You Work Too Hard

Posted on Tue Sep 6, 2016 @ 10:47am by Commander Caden Aldrex & Civilian Sigrún Aronsdottir & Commander Amia Telamon M.D.

1,561 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Interlude - Day 2
Location: XO/CMO's joint quarters.
Timeline: MD 02 - 1800

[ON]

Amia was sitting on her own finishing off the chocolates she had almost completely consumed and feeling a bit sick as a result of that gorging.

She got up with some effort. It was getting more of a struggle the heavier she got but she didn't want to admit this so she stubbornly strained and then had to repair a tweak in her lower back. That was the advantage of having a med-kit on your sideboard. It was quickly fixed and she went back to putting the dishes into the recycler. She dropped in the dinner she had made hopefully for Cade but which sat there untouched as she had eaten hers alone.

To be fair, he had said he was probably going to have to work late but she had hoped optimistically that he might be a little bit early or that she might be able to wait until a later than the usual time for her own dinner but as usual, that was more optimistic than realistic and she couldn't complain at him because he had said.

It didn't really seem to help much, and knowing that she was in the wrong to be disappointed when he had been clear all along, was pretty self-destructive but it was just that she had told all her woes to Mai'ya on the Vid-chat and she had said as much as she dared to Liam, careful not to place him in a difficult 'pig in the middle' position, she also knew that he was deeply involved in his own situation, what with his brother here and that new relationship he had described.

Amia was sad that Liam hadn't hit it off with Sigrun. She would have liked that particular pairing for a purely selfish purpose and she knew that Cade would have liked it to work too. Sigrun..... what was she up to?

Amia's hand stopped, just about to recycle the unclaimed extra dessert in an effort to stop herself from pigging out more by removing it from existence (and hopefully herself from temptation all in one movel!). She had already eaten one of her own but she wouldn't mind a second..... (too late! It had won and was clearly staying... well until it faced being digested, at least).

Anyway...... what if Sig was free? No harm in a pair of ears that hadn't already been bent and Sig was overdue to come around and keep Amia amused with some gossip. Surely? What were friends for if not to come round and tell a person what was happening in the wide Universe? (and be a good excuse to knock up a couple more desserts?)

=^= Telamon to Captain ...... Arronsdottir =^= she almost used Sig's married name by mistake. The name 'Captain Riley' was on the tip of her tongue, because that was how she always thought of Sig. It would have been a very hurtful mistake and Amia kicked herself mentally. ~I'm getting baby-brain already~ she thought wearily.

*****
Sigrun's ship, the Starlight Innovator, had just finished mooring at the station's outer docking ring when the comm channel opened. Sigrun nodded silently to her first mate, who nodded back that he would finish the engine shutdown procedures on his own. Retrieving her hand-held communicator from her shirt pocket she walked aft towards her quarters. "Hi, Amia! Are you telepathic? How did you know I just got back?"

*****

=^= It's a BaKu trait, not much publicised... telepathy... well, a bit of telekinesis actually, I willed your ship to dock! Simple as that! =^= Amia joked. It really was a coincidence and a lovely one at that. She had just imagined Sigrun would still be on the Station but on reflection that was a bit of a long shot and a rather silly, unreasonable assumption, but here she was... wonderful timing!

=^= so you're just on your way round for dinner then? =^= she continued the jocular banter but with a serious undertone. She was actually very happy to knock up some supper for Sig (not to mention the extra, extra puddings!).

=^= I'm just making some for Cade who will be back somewhen later. It'd be no trouble at all to add a morsel or two for you as well? =^=

*****
Sigrun smiled. "That sounds wonderful, actually. I'm not in the mood for replicator or restaurant tonight. Are you sure it's not any trouble?" She opened the door to her tiny cabin and went in. A quick glance at the full-length mirror told her she should probably shower first. With a flourish she pulled down the zipper on her flight coveralls.

*****

=^= Not at all. I'd be glad of the company =^= Amia replied to the rhetorical question just as the connection closed. She sighed. Perhaps it was her. She was busy herself too and perhaps she was as equally distracted by her work as everyone around her clearly was. She resolved to make a huge effort to widen her awareness of those who might be getting swept along by her own 'busy' life-current.

It was all about to change anyway, she thought as she set about preparing some fresh dinner (and desserts!). She tried to think what Sigrun's favourite foods were and kept coming up with what she remembered Riley saying he liked. She got a terrible pang.

~How must that feel?~ she wondered with a big dose of guilty tipping itself over her suddenly like icy water. ~What if I were the one who'd been widowed?~ It wasn't as if that couldn't happen. The Spirits knew, it was a danger she (and Cade, of course, since he was the one in the danger) faced on an almost weekly basis. Then there was the automatic thought for her child that shadowed right behind everything in her mind these days. ~What if..... ?? Tiny baby girl with no daddy????~ her throat closed in horror.

Stopping in her tracks, the mixing spoon mid-air and frozen by the dreadful thought, Amia was suddenly snapped out of her previous mood of the he used to spend more time with me, now it feels like he's avoiding me paranoid worries and thrown headfirst into something much more real and terrifying.

~What if I lost him? What if we lost him?~ It had happened to Sigrun. ~but at least Sig had no child to have to raise alone.....how would that be worse? Perhaps it would be a comfort to still have a part of Riley left in a child, to care for and to help her through the emptiness? What if.....~ It was too horrible to contemplate. Something self-defensive shut down on that train of thought somehow. Maternal protection of the baby said Amia couldn't let herself go down that mental route of possibilities which may (please the Spirits?) never happen.

Instead, Amia now poured love and devotion into the meal she had started to prepare. This was for Sig who somehow was coping with the unthinkable, the unbearable, the worst case scenario. It was also for Cade who was the foundation-stone of her life, the centre of her existence and the father of her unborn child. ~Who cares if he doesn't come home in time for dinner and I have to throw it away and make another? .....at least the man does actually come home! Poor Riley. Poor Sigrun. Poor Cade!!~

By the time the second dinner was almost ready, one or both of the two recipients of all this love and protectiveness from Amia, would be at the door. She was going to mow them down with hugs! And after that, she was NEVER going to be cross with Cade again EVER! Her head even nodded emphatically to an empty room as if to seal her resolution.

Somewhere deep inside the surge of swirling love, guilt, worry and generally confused extremes, a tiny voice of reason said quietly: "Not until tomorrow at least, and the next rush of baby-blues or hormonal highs!" somewhere inside Amia Soren-Telamon, a competent, well-respected doctor knew what was happening but was helpless to curb or even side-track the white-water ride of pregnancy.

The baby began to pace the room and the CMO had no choice but to go along too. The quiet inner voice wondered absently if they would be sensible to protect the floor covering here, since it was clear that a rut was going to develop over the next few..... well, years, probably.

The front door whooshed open and Cade entered. As soon as it closed behind him he unzipped his uniform down the front, breathing a sigh of relief to be free of the constricting collar. He was worn out from the day's work, as usual. But when he saw Amia the corner of his lip twisted into a weary smile. "Hey," he said. "How was your day?"

She melted at the long awaited, much desired sight of him. Throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck she just kissed him, sighed with feeling and laid her head on his chest, sticking closely locked in his arms and silently just soaking up being with him. With the stress from her mother just falling away, little 'daddy's girl' in the making, also seemed to sigh and stop fretting too.

Tbc...

A JP Between:

Cmdr. Caden Aldrex
XO

and

Cmdr Amia Telamon
CMO - DS5

 

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