Fortune {Star Trek Enterprise Fan Fiction}

Going Where None of Us Have Gone Before

"And there were letters. I knew they weren't just being sent to me, but I could, I could believe they were, if I felt it hard enough. And there were photographs! If I squinted just right, I could, I could believe that it was you and me in front of your new business venture, you and I standing on a beach, and you and I holding our, our son." – Malcolm Reed

"You got bitten. Hard. Don't just concede it." – Pamela Hudson

"I guess it looks weird, getting that intimate and involved that quickly. I won't deny that my brain's probably rather sex-addled." – Lili O'Day

"I'd wish you all luck, but, ha, getting lucky is what got us into this in the first place." – Jonathan Archer

=/\=

"How are you feeling, Lili-Flower?"

"Pretty good," she said, on the viewer, from the den at her home on Lafa II. Her daughter and son ran in and out of viewer range.

"I see you have company there," Malcolm said, "How many kicks today?"

"Seventeen," she said.

"Hmm, that's less than yesterday."

"Are you graphing the numbers, or something?"

"No, no, of course not," he said. "He just doesn't seem to be as active as, as Marie Patrice was."

Hearing her name, Lili's daughter stopped for a second and addressed the screen, "Mackum! When are you coming back?"

"In a few days, young miss," he said, "But your mother and I are going to be a bit busy."

"A baby's going to come out," Marie Patrice said.

"Yes, that's right," Malcolm said.

"We, uh, don't have the specific mechanics on that yet," Lili said, "But we do know that Mommy's having an operation, but that's not how it's normally done. And Melissa is going to have a baby come out soon, too, right?"

"Uh-huh," Marie Patrice said, "But that's some other way."

"Yes," Malcolm said, "How old is your daughter, again?"

"Two in January," Lili said.

"My God. They are amazing."

"Mirror children," Lili said, "The genetics from the other side of the pond are pretty powerful."

=/\=

"It is ... you need to understand, Lili ... I know how it all happened. How that baby got there. How you and me put him there. Very, very sexy." – Doug Beckett

"You were an animal. The Calafans were staring." – Lili Beckett

"That's 'cause they could hear you. You're not exactly a little mouse when you, uh, when you know. It must kill ya to keep quiet with Joss in the other room." – Doug Beckett

"I like to make it so that you have to bite the pillow." – Doug Beckett

"I'm gonna bite that pillow in half if you keep doing exactly what you're doing right now." – Lili Beckett

=/\=

"You seem to be so much smaller than you were when you were expecting her," Malcolm said.

Since the conversation had turned to more grown-up things again, Marie Patrice returned to running around and chasing after her older brother, Joss.

"Well, I am smaller, even than I was when I was only four or five months along with her."

"Is that, is that bad? Are you getting enough to eat?"

"Of course I am! Oh Gawd, I am eating half a perrazin all by myself these days."

"But your, your size. I just, I worry. Are you certain Declan's all right?" Malcolm asked anxiously, touching the cuff a bit.

"Yes. He's fine. He is normal," Lili said, "It's that the other two were giants. This is the easiest pregnancy I have ever had. We should have six more."

"I beg your pardon?"

"That's a joke," she smiled, "If you want to see someone who's gotten as big as I did, maybe give Melissa a call."

"Is she doing all right?"

"Yep," Lili said, "She's due in mid-November. I think she and Norri will be glad to be done with this one."

"Difficulties?"

"I think she's just uncomfortable, but nothing bad. Oof! There was kick number eighteen."

"Yes, I think I saw that one. I wish I was there, putting my hand on your stomach, feeling it along with you."

"You were always good at getting Marie Patrice to lay off the kicking," she said.