STF

Happy Thanksgiving and Welcome to the Family...Baby Harland

Posted July 1, 2021, 2:13 a.m. by Lieutenant Nathan Harland (Counselor) (Steven Sigle)

Posted by Ensign Chloe Harland (Nurse) in Happy Thanksgiving and Welcome to the Family…Baby Harland

Posted by Lieutenant Nathan Harland (Counselor) in Happy Thanksgiving and Welcome to the Family…Baby Harland

Posted by Ensign Chloe Harland (Nurse) in Happy Thanksgiving and Welcome to the Family…Baby Harland
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
SNip
“So can I help you with anything,” Tiffany said coming to the door and sparing a side glance at Nathan before looking at Chloe. It did not take a doctor to see that Chloe seemed to be distracted and it was obvious that that something was.

“Sure take the corn and potatoes in,” she handed the bowls to Nathan’s ex tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Glancing back at Nathan almost nervously, she leaned in to whisper something to Chloe. “I think you need to follow me in the next room.” The secretive nature of Tiffany’s eye gaze and the low tone of her voice put Chloe on edge along with the next sentence she uttered. “Oh I know you are just about to serve dinner but our dad is asking if he can get more coffee,” Tiffany said to Nathan. “Cream no sugar,” she stated as if Nathan had no idea. “and he hoped you make a small side of that jumbayla you are so famous for. You know the one you that night in high school that gave the choir indigestion because of their weak constitutions.” The way Tiffany laughed showed it was a happy memory between them before she ushered Chloe out of the kitchen.

“Wait… no… I don’t have time for this do you not see us working?” Nathan said with a puzzled look as he picked up the bowl of green bean casserole that had been laid out for him as he shook his head as he watched the pair leave.

Chloe could not do much but follow the woman out of the kitchen. “Did you just say our,” she looked at Tiffany before feeling the woman point across the room as Mara let out a sharp squeal followed by a loud woof. Chloe’s mouth dropped open as she watched a huge Great Dane puppy take out Mara and begin to slather her with kisses.

“Who brought the dog,” her eyes widened as Logan exited the kitchen and made a beeline towards the large puppy knocking over random things with his tail as if he were a Scotsman doing the highland charge. As if knowing they were talking about him, the overactive puppy came bounding at Chloe. It was not hard to miss the large bow around his neck and the shiny collar that said Harland.

Chloe

“Daddy…Daddy…we gots us a puppy,” Mara pushed the dog off her and began to run towards Nate exiting the kitchen with a steaming casserole dish. “I wanna name him Scooby,” she screamed running full speed across the room. If she was going to get a chance to name him, she had to get to her Daddy before Logan. Part of her felt bad for a second that Logan wouldn’t talk but all was fair in love and the naming of the new dog.

Oh we get to run. I love to run the puppy said as he ran towards the small girl. He had no idea where he was running but it felt good to stretch his legs. It was also fun dodging the people. This place was going to be so much fun. Far better than the small crate he often was relegated to because of what Jen called counter surfing. It was so confusing as to why the hairless ones could set their food on small tables but he was not able to eat the same way all the time. His food was on a small table with his name on it and everything. Since he never saw a name on the coffee table or end table it only made sense that it was free to whoever got to it first. Sparing a side glance at the huge table to the right, he thought about checking it out but right now the little one with the pigtails was far more fun to chase.

“Mara, care,” Chloe’s voice trailed off as Mara blew past her followed but a large, brown bemouth. The space was so small and with so many people there was not a lot of room to maneuver as Mara in her blind fury hip check Chloe at the knees with all the grace and beauty of tight end like on the holovision.

Nathan came out as he saw the dog as it became to circle all around him as he paused to not hit the animal. “What… who let this beast in?” Nathan said as he began to navigate past Tiffany and his wife that had suddenly seemed to think it was a good place to stop in the middle of the road as his Uncle used to say.

“Daddy I wuv him. He wuvs me. He neeeeeeeeeeeeds me,” Mara slammed into his legs right at the knee not caring what her dad was doing or carrying. Grabbing a fist full of his cargo pants, she pulled hard trying to climb up him to look at his face. It was the only way Mara was sure he was paying attention to her. It was a character flaw she had retained from earlier as she grew. Of all the Harland children, only Mara had taken to yanking on Nate’s legs or pants to gain his attention. When she was two it was cute. Now that she was getting bigger, it was becoming more problematic especially when he was in athletic shorts or pants without a belt.

“One second Mara baby girl…” Nathan said as he looked down at his daughter with a small smile that quickly vanished. He didn’t have time and felt like everything was going way too fast for him to process everything at once. “Who’s dog is this?” Nathan grumbled as he couldn’t even figure out where the puppy showed up from. This gave Nathan flashbacks to how he met Chloe, well for the second of three times. In their tumultuous romance, there had been three major events, shrouded in mystery, that had defined them.

The first was a winter ball, where Nathan had played a gig with his band as a senior in a rival High School of where Chloe went to. Nathan had broken up with his girlfriend in the middle of the set, which leads Nathan to find a masked Chloe sitting lonely in a corner. Neither of them could see each other’s face, as they sat and talked before Nathan was hauled off to jail for smashing the trophy case in a fit of rage at his ex. Unbeknownst to them, this began their romance as Chloe kissed Nathan as he left before either could tell each other anything about themselves.

The next event though, had the pair once again unaware of the other as they wrote challenges for each other during a Christmas break while they both were in Starfleet. In one part of the challenge, Nathan was dared by Chloe to go to an animal shelter and get all of the dogs, most of whom had issues of one kind or another, new homes. This had been an adventure on its own but despite everything, it ended with neither of them knowing who each other was till many months later as Nathan pieced all of it together as they graduated from the Academy.

Moving next to Chloe he tried to get into the dining room just as the dog decided it was the right time to run through his legs as Nathan began to lose balance.

White bowl…white bowl…white bowl. Dinner time, the puppy barked feeling a sense of euphoria. Play, dinner, and the promise of a warm bed to stretch his legs and sleep away a full belly: this was the best home ever. God it smells good ....dad....I can call you dad right, the puppy looked up and up and up. Wow you are so tall. No wonder why she is trying to climb you like Boris the cat climbs a tree. Lemme help you Mara, the puppy said pushing his way forward and between the man’s legs so that Mara could get a boost up.

“Nathan,” Chloe reached out clasping a hand around Nate’s forearm trying to help him stay upright. A sharp bolt of pain ricocheted through her body and Chloe dug her nails into her arm. Not now. Not now, she said silently putting a hand below her belly as she held her breath while simultaneously trying to breathe through the contraction. Unfortunately for Chloe, there was no going back at this point.

“Woah … wahhh.” Nathan said as he tried to keep himself upright before he began to regain balance.

A loud piercing squeal added to the cacophony as the puppy felt a weight slowly lowering on him. Dad…dad I can’t hold…you, he squealed out in a panic as the large man holding his dish began to tetter and wobble. Don’t move…I got it. I can…get....it, the puppy lept forward attempting to get behind him to push Nate upright. The problem was his new found father was not cooperating and was going to fall on him if he was not careful. It was then he felt a watery substance below his feet.

“That was close…” he Nathan said as he winked at Chloe as he took the next step as his feet hit the puddle that now laid under him as his legs went flying out from under him as he began what Chloe often described as all limbs. As if it was a symphony of diaster the casserole began to fly out into the air as beans and onions began to splatter on the wall behind them as Nathan hit the floor at a force that some could have sworn they heard cracking.

“Oh my god,” Jen yelled flying up and moving towards the chaos of Nate sprawled out on the floor.

“Ole,” Dax screamed throwing his hands into the air like a touch down. “Its what we say when we drop something at the restaurant we work at,” he mentioned to Molly. Rolling her eyes she moved from the couch along with her grandma to help her uncle. “Molly…babe does this mean dinner is gonna be late?”

“Nathan....are you okay,” Chloe asked not helping as she fought back trying to show how close the contractions were now.

“I’m fine…” Nathan said as he began to try to get back up, but found the puddle was all around him.

“Oh my god the puppy piddled,” Jen’s face corkscrewed into a scowl.

Woman I would never, the puppy looked at her in disgust as his tongue slipped out of his mouth and licked a mushroom soup green bean off the wall. I have…stan…dards, he slurped up another one and chewed as he talked. While I am a canine I am not an animal. Why would I piddle and make my father wallow around in it like…god what is this, he chomped more licking more and more off the walls and floor. It was a pity that the long limbed man had not placed the dish on the floor yet there was not reason to waste this scrumdiddilious dinner.

“Are you sure,” Dax asked leaning over the couch and shoving a chip into his mouth as he watched the event with rapt fascination. “Looks like puppy pee.”

“No… it’s not dog urine… it’s.” Nathan paused as he put his finger in the liquid as he put it to his lips as his eyes got wide. “It’s amniotic fluid…” Nathan said with a wide expression as he looked up at Chloe.

Chloe continued to breathe through pursed lips not able to answer as the contractions were becoming closer now with her water broken. Holding up a finger she timed the contraction in her head. “We…are good. Plenty of…tie,” she took another deep breath and started to count slowly down from ten. This wasn’t her first baby so Chloe knew the routine. Reaching forward she stuck out her hand trying to help Nate up. If she could just make it appear like things were normal, everyone would believe it. That was her job as a nurse. To convince everyone of the reality she needed to project.

“Molly if this is a family thing.... I am not doing that when you have a baby,” Dax spun around on the couch and began to watch the game dipping another chip into the guacamole as his eyes stayed glued to the game on the Holovision.

“Sweetheart are you okay,” Jen asked completely ignoring her son-in-law as she pulled Chloe’s extended hand from Nate to her. “You look like you need to sit down. Drew,” she yelled out, “get Chloe a chair.”

The contractions were coming close to two minutes apart so the crest of the contraction just bled into the trough. A thin sheen of sweat was covering her forehead and her breathing was shorter and faster than normal.

“Baby?” Nathan said as he began to try to get up but slipped back down twice more before he finally regained his composure and uprightness as he looked at Chloe with a piercing gaze that seemed to contrast the fact he was covered in filth and baby fluid. “Why didn’t you say anything?” he said as he looked around.

“Because it is dinner time,” she licked her lips slowly. Chloe paused to take a breath and brush a lock of damp hair behind her ear. “I just need a second. All the excitement and these Braxton Hicks,” she avoided all eye contact with her husband. “Logan if you can get everyone to the table.”

“Okay okay… Logan, get Mommy’s bag, you know the one by our bed… Molly, you got the kids…” Nathan paused as he looked around, he had a house of potential babysitters this time. They had run drills and it always had Molly watching the kids as Nathan and Chloe head to the hospital. “Or anyone can watch them I don’t care at this point just we need to get to sickbay.”

Harland, CNS

“You don’t think they are Braxton Hicks?” Jen looked at Nathan with a furrowed brow. “Chloe is in labor? Chloe is in labor!” she repeated her sentence. “How did you not know this? Is it because you aren’t practicing anymore?” Placing her hand on Chloe’s back, Jen began to rub it gently. “Drew bring the care around. We need to get to the hospital.”

“Mom, we are on a starbase. There is no car and I am not in labor,” Chloe pushed her mother’s hand off her forcefully. “Everyone go sit and eat. If you want to help Mom get me my Sertraline. I just missed my last dose which is why I.....” Chloe stopped speaking as she pushed through the contraction. “Meredith if you can get the rolls and Dad get ready to say grace.” Chloe fought the urge to break down. She had to keep this together. She had kept things together for so long. It was an exhausting and anxiety-producing job but there were worse things in life. She had lived it once. Chloe vowed never to do it again. Seeing everyone just staring at her, Chloe let out a groan. “Meredith get the darn rolls,” she snapped holding her breath through a contraction.

“Uncle Nate,” Molly walked up to him looking concerned. While she was sixteen and growing up fast, the look she gave him showed her age. Molly was sixteen and scared. This was not like the drills they practiced.

“It’s okay Mol dear… we just need to get her to sickbay,” Nathan said as he moved to their bedroom. In their closest, he had kept folded up an older item but perfect for the emergency of this nature as he began to unfold the wheelchair as he put it out for her.

“Nathan,” Chloe looked up at her husband. Her hands and body were starting to tremble as the strength of the contractions began to increase. “Nathan?” She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. The world blotted out and the sounds of the room turned to white noise. They were the best team. They always had been. Nothing had been able to separate or stop them except that fateful day in January or maybe a day in November.

All eyes turned to settle on Nathan for answers.

Chloe

“Sit… now.” Nathan said as he waited for her to sit down as Logan came in with the bag for Nathan as he took it and wrapped it around his chest as he knelled down in front of Logan. “I love you, buddy, take care of your sister and cousin. You are in charge of the house…” he said with a small wink.

Logan looked up at his dad and beamed with a huge toothy grin. Even though he was old enough to understand what was going on, he needed a second to let his Dad know he had it taken care of. Grabbing onto Nathan’s waist, he hugged his Dad tightly for a second before moving back.

“Daddy…Daddy…Daddy,” Mara pulled at Nathan’s sleeve trying to break up the hug he was giving her brother. “It’s our puppy and he came like magic. I just cloz id my eyes like dis,” she shut them tight and scrunched up her nose, “and he was here ‘cause I wanted a puppy so bad. So we hafta keep him wight?” Now she had her hands clasped and was almost pleading with him as if waiting for some answer.

Finally, he turned around as Chloe got down in the chair. “Alright, out of our way unless you want to be run overcome on let’s get out of here.”

“But iffa you and mommy can get a baby from praying why can’t I gitta puppy by praying too? I pray every night like you do so why can’t I get a puppy and a baby?” Mara toddled after Nathan pressing the point. In her short almost three years here in the galaxy Mara Harland learned one thing: Chaos tended to make people confused and confused people said things without paying attention to them.

“She has a point,” Chloe laughed taking slow steadying breaths as they slowly moved toward the door. At a different time and place, Chloe would have leaned back and watched Nathan handle this. Mara was too smart for the stork but way too young for the birds and the bees. These were the moments that parents never thought about when they gave little white lies but made for the best stories years later.

“So can we keep Scooby,” Mara held onto Nathan trying to keep up as he headed for the door dodging people like a human game of Mario carts. The difference was there were a few people in the room Nathan probably would have no problem taking out and never looking back.

“How ‘bout you and I go make him a bed next to yours,” Molly said finally swooping in. If she hadn’t her uncle was probably going to run over Mara or yell. While her cousin had the best intentions, she was far to young to understand time was of the essence right now.

Few Moments Later

Sickbay wasn’t very busy, but his comm call on the way had alerted them of the emergency as he rolled Nathan in as he began to take a deep breath as he tried to calm his mind. You’ve done this three times before, it’s not a big deal. Nathan tried to tell himself, knowing that meant little. This was different, with Maddie… and the divorce, their lives were different even as they tried to get it back to normal.

Harland, CNS

“Bed five,” a nurse waved Nathan over to the area that was already prepped and ready. “I contacted Dr. Jones and he is already in the room,” she reported running a tricorder over Chloe to get her vitals as they moved to the designated area.

“Thank you…” Nathan said as he looked down at Chloe from his towering position behind her. He smiled a soft smile as he leaned in and kissed the top of her head before placing his hands on her shoulders. It was a soothing sensation she often loved, as long as one didn’t suddenly move in that was. Chloe had a habit of ‘turtling’ when people got to close to her neck without warning. The scene was to some an unattractive sight, drool, and what would seem like convulsions as she shrunk her head in and got locked into place to protect her neck. It was a defense mechanism she had never needed, but that wasn’t something you could tell her.

Right now though, with the pain coursing through her she knew that Nathan was trying to work a bit of tension from her shoulders, as he leaned into her to whisper closely. “I love you Clo Bell, always,” he said softly in her ear before kissing her once more on her cheek. “Let’s get her in.” Nathan said to the nurse as he began wheeling her into the private room they had begun to prepare for her.

Chloe looked around the room breathing through a contraction. At this point, they were coming at a steady two-minute clip, and without an epidural, the waves of pain were making it hard to focus. She needed to slow this down. “I need an epidural,” Chloe yelled out. “Also some Stadol to take the edge off.” She panted for the next few moments trying to get her breathing under control after shouting out orders like she was the one assisting the delivery instead of participating in it.

“Your contractions are too close for that,” the nurse said. “I know it’s hard but giving you something might slow things down.”

Chloe felt a panic rising in her chest. “Get me the stadol now,” she snapped grabbing the edge of bed three slowing down their forward progression. “I don’t care if I have to wait another two days for this baby to come,” she gripped the bed edge until her knuckles were white.

Looking up at Nathan the nurse reached into her pocket pulling the already prepped hypo hidden there. Chloe’s contractions were close but it was not like she was in hard labor. If she wanted to draw this out it wasn’t going to impact her. Pressing the hypo to Chloe’s arm, the expectant mother slowly let go of the bed as Dr. Jones strolled in.

“So we are gonna have a baby here,” the doctor said with a soft baritone drawl. His accent was hard to place. It felt muddled but at the same time soothing as if the man had been everywhere and anywhere picking up bits of culture which one could relate to.

“Yes,” Chloe responded with a grunt as Nate helped her move from the chair to the waiting medical bed, “but I need a moment alone with Nate.” Settling back onto the pillows, she took a deep breath letting her body find a rhythm to the labor. The discomfort was still there but with enough concentration, the stadol bought Chloe the few precious minutes she needed before the baby arrived.

“Uhhhhh,” Harrison’s voice rolled out in the room in disbelief as his eyes moved from Chloe to Nathan. “You do know that no matter how much medicine has progressed, babies come on their own time and schedule…right?” Pulling a stool over, he prepared for the exam to let him know exactly how far the labor had progressed and where mom and baby were in the process.

“Yes but I need a few…minutes.” Chloe felt her blood pressure rising. It was still within all normal limits for labor and delivery but she was feeling the weight of panic creeping back in as they placed the fetal heart monitor on her large belly. Familiar beeps, whistles, and hums indicated all was going as planned; yet, Chloe was ready. Placing her hand on her tummy, she willed the baby to stop and give her the precious five minutes she needed. “Nathan please get them to get out for a minute. Just one minute,” she put her other hand in his and let out a few moans as she squeezed it.

“Give her a spinal block instead of the epidural,” the doctor went about his business of delivering the baby ignoring Chloe slightly. It was not like they were in the dark ages anymore. While he could not give Chloe time in the delivery, he could make it painless.

“Jones I said stop,” Chloe snapped feeling the drugs taking effect. No longer did she feel the sharp pain. It was more pressure and the vibration of her muscles still contracting but their signals being blocked from her brain that would have had her unable to think or concentrate on anything but the baby being born. “I am not having this baby before I am ready!”

Harrison glanced at Nathan not sure what exactly was occurring here. Normally women were screaming to get the baby out and here was Chloe acting as if she had all day. “She is 100% effaced and is at nine centimeters. The transition typically lasts 30 minutes to 2 hours so you know as well as I do game time can happen anytime now,” Harrison looked at Nathan, not Chloe.

Chloe

“Doc… she isn’t going to listen to you at all… and I am not going to get between her and you… I value you my life, I have to go home with her after this… so just give her the time and I will monitor her signs and take notes while we talk.” Nathan said as he grabbed the tricorder from the table as he nodded for the man to give him a second as he turned back to Chloe. Finding a chair Nathan pulled it close to her as he sat down as he began to scan her.

“So… you want to talk? It’s a little too late for regrets from 9 months ago… not that I have any regrets love… not about you… or this baby.” Nathan said as he looked softly at her as he closed the tricorder for a second as he placed it down as he took her hand in his.

Harland, CNS

The spinal block had worked its magic and it was the magic bullet for labor and delivery. While not at long-lasting as the epidural, it provided immediate relief instead of the ten to twenty minutes an epidural could take to set in. She would take the chance that the baby would not be born in that amount of time to worry about a labor pain setting in. Now that Chloe no longer had to work on dividing her attention between trying to not have the baby in her living room and trying to talk to Nathan she could share the weight that had been crushing her for months. The monitors continued to beep, hum, and whistle but only in reaction to her blood pressure, heart rate, and that of the baby’s heart rate. Chloe closed her fingers around his hand holding it tightly. Her mind raced with how to start with what she wanted to say. She had rehearsed it numerous times, preparing for every possible response from Nathan yet there was no more guessing or rehearsing. Nathan would be free to say and do what he felt.

Chloe looked up at him meeting his gaze. It was intense and scrutinizing but due to confusion instead of anger. “It’s been so long since you looked at me like this,” she bit her lip to stop it from quivering. Whether it was the emotions or her body reacting to the impending labor didn’t matter. She needed Nate to focus on her instead of what was going on. “I missed it. A lot.” Letting out a long breath to gather her thoughts, her free hand moved to her belly patting it gently. The baby was not only a blessing but the one thing that had gotten Chloe back on her feet. People say God does things for a reason and while she would never understand why he found it time to take Maddie from them, he did give them hope by this child.

“Well… throwing Ben off a balcony really helped me get past a lot of anger and resentment… we should do that more often… I wonder what that sniveling dung beetle is put to… nothing good, no one from Perkin’s bloodline has ever been more than a crap stain on humanity… I pity the girl who falls for his lines… I kinda wonder if he has any scars…” Nathan seemed to be trailing off a bit with a large smile as he remembered the day he had tossed the man whom she had cheated on him with off the balcony. It was shortly after Maddie’s death, a time they all hurt and the first and most likely only time the pair had been seen out in public since the ordeals had plagued them.

Snapping out of the memory Nathan couldn’t help but smile widely at Chloe. Everything felt wrong and somehow right all at the same time. There were wounds in their marriage, his brooding nature often left him unable to show the love he felt for her. He had been more attentive lately than he had for a long time. It’s easy to blame her for everything, but he could have acted like he cared about her more than he had. It’s awfully easy to feel alone and alienated when someone tried to get into Nathan’s life, a lifetime of trauma lead to a man who felt cynical and angry at the galaxy for injustices that he often had little right to feel so strongly against. Self-righteous indignation was not a trait that often could endear someone to him. Yet Chloe was here, seeing past his fears and past his sorrows and seeing that deep down Nathan cared, more than many.

There was no sane reason why she was pregnant. From January to February, Chloe had lived in a valium-induced stupor, moving like a zombie doing only the most basic things in life. Nathan had tried his best even taking her to Boston on Valentine’s Day trying to establish some stable ground on which to rebuild their tattered life. The night however was a disaster. Halfway to the restaurant, Chloe had a panic attack hyper-focusing on the fact she was no longer six feet from Mara and Logan. At the restaurant, she barely touched her food, responding to his attempts at conversation with nods and barely murmurs. By the time they had reached the hotel room he had rented, the mood slide from amorous to angry. How that night ended up with her pregnant proved that miracles happened when you expected them the least.

“I am sorry I broke us,” Chloe blurted out. Her throat tightened and her eyes began to burn.

“Don’t…” Nathan said as he tried to stop her train of thought, he wanted nothing of this right now.

“Stop…you have to let me finish,” she put her fingertips to his lips muffling the sounds coming from his lips.

Nathan smirked slightly as her fingers brushed over his lips. This was one of her favorite moves to get him to pay attention. It worked, that and saying Patapsco was two clear cut was to get him to listen. She had Pavolved him with these responses.

“I did it. It was me. I broke us with the affair. I broke us when I chose to fight with you instead of spending time with the kids. I broke our family when I filed for divorce.” Chloe felt the tears slide over her lashes and down her cheeks. Some of the emotions was due to her hormone levels being off the chart but most of it was the guilt she had carried for the past nine months.

“I never made it easy… and I could have. I hated my father for always putting things first instead of me and I went down that same route… but I forgave you a long time ago.” Nathan said softly, and for the most part, he did mean it. There was a wound, but it wasn’t festering. They had found the right anti-biotics to stop the infection and it was beginning to scab and heal. The real test would be to find if the wound left a scar, deep down that was something Nathan felt would always be the case… but he was a surgeon, he knew scars could be removed.

“You say you forgive me but you never will because I broke the life we created. The day months ago when I called you you said we would never be whole again and it’s true.” She sniffed back her nose running pulling her hand from his to run to wipe her eyes and then running her fingers through her hair. It was a habit she did when she was nervous or scared. “No matter what happens next or where we go we will never be whole again. You were right and I wish I could fix it. It was why I filed for divorce, why I move the kids to the edge of the galaxy not telling you. Why I thought about not having this baby.” Chloe felt nausea well up in her body as she choked back the urge to vomit. Until now she had never mentioned how she contemplate ending the pregnancy and not telling him.

“I didn’t know… but it doesn’t matter. I know we have things to finish in our lives, things to piece back together like those puzzles we always love to put together… but I will get those edges for you… I will put this back together I swear.” Nathan felt a wave of anger in the pit of his stomach, there were parts of him that wondered if this was all lip service, but he couldn’t help but fight for that belief. He had almost lost her, and somehow this wasn’t the first time. She had retreated quite a few times in their marriage, often when Nathan had ignored her the most for work. These moments were scars too, maybe smaller, but he caused them.

“How can I do this,” she looked at him. “I don’t know how to fix what I have broken but I can’t have a life that doesn’t involve you. You are a good dad,” she took his hand, “but I am scared to have this baby because I can’t lose you again. I need to know in my heart you are not here because of the baby but because of me. Losing Maddie broke me. Losing you would kill me,” she sat up in the bed putting her arms around him.

“I am going not going anywhere… my life is here. I love our family, our kids… but I love you most… you are the one I promised to spend my life with, not the Afterlife program for the Borg children, not my practice… I didn’t even promise to spend my life with our kids… I only promised it to you… and you are the one I will be gray old and carving new puzzle pieces when they don’t fit in our nursing home when we are 150.” Nathan said into her shoulder as he held onto her tightly. He needed her to hear these words, they were his soul mending and fitting back into place with hers.

Nathan was probably dismissing most of what she said thinking she was just overly emotional due to the stress of family, the holidays, and giving birth but it was more than that. Chloe had never asked for his forgiveness. Nathan had told her over and over in the past months it wasn’t her fault but he had never been given the chance to forgive her. Holding onto him, Nathan could feel her body shake and tremble but it was far more violently than her just being upset. The baby was ready to come. The monitors were all signaling she was in active labor and ready to deliver but Chloe was ignoring all of it. “I don’t know why God gave us this baby but I can’t do it without you,” she said into the collar of his shirt. The dirty laundry of their marriage had been aired to the universe for so long, those a part of it could play he said, she said games all day long. Nathan left to give them a second start but it didn’t explain the days of no contact when Chloe needed him the most. Her dependency on anti-depressants was not solely used to get her over the death of Maddie. It was to calm her nerves as to why Nathan at times seemed to ghost her at times. Their families had assumed they planned to be on the outpost together but the truth was, she and Nathan arrived there independent of each other’s knowledge. Chloe was always going to live in the dark with the light of Maddie extinguished but being forced into it through their actions and lies to each other was something she could no longer do. “You left me and then I left you. I can’t go through that again. I can’t have this baby without you.
Please don’t ever go away again.”

Chloe

Nathan pulled back, his eyes wet as he took a deep breath, “It’s going to have to take God himself to pry me away from you…” Nathan said as he leaned in and kissed her deeply, letting the emotions flow into that kiss as he felt everything clicking.

Meanwhile…

“Yes sir, she’s awake.” came the voice from the white-coated man as he stared through the two-way glass. “Should we contact Mr. Harland?” he asked as he turned around to face the holovid.

Facing the man, an image of Aedan Teller could be seen as he nodded. “He’s waited long enough for results I would say, I will contact him on the outpost… run some small tests before he arrives… I don’t want him to have false hope.” Teller said as the man nodded before the projection blinked off. Turning from the observation room he walked past the door of the patient which had a square window slit. Under the slit, a name could be seen, M. Harland.

Harland, CNS


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