Keen to Meet the New Arrival pt 1

Posted on Wed Jul 22nd, 2015 @ 1:18pm by Chief Petty Officer Adriana Keen & Lieutenant Commander Morai Keen & Lieutenant Jensen Foster & Lieutenant JG Heather Quinn

1,718 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: A Civil Act
Location: Operations - Sickbay

ON:

Adriana shuffled into the Operations office. She had been on desk duty for a couple weeks now. Which meant that once behind the desk no one could see that she was wearing red fuzzy slippers instead of uniform boots. Her feet were so badly swollen nowadays she couldn’t get any kind of shoes on except her slippers. Luckily no one had caught her at it yet.

She sat down heavily as she started sneezing again. Her pregnancy had been easy for the past several months but it was now starting to really hit. Her back ached. Her feet were swollen. The sneezing was getting ridiculous.

And she was thoroughly happy with it all.

After sitting and working for several minutes though, she had to get up again and walk a little bit, pacing gently back and forth as she planted her hands into her lower back and tried to stretch out the ache she was feeling there.

It wasn’t helping and as she made her way back to the desk she stopped suddenly and doubled over, crying out a little in pain. That didn’t feel right. That really didn’t feel right.

“Ahhh!” she cried out again as another pang of pain hit her. She almost thought they could have been labor pains. But she wasn’t due for a few more weeks. And her water hadn’t broken. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

She hit her commbadge. “Ops to sickbay, send a medical team- AHHH!” She stumbled and dropped to her knees. “And get Counselor Keen!”

[Sickbay]

Keen nearly hit the doors as he was at a dead run, this was not going to be a good thing as the Little One was not due for a couple of weeks. He hated having to leave a session early but his wife was in pain, the medical staff alerting him, and the fact Kitten would not call if it were not serious had made the decision rather easy. Thankfuly, the crewmember had been understanding given the circumstances.

"Where is Ardiana!" He asked exasperated.

He didn't have to wait for an answer as he almost immediately heard an anguished cry of pain in a very familiar voice.

Moving without really thinking Keen was across the space between he and his wife in an instant, he let out an acknowledgement as he moved. "Kitten..." He said without thinking.

"Morai," Adriana almost whimpered and reached for his hand.

Keen was at her side; his hand engulfed hers as he looked into the sky on a usually sunny day and praying to the Prophets that this was not going to affect Little One adversely? He gave her a smile that she could see he was concerned but not worried. She was looking at him and he could see her being nervous, her grip on his hand added the fact this was not what is expected.

"Hey, Little Mommie, you getting in a hurry to see the Little One?" He tried to ease her a bit.

"Something's wrong. I don't know what it is but something's wrong," Adriana said breathlessly. There were labor pains, at least she thought they were labor pains, but there was also something else. A pulling on her insides. Like nothing she'd ever heard of in Human labor. That's what was really causing the pain.

Keen was not one to wonder about his wife's feelings; it was her body and the baby was just maturing there, so he just held her hand and nodded. The fact there was a problem was a fact he could not let her know had him on edge. His wife was the most important person in his life and Little One the second. He knew that Bajoran pregnancies were tricky and even where a baby was inserted into a Bajoran seemed to be okay but what was happening now is nothing like what he expected.

"The Doctor is on the way, everything will be all right." He assured her. "We have the best medical staff around."

Adriana gripped his hand tightly. In addition to the frightening pains, there was also terrifying knowledge. Years ago, they had been involved in a temporal incident; the Keens had seen into a possible future and in that future Adriana had died- in childbirth. This young Adriana hadn't told her husband that she knew how the future her had died. They had tried to change things- they HAD changed so many things- and Adriana had thought they had changed enough. But now she wondered.

She was trying to keep the fear out of her eyes as she looked up at her husband. "Not ready," she said. "I- I'm not ready."

"The baby will come when the Prophets wish," Keen assured her. "You will see Little One and all will be well." He kissed her hands. "Two weeks is not that bad, it will work out. I do not think any Mother is truly 'ready' for child birth, it is okay Kitten." He knew she would be scared, in pain and at some point wanting to curse his name. "I love you Kitten, we will get through this." He comforted her and waited the maelstrom of emotions that would come with labor.

She tried to take deeper breaths, tried to keep herself calm. "Sure wish December were here," she said with a pained smile. "Where's the Doc? Something's wrong- the Baby- Something's wrong with the Baby..."

"Don't worry Kitten..." He assured. "The Doctor is on his way."

[Foster's Quarters]

"Sickbay to Lieutenant Foster."

That one phrase had the bow of his violin screeching across the strings loudly enough that Jensen gritted his teeth. Setting his instrument down, he quickly tapped his combadge. "Foster here."

"We've got an unexpected emergency here, Doctor. I think you better get over here quickly. It's Adriana."

"Acknowledged. Foster out," Jensen replied tapping his combadge a second time to end communications. Quickly he exited his quarters and headed for the turbolift.

[Sickbay]

Jensen took a moment just outside the doors of Sickbay to try and center his mind. It wouldn't do anyone any good for him to act out upon the intense emotions emanating from within the medical facility. Entering a second later, Jensen took in the two figures in the main alcove. Morai Keen stood next the biobed, holding his wife's hand gently, gazing intently down at her. While he had a look of calm upon his face, Jensen could feel just how concerned and worried the Bajoran man was.

That's when Jensen's gaze filtered over to the person on the biobed. Adriana Keen laid there, holding onto her husband's hand tightly, attempting to mask just how much pain she was in. And not just from the spasms that wracked along her abdomen. Jensen picked up on her fear acutely, but steeled himself against it.

Stepping further into the room, it didn't take long for Dr. Quinn and the on-duty nurse to come over to him. They conversed for a few seconds, just so Jensen could get a clear idea of what they may have done for Adriana thus far. Quinn handed him a PADD and he quickly went over the information stated. Basically everything pertinant to the Keen's pregnancy. Nodding afterwards, Jensen walked over to the couple a minute or two later.

Schooling his face into a smile and speaking calmly and soothingly, Jensen intoned, "Well this is unexpected. You're not due for another two weeks, Adriana." He quickly went to work scanning her body with his tricorder. While doing so, he asked, "Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

"I was working. My back started to hurt so I got up to walk around- then- I think it was contractions, but there's something wrong. A- a pulling- I don't know what's wrong-" Adriana gripped her husband's hand again and groaned as another contraction hit her. The painful pulling sensation was stronger and she bit her lip. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew something wasn't right- she knew this was more than normal contractions.

Jensen was still scanning Adriana as she answered his inquiry. But the moment Adriana's body tensed in pain Jensen felt it so acutely he barely had enough time to collect himself. Just seconds before his tricorder had revealed some alarming data. He knew Bajoran pregnancies were much different than their human counterparts, but he hadn't expected to find what he found.

"Dr. Quinn, can you come here," Jensen called out. Once his colleague was near, he showed her the data he'd collected, while keeping an eye on the Keens. Adriana looked to be in severe pain and Morai was looking only at her, attempting to soothe as best as he could with murmured words and brushing her face gently.

It was only after Quinn had looked back up at him that Jensen knew he had to reveal the information to the Keens. What the tricorder had shown was... improbable, but not impossible.

Glancing at Quinn quickly, getting a slight nod in return, Jensen then spoke to the Keens. "I have some unpleasant news to share. And I don't want to alarm you, but there's been a complication."

"The baby?" Adriana gasped. "Is the baby alright?"

"The term 'Unpleasant' in the same sentence with NOT wanting to alarm will have the opposite effect. I am a counselor I know these kind of things. Will MY family be able to get through this healthy would be a good answer about now." Keen snapped.

Jensen tried to calm both husband and wife before answering them. Which was a bit hard to do, what with him feeling Adriana's pain and fear as well as Morai's slight frustration and worry, but he continued forward anyway. "You've developed a complex network of blood vessels in your womb. This is a normal part of Bajoran pregnancies, but considering that you're human, it shouldn't be possible." He gazed quickly from one to the other just to make sure they understood. When he was assured of that he continued, "And yet, you have developed them. The only way to safely remove your baby is to perform emergency surgery where Dr. Quinn and I will work to sever the blood vessels connecting you to your baby."

To Be Continued:

 

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