Samantha Richards, Ensign Tho'Bi, Lt JG Roy Bancroft and LTCMDR Nathan Richards -The Delivery (And Other Catastrophes), [Part one]
Samantha Richards
Sickbay should have probably been her first stop, but going to her quarters to grab a few things felt more necessary even after having her water break and feeling the contractions that were coming quicker and quicker.
What wasn’t necessary were the overwhelming thoughts and emotions plaguing her as she waddled her way down the corridor.
This already sucks.
It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Talos should be here.
I’m alone.
He promised he’d be here.
It’s not his fault. It’s no one’s fault.
Babies come when they want to, not when it’s most convenient.
He’s going to miss this.
I don’t want to do this without him.
Whatever… I’ve got this.
(( Sam’s Quarters – Deck 6, USS Artemis-A ))
While she wrestled with her thoughts and growing unease of being alone, she almost didn’t notice the big, blonde haired, golden armed idiot sitting on her couch when she walked in.
S. Richards: Nathan! You came early… ::Her voice cracking:: Are you ready to be an uncle?
The elder Richards looked up at his sister with a smile. He had it marked on his schedule when she was going to be due with his niece and nephew, and he wanted to get there as early as he could so he could be ready and there for her when she needed him.
N. Richards: As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose. Might take a day or two to really settle into the role…
She stared at him, a little dumbfounded.
S. Richards: No- like right now. I’m in labor. They are coming now.
The smile on Nathan’s face faded to confusion, then concern, then excitement, and back to concern. He stood up and walked over to his sister.
N. Richards: Oh, like now now?
The way his face flipped through the emotions was almost comical, but there was no time to laugh or poke fun at him. A sharp wave of pain began to radiate through her body. She instinctively reached out for her brother and grabbed his hand.
S. Richards: Hooooly space cows! :: squeezing his hand:: Ow ow ow ow!
Thankfully, Sam had grabbed Nathan’s prosthetic hand instead of his real hand. Based on the creaking of the metal plating, his real hand might have been broken.
N. Richards: It, uh, it really must be time. Okay…uh…
Copurrnicus stared at her and let out a concerned meow as she pawed at her Mama’s leg. After a few extremely intense moments, the pain subsided and she released Nathan from her grip.
S. Richards: It’s okay Cop, I’m fine. I’m good.
N. Richards: ::Looking down at his prosthetic hand:: Are you sure?
Once her breathing returned to normal, she tapped her combadge.
S. Richards: =/\= Richards to Tho’Bi. ::beat:: If you’re not busy, would you mind keeping Copurrnicus for a couple days? =/\=
Tho’Bi: =/\= Tho’Bi here ::sound of cutting equipment:: I… I can do that. ::cutting grinds to a stop:: =/\=
S. Richards: =/\= Just for a day or two. The babies are coming, and I don’t want to worry about her not getting enough attention while I’m figuring out how to handle two babies. =/\=
She looked at Nathan for a moment, whose raised eyebrow expressed his curiosity.
N. Richards: Tho’Bi?
Nathan nodded his head, tilting it slightly before shrugging. She definitely knew the Artemis crew better than he did.
S. Richards: He’s a nice Andorian fella. If I trust anyone with Copurrnicus, it’s him.
Tho’Bi: =/\= Yes, of course. =/\=
S. Richards: =/\= Thank you so much. ::beginning to feel the onset of another contraction:: Uh… Please hurry. =/\=
She tapped her badge to cut the signal and reached out for her brother once more. Her hand grabbing at his arm and squeezing. This time, she grabbed ahold of his other arm.
N. Richards: ::Wincing slightly:: Yeah, Tho’Bi. Please hurry.
S. Richards: I can’t do this Nathan. ::Doubling over in pain:: $&?! ?%#$ %?@!#!!
Switching between rubbing his sister’s back, and trying to loosen her grip on his arm, Nathan tried his best to be supportive and comforting. But the fingers digging into his bicep was making that a little difficult.
N. Richards: Come on Sammy. You got this. You’re strong. ::Wincing again:: Real damn strong.
Thankfully it didn’t take long for Tho’Bi to show up. It must have had something to do with the long legs and if Sam wasn’t mistaken, the Andorian sounded a bit excited to spend a few days with the cat.
Sam had Nathan grab Copurrnicus’s favorite bag, (the rucksack she commandeered from Tho’Bi) to which the cat happily jumped in and waited, like she knew what was happening.
S. Richards: Thank you Tho’Bi. I appreciate this so much..
Tho’Bi: It is no problem. I will take good care of the little one ::bows slightly::
Nathan looked the Andorian up and down before handing him Schrodinger's bag.
Tho'Bi: ::looking down into the bag:: Hello little one ::smiles::
A pair of bright green eyes looked up at him from the darkness of the bottom of the bag. “Meow!” chimed Copurrnicus in a friendly manner that warmed the Andorian’s troubled heart. With great deliberate care, he maneuvered the Cat-Sack onto his back.
N. Richards: Damn you’re tall…
Sam rolled her eyes.
S. Richards: Sorry. This is my brother Nathan. Ignore him.
The Andorian had been preoccupied with the business of greeting the little one, he had not until this moment registered who Sam's brother was… or more specifically, his rank.
Tho’Bi: ::standing to attention:: Lieutenant Commander.
This might have passed as a text book, if a little tardy, display of Starfleet’s finest discipline, had Copurrnicus not taken this exact moment to take up her favourite traveling position. A white and black head appeared from the top of the Cat-Sack. A pair of paws pressed into the Ensign's shoulder. Hind paws resting inside the bag, Copurrnicus sat tall, her body equal to the Andorian’s head, and her head higher than it.
Nathan simply waved off the Ensign’s formality. He wasn’t an officer aboard the Artemis, and was there as a guest. In that moment he wasn’t a Lieutenant Commander. Just a man about to be an uncle.
N. Richards: Do you have to duck through doors?
Copurrnicus looked down on The Mama Brother and let out an indignant “Meow!”, as though she thought the joke might be about her. In stark contrast, the young Ensign did not possess the stately confidence of the cat.
Tho'Bi: Eh.. no, sir. N-not usually… well, once on the last mission ::tilts head:: there were some All Terrain Vehicles ::tilts head the other way:: for a short species…
N. Richards: ::Looking towards his sister:: I like this guy. I like the Talldorian.
S. Richards: Talldorian? ::Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath:: Nathan please stop talking.
Green eyes tracked the Andorian's antennae as he tilted his head. Bop! Copurrnicus swiped a soft paw across the nearest antenna.
N. Richards: I think the cat likes him too.
S. Richards: He did save her life. ::beat:: That was after the two of them wrecked the XO quarters together.
She smirked at her friend. But the joy was short lived as her stomach began to tense again.
White and black head rubbed up against the white hair and blue skin… and purred. The Andorian reached up and stroked the side of Copurrnicus’ cheek with his finger.
Just as Sam was about to give Cop a proper goodbye, the wave of pain took over again. Using the back of the chair for support, she rested her head on her hands and tried to breathe. After what was only a short while— that felt incredibly long— she lifted her head and looked at Nathan.
S. Richards: We need to go. ::pointing towards one of the rooms:: There’s a bag in the baby room, go get it. ::Turning to Tho’Bi and Copurrnicus:: You two have fun, I’ll see you in a couple days.
Tho'Bi: Yes, of course. ::to Copurrnicus:: We must go, little one.
As the Andorian's long legs carried them through the open doorway, the white and black cat turned, and looked back at the Mama. Green eyes blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. “Meeow”, a quiet Meow escaped the little one's mouth… and the doors closed.
The doors closed on the world of Copurrnicus and the Mama. For that world was over now, and a new world was about to begin. A world of Copurrnicus, the Mama, and the babies. Yet, still the little white and black cat's quiet “Meow” lingered in the room. As though, the old world was not quite ready to move on.
(( Primary Sickbay – Deck 7, USS Artemis-A ))
They entered through the doors of sickbay, her eyes searching every face in the room until it landed on the one with the mustache.
S. Richards: Roy! ::Getting louder:: Babies! Now!
Roy was mid-way through patching up a crewman with a very dramatic paper cut – classified as a laceration only through the sheer force of the patient’s imagination – when the dulcet tones of Samantha Richards rang out like a phaser set to ‘urgent and personal’.
He whirled on the spot to find her – radiant, slightly flushed, and marching across Sickbay with all the subtlety of a warp core breach. Beside her was a bear of a man with a golden prosthetic arm. Together, they looked as though they’d both recently escaped from a particularly lax asylum.
Bancroft: ::deadpan:: Well, if it isn’t my favorite cheezy poof enthusiast and a new plus-one. I assume this is less of a social call and more of a ‘clear the decks, I’m crowning’ situation?
For as cheeky and obnoxious Roy could be, Sam felt a sense of relief seeing the doctor she had quickly come to call her friend.
Nathan looked the doctor over, his eyes falling to the man’s mustache. His overall appearance reminded him of someone he had seen in the history books…
N. Richards: Anyone ever tell you you look like Sam Kirk? It might be the mustache.
S. Richards: No time for formalities boys. Roy, this is my brother Nathan. Nathan, this is Roy. Now that we all know each other can we focus?
Bancroft: ::eyeing Nathan’s prosthetic hand:: A pleasure, Commander Midas. I’m gonna want to know way more about that, but unless it can also deliver an epidural, I’m going to need you to park yourself with Nurse Jorgenson over there.
Looking down at his prosthetic, Nathan closed it into a fist and reopened it quickly.
N. Richards: Never tried an epidural, but who knows. Still getting used to this thing. I’ll regale you of the story over celebratory drinks after all of this is over.
S. Richards: Nathan, you wait– ::Gesturing broadly:: – somewhere else. We are close but we aren’t that close.
Chuckling slightly, Nathan couldn’t agree more.
N. Richards: Yeah, there are parts of ::gesturing towards her:: this that your brother doesn’t need to see. ::Looking towards Nurse Jorgenson:: I’ll be over there.
By this point, Roy was already moving – his right hand pressed gently but decisively against the small of Sam’s back, steering her back toward the main Sickbay doors. His left hand held a tricorder, already active and chirping data at him.
The amount of relief Sam felt knowing that Roy was taking the lead was a bit shocking, but she welcomed it with open arms. Again realizing, she wasn’t as alone as she first thought she was.
Bancroft: ::rapid-fire:: Brenn, get ICU 3 online – tell them we’re inbound for twin L&D. Sif, take this ::holding out tricorder:: walk with us. I want continuous vitals on the mother and both passengers. Route all telemetry to the overhead scanner in ICU 3.
Nurse Sif moved in smoothly, as though she practiced this choreography every night before bed. She slid the tricorder from Roy’s grip in one steady motion, her eyes never leaving the display as she matched their pace.
Sif: ::quietly to Roy:: BP stable at 122/78. Uterine contractions reading consistent. Fetal heart rates are solid – Twin A at 144 bpm, Twin B at 137. No signs of distress. Dilation at 6 and effacing rapidly.
Roy nodded, filing the update while adjusting course as they approached the corridor junction.
He guided Sam across the threshold with the smooth confidence of someone who’d done this enough to know when not to panic.
Bancroft: Sam, you’re doing beautifully. You’re walking, you’re breathing, and I’ve got three sets of vitals I like a lot. That’s a win on every front.
She nodded, unable to really get any words out. Her brain was struggling to keep pace with everything happening around her. Had he said ICU? She began to panic, but realized those were probably the only private rooms in the sickbay. For that, she was grateful.
TBC in part two
Samantha Richards
Civilian Scientist
((OOC RANK: Lieutenant JG))
USS ARTEMIS-A
A240103SR3
&
Ensign Tho’Bi
Engineering
USS Artemis-A
A240203T11
&
Lieutenant JG Roy Bancroft
Medical Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240205RB1
&
Lieutenant Commander Nathan Richards
Chief Of Engineering
USS Shelby
A239905NR1