Jump to content

Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Homecoming


z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi

Recommended Posts

Olivia wished that it wasn’t her last day on Langoria. She did miss her family, but she’d come to enjoy the people here and their company. Not all of them were perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but they were, as a whole, good people. And she would miss them, even as she enjoyed being back with Aradia, Wakiki and the other members of the SGC.

“You’re very quiet,” Jonas remarked, touching her arm were it wound through his. He now never failed to offer her physical support, and hadn’t stopped once he’d seen her ‘baby bump’. It was a little larger than average, but the Asgard had warned her that the baby was ‘built’ big. They’d tried to give her a full genetic rundown during her three months in the time chamber, but she refused to hear any details that weren’t related to potential health problems or abnormalities. They didn’t anticipate any, which was comforting. That was one less thing to worry about with the little one.

Olivia had shifted to some looser clothing for her trip home; she wanted to tell people about her condition before someone divined it and spread it around the base. She’d already put together a list of who to tell and in what order: Aradia and Wakiki first, then Yseult, Kyria and Declan and finally the brass and everyone else. She needed to call Mom and Dad, too.

Olivia put a gentle hand on her belly, feeling the life within her body. “I was just thinking about what I have to do when I get home.”

Jonas chuckled. “I’m sure you have quite the list,” he said agreeably, clearly amused. He sobered a little and said, “If you need anything, please call.”

“You know I will. And the same – I owe you big time,” she told him. He’d done more than help her through the grieving process; he’d been by her side throughout the entire process of impregnation, even the really disturbing part where the Asgard had teleported the zygote into her. Olivia had tried to explain why that had been so off-putting, but she didn’t think they understood. They’d seemed shocked by her instructions on how she would have implanted the zygote. To them, it made no sense to insert it through the birth canal when they could just beam it directly into her.

“Nonsense,” Jonas said, “I was just being a friend.” He seemed about to say more, but a soldier ran up to them. “What is it?” Jonas asked, his arm tensing under Olivia’s hand.

“Sir, two visitors from the SGC,” the officer said. “They say they’re here to pick up the doctor.”

“Huh, wasn’t expecting that,” Olivia said softly.

“Let’s go see who it is,” Jonas replied, relaxing again.

“I’m sure one is Aradia,” Olivia guessed. “The other… Daniel, or maybe Ryan.”

She was correct on her guess about Aradia. But when they entered the chamber with the StarGate, Olivia stopped dead. “Wakiki?” she asked in disbelief, even as a smile spread over her face. Jonas released her as she hurried forward and hugged her brother with one arm and her ‘sister’ with the other. “How… why… Oh, it’s good to see you! But how did you get here, Wakiki?”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aradia hugged her back tightly, neither her nor Wakiki brave enough to say anything at first, and using the hug as a good excuse to stall. Wakiki's hug was especially tight, and he greeted her with a simple "Hey, Sis.".

Finally though, they broke away, and Aradia was the first to meet Livy's questioning gaze. She smiled cheerfully at her and pulled back enough to give her "sister" a good once-over. The baggy clothing seemed to be doing it's job, or maybe Aradia was too distracted over her concern regarding Livy's reaction to the news about Wakiki.. either way, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary right away, and reacted with enthusiasm - and an attempt at temporary deflection - instead.

"That's kind of a long story, we'll get there in a minute. But you look great, girl! Alien living seems to agree with you."

Her expression sobered a bit, and she gave Livy a more thorough gaze - one that said 'I'm your friend and if you're faking it I plan to see through it, so don't even try it.'.

"Are you doing alright?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Olivia smiled a little and looked down. "Some days are better than others," she admitted, "but I think I have more good than bad, now." She turned and waved Jonas to her. "Right, Jonas?"

"Yes," he said in his polite tone, offering a hand to Aradia and Wakiki. "I'm Jonas Quinn."

"I'm glad to meet you," Wakiki said. "Col. Carter told me you were keeping an eye on Livy."

"Livy?" Jonas inquired, looking at Olivia.

"It's a nickname," she replied, looking bemused. She also looked very content, a good sign considering what she'd gone through.

"Well, you know, we don't have to go back just yet," Wakiki told her. "We could look around."

Olivia nodded, seizing on the chance to tell Aradia and Wakiki her news first, before she had to report to the brass. "Yes, let's walk for a bit."

"I should leave you be," Jonas said with a smile. "Olivia, you'll call from me before you leave, right?"

"Yes," Olivia grinned. "I'm not leaving without saying good-bye." Jonas gave them a nod and turned away, leaving them alone. "Alright," she said, turning to the two people with her. "Why is Wakiki here? How did he get the clearance?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aradia sighed slightly, wishing she'd had a few moments to just enjoy being around Olivia again before having to tell her the news. But there was no sense putting it off, Livy knew something was off and she wasn't going to leave them alone until they told her. So before Wakiki could step forward, Aradia did - after all, it was her responsibility. The first couple of sentences came out in a rush, as if somehow saying it faster would make it less painful for Olivia to hear.

"Livy.. Wakiki has the clearance because he's a specialist now. It's my fault, I'm sorry, they knew - somehow, they knew that I'd told. And so when they discovered another device, they gave him a 'choice'..."

Aradia's eyes narrowed as she spoke, and the word was said with enough bite behind it for Livy to recognize the hot-headed acrobat's fury, though she seemed to reign it in quickly in favor of continuing the story, which probably meant it had happened long enough ago for her to have come to terms with the situation, at least somewhat.

"...they told him they could try to wipe his memories.. or he could volunteer to test the machine. There were obviously risks associated with either option."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Olivia went pale and Wakiki stepped forward, catching her arm. He expected to be flooded with thoughts from her, but there was nothing - as if he weren't touching anyone at all. Wakiki was surprised; of all the people he'd have a strong connection with, he'd assumed it be Livy.

"It's alright," he said quickly, "I'm alright."

"... lost you..."

"You didn't, and let's sit you down before you fall down," Wakiki said gently. Aradia looked guilty and Wakiki quickly told her, *It's not your fault - there's no easy way to break this kind of thing to her.*

They led Olivia to a bench and sat her down. "How?" she asked, her voice flooding with anger. It shook with outrage, the fear fading.

Suddenly, Olivia took in a deep breath and released it. She calmed a little, but for the first time, Wakiki caught something from his sister's mind. ... be calm... stress bad for the baby...

"Baby!?" Wakiki yelped, recoiling from Olivia. "You're... Son of a bitch! He did it again!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aradia's eyes widened at the exclamation, but she shot her boyfriend a quick glance of warning and a mental rebuke.

Watch it! Being killed in the line of duty is hardly the same as ditching her over a stupid misunderstanding! You may not have liked Vinny, but badmouthing him when she's pregnant with her dead war hero boyfriend's baby is a fast track to getting on your sister's bad side. They were dating, after all!

The nice thing about thoughts were that they transferred way faster than words, and it only took Aradia a moment before she sat down next to Livy on the bench. She studied Olivia's face carefully as she spoke, gauging her reaction in hopes of being able to determine whether this was good or bad news.

"Livy, are you okay? It's alright, Wakiki's alright, but he hasn't learned to control his telepathy yet. I'm sure he didn't mean to pull that from your mind. But.. is it true? You're pregnant?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Olivia was quiet for a moment, trying to calm herself. Wakiki's outraged response hadn't helped. What did help was Aradia's calm questions followed immediately by Wakiki muttering, "I'm sorry, Livy, that was... shitty of me to say. Just... knee-jerk reaction."

Stress is bad for the baby, Olivia chanted to herself, feeling that heady mix of excitement and worry that had become so familiar to her in the last three months. Just be calm.

"Yeah," she answered Aradia's question after a moment to regain her composure. "Yeah, it's true." She gave her brother and best friend a beaming smile. "Yeah... I'm pregnant." She tried to words on for size - and found that she liked them. "I'm going to be a mother." Those were even better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The look of happiness on Olivia's face was enough for Aradia.. at least for a moment or two. She was a mature, responsible adult who was probably more capable of raising a child by herself than anyone the shapeshifting specialist had ever encountered. And it was the first time she'd seen Livy look really, really happy in a long time. Unfortunately, the memories of the conversation she'd had a few weeks ago with Declan and Kyria came rushing back to her, and though she smiled at Olivia, there was a bit of strain behind it.

"You looked thrilled Livy. I'm happy for you.. seriously. I can tell you're excited." Her lips twitched in mild amusement for a moment. "Looks like the baby bug is going around."

Livy's startled expression told them both that she'd immediately leapt to the wrong conclusion, and in unison, they both made their clarifications, speaking over each other while both managing to look their own unique shade of embarrassed.

"Oh no! Not us, that's not even possible ye-"

"No, no - don't look at me like that, we're not -"

Aradia and Wakiki both looked at each other, and there was a moment of embarrassed silence, followed by a slight cough from her and an nervous clearing of the throat from him. Olivia's lips twitched in amusement, and she arched her brow at them expectantly.

"Well then - who?"

Wakiki shrugged, and Ari glanced around just to make sure there was no one nearby listening in on the conversation. After all, Kyria had requested discretion, and she wanted to make sure to give it to her. But if they'd somehow known about her telling Wakiki - on a random car ride out to the middle of nowhere - God only knew when she'd be able to find a safer opportunity than off-world, with no SGA troops nearby. Still, her voice dropped to a quiet murmur as she spoke, and though she didn't sound as if she were delivering bad news, it was still news worth speaking in hushed tones.

"Kyria and Declan. They didn't tell anyone else, trusted me to let you and some of the others know when the time was right. They - they requested resignation from the SGU because of it, Livy. They were granted permission to move off-world, though they had to agree to a lot of stipulations. I don't know the details about that, they spoke to me before they received permission. But the SGU didn't know about.. about the baby, Liv. They didn't want them to know. They were afraid that..."

Her voice trailed off for a moment, and now Livy understood the worried look on her face when she had commented on Olivia's pregnancy. Whatever Declan and Kyria were worried about, Aradia mirrored those concerns. Then again, the young acrobat's confidence regarding SGU command or IOA oversight had always been less the stellar, and this situation with Wakiki seemed to have sharpened those concerns.

"...well, they were afraid of a lot of stuff. The IOA can pretty much do whatever they feel like." Her eyes flickered briefly to Wakiki, then back to Olivia, her lips pressed into a frown. "Obviously."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Olivia nodded. "I know that," she said. "But Kyria and Declan don't have one thing. They didn't have you two, not the way I and the baby do. They also didn't trust the SGC, not like I do. They've stuck their necks out for us before; imagine how much more protective they're going to be of the child of a fallen comrade.

"The IOA may think that they can get away with a lot, but they're going to be in for a surprise if they think they can just walk in and do what they want to my baby," Olivia said, her jaw setting fiercely. The fire that had been there as a young woman; the fire that had started to burn while she was dating Vinny was now back. The news of the baby had given her something beyond herself, something that was deeply and terribly dependent on her to be bold, tough and fierce. "Word gets out to others that they are messing around with children and they'll get themselves slapped down so hard they'll have to look up to tie their shoes.

"I know you guys think I'm an optimist sometimes," Olivia said frankly, her eyes moving from her brother to her 'sister'. "I know it will be rough. But I know I'm not alone. I know that others will love and feel the need to protect this baby as much as I do." She glanced down at her rounding belly with a look of adoration. "Everyone in the SGC will love him or her, and there will be no shortages of people looking out for him or her. I think this will be the most protected baby on Earth."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...