His Cup Runneth Over

[Scribe]

NEW EARTH COLONY, GAIA
JANUARY 12th, 2166

Renee Richards felt her stomach churn with nausea as she made the now familiar trek to Governor Gabriel Loman Hayes' home on the plush side of New Earth Colony on Gaia. She didn't feel like walking much but since theirs was somewhat secret affair, getting a lift to his place just wasn't going to happen. Not without a lot of questions that is. The desire to crawl into bed and forget the world existed was very, very tempting but Ren knew she had bigger problems than her current bout of nausea.

She knew the signs of what she was going through of course. It had been years she had experienced this and the memory was strong. She wasn't totally naive as to how this could happen, considering the intensity of her liaison with the governor, however, as Dr. Phlox had once said to her with that eerie smile of his.

"Nothing is foolproof and life often finds a way."

Ren had been so careful, she always was but somehow, something had gotten through and the sad fact was that her situation still remained the same, undisputed. A time bomb waiting to go off.

She was a girl in trouble - as in knocked up.

God, Gabe was going to have a frigging stroke.

*******

The new Governor of Gaia had fallen into a new routine. One he rather liked for it was vast different than his lonely state without his right hand man at his side. Colonel Hayes missed his Major in the past but distance between he and Sloane was what was needed. She was no longer his and as devastating as that was to Gabriel, the one night stand turned fiery redhead girlfriend Sergeant not only filled that initial void, but his cup runneth over.

He never loved Rebecca; the Senator that used to pay him calls on the Enterprise. He deeply loved McRae yet never touched her. Then, over time, transition and uprooted from what he loved, the senior most MACO became caught in a net and forced from the water. Placed in aquarium glass to pace. Trapped.

Yet she was there. And she took him, as old and broken as he was. Renee Richards saved a dying man and with her insistent arguments and fight for life, awoken Hayes to his new world. By now, in his new role, Gabriel saw value in the hated desk job. And that was part Admiral's insistence and part weekly argument from the violated Sergeant.

With the usual wine and brandy over ice waiting, Gabriel heated up a light dinner and sat on the black couch of his flat. Lightly drumming fingers over the back of the sofa as he waited. Watching the news on the holovid.

He never drank or ate before she came over, on the nights that were theirs.

*******

By the time she got to him apartment, one thing was clear. She needed to puke again.



Taking the familiar walk that led to his apartment, Ren stood outside the door and knocked. Strangely enough, he had presented her with a key not so long ago but Ren never felt the need to use it. His apartment wasn't her home and this thing between them was far too unrealised in her mind for her to take such liberties with his home.

The door opened and he stood before her much like he always did. Civilian slacks, button down shirt and tonight, the addition of a sweater. "Did you lose the key I had made?" He had made the replicated key request himself, not needing anyone like his crazy Yeoman and her equally crazier boyfriend guessing reasons as to why. Hayes' mind looked ahead and he felt the best course of keyed action was to not bring attention to the matter.

"Can't talk, need bathroom right now," she said walking straight past him and headed towards the room in question. She disappeared in there and soon found herself doubled over the cistern, emptying what remained in her stomach (which at this stage had to be bile and air) thinking that she was going to have to bite the bullet and get something from a doctor because she couldn't function like this for the next three months.

Of course, the greater problem had yet to be addressed but for the moment, Ren was leaving the wolf at the door. No pun intended. After a few seconds, she washed her face and stepped out, composing herself, but certainly looking like something the cat dragged in and then spat out.

She ran into his place so fast, by the time he was locking the door, he could hear the noises from the bathroom. Maybe she had a few? Got off duty early? Gabriel wasn't sure but he stood in the hallway outside the door until she came out. He had poured himself the brandy and carried her wine as well. "Hair of the dog?" He offered Renee her glass.

Renee took a sip and lifted her gaze. "More of the wolf," she grumbled. Taking a deep breath, she replied. "Gabe, I've something to tell you and I need you to sit down."

The Colonel felt his spine straighten and at those words, nothing caused him more anxiety. She was younger than he was, significantly by a decade, and he feared that someday he might hear these very words from her lips. Gabriel barely changed his expression.

"Alright." Moving to the sofa, he sat down and drank some brandy. "What is it you need me to be sitting down in order to tell me?"

She would have taken a drink except...Ren realised she couldn't. The only thing she could have right now was water. The realisation flooded her thoughts with a thousand others, coalescing into a decision she did not even realize she had planned on making until very moment.

She couldn't drink because it would hurt...

Not yet, not until she told him. He had a right to know. If nothing else, he had a right to know what she had decided.

"I'm pregnant." Ren said simply, eyes fixed on his. There she said it. The world had not come crashing down around her ears nor had lightning didn’t struck her where she stood. Since realising her situation, Ren hadn’t wanted to think of the long term effects of what this could mean to her life but that little bit of epiphany a split second ago had opened her eyes and changed everything. "It's not your fault, it just happened. I don’t hold you responsible and you don’t have to do anything. We made a promise once that if this goes south, I’ll walk away so that it doesn’t hurt you. So that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to walk away. This is my…decision.”

The brandy that was in his hand swirled every so slight as the Colonel readjusted his grip. Ever the solid rock, he kept his eyes locked with the Sergeant, taking in her words with care for this was the last he expected to hear. Pregnant. The woman he was with was pregnant.

With his child.

His silence gave her room to speak and Renee Richards never missed that opportunity. Gabriel now took in that she was leaving him. Absolving him from any part of dealing with the baby that was growing inside of her. His eyes shifted down to her still flat abdomen, trying to comprehend that there was a new life beginning to grow. A life he played a part in creating.

When he finally could speak, when he began to at least collect the concept of all her tumbling words, Gabriel realized his original fear and this new information somewhat matched. She had decided to leave him. "Just like that?" A hint of anger flashed behind Hayes' eyes and he stopped himself from saying more.

“Just like that?” Ren stared at him puzzled. She had expected many reactions. The one she had prepared herself for was denial. Like David had denied that the baby was his. She thought he would be angry, shout at her for letting this happen but his question threw her off balance. She wasn’t sure how to proceed. “What else is there? You need to get away from this as far as you can. Any association between us while I’m pregnant Gabe is going to ruin you. I…I won’t let that happen to you.”

And she wouldn’t because she loved him.

Sure, he still pined for his Major and Ren had gone into this swearing she wouldn't fall for the Iron Colonel but life was never that simple. She had fallen for him and all his stupid eccentricities, he need to play games and this belief that he could think his way out of every situation. However, she knew what she was to him and it wasn’t love. Nor would she be one of those women who would use a baby as a bargaining point to get what she wanted. No, she would walk away with her dignity and her soul intact.

Now the anger shown behind his eyes and Gabriel stood, all but chugging back the brandy. He didn't look at her, couldn't, and like the caged wolf with no where to run, paced back and forth on in front of the muted holovid. When Gabriel did stop, he looked accusing at Renee Richards. "Do I have any say in any of this?" Again his eyes fell to her flat abdomen. "That is my child too." As all the thoughts hit him, Gabriel stumbled, "And I am that easy enough to dismiss... I get you... pregnant. And suddenly you're off. Where did you expect to go? Am I ever going to see you... or my child?"

On a roll, the wolf snarled, "This is my child too Renee. And how you've just decided my future for me without any input from me..." He couldn't believe this. It was like McRae, all over again. And he was hurt. "Am I that horrible of a man that I am constantly dismissed when things get a little rough?" Gabriel didn't understand. "I know I am not Mister Emotional Communication... I never have been." McRae, Act Two. "I just..." He set down the empty brandy glass and clutched at growing, grey hair. He looked at her for help, "What am I doing wrong? I thought... I thought we were better." Baffled. "I thought I was better."

Maybe Gabriel had no more sense of perception anymore. Perhaps his golden years of both battle and wits were behind him. Maybe that's why he was grounded. And he would become what he feared: Old and alone. And with a child that never knew him.

No. The anger surged again. That wasn't going to happen. "My son or daughter will know me," he said resolved. "You will not do this to me Renee Richards... I will not allow for this."

Of all the responses she had thought of in her head, this was the one scenario that never occurred to her. David had well and truly branded her with how she believed men would respond in such circumstances, Gabriel’s tirade was a reality check like none other.

“Gabe…” she looked at him. “You want to be involved?” She asked because she never imagined he would. Everything built up in her head hinged on the fact that he would want to distance himself as far away from this as possible.

"Want to be involved?!?" Disbelief at her question was written on his face coupled with the anger of his tone, "How often am I told I am going to be..." It hit him in a different way now, to say it meant reality. His voice softened ever so flight, "a father."

Ren sucked in her breath and replied, "Gabe, the last time I told someone something like this, he left. I didn't think you would want to be involved…I thought you'd be angry I was in this state."

She might as well have been speaking Klingon for all his understanding of her reaction. Before her he stood, staring. Trying to see her point of view when only his angry emotions blocked the way. "I'm angry," Gabriel began slowly, "but not because you're pregnant."

"Look if you want to be involved, great but there are consequences. Gabe, you're the governor!" She declared. "This is going to hurt you. I mean...I mean I'm fine, I don't have to say who the father is and no one will care. You take responsibility for this child and there may be consequences, I didn't think you wanted to deal with all that."

"Consequences? Consequences of what? A responsible father over a dead beat parent?"

"Gabe, having an illegitimate child, with one of your sergeants no less, could get you kicked out of your job!" She replied. "If you want to be involved in this, I'm happy for you to be apart of it but just know that's what waiting if we go down this road."

Right. His Sergeant. He, the Governor of Gaia. Political bullshit, as far as Gabriel was concerned but critical nevertheless. "I need another drink," Hayes took his glass off the shelf and exited the room, heading into the dinning room where the wet bar resided. Staying there longer than normal, he leaned against the counter, out of her line of sight, and thought. Drinking his brandy.

She didn't follow him all the way but stood at the doorway, "Gabe, I know you want to do the right thing and if you want to be involved, fine you can but it's going to take some working out to keep people from finding out the truth. I will need to do this on my own for a bit at least, until it's safe for you to be participate. Once the baby is born it will be easier but until then, I have to stay away"

"That's not happening," he didn't look at her but was to the point as he stared across the room.

She threw up her hands in exasperation, "well you come up with a better idea then," she sighed. "Because I've exhausted my options, save leaving Gaia permanently."

Gabriel continued to stare on ahead, not looking at her. Quiet. For a long, long time.

"Marry me," he finally broke his silence. Still looking straight at the wall, he continued, "I am not a romantic, I'm old and set in my ways." He thought of all his missed opportunities with McRae. The years wasted and the hard lessons learned.

"But I think I still have something to offer. For our child. For you." Gabriel hating feeling out of his element. "Marry me," he turned his head and the kind soul of an aging wolf met her eyes.

Ren simply stared.

Okay....colour her officially stunned. That she did not expect. At all.

"Gabe, that's very sweet for you," she said quietly after her scattered thoughts pulled themselves to gather again, "but you don't have to do that. I don't want you to marry me because you have to...I didn't tell you so that you'd feel obliged or trapped. I know some women do that but I didn't..."

What she didn't want to say though it dripped off her tongue was that she didn't want a proposal made out of pity.

He narrowed his eyes, "Do I strike you as the type of man who would ask because he felt trapped?" What did she think of him? "Am I on another planet besides Gaia tonight? Renee, I just asked you to..." Unless this wasn't what she wanted. And she was letting him down easy. "I see."

He turned to pour himself another drink.

"No you don't see," she grumbled, seeing him take that weird look in his eyes that almost always meant he was going off on a tangent. "I don't want you to marry me because you have to. This relationship was never supposed to lead into marriage...I know you still have feelings for the Major. I don't want you to marry when you still feel that way about her. I know how I feel about you and as much as I want this, and believe me I do want to say yes, I won't do it if you're still in love with another woman."

"Who said I'm in love with another woman?" Hard the empty glass slammed on the counter, sending a few pieces of ice over the edge. He left them there and faced her. "I just asked YOU to marry me!"

"I know that," Ren snapped. "I was here, I heard. Are you marrying just because of the baby or because you might actually like me? Because I do love you, I'm just not prepared to marry you if you don't feel the same."

He wasn't good at this, never had been. "I just said it, didn't I?"

"No, you said you wanted to marry me," she said automatically. "You didn't say how you felt about me. What does something to offer mean Gabe?" She insisted.

“It’s the same thing,” he argued, knowing she wouldn’t accept that.

"No its not," she said firmly.

“To me,” Gabriel sighed with conviction, “It’s the same.”

She started to feel herself cave and when he stared at her, his eyes full of expression, filled with emotion that he could say. How was it that his eyes always spoke so much better for him than his lips? In that moment, she saw the purity of his feelings, feelings not for another woman but for her. Ren was almost astonished to see it there and yet, she knew it was the truth. How is it she could read him so well?

And for once, she read him saying the words she needed to hear.

The pause extended for minutes maybe and Ren took all this in, reading his eyes, seeing the feelings for her she had misjudged. After a moment, she finally said "I guess we're having a baby."

The corner of Gabriel’s mouth turned up and her belly became the centre of attention again as he calmed down. Hazel eyes lifted to meet her own. “I guess we are.”

"God I feel sick," she groaned, expelling not only a sigh of relief but all the fear and anxiety that had followed her here. Stepping into the next room again, she headed for the sofa.

Abandoning the wet bar, leaving the melting ice to deal with itself, Gabriel followed at a careful distance. “Can you… feel it?”

Ren laid on the sofa, curling up into a comfortable position before looking at him, a little smile of contentment. "Not yet, I'm about eight weeks." Being a female Shark, one of the things Ren had done to ensure that she didn't have 'female issues' in the field was to take the medication that halted normal cycles. "Right now I feel nauseated and unable to hold down water."

He kneeled down before her so he was level with her eyes and not rocking the sofa, so to speak. “Do you want anything? Should I call a doctor?” Had she been to see a doctor?

"I've been," Ren replied. "I'm fine. Everything in perfect order so to speak." She looked up at him. "Right now, I need a break and a way to figure out how we proceed from here. Incidentally, just to have proper closure. Yes."

“Pardon?”

"Yes I will marry you," she smiled a little. He did love her. She didn't it was possible but he did. He loved her and the baby.

Gabriel sat down on his rump on the floor, reaching up to pet her hair from her face at hearing the answer before leaning in to kiss her. His hand trailing down from her hair, her shoulder and arm, to almost touch her below the ribs. Hesitant as he looked at her for direction and approval.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "I'm not going to be doing drills any time soon but I'm not fragile," she replied taking the kiss.

“Isn’t the baby?”

Ren smiled, "it is but I'm strong enough for both of us." Whatever the outcome of tonight had been, Ren knew she was going to go to Major Merrick and tell him that she was in this condition. "I'm not taking any risks though." She had lost a child once when she was young and weak.

That was not going to happen again.

A nod in agreement, as the magnitude of what was unfolding in his flat tonight, Gabriel was full of questions, “What did the doctor say? Who did you go see? And what did you tell them?”

"There was nothing to tell," she shrugged. "I went to see a doctor, I ended up with Phlox. Seems he was helping out. He said I was fine and since I didn't mention the father, he knew well enough not to ask. We discussed me and the baby."

Phlox. Gabriel felt much more at ease, knowing that their baby was being looked after by the alien. “Best in the Fleet,” Hayes admitted his relief. “How… how old? Does he know a birth date?” His hand rubbed over her belly and he looked down in amazement. “I… I don’t know what else to ask. Tell me everything.”

Ren laughed, enjoying his enthusiasm or rather his questions. So different from that bastard David. Well its eight weeks - the birth date will be seven months form today, which should be in July sometime. You can ask anything you want. I had an idea that something was going on about a week ago and I managed to get time off to see a doctor this morning. I've got to schedule an appointment with Major Merrick tomorrow and brief him on the situation and request removal from active duty."

“Do you want me to go with you?”

"No," she said automatically, "not yet. Not until I talk to him first. I would like not to leave the corps if I have to and him knowing about you will only be an added complication."

Upon hearing that, Gabriel frowned. “Thanks.”

In a way, he thought he might help and persuade but apparently, that wasn’t the case. Dismissing the idea of Merrick, he looked back down to where his unborn child slept. A pleasant and comfortable expression falling into place.

"Don't be mad Gabe," she said picking up on his tone. "But if I know the Major, he's going to be having a stroke just hearing that I'm pregnant. If I tell him its yours, he might faint." She joked. There was the other consideration too, that if word got out that Ren was banging the Iron Colonel, her life in the Corps would be absolutely unbearable. She wanted to hold off that eventuality for as long as she could.

"Or take to drinking again,” Hayes had seen the man at his worst. “Enough about him. Let’s just… be us.” Gabriel looked up at Renee. “I will get you a ring. You can pick it out if you like… or...” How stupid had he been? “Hold on a minute.” The Colonel rose to his feet.

Ren raised a brow as he scooted off, wondering what he was up to. As it was, she was content, at peace. Hormonal probably. The outcome had been more than she expected because she simply had not expect him to do this. She supposed in retrospect, it should not have surprised her. It was very Gabe.

Her hand caressing her belly, she said quietly to herself. "Buckle up kid, its gets bumpy from here."

Down the hallway he disappeared and a muffled shuffling gave away his location to be his bedroom closet. Silence filled the flat and Gabriel returned with a serious look on his face. "Can you sit up?" He asked as he turned the corner of the room.

Ren sat up, staring at him with a look. "What are you doing?"

"Doing this right." Gabriel knew she said yes, but this action was not one a man like him was accustomed to performing. He dropped down to one knee and with both hands fumbled with a small drawstring, velvet purple bag. A diamond ring landed in the palm of his hand and Gabriel pinched it by the far side, offering it forth. "Renee Richards," Did any man feel comfortable asking this in the history of man? In his youth, he almost did. "Will you marry me and be my wife?"

Ren would have laughed if it wasn't for the fact he was so serious about it. "Yes Gabriel," she answered trying not to smirk. He was trying so hard to do this right, it wouldn't seem appropriate. "Of course I will... We both do." She patted her stomach.

The initial worry left and he put the ring on her finger. It was loose. "You don't have to keep it if you don't want to." Moving up to sit next to her, he patted Renee's hand. "It's from Earth. My mother's engagement ring."

Ren smiled warmly and leaned forward, capturing his mouth in a tender kiss. "I'm honoured to wear it Gabe."

"I'm glad." He returned the gesture before easing back in comfort. "And I do, for you, you know."

She didn't understand? "Do?" She asked, looking at the ring."

"You know." Gabriel gave a gesture and simply held her hand tight. Feeling his ring there.

"I do," Maybe it was the emotional scene of feeling the ring's weight in her hands but she did get it.

He was glad she could read between his lines, because it made this easier. All of this. Gabriel enjoyed the moment, thinking on the instant family that somehow feel into the Governor's lap.

"Well," she said with a smile, liking that this time she wasn't doing this alone. "What do you want to name this kid, Gabriel?"

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

Ren smiled, wondering when he was going to ask that. With modern equipment, it was possible to tell immediately what the sex was going to be. Ren had been so stunned when she heard the news, she agreed to be told long before she considered it whether or not she wished it. "A boy Gabe, we're having a boy."

The Colonel looked away, his grip tight against her fingers. His eyes filled with emotion. "A son." He nodded and looked to her with a tight smile. "My boy." What a night indeed.

Gabriel hugged her, giving the lightest and gentlest of nips against her shoulder. Declaring his love and claiming his future wife. Who carried his boy?

"Christopher," he whispered, before holding her tight to him. "I always imagined I'd have a son name Christopher Hayes." A MACO in the making.

END