Reed's Armory -- A Malcolm Reed Fanfiction Archive ..

Title: Minding the Baby

Author: Stexgirl2000

Author's e-mail: [email protected]

Pairing/Characters: Reed/Sato, Tucker, Phlox

Rating: PG-13

Category: Het

Summary: Another lifetime, another universe...a tale of parenthood.

Archived to Reed's Armory on 06/26/2003.

The vibrations of the warp engine could be felt subtly underneath
Malcolm's feet. From the way they felt, he could tell that the ship's
engine was not running at peak proficiency. Close to it, but not at
the standard that the chief engineer set for himself and his team. He
could feel it from the soles of his feet to the top of his head and
all the bone in between.

In the six and a half years he'd known Trip, Malcolm had never
admitted that like his wife, he too could hear and feel the
differences in tone the ship made as it went in and out of warp. From
the way the ship felt, Malcolm would bet that if he went down to
engineering, he'd find Trip there, sweating over a modification,
looking over the read outs, trying to figure out how to make it better.

A small cough distracted Malcolm from his thoughts and he looked down
at the bundle in his arms. His daughter, Anne Sato-Reed looked up at
him with big brown eyes and smiled her father. "Still awake, eh? Look
my little love, you're supposed to be going to sleep. Your dad and mum
need some sleep," murmured Malcolm, a small smile on his face.

Anne burbled and continued to smile at her father, so Malcolm kept on
walking with his daughter snug in her sling. For the fifth night in a
row, Anne was wide awake at 0100, screaming at the top of her lungs
when she wasn't being walked and held. For the first three nights,
Hoshi had stayed up with Anne, as Malcolm had upgrades to the EM force
shield to complete. After the upgrades were finished, Malcolm took
over the late night duty of walking with his almost five month old
daughter.

"Anne, my girl," he said softly, "I do hope this is just another
growth spurt, like Phlox says it is. It just will not do to have this
become a habit. Your mum and I are finally getting used to feeding you
every three hours. We thought you were getting into a regular sleeping
pattern, too. You're a Reed, my dear, and Reeds do get at least eight
hours of sleep at a time. It's one bloody tradition I hope you adopt
soon. As for the rest, I don't care about them one way or the other."

Malcolm stopped as he felt another change in the warp engine's
vibrations. Anne gave a little squeal and began to cry. He bounced his
daughter with a bit more motion as he walked, humming to her until she
smiled again. Looking at her, he was sure his daughter inherited her
mother's sensitive hearing and his way of feeling vibrations. "So, you
felt that too, hmm? I think we've sped up a bit. I wonder what is
going on? Shall we go see your Uncle Trip? Would you like that? Eh,
little one?

Malcolm felt the familiar thrill of love as his daughter smiled up at
him. Oh, she was daddy's little girl and had him wrapped around her
tiny fingers. From the moment he helped deliver her and cut the
umbilical cord, she was the only other female who'd ever captured his
heart fully.

Getting into the lift, Malcolm paced back and forth, sighing inwardly
as Anne's eyes continued to remain wide open. Stifling a yawn, he
wondered when his daughter would finally go back to sleep. They had
six months left on the Enterprise and he prayed that the rest of their
remaining time on board would not see many more nights like this. Deep
in the back of his head, he chuckled at his wishful thinking; for
pity's sake, he told himself wryly, of course there's going to be more
of this, it's what infants do--drive their parents almost mad with
sleep deprivation.

And lack of sex, whispered another voice from deep inside his brain.

Malcolm ruthlessly cut off that train of thought. He was not going to
go there.

Despite his intention, his mind went there, conjuring up the delicious
image of Hoshi's bare backside in shower this morning. He'd been so
tempted to join her in there, but Anna had just woken up and Hoshi had
needed her shower. Malcolm looked at his smiling daughter. "It's a
good thing we love you so much, as having you has put a crimp in your
mum and dad's...private time together."

Anna gave him a happy gurgle and the door to the lift opened. Malcolm
walked down the corridor to engineering, noting that the ship's
vibration had smoothed out. Walking in, he noted that indeed, Trip was
there, burning the midnight oil. At that moment, Anna gave a little
squeal, causing Trip and the Gamma shift engineers to look up at Malcolm.

Trip grinned at the sight of Malcolm in sweats, hair sticking up
straight, Anna snuggled in the sling across his chest. "Don't tell me
she's doin' that cryin' and wailin' thing again?" he drawled.

Malcolm made his way over to Trip, rocking his daughter slowly. "Oh,
yes. Phlox keeps on saying it's just a growth spurt, but I'm beginning
to believe that's his line for anything he can't explain."

Trip laughed and looked down at Anne. "Hey there, darlin' girl? Howja
doin'? Are you keepin' your momma an' daddy awake?" He smiled and
laughed some more as Anne grabbed one of his fingers.

"Her mum is now, I hope, fast asleep. I hope that soon, I will be too.
So what's going on that you're up at this bloody hour?" asked Malcolm.

Trip chuckled at Anna, moving his finger from side-to-side as she
continued to hold on. "Oh, the improvements we made to squeeze out
warp 5.8, they started acting up. So, we've been tweaking the plasma
injectors, the warp coils, etc, etc..."

"How's the power flow holding up?" Malcolm looked on, amused as Trip
made faces at Anna.

"Good, good. I think we've ironed out most of the kinks. The ole girls
should be fine and be runnin' smooth as silk. Look, I gotta check on
one more thing here, the I gotta hit the sack," said Trip, withdrawing
his finger from Anna's tight grasp. As he pulled away, Anna gave a
little cry and Malcolm began rocking her again.

"Lucky bastard," said Malcolm, smiling ruefully. "Enjoy it while you
can, for once Thayla gives birth to Charles Tucker the Fourth, you'll
be in same boat as I am right now."

Trip cocked an eyebrow at Malcolm. "Well, by then we'll be back on
Earth. I think it'll be a little easier to calm a fussy baby there
than here."

Malcolm gave a snort of disbelief. "If you honestly believe that, I
have a rainforest on Vulcan I'd like to sell you."

Trip guffawed and clasped Malcolm on the shoulder. "That's funny, Mal.
Good luck with getting' Anne to sleep. I'll see you later." Trip
walked away, giving Malcolm a small wave. Malcolm smiled back at Trip,
easily hiding his annoyance at what Trip had said.

Malcolm walked out of engineering, stopping a few times to let various
crewmembers coo at his daughter. As the door to engineering shut
behind them, Malcolm shook his head at his still wide awake child.
"For a man who is brilliant with warp engines, your Uncle Trip can be
a very stupid git, my girl. Easier to calm a baby planet-side, indeed!
Mark my words, he'll be up many a long night with his son."

Anna gave a happy burble in reply.

Malcolm continued to walk around the ship, softly talking and singing
to his daughter. He checked in at the armory, letting his staff pass
Anna around. He fed her a bottle as he walked around and did a spot
check of the phase pistols charging in their racks. After burping her,
Malcolm hoped that being full would help her sleep. Anna had other
ideas. She smiled and ahhhed, waving her chubby arms around. Shaking
his head wearily, to the great amusement of his gamma shift staff,
Malcolm put Anna back into the sling and started another circuit
around the ship.

It was 0300 and Malcolm thanked the gods that he was off-duty for the
coming day. Pulling double-shifts for three days meant he'd get some
sleep once his daughter did. Wearily, wondered if Hoshi had gotten up
to pump or if she was still sleeping.

Malcolm found himself in front of sickbay and looking at Anna, sighed,
"Let's go bother Phlox my dear. Perhaps we can go and look at his bat
and all the other creatures your dad knows intimately well."

Anna gave him a little giggle and Malcolm smiled, bringing her up to
give her a kiss on her forehead.

Entering sickbay, he found Phlox feeding one of his creatures. "Ah,
lieutenant-commander, I see your daughter is keeping you up once more.
And what time did she start complaining again?"

Malcolm rocked Anna as he answered, "Same as the last four nights,
0100. I have been all over the bloody ship twice tonight. I fed her a
bottle, sung every appropriate song I know and tried reasoning with
her. Nothing's worked."

Phlox chuckled and smiled one of his ultra-wide smiles. "Yes, my third
child was the same way. Kept us up all hours of the night. One night,
after six hours, I broke down and gave him some deetha juice. Put him
right to sleep."

Malcolm looked at Phlox with tired excitement. "Deetha juice? What is
it? Do you have some here?"

Phlox shook his negatively. "I'm afraid not, lieutenant-commander. A
deetha is a large slug like animal that's six meters long. It's rather
nasty to milk and it's juice is rather rare. It's a relaxant and very
costly to get. No, I had a deetha in my collection at home. A year
later it died of old age."

"Oh, I see," said Malcolm, feeling very let down. "That's rather
disappointing to hear."

Phlox took Anne out of the sling and began rocking her. "Don't worry,
she'll eventually go to sleep."

Malcolm sat down on one of the biobeds. "The key word, doctor, is
eventually. Eventually, she'll go to sleep. Eventually, we'll get her
on a set feeding and sleeping schedule. Eventually, I'll be able to
shag my wife again."

Phlox bit back a chuckle at Malcolm's words. After almost seven years
and countless trips to sickbay, it still was rare for the armory
officer to be very open with the doctor about anything beyond his
physical health. Phlox considered that he must be more tired and
frustrated than he'd thought.

"I know it's not much comfort now, but I assure you that indeed, you
will have time for you and Hoshi to be more, intimate. Life regains
some semblance of order, it's just a different order."

Malcolm rubbed his face with his hands, yawning. "In about eighteen
years or so, right? God, what I would give right now for Anne to go to
sleep. My darling girl asleep, asleep, my kingdom for a bloody good
night's sleep and two hours with my wife alone."

Phlox looked at Malcolm and laughed softly. "I think the universe has
answered your prayer. Come look."

With stealthy quickness, Malcolm slid off the biobed and went over to
Phlox. "Bloody hell," he whispered. "She's asleep! Phlox, you are a
miracle worker."

Gently, Phlox handed over Anne to her father. "I don't know about
that. It was just time for her to go to sleep that's all. Goodnight,
lieutenant-commander."

Carefully, Malcolm expertly slipped his daughter back into the sling.
"Goodnight, doctor."

Without a sound, Malcolm left sickbay.

He made it back to his and Hoshi's quarters without running into
single soul. With the same deftness and light touch that allowed him
to defuse bombs, Malcolm slid Anne into her cradle. Putting a light
blanket on her, Malcolm kissed her forehead. She stirred once and he
watched her breathe, to be sure she was all right. Glancing at the
chronometer, he saw that it was now 0420.

After a few minutes, Malcolm made his way to the bed, crawling next to
Hoshi and spooning against her back. Hoshi turned and kissed him,
whispering, "She asleep?"

"Yes. Sorry to wake you, love." Malcolm kissed Hoshi back and buried
his face in her neck.

"I was awake. I woke up to pump an hour ago. I had just turned out the
light when you came in." Hoshi snuggled closer, letting her hands
slide up and down his back.

"Mmmm, that feels nice my love." Malcolm lifted his head up and kissed
Hoshi.

Hoshi responded to the kiss with a small, hushed moan of passion. Her
hands began to travel lower. Malcolm looked at his wife. "Because I'm
so knackered, please tell me that I'm not dreaming, that you are
wanting to have sex."

Hoshi giggled softly. "You are not dreaming. I really, really want
you, Malcolm. It has been too long and I've finally gotten my libido
back. So, do you have any energy for..."

Malcolm cut her off with a kiss, his hands sliding over her familiar
curves lovingly. "Oh, God, yes," he groaned quietly against her mouth.
"This must be must be the universe's way of rewarding me for minding
the baby."

Hoshi's reply never made it out of her mouth as Malcolm began to make
love to her.

~the end~