The Three of Us

Part 34 - Birthdays

The prisoners were not set down on Paradise until March first. As had been promised, the cameras were closely monitored.

The six months elapsed, for the most part, better than anyone had had any reasonable right to expect. They did a fairly decent job with harvesting. Sandra in particular worked hard, as she had little else to do. Phlox had expressly told her that he would not give her a birth control shot, and she did not want to be pregnant out there, without true medical care. Chang yelled at her a lot as they were technically still married, but he kept his hands off her. The others – even Curtis – kept him away. For her part, she ignored him and just did her work, throwing herself into it with gusto.

Life on Paradise was not what the prisoners expected. It was hot most of the time, and life was dull without PADDs and other forms of entertainment. They had been given decks of cards, and Sandra had been permitted to take her chess board. But most of their time was spent trying to survive as they worked harder than any of them had ever worked in their lives.

As a result, they were all far more muscle-bound than they had ever been before. Neil and Victor in particular were able to lift impressive amounts of weight, whereas the others were far wirier.

=/\=

Lili was close to her term, so she and Malcolm were having a late dinner with the captain and Ebrona, for Lili was relieved of duty for the time being. It was no secret that the two captains were interested in each other, although they didn't seem to have gone anywhere with it as yet. "It feels so odd to be waited on," Lili commented as Brian poured her a glass of milk.

"I don't mind," he said, "and you'll be back at work soon enough. Gonna teach him how to cook?"

"Of course!" she said. "Everyone should have that skill."

There was a communications chime. "Looks like our prisoners will be back within the hour," Captain Archer said as he closed the communications link.

"Have you seen them on camera recently? I haven't had the chance to," Lili said.

"I have not," Malcolm said, "Darling; you haven't touched your salad."

"I'm a little tentative," she admitted, "I have been for a few days."

"Are you getting a stomach ache?" asked the Ikaaran.

"It comes and goes," Lili said.

"That's no stomach ache. Dearest, I do believe you're in the start of labor."

"Huh," she said, "well," she glanced at her PADD, which showed the time as being almost twenty hundred hours, "I'm not so sure I want to wait four hours for your birthday. The young master will arrive earlier, if I have anything to say about it. Sorry about supper."

"Not a problem," said Captain Archer, "just get to Sick Bay."

Malcolm helped her along as they walked. He had asked Phlox whether a stretcher was necessary but Phlox had said that walking would do Lili some good, and might even speed the process along a bit. Malcolm clicked open his communicator. "Reed to Hayes. Meet us at Sick Bay."

"Aha," Jay said on the other end of the line. He could be heard saying, "Julie, maybe run a quick 3K. Then you and Azar will guard the Brown and Kemper cabins for conjugal visits. Get Todd in for extras and relief and Hamboyan will guard Chang and Curtis in the Brig. Ask Hamidi or Haddon-Masterson if you need more help."

"Right away, sir," her voice was faint but clear.

=/\=

Jay met them at Sick Bay. "This is most inconvenient," Phlox joked, "I'm going to have prisoners and pilots in Quarantine for I don't know how long. Can't you tell your son to wait?" He grinned, far too widely, as always.