The Addition
The second Tuesday of every month was a day Commander Taylor both looked forward to and dreaded. All requests that weren’t pertinent to the survival of the Colony were sorted into a file that sat on the far end of his desk to be pointedly ignored until the magical date he and Washington had decided on to sort through the requests came around (to be honest they just threw darts at a calendar during a night of heavy drinking to decide what days would be used for what, it was the same reason the 20th of March was designated as “Remembering the brave dinosaurs who gave their skulls to be used as furniture” day).
Of the requests some were hilarious, others were understandable and a select few were just plain stupid.
Taylor thought it was cute when children wrote in crayon asking for a pet dinosaur or for him to send an obnoxious sibling back through the portal and if they included pictures those requests were usually pinned to his refrigerator. The people wanting to start a social club or organize a Colony wide baseball tournament were given serious consideration and met with to discuss particulars before being approved or denied, a process he was more than happy to delegate to his lower ranking officers. Scientists wanting a Carno captured and kept for live study were sent an immediate ‘Hell No’ and soldiers asking for a rocket launcher or an actual tank to defend the Gate from the local wildlife and Sixers (if they wanted to be taken seriously they should have listed the Sixer threat first) were sent on ditch digging duty for being smartasses.
Setting aside a request by the youngest Shannon daughter to form a vampire hunting team, complete with a drawing of a vampire being staked and sprayed with holy water, Commander Taylor reached for the next form and had to read the document twice to be sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.
Name and Occupation: Alicia Washington, Terra Nova Security Force Lieutenant
Pilgrimage #: 1st
Request: The materials and a construction crew needed to build an additional room onto my housing unit.
Estimated time to complete request: 2 - 3 weeks
Reason for Request: Personal
Confusion swept through him as to why she felt the need to fill out a form when it would have been easier to just bring it up during one of their many meeting, dinners over paperwork or anytime they were standing on the command deck looking out over the Colony. Stamping APPROVED in green across the bottom of the page the only possible explanation he could think of was that Wash went through the proper channels like everyone else so it wouldn’t look like favoritism on his part. Setting her request on top of the ‘approved’ pile he continued going through the stack until the last form was stamped DENIED (he wasn’t about to let his soldiers drag race rovers to ‘improve their driving skills under high pressure situations). Standing up Taylor stretched his back as he walked out onto the deck and took up his usual position leaning against the railing.
Down in the market one of the teachers was treating her class to sticks of fruit as a reward for everyone passing their math test. A couple of teenagers were making out behind a tree but they were soon to be interrupted by his mother and one of the fish venders had started grilling the day’s catch in preparation for the lunch rush. Lieutenant Washington was standing by the main gate inspection a patrol before they went OTG and while Taylor was too far to hear what was being said he knew she was reminding them to watch each other’s backs and to come home in one piece or she’d kick their ass in the sparing ring. He recognized Corporal Riley standing at the front of the group salute Wash then bark orders of her own before climbing into the lead rover.
His gaze lingered on the lieutenant as she watched the team roll out and he saw her rub her lower abdomen with a fond smile as the gate lowered. Her expression reminded him of Sargent Balamose before she went on maternity leave…
The realization that Washington was pregnant hit him with the force of a carno. It made sense when he thought about the addition she wanted, people didn’t expand their homes unless they needed the space and the number one reason in Terra Nova for needing extra rooms was children. Imagining Wash as a mother wasn’t too difficult, a natural mother hen she was often referred to as ‘mom’ by the younger recruits and he knew for a fact that she wasn’t nearly as offended as she pretended to be while she made them run laps around the Colony. With his eyes following her as she moved about the Colony Taylor couldn’t help but wonder two things; why hadn’t she told him and who the father was.
--
Washington was going to buy Riley a drink when she returned from patrol. The younger woman had managed to land a beautifully execute round house kick across Wash’s abdomen during their morning sparing session that had not only winded the lieutenant but knocked her flat on her back as well. A purplish-black bruise had formed at the waistline of her pants and every time she bent over or twisted slightly a twinge of pain would radiate from the dark discoloration to remind her that one of her students had gotten the drop on her. Watching the convoy move out with Corporal Riley at the helm she absentmindedly rubbed at the tinder area, a feeling of absolute pride sweeping over her.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Taylor standing on the command deck and for a moment she thought about joining him but today was her ‘check in the mobile labs even if they’re out in the middle of the goddamn fields counting bugs’ day.
Sometimes she hated that dartboard.
--
He should being going over the patrol roster, authorizing a science team to go on an extended OTG expedition or looking over the plans for a new outpost near the ocean. There were literally hundreds of things he could be doing that would be far more productive than walking around the Colony trying to figure out who the father of Wash’s unborn child was. Anyone lower rank than her was crossed off the list first, leaving three other lieutenants and himself. Snipes had been OTG with a science team for nearly five months, Guzman was happily married and Morrel was a woman. As for himself, Taylor was certain without the shadow of a doubt that he would remember doing anything with Washington that would result in pregnancy.
Once the security force was eliminated as possible candidates Taylor began looking at the men of the Colony with an almost suspicious eye. Passing through the market he received the usual greetings and responded in kind but all the while he was sizing up every man he crossed paths with. Most were dismissed as being too young, too old, not tough enough or too pathetic for Wash to spare a second glance let alone a night in her bed. The few that had potential were either in committed relationships or gay.
On his way back to the command center he ran into Jim and while the sheriff filled him in on the hunt for the sixer mole Taylor kept thinking about Wash. He’d had feelings for his lieutenant for years but he had been afraid to risk what little bit of her he was allowed to have on the slim chance that she might feel the same way. It had been easy to use their differences in rank and age as excuses but now he regretted not taking the step that would change their friendly relationship into something more. He was sure that if she was seeing someone he would know about it, if not through her own lips then through the gossip mill, and he doubted Washington would settle down with a man just because they had a kid together which meant she would probably raise the baby on her own.
That thought bothered him more than he would ever admit.
By the end of the day he was behind in his paperwork and no closer to figuring out what he was going to do about Wash’s situation. Staying in his office would only remind him of all the work he hadn’t done and if he went home Taylor knew he would just think about Wash’s new addition, both the room and the baby. He could drop in on the watch towers but he didn’t feel like scanning the dark jungle for signs of danger. That left the market and Boylans; the market had food and company, Boylans had alcohol.
Boylan’s was the clear winner.
--
The patrol returned just before the sun went down and luckily the worst injury was a splinter. Catching Corporal Riley after she dropped off her report Washington gave the younger woman an hour to clean up before joining her at Boylan’s for a drink to celebrate her almost winning their sparing match along with bringing her team home uneaten. The drinking establishment was full of Terra Novans when they arrived but they had no trouble reaching the bar or getting Boylan’s attention.
“What can I get you ladies?”
“The good stuff.”
Wash laid her money down and Boylan poured two shots of whisky fresh from the last pilgrimage. Picking up her glass Wash gave Riley a proud smile that had the younger woman beaming.
“Too one hell of a kick and a successful mission.”
She toasted and went to raise the glass to her lips but a firm hand on her wrist stopped her. With a raised eyebrow she followed the arm that the hand was attached to and found Taylor standing next to her with an almost angry look on his face.
“Should you be drinking in your…condition?”
He hissed the last bit out between clinched teeth.
“Sir?”
Taking the shot from her hand he downed it himself then practically dragged her out of the bar, ignoring not only her protests but the confused looks Riley and others were throwing him. Half way up the stairs Washington pulled her wrist free but continued to follow him nonetheless. Once outside and away from eavesdroppers he finally stopped only to begin pacing back and forth in front of her. Taylor started to speak several times but each time he ended up closing his mouth and resuming his pacing. At the end of her rope Washington reached out and caught his arm as he made another pass. He stopped at the contact and she ignored the spike of electricity that ran through her body at the feeling of his arm muscles flexing under her hand. She went to speak but he cut her off.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Excuse me?”
Pulling his arm free of her grasp he ran his fingers through his hair, if she didn’t know any better Washington would say he looked sad.
“It’s your choice I know that but after all this time I thought you would have told me. I would have been happy for you, I am happy for you.”
It nearly broke her heart to hear the hurt in his voice.
“What are you talking about?”
Stepping close enough that she could almost feel his breath on her face Taylor pressed his open palm against her flat stomach. Even through the material of the tank top she could feel the warmth of his hand. Looking up into his eyes the raw emotion she found in those blue orbs shocked her. For years she had dreamed of him looking at her the way he was now but never in all that time did she think it would actually happen.
“I love you Alicia and I want to be a part of your baby’s life even if I’m not the father.”
For a moment she forgot to breath. Covering his hand with her own she slowly shook her head.
“I’m not pregnant Nathaniel.”
His brows knitted together but he didn’t move his hand.
“What?”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“But you put in the housing request for a new room and I thought...”
Licking her surprisingly dry lips she shook her head again.
“It’s for Sargent Grayson’s niece Emily. He’s going with a science team OGT for three months and I offered to look after her for him.”
“Earlier I saw you rubbing your stomach.”
Taking a step back Wash raised her shirt a few inches and even in the moonlight he could see the bruising covered a good portion of her midsection.
“I spared with Riley this morning and she got in a few good hits, it’s why I took her to Boylan’s.”
“Oh.”
One little word shouldn’t be able to hold so much emotion. His shoulders dropped slightly and she could tell he was closing himself off. She knew that in a few moments he would apologize for jumping to conclusions and with another muttered ‘sorry’ he would make his retreat, leaving her standing there wondering if she had imagined it all. Before he could utter a single word she spoke.
“Did you mean it, when you said you loved me?”
It was barely a whisper but he heard it as clearly as if she had been shouting.
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation in his response.
“Me too.”
It was the closest she could get to admitting the level of devotion she felt for him, at least for now and if the corner of Taylor’s mouth turning up in a genuine smile was any indication he understood. Relaxing his stance he held his hand out, it was a far cry from the romantic jesters written about in books or shown in movies but Alicia Washington wasn’t the kind of woman who needed to be swept off her feet by a knight in shining armor.
A man in black fatigues was good enough for her.
Slipping her smaller fingers around his she walked with him through the streets of Terra Nova. There would be time for passionate embraces and whispered endearments later but for tonight they would simply get use to holding each others hands.
Of the requests some were hilarious, others were understandable and a select few were just plain stupid.
Taylor thought it was cute when children wrote in crayon asking for a pet dinosaur or for him to send an obnoxious sibling back through the portal and if they included pictures those requests were usually pinned to his refrigerator. The people wanting to start a social club or organize a Colony wide baseball tournament were given serious consideration and met with to discuss particulars before being approved or denied, a process he was more than happy to delegate to his lower ranking officers. Scientists wanting a Carno captured and kept for live study were sent an immediate ‘Hell No’ and soldiers asking for a rocket launcher or an actual tank to defend the Gate from the local wildlife and Sixers (if they wanted to be taken seriously they should have listed the Sixer threat first) were sent on ditch digging duty for being smartasses.
Setting aside a request by the youngest Shannon daughter to form a vampire hunting team, complete with a drawing of a vampire being staked and sprayed with holy water, Commander Taylor reached for the next form and had to read the document twice to be sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.
Name and Occupation: Alicia Washington, Terra Nova Security Force Lieutenant
Pilgrimage #: 1st
Request: The materials and a construction crew needed to build an additional room onto my housing unit.
Estimated time to complete request: 2 - 3 weeks
Reason for Request: Personal
Confusion swept through him as to why she felt the need to fill out a form when it would have been easier to just bring it up during one of their many meeting, dinners over paperwork or anytime they were standing on the command deck looking out over the Colony. Stamping APPROVED in green across the bottom of the page the only possible explanation he could think of was that Wash went through the proper channels like everyone else so it wouldn’t look like favoritism on his part. Setting her request on top of the ‘approved’ pile he continued going through the stack until the last form was stamped DENIED (he wasn’t about to let his soldiers drag race rovers to ‘improve their driving skills under high pressure situations). Standing up Taylor stretched his back as he walked out onto the deck and took up his usual position leaning against the railing.
Down in the market one of the teachers was treating her class to sticks of fruit as a reward for everyone passing their math test. A couple of teenagers were making out behind a tree but they were soon to be interrupted by his mother and one of the fish venders had started grilling the day’s catch in preparation for the lunch rush. Lieutenant Washington was standing by the main gate inspection a patrol before they went OTG and while Taylor was too far to hear what was being said he knew she was reminding them to watch each other’s backs and to come home in one piece or she’d kick their ass in the sparing ring. He recognized Corporal Riley standing at the front of the group salute Wash then bark orders of her own before climbing into the lead rover.
His gaze lingered on the lieutenant as she watched the team roll out and he saw her rub her lower abdomen with a fond smile as the gate lowered. Her expression reminded him of Sargent Balamose before she went on maternity leave…
The realization that Washington was pregnant hit him with the force of a carno. It made sense when he thought about the addition she wanted, people didn’t expand their homes unless they needed the space and the number one reason in Terra Nova for needing extra rooms was children. Imagining Wash as a mother wasn’t too difficult, a natural mother hen she was often referred to as ‘mom’ by the younger recruits and he knew for a fact that she wasn’t nearly as offended as she pretended to be while she made them run laps around the Colony. With his eyes following her as she moved about the Colony Taylor couldn’t help but wonder two things; why hadn’t she told him and who the father was.
--
Washington was going to buy Riley a drink when she returned from patrol. The younger woman had managed to land a beautifully execute round house kick across Wash’s abdomen during their morning sparing session that had not only winded the lieutenant but knocked her flat on her back as well. A purplish-black bruise had formed at the waistline of her pants and every time she bent over or twisted slightly a twinge of pain would radiate from the dark discoloration to remind her that one of her students had gotten the drop on her. Watching the convoy move out with Corporal Riley at the helm she absentmindedly rubbed at the tinder area, a feeling of absolute pride sweeping over her.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Taylor standing on the command deck and for a moment she thought about joining him but today was her ‘check in the mobile labs even if they’re out in the middle of the goddamn fields counting bugs’ day.
Sometimes she hated that dartboard.
--
He should being going over the patrol roster, authorizing a science team to go on an extended OTG expedition or looking over the plans for a new outpost near the ocean. There were literally hundreds of things he could be doing that would be far more productive than walking around the Colony trying to figure out who the father of Wash’s unborn child was. Anyone lower rank than her was crossed off the list first, leaving three other lieutenants and himself. Snipes had been OTG with a science team for nearly five months, Guzman was happily married and Morrel was a woman. As for himself, Taylor was certain without the shadow of a doubt that he would remember doing anything with Washington that would result in pregnancy.
Once the security force was eliminated as possible candidates Taylor began looking at the men of the Colony with an almost suspicious eye. Passing through the market he received the usual greetings and responded in kind but all the while he was sizing up every man he crossed paths with. Most were dismissed as being too young, too old, not tough enough or too pathetic for Wash to spare a second glance let alone a night in her bed. The few that had potential were either in committed relationships or gay.
On his way back to the command center he ran into Jim and while the sheriff filled him in on the hunt for the sixer mole Taylor kept thinking about Wash. He’d had feelings for his lieutenant for years but he had been afraid to risk what little bit of her he was allowed to have on the slim chance that she might feel the same way. It had been easy to use their differences in rank and age as excuses but now he regretted not taking the step that would change their friendly relationship into something more. He was sure that if she was seeing someone he would know about it, if not through her own lips then through the gossip mill, and he doubted Washington would settle down with a man just because they had a kid together which meant she would probably raise the baby on her own.
That thought bothered him more than he would ever admit.
By the end of the day he was behind in his paperwork and no closer to figuring out what he was going to do about Wash’s situation. Staying in his office would only remind him of all the work he hadn’t done and if he went home Taylor knew he would just think about Wash’s new addition, both the room and the baby. He could drop in on the watch towers but he didn’t feel like scanning the dark jungle for signs of danger. That left the market and Boylans; the market had food and company, Boylans had alcohol.
Boylan’s was the clear winner.
--
The patrol returned just before the sun went down and luckily the worst injury was a splinter. Catching Corporal Riley after she dropped off her report Washington gave the younger woman an hour to clean up before joining her at Boylan’s for a drink to celebrate her almost winning their sparing match along with bringing her team home uneaten. The drinking establishment was full of Terra Novans when they arrived but they had no trouble reaching the bar or getting Boylan’s attention.
“What can I get you ladies?”
“The good stuff.”
Wash laid her money down and Boylan poured two shots of whisky fresh from the last pilgrimage. Picking up her glass Wash gave Riley a proud smile that had the younger woman beaming.
“Too one hell of a kick and a successful mission.”
She toasted and went to raise the glass to her lips but a firm hand on her wrist stopped her. With a raised eyebrow she followed the arm that the hand was attached to and found Taylor standing next to her with an almost angry look on his face.
“Should you be drinking in your…condition?”
He hissed the last bit out between clinched teeth.
“Sir?”
Taking the shot from her hand he downed it himself then practically dragged her out of the bar, ignoring not only her protests but the confused looks Riley and others were throwing him. Half way up the stairs Washington pulled her wrist free but continued to follow him nonetheless. Once outside and away from eavesdroppers he finally stopped only to begin pacing back and forth in front of her. Taylor started to speak several times but each time he ended up closing his mouth and resuming his pacing. At the end of her rope Washington reached out and caught his arm as he made another pass. He stopped at the contact and she ignored the spike of electricity that ran through her body at the feeling of his arm muscles flexing under her hand. She went to speak but he cut her off.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Excuse me?”
Pulling his arm free of her grasp he ran his fingers through his hair, if she didn’t know any better Washington would say he looked sad.
“It’s your choice I know that but after all this time I thought you would have told me. I would have been happy for you, I am happy for you.”
It nearly broke her heart to hear the hurt in his voice.
“What are you talking about?”
Stepping close enough that she could almost feel his breath on her face Taylor pressed his open palm against her flat stomach. Even through the material of the tank top she could feel the warmth of his hand. Looking up into his eyes the raw emotion she found in those blue orbs shocked her. For years she had dreamed of him looking at her the way he was now but never in all that time did she think it would actually happen.
“I love you Alicia and I want to be a part of your baby’s life even if I’m not the father.”
For a moment she forgot to breath. Covering his hand with her own she slowly shook her head.
“I’m not pregnant Nathaniel.”
His brows knitted together but he didn’t move his hand.
“What?”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“But you put in the housing request for a new room and I thought...”
Licking her surprisingly dry lips she shook her head again.
“It’s for Sargent Grayson’s niece Emily. He’s going with a science team OGT for three months and I offered to look after her for him.”
“Earlier I saw you rubbing your stomach.”
Taking a step back Wash raised her shirt a few inches and even in the moonlight he could see the bruising covered a good portion of her midsection.
“I spared with Riley this morning and she got in a few good hits, it’s why I took her to Boylan’s.”
“Oh.”
One little word shouldn’t be able to hold so much emotion. His shoulders dropped slightly and she could tell he was closing himself off. She knew that in a few moments he would apologize for jumping to conclusions and with another muttered ‘sorry’ he would make his retreat, leaving her standing there wondering if she had imagined it all. Before he could utter a single word she spoke.
“Did you mean it, when you said you loved me?”
It was barely a whisper but he heard it as clearly as if she had been shouting.
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation in his response.
“Me too.”
It was the closest she could get to admitting the level of devotion she felt for him, at least for now and if the corner of Taylor’s mouth turning up in a genuine smile was any indication he understood. Relaxing his stance he held his hand out, it was a far cry from the romantic jesters written about in books or shown in movies but Alicia Washington wasn’t the kind of woman who needed to be swept off her feet by a knight in shining armor.
A man in black fatigues was good enough for her.
Slipping her smaller fingers around his she walked with him through the streets of Terra Nova. There would be time for passionate embraces and whispered endearments later but for tonight they would simply get use to holding each others hands.