AN: Here's another piece to the story. I'm not sure if everyone caught the last chapter, so if you missed Chapter 11, please do go back and read it before you read this one!
I hope you enjoy! Please don't forget to let me know what you think!
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Beverly was happy to hand over the reins to Dr. Moran. The woman had, jokingly, asked Beverly which one of them was "going to do this," as a teasing way to remind Beverly that too many doctors in an exam room was just as valid as the proverbial too many cooks in the kitchen. Beverly couldn't agree more, actually, and she'd immediately made it clear that she was Dr. Moran's patient, and she intended to put down the mantle of doctor for a while.
Just as Beverly expected, Dr. Moran took a blood sample and started a lab analysis of it—the results of which she could expect on her PADD before they'd finished with the scan, and she did a quick physical examination of Beverly—quickly searching, with her senses, for anything that might be alarming, and taking record of all of Beverly's vitals.
Jean-Luc had given them privacy behind a curtain until Beverly was settled on the biobed, mostly covered, and assured Dr. Moran that her modesty was in no way at risk from his presence. Beverly did her best to ignore the obvious irony of the reassurance, given that she could still close her eyes and swear she could feel his touch on her skin from the night that they had created the child they were there to see.
Beverly was feeling far more relaxed than she had been. The preliminary scans, as well as Dr. Moran's hands-on examination, had fully confirmed the presence of the baby that Beverly had never sincerely doubted. She hadn't even had to mention the probably hormone-driven spike in anxiety, though, because Dr. Moran had laid every concern to bed, almost immediately, by reporting to Beverly what she observed about her current state of health.
Beverly felt so relaxed, honestly, that she briefly amused herself with the thought that she may jokingly ask Dr. Moran if she could just stay there—just as she was, even—and take a nap under one of the teal sickbay blankets. With the relaxation and feeling of complete relief, she found that she could only really look forward to the scan with happy anticipation. Even her fleeting concerns that there may be something wrong with the baby had left her.
In sharp contrast, then, was Jean-Luc.
Jean-Luc was practically a master at hiding his anxiety and unease. Some could argue that it came with the position of being captain. Beverly, however, could often tell when something was wrong with him, no matter how well he managed to hide it from everyone else. She sensed it, when he entered the semi-private area, following him like a cloud. Briefly, Beverly wondered if the sensation she got was like what Deanna experienced any time she wasn't actively blocking out empathic sensations.
Beverly wondered if Jean-Luc's concern was for the baby that he was about to "meet" for the first time—a baby he hoped would become "real" to him, if what Deanna suspected was truth—or whether it was for himself, and the fact that his life would change, in many ways, if he was truly going to decide to take an active role in the child's life. Beverly wondered if he'd started to realize that parenting, should he truly choose to do it, was going to require more than just assessing situations and giving orders—and that could be nerve-wracking for a man, like Jean-Luc, who hadn't carefully considered all the implications of being a parent before. Still, another part of Beverly wondered if some of his concern might simply be for her. That thought raised her heart rate slightly.
"We'll get started," Dr. Moran offered, starting the scan. The young nurse that accompanied her for this shift was one of the cadets that was doing a short training sprint aboard the ship, and Beverly could tell that the young woman was overwhelmed. She had great potential, and Beverly had been able to tell that about her almost immediately, but she was starstruck by nearly everything. She would be little help to Dr. Moran until she got past that, but Dr. Moran wasn't scolding. Instead, she gave her nurse tasks at which she could succeed—bringing this or that and monitoring the other patients who may need attention. As a result, Dr. Moran would be largely handling things without assistance.
Neither Dr. Moran nor Beverly would have claimed prenatal care or obstetrics as an area of absolute specialty, but they could both hold their own when necessary. For now, and given that there was no specialist in the area on the ship, they could both consider it necessary.
"I'll be recording information," Dr. Moran said, "but please stop me if you think that I've missed something, or I haven't explained something well enough. If you'd like, we can also capture a few holo-images."
"Please," Beverly said.
"Yes, thank you, Doctor," Jean-Luc offered. Beverly suppressed a smile at how eager he seemed—that ever-present anxiety still palpable to her, but likely undetectable to anyone who didn't know him as well—as Dr. Moran started the scan.
If Beverly felt relaxed before, she was able to relax to an even greater degree as Dr. Moran started. Beverly could see, perhaps more quickly than her doctor, that things looked just as they should. Her eyes went, first and foremost, to the vital displays. Her vitals were fine, and she wasn't honestly concerned with them at all. She could explain the elevation in her heartrate and blood pressure, just as Dr. Moran could without comment. She could also explain why those were slowly dropping into a more preferred range even as she watched the screen.
Beverly's eyes found the baby's vitals. They would listen to the heartbeat later, but for now it registered quietly. It appeared strong and steady—albeit rapid, which was to be expected and celebrated. Beverly idly listened as Dr. Moran explained what she saw.
Beverly felt her throat tighten at the image of the baby, but she welcomed the emotion. The tears that prickled at her eyes were the best kind. Their baby looked like a baby—a fact that she had expected, but one that seemed to somewhat surprise Jean-Luc. He got close to the screen to examine the image as carefully as he could, and Dr. Moran was happy to indulge him. She smiled at Beverly, and Beverly returned the gesture, before continuing to point things out to both of them.
The baby was moving. It was quite active, really, and Beverly imagined that she'd know that truly firsthand very soon. It also made her wonder if some of the feelings she'd quickly dismissed had actually been quickening, especially given this was her second pregnancy. Dr. Moran joked that the baby must like an audience, and it would have seemed that was true.
Finally, Dr. Moran played the sound of the heartbeat for them, assuring them both that a recording of the sound could easily be stored in the discs they would receive with their holo-images. The sound made Beverly's chest ache in the best way, and she closed her eyes for a moment to simply enjoy it. She could, any time she wanted, borrow the equipment necessary to hear it again, but it was still a sound that she savored each time she heard it.
Jean-Luc asked if it was as it should be—he was concerned about the speed at which the tiny heart was beating—and he was quickly assured that all was well. It was strong, regular, and just as fast as it should be.
Rather than run through the scan quickly, record her information, and excuse them, Dr. Moran left the image where they could watch it a few moments, and she went about reading through the information on her PADD.
Beverly welcomed the chance to see the baby. Seeing it like this, she felt more connected to it. It was more than something to worry about. It was more than a secret that had to be kept. It was more than a confession to make about how it had come to be. It was more, even, than merciless nausea.
It was a baby. It was her baby and, if he didn't change his mind, it was Jean-Luc's baby. At any rate, it was a human that they'd created together, and she couldn't help but feel that it already had a personality and a spirit.
"Did you want to see anything else?" Dr. Moran asked, returning to stop the scan and remove the sono-disc from Beverly's abdomen.
Beverly made eye contact with Jean-Luc. For a brief second, he looked at her with something of a deer-in-the-headlights expression, and she realized that he didn't even know what he didn't know. He wasn't fully aware of what there even was to see.
"I think we've seen everything, Doctor," Beverly offered. She readjusted her gown and the modestly blanket when Dr. Moran was done, but she made no move to sit up for the moment. She was comfortable, and it suited her just fine to have the conversation that followed from this position.
"Does this mean that the baby is healthy?" Jean-Luc asked. "Is Beverly healthy?"
Dr. Moran smiled. Her eyes flicked to Beverly, but Beverly wasn't saying anything. She'd promised to sit back, take a backseat to the whole thing, and hand the reins over without complaint.
"Dr. Crusher's numbers look good," Dr. Moran said. "The medicine she's taking for the nausea seems to be doing its job. She's keeping food down at regular intervals now, as we've discussed at any one of our consultations, and her weight is increasing."
"That's not always what a woman wants to hear," Beverly said, teasing Dr. Moran. The woman laughed and shook her head.
"No, but in this case…it's the best thing we could hope for. As a result, the baby is measuring only a little smaller than we might hope. However," she added, quickly, just as Jean-Luc appeared ready to ask something else, "the baby's weight was reading low via tricorder scan previously, and it's increasing now, which means we're moving in the right direction, and there appear to be no lasting problems or complications from Dr. Crusher's earlier difficulties."
"What else do we need to know?" Jean-Luc asked.
Dr. Moran looked at Beverly and half-shrugged.
"Dr. Crusher probably already knows everything I know," she said with a laugh. "And we'll be able to review and discuss as needed. For the time being, everything looks good. There are no visual abnormalities or concerns. There appears to be sufficient amniotic fluid. I would say that Dr. Crusher's earliest assessment of due date is correct. She's currently measuring between thirteen and fourteen weeks."
Beverly didn't point out that the fact that she could pinpoint the date of conception with absolute certainty added to her security in stating the likely range of due dates for the baby.
"Your panels look good," Dr. Moran said to Beverly, while examining her PADD. "I'll let you look these over, but I'm not seeing anything alarming. Do you want to know the sex of the baby?"
"You know that?" Jean-Luc asked.
Dr. Moran smiled.
"It wasn't clear in the scan," she said, "but the blood test confirms it. Do you want to know?"
"No," Beverly said. It was the exact moment that Jean-Luc said "Yes."
They looked at each other.
"You don't want to know?" He asked.
"I would prefer to be surprised," she said. "Dr. Moran can remove that information from any copies she sends to me. I think—I'd like the surprise. Or, at the very least, I'd like some time to think about it."
"I could tell you," she offered to Jean-Luc.
He looked disappointed enough that Beverly almost wanted to go back on what she'd said. She didn't care either way, really. She honestly just wanted a little while to sit with this pregnancy—especially now that she was feeling better—and enjoy some of the better points of it. One of those, she remembered from when she'd been pregnant with Wesley, had been daydreaming about whether it would be a boy or a girl. She hadn't had time to do that, yet.
"No," Jean-Luc said. "I respect Beverly's wishes. And I wouldn't wish to inadvertently tell her the sex of the baby before she's ready to have that information disclosed."
"What if—I send it to you," Dr. Moran offered, "and both of you could decide when and if you think it's the right time?"
Beverly smiled and nodded when Jean-Luc made eye contact with her.
"I think that's a wonderful idea," she confirmed.
"It's also time to start thinking about your birth preferences," Dr. Moran said. "If you haven't already started thinking about it."
Jean-Luc blanched with that statement. Even the young nurse who barely seemed to want to make eye contact with him could have seen it from across the room if the curtain hadn't impeded her view of things.
"Isn't it a little early for such things?" Jean-Luc asked, clearly waiting until he was sure of his voice.
"No," Dr. Moran said. "It's never too early to have an idea of what Dr. Crusher would prefer. Of course, the baby always dictates things, so we understand that the plan is subject to change, but it doesn't hurt to know what Dr. Crusher would like in a perfect scenario."
"Wesley was delivered without complications," Beverly offered. "I'm hoping for such an uneventful delivery this time, as well. I'll think about it, and we can discuss it. I want to take into consideration your areas of comfort as my doctor."
"You tell me what works for you, and I'll adapt," Dr. Moran said. "As long we both agree that, in the end, it's the baby that's going to make most of the decisions."
Beverly laughed.
"I'll never deny that," she said.
Beverly promised, again, to consider her preferences. She and Jean-Luc both thanked Dr. Moran for her time, and they thanked her for the holo-images that she would have delivered to both of them when they were replicated.
Then, Beverly dressed and left sickbay. Jean-Luc waited for her just outside.
"You're off-duty, Doctor?" He asked, meeting her in the hallway.
She smiled to herself. In sickbay, wearing a teal gown, and allowing for the scan of their child, she was Beverly. Outside the sickbay doors, within earshot of passing crew members, she was Dr. Crusher.
The truth about the baby's parentage hadn't made the rounds yet, but it soon would. Beverly knew—and she knew that Jean-Luc knew, that it would be better if they were to spread the news, themselves, rather than wait for it to spread, particularly if they wanted to control any of the presentation of said news. Still, they hadn't taken the time to sit and discuss exactly what they might feel comfortable saying to the crew. Beverly was happy to let Jean-Luc handle that however he saw fit, but she did think it might be prudent to remind him that, soon, someone else was likely to figure things out and make the announcement if he didn't—and the Enterprise, though a large ship, was very small when it came to the speed at which news could travel.
"I am," Beverly said.
"May I invite you to dinner, Doctor?" Jean-Luc asked.
Beverly smiled at him, but playfully drew back the smile, as though she had to sincerely consider the offer. She'd considered inviting him to dinner, really, so he'd saved her the trouble.
"I'll have to check my engagements," she teased.
"Of course," Jean-Luc said, a hint of a smile coming through. "But—should you find that you're not engaged in other, more worthwhile endeavors, when would you prefer to dine?"
"1800 hours?" Beverly asked.
"I will see you then," Jean-Luc said. "I look forward to it. In the meantime, Doctor, enjoy your leisure time."
Beverly thanked him, and she lingered just a moment in the corridor. She watched him leave before she turned her attention to deciding how she might spend the rest of her afternoon.
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AN: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is reading. I'm really enjoying developing this universe.
I have intentions to start introducing some Jean-Luc-centric/POV chapters, and I'm going to ask for a little grace in advance because I've never written him before, so it's going to be a learning experience (as all of this is) for me. (In a side note, I might also be planning another future fic that's super not-canon for these two.)
At any rate, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please don't forget to let me know what you think!