Numbness had spread up from Chakotay's hand to his shoulder by the time he finally got the chance to dump the bag, PADDs practically bursting though its seams, in the narrow entrance hall of the rented San Francisco apartment that stretched the meaning of "compact". He didn't call a welcome, he was late home again and didn't want to wake the children as he had two nights before, but Seven's tired and exasperated voice answered his question about whether he'd see their children awake that night, "No, I'm not going to read you another chapter…" Chakotay heard the soft thump of a closing book, "We've all had enough of Flotter for one night, its bath then bed."
Aylen immediately struck up in an indignant voice, "Naomi told me she got to play with a Flotter hologram…"
Seven sighed, "Well, Naomi was a very lucky little girl with a holodeck within five minutes of her quarters. We're not going to talk about this now; we're going to get ready for bed…"
"But Papa no here!" Max exclaimed as if the very idea offended him.
"Yeah!" The twins chorused loudly.
Chakotay decided it was time for him to enter this domestic scene and walked in purposefully to see all four of them crammed onto the apartment's small couch, Max had even somehow managed to squeeze onto his mother's lap despite her thirty week old baby bump. "Well I'm here now and in full agreement with your Mama, it's time for bed."
"No…" All three children began to whine, Michael even going as far as jumping off the couch and trying to run off, but Chakotay was quick enough to grab him and fling him over his shoulder, walking towards the bathroom.
"That's enough now!" He reprimanded sharply as Michael tried to kick free.
"Play with me, I'm bored, not tired!"
Chakotay bit back a chuckle and exchanged glances with his wife as she herded the other two into the bathroom. "Oh…I'm pretty sure Mama and your Auntie Irene played with you a lot today…"
"They did…" Michael admitted reluctantly as Chakotay set him down on the cold tiled floor, but then frowned accusingly up at his father, "But I not play with you for long, long time!"
Stung despite himself, Chakotay winced in guilt and slowly crouched down in front of the three toddlers, "If you're well behaved for bath time I'll read you another chapter when you're all tucked up nice and warm in your beds, okay?"
"Okay!" The siblings all agreed brightly.
Chakotay walked into his and Seven's temporary bedroom, leaving three clean children securely tucked in after three chapters, and sagged onto the bed with sigh of frustrated exhaustion. "Next time I suggest uprooting our whole family and working God knows how many hours for Starfleet, remind me of this day!" He moaned to Seven, who left the en-suite at those words and quickly sat down beside him, rubbing his tense muscles.
"If this is about the children's behaviour tonight, don't take it too hard, they're just getting used to the change, you never worked this much at home…"
"I never wanted to! I still don't! I've never wanted to turn into one of those fathers that only see their children every once in a while…
Seven lay down beside him and kissed his cheek, "Why do humans exaggerate so? You'd never let that happen and neither would I!" She patted her growing stomach thoughtfully, "And besides, we're definitely going home when this one comes, I refuse to have those three and a newborn stuffed into this little place, I already feel like I'm losing my sanity living here this long."
Chakotay laughed, "Well, I doubt it was built to take a family of five that would soon be expanding to six!"
"No…" Seven agreed nonchalantly as she tucked her head into his shoulder sleepily. "How is the construction of the new defences going today?"
"Oh, you mean your arsenal? The one you and Icheb designed with hardly any help?" he teased.
Seven flushed in embarrassment. "Starfleet offered us a great deal of assistance Chakotay, it is hardly mine…"
He hugged her affectionately. "I know, but a man's allowed to have some pride in his wife isn't he?" She allowed herself a soft smile in reply to that and he answered her question, "All of today's testing went perfectly and things are staying on schedule, for the time being at least, which is a good thing since the Notsinian fleet has reached Betazed…" He stopped as Seven gasped in horror and sighed heavily, "I'd feel a lot better if you could still work on it and increase our efficiency…"
"You're the one who agreed with the Doctor and put me on leave!" She reminded him hotly before sighing, "At least I'm not on total bed rest…"
"Yet." Chakotay added sympathetically, rolling onto his side to face her, "Listen, I think that if you give those PADDs I brought home a quick look over in the morning I could probably get the afternoon off. We could take the kids out for a final trip before you're in the hospital…"
"Tomorrow? We can't, it's baby Calan's blessing at the Bajoran temple tomorrow! You told me you'd get the whole day off!" Seven exclaimed in disbelief.
"That's tomorrow?" Chakotay asked tightly. "Do you think Icheb…"
"We need to be there Chakotay, Naira's already upset that her family haven't even met her son yet because of the unessential travel ban and they can't reschedule it because religion dictates it must be done on the baby's twenty eighth day of life." Seven explained, sounding exasperated. "We hardly saw them at Christmas…"
Chakotay stroked her pale face, drained of almost all energy, soothingly. "Don't worry, I wasn't suggesting we stand Icheb and Naira up, I'll be there."
"Good." Seven murmured in relief, snuggling her sleep leaden head against his chest.
"Maybe we'll manage to squeeze in a vacation before the twins go to preschool; the baby will be weaned by then…" Chakotay suggested sleepily but was surprised to get no response. "Seven?" he asked softly as he glanced over at her but realised with a smile that she was already sound asleep.
Seven pressed her face further into the pillow as the clap of thunder hit her ears, waiting with irrationally bated breath until she saw the blaze of jagged silver lightning burn through the black sky. It's ridiculous being afraid of a metrological phenomenon! She berated herself angrily as she rolled over, with great difficulty considering her nearly thirty five week baby weight, her hand unconsciously seeking the familiar comfort of Chakotay's closeness but instead finding only cold, empty sheets. With a sigh she sat up, she hated it when Chakotay did night shifts, although she was loathe to admit it to her anxious husband, after all he needed to do it if Earth's defences were going to be in any way ready for the now inevitable Notsinian attack. Still that reasoning did nothing to banish the loneliness, especially when she was feeling as uncomfortable as she did then. Really regeneration was what was required but her fear of the storm outside would only intensify if she were trapped in an alcove… "Mama!" Aylen's panicked cry filled the air as another bolt of lightning struck and Seven was suddenly hit by a memory of her own young self called for her parents in such a situation.
The memory left her disorientated for a few seconds and it took Aylen's second cry before she replied, "I'm coming, baby!" she called through softly, pausing to rub her badly swollen ankles before walking hurriedly to the children's room, every wall having a child bed or a cot pushed hard against it. "Aylen honey? What's wrong?" Seven asked, seeing now that all three children were awake, Max sobbing quietly in his cot while the twins sat bolt upright in bed.
"It's scary outside Mama, I can't sleep!" Aylen wept fretfully as Max tried to scramble over the cot's bars to get to his mother as the sound of the rain outside intensified.
"Okay, okay…" Seven murmured, "How about you come and sleep with me tonight?" She smiled sheepishly as she jumped at the bang of another thunder clap, "I'm a little scared too…" Aylen immediately jumped out of bed and ran to her side as she slowly lifted Max out of the cot, gasping in pain as a spasm scorched up her back, "Max…will you walk yourself for Mama just now?" She asked through gritted teeth as she set him down and rubbed her aching back, turning to look at Michael as the other two ran off towards their parents' bed. "You can come too Michael love."
"No…" Michael replied, though his voice shook with uncertainty. "I'm a big boy now, I stay here."
"Alright baby." She replied fondly, giving him a kiss before climbing back into bed with the other two.
Some time later Seven was jerked violently awake by a hideous sound, almost like the sky was being ripped apart. Before she could see fully what it was, a blood red light streamed in through the windows and the smell of smoke hit her nostrils as all three of her children screamed, having seen what it was. Without thinking she was at her window, the sight of a huge ship looming low in the sky over the city greeting her, red weapons fire bouncing off the green glare of the shield or finding its target. A scream of her own left her lips as she realised what was happening and a sudden crippling pain brought her to her knees. Gasping in agony she glanced down and saw that her pyjamas were soaked in bloody fluid. Oh no, please not now, please…
A/n: PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D