Chapter 62: Transformation

A/N: Hi everyone, this is an extra-long chapter for you, and hope you're all doing well!

Rose d'Epine: Lovely reading you again and glad you're enjoying this story! Yes, Letant feels that marriage and/or starting a family would not be the correct thing for him, so he's happy being a butterfly, as you put it :-)

Alaya Karangalan: Thanks for your review! Having reservations about being a parent myself, I did a lot of research on pregnancy (including Star Trek interspecies ones) until my head was spinning. Sela is proof of a half-Human and half-Romulan parentage; but she's not exactly a role model, unfortunately. Asha will come to share a very special bond with her unborn baby later on in her pregnancy – one that will be different from Human-Human pregnancies due to the baby's half-Romulan and originally Vulcan genes.

Romulanlover: Good question about STDs between aliens and humans :-) Romulans (in my fanfic) have strict customs and regulations concerning courtship to keep promiscuous behaviour and thus STDs as much under lock and key as possible. While Romulans might have several mates, these relationships are governed by strict sexual hygiene. As for humans…well, let's not get there…

Note: The Fireflower is my invention. "Veruul" in Romulan means "idiot".


Asha got up, finishing her stretching exercises. She would never have thought that she would so warmly welcome the prospect of a child into her life. She was reassured by the fact that Romulans raised their children as a close, tight-knit community. Romulans believed that it took a village to raise children, and they lived by this belief. At the same time, independence and individual time for increasing productivity were expected of each family member, and this was especially expressed architecturally. Romulan villas were huge, with many rooms and spaces, spartan in their construction and decor, without risks of taking a wrong corridor or turn. Family members could retire to their separate spaces if they wished, and gather in other spaces when required.

Asha missed the Romulan custom of having an inbuilt swimming pool in the house – even the most modest of Romulans possessed a swimming pool in their home. She had had to get used to a bathtub and sonic shower again, including the controls which were so different from Romulan ones. She went to her room to change out of her workout clothes.

In the meantime, Vekal roamed around the garden, thinking about Asha's pregnancy. She was a sturdy energetic woman, and she was very disciplined by nature. But Christine had been just as fit and conscientious. She had also been younger than Asha when she had started expecting…

For some time after her miscarriage, Vekal and she had avoided intimacy because she had blamed herself, going over every possibility of what she might have done wrong. He had told her that she hadn't done anything wrong, and sometimes, things were simply beyond their control. That he loved her no matter what. That he had no intentions of leaving her for another woman who would successfully bear a full-blooded Romulan. And slowly, Christine had stopped blaming herself, though she would relapse when she mistakenly thought she was pregnant. She had always wanted to show she was in control by insisting she was right, and she had become more determined about having the last word afterwards. It was no surprise that she had often butted heads with Asha, who had a spirited personality and could be as passionate as an army of Romulans...

As he walked inside the house, he heard Asha's quick footsteps on the stairs.

"You'll be delighted to know that Ruvasa recommends swimming during my pregnancy," she said, reaching up and brushing her hand across the v on his forehead – a caress loved by all Romulans. "Will you join me this evening?"

"Of course," Vekal murmured, kissing the top of her head.


"I can't believe Romulan women are pregnant for ten months," Asha said as Doctor Metak checked her. "It's so long! I thought nine months were long enough."

She hesitated, then she said bluntly:

"Ruvasa, I'm terrified of a miscarriage. Christine miscarried. Is there anything...just anything I can do to prevent a miscarriage?" Her voice quivered.

The doctor sat down and rubbed the area between Asha's eyebrows gently – a gesture of soothing and comfort in Romulan culture.

"Asha, sometimes, it just happens. In spite of our enormous medical progress, whether Human or Romulan, the body has the final word. I can only say the following: do what you are doing now, and I will do the best I can do."

Asha nodded. "I trust you. I trusted you from the beginning. You were kind to me when I was completely new on Romulus, and you've given me the best of treatment."

Doctor Metak smiled and bowed her head modestly in thanks of her patient's praise.

Besides her regular check-ups, Asha also followed Romulan customs concerning her pregnancy. Romulans, for all their state-of-the-art technology and secular beliefs, were steeped in traditions. After each month, Asha underwent a brief ceremonial bath.

"Human or Romulan, water is the element that surrounds us during the very first stages of our life," the Romulan priestess in charge of the ceremony told her.

When Asha left the bath, dressed in simple green Romulan wear, the priestess chanted what sounded like a mantra; it was about the power of the four elements combined. Asha was also given a Fireflower by the community as a sign of gratitude for aiding them. Fireflowers were costly plants, and a precious handful had been transported by the fugitives. The Fireflower was regarded as the symbolic representation of the four elements, a concept crucial to Romulan culture. If well tended, the plant produced pearly drops of dew and grew serrated petals which, in colour and shape, resembled flames. Because Romulan plants thrived in the heat and San Francisco had a rather cooler climate, Asha was given a special "tank" in which to place the plant. The container was like a mini-hothouse, and Asha would watch with wonder as it attracted Terran insects, especially swallowtail butterflies, which she loved. While it was the season in San Francisco for butterflies, she could not recall seeing so many of them around her house.

Vekal, however, was too nervous and tense to admire the Fireflower and its visitors as Asha approached her third month, though he tried not to show it. He was thinking of Christine's miscarriage.

Once at night, Asha woke up and found him scanning her with their home tricorder. She sat up, turned on the light and blinked at him groggily.

He looked embarrassed. "I didn't want to wake you up."

Asha took a deep breath and spoke out what was on both their minds.

"I know you're afraid that I might miscarry," she told him directly.

"Yes." He let out a harsh breath. "It happened around this time with..."

"Christine," Asha said gently. And she took his hand and held it. "Christine is still here with us. Over here." She placed her hand on her heart and on his. "I miss her every day."

Vekal nodded, then he resumed: "She got terrible cramps one night. She began to haemorrhage." He paused. "We tried to conceive a child afterwards, but when we realised we couldn't, we learnt to live and enjoy life no matter what, or rather, I did. She always struggled with that."

Words were powerless, so Asha simply looked at him silently and chafed his fingers.

"Forgive me. I don't want to be selfish and upset you."

Asha put her arms around him. "It's okay," she whispered. "I worry, too."


In her fourth month, her sexual appetite became voracious. Vekal enjoyed the fact that Asha loved sex, but during that time, she couldn't get enough of it, or rather, of him. Still, he was more than willing to be seduced in various positions all over the house and a few times in the woods. When Doctor Metak informed them that they were expecting a daughter, Asha and Vekal beamed and celebrated by going out for dinner. She was now sporting an obvious baby bump, and at her mother's suggestion, she switched over to saris, which she could rearrange any way she wished to accommodate the increasing size of her stomach.

In her fifth month, she felt the baby kick. Vekal's eyes were bright with tears when he felt their child's movements like butterfly wings underneath his palms as he touched Asha's stomach. Her parents and friends were excited. On the other hand, as the pregnancy proceeded, so did the occurrence of unpleasant side-effects.

One day, Vekal and Asha were sitting in the hall, occupied with reading. Lilou was playing with a chew toy. After a few minutes, Vekal looked up, his nostrils assaulted by a strange smell. It grew stronger. And it was terrible. Vekal's ears turned green and he brushed his knuckles across his nose. Lilou whimpered and buried her muzzle between her paws. Vekal got up abruptly and opened the window.

"It's a bit hot in here," he remarked neutrally. Asha's cheeks went pink. She agreed and buried herself in her PADD. Vekal watched her incredulously for a few moments, then returned to his reading.

Asha also got vegetable cravings and insisted on cucumbers, carrots and cherry tomatoes.

"Your child is going to look like a vegetable garden," André joked when he visited his best friend. Vekal was busy in the little Romulan village, and so the two of them were left to their own devices. Asha bit into a carrot and chewed. Then she burped so loudly that Lilou sat up in alarm, her ears cocked.

"Oh, wow," André exclaimed, deeply impressed.

"That's nothing compared to the flatulence. Vekal is such a sweetheart, he pretends not to notice."

"Oh, man," he muttered. "Hang on…" He gulped down some air and let out such a huge burp that Lilou barked loudly. The two of them burst out laughing and hugged each other. Then André made a gagging sound and clapped his hands to his nose.

"He really has to be a sweetheart to pretend not to notice this," he groaned. Asha looked guilty. "I know," she admitted. André jumped up to open the nearest window. Lilou took the opportunity to leap out of the window and recover in the garden.

"How do you do that?" André asked in an awed voice.

"I don't know! I just hope it stops soon."

On his way home, Vekal dcided to quickly consult Doctor Metak. "Ruvasa, is it normal for some Human women to struggle with strong flatulence during pregnancy?"

"Oh, absolutely." She embarked on a list of reasons and finished off with: "Blame the odour on your set'leth if you have a guest. It worked very well for me, and it didn't last throughout the whole pregnancy."

"You…I mean…Romulan women get it, too?"

"Yes. My husband survived during each of my three pregnancies."

"Ah…Interesting. That's, er, good to know. Thank you, Ruvasa."

Doctor Metak viewed him with a sly grin. "You know, Vekal, Romulan men are just as…proficient."

"I confine such things to the bathroom."

Doctor Metak stopped smiling and glared at him instead.

"My dear man, flatulence is widespread across all species and genders, whether pregnant or not. You probably pass gas outside the bathroom without even realising it. If you have a problem with your wife's flatulence, which is doubtlessly very uncomfortable for her, I will do my best to transplant the fetus into you and see how you deal with it."

Thoroughly chastised, Vekal had the sense to keep quiet, and while he didn't say anything about his olfactory difficulties to Asha, they both knew it was taking a toll on their intimate relationship.

Finally, in the middle of making love, Vekal's mood was ruined by the phenomenon. Asha produced a specimen which was unkind on the nose and ears. He stared at her, shocked, pulled out of her without a word, dressed quickly and left.

Asha, deeply offended, retaliated by moving into the spare bedroom. Vekal's gentle explanations that he couldn't help what had happened only made her angrier. Lilou, loyal set'leth that she was, refused to leave Asha's side and preferred to bear up with the chaotic repercussions, though it did not do her sense of smell any favours.

Asha was too embarrassed to speak with anyone about the problem, and when Doctor Metak asked if she was experiencing any digestion problems, she became cross.

"He's been complaining to you about my flatulence, hasn't he?"

"Who?"

Her eyes flashed. "Vekal."

"He did ask for more information about some of your pregnancy symptoms," Doctor Metak confessed, actually looking sheepish – a most unusual expression for a Romulan.

"Ruvasa, he asked about my farting," Asha said baldly, glaring at her.

"He did."

Asha scowled. Then she burst into tears. She announced that she was going to be a terrible wife and mother, that Vekal would have been better off marrying a Romulan and that he refused to make love because he found her repulsive.

It took thirty minutes' soothing and coaxing for Doctor Metak to overcome Asha's grim conjectures and send her home.

When she arrived, Asha discovered Letant had dropped by to visit and was chatting with Vekal in his ebullient manner. She greeted the two Romulans and joined them. Lilou was chasing butterflies outside in the garden. Everyone was looking relaxed when Letant indecorously pinched his nose shut with his well-manicured fingers.

"Pooh! What on Romulus is this obnoxious stench?" he exclaimed loudly, grabbing a PADD and swatting at the air with it.

Asha turned red and excused herself while Vekal said hastily: "It's Lilou. She's having some problems with her digestion."

"Really? It is so bad that it has made her become invisible as she's nowhere in sight. My friend, that smell is enough to raise the dead! Or kill the living! I'm not sure which."

"Yes, we are going to change Lilou's diet."

"Please do that, my friend, or you'll become a hermit! Well, I had better be off. By the four elements!"

He took his leave. As soon as his flitter had gone, Vekal went upstairs.

"Asha?" he called.

"I'm going to live in the bathroom!" she said, sounding tearful. "I'm not going to come out until I give birth!"

Vekal pleaded, Kihika and Vereth tried to coax her out, Lilou scratched at the door and even André, who had been contacted by Vekal and rushed round on his turquoise bicycle, tried. Asha remained stubborn and claimed that Vekal no longer loved her because he considered her ugly and disgusting. Finally, five hours later, at the crack of dawn, Vekal messaged Letant at André's suggestion and told him Asha was living in the bathroom.

"Now now...it's your baby who's ruining your social life, not I! Besides, didn't you say it was Lilou who was responsible for that dreadful stench?" Letant yawned.

"I couldn't really embarrass my wife, could I? Besides, you did a fine job of it. Your manners are completely unworthy of a Senator. Now, you started this, so you'll end it. I won't have my wife camping out in the bathroom during the remainder of her pregnancy," Vekal said frostily.

"But you have two more fully equipped spare bathrooms."

"That's not the point."

"What about her parents? Maybe they can help?"

"Her parents are on holiday on Risa, and she claims I don't love her anymore. I want you out now, Delon tr'Letant, because if she goes into stress-induced labour, I will flay you and hang your corpse from the window for animals to eat," Vekal's voice became a dangerous hiss.

"I'm on my way."

Vekal was waiting for him in front of the house, tapping his foot impatiently on the pavement. Letant got out and opened his mouth to greet him, but Vekal placed his hand firmly on his forearm, pushed him into the house and all the way to the bathroom. Then he placed his hands on his hips and waited, tapping his foot again. Letant tried the door handle.

"I thought she may have unlocked it in the meantime," he said as Vekal glared at him.

"I'll try calling, then. Asha!"

He received an answer, though not a very welcoming one: "Veruul!"

Letant pursed his lips. "There's one way to get her out," he said.

"Which is?"

"Override the lock on the door. Aren't you an engineering programming genius?"

"I can't do that-"

"I'll do it, and you'll simply help me do it."

"I am to break into my own bathroom?"

"I see no other option."

"You're giving us Romulans a very bad name."

"If she won't come out despite persuasion and coaxing, then stealth and cunning are the next best solutions," Letant stated.

Sighing, Vekal fumbled at the cover of the code.

"Make a lot of noise," Letant hissed. "In fact, kick the door several times."

Vekal obeyed.

"What are you doing?" Asha snapped.

"Overriding the lock," Letant said cheerfully.

"Asha dearest, please come out," Vekal cajoled.

"Thank goodness I never married," Letant proclaimed loudly. "What a torture it is!"

"What rubbish you talk!" Asha shouted, and the bathroom door suddenly hissed open. The two Romulans went inside, Letant turning on the light.

They found her sitting in the tub, her face blotchy with tears. The window was ajar and the air safe to breathe, however.

"Oh dear," Letant sighed. Then he added thoughtfully: "Maybe getting in through the window with the aid of a ladder-"

Vekal rounded on him. "Hold your tongue!"

Letant clapped his mouth closed. Lilou pushed past him, stamping deliberately on his toes as she did so, and leapt into the bathtub, snuggling up to her owner. Letant discreetly left the bathroom and went to the hall.

"Success!" he announced to Kihika and André, who were sitting in the hall, exhausted. Vereth had sensibly gone back to bed (Kihika often referred to her as a "Vulcan"). The two of them glared at Letant, and André muttered, "Yeah, yeah, rub it in!"

In the meantime, Vekal was trying to get Asha to leave the bathtub. He commanded Lilou sternly to leave the bathtub, and the set'leth obeyed.

"Asha, my darling, how are you feeling?"

"Shitty and gassy."

"Well..."

"Nothing's well! I'm going to be a horrible mother and our child will end up in the lunatic asylum and so will both of us! We don't even make love because I fart so much! I can't help it! It just…happens!"

"Asha?"

"Yes?"

"I love you and our baby, and none of us will end up in a lunatic asylum. Besides, Ruvasa was gassy during each of her three pregnancies."

Asha looked up, raising an eyebrow. "She told you that?"

"She hinted very strongly at it."

"She didn't drop any hints with me!"

"Well, you are her patient and she wanted to appear professional. She might have considered it undignified."

"Undignified is one way of putting it."

She stood up, put her arms around him, rubbed her face against his neck and placed one of his hands on her stomach. "We love you, too."

He laughed, helped her climb out of the tub, and they hugged. Then she washed her face and brushed her hair before leaving the bathroom. When she saw Letant, she marched up to him and froze him with an icy stare. "You have probably never farted before or if you do, it smells of the flower fields of Mirek!"

André snickered loudly and Vekal's mouth twitched. Kihika rubbed her lips vigorously with the back of her hand.

"I have...let go...during a Senator's meeting or two, but only after everyone had left," Letant admitted reluctantly.

"I'm assuming you weren't pregnant back then?"

"No, not really."

Asha snorted.

"Well, having cleared up this matter at this late hour, I think I will head back," Letant remarked, quailing at the several pairs of hostile eyes drilling into him. Lilou followed him outside as he left.

He stood still for a few moments, glancing around. Paranoia was hard to get rid of. Then he felt a sudden moisture against his leg. He looked. And shouted:

"Vekal!"

Vekal came out with Asha holding his hand, eyebrows raised.

"Your beast just relieved itself on my leg!" Letant roared, his face turning bright green.

Asha's face lit up, but she tried to look stern and pretended to reprimand Lilou, shooing her inside the house. Once indoors, she hugged her and whispered: "That was brilliant, but please don't pee on people again."

Lilou flapped her ears back and forth, baring her teeth in a triumphant grin. Asha burst into giggles, then went to fetch some equipment and rescue Letant.

Who, in the meantime, was arguing stubbornly with Vekal.

"I refuse to drive home like this!"

"If you remove your trousers, I'll lend you a pair of mine."

"Where? Here?"

"It would be more hygienic if you did it here."

"What a badly trained set'leth!"

"Actually, I think she has been trained superbly," Vekal remarked dryly. "You are starting to smell, by the way."

"Excuse me? You expect set'leth piss to smell of Betazoid bath salts? I can't-"

"Delon, just drop your pants!" Asha snapped, coming out of the house again holding a bag, a basin of water with a cloth and a fresh pair of her husband's trousers.

Letant obeyed meekly and dropped his soiled trousers into the bag.

"To wipe your leg." She held out the basin and pressed the cloth into his hand.

"You shouldn't be doing this," he told her gently, dipping the cloth into the basin.

"Oh, nonsense," Asha said.

Finally, Letant left, bag and all. Asha turned to Vekal. "I want to stay out a little."

"Why?"

"I have to fart very badly. If I don't, I'll explode," she said bluntly.

Vekal fled.

Before they went to bed, Asha hugged Vekal.

"I'm sorry for hiding in the bathroom and causing such a mess."

"It's quite understandable, Asha dearest. That Letant is a rogue and a nuisance. How he became a Senator is beyond me."

"He saved my life and kept checking on me after the execution of our loved ones. I am ultimately glad he's so impossible. We all need someone like him in our lives," she observed wisely. "Though I must say that Lilou was wonderful today."

Vekal laughed. "She was!"

"And so were you."

He kissed her lingeringly and said: "Won't you leave the spare bedroom and join me?"

She snorted. "No, I won't. I want to fart in peace. I'll nip back once I'm less gassy."

Then she frowned. "How would Letant know what Betazoid bath salts smell like?"

"Well, he is very open to encounters with other people," Vekal said.

"I thought the same thing, but just in case Romulus stocks Betazoid bath salts and I knew nothing about it..."

"Definitely not, my sweetest one."

"Okay, sugar cube."

Vekal's mouth quirked at her humour.

Fortunately, the flatulence stopped after two weeks, and Vekal was triumphant when she returned to their bed. They couldn't get enough of each other that night.

Asha moaned and cried out so loudly that Vekal wondered if the baby could hear. He touched her stomach as if to reassure their child that the noise was nothing to be alarmed about.

"Seeing that what we just did resulted in her conception, I hardly think she'll mind," Asha commented dryly.

Vela's eyes gleamed as he rubbed her stomach. "I want to hear you scream again."

"Thank goodness for soundproof technology," she said, "though if you ask me, Kihika and Vereth are probably doing the same thing as we are now."

Vekal smiled. "No doubt, dearest."

"You know, I want to hear you scream, too."

"That can be very easily arranged," he said, pulling her on top of him.