With Mike now a welcome occupant of the Satellite of Love Joel was feeling more at ease. The idea of another human being onboard the ship gave him a sense of familiarity and made him feel less alone.

Joel had given Mike the spare green and blue jumpsuits in the ship's storage. They were a little too big for Joel to wear at the time and he had considered wearing them as his pregnancy progressed, but he didn't want to make Mike feel like the odd man out.

After three weeks Mike himself was beginning to feel more relaxed as well. The bots of course had their fun 'hazing the new guy' but Mike learned to either roll with the punches or fight back a little.

With Mike now a reluctant participant in the movie watching experiment he theater was a little crowded at times and with Joel getting bigger he was feeling especially crowded. Joel spent more and more time in cabin reading up on his condition during the other days of the week when they didn't have a movie to watch. With his middle now much bigger and rounder he could no longer zip his jumpsuit up past his stomach. His t-shirts barely covered his stomach so a small patch of pale flesh was always exposed.

Gypsy was worried about Joel's health and insisted that he have another check-up, but Joel refused every time.

Mike decided to check on Joel, mainly to make sure Joel was feeling okay but he also preferred the company of another human more than the robots.

"Hey Joel, can I come in?" He knocked on the closed cabin doors.

"Yeah Mike, the door's open."

Mike walked in and was a little shocked to see how much bigger Joel's stomach had grown since first meeting him three weeks ago. "Wow, how're you holding up?"

"Fine." Joel was fighting to get comfortable on the bunk, his stomach weighing heavily against him. "Just doing a little reading."

"You know, Gypsy's worried about you. She says you don't want to have another check-up."

"Because I'm fine. I've been feeling great the past few weeks. I'm not nauseous anymore and I'm not so easily tired out."

"Good." Mike sat in the chair next to Joel's bunk. "You aren't having any body aches or anything like that?"

"My back acts up every now and then, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"And the... uh..."

"Baby?"

"Yeah. Are you sure everything is healthy with the... uh..."

"Baby." Joel repeated. "It's okay, it took me a while to accept 'it' as a baby, too."

"How'd you learn to deal with it?"

"The bots had 'surprised' me with a spontaneous ultrasound. When I saw the baby on the monitor it finally dawned on me what I was going through, and when I heard the heartbeat I immediately relaxed. As the weeks progressed this just sort of felt... normal."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Even when it started to kick it just seemed so... normal."

"Can I... uh..."

"Oh sure, it just woke up. Here." Joel took Mike's hand and placed it on the side of his stomach. "There. Feel it?"

"Yeah..." Mike commented as he felt the small squirming life pressing against his palm. "Doesn't that freak you out?" He asked as he retracted his hand.

"A little at first. Does it freak you out?"

"Very much so! No offense."

"None taken. Crow had the same reaction."

"So, what do you say? Go get a check-up just to put Gypsy's mind at ease?"

Joel gave Mike an odd look but saw the sincerity in his eyes. "Alright. For Gypsy."

Slowly Joel swung his legs over the side of his bunk and struggled to stand. Mike offered his hand and helped the heavier human stand up. "You good?"

"Yeah, thanks."

The human friends walked down the long corridor into the medical bay on the same deck as their private quarters. As soon as Joel and Mike stepped into the elaborate and advanced medical bay Gypsy entered right behind them.

"Joel! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Joel put his hand on the side of her head. "I promise."

"So you want a check-up now?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Yay!" Gypsy cheered as she set up the ultrasound machine again.

Joel laid back on the exam table and pulled up his blue t-shirt. He noticed that Mike was starting at his stomach with wide eyes. "Hey, my eyes are up here!" Joel teased.

"Oh, sorry!"

"Don't be. You think I don't stare at it too?"

"It just looks so... uncomfortable."

"Well, it is. It weighs alot, it messes with my center of gravity, it kicks me and it makes it almost impossible to wear clothes."

Gypsy pushed the ultrasound machine over to Joel's bed. "Okay, here we go."

Joel had anticipated the cold gel on his stomach but it still made him jump when it made contact with his skin. Gypsy gently pressed the wand against his stomach and moved it around. "There it is."

Mike had never seen the ultrasound until that moment. "Wow..."

"That's what I said." Joel admitted.

Gypsy carefully scanned the image. "Everything looks good."

"See?" Joel replied arrogantly. "Told you."

"Yup, you were right." Gypsy admitted.

"Now, can I go back to my reading?" Joel asked as he wiped the gel off his stomach.

"Yup."

Joel noticed Mike was still staring at the monitor. "You okay Mike?"

"Yeah, it's just... I've been meaning to ask. How did you get pregnant in the first place?"

"Oh, uh..." Joel thought back to the computer program Dr. Forrester had uploaded. "A computer program altered the ship's food synthesizer and it..." Joel trailed off.

Mike paled. "Did... did he turn it off?!"

-next chapter-