JL | Com Ivanova, Cmdr Dahe'el - "It Takes a Village"

Posted on Thu Sep 10th, 2015 @ 10:14pm by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Commander Almar Dahe'el

3,047 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Agua Mala

...The heat....

It was the one constant on Apsha that Almar was getting used to, the weather was glorious and to him it felt almost perfect, it also had quite a positive effect on his mood and his ability to process new events, at the moment he had taken some time away from reports and paperwork to return to the beach where they had met the two from the Enterprise, he was back on the rock, sunning himself and absorbing the heat from the rock itself.

Time...

He'd long lost track of how long he had been lying there, for him there was no limit as there was for most of the Humans on the crew, the sun didn't damage his skin nearly as much and with the application of a little water occasionally, the Cardassian felt that he could remain here indefinitely, he had a padd set to one side of him, if anyone needed to contact him, they could, but for the moment they had seen fit to leave him to his relaxation.

Finding Almar, whether she wanted to or not, simply wasn't all that difficult. Unlike the porcelain skinned redhead, the Cardassian was unlikely to tuck himself away in air conditioned parlors or be content curled up and watching something on any number of the subspace channels that filtered through the resorts suites. No one, it seemed, honestly wanted to listen to news of home - instead finding themselves perfectly content to sink into a patch of sand or a chaise. Even the storm that had rolled through a couple nights ago hadn't left a dent on their psyches or opinions of the patch of paradise they'd managed to find and, looking around through sunglass shaded eyes, Rochelle was more than willing to admit that she couldn't spot a single shred of evidence that the tempest had ever existed at all... Especially now that their makeshift office had climate controls operational once again.

The beach was smattered with a few locals and officers that had chosen to shirk lunch hour activities for a shot at peace and quiet along the shore. All of them, luckily, seemed far too engrossed with tempting fate of a sunburn to notice the strolling Commodore. At least here it seemed that she'd managed to escape the heavy burden of the public eye. Where once the Enterprise crew stared at her as if she were a ghost, they now milled about without a care - seemingly used to her appearance now that it was a near daily occurrence. It wasn't the Enterprise personnel that caught her attention, however... It was the sprawled out body of a sun baked Cardassian half way up a rock out cropping nearest the main beach entrance. It was his rock, she decided, with the way he'd draped himself so casually and luxuriously across it.
"Sometimes I have to wonder if Commander Archer is right about us needing to install a heat rock in her quarters." She greeted, coming to rest at the base of the rocks. Of course good ole Jimmy had always used the word 'terrarium' in place of quarters when referencing to the relatively reclusive Executive Officer.

"He thinks I do not have one already?" Almar replied as a slight smile began to cross his face as he turned to look at the new arrival, the slender redhead was bikini clad once more with a sarong, black, as was her usual colour when left to her own devices. The Cardassian sheltered his eyes as he rolled his head and opened one of them to regard her, there was something a little different from the woman he had been close with in the past, something subtle, ever so subtle but to someone who had shared what they had, it was easy to notice. "Is everything ok, Commodore? Something looks... different about you."

"Yep. Said something about how we should be more racially sensitive and install one for you, complete with a complimentary cricket keeper." She chuckled as she shirked her flip flops in favor of finding safer footing on her way up the rocks. They were hot, nearly enough to send her back down on a sprint for the water. "Different?" She asked, wincing as she drew her feet up and away from a particularly blistering ledge, "I think the sun is bleaching my hair. Something to do with the salt crystals and bright light. It'll go back to normal after we leave. You should really see it turning the fall and winter months on Earth, it's practically auburn." The chit chat made it easier, she decided, to finish her climb and find solace in a patch of shade beside him. The question, however, was another grim reminder that things were changing and that sooner or later concealing her little secret was going to be an impossibility. With Landon knowing, it was one down and what felt like a billion more to go - Almar being one of the most important, but most sensitive on that list.

"It's not that, although I will admit it does look quite striking as it changes colour," the Cardassian replied softly as he rolled his head back to its previous position and closed his eyes again, basking in the ever present sunlight, "I mean no offense when I say this, I know it can be a touchy subject for females of any race, but you seem a little... rounder, around the midriff."

Torn between taking extreme offense and being brutally candid about the situation, Rochelle snorted softly and lowered her upper half to mimic Almar's sunny-side sprawl. "Were you anybody else..." She muttered in warning, but her lips fell into a grim, tight line. The silence and her expression finished the sentence for her, sparing the open air to the crude threat of Cardassian testicles hanging from the Vindicator's proverbial rear-view mirror. However, she also knew that her 'rounding midriff' was the very thing that had likely cushioned the blow for Landon. He was an astute man, as observant as the Cardassian lazing in the sun beside her, but perhaps a lot more delicate in his decorum. Almar had learned to be blunt, and she'd happily give him his gold star for it later. Luckily for her those who would have noticed the slow changes of her feminine physique were few and far between, and those who would have the fortitude to say something about it were even fewer and further.

The pink of her tongue washed over the fullness of her lower lip, and an idle hand plucked uselessly at the tie of her sarong while silence, and the sound of Stenellis Seagulls punctuated the moment. She couldn't remember what they were called, not that it truly mattered, but at that moment a chat about the winged sea-rats would have been a distraction and a relief. He knew. Not about the birds, but about the reason behind the soft swelling of her belly, otherwise he wouldn't have dared said a word. That knowledge partly left the firebrand filled with a sense of calm and understanding, but the other part left her quietly turning her head to cast a lenses covered glance the dark eyed Cardassian's way in hope of gauging his expression. Hurting him, again, was the last thing she ever wanted to do.

Of course he knew. The Cardassian might have been naive when it came to the complexities of relationships, but he knew the mechanics behind reproduction and other such things and the revelation on Atlantis that Rochelle had laid with another meant that it certainly had happened. He could feel her gaze fall upon him, as he always could, even when she was trying to be secretive about such things. She was watching for a response, "If I were anyone else, I for one, would not have noticed and two, would not have been so bold as to bring it up." the Cardassian replied with a slight smile, "I am somewhat surprised, but not overly so. It was bound to happen eventually after you took a lover."

Rochelle's hand paused its mindless plucking, leaving one flap of the tie captured between a couple of her fingers mid-pluck. He was smiling, being candid, teasing her even... It hadn't been a response she'd counted on. Hoped for? Yes. Counted on? Certainly not. The one she'd counted on the most was having to hang off one of his legs while he tried running back to the ship. The alternative, this alternative, while better was almost nerve-wracking. A single brow slowly rose over the top of her black plastic sunglass frames. "Surprised? You didn't have a Klingon deadpan the info after you innocently went in wanting a b-12 hypo." She chuckled, "Fate took advantage of circumstance. This wasn't part of the plan, but..." She shrugged against the rocks lightly, "flexibility is the zest of life."

"Rotek? I've not seen him in weeks," Almar replied with a chuckle, "I've had no need," was added without too much of a pause as he ran a hand over his hair and flattened it down swiftly, "I'd noticed the few smaller changes in your mood, seeing you now just served to confirm it, one or two of the changes may have been coincidence, but you know how it goes, where there is smoke, there is normally fire.

"Indeed." She huffed, releasing both tension and the knot of her cover-up. "To be honest... I had a clue," Rochelle began to confess, rolling onto her side. "Wasn't quite ready to face the music."

"Is anyone ever ready?" Almar asked quizzically as he shifted his weight slightly and turned his head back to look at her, shielding his eyes again as he opened them, "Sometimes life just decides that it is time for something like this, we both know that the best laid plans barely survive contact with anyone else."

The redhead nodded, "You have a point." She admonished softly, knowing that the road to Hell was often paved by only the best of intentions. Plans hardly ever counted on variables, and variables were rogue and wanton things that often struck and nit picked until sending plans crumbling. Rochelle knew this all too well. None of what had transpired over the last couple years had ever been in her 'plan'. The question now became whether or not she'd chance it all if she could? The answer? A resounding no. While there were parts and pieces that she didn't quite like, the end result - where she was now - was comfortable and peaceful. "I think children are just one of those things that you can't control, even from conception." She chuckled lightly, "You can just help guide them. If watching the Grant brood and Zed has taught me anything, it's that trying to make them walk a straight and narrow line you've set out is kind of like trying to herd cats or nail jello to a tree. It's just not going to happen."

"I think herding cats would be significantly easier than coraling kids," the Cardassian chuckled in reply, thinking back to his childhood and how difficult he had been at times, "How far along are you?"

"Given the genetics involved in this case? Yes. Herding cats would be significantly easier." Rochelle's head shook as she propped it up with a hand. Lazing on the rocks was proving to be a far better idea than hiding in the air conditioned oasis of her suite. It was relaxing, calming, soothing, and lent itself to much needed and important idle conversation. "Just shy of three months."

"If I remember my basic biology, that means you have roughtly six months left? One would assume that Trill have similar gestation periods to Humans." Almar replied as he rolled back to his back and closed his eyes.

"Roughly." Rochelle nodded, furrowing her brows as she watched him roll. "Never really considered the Trill gestation period, but I believe it's pretty much the same for most humanoids. Bajorans have it easy. Five months and done."

Almar nodded slightly as he relaxed back into the rock that had been his perch for a while, it was a relaxed environment and allowed him to clear his head much easier, the heat soothed his physiology with ease, "Well, it would seem you should start preparing for when he or she does arrive, you'll need to organize maternity leave with the higher ups too."

The skin over the Commodore's nose wrinkled at the mention of time off, maternity leave hadn't been something that crossed her mind. Ever. The idea seemed completely foreign to her, as alien as trying to breathe underwater. "I... Don't really plan on taking one." She responded quietly, "Never really thought about it. I don't imagine I'll need more than maybe a day or two." She shrugged. "Admiral Red and Admiral Hark are next on my list to inform, though."

"You will need the time off and I am sure that your father would agree, even order it if necessary," Almar replied softly, "You will need to spend time bonding with the child, you cannot waste the time throwing yourself into work when someone so fragile needs you."

The redhead scoffed lightly at such an absurd thought, "I can put a bassinet in the ready room. It'll be fine."

"No, you need time to rest and relax, you can't bond properly on the bridge," Almar replied with a light chuckle at the idea.

"Of course we can!" Rochelle huffed, pushing herself up to sit, "How else am I going to remain effective while teaching everything there is to know about star ships and space?"

"You'll always remain effective," Almar replied with a soft smile as he followed suit and pushed himself to a sitting position, "But there is more to being a mother than just being effective, your child will inevitably need you at off hours, your sleep will be disrupted and you will require less duty shifts."

Her brow furrowed as she considered the information pouring across, and none of it seemed to compute. Certainly he was joking, trying to rib her with some false information he'd later 'haha' about. "Staying off the bridge doesn't make me effective," she countered, eyeing him warily. Andrea had always seemed to maintain a level of professionalism and motherhood that 'worked' - and then again Rochelle had never seen the woman command a starship with an infant in tow. Anne had been in grade school when the Griffin sat under the blustery blonde Commodore's fingertips. Motherhood had never been something Rochelle had ever considered, let alone truly paid attention to. She knew that children needed attention and love - but was nearly certain that such things could come in spades while she'd hold down the fort like always... Now she wasn't so sure.

"Staying on the bridge when you're exhausted from a lack of sleep doesn't make you effective either, Commodore," the Cardassian replied as he reached for his pack and pulled out a padd, thumbing through it for a few moments, "You'll find that your father will probably insist on your having some time away from the bridge."

A disdainful little snort was the quick response to the Cardassian's latest poke, "I'm sure." She grouched, stealing a quick peek at her mid-section, "I'm starting to wish I'd paid attention to all the crap offered in school about child rearing. I'm..." She paused, looking up with a wrinkled nose, "hopeless? Clueless? You know more about this than I do, and I'm the one with the uterus."

"I paid attention in school," Almar ribbed with another chuckle, "I also spent a lot of time reading additional materials in biology, I had nothing better to do."

"Hey, I paid attention in school also." She replied indignantly, "Just to more interesting topics that seemed far more important. At least they were more important at the time."

"I think I had a little more free time than you did, I wasn't exactly flush with friends or other activities, I had my head buried in books for the most part." the reply with honestly given from the Cardassian.

"Can't say I ever did freetime constructively." Rochelle admitted, "There was always some adventure or some other brand of ridiculousness to get involved in and, to be frank, this was never a path I'd even envisioned myself walking down. There was, and still is, the nasty little fear that I'll be an awful mother based on the fact I only had my own mom's influence for a very short period of time and the rest of my childhood wasn't exactly a prime example of how to handle a youngster."

"I'm sure you've got plenty of friends around who will be able to give you advice and such," Almar replied quickly.

"I'd hope so." She answered, meeting the man's dark eyes.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm not a father and I only have book learning to fall back on," the Cardassian replied with his hands held up, "In any case, who do you think will be running the bridge in your absence?"

"You still get time off and you're still my friend," the spirited young Commodore pointed out, "Book smarts are more smarts than I have on this subject and I've got very little time to make up for this lack of knowledge."

"Best get started then," Almar replied with a wink as he finished what he was compiling on the padd, it was a list of most of the major works in the medical library about motherhood and the early stages of child rearing, "Like you said you've got very little time to make up for it."

The little firebrand stared at the smug Cardassian incredulously. "Seriously? You're giving me homework?" She scoffed lightly, arching aslender brow.

Almar tossed the padd into her lap with a broad smile as he reclined back into his previous position, "Of course, you're going to need it."

Torn between chuckling and giving the man the bird, Rochelle's head simply shook as she lifted the PADD from where it had landed. "Unreal."

---

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

&

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Executive Officer
USS VINDICATOR NCC 78213-E

 

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