Post by Scribe on Aug 6, 2009 9:13:51 GMT -5
NEW EARTH COLONY, GAIA
JANUARY 13th, 2166
"Come again?" Tom Merrick looked at to Renee Richards as she stood across him following the delivery of her news.
Ren rolled her eyes with arms folded, watching her company commander have kittens on the spot. If it wasn't her news that had made him this way, Ren might have found it quite funny. "You heard me."
"I heard you, I just can't believe it." Tom stammered, shifting his gaze to Lt. Derick Rickman who had dropped by his office at about the time Ren turned up, trying to see if he was just as floored by the news. Thank God that he was in the room when Ren had dropped her bombshell because he might need someone to pick up his jaw on the floor. Besides, there were no secrets between the three of them and the young woman had not particularly minded when she entered to find him there.
"Don't look at me, it's not mine!" Derick retorted in answer to the look Tom was giving him, hands going up in the air. "I mean, it's in the damn water or something," he said, glancing over at Ren. "I mean..." Unable to help the laugh, Derick shook his head. "Or it's contagious..." he laughed.
"Don't worry its not Lindsay's," Ren assured the ashen looking Major as he sunk into his chair, staring at her like she had just said that she was going on the road performing Gypsy. "As much as Petey might wish it," she said with a hint of a smile. Oh she knew about the kid and his crush. She was glad that he had chosen someone his own age to bestow his affections upon. Although when it came to age, Ren chose to stay right out of any discussion since she walked a minefield herself with a certain Iron Colonel.
"Whose is it?" Tom demanded feeling very paternal and wanting to know who had gotten his Corporal in this state. He still wasn't 100 percent convinced about Derick and gave him a look that said 'you're not off the hook yet mate'.
Said receiver of look had chosen to sip from his water bottle and when Tom asked that, Derick choked. He knew Ren's 'secret', the man that split all that genetic material. "It's not.." he managed to get out, thumping a fist against his chest. "It's not mine.. it ain't Lindsey's," he chuckled, unable to stop even when Ren dropped the Evil Eye on him. "I ain't telling him, Red... it's ALL your story to tell."
"You know?" Tom exclaimed furious that he had been left out of the loop. "Who is this deadbeat son of a bitch?"
Ren glanced heavenward. So much for keeping this a secret. "He's not a deadbeat son of a bitch and he did propose." She felt compelled to defend Gabe, considering how the Colonel had taken the news.
Tom stared at her, "well that's alright then. At least it's not some flyby nut asshole you met in a bar one night and shagged without knowing his name."
Ren winced.
Glad he was sitting, Derick nearly doubled over in amusement, his laughter loud and carrying through Tom's office. Honestly, he was trying not to laugh and yet, the more he tried to stop, well... it was just like being in church back home. Only this time, Derick was fairly certain the preacher wouldn't call him out.
Nope. This time it would probably be worse.
"Its not funny," Ren scowled at him, saying the words through gritted teeth.
"So who is he?" Tom repeated his demand "and don't give me any of that its private shit, CORPORAL. One of my men gets up the duff, so I want to know who did it. And I pray to God he's not a Shark."
God, he was gonna suffocate before this was over. "God, I know it's not funny..." Derick managed to get out, busting out again. "I swear, Ren.. " Everything he said was interrupted by chuckles and chortles. "I'm sorry, Red.. I know it's not ... funny...." Trying to sober up, Derick relented as he near pulled a face muscle.
Ren glared at him before looking at the Major again. "It's..a Shark." She admitted.
Tom swore under his breath, trying to run through the list of candidates, raking his mind of all of Ren's comrades. "Its not, not Jazz or Xandros is it?"
"NO!" Ren exclaimed horrified. "If you say Lorio or Anderson, I will deck you Major."
"Alright, alright," Tom retorted thinking, not Alpha Squad then. "It's not that psycho case from the Farragut? Mercer? Oh God, its not Kemper is it?" Tom blurted out, thinking of little Kempers and his world became a darker place.
Ren stared at Derick with a look that said 'NOT A WORD'.
"No, it's not Kemper," Ren declared hotly, wondering if he was going to go through the entire list of her comrades. "I've had my distemper shots this week."
Word?? Derick couldn't fucking breathe, let along speak. All six feet, four inches of him were sucked down into the chair by now, one fist pounding the arm of it. His eyes were tearing up, like he was some Fleet pussy watching one of the Elena Rose flicks.
"What the fuck is so funny?" Tom barked at him wondering why Derick was doubled over, tears running down his face.
"It's Hayes."
Tom looked forward at Ren, not getting it. "Hayes who?" He didn't recognise the name, had to be one of those blokes that came through from Acheron.
God was paying her back for something, she didn't know what but it had to besomething. "Gabriel Hayes."
"Very funny," Tom snapped not finding that joke very funny at all. There had to be some rule about implicating your supreme commander of fathering your child. "Really who is it?"
From the hysterical, chortling mess in the chair came a faint "The.. Iron.. Colonel... Hayes." Still abundantly amused, Derick tried to sit up, wiping off tears leaking out of his eyes. ".. him..." One hand pointed to the mandatory picture of Governor Hayes hung in every government office as some unwritten rule.
"You have been so waiting for that, haven't you?" Ren threw him a dirty look.
Tom stared at Ren in disbelief, "you're fucking with me."
Ren rubbed the bridge of her nose. "No, I am not fucking with you. I'm serious, its him Gabriel Hayes. He proposed to me."
Jesus Christ on a crutch. She was serious. Tom sat back down. "I need a drink."
Having sobered up enough, Derick inhaled deeply and let it out as he leaned forward, still grinning like the Joker. "Well, what did you say?" he prompted. "To the proposal?"
Pouring the Major a glass of water since he looked like he was about to faint, Ren shifted her gaze to Derick. "I said yes. He wanted to come down with me for this meeting but for some reason, I suspected it was better if I did this alone. Go figure," she retorted, gesturing to Tom whose expression was just one of unfathomable astonishment.
"How...when..?" Tom stuttered.
Ignoring Tom for a moment, Derick chuckled and glad that he was for Ren's acceptance, he wasn't blinded to the fact that Governor Hayes had wanted to be here. He and the man, well they had their issues, hadn't they but that cranked the man up a few notches in Derick's book. That was honour... and if Hayes had taught his men anything in the years of Gaia, it was honour.
Tom was still stuck on how and when. It was always McRae for Gabe. How the fuck that Ren managed to get a proposal out of the man? Was it just because she was pregnant? Suddenly, the shock bled away and Tom regained his composure a little because this was Ren, Orphan Annie, one of his best men and closest friends. When he had gotten out of rehab and had been on the verge of a relapse when Derick was out of town, it was Ren who had sat up with him all night, making sure he didn't succumb. He cared for her not only as her commanding officer but as a friend.
"Ren," Tom spoke up, trying to put this delicately. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" He couldn't imagine Gabe willingly breaking the rules with a then corporal but then again, he never though McRae would give Derick time of the day either. However, one thing Tom did know about Gabe was how far the man was willing to go if he thought he knocked some girl up. He'd marry her on principle, whether or not he cared for her. Tom didn't want that for Ren. She deserved better.
That was a good question and Derick got to his feet, standing next to her. He put a hand on Ren's shoulder and squeezed. "Hey, we're behind you, whatever decision you want to make," he offered, making eyes pointedly at Tom, fingers lifting off Ren's uniform in emphasis.
"It is," Ren replied, not privy to Tom's concerns specifically but aware that he had them and maybe even guessing why he worried. "I wouldn't have accepted the proposal if I thought it was just about the baby. I do love him." She smiled.
Love. Him. Gabriel Loman Hayes. Well he was going to look out the window to see if it was raining pigs.
"Good!" Derick chimed in, perfectly aware that Tom was having baby MULKS about now. First Sampson, there were two other females that came up pregnant and now Ren. Steady, stalwart Ren who'd discovered she'd rather go through things then around them. "Have you been to the doctor?" he asked, switching modes from friend to superior and supervisor. Maybe that's what made Derick grow up so fast. Taking charge = sex talks and what to do if you think you're pregnant.
They so did not teach that in OTS.
"Bloody hell!" Tom gasped as something else coalesced in his brain. "If you marry him, you'll be Mrs. Hayes!"
"That's generally what happens," Derick replied, his arm going around Ren's shoulders as he planted a friendly kiss on the top of her head. "Come on. Let's let him digest this and you can come sit in my office for a while. Congratulations, Orphan Annie," he said warmly, knowing she'd come full circle and what a trip it had been.
“That means…” Tom looked at Ren’s stomach. “That’s baby Hayes you’ve got there!”
Ren shook her head, “your office?” She looked at Derick as her regimental commander continued his freak out.
"Yeah, come on," Derick chuckled. "Before he realizes that one day he could be in charge of Baby Hayes Spawn," he said teasingly to Ren, leading her out the door.
"Hey!" Ren exclaimed and elbowed him in the stomach.