The Morning After

Posted on 03 Aug 2021 @ 4:43pm by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Commodore Harvey Geisler

2,377 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Extinction
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: Mission Day 22 at 0530

The alarm was seconds away from sounding, and Joey found herself rolling over in bed to turn it off before it could. She couldn't remember the last time she'd slept so soundly or felt so rested, but here she was experiencing both. It was a rare occurrence, but definitely welcome. There was a lot of hope the day wouldn't bring something along to undo it.

Joey stretched with a groan and cast a glance over to look at the sleeping form of her husband. Well, she assumed he was sleeping based on how still he was. Part of her wanted to wake him up, but a larger part of her wanted to let him have a few more minutes to sleep. His role on the ship was a demanding one, and he needed all the rest her could get. She sat up to swing her legs over the edge the bed, seemingly unconcerned about her lack of clothing, and stretched again.

Thanks to the shifting in the mattress springs, Harvey began to stir. His eyelids fluttered open slightly, but not wide enough to let in a lot of light. The ship had been placed into a synchronous orbit upon arrival, which meant that its orbit was timed perfectly with the rising and setting sun. Sunrise wasn't due for another half an hour, yet Harvey didn't care. Usually he was up by now, but he didn't want to move. In fact, he actually felt more rested than he ever had before. It was an unusual experience for him. The last time he recalled being this rested, well, it was long before children ever entered his and Joey's picture.

Harvey rolled over after a few moments and saw Joey's silouette sitting up in the dark room. "Morning," he said, his voice surprisingly strong for this early hour.

"Morning," she said, smiling at him over her shoulder. "I'm sorry if I woke you. I hoped to sneak out to start coffee and come back before you even knew I got out of bed."

"No, no," Harvey said gently. "You didn't wake me." Harvey wasn't sure if he was lying or being truthful, but it wasn't worth exploring either road. "How'd you sleep?"

Joey shifted around to stretch out next to him once again. Sure, coffee needed to be made, but it could wait a little while longer. "Better than I have in a long time," she answered with a smile. "The stresses of the job, and every day worries, are a bit hard to let go of. How did you sleep?"

He smiled at her, finding her response both pleasing and strange. "You know what? Pretty well. In fact, I feel like the last three months' worth of stress and fatigue has evaporated away."

"That makes me happy," she said. "And, I think you definitely need more nights like that."

"Need, yes. Figuring how to replicate what happened last night..." Harvey's voice trailed off. "Well, I suppose that's the challenge now, isn't it?"

The night before had been pretty incredible, and it led to them both sleeping better than they had in a while. She wasn't exactly sure what got into either of them, but Joey wasn't going to complain, and had a feeling he wouldn't be doing any of that, either. "A challenge? Most definitely. I wouldn't even know where to start."

He chuckled. "There was one thing from last night that I most certainly enjoyed." He reached over to draw her close, and just before he could kiss her, there was a cry from the other room.

"Mama!" came the muffled voice followed by a bark. "Doggy!" Baby laughter immediately followed.

"Duty calls," Joey said with a smile just before she leaned in to give him a kiss. She gave him another, then rolled to the edge of the bed so she could get to her feet. "Prepare yourself, Daddy. Soon, there will be a lot of little legs on the bed." She reached for her robe to pull on and tied the sash around her waist, then made her way out of the bedroom to make her way toward the nursery.

Jameson was standing in his crib with Pequeno sitting next to it with his tail thumping against the floor and his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. The fluffy dog seemed to be quite pleased with himself as did his human brother.

"You two are something else," she told them both softly, reaching down to pick the baby up as she peeked into Alison's crib. The little girl was still sound asleep snuggled up with her little pink stuffed bunny. Even Rico was still curled up next to her. "Don't wake up your sister. She'll be cranky, and we don't want any cranky babies today."

Joey grabbed a diaper on her way out of the room and kissed Jameson on his chubby little cheek, earning a delighted squeal from him. "Daddy's awake," she said.

The little boy was all smiles already, but at the mention of his father, he lit up. "Dada!" Jameson squealed, flailing his arms happily.

"Ooof... watch it with those arms, kiddo," Mommy said, barely dodging one of those flailing appendages. With Pequeno in tow, they walked back into the bedroom she shared with her husband. "See? There's your Daddy."

"Dada!" The little boy squealed again and began to wiggle, hoping to get closer to Harvey. He didn't get to see his father the night before, so he planned to make up for that right now.

In Joey's absence, Harvey had put on a pair of shorts as well as a robe of his own. A padd had already found a way into one of his hands, allowing him to check his messages to see if there was anything important or otherwise make a priority for the start of the day. When he heard Jameson's voice, he looked up from the bed and smiled.

"Hey there, sport," he said, rising from the bed to meet Joey at the door. He embraced and kissed Joey once, knowing that Jameson would do all he could to command Harvey's attention moving forward. In fact, the little one latched on to Harvey's robe and transferred himself into his father's arms. "Good morning."

Jameson responded with a laugh and a giant smile. "Dada!" he exclaimed, followed by a couple other unintelligible words.

Joey smiled and passed the diaper over to him once Jameson was settled. "I'm going to make coffee and get breakfast together while you two hang out," she said, heading back into the main living area to get some coffee going. Her husband was rather fond of Wilkins, and while the replicated version would do in a pinch, she knew he liked the real stuff much better.

Harvey deposited Jameson on the bed, where the little one quickly sat up and tried to stand. Both of the twins were able to stand, and somewhat move around on their own, but the bed and its padding would sometimes make that activity difficult. Jameson fell once, but did not see the need to try again. Instead, he sat there with a big smile on his face. He had his father, and that was all he needed.

While the two of them spent their time together, Joey gave both dogs fresh food and water, to which both canines immediately ran to, then poured two cups of coffee. Just as she was about to pick them both up to bring one to her husband, the unintelligible coos of her daughter reached her ears. "I'm coming, princess," she said, making her way back to the nursery.

Alison sat in her crib, holding her stuffed pink bunny by its ear, and gave her Mom a smile that showed her three teeth. She used her free hand to grip the side of the crib and pulled herself to her feet to bounce in her excitement at being rescued from her bedtime prison.

"Come on. Let's get you changed and go see what Daddy and your brother are doing," Mom said, laying Alison on the changing table after she scooped her up. It only took a minute or so to get her changed before she was being picked up again and carried toward the other bedroom. "We have another little one wide awake."

Joey moved over to the bed to settle Alison down next to her brother. "Coffee is ready. I'll be right back with it," she said, then walked from the room once more.

The twins looked at each other and smiled. Suddenly, it became a race between the two to see which of them could reach their father first. Harvey was surprised by the sudden plunge, managing to catch both children before their young heads could collide into one another. "Hey you two... there's plenty of your father to go around."

Of course, the twins didn't care. All that mattered to them, well most of what mattered to them, was already in the bedroom. They both gave their father pleased reactions through their baby speak as they crawled over him, pulling at hair, ears, and whatever flesh they could reach, smiling and laughing all the time.

Joey made her way back into the bedroom a couple minutes later with their coffee in hand and two bottles tucked under an arm. She set his cup down on his nightstand so neither baby could get to it, then when her hand was free, she gave Alison and Jameson their bottles. "Aren't you taking Eden to see Mila this morning?"

"In just a couple of hours," Harvey confirmed. "And I think we have Crewman Odara lined up for daycare on deck eight. Are you okay dropping the kids off before the day starts?"

"I can do that. I definitely want to milk every second I can with the three of you before it's time to start the day," she said, pausing to take a sip of her coffee. "It's back to the surface for me today."

Harvey looked over to her while enjoying being a jungle gym for the twins. "I'm hoping to make another run down there sometime today. This is one of those times that I wish I'd never been promoted. Though, I suppose if I never make it, I can just drop in on Doctor Jennin in sickbay and see how his autopsy is proceeding."

"Autopsy? There was enough of a body left behind for that?" She asked unable to hide her surprise. All the remains Joey came across were all skeletal, and showed zero signs of trauma. "I'd be a bit interested in seeing that myself."

Jameson held onto his bottle with one hand and reached over to pat his Dad's chest to get his attention.

Harvey slipped his finger into Jameson's hand to play a little tug of war with him. "Yeah. There was a basement that was sealed really well that slowed the decay. I feel sorry for Ensign Mitchell, I think it almost made her throw up."

His son seemed happy with that and gave his Dad's finger a tug while he drank his bottle.

Joey wrinkled her nose. "I can only imagine what that smelled like. Air tight and decomposition? I might have turned a little green myself," she admitted. "If you do get the chance to go back down, be careful and take Ensign Mitchell with you."

"I'll be sure to do that," Harvey confirmed, still playing with Jameson. Alison shifted her wait on Harvey so that she could grab hold of his ear. He chuckled and managed to wrap a free arm around her. "But it'll all depend on the teleconference I have with the rest of Belvedere this morning."

"How do you like being a Task Group Commander?" She asked him. "We've both been so busy with work and the kids lately, I haven't had the chance to ask."

"It's a, uh... it's a challenge," he admitted. "You know I love a good challenge. I think I definitely need to figure out how to use both the Command Staff here, and the support officers from Task Group Command better. I've been thinking about getting a second yeoman, actually."

"A second yeoman?" Joey repeated, unable to hide her shock. "If you feel it's necessary, then I support that one hundred percent. You could also give some thought into appointing a Second Officer. They'd be able to take some of the workload off of you and Terry. At the very least, the paddwork side of things."

Harvey nodded. "I'll talk to Mila and Terry today, get their thoughts on the matter. Terry's still getting settled as XO, so he might not be ready to help train a second officer. As for Mila, she would have the best ideas on what I'd need to do to handle the workload and the paddwork."

"As long as you do something that can make things a bit easier for you, that's okay with me. You know I worry."

Harvey knew full well that she did. "It's not as bad as I make it sound. The most difficult part right now is the steep learning curve. I've barely been at this a month, and I'm starting to get the hang of it. Just need some help to the finish line, that's all."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Joey found herself asking.

"You're already doing it," he said with a smile. "And that's keeping me grounded." Jameson tapped his dad's chest, and Alison tugged on his ear, both realizing they'd been left out of the conversation for a brief moment. "And yes, both of you are doing it too." Harvey gave both children a big smile. "What do you both say? Time to get ready for the day?"

Joey smiled. "You can count on me doing that for a long time to come, but how about some breakfast first? Then we can get ready for the day."

"Ah, yes, breakfast." Harvey smiled. "What do you two say?" he asked the twins. Both smiled, though they each were having their own breakfast already. "Then it's settled. Breakfast, then the day begins." He turned back to Joey and smiled. Yes, today was going to be a great day indeed.

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