Fortune {Star Trek Enterprise Fan Fiction}

Cutting the Cord

"You humans are weird." – Yimar

=/\=

It – he – took two or so days to make preparations.

Human? He'd appeared this way before, but not during this time period. Check.

Male? Check.

Brown hair? She liked brown hair, or so it seemed. Check.

Bluish eyes? She definitely liked those. Check.

Height? Hmm. One was only one and three-quarter meters. The other was one point seventy-nine. Rather than splitting the difference, he went taller. Taller was better, right? So he went with one point ninety-one. After all, anything much taller would appear a bit freakish.

He clothed himself in a Starfleet Captain's uniform, to impart an air of authority, although Starfleet was beneath him.

Humans? More like insects. Still, if he was going to impress the one he really wanted to impress, then the road to that, the path to it, ran through talking to this other one, the one he'd carefully made up his appearance for.

He continued to wait, a bit longer, as she had things she had to accomplish. He could have taken care of all of that in a flash, but such things were dull. He'd go knock a few planets out of alignment instead, or take a milligram out of the ejecta from a supernova instead, perhaps. So much universe, and so much time! No wonder he was often inflicted with a kind of cosmic ennui.

But he could still wait.

=/\=

"This is not the way I thought I'd start a family." – Melissa Madden

"I don't know how I'd ever have a family. It's not like I'm ever at home." – Malcolm Reed

It was the thirty-first, very early in the morning.

Malcolm was already up. He'd stripped the fold-out couch and packed. He wanted to be a good guest, but he was also anxious to be underway. At the same time, he was mindful that if he walked into Doug and Lili's bedroom uninvited, that he might see something he didn't necessarily wish to see. It was less jealousy than sheer practicality. So he waited, until it was oh six hundred hours and he was about jumping out of his skin with anticipation.

He knocked.

"Just a sec," It was Doug's voice. He opened the door and he was shirtless, just in sweatpants. Lili was dressing.

"Oh, sorry," Malcolm said.

"No, no, it's all right," she said, "Almost there. Have you eaten?"

"I can't," Malcolm said.

"You should," she said, "I'm not allowed to, but you'll be waiting around a bit."

"Actually," Doug said, "you'll have some time. Could you, uh, do me a favor?"

"Of course," Malcolm said.

"She'll have the Cesarean early, and you'll see the baby, of course. Then they'll take the baby to get him weighed and all of that and she'll be put under general anesthesia so that she can get the O'Day Reversal done again."

"Ah, yes," Malcolm said, "That's, um, a bit of rearranging?"

"Yeah," Doug replied, "It's so that Lili and I can, uh, not to draw a picture, but the parts don't fit together perfectly. So the Reversal is done in order for us to be able to, uh, make love safely."

"Oh," Malcolm said. He had kind of known that, but it was still a bit jolting to hear. She had told him about how Doug had – completely inadvertently – hurt her almost four years previously. She had nearly died. Things would have turned out quite differently if that had happened, or if the surgery that Doctor Phlox had invented had not been successful. And now, after her third child, she needed it to be done again. Reversal, pregnancy – which required it being undone, then birth, then another Reversal. That had happened twice before. It was a great deal of surgery for one body to have to take.

"Uh, Malcolm?" Doug asked.

"Oh, sorry. Bit of a reverie there. You were saying?"

"You're going to have a few hours. So could you swing by Fep City, pick up Melissa, Tommy and Norri and bring them to the house? Then we can take two cars and go to the Med Center. Everyone's gonna want to meet Declan."

"Won't you be upset if I'm gone?" Malcolm asked.

"I will be completely under. And then I have to recover for a while from the anesthesia they use," Lili said, "No worries. I've done this before."

"Very well. You're the expert."

"I also," she said, "I want Doctor Miva to check, see if she can determine how close I am to full menopause. I've kinda considered getting my tubes tied, just want to see if that's necessary."

"This is the last one," Doug said, "Of yours."

"Yeah," she said, "You all right with that, Malcolm?"

"It's, it's your body," he said, "Do what you think is best and I shall support whatever that is."

"Thanks," she said, "Doug, make sure the kids aren't too nutty today. I told them to try to keep calm but, well, we have to remember, they're both still really little."

"Sure thing," he said, "No tofflin juice whatsoever."

"What is that?" asked Malcolm.

"It's a stimulant," Doug said, "They're gonna be off the wall enough without it."

"Hang on a second," Lili said, "Come look with me."

The three of them stopped in front of the video cut-out in the hallway wall. Slides went by, family pictures. There was Norri holding up her old-fashioned acceptance letter to graduate school, and an old photograph of Malcolm at school, horsing around with Mark Latrelle. There was a picture of Doug and Lili at the opening of Lili's restaurant, Reversal. Melissa and Doug candidly posing at the start of a hunting trip was another picture. Joss and Marie Patrice sitting together was yet another snapshot. Lili paused the slides for a second, "And somewhere in here – you and me and Declan," she said, touching Malcolm's arm, "And a picture of all ten of us when Neil comes. And one of you and Melissa and Neil," she said, now referring to Doug.

"And a million more," Doug said as they left the house, "I got it set up to pipe in the slides to a wall in Melissa and Norri's Fep City apartment, too."

"That's a great idea," Lili said, "So even if we're not in the same building, we can be looking at the same things."

"And maybe even thinking of the same things," Malcolm said, as the three of them walked to Lili's car.

The front door opened and the two children ran out, "Mommy! Wait!" yelled Marie Patrice, "Take this with you."

It was a little lanyard made of soft light yellow yarn, a few clumsily braided strands about twelve centimeters long, "What's this?" Lili asked.

Joss caught up as well, a little breathless.

"It's a present for Declan," Marie Patrice said, "I made it myself."

"I did the first knots," Joss interjected, "And I took you to buy the yarn."

"That's true," Marie Patrice admitted.

"Well, this will be very nice," Malcolm said, "Thank you on behalf of him. When he can talk," he found himself choking up just a touch, "he shall thank you both himself. His, his brother and sister."

Doug and Lili kissed, "When you come back, there'll be three of you. I am just a tiny bit sad I'm not gonna see this one arriving. But, Reed, you should experience this for yourself."

"I hope I can do as well."

"You'll do fine," Doug said, "Kids, say good-bye. And then we're gonna make pancakes."

"I am missing pancakes for this," Lili said, hugging her son and then her daughter, "Be good for Dad. Be back in a few days."