Incommunicado – No Rest for the Wicked?
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
ON::
Chelsea was clearing away after the kids had finished their lunch. Todd had helped with the recycling of the plates and Tyler was sleeping. Ellie was running around making *space fighter* noises, pretending to be Uncle Rick in a very child-like impression and miscomprehension of what he did, with her arms out and bumping into the furniture.
"Shhhhh, Sweetie, don't wake the baby!" Chelsea implored as she was *dive-bombed*.
"She'll fall asleep soon too." Todd sighed in a very adult way, wise for his years as some *eldest children* can be with a number of much younger siblings.
At that moment Kim came in, she was flushed and excited and although she didn't have cammo's on she was clearly messy and sweaty so it was obvious where she had been. She was seldom anywhere else these days. Rick wouldn't be happy, but then he wasn't here. He was out there working as he seemed always to be lately.
Chelsea couldn't blame him. It wasn't his problem. *She* had agreed to take on her cousin's children although technically Kim was *his* niece so she was a different responsibility.
"Kim, you're going to have to have a talk with Rick.." Chelsea began. Todd, sensing this was a deja vu situation, slipped off to find something to do and Ellie took the opposite approach, launching herself at Kim to play. Kim obliged and threw her little admirer into the air, spinning the both of them round, Ellie above her head.
Ellie screeched her delight and with all the noise, baby Tyler woke up and added his contribution to the racket. Chelsea went to Ty and picked him up to soothe him just as Ellie, overcome by the gravitational pull of her spin, threw up her recently ingested lunch all into Kim's hair causing het to screech too.
Todd put on some headphones to listen to music and Chelsea hung her head in exhaustion. She had been on nights and now it was what passed for the weekend in this Century. The children were only schooled for 5 days and they they were rested for two days and Chelsea had another 40 hours of this to go before she was due back into work, the theory being that she would be *rested* after her two days off.
With Ty sqalling in her arms she began to rock him but as Kim put Ellie on the floor and left her there to go and shower, the CMO suddenly longed for her next shift.
"If I ever get time, I'm going to get my tubes tied." She muttered, trying to rock and mop in a circular motion to give both of the youngest charges her attention.
"You'll make a great mum" said Rick marching through the front door, his nose slightly creased up at the smell of sick. He didn't stop though he just marched straight through to their bedroom. Where Chelsea, slightly vexed that she hadn't even got a hello kiss or an offer to take the baby off her hands, could hear a lot of shuffling about and then Rick shouted from the next room "Honey where is your dermal regenerator".
"In the med kit Babe... it's always in the cupboard above the wardrobe when the kids are here. I can't have it down where they could reach the medications.... what do you want a DR for?" Chelsea said quizzically, still trying to manage the clean up but now concerned about Rick.
Rick not wanting to alarm the children said back through the now closed door to their bedroom cautiously "Urrrrm you remember when we were cadets and we were on that hunk of junk tramp freighter and i did that thing with the deck panel on the floor....well its exactly like that."
Chelsea paled. "Todd....." she called calmly in tone but with an underlying increasing resolution. As Todd appeared in the doorway, she also called towards the other bedroom. "Kim?".
"Todd could you please take Ty for me and try to rock him back to sleep for a while?" Todd rolled his eyes but held out his arms anyway. "Thank you, I appreciate your help" Chelsea said, handing over the baby to his older brother.
"KIM!" she raised her volume a little, expecting that she was probably in competition with music of some kind. Kim reappeared, removing ear-pieces as she did. "Did you want me?" she asked.
"Yes please. Could you take Ellie for a minute. I've taken off her soiled clothes and washed her face and hands. Could you please dress her and take her into your room for a few minutes while I clean up the floor?" Chelsea asked.
"Why should I? She's not MY sister.... Todd can do it... " Kim said sullenly.
"Because it was YOU who made her sick and if I were being completely FAIR to all of us in this room, it would be YOU cleaning up the vomit!" Chelsea replied, uncharacteristically sharp in her reaction.
Equally uncharacteristically, Kim glared at Chelsea before taking Ellie and the clean clothes she was handed. "If you don't like me playing with her, you only have to say. I'm not here to child-mind or nursemaid... I might as well just go home if I'm not welcome!" she said, challenging for an off-guard resonse.
"Kim... Can we talk about this when your Uncle isn't hurt?" Chelsea replied, flat with exhaustion.
"My Uncle is out there somewhere doing his job. He's not stuck at home with nappies, babies and sick! I'm SO never, EVER going to be a stay at home drudge." Kim shot back and disappeared into her room with the now squalling 2 year old.
Chelsea didn't have time to argue or protest, she took the re-constitutioner, zapped the remaining spatter and then washed her own hands before going into the bedroom to see Rick.
In her head she had a picture of the burned-out shell of a man he had been when he came back from the mission when he had almost crashed into the USS Sarek. Fortunately of course, on that occasion he wouldn't have been walking or talking, let alone doing his own first aid, but Chelsea's memory of Rick and mission induced burns was traumatic and she fought off the illogical but emotional pictures that flooded into her subconscious mind.
"What happened?" she asked him as she came in and closed the door behind her, immediately approaching him with her hands instinctively out to tend to his wounds.
Rick presented his hands for inspection, he had already begun to repair some of the damage to his hands, speckled burns covered them like chicken pox from were sparks had hit the skin. He had presented his hands for two reason; one professional courtesy and two because her tone broached no argument and put him in mind of the chief of the boat who had ordered the cadets around at their first day of the academy. His eyes cast down a little like a told off child rick said "long story short what ever is causing these communication issues may well be alive....and i think i just royally pissed it off. What's going on out there?" Asked rick trying in vane to get the attention off him.
"Domestic Bliss!" she replied sardonically. "Apparently, according to the Marine Corps, I'm a drudge!" Taking the regenerator from him, Chelsea worked quickly and with skill and precision. In minutes the burns were repaired deep down to the 7th layer and completely invisible.
"And while we're discussing it... no. I don't EVER want to have children." she finished as the wailing outside got louder. There was a crashing banging on the door. "ChelsEEEE!" Kim's voice was irritated. "She's been sick AGAIN... and I didn't do it this time! And I JUST had a shower..... "
Kim stopped short of opening the door to Chelsea and Rick's bedroom but she still thought Chelsea was in there alone as she had been in her own room when he had come in and she'd missed the significance of the comment earlier about him being hurt, thinking Chelsea was worrying about him 'out there'.
Chelsea pushed the button that opened the door and Kim stood there dripping more vomit than it appeared were possible for one child to have expelled. They were both dripping it all over the floor again and Kim looked very surprised to see Rick. "Uncle Rick...? What did she mean 'when you're hurt?' I didn't know you were here... did you transport in?" Kim dumped Ellie into Chelsea's arms and moved to hug Rick without thinking about what she was covered in.
"I'm ok" said Rick returning the hug briefly then holding her at arms length to give her an appraising look. He glanced her up and down quickly "Right, you, go get washed again" he then turned her around and pushed her gently to the door after pointing at it.
He then took Chelsea in for the first time. She clearly looked frazzled and Rick his brain still in bridge/command mode from the USS Polux said "Give me that toddler" as and order. He was vexed and his body was still pumping with adrenalin from his close encounter in space, he also felt his heart had been ripped out of his chest and thrown into a bin when she had said she never wanted kids. But as always he put others first.
Taking Eli from Chelsea and holding her comfortingly in one arm he pointed at Chelsea "You, get yourself clean and changed, then go" he then pointed to the door "I can handle this lot you go out and chill a bit, go relax." He then marched into the living room he then pointed at Todd who had come into the living room "you get your books out and do your homework" he pointed the books at the table, he was about to argue but his "now" convinced him not to. He then went to find Tyler who was sleeping, he pointed at the baby and said "you, carry on sleeping" and you he said pointing at the toddler in his arms "don't be sick and let's get you cleaned up."
Chelsea giggled and, as Kim was already in the bathroom, she just stood, shrugged and waited, watching Rick in admiration and adoration. "I love you Commander!" she said gently as he ordered the toddler in his arms who was also giggling at him and trying to pull his nose.
Chelsea stifled another rising smirk as he shot her a look before barking another order at the little madam in his arms who laughed more and more, bouncing up and down with an endearing grin of her own.
But the little madam also needed to be cleaned, which Rick dutifully bowed to getting as much of the sick off with specialist wipes as he could. Though it would be noted by any outsider that he hadn't actually replied to Chelsea's statement of love, just got on with the work at hand.
When Kim came out of the bathroom, Chelsea went in and finally came out wrapped in a blue towel. She went into the bedroom and promptly fell asleep on the bed, still in the towel. It was a while later that anyone came to find her.
************** Some Time Later ***************
"Hey" said Rick gently, softly rocking Chelsea awake. They were alone in there room and no noises could be heard from outside. "Time to get ready for bed" he suggested.
Chelsea jumped awake. "The kids... I have to see to the kids... oh my god I fell asleep.. " she began to get up in a panic but then suddenly realised the Rick was there. "Hey babe... " she said sleepily and in confusion as she shook the sleep from her head and remembered what had happened. "Oh!" she sighed, relaxing as she woke up properly. "Thank you Rick. I must've needed that. How long have I been asleep?" she nestled against him but was unsure about how he was holding himself. Something wasn't right.
"Are you okay? What's wrong? What happened?" she asked, peering into his face to try to tell.
"Everything's fine, you've been asleep for a good four hours, the kids are in bed....." he trailed off "we can talk about the rest tomorrow, how about you get changed and ready for bed and lets get to sleep".
"The rest?" Chelsea was immediately wide awake and buzzing. She jumped up, dropping the towel which she yanked back into position and tucked it firmly in. "What rest? What happened Rick? Is it to do with your mission? Is there something I need to know? Dammit, Dunham..... why is it always so hard to squeeze the most VITAL of information out of you?"
She didn't stop to take a breath. "Anyone would think I really WAS just a drudge who couldn't be trusted to understand the dark or the dangerous? I'm not some frail little petal who is likely to faint away and need smelling salts at the first whiff of something more serious than a burnt casserole!"
"Rick, I'm a professional Federation Commander, I'm 3rd Officer of the biggest freakin starbase you could imagine with over 1000 decks and 50 incidents a day per deck so why MUST you patronise me like a .... like a.... " Finally she stopped and took a shaky breath. "Okay, so I'm a little overwrought. I'm sorry."
Rick folded his arms defensively and with a rather cross tone said "Fine! you want to know what the problem is....before we got married we talked about kids even said it would be a good idea at some point down the road, and now you don't even want them! that's big game changer for me Chelsea Dunham!"
"What?" she looked at him quizzically. She had no memory of saying that but she tried hard to think back. "I.... game changer?" Her semi-Bajoran ridges creased as she looked at his soul-melting eyes, full of something she wasn't sure about but it looked like anger. He'd never been angry with her before. Despite her protestations to the strength of her resolve in the face of the most traumatic of events, her knees went weak and she sank back on the bed.
"Do you mean.... that whatever I said has made you think you don't want to be married to me any more?" she was pale with shock.
"I didn't say that..." said Rick trying to take a long calming breath "It would just mean having to re-think few things. You said you wanted kids with me, now only a few hours ago you said you don't want them. What else have we decided to do together as a couple that you want to change you mind on." The deep breath wasn't working, he was winding himself up again.
"I don't know Rick. What did you hear in anything else i said when i was exhausted and sleep deprived? I think I told you that I loved you but you didn't reply. Do I take that to mean that you too have had some changes of mind?" she countered, struggling not to drown in the whole concept of their first REAL fight.
"NO you said plain as day 'going to get my tubes tied' possibly the most blunt way of talking about this sort of thing, so yeah it got me angry...so funnily enough I was a bit miffed when you said you loved me"
"So... let's get this straight. We agreed that having kids would be "a good idea at some point down the road" yet if I were to have changed my mind this would not only make our whole marriage a changing game but that I would no longer have the right to love you?" Chelsea was looking at him oddly.
"That's not what I said!" "But yeah, i want to have kids, i wanted to have kids with you. You told me that you wanted kids with me so excuse me that i was under the impression that before we got married we would be having kids."
"That was the plan. But what if I don't want to now? Does that mean you want a divorce or not? Does that mean you can't love me anymore? Or what are you saying?" Chelsea asked.
"No...I don't know...I" Rick stumbled for words his eyes welling up a little "i love you, but i always saw a family for us in the future that was my dream our dream....I thought...and now you don't want to share that dream. I don't know what that means anymore Chlesea"
"I didn't mean that I don't want to ever have kids, i've always wanted to have your kids, it's something I... I just had such a rosy picture of, all clouds and rainbows and.... I was just so SO tired -having four suddenly without a run up is a shock to the system and .... then the idea that if I don't want kids then you don't want ME any more... I just.... I... " she stood helplessly, lost and confused.
"I was so shocked that you could say you're rethinking if you love me now?" she whispered. "I'd love you whatever happened, kids, dreams, even if you were that empty person who didn't know who I was and who said he preferred blondes... I still loved you..... it was never about what you could give me... like kids.... it was about just being with you." She wanted so much to reach out to him, to hold him, but the way he was looking at her held her at bay.
"Chelsea I will love you no matter what.....I just so wanted this with you"
"Then let's do it..... " she said, finally managing to break through whatever had held her. "If you love me anyway, even if I get it all wrong, even if it's not going to be all wispy clouds and unicorns, then let's give it our best shot." her eyes filled with tears.
Rick pulled her closer to him over the bed to hold her in his arms, he kissed her on wet tear streaked cheek "don't you mean wispy clouds and dragons" he said a soft loving smile on his face.
It was that night that their first baby dragon was conceived.
A JP Between:
Commander Chelsea Dunham
CMO and 2CO - DS5
and
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dunham
CAG Squadron Leader-DS5
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
| Title | No Rest for the Wicked? | |
| Mission | Incommunicado | |
| Author(s) | Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham | |
| Posted | Mon Jun 04, 2012 @ 3:24pm | |
| Location | The Dunham's Quarters | |
| Timeline | SD57 15:58 In case of emergency, break glass |
Chelsea was clearing away after the kids had finished their lunch. Todd had helped with the recycling of the plates and Tyler was sleeping. Ellie was running around making *space fighter* noises, pretending to be Uncle Rick in a very child-like impression and miscomprehension of what he did, with her arms out and bumping into the furniture.
"Shhhhh, Sweetie, don't wake the baby!" Chelsea implored as she was *dive-bombed*.
"She'll fall asleep soon too." Todd sighed in a very adult way, wise for his years as some *eldest children* can be with a number of much younger siblings.
At that moment Kim came in, she was flushed and excited and although she didn't have cammo's on she was clearly messy and sweaty so it was obvious where she had been. She was seldom anywhere else these days. Rick wouldn't be happy, but then he wasn't here. He was out there working as he seemed always to be lately.
Chelsea couldn't blame him. It wasn't his problem. *She* had agreed to take on her cousin's children although technically Kim was *his* niece so she was a different responsibility.
"Kim, you're going to have to have a talk with Rick.." Chelsea began. Todd, sensing this was a deja vu situation, slipped off to find something to do and Ellie took the opposite approach, launching herself at Kim to play. Kim obliged and threw her little admirer into the air, spinning the both of them round, Ellie above her head.
Ellie screeched her delight and with all the noise, baby Tyler woke up and added his contribution to the racket. Chelsea went to Ty and picked him up to soothe him just as Ellie, overcome by the gravitational pull of her spin, threw up her recently ingested lunch all into Kim's hair causing het to screech too.
Todd put on some headphones to listen to music and Chelsea hung her head in exhaustion. She had been on nights and now it was what passed for the weekend in this Century. The children were only schooled for 5 days and they they were rested for two days and Chelsea had another 40 hours of this to go before she was due back into work, the theory being that she would be *rested* after her two days off.
With Ty sqalling in her arms she began to rock him but as Kim put Ellie on the floor and left her there to go and shower, the CMO suddenly longed for her next shift.
"If I ever get time, I'm going to get my tubes tied." She muttered, trying to rock and mop in a circular motion to give both of the youngest charges her attention.
"You'll make a great mum" said Rick marching through the front door, his nose slightly creased up at the smell of sick. He didn't stop though he just marched straight through to their bedroom. Where Chelsea, slightly vexed that she hadn't even got a hello kiss or an offer to take the baby off her hands, could hear a lot of shuffling about and then Rick shouted from the next room "Honey where is your dermal regenerator".
"In the med kit Babe... it's always in the cupboard above the wardrobe when the kids are here. I can't have it down where they could reach the medications.... what do you want a DR for?" Chelsea said quizzically, still trying to manage the clean up but now concerned about Rick.
Rick not wanting to alarm the children said back through the now closed door to their bedroom cautiously "Urrrrm you remember when we were cadets and we were on that hunk of junk tramp freighter and i did that thing with the deck panel on the floor....well its exactly like that."
Chelsea paled. "Todd....." she called calmly in tone but with an underlying increasing resolution. As Todd appeared in the doorway, she also called towards the other bedroom. "Kim?".
"Todd could you please take Ty for me and try to rock him back to sleep for a while?" Todd rolled his eyes but held out his arms anyway. "Thank you, I appreciate your help" Chelsea said, handing over the baby to his older brother.
"KIM!" she raised her volume a little, expecting that she was probably in competition with music of some kind. Kim reappeared, removing ear-pieces as she did. "Did you want me?" she asked.
"Yes please. Could you take Ellie for a minute. I've taken off her soiled clothes and washed her face and hands. Could you please dress her and take her into your room for a few minutes while I clean up the floor?" Chelsea asked.
"Why should I? She's not MY sister.... Todd can do it... " Kim said sullenly.
"Because it was YOU who made her sick and if I were being completely FAIR to all of us in this room, it would be YOU cleaning up the vomit!" Chelsea replied, uncharacteristically sharp in her reaction.
Equally uncharacteristically, Kim glared at Chelsea before taking Ellie and the clean clothes she was handed. "If you don't like me playing with her, you only have to say. I'm not here to child-mind or nursemaid... I might as well just go home if I'm not welcome!" she said, challenging for an off-guard resonse.
"Kim... Can we talk about this when your Uncle isn't hurt?" Chelsea replied, flat with exhaustion.
"My Uncle is out there somewhere doing his job. He's not stuck at home with nappies, babies and sick! I'm SO never, EVER going to be a stay at home drudge." Kim shot back and disappeared into her room with the now squalling 2 year old.
Chelsea didn't have time to argue or protest, she took the re-constitutioner, zapped the remaining spatter and then washed her own hands before going into the bedroom to see Rick.
In her head she had a picture of the burned-out shell of a man he had been when he came back from the mission when he had almost crashed into the USS Sarek. Fortunately of course, on that occasion he wouldn't have been walking or talking, let alone doing his own first aid, but Chelsea's memory of Rick and mission induced burns was traumatic and she fought off the illogical but emotional pictures that flooded into her subconscious mind.
"What happened?" she asked him as she came in and closed the door behind her, immediately approaching him with her hands instinctively out to tend to his wounds.
Rick presented his hands for inspection, he had already begun to repair some of the damage to his hands, speckled burns covered them like chicken pox from were sparks had hit the skin. He had presented his hands for two reason; one professional courtesy and two because her tone broached no argument and put him in mind of the chief of the boat who had ordered the cadets around at their first day of the academy. His eyes cast down a little like a told off child rick said "long story short what ever is causing these communication issues may well be alive....and i think i just royally pissed it off. What's going on out there?" Asked rick trying in vane to get the attention off him.
"Domestic Bliss!" she replied sardonically. "Apparently, according to the Marine Corps, I'm a drudge!" Taking the regenerator from him, Chelsea worked quickly and with skill and precision. In minutes the burns were repaired deep down to the 7th layer and completely invisible.
"And while we're discussing it... no. I don't EVER want to have children." she finished as the wailing outside got louder. There was a crashing banging on the door. "ChelsEEEE!" Kim's voice was irritated. "She's been sick AGAIN... and I didn't do it this time! And I JUST had a shower..... "
Kim stopped short of opening the door to Chelsea and Rick's bedroom but she still thought Chelsea was in there alone as she had been in her own room when he had come in and she'd missed the significance of the comment earlier about him being hurt, thinking Chelsea was worrying about him 'out there'.
Chelsea pushed the button that opened the door and Kim stood there dripping more vomit than it appeared were possible for one child to have expelled. They were both dripping it all over the floor again and Kim looked very surprised to see Rick. "Uncle Rick...? What did she mean 'when you're hurt?' I didn't know you were here... did you transport in?" Kim dumped Ellie into Chelsea's arms and moved to hug Rick without thinking about what she was covered in.
"I'm ok" said Rick returning the hug briefly then holding her at arms length to give her an appraising look. He glanced her up and down quickly "Right, you, go get washed again" he then turned her around and pushed her gently to the door after pointing at it.
He then took Chelsea in for the first time. She clearly looked frazzled and Rick his brain still in bridge/command mode from the USS Polux said "Give me that toddler" as and order. He was vexed and his body was still pumping with adrenalin from his close encounter in space, he also felt his heart had been ripped out of his chest and thrown into a bin when she had said she never wanted kids. But as always he put others first.
Taking Eli from Chelsea and holding her comfortingly in one arm he pointed at Chelsea "You, get yourself clean and changed, then go" he then pointed to the door "I can handle this lot you go out and chill a bit, go relax." He then marched into the living room he then pointed at Todd who had come into the living room "you get your books out and do your homework" he pointed the books at the table, he was about to argue but his "now" convinced him not to. He then went to find Tyler who was sleeping, he pointed at the baby and said "you, carry on sleeping" and you he said pointing at the toddler in his arms "don't be sick and let's get you cleaned up."
Chelsea giggled and, as Kim was already in the bathroom, she just stood, shrugged and waited, watching Rick in admiration and adoration. "I love you Commander!" she said gently as he ordered the toddler in his arms who was also giggling at him and trying to pull his nose.
Chelsea stifled another rising smirk as he shot her a look before barking another order at the little madam in his arms who laughed more and more, bouncing up and down with an endearing grin of her own.
But the little madam also needed to be cleaned, which Rick dutifully bowed to getting as much of the sick off with specialist wipes as he could. Though it would be noted by any outsider that he hadn't actually replied to Chelsea's statement of love, just got on with the work at hand.
When Kim came out of the bathroom, Chelsea went in and finally came out wrapped in a blue towel. She went into the bedroom and promptly fell asleep on the bed, still in the towel. It was a while later that anyone came to find her.
************** Some Time Later ***************
"Hey" said Rick gently, softly rocking Chelsea awake. They were alone in there room and no noises could be heard from outside. "Time to get ready for bed" he suggested.
Chelsea jumped awake. "The kids... I have to see to the kids... oh my god I fell asleep.. " she began to get up in a panic but then suddenly realised the Rick was there. "Hey babe... " she said sleepily and in confusion as she shook the sleep from her head and remembered what had happened. "Oh!" she sighed, relaxing as she woke up properly. "Thank you Rick. I must've needed that. How long have I been asleep?" she nestled against him but was unsure about how he was holding himself. Something wasn't right.
"Are you okay? What's wrong? What happened?" she asked, peering into his face to try to tell.
"Everything's fine, you've been asleep for a good four hours, the kids are in bed....." he trailed off "we can talk about the rest tomorrow, how about you get changed and ready for bed and lets get to sleep".
"The rest?" Chelsea was immediately wide awake and buzzing. She jumped up, dropping the towel which she yanked back into position and tucked it firmly in. "What rest? What happened Rick? Is it to do with your mission? Is there something I need to know? Dammit, Dunham..... why is it always so hard to squeeze the most VITAL of information out of you?"
She didn't stop to take a breath. "Anyone would think I really WAS just a drudge who couldn't be trusted to understand the dark or the dangerous? I'm not some frail little petal who is likely to faint away and need smelling salts at the first whiff of something more serious than a burnt casserole!"
"Rick, I'm a professional Federation Commander, I'm 3rd Officer of the biggest freakin starbase you could imagine with over 1000 decks and 50 incidents a day per deck so why MUST you patronise me like a .... like a.... " Finally she stopped and took a shaky breath. "Okay, so I'm a little overwrought. I'm sorry."
Rick folded his arms defensively and with a rather cross tone said "Fine! you want to know what the problem is....before we got married we talked about kids even said it would be a good idea at some point down the road, and now you don't even want them! that's big game changer for me Chelsea Dunham!"
"What?" she looked at him quizzically. She had no memory of saying that but she tried hard to think back. "I.... game changer?" Her semi-Bajoran ridges creased as she looked at his soul-melting eyes, full of something she wasn't sure about but it looked like anger. He'd never been angry with her before. Despite her protestations to the strength of her resolve in the face of the most traumatic of events, her knees went weak and she sank back on the bed.
"Do you mean.... that whatever I said has made you think you don't want to be married to me any more?" she was pale with shock.
"I didn't say that..." said Rick trying to take a long calming breath "It would just mean having to re-think few things. You said you wanted kids with me, now only a few hours ago you said you don't want them. What else have we decided to do together as a couple that you want to change you mind on." The deep breath wasn't working, he was winding himself up again.
"I don't know Rick. What did you hear in anything else i said when i was exhausted and sleep deprived? I think I told you that I loved you but you didn't reply. Do I take that to mean that you too have had some changes of mind?" she countered, struggling not to drown in the whole concept of their first REAL fight.
"NO you said plain as day 'going to get my tubes tied' possibly the most blunt way of talking about this sort of thing, so yeah it got me angry...so funnily enough I was a bit miffed when you said you loved me"
"So... let's get this straight. We agreed that having kids would be "a good idea at some point down the road" yet if I were to have changed my mind this would not only make our whole marriage a changing game but that I would no longer have the right to love you?" Chelsea was looking at him oddly.
"That's not what I said!" "But yeah, i want to have kids, i wanted to have kids with you. You told me that you wanted kids with me so excuse me that i was under the impression that before we got married we would be having kids."
"That was the plan. But what if I don't want to now? Does that mean you want a divorce or not? Does that mean you can't love me anymore? Or what are you saying?" Chelsea asked.
"No...I don't know...I" Rick stumbled for words his eyes welling up a little "i love you, but i always saw a family for us in the future that was my dream our dream....I thought...and now you don't want to share that dream. I don't know what that means anymore Chlesea"
"I didn't mean that I don't want to ever have kids, i've always wanted to have your kids, it's something I... I just had such a rosy picture of, all clouds and rainbows and.... I was just so SO tired -having four suddenly without a run up is a shock to the system and .... then the idea that if I don't want kids then you don't want ME any more... I just.... I... " she stood helplessly, lost and confused.
"I was so shocked that you could say you're rethinking if you love me now?" she whispered. "I'd love you whatever happened, kids, dreams, even if you were that empty person who didn't know who I was and who said he preferred blondes... I still loved you..... it was never about what you could give me... like kids.... it was about just being with you." She wanted so much to reach out to him, to hold him, but the way he was looking at her held her at bay.
"Chelsea I will love you no matter what.....I just so wanted this with you"
"Then let's do it..... " she said, finally managing to break through whatever had held her. "If you love me anyway, even if I get it all wrong, even if it's not going to be all wispy clouds and unicorns, then let's give it our best shot." her eyes filled with tears.
Rick pulled her closer to him over the bed to hold her in his arms, he kissed her on wet tear streaked cheek "don't you mean wispy clouds and dragons" he said a soft loving smile on his face.
It was that night that their first baby dragon was conceived.
A JP Between:
Commander Chelsea Dunham
CMO and 2CO - DS5
and
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dunham
CAG Squadron Leader-DS5