Great Expectations
Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 8:46am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Emilie Temple
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:51pm
Mission:
Into the Wild
Location: Deck 2 - Senior Crew Quarters
Timeline: After Christmas Party
A Mission Post by Captain Nycolas Temple & Emilie Temple
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Deck 2 - Senior Crew Quarters
Timeline: After Christmas Party
Mon Jan 1st, 2018 @ 6:24am
Emilie Temple was lying down on the bed as she listened to husband Nyx negotiating with Katrine in her bedroom next door. Both parents were tired after a long day - Nyx in particular was looking forward to getting some sleep after his stressful but ultimately happy day. However, with the news that their little family was about to grow by one, there was still an air of nervous excitement between the two. They hadn’t been able to talk much about the news while at the Christmas party, and this would be their first time alone together since either of them found out Emilie was expecting.
Of course, Katrine was doing her best to prolong her evening.
“But daaad.” She whined.
“I’ll let you keep the costume on but you have to take off the head.” He was saying.
“But then I won’t be a snowman. I’ll be half a snowman. It’ll look funny.” Their daughter protested sleepily.
“You can’t sleep with the mask on sweetie, it’s not safe.” Nyx gently said, “Come on now, you’ve had a fun night and if you don’t fall asleep now, the Julemanden won’t come.”
“But what if he won’t find us here?” Katrine asked as she slowly got underneath the covers.
“He finds every kid.” Nyx replied with a sigh. “He’s got very advanced long range scanners and warp factor one hundred on his sleigh.”
Emilie waited with a smile for Nyx to finish putting Katrine to bed and she nodded thankfully at him as he entered, holding the snowman head aloft victoriously.
“Finally!” He declared, throwing the costume onto a nearby chair. “I may have promised her extra chocolates though in exchange for her compliance.”
Emilie laughed at the news, “Some Starfleet tough guy you are.” She remarked playfully. “Computer, lights off.”
As the bedroom dimmed into darkness, Nyx collapsed down onto the bed next to her, and placed an arm lazily across her stomach. He smiled, “I’m like putty to that girl of ours.” He sank his head, face down, into the pillow and resigned himself to sleeping like this for a while.
“When do you think we should tell her about... becoming a big sister?” Emilie wondered aloud.
“Well, I already thought of that.” Nyx replied, turning his head slightly so he could talk. “And Ignatius is making her a tshirt that says ‘Big Sister, on it. I was hoping to give it to her tomorrow sometime.”
Emilie smiled, “That’s so sweet. Maybe after our field trip?”
“Sounds good.” Came Nyx’s muffled reply.
“I hope Iggy doesn’t mind being contracted into doing these tasks for us. First the blanket, now this.” Emilie said with worried tone.
Nyx shrugged, “He was grateful for the work, I think. Not much call for his services while we’re in the middle of a mission.”
Em nodded and looked down to her husband. His hair was falling about his face, finally freed after a long time pulled together while Nyx was on duty. She carefully moved a strand of his dark locks out of his face and he opened his eyes to look at her, a smile forming on his lips.
“So, round two, eh?” He asked with a smirk. “Are we ready for this?”
Emilie laughed, “Not at all. We’re going to need to move some furniture around so we can get a cot in here. And we’ll need change table and baby bath. Clothes, diapers, toys. All of Katrina’s old baby stuff is back on Earth, so we’ll have to ask your mother to send it to us somehow. Or replicate more.”
Nyx buried his face back into the pillow again, “I’d forgotten how much stuff babies need.”
“And we’ll need a nurse,” Emilie continued, “I want to work still, so we’ll need help.”
At this, Nyx lifted his head again. He was going to speak but then decided against it and closed his mouth.
“When the baby gets too big for the cot, we’ll need to either add on another room or ask Katrine to share.” Ems continued, running through her long mental checklist as she stared at the ceiling. “I can see Katrine sharing for a little while but the age difference will make it difficult eventually. Assuming we’re still on the Pandora.”
“Of course we will be. It’s my ship.” Nyx remarked. He lazily pointed to the port window on the opposite wall. “I’ll ask Engineering to build an extension out that way. It’ll stick out from the hull some and may effect the aerodynamics of the ship but they’ll make it work.”
Looking at the window and picturing the absurdity of Nyx’s suggestion, Emilie couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re not sticking my baby in an extension off the hull.”
Nyx laughed into his pillow too, before replying, “Fine. We’ll get Ops to reconfigure the quarters at our next service.”
Emilie let out a sigh, “Raising two kids under five on a starship won’t be easy.”
“I know,” Nyx replied, moving his arm to stroke her stomach, “We’ll find a way, we always do.”
She nodded as she tried to reconcile all that needed to be done in her head, and finally gave a shrug. “Reality is sinking in.” She commented, “There was the excitement of finding out, the excitement of finding a way to tell you, and now... Boom. Reality.”
Nyx pulled himself up and frowned at her. “No, no, let’s stay in the excitement bubble for a while longer. There’s still telling my parents. And brother. And then the crew. There’s like a whole series of announcements still to come.”
“We shouldn’t really tell anyone else for another couple of weeks,” Emilie replied, “I’m only ten weeks now, they say to wait until twelve weeks.”
“Oh that’s just an old superstition,” Nyx scoffed, “Besides, if we tell Katrine, she’s not going to be able to keep it a secret. That girl will be telling everybody she meets.”
“Okay... Maybe just Shae, Cailus, and Owen?” Emilie suggested, “I’m sure they figured something was up already after tonight.”
“Probably.” Nyx replied.
The two just lay together for a while, Nyx still lightly rubbing Emilie’s stomach, thinking about the baby growing inside. Emilie closed her eyes again, trying to shut out the ever growing To Do list.
“It’s a girl, you know.” He finally spoke.
“What?” Emilie laughed, looking across at him with skepticism. “How do you know?”
“A father can just tell.” Nyx shrugged matter of factly. “It’s my lot in life to be surrounded by strong, smart, wonderful women.”
Emilie shook her head, though couldn’t stop smiling, “If you say so.”
Nyx looked over to Emilie, and though she was smiling now there was still a deep consternation in her eyes. That damned reality again.
“You know,” He spoke gently, now turning on his back. “We never really returned to the discussion of having more kids since that last time back home. This has just kind of... happened.”
“Because you can’t keep your hands off me.” Emilie returned quickly.
Nyx let out a belly laugh, “True, True.”
“If I remember correctly,” Emilie said, “You wanted more, and I didn’t want to be raising these babies by myself. Goodness knows Katrine is a handful on her own. I also didn’t want the kids growing up without knowing their father. And I wanted to work, to have a career and my own achievements.”
At this, Nyx grimaced as he remembered the terse conversation. “Yes. That’s what it boiled down to... But hey, I guess we solved those problems already. We’re on the Pandora together, father is present, and you’ve got a new career.”
“I suppose we did,” Emilie nodded, “In the way that we usually solve things, waiting until the last minute and diving straight in.”
Nyx reached over and grabbed her hand and their fingers intertwined together. Emilie leaned over and kissed Nyx on the cheek then rested her head against his broad shoulder.
“We’re together, that’s all that matters to me.” Nyx said softly as he closed his eyes. “I know this family will be okay because of that. No matter how many more kids we have.”
Emilie reared back her head and shot a look at her husband that even the darkness couldn’t conceal. “Excuse me? Two kids is plenty.”
Nyx just patted her hand with a mischievous smile. “We’ll see.”
OFF
