jim asked, standing before Ryan in nothing more than his black boxer briefs. Ryan fought the urge to barf as he noticed the bulge in Jim's underwear, hoping to not to see more than he was seeing now.

"I was feeling kind of sick earlier, but I'm feeling much better now. I figured one more day to rest and recover wouldn't hurt though, since I don't want to get any patients sick," Ryan said, trying to make a good excuse. Truth was, he needed as much time to play with the stupid device that caused this situation. Jim nodded as he joined his girlfriend in bed, wrapping his arms around her. Ryan froze at the touch, but forced his body to relax. He promised Claire two things; one, he was not going to tell Jim about the baby. And two, he wouldn't drive Jim away. However, his promise seemed harder and harder to keep by the minute.

"Good. I'm kind of tired tonight…" Jim started, "so why don't we just make it a quick one tonight?" Ryan forced himself not to scream out in fear as Jim's hand traveled up his loose fitting t-shirt. Just before Jim's hand could caress Claire's breast, Ryan practically jumped out of Jim's grip and fell to the floor.

"I can't do this!" Ryan cried out, crawling across the floor until he reached the wall. Jim looked over the bed to see 'Claire' huddled in the fetal position in the corner of the room.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Ryan couldn't help as the tears began to flow down his face. Being in a pregnant woman's body really sucked. Jim rose from the bed and tried to go to her side, but Ryan kept him at arms length.

"Jim, I'm not Claire. I'm Ryan!" He cried out, still sobbing uncontrollably. Jim froze and stopped.

"Claire, how sick are you?" He asked, completely shocked by her words. Ryan forced the tears to stop long enough for him to look into Jim's eyes.

"That machine the trader gave us! I was tinkering with it and it switched me and Claire. She came to talk to me about something when I finished it and we switched. That was the radioactive wave from earlier," Ryan tried to explain while calming himself down. Jim blinked, unsure of what to say.

"Ryan, how do I really know it's you?" He asked. Ryan sighed.

"I hate you," he stated. Jim scoffed.

"Everyone knows that," he reminded Ryan. Ryan sighed and thought hard.

"When we were sharing a tent on our away mission, you and I had that long and heartfelt conversation after getting attacked," Ryan said, trying to think of something that only they knew about it. Jim pondered it for a moment, but shook his head.

"You could have told Claire that before," he pointed out. Getting frustrated, Ryan used all his might and punched Jim in the face, knocking him backwards. Jim rolled onto his butt, holding his face in pain.

"Alright, alright. I believe you!" He snapped. Ryan nodded happily, mainly because he got to punch Jim in the face. He'd been wanting to do that since Jim and Claire had gotten back together.

"Hey… wake up!"" Anna flinched as she felt something lightly tap the side of her face. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Ryan looking down at her, though she knew it was definitely not Ryan.

"Oh my god!" Anna shouted, jolting up and going on the other side of the room.

"Okay, no need to go postal and my ass. I'm not going to kill you or anything," Claire said, crossing her arms. Anna just watched as Ryan's body stood in front of her. Now that she knew the truth, she could see he was telling he truth just by the way he was standing.

"Claire, how the hell do we fix this?" Anna asked. Claire shrugged and sat on a chair.

"Beats the hell out of me. Ryan said he would fix the device that changed us tomorrow morning, I don't know how well that's going to work out though…" Anna raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" She asked.

"Well, with the morning sickness I've been having, he's going to be in the bathroom for at least an hour and a half on and off." Anna covered her face with her hands.

"Oh my god, my boyfriend is a girl!" she cried. Claire just patted her back.

"Anna, just breathe. Tomorrow things will be much better, once Ryan fixes this. Just breathe." Anna took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"I'm okay. I just can't believe this… it does explain a lot though." Claire nodded.

"Yeah, I hope Ryan's doing better than I am," she muttered. Anna looked up at her confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Claire blushed and ran a hand through Ryan's short hair.

"Well… we didn't want you or Jim to worry, so we promised each other we wouldn't give either of you guys a reason to doubt us, by any means necessary. I couldn't go through with it," Claire confessed. Anna thought it over before her eyes went wide.

"You mean… you guys were going to have sex with Jim and I just to keep up the ruse?" she asked.

"We were supposed to. I don't know if Ryan did, I didn't. No offense, but the thought of having sex was just-"

"Fucking nasty," Anna answered. Claire nodded.

"Yeah, but I have no idea how Ryan faired. Between Jim's persistence and my pregnancy hormones…" Anna cringed.

"God, I hope not. You think he did?" Claire shrugged.

"We'll find out tomorrow…"

Claire entered her room and glanced around. She knew that Jim had reported to work, but Ryan hadn't, leaving a very pissed McCoy to rant a rave. Claire looked around the living room and saw Jim's shirt laying on the floor. She absentmindedly picked it up and frowned when she saw His pants not too far from the shirt. Before she could say anything else, she heard the sound of vomiting coming from the bathroom.

"Ryan?" she asked. The door opened and she saw her own body bent in front of the toilet. She sighed and dropped the clothing in her hand to pull back her hair from her brother's face. After a few more minutes, Ryan stood up and washed his face.

"Better?" Claire asked. Ryan shook his head.

"You've been feeling like this every morning for the past two months?" he asked. She nodded and helped him clean himself off.

"Yup, fun stuff right?" she asked. He shook his head and sat down on a chair not far from the bed.

"Ugh… this sucks." Claire nodded and looked around.

"How was last night?" she asked. Ryan was silent before he spoke.

"I punched Kirk in the face," he admitted. Claire raised her eyebrows and let her jaw dropped.

"What kind of sex did you two have?"

"We didn't have sex. I told him I wasn't you, he didn't believe me, so I punched him in the face. It felt fantastic, if you wanted to know." A wave of nausea passed over him and he leaned over. "Jesus, I feel worse than I did last night," he muttered.

"Last night? I never get nauseas at night…" Claire muttered.

"I don't know. I punched Kirk, and felt great for about a minute, then threw up my dinner and then some for the rest of the night." Claire smirked.

"Must be the baby, it knows you hurt it's daddy and is mad at you," she told him. Ryan looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell are you smoking? What happened to a baby being a parasite?" he asked.

"It still is, you just pissed it off." Ryan rolled his eyes and took a few deep breaths. He had to concentrate in order to fix the device.

Ryan sighed for what felt like the million time and slammed his screwdriver down on the table. He didn't like Claire's body, her hands were soft and delicate. The complete opposite of his own. He'd spent all day on the device, slaving over it. Just trying to understand how it worked and how to reverse it. He'd moved his base of operation to his office where he could instruct Claire on how to do his job. Claire wasn't too thrilled of being the chief security officer, but she followed Ryan's orders and did what she could. So far, their day had been uneventful.

"Do you find it odd that neither Anna nor Jim has been in to visit us?" Claire asked as Ryan cursed. The device sparked, but nothing happened.

"No, not really. It really sucks for us, but it's hard for them. I don't blame either one of them," Ryan replied without looking up. He grabbed another tool off the table as Anna knocked on the door.

"It's just me, you guys," she called through the door. Claire nodded.

"Come on in then," she instructed. Anna entered the room with a grim smile as she looked at the Conaway siblings.

"This is really weird…" she stated, gesturing to them. Claire returned her grim smile and nodded.

"Tell me about it. Having your brother toilet train you isn't too fun," she mumbled. Ryan chuckled.

"That was actually kind of funny," he stated. Anna rolled her eyes.

"So how much longer until I can cuddle with my boyfriend in his own body again?" She asked. Ryan looked up at her before turning to look at Claire and then back at Anna.

"I don't know… I think I might be onto something, but I might need another day," he explained. Claire sighed.

"No offense Anna, but I'm not looking forward to another awkward night with you," Claire told her. Anna held up her hand.

"You don't need to explain, I know exactly what you're talking about. Ryan, maybe you can just spend the night with me in Claire's body and vice versa. I'm sure Jim wouldn't have a problem with that," Anna suggested.

"Have a problem with what?" A voice from the doorway said. Jim stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets looking nervously from Claire to Ryan, still mildly confused with the situation at hand. Claire stood up, momentarily forgetting she was in her brother's body. Without thinking, she ran up to Jim and embraced him. Jim froze at the touch, seeing nothing, but Ryan. However, he knew it was Claire. Awkwardly, he hugged back. The height difference between the two was less apparent seeing as Ryan was just a little bit taller than Jim. But Claire didn't care. She missed Jim and the whole situation just made her want to cuddle up with her boyfriend.

"That looks totally gay," Anna giggled. Everyone in the room turned to glare at her, including Ryan. He didn't really appreciate looking at himself getting all touchy-feely with Jim, but he had no choice. It merely fueled his motivation to change him back. He missed just standing up to pee.

"And now you and Ryan look like a lesbian couple, so shut the hell up!" Claire countered. Jim shrugged.

"It feels kind of gay…" he admitted. Claire went to lightly smack him on the arm, but forgot the strength she now possessed as Ryan. Jim stumbled back at the force of the slap. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Sorry, I forget how strong Ryan is sometimes," she admitted. Ryan smiled confidently at her words.

"Well thank you," he replied. Anna furrowed her eyebrows.

"Please don't smile like that again. It looks okay on you, but when you do that in Claire's body it kind of makes you look constipated," Anna told him. Ryan's smile immediately disappeared as everyone in the room burst out laughing.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here?" Rupert asked as he entered the room. He saw Anna leaning against the wall near Claire who was tinkering with some device near Ryan's desk while Ryan and Jim were hugging by the door.

"Uh…" But no one had anything to say to respond to it. Claire was the first to speak.

"We're having a heart to heart," she said. Ryan scrunched his nose, hearing the words come out of his mouth.

"Um… you know what, this can wait," Rupert muttered. Before anyone could reply, he left the room and left the group laughing.

"Poor guy, probably is scared for life." Anna muttered. Claire nodded and looked over at her brother.

"Oh for the love of God, Ryan Tyler Conaway, close your legs! I have a clear view of your panties! When did I get those…" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Ryan blushed and crossed his legs.

"Sorry, they were the only ones left. Why do you have a bright red and black lace thong?" Anna shook her head.

"It's a woman thing." Claire looked over at Jim and saw a smile fall from his face when Ryan crossed his legs.

"Ewww! You had a clear view of the thong and said nothing?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but it's right in front of me! It's not like I'm cheating on my girlfriend! It's her thong!" Jim defended. Claire rolled her eyes and her brother shot him a nasty glare.

"That is nasty, my brother is in my body!" Jim gave a frustrated sigh and rubbed the back of his head.

"It still looks like you!" he muttered. Claire ran a hand through her hair and groaned.

"Ryan, you need to fix this like, yesterday…"

"I know Claire, I'm doing the best I can. If you hadn't thrown it at the wall it might not have been this bad." Claire pressed her lips together and crossed her arms. The moment it happened, both Jim and Anna scrunched their faces.

"Claire, stop making me look like a chick!" Ryan snapped.

"Then close your God damn legs! You are making me look like a whore!" Jim shook his head.

"I can't take this, I need to go back to work." Claire sighed and kissed his cheek out of habit, causing Jim to flinch and wipe the kiss off his cheek.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Claire snapped, walking away from him and throwing a glass against the wall. Jim sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry…" Anna rolled her eyes.

"Just so you know, Claire is spending the night with you… and I mean like… Claire in Ryan's body Claire…" Jim turned pale.

"I don't know what's worse… Spending the night with Ryan in Claire's body, or Claire in Ryan's body. Either way I feel wrong…" Anna sighed and nodded.

"Well unless we spend the night together, I don't see another option, this will be less awkward."

"NO! You are not spending the night with him!" Ryan snapped. Claire looked over and shook her head, while Jim just raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry. I'm not spending the night with your girlfriend, and even if I was nothing would happen. Sorry, but I have a thing for a particular blonde…" Claire smiled, though dropped it when she realized she probably looked really stupid smiling like that in Ryan's body.

"Whatever…" Jim rolled his eyes.

"I need to go. Just… try and get that fixed as soon as possible." Ryan nodded and watched as he left.

"Jackass," he muttered when he left.

"Ryan, shut up and fix the damn device."

Claire laid down on her and Jim's couch, Rocky laying on her legs, and her hand over her head. Jim was currently in the shower and refused to even have her in the bedroom while he took it. She didn't blame him, but she hoped that things could be fixed soon. She was tired of being so distant with him. She was glad she was in Ryan's body, but was a little worried what was going on with her body. Not only were her hormones going crazy, but because she was so early in her pregnancy, she was incredibly horny. That was probably the main reason for her and Jim's long nights the past couple of months.

"Uh… Claire?" a voice asked. Claire looked up to see Jim looking at her funny.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Do you uh… need a pillow or something?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No, I need this to be over. This fucking sucks…" Jim nodded and sat on a chair not too far from the couch.

"Once your brother fixes this, it won't be so bad." Claire sighed and pressed her lips together. She would rather have her body back and be pregnant then be like this. It was horrible.

"God I hope so… god only knows what's going on while he's in my body." Jim paused before raising an eyebrow.

"You think they're doing some girl on girl action?" he asked. Claire grabbed a pillow and chucked it at him, hitting him harder than she meant.

"You are such a pig." Jim laughed and shook his head.

"I would say I love you, but I feel weird saying it to your brothers body. So I'll just say I love Claire Conaway." Claire smiled.

"I'm sure she loves you too."

Anna smiled as she saw Ryan examining Claire's clothes.

"You don't think she'll mind if I just dress in my normal clothes, do you?" He asked, picking up a pair of his boxers and basketball shorts.

"She's probably already prancing around in a skirt or something," Anna said with a grin, watching Ryan strip down.

"I hate this body…" Ryan mumbled, sliding his boxers on. Anna nodded as she turned away.

"Ryan, perhaps you can finish changing in the bathroom. It's really weird to watch your sister change," Anna reminded him. Ryan nodded, but his face fell.

"But it's me, not her," he mumbled, gathering up the rest of his clothes. Anna bit the inside of her lip. She knew it was hard for him, to be Claire, but it was hard for Anna too.

"Well it looks like her and I'm not a lesbian," she told him as he entered the bathroom. He said nothing and he closed the door. Anna waited a few minutes, not hearing anything. When a few minutes turned into ten minutes, she began to worry. Fifteen minutes after Ryan had entered the bathroom, Anna rose from her seat and crossed the room to the bathroom. Once she was close enough to it, she could her sobbing coming from inside. "Ryan?"

"Go away!" A high pitched feminine voice cried out. Anna sighed and leaned against the door, feeling her heart break into two pieces. Anna had been pushing him away because he was in his sister's body and it wasn't right. The hormones of the pregnancy probably weren't helping either.

"Come on, babe. Please let me in…" the door refused to open and Anna gave a long sigh. She pressed her head against the door and frowned.

"Ryan, I'm sorry. I know this is hard, I know… I'm sorry." The door unlocked and she walked in, seeing her boyfriend sitting against the tub with his knees pulled against his chest. Anna sat down next to him and placed her head on his shoulder, instantly missing how his shoulder was no longer strong and sturdy.

"I can't take this. All these damn hormones. You have no idea how hard it is, to be either extremely sad, or extremely mad, or even extremely horny! I want my body back!" Ryan cried. Anna pulled him closer and let him rest his head on her shoulder.

"Just breathe, you'll fix this. I know you will. It's going to be hard, but things will be better than ever and you won't have to worry about it." Ryan calmed his breathing down as Anna smoothed over his hair.

"I love you," he whispered. Anna frowned.

"I know, but it feels weird coming from your sister," she confessed. He gave a small sigh and raised his head to her neck, taking a small breath.

"You smell amazing," he told her. Anna frowned further but didn't say anything. She knew he was stressed enough as it was, and her pushing him away would just make things worse. She just continued to run his hand over his back and let her mind drift. She knew she was in love with him, even now when he was in Claire's body, she loved him. After another minute she felt him move closer to her and she had to force herself not to push him away. She knew it was just him trying to be closer to her.

"Ryan… you can fix this thing… right?" she asked. He paused before answering.

"I'm pretty sure… it's just going to take some time… I'm close though," he replied, moving his head a little bit closer to her neck absentmindedly. Anna sighed. It was still her boyfriend, no matter what. So what if it was weird for her? It was nothing compared to what he was going through.

"Listen Ryan, I won't lie. This is really weird. However, I know that you really need this so for tonight only, I'll do anything you need me to," Anna told him, not completely sure if she meant what she said one hundred percent. But it seemed to lighten Ryan's spirits which made her feel a bit better too.

"All the way?" Anna sighed.

"I'd really prefer not, but if you really want to…" Ryan scrunched his face at Anna's words and pulled away.

"You don't care about me at all!" He cried out as he rose to his feet. Anna watched in shock as he exited the bathroom and headed back into the bedroom. Anna rose to her feet as well and followed him into the other room. When she entered the bedroom again, she saw Ryan curled up on the bed, not leaving any space for his partner.

"Ryan, I do care about you, it's just-"

"I really need you to not sleep in bed with me tonight. That's all I ask," Ryan demanded, his back turned to her and his voice quivering as tears threatened to fall. Anna wanted to fight back, to try to knock some sense into her boyfriend, but she knew it was useless.

"Okay Ryan, if that's what you want," she said hopelessly, heading for the couch.

"I really need to fix this. I can't do it anymore!" Ryan said, sitting in his office and continually messing with the device. Claire sat in the back of the room twirling around in the chair, trying her hardest not to die of boredom.

"I'll say, who the hell dressed you? You look like a gender confused girl!" Claire said, looking at his way too baggy jeans and his six sizes too big tee shirt.

"Blame it on the pregnancy," he said. Claire rolled her eyes and watched as she saw her brother continue to mess with the small little toy looking thing.

"If this is what Riley and Griffin are trying to make, what do you think they would use it for?" she asked. Ryan paused to think it over.

"I have no idea… maybe to like… impersonate someone. Switch bodies and try and take over the ship." Claire thought it over for a moment before she shrugged.

"I don't think they are that smart," she confessed. Ryan shrugged.

"Well, maybe one of his lackey's are. Like… that Klingon, or that Romulan…"

"Nuhir…" Claire said softly, or as softly as Ryan's voice could get. Ryan looked over at his sister before frowning, not sure what he was going to say to her. Instead he turned back to the device. Claire looked down at the desk and waited for him to fix the trinket.

"I think I almost got it. I just need a few more minutes. Then I won't have to be pregnant anymore," Ryan muttered.

"No, then I'll have to be pregnant…" Claire muttered.

"When are you going to tell Jim?" Ryan asked. Claire rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together.

"When you guys stop bugging me about it and let me tell him when I want." Before Ryan could say anything, the device began to beep and both siblings looked at it.

"Did I fix it?" He asked looking down at the table. Claire could still see her body and rolled her eyes.

"I don't know, you tell me? Are you back in your own body?" She snapped. Ryan looked down and then back up at Claire who was glaring down at him.

"No…"

"Then no, you didn't fix it," she snapped. Ryan sighed and he leaned back in his chair.

"Damnit…" he mumbled. The two siblings sat like that for what felt like hours, but was really only a few minutes.

"So any other ideas?" Claire asked hesitantly. She could see her brother hard in thought and hope the intense concentrated look on his face wasn't going to cause early wrinkling.

"I have one…" he mumbled, going back to work on the machine.

"Care to explain?" She asked as she watched him return to work.

"Jim mentioned that the device put off a radioactive wave of energy when we were switched. If I can get the machine to match that wave again, maybe it'll switch us back," he explained. Claire furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her brother.

"All I heard was blah, blah, blah, it'll switch us back. So go ahead and do what you need to do," she said. Ryan nodded and turned back to work.

Anna ignored the looks of her coworkers as she began to pretty much run the security level. With her boyfriend currently out of commission, someone had to make sure things were going smoothly somewhere.

"Hey, Rodriguez, what the hell are you doing?" she snapped. He looked over at her and then back to the man sitting in front of her.

"Beating Dorian at his own game, he thinks he's so tough," he snapped, trying to beat the other man at an arm wrestle. Anna rolled her eyes and walked over.

"Get back to work, you are supposed to do a routine walkthrough," she snapped.

"Who died and made you boss?" Dorian asked. Turning back to his opponent.

"Commander Conaway is out of commission, he's put me in charge, now get to work," Anna snapped, pushing them apart. Rodriguez stood up and glared at her.

"Just because you are sleeping with the boss does not mean you can push us around," he snapped. She crossed her arms and kept her glare stern.

"Shut the hell up, you know I can take you in a fight, so don't push me. So shut the fuck up and get to work!" she snapped. Rodriguez glared and turned away, mumbling some words in Spanish under his breath. "Who you calling bitch?" she snapped.

"No one!" he snapped. Anna took a deep breath and began walking to her boyfriends office when a bright light peaked from the cracks. She raised an eyebrow and cautiously knocked on the door.

"Ryan?" There was no response from inside. Anna felt her heart race at the thought of something happening. Not wasting any time, Anna took a step back and kicked the door down, revealing both Claire and Ryan on the floor. Anna ran to her Claire's side first since that was the body that Ryan was in, her mind racing with the possibilities of what could have happened.

"Ryan? Ryan, come on. You need to wake up! Please, just open your eyes," she pleaded, supporting his head in her hands. After a few minutes, the feminine eyes that Anna had started to associate with her boyfriend opened up and confused grey eyes blinked back at her. Without thinking, Anna leaned down to capture her boyfriend's lips, even if he was still in Claire's body. At this point, she didn't care. She was just happy that he was okay. Anna didn't even get a chance to deepen the kiss when she was thrown away.

"Ryan is back in his own body now!" Claire snapped, wiping at her mouth. Anna felt her cheeks go red in embarrassment.

"Oh… sorry about that, Claire," Anna mumbled apologetically. Claire nodded and pointed to her brother's body.

"Well, don't look at me. Go wake him up," she snapped, not too pleased at waking up with another girl making out with her. Anna nodded and crossed the room to the real Ryan, only to find him already awake.

"You know, I don't mind you making out with girl's too much. In fact, I kind of like it. However, can you not make out with my sister anymore? That's just wrong to enjoy," he told her. Anna smacked him across the face, but before he could say another word, she fell into his lap and crushed her lips against his. Ryan replied and ran his fingers through her hair, pulling her even closer.

"Okay, see you guys at lunch, use a condom," Claire said. Anna and Ryan didn't reply as she began to run her hands down his chest and to the hem of his shirt.

"I missed you," Anna whispered. Ryan smiled and kissed her once more.

"I missed you too."

"Back so soon?" Alex asked. Claire nodded and grabbed a chart.

"Yes, and no snide remarks. I told Ryan, so get off my back for a while," she snapped. Alex rolled his eyes and began typing a few things into the computer. Claire began reading over a chart before Liam came over.

"You're back at work?" he asked. Claire looked over and nodded.

"Yeah, for now. Where is McCoy?" she asked.

"Jim asked him to take a day off, the poor guy has been over working himself like crazy," Liam muttered. Claire nodded and ran a hand through her hair, glad it was her hair once more.

"Ugh, I'm glad I'm back at work, and that the nausea has settled," she said.

"When are you going to-"

"Liam, don't bother. She's being stubborn again," Alex muttered. Claire nodded.

"Every time one of you asks me about Jim, I'm going to ask you when the two of you are going to get back together," Claire snapped. Liam paused and glared at her.

"I liked you better when you didn't have a parasite in you," he snapped. She stuck her tongue out at him and turned back at her charts just as someone walked into sickbay. Both Liam and Alex left as Jim walked up to the medical station and looked down at her. After a minute of silence he spoke.

"Ryan?" he whispered. Claire rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"No, he fixed the device, I'm Claire again…" he let out a deep breath.

"Thank God," he muttered, leaning down and capturing his lips with hers. Claire moaned in response and moved closer to him, her hormones getting the better of her.

"Jim, I really want this, but I'm on shift. I can't leave," she breathed. Jim looked around before taking her hand and leading her to the supply closet. "Jim!"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," he said, pulling her in the supply closet and closing the door.

Griffin put back another shot of tequila as he felt a pang of guilt in his chest. It was merely a pang, but enough to motivate him into pouring another shot. Harry snorted from his position on the couch.

"We're not having a competition to see who can drink the fastest. You can slow down, cowboy," he said, cradling a beer in his hand. Griffin vaguely heard the ogre of a man's words, but ignored them as he put another shot back.

"We'll be seeing them all again soon," he stated. Perhaps it was more to himself than Harry, but Griffin felt it all as a surreal moment in life. He wanted it to be over and done with already. The thought of Ryan Conaway not only sparked an unhealthy amount of rage and anger, but it also increased that pang in his chest. Sometimes, it was a small little pinch. Other times, it felt like someone reached into his chest and crushed his heart in one swift motion. He hated him. He hated everything he stood for and everything he'd done in his life. But he missed what they used to have too. Griffin knew better than to dwell on the past, but he couldn't help it.

"I can't wait to see that faggot again. I'll fucking cut his dick off and smack him across the face with it," Harry said with a chuckled, crushing his can between his giant fingers and grabbing another can. Griffin watched the barbaric motion and sighed. Harry was all that he had left of his old life. Riley was no friend and the rest of the scorned man's crew hated him.

"I'm kind of getting sick of you referring to him that way," Griffin mumbled, going for the tequila bottle again. Harry raised an eyebrow as he opened his beer.

"Don't tell me you're going all soft again. Liam is nothing more than a piece of shit traitor faggot," he snapped. Griffin felt his grip tighten around his shot glass as he filled it with a shaky hand.

"My brother was gay," he muttered before taking another shot. The alcohol was already starting to make him feel tipsy, but it's full effects had yet to kick in. The liquid burned as it slid down his throat, making him feel happy for a moment. That quick moment of burning pain.

"You had a brother?" Harry asked stupidly.

"He was killed by some Romulans back on Earth," Griffin said in an annoyed tone. Harry nodded dumbly and took a long swig of his beer.

"Liam is still a stupid little queer," he mumbled. Griffin jumped from his couch and tossed the shot glass across the room.

"I don't like him, I don't like any of them. I don't appreciate the way you're referring to his sexuality. I didn't like it back on the Berlin and I don't like it now. As it stands, you're my only friend left and if I have to hang out with you, I'd prefer it if you stop using those words to describe Liam," Griffin yelled. The release of his anger granted him a momentary wave of happiness, but it disappeared almost as soon as it came.

"Stupid?" He asked, purposely being a smartass. Griffin narrowed his eyes at the smug look on Harry's face as he flipped the coffee table in front of them.

"You know, with as much as you talk about Liam, one might think you have the hots for him," Griffin snapped before storming out of the room.

Jim walked in his room and walked over to his desk. He had made a point to leave the bridge a little earlier so he could meet Claire back here in time. As part of a romantic evening, they decided that they both would meet back at the room before going to the kitchens to make dinner. It was there where Claire was going to tell him something important, though her had no idea what. Before that happened, however, he had to finish his work. He quickly went through his messages and ran a hand through his hair before smiling, knowing he picked that up from Claire. The past few months had been crazy, since Rocky turned into a human, to a couple weeks ago where Claire and her brother had switched bodies. He shook his head at that memory and looked at a picture on his desk and smiled.

It was a picture of him and Claire back at Starfleet, right before they left to pack their bags for Iowa. They had met for lunch and on their way back they ran into Liam, who happened to have a camera. The first picture was of him pulling her close and them both smiling, the next was of the both of them kissing and smiling. Liam had set up the frame so that the first picture would change into the second and it went back and forth. It had to be his favorite picture of him and her.

He shook his head and looked at his messages. A few were from Starfleet, a couple were from other captains, one was from his mother, but one really caught his eye. It was unmarked and came from an unknown sender. He wondered how I got past security, but didn't think much of it. He simply opened the message and let his eyes read over it.

Getting comfortable? I hope so. It's been so long since you've had to worry about me. You probably think you are safe in your little spaceship, that you have nothing to do but sit back and explore random planets without a care in the world. All you do is sit back and command your crew while your blonde little 'princess' sits on your lap. Be a shame if all that was ripped out from under you. How horrible would it be to have your ship taken from you? How guilty would you feel, if your crew mates had to suffer for your pigheadedness? How devastated would you be, if the love of your life was suddenly ripped from you and suffered till her death? Enjoy your little ship while you have it. Be kind to your crew while they are still there. And cherish the moments you have with 'her' while you still have them. Till next we meet. -RK

Jim was silent as he read the message over a few times. Though the message wasn't signed, the initials were enough. He knew in the pit of his stomach who it was from, and he didn't like it one bit. What was going to happen to his ship? His crew? Claire? Anger rose from the pit of his stomach as he remembered the last time Riley was near her. He recalled the dead look in her face, how broken she was, how lost she felt. He wasn't going to let her feel that way ever again.

His train of thought broke when he heard the door open an Claire walk in, Rocky not far behind her. Rocky quickly ran to his corner of the room and into the small dog house Claire replicated for him, and Claire chuckled.

"Silly dog," she muttered. Jim put his data pad down and looked up at her. It may have been from the previous message, but he could've sworn she was glowing. He stood up and put his hands in his pockets, his mind reeling. He should tell her about the message, but he didn't want her to be worried. He wanted to sit back and think about the threat, but he couldn't get his mind to focus.

"Jim, you alright?" Claire asked, placing her bag down. Jim looked up at her and their eyes met. He may not have known what to do about the message, but he did know one thing. He knew he wanted her. He rushed forward and practically shoved her against the wall. She gave a small grunt of pain before he silenced her by giving her a kiss against her lips.

Claire struggled at first to keep her lips moving as fast as his, but eventually caught up and joined him in the heated kiss. His hands caressed down her body and pulled her waist closer to his, while his tongue slipped through her lips to gently massage her own. She pulled him closer and felt him reach behind and unzipped her dress.

"Jim," she moaned, pulling away from his lips. He immediately attached them to her neck as he almost ripped her uniform off of her. She responded by arching her back and pulling his shirt off of him. He shrugged out of his shirt and moved up and pressed his forehead against his.

"I love you. I love you," he repeated. Claire pulled away and locked eyes with him.

"I love you too…" she whispered. He quickly undid his belt and attached his lips to hers. She almost frowned into the kiss. It was so needing and almost desperate but so full of love that she couldn't help but get lost in it.

"Jim, are you alright?" she asked breaking away. He nodded and dropped his pants.

"I'm just fine… he whispered. Claire didn't question any further, she just let him take her.

Claire took a deep breath and she looked over at her boyfriend, who had just caught his breath and turned to face her. His eyes were a deep blue, almost as if he were lost in thought. Claire pressed her lips together and tried to find the energy to ask him what was wrong, but most of it was spent the last few hours. Jim moved closer to her and let his hand trace over her cheek. The note got to him more than he wished. The last few hours had been the most passionate he had spent with her, and he didn't regret a minute of it.

"Claire, I don't know how to say this any further… I love you. I always will. I'm not going to stop and I'm not going to let anything break us apart or hurt you," he said seriously. Claire furrowed her eyebrows and turned so she was facing him, her hands reaching up to hold his face in her hands.

"Jim, why are you talking like this? What's wrong?" she whispered. He shook his head and looked down, but pulled her closer.

"I just… I want you to know, incase anything were to happen to me," he said. Claire sighed and looked into his eyes.

"I love you too, James. I always will. I hope to God nothing happens to you because the moment it does, I would die." Jim frowned and kissed her deeply before pressing his forehead against hers. They stayed like this for a while before he felt her slowly drift into sleep. He pressed his lips to her forehead and smiled.

"I'm going to marry you one day, I hope you know that…" Claire kept her head down but opened her eyes. Jim must not have seen her because he slowly began to drift into a sleep as well. She took a deep breath and when she finally heard him begin to snore she looked up at his sleeping face. After a moment she finally spoke.

"I'm pregnant." Jim was silent as he continued to sleep.

Riley looked over the box that Griffin had given him earlier and smiled. After all their traveling to get the parts, the deal they cut with that stupid trader, and all the tension on the ship it was almost time. They were going to confront the Enterprise once and for all and Riley was going to get his revenge on James T. Kirk. Griffin had spent all his time and efforts in this box. They had tested it earlier that day on a rouge Klingon ship and it had proven successful. Now all that was left was to do the same to the Enterprise.

"Sir?" A voice asked from the door to his room. Riley looked up and sighed.

"Not now, Nuhir. Go prepare for our meeting with the Enterprise," he ordered. The man nodded.

"Yes, sir." He turned around and left Riley alone. He sighed and sat down on his couch, taking a sip from his glass of wine. He was finally going to get the upper hand on Jim and it felt good. His wife was gone and it was all Jim's fault. His life was gone. His will to live. So he was going to do the only thing he knew how to do. He was going to fight. And he was going to kill. The wine tasted bittersweet, but Riley drank it anyway. His life was bittersweet.

Ryan smiled as he continued to happily work through all the paperwork on his desk. True, he hated paperwork. However, he was still enjoying the pleasure of having his own body back. It had been a couple weeks since he returned to being Ryan in Ryan's body, but he was finally getting used to being in a male's body again. A non-pregnant male.

"Ryan, good to have you back to work," Jim said as he entered Ryan's room wearing a smile that mirrored Ryan's. Jim was just as happy to have Ryan back his own body and Claire back in hers. However, his reasons were a lot more selfish.

"Good to be back to work," he said, his smile widening. Jim nodded and motioned for him to get up.

"We need you to the transporter deck. We entered Klingon airspace not long ago to answer a distress signal," Jim explained. Ryan rose from his desk, his happiness increasing if possible. Anything was better than paperwork.

"So who sent out the distress signal?" Ryan asked as they crossed through the security deck towards the lift.

"We don't know. We're about to arrive at our destination," Jim explained as they entered the lift. Jim hit the correct button to get to the transporter deck. They rode in silence, but Ryan's content smile didn't leave his face. Even his minor grunge against Jim wasn't going to ruin his good day.

Jim just let his mind wander as they approached the transporter deck. He had a nagging feeling like he was forgetting something important, or if he was told something but he really wasn't paying attention. His thoughts went back to the note he read before and frowned.

"You alright Captain?" Ryan asked. Jim shrugged.

"Long night," he said, a small smirk on his face. The response was so automatic that he forgot that he was talking to his girlfriends brother and paled, but didn't respond. Ryan took a deep breath and tried not to over react. Today was a good day.

"Work can be a bitch," Ryan replied. Jim furrowed his eyebrows but nodded.

"Yeah… work." Jim was glad when the doors finally opened and Spock greeted them.

"Captain, we have scanned the area and have found nothing except a box." Jim raised an eyebrow.

"A box?" he asked. Spock nodded and walked with him and Ryan to the transporter pad.

"We were waiting for your command to beam it aboard," he explained. Jim turned toward Ryan and looked at him expectantly.

"What do you think?" he asked. Ryan sighed heavily before shrugging.

"I guess we should check it out. It's not on Klingon territory, is it?" Ryan asked. Scotty shook his head.

"No, it's just outside." Jim paused before giving a nod.

"Beam it aboard," he ordered. Scotty nodded and pressed a few buttons on his computer before a small box appeared in front of them. After a few minutes Ryan stepped forward, Jim right behind him.

"What do you think it is?" Jim asked. Ryan shook his head.

"I have no idea… I think it opens…" Jim pressed his lips together, suddenly having a bad feeling about it. Spock was the next to speak.

"We will never know what it is unless we open it." Jim nodded and turned to Ryan.

"Open it." Ryan gave a small nod before pressing a button on the side. The minute he did, a high pitched sound echoed through the ship, causing everyone to cover their ears. A minute later a red light shot from the box and surrounded them. Seconds later, everyone began to feel light headed, then everything went black.

Meanwhile

Claire looked down at Liam as he continued to write a few things in the computer while she was reading them off the charts, though her mind was not on her work. The night before, while wonderful, haunted her slightly. She and Jim had many nights of hot sex, but last night was different, last night was more needing. He held her as if it was going to be the last time he was going to hold her, and the sex went from passionate 'I need you right this second no questions asked' to 'I need to show you how much I love you.' And though she liked both versions of sex, it was strange to see them coming from her boyfriend so quickly.

"Kevin Fisher Junior has a check-up next week, the request just came up," Liam told her. Claire nodded and reached forward for the young infants chart, flinching in the process.

"You alright?" Alex asked, noticing the flinch. Claire nodded and used her other hand to rub her shoulder.

"It's just really hurting today for some reason." Alex frowned and began to gently massage her shoulder. Claire sighed and enjoyed the wave of relief that passed through her. It wasn't uncommon for her shoulder to hurt, especially after surgery. When she finished Anna's heart transplant, her shoulder hurt so bad Jim was icing it and massaging it for a couple of days. However, it hadn't hurt since then and she was a bit worried it was hurting so bad now.

"Must be all that hot sex you've been having," Liam told her. Claire rolled her eyes and kept enjoying the feeling of her shoulder being relaxed, though there was still a dull pain. After she thought about it for a minute she looked at her gay boyfriend.

"You think? I mean… not to give too much information but I guess Jim and I went… overboard last night. When I say we were up all night, I'm not exaggerating. I got home at 1900 and we didn't fall asleep until 0200." Liam raised his eyebrows.

"It's a possibility, but I don't think it would effect you too much," he confessed. Claire nodded and frowned when Alex pulled his hand away.

"You should get a check up. Not only should you check out your shoulder, you should check out your parasite. You're going to be three months soon," Alex pointed out. Claire nodded and looked down at her stomach.

"You think I'm showing?" she asked. Liam looked over and scanned her stomach before shrugging.

"Maybe a little, that just might be a little bit of fat though, the way you are eating. You seriously have been slacking when it comes to the gym," Liam observed. Claire frowned and nodded.

"I know… I should probably start soon. Or do something." Alex shook his head and placed a hand on her back. Claire quickly grabbed her chart before Alex could and began to look through it.

"Come on, let's just get you checked out real quick." Before Claire could reply a high pitched sound echoed through sickbay and she dropped her chart to cover her ears. Everyone else did the same and looked around.

"What the hell?" Liam shouted. A second later a red light covered sickbay and Claire began to feel light headed. Alex, who was also growing faint, grabbed a hold of her arm and helped her ease to the ground, afraid that she would hurt the baby. Claire felt herself eased on the floor and the sound of an evil laugh before blacking out.

REVIEW REPLY TIME! HUZZAH!

Allimba
Jeck: We figured you guys would like that. I wonder what Jim will say? Oh wait, I already know. Mawhahahahahahaha.
Raxsah: I know, I'm so excited to see Jim's reaction. Worst part is, you have to wait until we post the chapter where he find out. Hahahahaa! Sorry, I'm slightly evil this week.

Smiley
Raxsah: Claire's pregnant? Oh wait. Yes, yes she is. We're not giving away any information on what she and Jim will do, if he even finds out. You'll just have to wait and see. And I wasn't going to let Jeck kill of Anna, She's one of my top three favorite OC's.
Jeck: Indeed, Claire does show possible signs of having a child. Do you concur, Raxsah? I'm sure she does. You'll have to wait to see what Claire and Jim decide to do. And yeah, like we'd kill Anna off. We like her too much.

(Insert Name here)
Jeck: We're just hardcore like that. I'd like to think we're pretty BA (at least I am :D). As you can see, with the shift to family oriented things, we're starting to come to a close. Sadly. We've still got a fair amount of chapters left. I'm think perhaps will end up around 30-ish? Maybe. Or not.
Raxsah: I doubt 30-ish, since I have already stated the number above. We figured they have been on the Enterprise almost two years now, it's time for them to take life seriously. You know? Especially since they are in some serious relationships. As for future events, that is all to come soon my dear. Just hang in there.

Lintered
Raxsah: Hahahahhaaaa, I'd like to credit myself with the first line. I have major skills. Yeah, no evil plots at this time. Totally made up for it in this chapter. We can't go for too long without being evil. It's just not in our nature.
Jeck: Yay! We're being quoted! Trust me, Raxsah and I had all sorts of fun writing the dialogue for this story. That's funny since _ (blank person) said it was pretty "hard" and you're saying it's pretty mild. Hmmm… I likes it! :D

amberhathaway
Jeck: As if this story wasn't already crazy?
Raxsah: For real. Major hormones flying all over the place. I'm pretty sure this chapter just proved how crazy we probably are.

SWfangirl21
Raxsah: I love Combos, they are like… amazing. Perfect munchies food too. I'm pretty sure a stoner made them up. We put Ryan through so much shit. I swear if the guy was alive he's be killing us. Hahahaa, not even joking. Alex and Liam are amazing. Seriously, I think they steal the show sometimes. We've inadvertently made them the favorite couple of the story. Yeah, idk, McCoy is… McCoy. Hahahaa, best to leave it at that. I wish I would've went back and wrote a drunk Claire, since I don't think I ever have. Hahahaa, that would've been fun. Yay for Babies! I think everyone knew that Claire was gonna get preggers, just because we hinted at it so many times. Again, congrats on the niece and let us know when you want us to write a story, kay?
Jeck: Combos are pretty bitchin'. I just prefer traditional old Chex Mix. Trust me, we're not going to do anything else THAT bad to Anna again. Anytime soon, at least. ;D Liam and Alex are PERFECT for couple drama. McCoy is a bit bipolar when we write him. That's okay though. Don't worry McCoy, I'm bipolar too. :D YAY BAR NIGHTS! I mean… I have no idea what bar nights are like. Congrats on being an aunt. I love babies! :D They're so cute and small and disgusting, but cute! Well of course! We all knew Claire was going to be pregnant. We all knew, even if we didn't come outright to say it.

Jeck: Here's a nice short update followed by a long wait. Sorry to do this to you guys, but we didn't really have a choice.
Raxsah: Yes. We were especially mean with the cliffhanger, but it was the only place we could really leave it to be honest.
Jeck: This is truth. But we're sure you'll understand. Not that you have a choice. But you should all review! SPAM REVIEW SPAM REVIEW SPAM REVIEW SPAM!
Raxsah: Spam sucks. But we'll take what we can get. Just, don't try and kill us via internet. That's not too fun to deal with.
Jeck: Especially in my weakened state. Raxsah will have to protect me via internet.
Raxsah: Yes, but I have major skillz when it comes to defending myself Via Internet. Oh I have made people cry. Do not test me! Hahahaaa, But seriously, hoped you like the update. Since there won't be one for a while.
Jeck: Yeah. We'll be back two Sundays from now. Sorry for the wait. If you have a problem, you can take it up with my gallbladder. It'll be chilling in a jar until I go back up to college. Some girl down the hall wants to smoke it. O.o
Raxsah: I don't ask questions.
Jeck: ZOMBIE SEX FACE! :D