A Favour [Martha, Tina]

[axe_kicker]

Martha ran a comb through her hair and set off for the cafeteria. A brief survey revealed Tina wasn't there yet, so she picked a table away from the serving area, with a good view of the door. Some pregnant women weren't so keen on food smells. She didn't know if Tina was one of them, but the caution couldn't hurt

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[rn_chapel]

Tina stopped at her quarters to change out of her uniform before going to dinner. She had a green dress that she really liked which would probably stop being flattering once she stopped being pregnant, so she wanted to get as much use out of it as she could.

She spotted Martha easily, and went to join her. "Hi. Thanks for meeting me here."

[axe_kicker]

Martha smiled at her. "No worries. I like that dress."

[rn_chapel]

"Thank you. You should see the shoes I wanted to wear with it but can't fit into anymore." Tina smiled ruefully. "So, I should probably just jump right to the weird favor, and not keep you in suspense. The short version is that I sort of need a back-up labor coach, in case Jim vanishes in a cross-universal event suddenly, or something. We've only just met, but I don't really know anyone here who is actually from here, and I thought you might be willing to help me out."

Martha was enthusiastic about babies, and she and Tina had hit it off pretty well in their limited interaction. It was a good start.

[axe_kicker]

Martha blinked, taken aback by Tina's conversational swerve. "That is kind of a weird favour," she blurted. "Uh. Let me think about it for a second?"

[rn_chapel]

"Of course. It's definitely weird enough to require some thought time." Tina stood up again. "I'm going to grab a salad - do you want me to bring you something?"

The cafeteria staff would pretty often come wandering by the tables to take orders, after a while, but it wasn't really a restaurant, and Tina figured that the least she could do in repayment for all the times the staff did oblige her laziness was go to the counter and get her own food when she was feeling up to it.

[axe_kicker]

"Oh, thanks. Macaroni and cheese, and an apple juice." She added conscientiously, "Tell them to charge it to my code."

[rn_chapel]

Tina brought a tray covered with plates back with her when she returned. Macaroni for Martha, and a green salad, some soup that had smelled really good, and potato salad, which she hadn't realized she wanted until she saw it, for herself. And two glasses of apple juice.

"There's no pressure on this," she said, though she doubted that Martha would think there was. "I mean, I'm not going to think less of you or something. It's a weird favor."

[axe_kicker]

Martha had considered the request while Tina got the food. Once she got over the surprise, it wasn't such an odd thing, after all. Tina didn't know anyone who she was sure was going to stick around, but Martha was a safe bet.

And she liked babies. And she'd been a back-up labour coach before.

"I'll definitely do it," she said, smiling. "I mean, obviously I hope your first choice pans out. But if not, I'm totally in line."

[rn_chapel]

Tina smiled. "Thank you. I feel more at ease about it already."

It wasn't as though she wouldn't have plenty of support from Dr. Kuhn, obviously, even if no one else was able to help her out, but Tina really liked the idea of having someone in the room who wasn't going to be approaching her experience from a primarily medical perspective. And it should be Jim. But if something did come up...

"I really appreciate it."

[axe_kicker]

"You're welcome." She grinned. "Blondes have to stick together, after all. Did you do any gene-preference selection with Darcy?"

[rn_chapel]

Tina shook her head. "She was one hundred percent unplanned." She smiled. "Though I do think there's a more than fair chance she'll turn out blonde, anyway."

[axe_kicker]

"That would be *adorable*," Martha sighed. "She's going to be such a pretty baby."

[rn_chapel]

Tina laughed. "I fully expect everyone to tell me so, even if she isn't."

[axe_kicker]

"Oh, I can always punch them if they don't," Martha offered.

She scooped up some macaroni and leaned back in her chair. "So, how's life?"

[rn_chapel]

"Unusually tranquil, at the moment. I should enjoy it while I can." Tina worked on her own rather extensive dinner. "I suspect you're finding things a little bit boring around here just now?"

[axe_kicker]

"Just a bit," Martha admitted. "Although lord knows I should be grateful, since excitement in my line of work is nearly always bad news."