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Captain's Quarters Happy Father's Day Dante Alighieri Knight

Posted July 2, 2019, 12:31 a.m. by Lieutenant Natasha Knight (Doctor) (Kate O'Neill)

Posted by Captain Dante Knight (Commanding Officer) in Captain’s Quarters Happy Father’s Day Dante Alighieri Knight

Posted by Lieutenant Natasha Daye (Doctor) in Captain’s Quarters Happy Father’s Day Dante Alighieri Knight

Posted by Lieutenant Natasha Daye (Doctor) in Captain’s Quarters Happy Father’s Day Dante Alighieri Knight Captain’s Quarters Father’s Day 2019

Natasha sat on the couch tapping her foot so hard her knee was bouncing. She had been waiting for officially three months for this. Unofficially Natasha had been waiting since she walked into her self defense tactics 101 course back at the academy. It had arrived a week ago and the talent needed to keep Dante from knowing was pure choreography. First, it was the arrival. The transporter technician had to be threatened with his life. Probably because he was a snot-nosed kid just out of the academy.

==========================
Transporter room a week prior
==========================

“Ma’am I can not just pretend this was not transported on the Captain’s ship. Regulations state,” Stanley stated trying to be firm.

“Oh stuff your regulations. This is not a neutronium bomb. It’s not drugs and even if it was I am a doctor so I could sign for it. You can see what it is,” she pointed to the registry again with a stabbing motion. “Are you telling me you are going to list it as coming on board?”

“Yes ma’am I am,” he said with a hint of a tremor in his voice. Natasha Daye was happy and fun and always had lollipops in her pocket. She had since she arrived on the ship. Kids got fruit. Adults got a fruit fusion made from vodka. It was not enough booze to get you tipsy but enough to give what she called a “flavor explosion.”

“You are going to do this or I swear to god you will be spitting and knocking three times for the rest of your life trying to find redemption because I will be on the left with the devil,” she said in an icy tone. The look on the man’s face clearly showed he had no idea what she had just said to him except that it was probably not flattering. Daye could give him that. Few people followed random traditions like her family from mother Russia and less with the vigor of those from the area near Siberia where her family came from since the first Russian lifted a glass of Vodka and said Nostrovia. Most cultures had a tradition for knocking on wood for good luck. Russian’s, however, took it one step further. When didn’t a Russian? They paired the knock with a symbolic three spits over one’s left shoulder to signify spitting on the devil who is always on the left. While Natasha didn’t actually spit she did the put put put sound to indicate it. She also wasn’t sure that Stanley understood she basically sending a curse on him. Curses were the things of primitive societies but all societies were built from some sort of primitive society.

“Lt. Gonzales did not spend the last 16 hours of her day flying from here to Outpost 42 and back for you to dork this up. She broke about ten intergalactic laws about speed and flew threw a pirate battle that ended in her not having a scratch but the pirates,” she stressed the last word loudly, “reported Izzy to the OP’s XO for flying to close to another ship,” Daye worked to keep her tone steady. “I,” Daye let her voice crack slightly, “had to spend an hour talking to Lt. Commander Jessica Teller about how yes I understood no one in their right mind does a site to site transport at full impulse when there is not imminent death involved. Do you know how flybys irritate those in command? Two officers put their careers on the line for this and you are gonna just not check this in,” she crossed her arms.

=====================
OP 42 Duncan’s Quarters
=====================

“Oh my god yes. That is so not a problem,” Lily said taking a sip of coffee as she looked at the dark haired woman on the screen. “I know he got the package last week sometime. It is huge,” she said casting a glance at the wooden crate sitting in the middle of the room. Whoever this Daye was, Lily knew she had to be special to Duncan. She had called a few times over the past couple of weeks and he was always excited to hear from her. Since he tended to sigh deeply when Lily left her shoes in the middle of the floor and this package had involved walking around it to get to places in the science chief’s quarters, whatever was in it had to be remarkable.

“You are amazing. I am so glad Duncan finally found someone who can get him to kick back ,” Natasha replied with a smile. “We will toast at my wedding and maybe I propose at yours?”

“I gotta go before Dante walks in but tell Duncan thank you. The pilot will be there in like ten minutes. See you guys in a few weeks.” With that, the comm call clicked off.

Lily leaned back in the chair and thought about what Daye said. Duncan hadn’t mentioned any wedding directly but Natasha seemed to think they were going as a couple. Glancing around the room Lily spied the time on the antique clock. “Oh sheets,” she said jumping to her feet. An hour ago this was doable but at this point, running might be involved. Maybe she should have chatted less with Daye. Jumping up she made her way to the bathroom.

“Baby,” she said hearing Duncan turn off the water. “You know that package that is sitting in the middle of the room,” Lily said playing with a nail waiting for him to emerge from behind the door.

“You mean the super secret giant crate that you stub your toe on every time you walk past it just so you can get me to sit on the couch with you and give you a foot massage, Lulu?” Duncan said loudly back to her as he opened the door to the shower and stepped out, dripping wet. Lily was still outside the bathroom, and taking hold of a towel he began to dry himself down. “What about it?”

“Nat called and she said a pilot will be here in about teh....eight minutes to get it. We need to have it ready for something called a site to site transport because there is a time crunch?”

Barely had the word escaped her mouth than the door to the bathroom slid open and Duncan stood in front of her, a towel hastily slung around his waist. “A site to site? Why are we doing a site to site?” He asked her and then paused and thought a moment. “Oh Natasha. Natasha no. No. Really?” He looked at Lily a moment until he realised that she wasn’t kidding.

“Where’s my pants?” Duncan asked, grabbing the closest uniform shirt he could find in as close to a panic as Lily had ever seen him, and pulling it over his head not noticing in the rush that it was inside out. Turning around twice while he tried to find what he wanted, grabbing the closest pair of shoes he could and took the pants that Lily held out to him. Pulling them on quickly he winced as things got caught that shouldn’t have, then slipped the shoes on without socks. “Slippers,” he realized he had picked up and kicked them off as they loosely flopped on his feet as he walked.

He took Lily’s hand and looked at her, a slight grin on his lips. “Do you remember when we ran away from school and hid in my bar? Well, we have to run. Come with me, I need you to back me up and run distraction if someone tries to stop us.” Turning and moving out of the door to his quarters, Duncan ran, barefoot, shirt inside out and still dripping wet down the corridors of Outpost 42 pulling Lily along behind him.

Exactly six minutes later, they arrived at the transporter pad, out of breath but there soon enough to see a ship pop onto the edge of the sensor range.

“Dismissed, Ensign.” Duncan ordered the confused Ops member as he watched Duncan rush into the room. “I got this, Mission Critical.” He moved behind the console and began to bring it online. The Ensign looked at Duncan a moment and then at Lily, then shrugged and left the room letting the doors close behind him. He wasn’t going to argue with the uptight Rhodes, and he was due his coffee break anyway.

“See I told you we would get here,” Lily pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Getting here involved a full-on run but the point was they made it.

“We might have got here faster if you had stopped laughing and breathed more,” Duncan said to his overly attentive girlfriend, but flashed her a tight smile, the kind he offered whenever he was working and not grumpy but he really couldn’t stop and chat about, something.

=/\=Shuttle is ready for pick up=/\= a woman’s voice came over the console. It was calm and perky. As if she didn’t have a care in the world yet her speed made it seem like the ship was on a life or death mission.

“Is she slowing down,” Lily said looking at the blip that was coming at the Outpost like it was on an attack run.

“No. No I don’t think she is,” Duncan said through gritted teeth. Where Natasha found a hot shot pilot that was brave enough to do this he had no idea. What he did know was if he needed an extraction the only name he would request would be the one was listed on the ship’s registry. He began to work on the transport formula in his head as his hands flew over the different controls. “The ships going that speed, at that angle of attack in relation to the station moving, here. The gravity coefficient of the planet is, that, The cargo bay is, this big and the time to materialize is, this. Carry the 1, divide by, something like that, there is probably an ion storm coming right at that moment so lets do, this. The crate is in my quarters so we have to carry that value, there. That might do it.” He began to add some more colorful language explaining exactly why Russians and Vodka didn’t go well together as he realised he had missed a few values and began to correct it.

“So she is not stopping. That is why Natasha said it was site to site,” Lily wore the expression of someone turning a light bulb on. “Are you....going to be able to transport it,” she started to doubt Duncan’s ability to do this the way his fingers were flying over the console. That and Duncan’s string of expletives about crazy Russian winters and Natasha Daye.

After making the calculation with half math and half luck, Duncan hit the transport button and looked at Lily with a wink. “If not somebody is going to be very surprised when a crate materializes on the coffee table. Probably the Captain.”

=/\=Got it=/\= was the only reply as the ship winked out of visual and then sensor range.

Duncan just let out a sigh and leant forwards over the console, a drip of water falling from his still wet hair onto his hand.

Lily smiled seeing the ship streak off and Duncan now relaxing slightly. “So,” Lily squeezed between Duncan and the console. Jumping up she sat on it and let her legs dangle swinging them in small circles. “You think you can site to site transport me for the next hour before work professor?” She wiped a drop of water away from his temple. They had left his apartment so fast Duncan had barely dried his hair but definitely did not style it.

“What I need,” he grinned at her and looked down at himself, “Is to get back to my quarters and dress properly.” He held out his arms to emphasize the state he was in.

“I love your hair this way,” she said running her hand through his hair making it stand up in spikes that fell every which way. “Makes you look dangerous, exciting,” Lily let the words roll off her tongue slowly as she played with his hair. Getting a mischievous grin she gave the door to the transporter room a side glance before locking eyes with him. “Wanna do something exciting,” she waggled her eyes with a devilish smile. “Don’t lock the door. You deserve a reward for helping a friend.” Her words were soft. Almost like a whisper as she spoke them and pulled Duncan towards her.

He grinned and let her pull him in, then stopped with a single finger over her lips. “No,” he said, and raised an eyebrow. “What I want, is to go back to my quarters. What happens then, we can talk about, or maybe not.” He put his hands on her waist and bodily picked her up off the console and pulled her in to him, wrapping her in a brief hug before turning and taking her hand.

“Let’s walk, and let me tell you about the wedding that we are going to soon and the reception we are going to hold in my bar afterwards.”

==========================
Transporter room a week prior
==========================

“Two..ma’am,” he said his voice breaking a bit more even though his face tired to retain the I am not doing this expression.

“Two,” she repeated and held up two fingers. “So if you want to piss off a couple of the Captain’s closest friends and ruin this then be my guest. Check it in and beda nikogda ne prikhodit odna,” she said in her native tongue. The blank expression let Daye translate. “Oh it just means trouble never comes alone.”

“Ma’am. My career will be in shambles if I get caught,” he pleaded.

“Oh you are young,” she waved it off. “Pfff if Dante got this ship you will be fine. Besides I am the mother of his kid. You think I can’t make him see reason. Now sign the open the door,” she said getting behind the package on the repulsors and starting to push.

Lt. Natasha Daye medical

======================
Operations Department
======================

“Are you nuts,” Lt. Jenkins said leaping to his feet as Natasha strolled in with the package. Stroll might have been a misnomer. Grunting and shoving was more like it with her forehead sweaty and her hair clinging in some spots like she had just had a workout. “What are you doing,” he snapped his fingers rapidly to some crewmen who immediately took over for her getting the package into the office.

“Finding a place to store this,” she said putting her hands on her hips as she breathed heavily. Even though the package was on a repulsor sled that had no friction against the ground, moving it around corners and as fast as she needed to was a workout in a half.

“Get her some water,” Jenkins ordered his men swinging a chair around for Natasha to sit in. Squatting down he looked at Daye a bit concerned. “Should I call medical,” he asked with his hand poised over his comm badge.

“No,” she looked at him like Jenkins said the most stupid comment of his career. “Why would you do that?” Natasha took the water still giving the operations duty officer the once over glance as her breathing started to slow down from the grunting pants she arrived as a respiratory rhythm. Her fingers went to her carotid artery as she too her pulse. People tended to give her grief about her hands-on approach to medicine however there were times like now that one didn’t have a tricorder and needed medical information. Well, situations like now and crash landings where you lost most of your equipment or could.

“Because Stanley called down here in a panic when you rolled this thing out of the transporter bay. Three other operations officers that I sent to help you, you turned down flat and you…well ....you are....enormous,” he finally shrugged it off. He and Daye had been friends for a few years now. He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t going to go all woman crazy and point out men shouldn’t comment about a woman’s body.

“In communist Russia, women worked the fields like this,” she said laying a hand across her stomach. At this point, her tummy had grown so large her hand was almost above her heart height wise. At seven months along it was expected.

“And you lost that war Ms. Hammer and Scythe,” Jenkins blurted out laughing. “Ever think your precious Soviet Union collapsed not because of an arms race but because you women got tired of us men telling you to go out there and plant the south forty?”

Daye liked Jenkins a lot. He came back at her with everything she threw at him. He never worried about boundaries in conversations like this. “Vee blah out dat part of Russian history,” she said in a thick accent. Typically her accent was only this thick when she was drunk, mad, or when being funny. Her accent was always there if you listened well enough but most people ignored it.

“I’ve blah ked vous out if you do dat again Ms. Daye,” he said in a thick accent drumming his fingertips together as if he was the villain of the year.

“No,” she got a semi-serious expression on her face as she shook her head slowly avoiding eye contact. “That was terrible,” she finally broke into a fit of laughing. “We don’t say vous,” her smile was large filling almost her entire face.

“And we also don’t move,” Jenkins looked over at his co-worker who yelled out a number. “Ninety-four,” he said and then did a double take. “Ninety-four pounds. Forty-two kilograms,” he repeated which one of the crewmen confirmed out loud. “What the hell do you think you are an ant? You weigh a buck and a half and the half of the half is baby Knight. No more,” he pointed a finger at her with a stern expression. “I’m serious. No more Adam Ant. If you want me to hide whatever that thing is from the cap then we move it when you need it. Agreed,” he stuck out his hand.

“You know women have been having babies since the dawn of time right,” Daye said shifting in the chair trying to get up. Without armrests for leverage getting up was proving to be a challenge. As she reached out to take Jenkin’s hand he pulled it back sharply.

“This is like a time out,” he laughed. “So agree or sit there. What’s it going to be Daye,” he playfully extended his hand back and forth.

“Fine but if Dante finds out I swear you will,”

“He is not going to find out anything. Did you find out he brought that chest from your home last shore leave? Nah I didn’t think so,” he shook his hand emphasizing the no. “This is not our first rodeo with you two.” Jenkins helped her to her feet. “Just tell us when you need it and where. We will get it to you,” Jenkins promised letting her hand go.

“Thanks,” she said resting her hands on her tummy before turning and walking out the door.

Lt. Natasha daye medical

Izzy pounded down the corridor, the helmet of her flight suit bumping against her knee as she jogged, hair still sweaty from the flight.

She skidded around a corner and spotted Day as she came out of a doorway.

“Did… it....get....here....in one piece?” She gasped out, having run from the flight deck where she’d been slightly delayed explaining both her flight plan and the disrupter burns the shuttle had acquired.

------------- At That Moment In the Shuttle Bay---------

Than stood and looked at the shuttle with a confused expression. It had multiple Disruptor burns and one of the thrusters was out of alignment. The flight plan had simply indicated a routine run to test the rebuilt guidance system in the ship, which for some reason kept glitching and having to be turned off according to it’s regular pilot. He looked at the flight plan and at the disruptor burns several times, and ended up even more confused and chewing on his lip.

-------------- Back to the Ladies--------------------

Izzy Gonzales - special delivery service

“Yes,” Daye said excitedly hugging the woman. Well, hugging was not quite the word. Daye embraced her but it looked more like Natasha was trying to straighten Izzy’s posture. Natasha’s hands made it to Izzy’s shoulders in an attempt to pull her forward but the protruding beach ball between them kept any real hugging contact. Dante was several inches taller and had to bend his body into a C shape to hug Natasha now. Since the two women were the same height, anyone, seeing them would instantly think middle school slow dance they way their bodies were rigid.

Natasha broke out laughing so hard her body shook. A second later she put the heel of her palm on the side of her belly and pushed really hard. “Hey settle down udar.”
The way she said it showed the moniker had a special meaning. Udar which sounded like ewwwwdah meant bump in Russian. It was what she and Dante called the baby for now. The way she was pushing into her side, however, made it seem like she was having an appendicitis. “You have sixty-nine days until you are handed your eviction notice so settle down,” she finally relaxed pushing after a second and looked up at Izzy.

“Half the time Udar thinks my ribs are a swing set. The other half he thinks my bladder is a jumping pillow,” she laughed. “So on day seventy, you wanna have a girls night. We Russian’s have incredible fortitude. I know an amazing spot on Gamma Tiltium that we can go to. That science chief who transported the package has a rustic cabin on the beach. It’s yours without or without me as a thank you.” Natasha didn’t give a thought about asking Duncan if she could rent out his cabin. She had known him enough years that he would hand the keys over without a question to her. To Dante, there would probably be complaining about Daye being a pain in the arse but Dante would simply remind Duncan that Natasha is his friend and it was his mistake forever in saying hello.

Glancing at the time Natasha groaned. “I gotta get to my duty shift but come by in a few days for the reveal of the package,” Daye said walking down the hall. Abruptly she stopped and spun back around. “Better make it a week. I am not sure it has directions still and Dante is no engineer.”

===============================
Captain’s Quarters Father’s Day 2019
===============================

“Come on Dante,” Natasha said annoyed looking at the clock. It was 2300 hours. In order to let the Dad’s of the ship have the day off when it was convenient for them, Dante had taken both the day and evening shift. The Pendragon only had a few real fathers on board and Dante himself had made sure they had the entire day off when creating the duty roster. The rest of the crew he had built in longer than average breaks and lunches for comm calls home to family. With the hundreds of planets and colonies in the Federation, making sure the crew had off times that coincided with that planet’s time schedule had given Dante a migraine but he did work it out. Next year he would add himself to the roster but without a real baby, Dante did not see the point to work a regular schedule. Natasha, however, was bound and determined to make sure udar had something for his Daddy.

Fifteen minutes after his scheduled arrival home Dante finally walked into the door. “Dah…Dah,” Natasha said excitedly trying to jump up to greet him. Her belly and the overly soft couch cushions had other plans. Like some alien marshmallow creature, the couch cushions took on a life of its own and seemed to wrap themselves about her body. Each time she tried to get up, they sucked her back down.

“Hey my girl,” Dante said as the doors slid shut behind him and he watched the familiar but still odd sight of his large bellied wife to be rolling side to side on their couch. “You, having a little trouble there?” His voice was gentle as he spoke. He hadn’t seen her for a number of hours and while he loved her to pieces and would do anything for her, her feisty little attitude and the hormones of pregnancy meant that the slightest misstep could sometimes mean his next few hours would be spent convincing the Cossack bride that he really did care and that yes, he loved her.

“Ugh. Dah....tay,” she grunted sliding forward some attempting to go off the front of the couch. Unfortunately, this only put her on her back with her feet out as if she were preparing to do some crab walk or imitate a table in charades. “Ughhhhhh,” she moaned louder. “Tot, kto skazal, chto beremennost’ - eto magicheskiy opyt, dolzhen byt’ zastrelen (whoever said pregnancy is a magical experience should be shot),.” Natasha was finally annoyed enough to revert to full Russian instead of English. When this happened Dante had learned to intervene to save someone or do everything he could to calm her down.

Quietly, Dante took the few steps to her and simply stood beside her. He looked her over and raised his eyebrow at her predicament and then reached out his hand and began to bend down to her.

Seeing Dante standing over her she raised a single finger in the air. “Don’t,” she warned in a stern voice. “You did this to me. Right now I am not a fan so stand back until I get up.” To call Natasha stubborn would be akin to calling a Vulcan logical. Dante had been with her long enough to find humor in this rather than overly sympathetic concern. All she had to do was say help and he was there but Natasha asking for help would be like a Klingon delivering double sauced chocolate pudding to a new neighbor.

Crossing his arms, he pursed his lips in surrender and took a few steps back. “Of course, you can do it love. But in my defence Tasia I didn’t do that all by myself. I seem to recall you enjoying it as much as I did.”

“I can....dooo..iiiiisssss. Just roll my butt,” Natasha said twisting the top of her body over towards the cushions. From crab to now over the turned turtle trying to right itself, Natasha just needed a push to get to where she was in control of the situation.

Not saying a word, Dante turned and looked for a chair. Finding one at the dinner table he pulled it out and sat down, resting his arm on the back and crossing his ankle over his knee as he watched her for a minute, and checked his nails to make sure they were short like she expected. He looked back at her after a moment and scratched at is chin. “Whenever your ready. I’m here.” He looked to the side at Bruce, who was lying in his pet bed and watching the whole thing, and Bruce looked straight back at him.

The Lizard knew that at times it was best he simply stay out of the way, although at first it had been confusing thinking that Natasha had actually been wanting to play. He did seem to have a sixth sense that something special and magical was happening though, as Bruce had become very attentive and protective of Natasha in the last couple of months, going so far as to make sure that he was always in between her and strangers when she took him for a walk, and had actually made an effort to push unfamiliar people away when they came too close to her.

Now on her belly, while uncomfortable, she was finally able to slide off the couch and to her knees on the floor. At this point, she gave up. Extending a hand, she let Dante pull her to her feet. Once she was upright, Daye shook out her hair which now resembled a hairdo she earned riding shotgun on a motorcycle throughout the Italian countryside. “I hate not being able to see my toes, being able to get up, having to pee every ten seconds,” she sighed looking up at Dante.

“Yeah, I hate that too,” he told her and turned her around to face away from him. Then he moved behind her and pressed his body against hers, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight to him. Her large belly now meant hugging her from the front was awkward, so he had taken to hugging her from behind. Like this he could press his whole body against her, hold her and let his hands gently caress her large round belly, with their little Knight inside. Like this he could let her know he still loved her and wanted her, still found her attractive and that she was his girl, that no matter what he would be there for her and that he ‘got her’. He kissed her temple softly and pressed his cheek to hers. “But I love you.”

Looking up at him she smiled and wrapped her arms the best she could around Dante’s. “So ready for your Father’s Day gift,” Natasha wiggled her eyebrows with a huge grin. Nodding her head to the side Nat pointed to the large pink present with blue ribbons and bows.

“What the heck is that and where did that come from?” He asked her, then kissed her temple again and let her go so he could move to the large gift. Running his hands over it he looked it over and then looked back to her grinning.

Natasha stood back as Dante began to pull back the paper revealing a large oak crib. It was stained a dark walnut with intricate carvings into the wood. It was also in pieces. The only way Dante would know what it was, was that he had spent enough time in back in Russia to know it was Natasha’s childhood crib. “So,” she said coming up and rubbing his back. “You ready to do some woodworking? Dedushka is has been waiting all day to help you. Over the comm of course but ready.”

Lt. Natasha Daye Medical

“Your kidding?” Dante said, but not in any tone that meant anything but excitement and wonder. “How did you get this here Nat? This was back on Earth, in Russia with Babushka and Dedushka!” He pulled the box open more and began to pull out pieces one by one. It was completely disassembled, but it was an antique that went back generations in her family and was almost as tough and sturdy as Natasha’s grandmother herself.

Pulling out one particular piece, Dante turned it over and smiled, then carried it to Nat. “Do you remember that Christmas we spent with your family after you graduated the Academy?” He asked her, and turned the piece over to show her. “Babushka showed me your cot one day when you were out with your mother, told me about it and about how old it was, and how special. So, knowing how special it was I snuck into the room later that night and carved this into it.” On the back of the piece and visible only if you had it in your hand like this or were lying under the cot when it was assembled, were the words Dante Loves Natasha, Forever carved deep into the wood. “I loved you so much I risked everything, you know what Babushka would have done if she caught me sneaking around the house at that hour, she would have thought we were upto no good.”

“If I remember that night we were up to no good,” she laughed. Taking the piece from his hand she ran her fingers over the letters as if they were diamonds or something equally precious. “God you don’t know how much I love you,” Natasha said softly, “and how glad I am here with you. This,” she spun around showing Dante the message on the wood, “would have been so hard to explain if you were not the father of my baby,” she gave him a wink. Natasha could not imagine a life without Dante so it was a moot point but a secret part of her got a giggle as she imagined how that conversation would go with someone asking her ‘babe who is Dante?’

Smiling and looking deep into Natasha’s eyes, he gently kissed her lips and placed the piece to one side, then took her hand in his and pointed back to the couch. “Pumpkin, I love and adore you but I think it’s time I tell you something, something you need to know.” While his words might have sounded bad, his tone, his smile and the warmth of his hands on hers and the look in his eye told her that what he was about to say, was something that he held close to his heart and meant as much to him as Natasha and their Baby meant. “It’s also the reason why Dedushka has been waiting by the comm all day.”

Captain Knight, CO

“You know if I get back on that thing you are going to need a crane to hoist me off,” she said playfully. Walking back she took a seat and felt the cushions wrap around her like a safety harness. “Go call Dedushka,” she said leaning back. Whatever Dante wanted to share had to be important for him to want to get on the comm after working all day. Unfortunately, she realized something that was far more important.

“Babe before you do that,” she said watching Dante’s finger poised to connect the call on the console. “Could I get my coffee,” she said reaching forward but not able to actually sit up since she had slouched back. “It’s on the table,” she pointed with her finger.

“God I love you,” she said as he placed the cup in her hands and kissed her forehead. Taking a sip of the coffee she smiled happily. She was so lucky to have someone like him in her life. Raising her foot up she realized another issue.

“Honey…baby can you move the coffee table closer,” she asked figuring out that based on her slouch and the distance from the couch, there was no way she could prop her feet up at this angle.

“That’s perfect,” she smiled letting out a deep contented sigh. Of all the things that bothered her during pregnancy, her swelling ankles were the worst. Elevating them worked like a champ. Natasha wiggled some getting comfortable. She wiggled a bit more trying to find the right spot. It only took the length of time for Dante to cross the room back to the console waiting for the call, for Nat to realize what she needed.

“Hey Dad,” she teased him. “The kiddos here wondered if you could get us some popcorn. Extra butter and salt,” she said feeling her tummy rumble. She would need something to snack on as Dante built the crib. If he was on his way to the comm, it would be easy enough to just grab the popcorn from the replicator before he made the call.

“We’s gonna get da popcorn. Yes, we’s are,” Natasha reverted to baby talk as Bruce crawled his way up next to her on the couch. “Who loves the popcorn. Mommy’s boy loves da popcorn,” she cooed stroking the lizards head. Bruce grinned or at least what passed for a grin on an Asian monitor lizard as Nat talked to him. At first, Bruce wasn’t sure about her laying an egg and giving him a sibling but the increased need for food by his mom was such a boon, he figured a few more lizards couldn’t hurt.

As Dante returned with the bowl, Natasha couldn’t help but see him wearing a tightish smile. “Something wrong love,” she said looking at him as she picked through the popcorn?

“Are you sure because you said you were making a call back home about fifteen minutes ago. If you want I can get up and call Deduska if you want,” she said sincerely but with a why are you dragging your feet look on her face.

Lt. Natasha Daye medical (soon to be Knight because I am not popping this kid out with a legal document)


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