[Firefly] (PG)
Author's Note: Written for < lj user="comment_fic">'s Firefly, author's choice, mpreg. Teeing off from "Father's Day", and a pet theory of mine, re: Mal's bio-dad in this universe... Contains a discussion of alien anatomy
"Please tell me I just got a bug in m' gut," Mal begged, eying the blood test rig on Simon's lab table in the sick bay.
Simon looked up from his scanner, his face serious. Then again, the kid almost always looked serious, even when he snarked. "Well, in a manner of speaking, you have a bug in your gut: one that might look like you or the other father, nine months from now."
"[The seven hells]?" Mal sputtered, starting back. "It's gotta be wrong."
Simon shook his head. "You have a high level of HCG, a hormone found only in the bloodstream of pregnant mothers, and I'm using that term very broadly, to include males with certain sets of plumbing."
"Only been with one guy, said he'd been fixed so's this wouldn't happen," Mal said, rubbing a hand over his eyes, then looking to the blood test rig again, as if he could change the readout on the screen.
"The procedure has been known to reverse itself," Simon noted. "Even barrier methods and prophylactic prescriptions aren't entirely fool-proof.
Simon paused, then asked, carefully. "I do have to ask: are you related to Patient 456-Zeta."
"Patient Whoo-what?"
"He was... an unusual case who came to the attention of a research hospital on Osiris: some reports called him 'the female man', since, along with the male sexual organs, he had a fully functioning uterus and one ovary, as well as a rudimentary vaginal opening: no external labia and certainly no clitoris, but there was a small orifice --"
"I heard plenty," Mal said, waving off any further description. "This guy got a name?"
"None of the literature I've read ever gave him a name, but he was described as a drifter. He managed to escape from the hospital and disappeared from sight."
"You say he was a drifter?"
"He was described as a kind of wandering rogue, jack of all works and master of some," Simon replied.
"Bet I know who the Hweng Dan is," Mal grumbled.
"You know him?"
"Not well, better than I wish," Mal said, heading for the cockpit.
"Mind if I ask where are you going?" Simon asked, trailing Mal.
"Checking the Cortex," Mal called back. "See if his name comes up: last I knew, the Alliance had a bounty out on him. Hate to turn him in, since I've run a job or two with him. But I'm this way because've him."
"He's the other father?" Simon asked, lowering his voice.
"He's my father," Mal replied.
"Please tell me I just got a bug in m' gut," Mal begged, eying the blood test rig on Simon's lab table in the sick bay.
Simon looked up from his scanner, his face serious. Then again, the kid almost always looked serious, even when he snarked. "Well, in a manner of speaking, you have a bug in your gut: one that might look like you or the other father, nine months from now."
"[The seven hells]?" Mal sputtered, starting back. "It's gotta be wrong."
Simon shook his head. "You have a high level of HCG, a hormone found only in the bloodstream of pregnant mothers, and I'm using that term very broadly, to include males with certain sets of plumbing."
"Only been with one guy, said he'd been fixed so's this wouldn't happen," Mal said, rubbing a hand over his eyes, then looking to the blood test rig again, as if he could change the readout on the screen.
"The procedure has been known to reverse itself," Simon noted. "Even barrier methods and prophylactic prescriptions aren't entirely fool-proof.
Simon paused, then asked, carefully. "I do have to ask: are you related to Patient 456-Zeta."
"Patient Whoo-what?"
"He was... an unusual case who came to the attention of a research hospital on Osiris: some reports called him 'the female man', since, along with the male sexual organs, he had a fully functioning uterus and one ovary, as well as a rudimentary vaginal opening: no external labia and certainly no clitoris, but there was a small orifice --"
"I heard plenty," Mal said, waving off any further description. "This guy got a name?"
"None of the literature I've read ever gave him a name, but he was described as a drifter. He managed to escape from the hospital and disappeared from sight."
"You say he was a drifter?"
"He was described as a kind of wandering rogue, jack of all works and master of some," Simon replied.
"Bet I know who the Hweng Dan is," Mal grumbled.
"You know him?"
"Not well, better than I wish," Mal said, heading for the cockpit.
"Mind if I ask where are you going?" Simon asked, trailing Mal.
"Checking the Cortex," Mal called back. "See if his name comes up: last I knew, the Alliance had a bounty out on him. Hate to turn him in, since I've run a job or two with him. But I'm this way because've him."
"He's the other father?" Simon asked, lowering his voice.
"He's my father," Mal replied.