Darn governor. Just adding another problem for Max and Alec. Today's chapter is going to be a bit short. For some reason tomorrow's chapter keeps getting away from me, and I'll need some extra time to spruce it up.

July

"Little Fella want something to drink?"

Max groaned. She was hanging over the toilet, more miserable than she'd been in years. It was worse than the shakes in some ways. She couldn't quit throwing up. It was the wrong time in a pregnancy for morning sickness, but her body didn't seem to care. It didn't confine it to the morning either. Her hormones were acting nuts, and the result was that she couldn't quit puking her guts out. She'd already ended up in the infirmary once for fluids since she couldn't keep anything down. If her body didn't get it together, they were going to demand she stay in the infirmary until it did.

"Cracker? Joshua read that crackers help when feeling sick."

"No," she groaned. "Nothing. I don't want anything else in there. It'll just come back."

Joshua disappeared from the bathroom and returned only a few seconds later carrying a blanket. He wrapped it around her and then sat down beside her on the floor. His huge bulk took up most of the room, but she didn't mind when he put his arm around her. She leaned into him and he rubbed her arm briskly, trying to warm her up.

"Max have to take care of herself. Babies need to eat."

"I know," she muttered against his chest. She knew she needed to eat something, but she was just completely wrung out. She couldn't even bring herself to get up off the bathroom floor at the moment.

They heard a knock at the apartment door, and then it opened. For a moment, she thought it must be Alec, but he wouldn't have knocked. He was also in Arizona with his team and wasn't due back until tomorrow. She was supposed to be in Command working on the specs for the upcoming Kline job, but then the barfing had started again and Mole had ordered her to go away.

Gem appeared in the bathroom doorway. "Wow. I heard it was ugly, but this is something else."

"Thanks a lot," Max snapped, but it didn't have much bite to it. She really was limp as a dish rag.

Gem nodded toward the main room with the sofa and TV. "Joshua, bring her in here. I brought something that might help."

Joshua hurried to comply. He was as anxious as anyone to help her. He didn't even ask, just bundled her up in the blanket and lifted her in his arms to transfer her to the living room. Max squawked a bit, but finally just gave up.

Joshua plunked her down on the sofa, and she sat very still. The jostling had set off her nausea again, and she might have to run right back to the bathroom, not that she had anything left to throw up.

"Here." Gem appeared in front of her. She'd brought a thermos, the kind where the cap was a plastic cup that screwed on the top. She opened up the thermos and poured the contents out into the cup. Almost immediately, a gentle minty scent permeated the air around her.

Gem handed her the cup and waited for Max to wrap her hands around it. "Just a sip or two," she cautioned. "When I was sick, mint tea helped me get through it."

Max nodded and took a hesitant sip. She didn't know if it was real or just the placebo effect, but the minty smell alone was helping calm her nausea. She held the cup up to her nose so she could breathe it in, and felt her muscles begin to relax. She'd been miserable and braced against the nausea for so long. "Thanks, Gem."

"No problem," the other woman said with a smile. "I would have come sooner, but I just heard about you getting sick."

"Glad you did."

"I know a few other tricks, too," she offered.

Max could tell she was hesitant. They'd always been polite, but never really friendly. It's wasn't personal. Gem had a kid, which was a full time job, and Max had a job too that ate up massive amounts of her time. It made Max worry about how this was going to work once the babies were born. Alec always tried to reassure her that TC gave them a massive supply of built in day care, but that didn't mean she would stop worrying.

Max gave Gem a smile. "I'll listen to any suggestions," she said. "I'm a mess and you're one of the only experts I know."

Gem laughed. "I wouldn't say I'm an expert, but I've at least gone through some of what you are. I'm willing to help wherever I can."

Max nodded, and suddenly yawned. She was just so tired.

"Somebody needs a nap," Gem said with a laugh, rising from her seat. "Time for me to go."

"Thanks, Gem. Really."

Gem just nodded and headed for the door.

Joshua took the cup of tea away from Max before she dropped it. "Little Fella need sleep."

Max nodded and slumped over on the sofa. Now that she didn't feel like she was going to toss her cookies at any second, she just wanted to sleep. She closed her eyes and felt Joshua tucking the blanket in around her.

Sometime later, she heard her phone ring, but didn't have the energy to answer it. Joshua must have decided the ringing would bother her though, because he answered it after the first ring.

"Bad time," he growled. Apparently, he didn't want anyone bothering her. "Oh. Alec," he said, less growly. "Little Fella sleeping. Still sick. Smell bad."

Max grimaced. Poor Joshua had been there the whole time, and her apartment had to smell exactly like what it was, a confined space where someone had been barfing for days.

Joshua paused to listen. "Better maybe. Gem bring her special tea. Little Fella stop throwing up."

Again there was a lull, filled only with the occasional grunt in the negative or affirmative. She'd almost fallen asleep again when something caught her attention.

"Find papers on governor?" Joshua asked. He listened for a second and then said, "Good. Bad man deserves it."

Max smiled. Alec had stopped going on jobs so far from TC so he could be with her, but they'd found potential evidence against Harding and Alec's team had gone personally to retrieve it. He'd promised to ruin the man and he was going to follow through.

Max snuggled deeper under her blanket. Step by step, they would make the world safer for their children.

More tomorrow…