Fortune {Star Trek Enterprise Fan Fiction}

The Tide

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

– Brutus, Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224

"Let me be there when you tell him. I gotta see the look on his face. Just, do that for me." – Doug

Beckett

"Poor Malcolm, I'm gonna wake him up and stun him. You, uh, I guess everyone's up. So everyone can watch. Please, be kind. You know what thisfeels like, Doug."– Lili Beckett

"Malcolm, do you think Doug is a good father?" –Lili Beckett

"Malcolm, you're gonna become a father. Malcolm! Malcolm!"– Lili Beckett 

=/\= 

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, Malcolm, come in. Please, sit down," Jonathan said.

"Yes?"

"I noticed you asked for leave. A short leave now, and then, what is it?" Captain Archer checked a screen, "Two years. Seems kinda silly to go there for a few days and then return for a couple of years. I mean, I need you, we've got the Coalition of Planets forming and, well, I just need you. Can't you, uh, put the short one off for a while, and just tack it onto the end of the longer one?"

"I, uh, it is within my rights, sir," Malcolm said, becoming just a slight bit uncomfortable.

"Oh. Well, um, I don't want to pry," Jonathan said, "Are you, uh, is something wrong?"

"No, sir. It's just, it's private."

"I mean, if you need to care for a sick family member, I do understand. I hope you feel you can talk to me."

"It's not that."

"Are your parents all right?"

"Never better, sir."

"And your, you have a sister, am I right?" Jonathan asked. He'd never, really, gotten to know Malcolm. Years of service but he barely knew the guy.

"Yes, Madeline. She's doing well."

"So, uh, what is it that can't wait?"

"I, uh," he reddened, and pulled a handkerchief out of a zippered pocket, "I should have mentioned this earlier."

"Oh?" Now he was getting somewhere.

"Yes. And I certainly had the time to. It's not like, as if I am ashamed of it or anything. I suppose I just never really knew how to, to broach the subject. Plus there's an awful lot of explanation that goes along with it."

"And ...?" This was like pulling teeth.

"And, sir, I am taking a short leave now to, well, to attend the birth of my child."

There was a stunned silence for a second, then Jonathan erupted, "Child?! Ha, why you dirty dog, not telling us! Tell me, is it that beautiful doctor who was here a few years ago? What was her name, Pamela? She was quite a looker."

"No, sir. Pamela isn't the one who's pregnant. It's Lili Beckett," Malcolm said. He touched a dull grey cuff on his left wrist. It was a gift she'd given him, and he touched it whenever he was nervous or apprehensive. It felt strange to suddenly be telling, and to be revealing, what had been going on for a couple of years. It was wonderful, but it was complicated.