You, Me And a Bump Makes Three
Posted on Wed Nov 24th, 2021 @ 5:59am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Commander Katherine Malbrooke
Edited on on Wed Nov 24th, 2021 @ 6:19am
1,485 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Episode 12 - Risin' To Risa
Location: Captain's Quarters - Deck 3 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD001 1830 hrs
Tyler had arrived at his quarters and it seemed like ages since he had been home. He began cooking a meatloaf but was at a loss for side dishes. He bustled around the kitchen as he got things ready. Simple fare for simple folks, the kind of food that he loved. He awaited Kat's return from assisting Engineering in a minor upgrade to the sensor grid. As he lit the candles, he heard the door swish open and looked up with a smile. "Welcome home my bride and joy."
"That smells delicious. Give me a minute." She kissed him and went into the bedroom to take off her jacket and get more comfortable. She would have to switch to a maternity uniform before much longer. She came back out in her stockinged feet and hugged him. She felt like she was making up for the time he'd been away, even though they'd been apart for most of their married life. "I can definitely get used to this."
"The least I can do for the woman who is making life. Are you okay? Everything was good while I was away, I hope?" Tyler pulled out her chair as he spoke. He tried to be the doting husband whenever he could and ever since Kat told him she was pregnant he turned it up a little.
"A little morning sickness, but that's to be expected," she said, pleased at his concern. Some men wanted to know nothing about pregnancy. "Saltines and herb tea help. Just wait until I look like I swallowed a beach ball."
"You know it may sound like I am teasing, but I am rather looking forward to that..." Tyler said as he replicated the tea and some crackers for her. He tried to be as attentive as possible. After all men had the easy job during pregnancy. He laid the tray on the table in front of her. "Something that we had not discussed yet is, the future. I mean do you want to go on maternity, continue to work here or what..." This was his way of getting on the same page as his wife.
"I want to stay here," she said. "We've spent most of our married life apart, and I don't want to keep doing that." She sighed. "I was helping Quinn by going through the main computer. Every anomaly I found I reported to him. Now that's done, I've got a dozen papers I want to write. After that..." She shrugged. "I'm willing to see what happens. I can help out as needed in engineering, or I can focus on writing papers and doing some long-distance mentoring." She looked at him for a long moment. "What do you think?" She'd never considered it before, but writing and mentoring was fun. It kept her involved in her field, and it let her pass on what she'd learned to others.
"Whatever makes you happy my love. What ever became of those investigations that you were running for Quinn?" Tyler had been remiss in asking Quinn about the results before he left.
"There's definite signs of tampering, and of temporal fluctuations," she said. "Quinn said that with the other evidence, he suspected a former Starfleet officer. I've managed to recover a number of logs, but there's still a lot of corruption. He had someone in intel working on the project as well." She'd enjoyed the project almost as much as the other work she'd been doing on the Pioneer. "As for the other, I'm actually enjoying what I do here--and I get to be with you, so I'm not looking to make any changes."
"Sounds good..." Tyler said and then a thought occurred to him and he smirked. "You know Tyler Malbrooke Jr has one hell of a nice ring to it." He really did like the name although this was simply his way of opening up the conversation about names. He realized that they had never discussed baby names before.
"Just don't call him TyTy," she smirked.
"Hey if we name him Tyler then I would think it would be you that would have to be careful with that name. There can be only one Tyty..." He had a small amount of indignation in his voice which ended quickly and broke into laughter. "But what about if we have a girl?"
"Of course, TyTy." Kat grinned. "For a girl...I don't know. I like Beth."
"Beth Malbrooke... has a nice ring to it. Beth it shall be. Has Hermia seen you? Everything is well, I hope. When do we get some pictures of the little one?" The excitement within Tyler had built and it was more than he had expected it to be. There was so much yet to do, but all that would wait as he enjoyed the new territory of parenthood with his bride and joy.
"I go in next week for another checkup. I'm hoping to get some good images then." She smiled. She knew the first trimester was the most problematic, but after that, she looked forward to watching the baby grow. And, as long as Tyler was okay with her, her stomach as well.
"Right so what do you want to go with dinner? I already have the meatloaf in the oven. Anything your heart desires. I mean I may give the orders on this ship. But you are making life and officially out rank me." Tyler said with a laugh.
"I'll remind you of that in six months," she teased. "Hmm... How about cheese potatoes, gravy, and stuffing?" She'd been eating whatever felt good for the past two weeks and that felt good. "Then maybe we could watch a John Wayne movie and then do some wrangling of our own?"
"Sounds like a plan my love..." Tyler said as he got started on dinner. He had an actual kitchen installed in the Captain's quarters and rather enjoyed cooking. "You can never go wrong with Rio Bravo. Truly one of the best westerns made. That is until Clint Eastwood came along." He added with wink. Tyler and Kat always argued over who was the better cowboy John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.
"The best western Clint Eastwood was in was Paint Your Wagon," she countered. "You can't go wrong with The Duke. Especially when you team him with Kathryn Hepburn. Rooster Gogburn is still better than anything Eastwood did." And just to prove her point, she said. "Computer, play Wandering Star by Clint Eastwood."
"I have seven words for you... The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. Nuff said. Add to that all of the rest of the Pale Rider series. Culminating with Unforgiven. Just a truly great body of work. Now I am not taking anything away from The Duke. But Eastwood's movies had a tad more realism to me. They seemed gritty and less like a move if that makes sense." He countered as some water went up on the stove to boil some potatoes.
"I'll raise you True Grit. Unforgiven is unforgivable. I might give you A Fist Full of Dollars, but I think his best movie was Guys and Dolls. John Wayne's movies may be less realistic, but they had more heart and soul."
"You win with True Grit. But if you liked A Fist Full of Dollars then you have to like its sequel For A Few Dollars More. Can we simply agree to disagree? The Duke had heart, but Clint had realism. I say this evening we watch the movie that you consider to be the best of John Wayne and then we will watch what I consider to be the best of Clint Eastwood. What say you?" Tyler and Kat had this argument hundreds of times over the years that they had known each other and he had yet been able to sway her to his side.
"I think I'll go with Rio Bravo tonight," she said. Then, with a cheeky grin she added, "I'll even wash the dishes."
Tyler loved his wife more and more with each passing second. The fact that she was going to give him the greatest gift a woman could give made him love her that much more. For the moment Tyler Malbrooke's life was nearly perfect. He had his command, he had a baby on the way, and he had his best friend with him through it all. His precious Kat...
She kissed Ty. "That's just in case you've forgotten how much I love you." She paused and then smiled. "I'm glad you're home, Cowboy."
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Commander Katherine Malbrooke
Operational Advisor, USS Pioneer
Captain Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
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