Overdue: Chapters 1 and 2
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firefly_fanfic
Title: Overdue
Author: Sarah-Beth (memorysdaughter)
Summary: A series of somewhat-cutesy vignettes about the latter days of Kaylee’s pregnancy, interspersed with general crew craziness and a heaping helping of River-craziness.
Rating: PG-ish
Spoilers:
Disclaimer:
Author’s Note:
Overdue: Chapter One
Due Date: -2 days
“Okay, River – pull on th’ red wire,” Kaylee coaxed. “Then the stabilizer will be disconnected, and y’ can just pull it out.”
“Doesn’t want to pull the red one,” River said from underneath the engine. “Blue is better. Blue is brighter.”
“No, River, not the blue one,” Kaylee said.
“Then we’d be flying free!” River giggled. “Wheee!”
“River! Red wire!” Kaylee prodded. “Come on, we’re almost done.”
There was a lusty sigh from beneath the engine. “Kaylee was a lot nicer before babies,” River muttered, and reached up to yank on the red wire.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t give me that go-se,” Kaylee groused. “Y’ think I want t’ be big as a house, my ankles all swelled up so’s I can’t be wearin’ shoes? Got heartburn down t’ my toes an’…”
“Fine, fine, red wire,” River said, and pulled the stabilizer out of its nest of wiring. She thrust it in Kaylee’s general direction.
The mechanic stooped as best as she could, reaching for the engine part. “Oof, River, bring it up, I can’t reach it.”
River growled and yanked her arm back in, and then tossed the stabilizer as far as she could. It bounced across the metal floor, clanked against the door-frame, and rolled out into the hallway.
“Hey!” Kaylee snapped. “What’s th’ matter with you? That’s a perfectly good stabilizer, once I take out th’ the circuit and replace it!”
Grumbling, she waddled over to the doorway and tried to bend down, reaching for the stabilizer.
“Kaylee, you’ve got to take a break,” Simon said, coming up from behind her. He picked up the stabilizer. “What have I told you about working on the engine? What if you go into labor in here? Who’s going to hear you over the engine?”
“River’s down in there,” Kaylee said, pointing to the girl lying under the engine. “And at this point, goin’ inta labor anywhere is soundin’ like heaven.”
Simon gave her a small smile, and kissed Kaylee on the cheek. “Soon, I promise.”
“It better be,” Kaylee said. “Already I’m feelin’ like I’m gonna set th’ ‘verse record fer longest pregnancy ever.”
“Statistically improbable,” came River’s voice from under the engine. “Longest pregnancy in the ‘verse was attributed to Serafina Stagner, thirty years ago, from Ariel. Pregnant for forty-six years.”
“What?” Kaylee whirled around.
“She had a teratoma, River, that’s hardly…” Simon started.
“Still counts!” River yelled.
“Come on, come have some lunch,” Simon said to Kaylee.
“Ugh, can’t even think ‘bout eatin’,” Kaylee said. “Feels like my gullet’s on fire.”
“Well, at least come sit down,” Simon said. “And put your feet up.”
“That does sound nice,” Kaylee mused.
“River? Lunch?”
“Need another stabilizer,” River said. “Big gaping hole.”
Her hand emerged from beneath the engine.
Kaylee sighed. “Fine, I’ll…”
“I’ll get it,” Simon said. “Which one is it?”
“Over there,” Kaylee said, pointing to the metal bucket near the head of the engine.
Simon found the stabilizer and handed it to River.
“Ooh,” Kaylee murmured, and put a hand to her back.
“What? What is it?” Simon asked, jerking upright and banging his head on the engine brackets.
“Just a cramp,” Kaylee said, rubbing her back. “Yeah, now it’s gone. Damn.”
“It’ll come,” Simon said. “They will come. Babies always do.”
He put his hand on Kaylee’s back and squired her out of the engine room.
Due Date: -1 Days
“Simon!” Inara called. “Come quick!”
“What? Is it Kaylee?” Simon stuck his head out of the infirmary.
“No! No, it’s…” Inara’s statement was cut off quickly.
Simon dropped the book he was studying, grabbed his kit, and hurried out of the infirmary.
He was about to call out to Inara to figure out where she was, but seconds later he heard Jayne yell, “Damn it, girl, calm down!” This statement was followed by a series of loud clanks, echoing across the floor.
In the galley River was face down on the metal floor, with Jayne and Inara standing over her. The dark-haired girl was slamming her head into the floor repeatedly, screaming. The clanks sounded as her forehead banged the floor; Simon felt the vibrations beneath his feet. Jayne was bent over River, trying to pick her up, but she was so tense, so rigid, that he could do little more than bring up one of her hands.
“Doc, she’s off her nut ‘gain,” Jayne said as Simon entered.
“Yes, thank you,” Simon said dryly.
He knelt down next to River. “Mei-mei, it’s me… please stop.”
“Hnnnnn,” River moaned, and she slammed her head into the floor again.
“Cap’n!” Jayne hollered towards the bridge.
“Mei-mei, listen to me. Shh, it’s okay. Just stop hitting your head,” Simon said. “Talk to me. Talk to me, please.”
Mal stamped into the galley. “What… oh, go-se. Jayne, gimme a hand.”
The two men stood over River, hesitating for a moment, and then Mal grabbed her under her arms and Jayne grabbed her feet, and between the two of them they turned her over. Mal dropped to a sitting position, and pinned River’s arms to her body. She howled and tried to jerk her knees up towards her face, but Jayne held tight to her legs.
At the sight of his sister’s bloody forehead, scraped raw from so many slams against the floor, Simon winced. “Oh, mei-mei.”
She screamed at him, her eyes darting wildly around, jerking her arms and legs in towards her body.
“Sir?” Zoe said from the doorway. “Y’ need some assistance?”
“No, nope, we’re doin’ all right,” Mal managed to say as River tried to free her arms. “Hey, nope, li’l crazy person – you knock it off.”
River hooked her arms over Mal’s restraining arms, and began to slap herself in the face.
Zoe strode across the room and knelt before River, grabbing the girl’s hands. “It’s okay, River. We’re all right here.”
Simon, who had been rummaging through his kit, found the correct vial and an empty hypodermic. He quickly drew up a dose of sedative and flicked the oxygen bubbles out. “Mei-mei, I’m going to give you a shot. Just a pinch.”
She screamed at him, still beyond words, still trying to harm herself despite the three people restraining her to the floor.
Simon flicked the syringe once more, and then injected the medicine into River’s upper arm. She flailed out towards him, throwing her upper body forward and trying to yank her legs towards her body, but then like a rag doll she flopped against Mal and Zoe’s arms as though boneless.
The room seemed to hold its breath. When River didn’t move again, Simon leaned in and gently raised his sister’s head. He brushed her hair out of her face, and then carefully began to tend to her scraped and bloody forehead. Under his touch she whimpered, but her eyes stayed closed; her body remained limp and powerless.
Once he cleaned her wounds and put a dressing over them, Simon sank back on his heels. “Captain, Jayne, could you take her to her bunk?”
“Sure thing, Doc,” Mal said gruffly. With Zoe’s help the two men stood, River still floppy between them. Mal readjusted the girl’s position, cradling her in his arms, and headed out of the galley.
The rest of the crew gathered heard Kaylee’s voice from the hallway: “Hey, Cap’n, did you… what’s goin’ on?”
“Little girl just needs t’ take a nap,” Mal’s voice replied, and then his footsteps went off down the hallway.
Looking confused, Kaylee entered the galley. “Simon, what’s goin’ on?”
“Wish I could tell you,” Simon said.
“I’ve never seen her do that before,” Inara said quietly.
“Scared me,” Zoe added.
“She’d been doing so well,” Simon said, looking down at his kit. Then he took a deep breath and forced himself to look up with a smile. “How are you doing, bao-bei? Anything yet?”
“Aside from bein’ able t’ fit my feet back inta my shoes, nothin’,” Kaylee said.
Simon pulled out a chair from the table and ushered her into it. “That’s good news about the shoes.”
“Y’ think so?”
“I do,” Simon said.
“Ooh!” Kaylee squeaked.
“What?”
“They’re kickin’,” Kaylee said, and put one hand to her belly. “’Nara, you wanna feel?”
“Of course,” the Companion said, smiling. She took a seat next to Kaylee and placed her hand on the mechanic’s rounded belly. “Goodness, they sure are.”
Inara smiled at Kaylee. “You’re looking so lovely, mei-mei,” she said, stroking Kaylee’s hair back from her forehead.
“Liar,” Kaylee said, but she smiled in return.
“You’re just glowing,” Inara said. “Pregnancy agrees with you.”
“Ain’t so,” Kaylee said. “Feel like I’m gonna burst.”
“It’s to be expected,” Zoe said as she put on a pot of tea.
“Zo,” Kaylee said, rolling her eyes.
“Kaylee, y’ look lovely, but gainin’ sixty pounds is gonna be rough on anybody,” Zoe said.
“Oh, more kicking,” Inara said, her hand still pressed to Kaylee’s belly.
“I’m going to go check on River,” Simon said.
“Go on,” Kaylee said, obviously enjoying Inara’s attention.
“Are you sure?”
“Like y’ said, Simon, they’ll come when they’re gonna come,” Kaylee said.
Overdue: Chapter Two
Due Date: 0 days
“Good morning, Kaylee!” the Shepherd said as he entered the galley. “Is today the day?”
“I’m hopin’ so, Shepherd,” Kaylee said, toying with the protein on her plate.
“I’ll say an extra prayer or two,” Shepherd Book said. “It’ll be nice to meet those two babies.”
He took a seat at the table and served himself some breakfast. “Have you thought any about names?”
“Oh, Shepherd, t’ tell ya th’ truth, I’m more focused on gettin’ ‘em outa me than I am on namin’ ‘em,” Kaylee said with an apologetic smile.
“Sounds like a good attitude to have,” the Shepherd said. “Well, just remember than there are many fine Biblical names.”
“We’ll be settin’ down in Red Eagle in ‘bout an hour,” Wash said, clomping down the steps from the bridge. “Just in time fer the Red Eagle Founders’ Day Festival.”
“Oh, how fun!” Kaylee exclaimed. “Do they still do th’ precision marchin’?”
“’S far as I know,” Wash said. “I mean, there’s no real good reason t’ stop marchin’, yeah?”
“They look so pretty,” Kaylee mused. “They must practice all year long t’ look so good.”
With a small grunt she shifted in her chair, putting one hand to her belly.
“They comin’ t’ day?” Wash asked. “Might be a bad idea t’ attend a festival if yer in labor. Or so I’m thinkin’, never havin’ much experience with it.”
“Sometimes it feels like they’re comin’ in a couple ‘a minutes,” Kaylee said, “and sometimes it feels like they’re just gonna stay.”
“I think a lotta life’s like that,” Wash said poetically, and for a moment the galley was quiet as the three considered that. Then the silence was broken as Wash asked, “’S there more toast?”
Due Date: +1 days
“Kaylee, I am not having this conversation with you!” Simon exclaimed, pulling open the infirmary doors.
“Oh, c’mon! Yer a doctor!”
“And that’s exactly why I’m not going to perform an elective C-section on you,” Simon said, opening drawers, looking for one of River’s medications. “You’re only one day over your due date. That’s not anything to be worried about.”
Kaylee grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him towards her. “Listen t’ me,” she growled, “I am sick an’ tired of waddlin’ ‘round here like some sorta whale.”
Simon gave her a tired smile, and gently reached up and removed her hands from his collar. “I understand that you’re uncomfortable,” he said, “and I’m sorry about that. But like I said, you’re only one day over your due date. Give it time.”
He turned back to the drawers, rummaging around. “I’m sorry, bao-bei. I’ve got to go give River another shot, and change the dressing on her forehead. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He left with his kit, and Kaylee turned to look at the empty room.
Then her eye caught the title of the large book propping up a tin of bandages, and she grinned. She waddled across the infirmary and picked up the book, flipping through its pages until she found what she was looking for.
Due Date: +2 days
“Are you sure about this?” Inara asked. “Did you ask Simon?”
“No, I read it in a book,” Kaylee said defensively. “I can read things, y’ know.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I know,” Inara said. “But… eating fruit?”
“Well, think of it this way,” Kaylee said, looking out at the Red Eagle docks. “If it works, I’ll be real happy. An’ if it don’t work, we’ll have eaten some really good fruit salad.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Inara said. “All right, I’ll go with you.”
She wrapped her shawl around herself. “And we’ll have to look for some red raspberry tea. I’ve heard it can have much of the same effect.”
“Now yer thinkin’,” Kaylee said with a grin.
Kaylee groaned. “I can’t drink any more tea, ‘Nara. My bladder’s already gettin’ tap-danced on, an’ bein’ this big it ain’t easy t’ get t’ the head.”
“I’m sorry,” Inara said, setting down the teapot. “More mango?”
“Nope,” Kaylee said, looking mournfully at the fruit salad in her bowl. The kiwi, mango, and pineapple chunks did look appealing, but her stomach burbled with acid. “Ugggh,” she grumbled. “This is gettin’ old.”
“I’ll put the fruit away,” Inara said, “and then we could go down to my shuttle. I’ve got some primrose oil – I’ll rub your feet with it.”
“Ohh, ‘Nara, that sounds heavenly,” Kaylee breathed. She took her feet off the chair in front of her and tried getting up. She wobbled back and forth, and then grunted, trying to pull herself up using the table’s edge.
“Here, mei-mei, let me help you,” Inara said, trying to hide a grin. She hurried around to Kaylee’s side of the table and grabbed the mechanic’s hands, successfully pulling Kaylee to her feet.
“Some time I’m gonna sit down an’ I won’t be able t’ get back up,” Kaylee said.
“Not as long as I’m around,” Inara said, rubbing her friend’s back.
Author: Sarah-Beth (memorysdaughter)
Summary: A series of somewhat-cutesy vignettes about the latter days of Kaylee’s pregnancy, interspersed with general crew craziness and a heaping helping of River-craziness.
Rating: PG-ish
Spoilers:
Disclaimer:
Author’s Note:
Overdue: Chapter One
Due Date: -2 days
“Okay, River – pull on th’ red wire,” Kaylee coaxed. “Then the stabilizer will be disconnected, and y’ can just pull it out.”
“Doesn’t want to pull the red one,” River said from underneath the engine. “Blue is better. Blue is brighter.”
“No, River, not the blue one,” Kaylee said.
“Then we’d be flying free!” River giggled. “Wheee!”
“River! Red wire!” Kaylee prodded. “Come on, we’re almost done.”
There was a lusty sigh from beneath the engine. “Kaylee was a lot nicer before babies,” River muttered, and reached up to yank on the red wire.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t give me that go-se,” Kaylee groused. “Y’ think I want t’ be big as a house, my ankles all swelled up so’s I can’t be wearin’ shoes? Got heartburn down t’ my toes an’…”
“Fine, fine, red wire,” River said, and pulled the stabilizer out of its nest of wiring. She thrust it in Kaylee’s general direction.
The mechanic stooped as best as she could, reaching for the engine part. “Oof, River, bring it up, I can’t reach it.”
River growled and yanked her arm back in, and then tossed the stabilizer as far as she could. It bounced across the metal floor, clanked against the door-frame, and rolled out into the hallway.
“Hey!” Kaylee snapped. “What’s th’ matter with you? That’s a perfectly good stabilizer, once I take out th’ the circuit and replace it!”
Grumbling, she waddled over to the doorway and tried to bend down, reaching for the stabilizer.
“Kaylee, you’ve got to take a break,” Simon said, coming up from behind her. He picked up the stabilizer. “What have I told you about working on the engine? What if you go into labor in here? Who’s going to hear you over the engine?”
“River’s down in there,” Kaylee said, pointing to the girl lying under the engine. “And at this point, goin’ inta labor anywhere is soundin’ like heaven.”
Simon gave her a small smile, and kissed Kaylee on the cheek. “Soon, I promise.”
“It better be,” Kaylee said. “Already I’m feelin’ like I’m gonna set th’ ‘verse record fer longest pregnancy ever.”
“Statistically improbable,” came River’s voice from under the engine. “Longest pregnancy in the ‘verse was attributed to Serafina Stagner, thirty years ago, from Ariel. Pregnant for forty-six years.”
“What?” Kaylee whirled around.
“She had a teratoma, River, that’s hardly…” Simon started.
“Still counts!” River yelled.
“Come on, come have some lunch,” Simon said to Kaylee.
“Ugh, can’t even think ‘bout eatin’,” Kaylee said. “Feels like my gullet’s on fire.”
“Well, at least come sit down,” Simon said. “And put your feet up.”
“That does sound nice,” Kaylee mused.
“River? Lunch?”
“Need another stabilizer,” River said. “Big gaping hole.”
Her hand emerged from beneath the engine.
Kaylee sighed. “Fine, I’ll…”
“I’ll get it,” Simon said. “Which one is it?”
“Over there,” Kaylee said, pointing to the metal bucket near the head of the engine.
Simon found the stabilizer and handed it to River.
“Ooh,” Kaylee murmured, and put a hand to her back.
“What? What is it?” Simon asked, jerking upright and banging his head on the engine brackets.
“Just a cramp,” Kaylee said, rubbing her back. “Yeah, now it’s gone. Damn.”
“It’ll come,” Simon said. “They will come. Babies always do.”
He put his hand on Kaylee’s back and squired her out of the engine room.
Due Date: -1 Days
“Simon!” Inara called. “Come quick!”
“What? Is it Kaylee?” Simon stuck his head out of the infirmary.
“No! No, it’s…” Inara’s statement was cut off quickly.
Simon dropped the book he was studying, grabbed his kit, and hurried out of the infirmary.
He was about to call out to Inara to figure out where she was, but seconds later he heard Jayne yell, “Damn it, girl, calm down!” This statement was followed by a series of loud clanks, echoing across the floor.
In the galley River was face down on the metal floor, with Jayne and Inara standing over her. The dark-haired girl was slamming her head into the floor repeatedly, screaming. The clanks sounded as her forehead banged the floor; Simon felt the vibrations beneath his feet. Jayne was bent over River, trying to pick her up, but she was so tense, so rigid, that he could do little more than bring up one of her hands.
“Doc, she’s off her nut ‘gain,” Jayne said as Simon entered.
“Yes, thank you,” Simon said dryly.
He knelt down next to River. “Mei-mei, it’s me… please stop.”
“Hnnnnn,” River moaned, and she slammed her head into the floor again.
“Cap’n!” Jayne hollered towards the bridge.
“Mei-mei, listen to me. Shh, it’s okay. Just stop hitting your head,” Simon said. “Talk to me. Talk to me, please.”
Mal stamped into the galley. “What… oh, go-se. Jayne, gimme a hand.”
The two men stood over River, hesitating for a moment, and then Mal grabbed her under her arms and Jayne grabbed her feet, and between the two of them they turned her over. Mal dropped to a sitting position, and pinned River’s arms to her body. She howled and tried to jerk her knees up towards her face, but Jayne held tight to her legs.
At the sight of his sister’s bloody forehead, scraped raw from so many slams against the floor, Simon winced. “Oh, mei-mei.”
She screamed at him, her eyes darting wildly around, jerking her arms and legs in towards her body.
“Sir?” Zoe said from the doorway. “Y’ need some assistance?”
“No, nope, we’re doin’ all right,” Mal managed to say as River tried to free her arms. “Hey, nope, li’l crazy person – you knock it off.”
River hooked her arms over Mal’s restraining arms, and began to slap herself in the face.
Zoe strode across the room and knelt before River, grabbing the girl’s hands. “It’s okay, River. We’re all right here.”
Simon, who had been rummaging through his kit, found the correct vial and an empty hypodermic. He quickly drew up a dose of sedative and flicked the oxygen bubbles out. “Mei-mei, I’m going to give you a shot. Just a pinch.”
She screamed at him, still beyond words, still trying to harm herself despite the three people restraining her to the floor.
Simon flicked the syringe once more, and then injected the medicine into River’s upper arm. She flailed out towards him, throwing her upper body forward and trying to yank her legs towards her body, but then like a rag doll she flopped against Mal and Zoe’s arms as though boneless.
The room seemed to hold its breath. When River didn’t move again, Simon leaned in and gently raised his sister’s head. He brushed her hair out of her face, and then carefully began to tend to her scraped and bloody forehead. Under his touch she whimpered, but her eyes stayed closed; her body remained limp and powerless.
Once he cleaned her wounds and put a dressing over them, Simon sank back on his heels. “Captain, Jayne, could you take her to her bunk?”
“Sure thing, Doc,” Mal said gruffly. With Zoe’s help the two men stood, River still floppy between them. Mal readjusted the girl’s position, cradling her in his arms, and headed out of the galley.
The rest of the crew gathered heard Kaylee’s voice from the hallway: “Hey, Cap’n, did you… what’s goin’ on?”
“Little girl just needs t’ take a nap,” Mal’s voice replied, and then his footsteps went off down the hallway.
Looking confused, Kaylee entered the galley. “Simon, what’s goin’ on?”
“Wish I could tell you,” Simon said.
“I’ve never seen her do that before,” Inara said quietly.
“Scared me,” Zoe added.
“She’d been doing so well,” Simon said, looking down at his kit. Then he took a deep breath and forced himself to look up with a smile. “How are you doing, bao-bei? Anything yet?”
“Aside from bein’ able t’ fit my feet back inta my shoes, nothin’,” Kaylee said.
Simon pulled out a chair from the table and ushered her into it. “That’s good news about the shoes.”
“Y’ think so?”
“I do,” Simon said.
“Ooh!” Kaylee squeaked.
“What?”
“They’re kickin’,” Kaylee said, and put one hand to her belly. “’Nara, you wanna feel?”
“Of course,” the Companion said, smiling. She took a seat next to Kaylee and placed her hand on the mechanic’s rounded belly. “Goodness, they sure are.”
Inara smiled at Kaylee. “You’re looking so lovely, mei-mei,” she said, stroking Kaylee’s hair back from her forehead.
“Liar,” Kaylee said, but she smiled in return.
“You’re just glowing,” Inara said. “Pregnancy agrees with you.”
“Ain’t so,” Kaylee said. “Feel like I’m gonna burst.”
“It’s to be expected,” Zoe said as she put on a pot of tea.
“Zo,” Kaylee said, rolling her eyes.
“Kaylee, y’ look lovely, but gainin’ sixty pounds is gonna be rough on anybody,” Zoe said.
“Oh, more kicking,” Inara said, her hand still pressed to Kaylee’s belly.
“I’m going to go check on River,” Simon said.
“Go on,” Kaylee said, obviously enjoying Inara’s attention.
“Are you sure?”
“Like y’ said, Simon, they’ll come when they’re gonna come,” Kaylee said.
Overdue: Chapter Two
Due Date: 0 days
“Good morning, Kaylee!” the Shepherd said as he entered the galley. “Is today the day?”
“I’m hopin’ so, Shepherd,” Kaylee said, toying with the protein on her plate.
“I’ll say an extra prayer or two,” Shepherd Book said. “It’ll be nice to meet those two babies.”
He took a seat at the table and served himself some breakfast. “Have you thought any about names?”
“Oh, Shepherd, t’ tell ya th’ truth, I’m more focused on gettin’ ‘em outa me than I am on namin’ ‘em,” Kaylee said with an apologetic smile.
“Sounds like a good attitude to have,” the Shepherd said. “Well, just remember than there are many fine Biblical names.”
“We’ll be settin’ down in Red Eagle in ‘bout an hour,” Wash said, clomping down the steps from the bridge. “Just in time fer the Red Eagle Founders’ Day Festival.”
“Oh, how fun!” Kaylee exclaimed. “Do they still do th’ precision marchin’?”
“’S far as I know,” Wash said. “I mean, there’s no real good reason t’ stop marchin’, yeah?”
“They look so pretty,” Kaylee mused. “They must practice all year long t’ look so good.”
With a small grunt she shifted in her chair, putting one hand to her belly.
“They comin’ t’ day?” Wash asked. “Might be a bad idea t’ attend a festival if yer in labor. Or so I’m thinkin’, never havin’ much experience with it.”
“Sometimes it feels like they’re comin’ in a couple ‘a minutes,” Kaylee said, “and sometimes it feels like they’re just gonna stay.”
“I think a lotta life’s like that,” Wash said poetically, and for a moment the galley was quiet as the three considered that. Then the silence was broken as Wash asked, “’S there more toast?”
Due Date: +1 days
“Kaylee, I am not having this conversation with you!” Simon exclaimed, pulling open the infirmary doors.
“Oh, c’mon! Yer a doctor!”
“And that’s exactly why I’m not going to perform an elective C-section on you,” Simon said, opening drawers, looking for one of River’s medications. “You’re only one day over your due date. That’s not anything to be worried about.”
Kaylee grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him towards her. “Listen t’ me,” she growled, “I am sick an’ tired of waddlin’ ‘round here like some sorta whale.”
Simon gave her a tired smile, and gently reached up and removed her hands from his collar. “I understand that you’re uncomfortable,” he said, “and I’m sorry about that. But like I said, you’re only one day over your due date. Give it time.”
He turned back to the drawers, rummaging around. “I’m sorry, bao-bei. I’ve got to go give River another shot, and change the dressing on her forehead. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He left with his kit, and Kaylee turned to look at the empty room.
Then her eye caught the title of the large book propping up a tin of bandages, and she grinned. She waddled across the infirmary and picked up the book, flipping through its pages until she found what she was looking for.
Due Date: +2 days
“Are you sure about this?” Inara asked. “Did you ask Simon?”
“No, I read it in a book,” Kaylee said defensively. “I can read things, y’ know.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I know,” Inara said. “But… eating fruit?”
“Well, think of it this way,” Kaylee said, looking out at the Red Eagle docks. “If it works, I’ll be real happy. An’ if it don’t work, we’ll have eaten some really good fruit salad.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Inara said. “All right, I’ll go with you.”
She wrapped her shawl around herself. “And we’ll have to look for some red raspberry tea. I’ve heard it can have much of the same effect.”
“Now yer thinkin’,” Kaylee said with a grin.
Kaylee groaned. “I can’t drink any more tea, ‘Nara. My bladder’s already gettin’ tap-danced on, an’ bein’ this big it ain’t easy t’ get t’ the head.”
“I’m sorry,” Inara said, setting down the teapot. “More mango?”
“Nope,” Kaylee said, looking mournfully at the fruit salad in her bowl. The kiwi, mango, and pineapple chunks did look appealing, but her stomach burbled with acid. “Ugggh,” she grumbled. “This is gettin’ old.”
“I’ll put the fruit away,” Inara said, “and then we could go down to my shuttle. I’ve got some primrose oil – I’ll rub your feet with it.”
“Ohh, ‘Nara, that sounds heavenly,” Kaylee breathed. She took her feet off the chair in front of her and tried getting up. She wobbled back and forth, and then grunted, trying to pull herself up using the table’s edge.
“Here, mei-mei, let me help you,” Inara said, trying to hide a grin. She hurried around to Kaylee’s side of the table and grabbed the mechanic’s hands, successfully pulling Kaylee to her feet.
“Some time I’m gonna sit down an’ I won’t be able t’ get back up,” Kaylee said.
“Not as long as I’m around,” Inara said, rubbing her friend’s back.