Aric strolled from his last meeting of the day into his little office, greeted by the beeping of his personal holo. He figured it was Marua, just checking in. He whistled as he pulled it out of his gear bag, and hit the receive button. The figure he saw certainly wasn't his wife. The tall elderly man wore the robes of the medical corps.
"Lieutenant Jorgan? I'm Doctor Elliot, the obstetrician on call for the station. First, let me say your wife and the twins are fine." Aric let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "However she is having some preterm labor, and Elara Dorne is with her now, they're setting her up on bedrest until the little guys are ready to be born."
"But, but what? Why? We've been so careful…"Aric was officially scared now, "what do we need to do?"
"The major will need to be lying down as much as possible, until the babies just can't stay in anymore," he chuckled, "She'll be fine, it takes some getting used to but Dorne will fill her in on all the details and stay there with her for a few days, just to make sure things settle down. It's not unusual at all, especially with two big babies, and we don't anticipate any problems." Huh, Aric thought, he sure doesn't know how much Maura hates to be still. He thanked the doctor and immediately called Maura. He wasn't surprised when Elara answered the holo.
"I just knew it was you, Lieutenant. Here she is," Elara smiled at Maura, who was making her way over to the holo. Wow, just gone three days and the babies look so much bigger, he thought, and Maura looks tired.
"You okay, honey? I just talked to the doc, he told me about the bedrest. I'll be home tonight and…"
"Don't you dare, Aric, you need to save all your leave days for after they get here. Besides you'll be home Thursday night, and Elara will be here until then." She smiled at him then, "I'm fine, Colin and Calleigh are fine."
"Are you sure? I hate the thought of anything wrong at this point."
"I'm very sure, love. Now go direct troops, and call me later. Love you."
"Love you honey, take care of yourself." They signed off, and Aric immediately called the one person on Dantooine he trusted to keep Maura resting. Miriah answered after only a second.
"Hey Aric, how's Carrick?" she said. He told her what was happening at his and Maura's house. "I'm on it, brother, don't worry bout a thing." Miriah called to Corso, who was outside throwing a ball for the kath hounds, "Maura needs me, I'm heading over there, want to come along?" she asked him. He nodded, smiling at her.
When they arrived, Elara filled them in on what bed rest entailed. Maura slowly entered the room, moving carefully, looking much bigger than she had even last week, her feet swollen and her back aching. Miriah got her settled on the couch, using throw pillows to tuck around her sister to make her more comfortable. It was then that she made her decision. The Stardancer was due to leave tomorrow, to pick up her contracted load at Carrick Station and deliver to Ilum. She knew Corso could handle it. She pulled him into the kitchen, told him her plan and got his agreement, then went back to Maura with a tray of cookies and sparkling water.
"Ok, my sister, this is how it's gonna be. I'm going to stay here with you when Aric can't be here." Maura started to protest, but Miriah continued, "Corso is going to take the ship and continue our supply runs this month. "
"Oh, no, Miriah, I can't take you away from him like that…"
"Maura," Miriah said, taking her sister's hand, "Elara cannot stay here until the babies get here, Aric is trying to save his leave for after the birth. I can do this. I will do this, it's the least I can do to help. Besides, I can cook for you and help get ready for the babies." Her eyes sparkled, "It'll be fun, and you guys are always telling me to slow down, so here I am, slowing down."
Maura gave her a wavering smile, then hugged her, "You would do this? For me?"
"Of course I would, I love you and those babies. You took care of me for years when we were younger, let me do this for you." Miriah had brought dinner with her, a tasty stew she'd often made when they were girls, and Maura enjoyed both the food and the company. Corso kept them both laughing with his tales. She's so happy with him, Maura thought, and he with her, and she was content for the first time since she'd learned of her enforced rest.
Two weeks into the plan, Corso looked at the holo with dismay. Miriah was smiling at him but she looked like a ghost of the woman he'd left on Dantooine, pale and disoriented, her eyes beyond tired. She had on one of his long sleeved shirts, which hit the tops of her knees, and she was barefoot. She looked like she'd lost several pounds that she really couldn't afford to lose, her long black hair shoved into her ponytail haphazardly. She was telling him about Maura, but he was so distracted by her appearance he couldn't focus on her words.
"Miriah, love, what's really going on there? You don't look like you're doing well at all, and I'm worried," he told her when she stopped to take a breath.
"I'm not sleeping," she sighed. "This shirt helped for a while, but the stupid droid washed it and now I can't smell you anymore." She looked miserable, he thought, and remembered how she'd get without sleep—nauseous, shaky, and clumsy. That accounts for the bruises he could see on her legs.
"Maura is doing great, that's all that matters," she told him. "And you should be due for the mandatory break soon." Since the treaty of Coruscant was broken, the privateers were limited to three weeks of supply runs before a mandatory week off for repairs and crew rest. She tried to grin at him, to show him she was okay, but it didn't come off well.
Corso sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. They were due for some rest. He had no idea the workload Miriah carried when they were working before. Risha had been great coordinating all the details, and he and Bow had loaded and offloaded more cargo than they'd ever transported before. "What are you doing on the weekends, when Aric is home?"
"Mostly cooking meals for the next week. I get a couple hours sleep at a time, at home anyway, but I'm down to about 3 broken hours a night at Maura's." She looked at her feet, "I'm so tired, Corso, and I miss you so much."
"I miss my Miriah kitten too, sweetheart," he told her, and saw her smile at him. "Please, hang on for me, okay? I'll be home soon, sooner if I can manage it." They signed off the call, and the voice behind him hidden in the dark made him jump.
"Miriah kitten? You two should come with a warning," Risha said.
"Dang it, Risha, I didn't know anyone else was still up," he grumbled.
"Obviously," she smirked. "She does look like death, though. Let me see if I can shift our last run to one of the subs, give us two weeks off. Not like we need the creds." She jumped off the box of weapons she'd been sitting on to cross to the terminal. After a minute of clicking, she looked at him with a smile, "Done. We have to stop at Carrick but then we're off for sixteen days." She punched his arm. "Go to sleep, farm boy, so you can take care of your kitten in a couple of days."
He sighed, knowing Risha had something else to tease him about. He went to their quarters, hugged Miriah's pillow to his chest, and fell asleep thinking of holding her soon.