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Side Sim: Fleet-Moor Quarters - Childcare

Posted Sept. 27, 2021, 1:13 a.m. by Lieutenant Rovan Moor (Chief Engineer) (David Shotton)

Posted by Civilian Allison Fleet (Civilian) in Side Sim: Fleet-Moor Quarters - Childcare

Posted by Lieutenant Rovan Moor (Chief Engineer) in Side Sim: Fleet-Moor Quarters - Childcare

Posted by Civilian Allison Fleet (Civilian) in Side Sim: Fleet-Moor Quarters - Childcare
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Allison opened her eyes blearily, hearing the stirs of an infant in the moments before it began to cry. It was incredible how attuned to their various moods she had become. Incredible and also very annoying. She barely got any sleep. Ah well. Duty calls, as they say. She pulled the covers off her side of the bed, throwing them onto Rovan and wandering across the room to the twin’s crib.

It was Sophie. Of course it was Sophie. Allison lifted her little girl from the crib and held her close, bouncing the infant slightly against her body while she walked over to the small fridge that they’d requested for the room. Allison opened it up, illuminating the room for a moment as she tugged a small bottle of milk from inside the fridge, then closed it. She’d been warned of Ktarian baby teeth and didn’t feel like worrying about that late at night.

She didn’t want to disturb Rovan’s sleep, but she needed light, so she turned on a little yellow nightlight they kept near the desk, bouncing Sophie slightly to keep her calm and content while she pulled out the tiny camping stove and pot that had also been allowed special for them. She poured water into the pot, put the bottle down into the water, and began to heat it to body temperature, pacing the room a little as she waited. She tested it every now and then by squeezing some of the milk out onto her wrist. When the milk was warm, she turned off the camp stove and put away the pot of water.

Allison adjusted her grip on Sophie, who had predictably stopped fussing as soon as Mama lifted her up, and approached her with the bottle. Big yellow eyes stared up at the bottle as it approached, and the infant quickly grasped onto it with chubby fingers while her lips latched around the nipple of the milk bottle. Allison still found it amazing how quickly Sophie and Kasper were developing in comparison to human children. It partially made up for the 18 month pregnancy that Rovan had forgotten to mention until after they found out that she was pregnant.

Allison, Sleepy Mother

Rovan had heard, no felt Allison stirring and getting up to Sophie although full awakening eluded him for a time. At least until the gentle hum of the bottle being warmed and Sophie’s gentle gurgles of contentment in Allison’s arms had hushed as she took the bottle. It was then that the quiet made him open his eyes. The balance of the bed was different, the covers over him heavier and he knew immediately that Allie was awake and up. The gentle glow of yellow light from somewhere behind him also gave it away as his eyes lifted from the pillow to the wall beside the bed, and he rolled over so he could see better.

From this angle, he could see them both and smiled. The image of the small girl in his Wife’s arms was something that only a few short years before he would never have imagined waking up to. It was something that had seemed so far away, almost impossible but here they were, Allison and Rovan and their family. Pushing himself softly into a sitting position his own yellow eyes found his daughter, attracted by the movement from the bed but far too absorbed in the bottle to do more than gurgle at him around the milk in her mouth. Standing up, he didn’t bother putting on a shirt before moving to ‘his girls’, the thicker skin of his torso clear in the soft light, as were the ridges above his eyes marking his Ktarian heritage. Sliding onto the sofa beside them he slid his arm around Allison and with his free hand brushed Sophie’s hair softly, giving Allison a soft kiss on the cheek. “Hungry again is she.” It was more of a statement than a question. “I’m surprised Kasper hasn’t demanded to be in on the action yet, maybe he was more worn out after his day of adventure.”

Picking up a soft toy from the sofa, a small stuffed pony with bright colours on it given to them by Allison’s family when the twins were born, Rovan playfully pretended to walk it up to Sophie and peck her on the nose with it, grinning as he watched her large yellow eyes almost cross as she watched it get closer and closer to her nose. Softly he gave Allison another kiss on the cheek, moment like these with his wife were rare enough that he wanted to make sure she knew he appreciated her and everything she did for their babies, and for him.

Rovan Moor, Daddy

Allison yawned to herself as Sophie drank, a finger running from the baby’s forehead down to the tip of her nose, following the soft ridge. Sophie let the bottle pop out of her mouth and let out quiet babbles at her mother, as if scolding her for interrupting before her mouth latched around the bottle again. Allison had to giggle at the behaviour, marveling at the child in her arms. She’d never thought she’d be a mother, and all those years on the Lonely Planet had done little to change her mind on that thought. She’d thought she was dead, in purgatory. Then the Genesis had lifted her from her physical prison, and Rovan had lifted her from her mental prison. She was still so grateful to him for helping her heal emotionally from her experiences, being the rock in her stormy sea.

Her ears picked up the rustle of sheets, and the soft footfalls as he stepped over to join them on the sofa, letting her head rest against his shoulder after he kissed her cheek. “Good morning, dear,” she whispered in reply. She leaned against him, continuing to cradle Sophie in her arms. Her brown eyes glanced over at him. It was hard to make out his features in the darkness of the quarters, but she didn’t have to see him to know what he looked like. The perfect memory her captors had given her made sure of that. When it came to remembering what her beloved Husband looked like, she didn’t mind the memory so much. “Good night might be more accurate. I haven’t checked the time…” she let out a wide yawn. “I’m quite glad Kasper hasn’t decided to join his sister. Feeding one of these troublemakers is enough for me, thank you very much…”

Allison chuckled at the play with the bright little pony toy, while Sophie gave her daddy something close to a glare as he had distracted her from the oh-so-important meal she was currently– wait where was the bottle? She started to complain but Allison had taken it away for good reason - it was empty and the baby’d start swallowing air soon enough if she hadn’t taken it away. Allison bounced Sophie in her arms, which immediately calmed her down again. Allie knew her baby well. “Come on, Sophie, you’ve had plenty. Now back to sleep for you.” She continued to lean against Rovan, turning her head to look at him with a soft smile on her face. What a miracle they’d made together, this little life. This little family. “I love you three more than the stars,” she muttered in Ktarian, one of the many languages she was fluent in.

Allison Fleet, Mommy

He kissed her softly in response, and no words were needed to convey the emotions and feelings he held for her in that kiss. “You know I am the luckiest man on the ship, right? I get to come home to you and these treasures every night.” He had used the Ktarian word as well, because the Ktarian language was generally more melodic than Federation Standard, it was one of the reason’s Ktarian music festivals were so popular, the language turned already beautiful words into something more. Of course, he also joked at times that it made arguments more pleasant than they should have been.

Running his fingers through Sophie’s hair once again, he smiled as she yawned in reaction. “That’s it, flower, time to sleep. Mommy needs hers too. Let me put her back to bed,” He said to Allison, and held out his hands to take her, “go hop back into bed love, I’ll put her down to sleep and check the other little monster.”

Rovan Moor, Daddy

Thank you, love,” Allison muttered tiredly, doing the baby hand-off and kissing Sophie’s forehead, then Rovan’s cheek, her eyes already closed. She retreated to the bed, sliding over to Rovan’s side since it was warmer than hers.

Sophie gurgled, looking up at her daddy with sleepy eyes which closed a few moments later.

Allison, Mommy

Smiling softly and biting his lip trying to keep his motions gentle, Rovan stood from the couch and moved step by step to the crib where Sofie slept and next to where Kasper lay, still sound asleep. He didn’t put her down straight away, instead he starting singing very softly in Ktarian. An old song his mother on the Jaagar sang to him when he was an infant. The song was long, it spoke of moons and stars, clouds and oceans, forests and animals. Family and love. As Rovan sang, he walked around the room gently rocking Sophie as she drifted into sleep.

Pausing slightly by a mirror Rovan looked into it, smiling at the image of himself holding his child in his arms, and he looked down again at the sleeping infant in wonder at what Allison and himself had made. Letting his eyes drift back to himself in the mirror, the face of Traylin watched him out of the glass. The surprise of seeing that face didn’t stop his singing, nor did it blunt his joy of holding his daughter in his arms. That face hadn’t been in his dreams or thoughts for a long time, but Rovan knew it was always there. The difference, was now Traylin no longer controlled him. That cause was done and now Rovan had a new life.

Carrying the sleeping child back to her crib he placed her down gently, arranging the blankets so that they wouldn’t come loose as he finished his song. Softly giving Sophie a final goodnight kiss and doing the same to the fast asleep Kasper, Rovan turned for the bed and noted Allie was still on his side. Smiling wider now, he returned to bed himself and slid in under the covers beside her. His arm found a gap between her pillow and the bed and his other arm wrapped around her body as he moved his chest against her back, and kissed his sleepy wife behind the ear. “Goodnight love,” he said, back in English this time. Letting her warmth warm him up now, he rested his head on his own pillow. Sleep was a long time coming however. It wasn’t uncertainty of the future that kept him awake, more, anticipation.

Rovan, Daddy


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