A few moments ago,
"Dr Haynes I'm surprised you are here" Elisabeth said as the woman avoided the infirmary since the accident. She figured Haynes was ashamed that she had survived minor injuries nothing to warrant the attention Malcolm had required.
"I wanted to know how Dr Wallace is doing" Haynes said she looked around her eyes landing on the closed curtain aroung Malcolm's bed. The fabric was opaque so only the shadow of a person sitting in a chair was visible from this angle.
"He's good, all of his injuries have resolved themselves with exception of the coma" Elisabeth informed her.
"I wish to sit with him" Haynes said in a such a manner as if it were expected but Elisabeth stepped in her way.
"I'm sorry but he's already has a visitor and I prefer you not intrude" Elisabeth told her as she didn't want Haynes interrupting Kate's time with Malcolm even though Taylor was with Kate she knew Taylor's presence was welcome whereas Haynes was not.
"Let me guess Deputy Renshaw forbade me and you're adhering to her wishes? She has no claim over him. She is not his wife and doesn't even have his power of attorney no matter how many threats she makes but they are worthless" Haynes saidin a loud and droll voice it was loud enough that the whole room had paused to listen. Elisabeth looked to the curtained off room and saw Taylor's tall frame get up from the chair.
"What is all this racket?" Taylor asked as he came from behind said curtain around Malcolm's bed closing it behind him.
"Oh Commander I apologise I thought someone else was visiting with Malcolm" Haynes said with smile her tone one of pure arrogance as she was sure she wouldn't be put in her place for being completely out of line.
"Malcolm? I didn't realise Dr Wallace allowed such familiarity with his subordinates" Taylor remarked casually. Malcolm was notorious for maintaining a professional distance from all of his staff refering to them by their title and surname as he didn't want to show favouritism. The only time he had shown any lapse was with Elisabeth but they had gone to the same college and had history.
"He is my colleague and I consider him a friend I don't see why it is so unusual I refer to him by his first name" Haynes said with a shrug trying to downplay her faux pas.
"Ok then do you care to explain what you were saying about Deputy Renshaw making threats? I should remind you that it is a serious allegation" Taylor said folding his arms across his chest and looking down at her.
"I thought it was her in there" Haynes said going red faced as she obviously didn't expect to be called on her words as she had meant them to be heard by Kate not the Commander. She was only goading Kate out of her guilt for allowing Malcolm to be in the state he was. She couldn't stop herself from being rude and she also believed that Malcolm deserved someone of a higher station than Kate it was an odd balancing act in Haynes head on why Kate was undeserving even if the woman was 'good'.
"So you said loudly to a whole room that she made threat to purposely draw her out for a confrontation? I hear it's something that has been happening a lot lately" Taylor remarked it never ceased to amaze him how quickly word travelled around a small colony. It also helped with Guzman who kept an ear to the ground listening to what the Colony had to say.
"No, I wanted Elisabeth to explain to her that Kate can't dictate who gets to see Mal- Dr Wallace and who doesn't. I got a little heated in the discussion I would never be so malicious or stupid to pick a fight with someone of her past history and the threats were implied by her tone not verbalised" Haynes said as she continued to ramble. "I have to say it wasn't your best decision to hand her a gun and deputise her allowing such a person to have free run around the colony."
"Thank you for your opinion but if she didn't threaten you with words of physically hurt you then why are you implying so to a whole room?" Taylor asked he looked around to see people busying themselves so as not to look like they were eavesdropping.
"I ah" Haynes stumbled. Taylor gave a nod of comprehension as he took a step closer to her so they could talk at a lower level.
"Right why don't I give you my opinion now? Deputy Renshaw earned her position; she underwent rigorous training and psychological evaluations for months if you bothered at all to pay attention. I didn't just hand her a gun and set her loose on the colony." Taylor told her.
"I didn't mean-" she started only for Taylor to shake his head at her.
"I'm not finished. You came in here to slander a good officer in my ranks and to bait her into a fight. So if I have to I'll forbid you from the infirmary unless it is a medical emergency if I have to because I won't have you upsetting a woman who doesn't need the stress because you have bruised ego all because you think it was your fault Dr Wallace was injured because it was you who held him up in the labs which led to his subsequent injuries" Taylor said Haynes eyes went wide as she didn't think anyone knew "Yes I know what happened. You got scared no shame in that but what you're doing now is poor conduct. It doesn't become you. Now I suggest you leave and have a lovely afternoon elsewhere" Taylor said in a low voice as a mark of respect that Haynes didn't deserve but he did so that those in the room could think what they like.
Haynes grew quiet as Taylor had never put her in her place before now. Her cheeks were a deep red from embarrassment as she gave a nod and walked away completely speechless. Elisabeth wished she could have applauded the Commander but knew he was angry as he disliked it immensely when people talked about Kate. He couldn't stop gossip entirely but he could silence a few of the gossipmongers especially Haynes.
"I don't know where that woman's head is at" Taylor said to Elisabeth shaking his head in disbelief.
"Neither do I but I do know Haynes has been interfering with Kate on and off these past few weeks" Elisabeth said with an exasperated sigh. She just wanted to cocoon Kate in safe little bubble where no one could stress her further and give her some peace. It wasn't good for Kate normally to be so stressed but it was worse with her being pregnant.
"Why can't everyone in the colony just play nice for one week?" Taylor asked.
"Well I do believe the colony played nice when the Outposts were still open. That's why we had the outposts right?" Elisabeth asked innocently.
"The Outposts were for research not for giving grown adults time out" Taylor said shaking his head as he chuckled at the thought that no matter how old people got they still had the propensity to act like children.
"Well perhaps you should consider reopening a couple of them and sending Haynes back out" Elisabeth suggested in a low voice. She could do without the woman on the base.
"Don't tempt me Doc" Taylor said as he left her to do her work and moved back to Malcolm's bed and pulled the curtain open and stepped in. Kate was sitting with a ramrod straight back, her face was pale and blotchy from crying as her eyes were bloodshot. Obviously all of Haynes words had struck a cord within her but then Kate had been more emotional of late.
"I don't threaten people. I didn't threaten her" Kate said she had ducked her head like a chastised child and looked incredibly vulnerable.
"I know you think it's a waste of time to make threats when you can just jump into action" Taylor said as he watched the a couple tears slip down her face, his heart twisted at the raw emotion displayed in Kate's expression. It was not healthy for her to be acting the way she was in Taylor's opinion and he wished Malcolm would for once do them all a favour and wake already.
"You shouldn't let her upset you" Taylor said.
"It's true, I'm not his wife and I have no legal standing or rights over Malcolm." Kate said he noticed how she touched her empty left ring finger where her engagement ring had been. He wondered if she knew she was doing it or not.
"To be honest I always thought Malcolm was batting for the other team" Taylor said, Kate chuckled and he smiled as he managed to get her to laugh and smile even just a little.
"It's how he cares about his appearance a little too closely?" Kate asked.
"That and I have never caught him eying a woman and most of the scientists he picked to come through the portal were men with exception of Dr Shannon and a couple of other women scientists" Taylor said with a shrug.
"Tell me Haynes wasn't one of them" Kate said, she didn't want Haynes to possess that connection with Malcolm or any connection at all.
"She wasn't, she was assigned by the people in charge of the Project on Hope Plaza side." Taylor said.
"I asked Jim if I could do half days and be on call" Kate said.
"That's fine, not like there's much policing to be done you're pretty much Jim's personal assistant" Taylor said.
"And scarecrow apparently" Kate added with an exhausted sigh/
"Too pretty to be a scarecrow" Taylor told her.
"I look like crap" Kate said.
"Nothing a few solid meals and a solid eight hours couldn't fix" Taylor said.
"You don't have to sit with me" Kate said.
"Does it bother you that you don't have the ring?" Taylor asked her.
"Sometimes but then I didn't have a choice in parting with it" Kate said.
"You know I could get another made an exact copy, Malcolm would never know"
"I would know and what's the point? Malcolm might wake up a vegetable and it would be just a reminder of what future we have lost" Kate said in a pained thought as she put her head down on the bed. "I wish he would wake up, I hate this sitting here and waiting the longer we wait the more I believe he will never wake up. I need him to wake up" Kate said.
Taylor listened to the pain and disparity in her voice. She was so deeply invested in the future she had with Malcolm she was not ready to give him up not matter how much pain it gave her. He knew that grief and that love of another person very well and how much it ached to lose them in the end.
A couple of weeks passed with ease, little changed in Alicia's world except that she was pretty sure her stomach was ridiculously huge to the point she'd rather stay indoors than waddle slowly around the compound. She didn't like the attention and hated people telling her how huge she was and touching her stomach without permission. There was also the joint and muscle aches of carrying around so much extra weight that also put her off walking around as well.
The only time she left the house was to walk across the road to Kate's house. Evan's house was going up quite well but not fast enough as 5 weeks had now been extended to 9 due to shortages in materials. It didn't bother Evan or Kate as the two were already in a pattern of shared living and the kids were settled and were enjoying their new life in Terra Nova with all the novelties of nature and being able to play outside without rebreathers.
It probably helped that there were other kids their age they could play with now Evan took them to the local day care three days a week as Alicia had to admit she was way too big to be running around and playing aunt by herself. The other two days Evan worked from home so Alicia came over and sometimes Kate would be around. She however appeared to have fallen to some kind of sleeping sickness as Jim gave her the last three days off. She was falling asleep all the time, which Elisabeth said was a common side effect of the pregnancy as it was starting to rear it's ugly head.
So far it was the only overt sign Kate was showing as she wasn't having morning sickness or any other symptoms. It irked Alicia as she had been vomiting all over the shop and feeling miserable whereas Kate was just falling asleep everywhere. At the dinner table, standing in the kitchen waiting for the kettle boil, she had fallen asleep during her yoga practice which led to Kate pulling a hamstring.
Alicia had to admit it was kind of cute when Kate had fallen asleep on the couch one afternoon and Olivia climbed up and had a nap with her. She wondered how her brother felt about having a woman with some similarities to his deceased wife but didn't want to ask as she felt it was inappropriate. It had to be weird watching Kate and Olivia play as Alicia could see Olivia being Kate's kid especially as Olivia's red hair had lightened from time in the sun not dramatically but enough that one could mistake Kate and Olivia as family.
Alicia closed the front door to her house and walked across the road to Kate's house, she liked how she never had to knock and just let herself.
"Lisha, Lisha!" Olivia said running up to Alicia half naked. She was wearing a nappy and bright purple tights and nothing else. Alicia closed the door before she was nearly knocked off balance as Olivia wrapped her arms around Alicia's legs and hid.
"Olivia!" Evan called out in a frustrated tone as he followed the little girl holding a light purple dress that was obviously the top half. "Hey sis" he said.
"How are you?" Alicia asked in amusement.
"Great can't complain except about my daughter's new proclivity to run around topless" Evan said looking down at Olivia who looked up from behind Alicia's legs with the cheekiest of grins. The little girl giggled and hid her head behind Alicia's legs.
"Every father's worst nightmare" Alicia drawled dryly.
"Tell me about it" Evan grumbled before he ran to the open back door and closed before Olivia got any ideas about running outside.
"Where's Sean?" Alicia asked, she knew Evan had some sort of strategy to get Olivia into her dress and decided it was best to stay still instead of tripping over the little girl who was still clutching to her legs giggling.
"Kate took him to the school for me. The Day care said it might be wise for him to do some testing to see what level he's at. He'll be doing the tests for an hour and then I'll pick him up." Evan said as he started to cirlce Alicia.
"It's his language skills they are quite impressive for a kid his age" Alicia said.
"Thanks to you and Kate" Evan said as he circled around Alicia and then snatched Olivia off from behind lifting the girl into his arm. Olivia wailed and cried as she wiggled like worm. Evan moved to the couch and went to work putting the dress.
"That's right scream all you like kiddo but you are wearing a dress if it kills me" Evan said as he managed get one arm and Olivia's head through the holes in the dress.
"No!" Olivia said, Alicia laughed at the scene until Evan won out and Olivia was wearing the dress.
"Oh yeah! Dad-1 and Olivia-0" Evan said as he hugged and kissed Olivia before releasing the little girl. Alicia sat down on the lounge and was still laughing as soon as Olivia was far enough from Evan she pulled the dress off.
"Oh looks like its Olivia -1 and Dad- 0" Alicia said.
"Great, excuse me while I go chase the little exhibitionist" Evan said getting up from the lounge.
"At least she's keeping her pants on" Alicia said as she laughed and watched Evan pick up the discarded dress and go on the chase for his daughter.
"Oh I can't wait until it's your turn so I can sit back and laugh" Evan told her as he disappeared into one of the bedrooms.
"Hey I was thinking you and the kids could come over to my house for dinner" Alicia said a little louder to compensate for Evan not being in the room.
"You sure?" He asked as Alicia heard more giggling and movement from the room.
"Yes, I'm always coming over here I think it's about time I cooked for you and the kids and Kate too" Alicia added Kate figuring Evan would appreciate her being there and be more inclined to say yes.
"Taylor be there?" Evan asked as he reappeared with a very fussy Olivia who was now fully dressed yet again. She was making whining noises and trying to wiggle out of Evan's arm but he was not letting her go until she settled down and accepted the fact she would have to remain clothed until he left to go pick up Sean.
"Yes, I want a proper family dinner" Alicia told him.
"OK, as long as you don't expect Olivia to keep her clothes on for the whole meal" Evan told her as Olivia made a huffy noise and settled down but it didn't make Evan loosen his hold as he knew it was an act. Alicia laughed again.
"It's ok, if anything it will make the evening entertaining" Alicia commented.
"You know he has a rather large head" Jim said as he sat down next to Kate at Malcolm's bedside. Kate was sitting forward in her chair and was currently laying her head on the bed as she was exhausted to the bone and didn't want to move. She had sat through Sean's testing session before Evan picked him up. The teachers said they preferred to teach the kid without a parent present so they couldn't be prompted but felt Kate was fine as she was not a relative. After she left the school she went to the infirmary as it was her day off. She decided to sit with Malcolm and then spend her afternoon sleeping before dinner.
"What?" Kate asked as she turned her head to look at him. He had only been sitting next to her for about 5 minutes before he couldn't remain silent any longer. She wondered how Elisabeth survived but then Elisabeth had informed her that Jim was good at companionable silence when he was so inclined he just decided he prefered to talk. she commented it had something to do with his time in Golad.
"His head, it's huge" Jim told her like it was a fact.
"It's the short hair and no beard" Kate told him as she looked at Malcolm. She really missed the facial hair the most out of all the changes it made him sexier in her opinion and there was the fact that when he woke up he'd want to grow it out and she'd be the one suffering stubble rash until it was back to it's usual length.
"No he has a huge head and your kids heads are gonna be just as huge and you'll have to push it out of your-" Jim started.
"Oh stop! Please don't talk about my bits and bobs" Kate said looking at him incredulously as he had even used hand gestures to emphasise what he was talking about. It was horrifying and she was glad the curtains were closed around the bed so no one else had witnessed it.
"Just saying" Jim said to her frankly.
"Well you've said enough" Kate told him.
"Any names yet?" he asked.
"Isn't it early to be talking about that and I don't want to talk about any of it. Just pretend you don't know ok?" Kate said as it was how she coped otherwise she would just get upset with the fact that if Malcolm didn't wake up there were many things he would never know and miss. She could put it to the back of her mind and cope it was easy she ate properly, slept an insane amount of hours and lowered her exercise hours. She took all the vitamins and maintained herself physically.
"Right, if that's what you want" Jim said a silence lapsed between but only lasted for a few moments before he spoke again "Did you eat breakfast today?" he asked.
"Oh for the love of- can you sit quietly?" She asked him as she just wanted to relax as best she could and Jim was currently stressing her out making her think about being pregnant and looking more closely at Malcolm's head now scared of ugly thoughts of their kid having a large head and getting stuck. Thoughts she didn't want to think about when Malcolm's head wasn't large, his ego yes but not his physical head.
"No, hey do you always just sit here and stare at him? because it's a little creepy" he told her.
"No I sit here and wait" she told him.
"In silence?" he asked Kate took a slow and fortifying breath as Jim was testing her patience normal she had it in abundance but lately it was in short supply.
"Yes ok? I feel a little bit weird talking to him when he won't answer back" Kate said agitated.
"You know it's the perfect time because he can't do anything but listen. You could just talk on for hours" Jim offered.
"Still wouldn't know what to say and I don't want people hearing things they shouldn't." Kate said.
"Right" Jim said, he got up from his chair and moved to looked down at Malcolm. Kate was immediately suspicious of Jim.
"What are you doing?" Kate asked as Jim lifted Malcolm's arm up.
"Just seeing something" Jim said as he lifted Malcolm's arm up further and then let it drop Malcolm's arm fell and his hand smacked him in the face.
"Jim!" Kate hissed as she jumped out of her seat. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed but no one was looking their way which was lucky as Kate was sure Elisabeth would've had a fit if she had seen Jim do that.
"What? Liz told me it's a test for seeing if someone is really in a coma I was wondering if it was true" Jim said as he chuckled at Kate's disapproving look though she couldn't hide her smile as it was pretty funny to watch.
"Well it didn't wake him up but don't do it again" Kate told him.
"Come on, let's go do rounds"
"I don't want to do rounds it's my day off"
"I'll buy you a cupcake" he said bribing her as if she were Zoe.
"I don't want a cupcake or a walk around the compound" Kate told him as she retook her seat.
"You need sunshine and oxygen if you don't walk with me I'll tell everyone you like to pick Malcolm's arm up and let it drop to watch him smack himself in the face" Jim said matter of factorily.
"No you wouldn't" Kate told him.
"Come on I'll buy you a fruit smoothie and a cupcake" Jim said he made that face that said he was going to spend the next two hours annoying her if she didn't go with him for a walk around the compound.
"Fine but only for half an hour and if I see Haynes I'm walking away" Kate told him.
"I can accept those terms if it's an hour at a leisurely pace" Jim said.
"Fine" Kate told Jim.
"I'll meet you outside" Jim said giving her some privacy. Kate leaned down and kissed Malcolm on the cheek and whispered that she loved him and she'd be back before looking at him one last time before heading out. It was the only time she spoke to him as everything else she wanted to tell was something she couldn't stand anyone else knowing before he did.
"Ok, I have 4 kilos Gallosaur and the vegetables you asked for. What's with the big meal?" Kate said as she carefully placed the meat and bag of vegetables on the kitchen bench of the Taylor residence. Alicia had message Kate with the shopping list knowing it was Kate's day off and that Kate would help her out.
"Family dinner. You're invited and helping me" Alicia told Kate there was no expectation Kate would say no.
"A girl needs to eat" Kate said as her version of saying 'yes I'll help thank you so much for asking'.
"Especially when she is eating for two" Alicia said.
"Yeah" Kate said with a lack of enthusiam.
"How are you feeling?" Alicia asked her.
"fine, you sit down before you drop a kid" Kate said looking warily at Alicia's form.
"Delightful Kate" Alicia replied dryly.
"What you're just so-"
"Huge?" Alicia supplied only Kate could get away with saying it as a fact not a gushy exclaimation followed with stomach touching and more comments that were pregnant related. Actually only her, Jim and Evan treated her like her usual self just with extensions.
"Yup so enjoy the free pass from cooking and sit down" Kate said pointing to the dining table. Alicia complied as her joints were killing her and the only time they didn't hurt was when she was sitting down.
"So do you know if you're having one baby or six?" Alicia asked as she took her seat at the table.
"No" Kate said as she started up packing the bags she had brought with her.
"Elisabeth didn't tell you?" Alicia asked surprised that Elisabeth wouldn't have told Kate.
"I asked her not to tell me" Kate said casually as she packed away the last of the dry goods and moved to the Gallosaur.
"Kate-"
"I don't want to know ok? I'm supposed to do this with Malcolm, I want him to be there when we find out all that stuff. So while he's in his stupid coma, I will keep myself in shape and do everything I'm supposed to. When I go for my first appointment will be next week, Elisabeth agreed to run the scans without the holographic displays and all that stuff. She'll tell me that everything is fine or not and what I need to do whether it cut down on something or adjust my vitamins etc." Kate explained as she turned on the oven and pulled out spices, olive oil and pans ready to put the meat on for a low roasting session to keep the meat tender and moist.
"Kate you can't ignore this, just because Malcolm is in a coma doesn't mean you can put everything on hold" Alicia said she didn't hide her disappointment or disapproval as someone had to keep Kate grounded and that she wouldn't just nod and say 'yes' when she didn't agree with what Kate was doing.
"I can't hit pause on a pregnancy but I also can't think about it right now without getting irrationally upset so it's easier for me to not make it the forefront of all my thoughts for the time being" Kate said
"Ok" Alicia said she made a mental note to ask Elisabeth the time and date for Kate's appointment so she would be there as she knew Kate wouldn't ask Alicia to be there as she wanted to pretend she wasn't pregnant. It was like there was no joy in it for Kate which was a shame. She hoped Kate would change her mind as it wasn't fair to deny herself.
"So does Taylor know about this dinner tonight?" Kate asked as she continued pottering around the kitchen.
"No" Alicia said unconcerned that she was surprising Taylor a man notorious for hating surprises. Kate looked to Alicia with a questioning look.
"Are you going to tell him?" Kate asked before she turned away to wash her hands.
"He'll come home for dinner and just suffer. I don't understand why he is avoiding this. Every time I say we are going to dinner at yours he claims he has to work late. Well not tonight he said he'd be home" Alicia said proudly as she moved from her seat to help Kate get the roast ready.
"Ok, well I guess it should make the start of the dinner interesting" Kate said as she unwrapped the meat and placed it into the pan, Alicia poured the oil and followed by the spices and herbs which Kate rubbed the ingredients into the meat. When she was done she washed her hands and then dried them before opening the oven and putting the piece of meat into it and closing the door and putting on a timer.
"Tea?" Kate offered.
"Sounds good to me" Alicia said.
"then sit down on the lounge and put your feet up. I'll bring it over" Kate told her.