Home Sweet Home

Posted on 04 Jul 2021 @ 3:22pm by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Commodore Harvey Geisler

2,595 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Extinction
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: Mission Day 21 at 2100

Joey moved into the doorway of the bedroom that belonged to Alison and Jameson. As expected, both babies were sound asleep in their cribs with Rico and Pequeno curled up in the middle of the room. She smiled. It didn't bother her that the two canines preferred the twins these days. After all, they were a lot of fun, and the dogs had great patience when it came to their little humans.

She slipped inside quietly and moved over to Jameson first, adjusting his blanket and leaning in to press a gentle kiss to the little boy's forehead before she moved over to Alison to do the same. A big part of her wanted to wake them so she could cuddle them for a while, but they needed their rest. After all, they were growing babies.

When she was satisfied they were tucked in properly, Joey made her way out to the living room where she picked up a few toys and folded a couple blankets, then continued on to the bedroom she shared with her husband. After such a long day, her only plans at this point were to take a shower and see where the rest of the night would take her before she crawled into bed to finally sleep.

It hadn't been long since Harvey returned from the surface of the planet below. He'd had plenty of excitement for one day, having dealt with corpses and a bit of fresh air coupled with exploration. It wasn't until he was aboard the shuttlecraft that he realized how dirty his uniform was. As multipurpose as regulation clothing was, he still wished Starfleet had developed better gear for surveying alien worlds while on an away mission. Maybe that could be something he'd include in his next report.

For now, the objective was simple, return to his quarters and freshen up before reviewing reports before bed. He arrived home and immediately notice that the lights were low and dim. No greeting from the dogs was enough to tell him that the kids were asleep. The only strong source of light was coming from the bedroom, where Harvey assumed Joey was. He entered the bedroom and let the door close behind him. Joey clearly was home, but he didn't immediately see her. "Honey, I'm home," he called out gently, not wanting to shout loudly in fear it would awake someone.

Joey tied the belt of her robe when she heard him call out and smiled as she made her way out to greet him. "Hi, there," she said, closing the distance between them and planting a kiss to his cheek. "How was your day?"

"Just came back from the planet," he said with a smile. He wanted to hug her, but he was so dirty and covered with grime and whatever had been left behind by the dead, that he didn't want to spread it any more than he already had. He stepped over to the dresser and began to remove his pips, combadge, and a pouch of various items that he'd collected. "It's an interesting world down there. How about you?"

"It was interesting. Camila was pretty upset with me because I wandered off in my own," she answered. "But, I found a lab while I was looking around. It's very strange how all the people living on the surface just... gave up. I stepped over a body that was blocking a door from closing."

"Was it anything besides a skeleton?" Harvey asked. "My team found what looked like a veterinarian's office with a well preserved subfloor. That corpse still had some flesh on it." He set a few other things on the dresser, including the necklace he had found on the planet. He paused once he saw it, especially since he'd forgotten he'd taken it with him.

She shook her head, her eyes going to the necklace on the dresser. "No. I only saw skeletons. The building was open to the elements. What do you have there?"

"Something I forgot I'd put in my pocket," Harvey remarked. "It's a piece of jewelry I found. Some sort of gem set in an ornate metal. It seemed like something worth a metallurgical or even a geological analysis. Though, the more I looked, the more I saw gems like these around the building. I wonder if they had some sort of spiritual connotation."

"That's possible. It all makes me wonder if we're actually going to find out what happened down there," she said, moving into the bathroom to start the shower. Joey couldn't wait to finally wash all of the people particles, and who knew what else, off. "Did Ensign Mitchell go down with you?"

"She did," Harvey said, pulling off his uniform jacket. There was still the black undershirt, which now sported sweatstains, that he would remove momentarily. "Not that I was trying to leave without an escort, but she arrived just in the nick of time."

Joey removed her robe and stepped into the shower. "A worried wife talked to her about keeping an eye on a certain Captain," she told him. "I figured you would be able to take care of yourself, but it made me feel better."

"I made it this far in life," Harvey mused, chuckling as he continued to undress. "Though I can't say your concerns were unwarranted. I've been shot at multiple times, captured, and faced certain death many times. Thankfully, this one was pretty safe, aside from inhaling the particles of the dead."

A frown formed, but Joey inhaled more than her share of those same particles as well. "If you go back down tomorrow, bring a respirator with you. Of course, in our defense, none of us really knew what we were going to encounter."

"At this point," Harvey said, heading for the bathroom to step into the shower, "I don't plan on going back down just yet. There's not much to medically examine, not to mention my place is still on the bridge. It's best leaving this to those who can hunt intelligence and study from a scientific standpoint."

"I'll go back down if I'm needed, but more than anything, I hope we can get some answers. Could you imagine living life one minute, then ceasing to be the next? It's so sad. And I'd be lying if part of me wasn't terrified it may happen to us," she said with another frown. Maybe she was overly paranoid, but the fear was still there.

“The only trouble is that we don’t know what happened other than it happened.” Harvey sighed. A whole civilization was dead and no one knew how or why. He was most certainly intrigued by it. Maybe he would wind up back on the surface after all. “Hopefully by discovering the “how” we’ll figure it out.”

"This ship is full of some pretty terrific individuals that are going to do everything they can to put all the pieces together," Joey pointed out. Like him, she was intrigued, but had serious hopes Sadoria's history wouldn't come back to bite them in their backsides somehow. "We'll all do our parts."

Harvey began to rinse out his hair, trying to perform an initial soak before attacking the grime with shampoo. "That's probably enough about all of that for now. What time did you get back on board?"

Joey worked on shampooing her own hair for a second time. "I haven't been back long. Maybe half an hour before you got hime. Eden already had the kids asleep, so I looked in on them and came in here," she answered. "I was seriously tempted to wake them up, but decided not to. They would have been cranky. Especially Alison."

He reached for the shampoo. Harvey agreed with Joey's assessment of the children, even though he had to always resist the urge to hold at least one child. The year would come soon enough that they'd want to be independent. Every moment was precious and treasured even now. "Speaking of Eden, did she ever make a decision about enlistment? Or at least shadowing?"

“I think she’s still interested. That being said, I think she’s waiting for you to help out with the department shadowing side of things. She remembers landing in the bring when she took a wrong turn and landed somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be,” his wife replied. “I think you would have to grant her some kind of special clearance first, otherwise, she and Camila will become well acquainted every time one of the drones tags her.”

"She'd have to start with administration, probably even with Mila directly," Harvey stated, massaging the shampoo into his scalp. "But I can still work on connecting them. Shadowing's the best way to go, but if she's serious about enlisting, she'd have to go through Basic on Gamma Command. We could get her stationed here afterward."

"Would you grant her permission to shadow each department? Maybe not the department heads exactly, but one or two members of each one to help her decide which department she might be interested in?" She asked as she worked on rinsing out the shampoo before starting to work the conditioner through.

Harvey had to wait his turn while she rinsed. In the meantime, he kept his eyes shut and leaned against the wall. "I don't see why I'd wouldn't. Mila should be able to set that up easily enough."

Joey smiled. Mila was definitely on point when it came to making things happen. "I don't doubt that for a second. I plan to support whatever Eden wishes to do, but of she decides to enlist, Alison and Jameson are going to miss her. I'm pretty sure Rico and Pequeno will, too."

"Our kids aren't the only one on board," Harvey pointed out, still waiting for his turn to rinse. "We have a couple pregnant women aboard, and I think Petty Officer Coates in Operations has three kids of her own. Our Civilian Affairs Liaison is working on starting a nursery. I think we could pull some crewmen from around the ship to help get it going too."

"I've had multiple people express interest in wanting to watch them, too, and I know Eden wouldn't be gone forever," she said as she changed places with him. "Still, having a nursery on board would be nice. Especially for them. They'd have more children to play with."

Harvey began to rinse out his hair, scrubbing his scalp as he did just to ensure everything came out. "Plus it'll be great for developing their social skills. Learning to play with others at a young age and all."

Joey nodded in agreement. It would do their children a world of good, and now she wanted to approach a different subject. "Do you remember when we talked about me being a surrogate for Jayla?" She asked, wondering if this was a good way to lead into it. Probably not, so she felt it might be better to just spit it out. "Forget I asked that. That was definitely the wrong approach. Would you consider us having another?"

Harvey turned to his wife, letting the water massage his backside. Considering he was once involved with the former Chief Medical Officer certainly added several awkward nuances to the thought of surrogacy. "I remember that conversation pretty well, and I think we decided to table it until she brought it up again. But that particular ship has definitely sailed since she left the ship. As for having another... I can't say I'm opposed to it. The twins have each other for a playmate, so if we go again, we might have to double the number. Besides, it'd be nice to have a pregnancy in normal space and not wondering if unknown regions are going to kill us."

Normal space. Joey definitely agreed to that, and hoped she wouldn't have any outside influences that wanted her to kill him. She still hadn't forgiven herself for that entirely just yet. "Well... if we're going to try again and want to double the number, then maybe we should try for a second set if twins. There's got to be some way medical can help with that. Perhaps, some kind of fertility medication I can take?"

Harvey turned off the water and reached for a towel to start drying off. "Are you sure you want to go through having twins again?" he asked her. "Not to mention, there's no guaranteed method to ensure that you conceive them in the first place. It's a medical marvel that they appear in the first place, a process no one's been able to duplicate outside of most natural occurrences."

Joey wrinkled her nose at that thought as she climbed out of the shower and began to dry off. "Having twins the first time wasn't so bad, but I will admit the only reason I suggested it was because you mentioned might needing to double the number the number because Alison and Jameson have each other," she explained. "Of course, as you mentioned, there are other children on board, and I'm sure more will be coming in the future."

"They are a natural part of the circle of life," he remarked. "No matter what the Black Hawk does in this quadrant, or what you and I do in our lifetime, none of that will compare to the legacy on humanity that is our children."

"You're right. And depending on when we want to start trying, Alison and Jameson won't be too much older than their brother or sister," she said. It was nice to feel a little less grimy, and she had a feeling he would agree.

"Nope," Harvey said, wrapping the towel around his waist before checking his face and hair in the mirror to be sure he removed all of the nastiness. "And we'll still get some precious time in their formative years before starting fresh with a newborn."

Joey found herself looking at him. "Does that mean you want to start trying soon?" She asked. There was also the matter of their contraceptive shots, but they'd run out soon enough.

"That's up to you," Harvey stated plainly. "I'm not the one that has to carry a baby to term. Do you think you're ready to go down that road again?"

"One baby would be a walk in the park compared to twins, and things seem to be fairly calm," she pointed out. "I say we let nature take its course. Nature can decide when it happens."

He chuckled, turning to embrace her. "Up to nature it is then."

Joey smiled and leaned in to press a kiss to the tip of his nose. "Nature did give us our first two, and I think we got really lucky that go around."

"Lucky and a little bit of ignorance," Harvey reminded with a chuckle. It was their own fault they didn't renew their contraceptives before vacationing, but neither one of them considered that a mistake or regret. "My current one won't wear off for a few weeks."

Joey smiled. "Definitely lucky, because they are two of the greatest little people I've ever encountered." Not that she'd encountered many before now. "I still have a couple weeks left for mine, too."

"Then I suppose it's time for a little practice," Harvey suggested with a coy smile. He kissed her, and drew her towel-covered form to him in an embrace. "I love you, Joelle."

"I love you, too, Harvey," she returned with a smile of her own.

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