Seeing the Krestnikov

Posted on 30 Dec 2019 @ 8:06pm by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Captain Harvey Geisler & Senior Chief Petty Officer Mila Rasputin

3,702 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Epilogue
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 15 || 2130 Hours

It had been hours since the last pocket of hostages had been freed and Mila had taken time to grab a sonic shower, check on Aidan and Chow, and get dressed in a new uniform. She was extremely nervous but knew she would have to face her seestra sometime. It wasn't fear that made her nervous, but guilt and she knew that telling her about Torg right away wouldn't be good.

She fed the little simian, then headed down to Medical and entered looking a bit tired but she still had the snappy spark in her eyes that wouldn't tolerate bullshit if someone tried to feed it to her. She approached a medical person and came to a halt. "I am looking for Lieutenant Geisler," she informed the young man.

The young man looked toward Mila and nodded his head. "One moment," he said, turning his attention to a PADD he held in his hand. It didn't take him long to pull up the required information before turning his gaze back to her. "Lieutenant Geisler is in room 107." He gave her directions, just in case she required them, then got back to work.

Mila thanked him and headed the way he had given her directions and soon came to Joey's room. She tapped the chime and waited for her seestra to respond and hoped she didn't wake her.

"Come in," Joey called out. She was still quite tired, but couldn't sleep. Her nerves were a bit frayed after everything that happened throughout the day, and capping that off with delivering twins, it was definitely going to go down as one of the most eventful days of her career, and she'd seen plenty of things during her time in space. Right not, though, she was alone in her room. Harvey had been with her only moments before, but she'd encouraged him to accompany Jameson and Alison while they had a few tests run. It eased her anxiety some to know he was close by them.

Mila entered and saw Joey laying there and looking tired. "I am hoping not to be bothering you," she said. "I was not being sure if ...your stomach is being flatter...are they being okay?"

"You're not bothering me, Mila. Come in, come in," Joey said, gesturing to the chair next to her bed. "They're perfect for being born at thirty-five weeks. They're breathing well on their own so far, but they're having some tests done to make sure everything is okay. Harvey's with them. I couldn't stand the idea of them going through any of that without one of us there."

She went to take a seat on the chair and smiled. "Is being very good. How much are they weighing and how big are they being?" she asked.

"They're tiny little chunky babies," the Intel Chief said, unable to keep from lighting up as she thought about her children. "Alison busted the scale at five pounds even, and is seventeen and a half inches long. Jameson came in at a whopping five pounds, three ounces, eighteen inches long. I had just over ten pounds of baby inside me, and I blame that on all my late night snacking. There was a lot of pizza, cheeseburgers and jalapeno chili cheese fries in my life. Imagine how big they would have been if I'd gone to term."

"Who was coming first?" Mila wanted to know and smiled when she saw her seestra light up.

"Alison did. It's always ladies first, you know," she replied.

"How soon are they being able to be leaving?" The Russian asked.

Joey shook her head. She was anxious to get back to her own bed, her own space, but she was on the twins time. "I don't know. A few days. They're very healthy for being early, but Doctor Kij just wants to keep an eye on them."

"If they are being anything like their parents, they will be fine," Mila said.

"And be incredibly stubborn," she said with a laugh. "Harvey and I are doomed, but I'm looking forward to ever single second of it."

"They will be born leaders," the shorter brunette told her with confidence. "But they will not be expecting me."

"As true as that might be, I'm not ready to look that far into the future. I want to enjoy now. They're only going to be little for so long, then I'll blink, and they'll be all grown up," Joey said.

"I am thinking that you will let them out of your sight when they are being adults, da?" Mila joked with a warm smile.

Joey couldn't help but groan inwardly. She didn't even want to imagine her sweet little babies as adults just yet. "Never. It's bad enough I'm without them right now. If it weren't for them needing to have a few tests done, I have no doubt I'd be snuggling them right now."

"Have you heard what was happening while you are being in labor and having them?" Mila asked her.

"If you mean the Dolmoqour, yes. I had one of those in my head," Joey replied with a frown. The last few hours with her children had been such a blessing, but now, she was back to thinking about all the horrible things that happened. "I had no control over myself, but knew everything that was going on around me. That little bastard was going to use my body to kill my husband."

"I am being sorry that you were infected," Mila said and meant it. "I am being very glad that it did not hurt babies, though, or that you did not kill Harvey."

"It was repulsed by how humans reproduce, so I'm lucky it didn't make me throw myself down a turbolift shaft. Still, I feel insanely guilty for my part in things. I was left in control of the bridge, and that's where that thing got inside my head. I'm part of the reason the ship was taken. I basically turned it over into their hands."

"Do not be blaming yourself unless you were voluntarily accepting one of the alien parasites," the Yeoman told her and sounded a bit upset that her seestra would say that.

Joey shook her head. No way would she ever voluntarily accept one of those things in her mind, but that didn't do much to ease the guilt she felt. In fact, now, she wanted to disappear into a dark hole and stay there. Harvey would be better off without her. Alison and Jameson would be better off without her. The ship would be better off without her. And to think, she was just happy only moments ago. "I'm sorry, Mila. I don't feel up to having company like I thought I did. We can get together soon."

Mila looked chagrined. "Is not your fault, Joey. Come, let us talk of your children since they are not being here now. Are either of them having hair?"

Her mood was shot. "I think I'm going to try to sleep for a while. Do you think you can check on Rico and Pequeno for me?"

With an inward sigh of guilt and regret that she had caused her friend pain and upset after a happy birth upset the Senior Chief more than she could say. Instead, she nodded as she came to her feet. "Da. In meantime, get some rest," she said simply as she gave Joey a kiss on the cheek and headed for the door.

"Thanks," Joey said quietly before she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes.

The door parted, but not to allow Mila to exit. Carefully slipping over the threshold was a fully healed, but still scruffy-looking with his tattered uniform, Harvey Geisler. In front of him were two carts with the premature infants in them, each one tightly wrapped in thin blankets. Both carts were equipped with heating elements to help the babies adjust to the drastic change in living conditions. "The tests went-- Mila!" Harvey froze just inside the door, realizing that he nearly hit the Russian.

Mila jumped back when she saw someone coming in pushing carts and mistook the person for Medical. "I am begging pardon," she started to say, then squealed when she saw the carts had babies in them. Two babies. Joey and Harvey's babies. She looked up and saw that it was Harvey, then squealed again. "They are being here!"

Both babies were asleep when Harvey arrived. Alison stayed quiet, enjoying her slumber. Jameson, however, started to cry. Harvey winced, pushing the carts a little further inside so that the doors will close. "It's okay," Harvey said gently, trying to pat Jameson on the stomach and push at the same time. He failed, miserably.

The Senior Chief cut loose with a barrage of Russian that the translator had a hard time interpreting but sounded something like. "Oh my god! They are so cute! Which is which is which? Wait! Is that the little boy? It is! He's bald! And his sister has hair! A lot of it! So cute!" while she stood in the way of Harvey and the carts, making no attempt to move while she switched from one to the other. "It is I, your krestnaya mama," she finally said in Standard, very formally and the translator interpreted that as 'godmother'.

Joey sat up, all of her anxieties melting away for the time being when she heard Harvey come back with both babies. Things must have gone fairly well since the three of them came back together. She smiled at Mila talking a mile a minute as she carefully pushed herself to a sitting position, then pushed the covers aside. The last thing she wanted to do was get out of bed, but Jameson needed her, and that's what prompted her to swing her legs over the side and slowly stand. "I'm coming," she said, slowly making her way toward the small group by the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Harvey exclaimed, now totally unsure what direction to go. Jameson needed attention. Mila was awestruck. And Joey should certainly not be moving. He had to make a decision and fast. "Jo..." Harvey cautioned, leaving the babies in Mila's care and rushing over to the bed. "No, no. You need rest. Your body needs it."

"But... the baby is crying," Joey protested, stopping when he got to her, and much to her surprise, she didn't argue. Instead, the new mother turned back toward the bed and took the couple steps toward it before climbing back under the covers once again. Was she going to be the kind of mom that didn't let their babies cry? That was almost a guarantee, because it made her heart break hearing it. "I think I've lost my ability to be stubborn."

Meanwhile, Mila continued to coo and jabber at the babies in a mix of Russian and Standard, her words more or less made gibberish that the universal translator gave up on and put itself in Standby Mode. She oohed and ahed over every little detail she could make out and for a moment, wondered what it would be like if she were to have babies. An ancestral memory chuckled at Aidan's fate and sat back to have a Ivan Taranov Doctor Diesel beer while she went stupid.

"It's not stubbornness," Harvey pressed. "We haven't seen this much action in a single day since the Valdore or New Bajor. Stay right here." Harvey slipped over to Mila and the twins and swiftly swooped the crying Jameson out of his cart. With a couple gliding steps, Harvey swung to the other side of the bed to place the hairless wonder next to his mother.

Joey couldn't help but stare down at the little bald bundle next to her. Life truly was a miracle, and regardless of what she'd thought mere moments before, her little family was stuck with her. She wasn't giving them up for anything. "It's still hard to believe they're actually here, and that they're this healthy for being five weeks early," she commented aloud, carefully scooping the little guy up to hold him. She managed to tear her gaze away and looked to Harvey. "Do you want to take a shower and change while Mila is here? I know you can't be comfortable wearing what's left of your uniform."

Harvey hadn't forgotten how bad his uniform was. Between the runabout flight, and having to use parts of his uniform to fashion tourniquets and set bones, it was a wonder he had as much of it left. "Only if you stay in this bed and just look after the children," he countered with a smile.

"I promise to stay in bed and rest," she assured him, meaning every single word. "You should try to get some rest, too. We won't be getting much of that when we get these two home."

He simply smiled before leaning down and kissing Joey on the forehead. "Mila," Harvey then said as he crossed the room to a replicator, "Can you help with Alison for a bit?" Without waiting for a reply, Harvey replicated some civilian clothing, which consisted of a light blue long-sleeve shirt and a pair of black jersey pants. He would, at some point, have to check in on the ship, but that could wait a few more hours, and he would happily do that out of uniform.

"Da, da," Mila said absently as she watched the little girl like she was a new lifeform that fascinated her.

"I don't think she actually heard anything you just said," Joey said with a smile. "We'll be fine, though."

Harvey kept his smile and disappeared into the private head attached to the room. The door was, thankfully, opaque, allowing Harvey privacy to get himself finally cleaned up.

"Mila, you can hold her if you'd like to," Joey said, looking toward the Russian woman who appeared to be off in her own little world presently. It was pretty amazing how babies could make people lose all rational thought. "But, before you do, can you move those carts a little closer to the bed for me?"

Mila finally looked up and saw Joey with Jameson and the look on her face was pure happiness for her seestra. She gently moved the carts closer to the bed for her, then lifted Alison up out with even more care. "Hello there, Yarkiye Glaza," she murmured, the translator interpreting it as Bright Eyes.

"They've got a way of sucking you in, don't they?" Joey asked, still looking down at Jameson, who had thankfully settled for the moment. She'd need to feed both babies soon, but still had a little time left if she stuck to her schedule.

"You and Harvey are making beautiful babies," Mila said as she continued to look at Alison. She thought of the song, O Bozhe Kakoj Muzhchina, that she had sung to Aidan and smiled again as she imagined the twins being hers and Aidans before she shook her head, the lyrics still going on her mind.

Joey smiled, looking toward Mila for the first time since Jameson was placed in her arms. "Thank you, Mila. They certainly are adorable," she agreed. It was still hard for her to believe that she was a mother, and now it had her wondering how long it would take for her to get used to it. "They're definitely keepers."

"Well, I am hoping you would not be throwing them away," the Russian joked.

"Not in this lifetime," the taller woman stated with another smile. "I worked hard on these two, and while they may not have baked as long as they should have, they still turned out perfect. I just find it hard to believe there were just over ten pounds of baby in there. That certainly explains the back aches."

"Ten pounds is not being much, but I am thinking back aches are mainly from," Mila paused, then pointed at Joey's breasts that had gotten larger with the pregnancy after making sure Harvey hadn't came out of the shower. "those."

"Mila Rasputin!" Joey said, blushing bright red, and perhaps a bit louder than she intended to because she felt Jameson start in her arms just before the crying began. Barely three hours old, and she was already scaring her poor son. Feeling rather sheepish, and quite remorseful, the new mother shifted her son around and to settle him against her chest, cooing softly to him. "Hey, hey, hey. I'm sorry." She looked toward the door her husband was behind, then back to Mila. "I think I broke the baby."

"What's going on!?" Harvey came barreling out of the washroom. His shower had finished a minute ago, and he had just started to get dressed. At this point, he wore only a pair of pants. "Mila, did you scare him again?"

Startled at Joey's outburst, then Harvey bursting into the room yelling, Mila almost dropped Alison. She turned white as a ghost and held the little girl to her chest as Alison squealed and started crying. "I am being sorry! I am being sorry! Nyet. Did not scare." Now she started to cry and felt like the ship was disintegrating around her.

"Sorry!" Harvey said, his own face turning white as he realized his mistake. Jameson seemed to catch fright at everything, but then again Harvey couldn't blame him. He was only a couple hours outside the womb, and it was a whole new world for him to get used to. "It's okay, Mila, I'm sorry." Harvey reached in to place both hands on the shorter woman and tried to look in her eyes. "It's okay."

Mila held out Alison for Harvey and shook her head. "Please take her before I pass out, Harvey," she said in perfect Standard, her voice quivering.

Joey blinked, not entirely sure what just happened. Both babies were crying, Mila was crying, Harvey was shirtless and near the point of freaking out, and now she felt the overwhelming need to try to fix it. Were those motherly instincts starting to kick in already? "I scared him," she said, shifting around on the bed a bit and reaching for an extra pillow to lay across her lap for added support. There was an extra blanket draped over the side of the nearest bassinet, which she reached out and grabbed, then settled it over the upper half of her body. Once that was in position, she situated Jameson on the pillow with his little legs tucked under her arm and his backside resting against the crook of her arm, because soon, his sister would be joining him. "Mila, Harvey, it's okay. Everyone is a little high strung today, and with good reason. I think the babies are picking up on that." She took a deep breath and nodded toward Alison. "Can you bring her to me? I'll feed them, then they'll be right as rain. Sadly, I don't have enough for everyone." Hopefully, that would lighten the mood a bit.

Harvey's eyebrows shot upwards, surprised that Joey would make a joke like that. Then again, she was surrounded with family, and if one couldn't be comfortable with family, how else could one relax. He stepped out of the way so that Mila could have a direct line to Joey without interference or interception. Harvey cleared his throat, displaying additional surprise at Joey's remark. They had been through a lot today. Hopefully, that would be the end of it all.

Mila laughed, breaking the hold her scare had on her and color returned to her face as she steadied herself. She took a break and moved slowly to the bed and gave her the little girl. "I am being more careful from now on," she promised.

Mission accomplished, Joey thought as she took Alison and situated her under the lightweight blanket with her brother. "I knew that was going to work."

"Maternal instincts are kicking in," Harvey remarked, moving over to the other side of the bed and sit next to Joey. He would have planted himself on the bed, but it was crowded enough already. He placed a hand on top of the blanket and moved it around until he found Joey's arm, or what he thought was her arm. "See, nothing to worry about."

Joey smiled over at him. She was still quite nervous about caring for two newborns, but her confidence would slowly begin to build as time progressed. "Things have happened so fast, and have been going non-stop, I don't even remember if you've had the chance to hold them yet."

Harvey shook his head and said, "I haven't." Until now, his clothing had been extremely dirty, his face had been disfigured and healed, and his own skin grimy and greasy from crawling around the Black Hawk. "It's okay, though. I've got time. Let them be for now."

Mila smiled at the new parents. "I will be taking that as my cue," she said. "But do not think I will not be back around every chance I am getting. Bond with children. They will be thanking you later."

"Thanks for stopping by, Mila. We'll see you soon," Joey promised.

"Try and get some rest," Harvey added. "I have a feeling the real work has just begun." Harvey was, of course, speaking both personally and professionally.

"Da and congratulations," Mila said before she turned and headed out.

"You need to get some rest, too, and you can't be stubborn, either. You need it just as much as I do," Joey told her husband. "And as soon as they're finished eating and have been burped, we're going to put them in their own beds so I can scoot over and you can climb up here with me." And she definitely wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Assuming I'm still awake by then." Now that Harvey was voluntarily not moving, he could feel how much the events of the day had fatigued him. He was still shirtless, but he didn't care in the slightest. Unless he absolutely had to, he wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

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