Still on Ice?
Post Season 6
Naomi rested her head on Jim's chest, tracing patterns on his bare skin. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and pulled her a little closer to his side.
"Can I ask you something?" Naomi asked softly.
"Of course," Jim murmured, running his hand up and down her arm.
"Do you remember, after Eros, when you and Miller were both hooked up to Autodocs?" she said.
"Feels like a lifetime ago, but yeah," Jim chuckled, "Though, to be honest, I don't remember much from the first couple days."
"You were pretty out of it," Naomi conceded, "But when I pit your injection port in, do you remember what I told you?"
"You said we'd have them for the rest of our days," Holden said, thinking back, "And that we wouldn't be able to procreate."
"And you said you had put some of your little swimmers on ice in the navy," she said.
"I don't think I used the word little," he said teasingly and Naomi rolled her eyes.
"Anyway," she said, "Do you… I mean… Are they still on ice?"
He tilted his head down to try and look at her, but Naomi wouldn't meet his eyes.
"Are you… Do you want a baby?" he asked, "Do you want us to have a baby?"
Naomi sat up slowly and looked at Holden. He could see how nervous she was and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"I know it's not something we've ever really talked about," she said, "Our lives have been so crazy and we've been in so many life-or-death situations it wasn't even something we could consider. But now the war is over, and things have calmed down a bit. And I just thought… maybe if you wanted to…"
She felt unnaturally nervous. She never had any issues speaking to Jim before, but this conversation was so different to anything they'd spoken about before.
"Hey," Jim said softly, sitting up and resting a hand on her cheek. She looked at him and saw he was smiling.
"I'll call the facility tomorrow and make sure they still have them," he told her, "And then we'll find out what the next steps will be."
She stared at him, her mouth forming an 'o' shape.
"Are you saying you want a baby?" she asked.
"I've been thinking about it for a while," he admitted with a sheepish grin, "I didn't want to say anything cause I didn't know how you'd feel about it."
She felt a lump in her throat at his words. He was so thoughtful, so considerate of her feelings and her history.
"I miss Filip every day," she said softly, "And for a long time I never thought I'd want another baby. It felt like I was trying to replace him."
"No one can replace him," Jim said gently.
"I know," she nodded, "And I know now that if we had a baby, we wouldn't be trying to replace him. I also know if you and I had a baby, it would be totally different than before. I'd never worry that our child wouldn't be safe with you, or that you'd take them away from me. Instead of being scared or worried, the idea of you with our child makes me happy and excited. The idea of you holding them or feeding them, teaching them things… I want that for us."
Jim's eyes were shining as he smiled widely at her. He leaned forward and kissed her.
"I love you so much," he said, "And I can't wait to see you be a mother to our child."
She chuckled softly, wrapping her arms around him. Her nervousness was replaced with excitement as she thought about what the future might bring and what her and Jim's baby would be like.
I love The Expanse so much and this is my first time delving into writing fanfic for it
I have lots of ideas for fics and am excited to write more.
Thanks for reading!