Katianna sat dutifully on the biobed as Dr. Cherrin checked her over with a tricorder. She already knew the answer. She was just going to make it official. Her eyes kept wandering over to the forcefield and where Jovo lay still unconscious.
"You are definitely pregnant. The fetus looks about 15 weeks along... How long ago did you say this happened again?" he asked skeptically.
"The exact date, Dr. Cherrin, was November 8th. There was no time before that," she assured him. "I think I would know if there had been."
"Point taken," he said.
"Just tell me, does the baby look healthy? And I don't mean telling me all about the genes... That's going to be complicated enough with the baby's background..."
"Well, for a fetus that's developing three times faster than normal, he seems fine... Who exactly is the father?" Cherrin asked, trying to decipher what he was reading.
Her eyes wandered to Jovan again and she sighed, fighting back tears. "Lt. Commander Jovan Kalimar," she replied.
Cherrin took her hand. "Does he know yet?" he asked.
She let out a slightly bitter laugh as she remembered Kalimar's words, the tears still in her eyes, almost threatening to fall. "He knows... At least part of him knows. He's the one who told me I was pregnant."
"I understand," Cherrin replied evenly. "Is there anyone else you can talk to about this? You're going to need all the support you can get, and he's not exactly at his best right now."
"I have Kara Lac, my daughter's nanny and my friend, to help me through this," she stated, wiping away a stray tear as it escaped from the corner of her eye. "But I don't have anyone else..."
"I would encourage you to seek the services of a counselor during and immediately after your pregnancy. At least you've been through this before so you're prepared for the worst of it."
"Only last time it didn't quite happen so fast," she said with a sad gentle smile. "But my child is healthy, right? That's all that matters to me right now... and you did say "He", so it's a boy?" she asked.
"Yes. In two months, you're going to have a bouncing baby boy! I would encourage you to connect with Jovan if at all possible. If not, another man with whom you feel comfortable. Boys need a strong male role model for healthy development."
"I'll try... But until I can determine that Jovan Kalimar isn't a threat, he isn't getting anywhere near my children. Laurissa or this child..." The emotions played through her eyes. The pain was evident. She wanted so strongly to believe he would wake up and Jovo would be returned to her, but she also saw what Kalimar was capable of... And if awoke as Kalimar... She pushed the thought from her mind. For the moment she had to take care of herself and her unborn child.
"Again, you'll want to take advantage of our counselor. She can help you get a good read on the situation," Cherrin said with a wink. Just then Toren Len entered Sickbay. He checked a PADD and spoke with Cherrin briefly. Cherrin nodded, said good-day to Kat, and left the two of them alone.
"Congratulations!" Toren said.
"You mean officially?" she replied trying to smirk, but failing.
"Officially, unofficially, off the record, however you want it. I don't need to tell you what you already know about prenatal vitamin supplements, frequent check-ups, and so forth. Actually, I do need to tell you. That's my job!" he said, laughing. He handed Kat a PADD. "This is a prescription for the necessary supplements. Given the rate at which this little guy is growing, you should come back here every week for a check-up."
She nodded. "I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going... I'm only a month along, but I look like I'm over three months already..." She sighed. "Wait, don't I get the vitamins here?"
"Just enter the code on the PADD into your replicator. Not only will you get the vitamins, it will program the replicator to produce them for you at the appropriate intervals," Toren said. "It's a new system we've implemented for non-scheduled pharmaceuticals." Toren smiled. "We figure that Starfleet officers can be trusted that far with their medication!"
"Impressive," she replied. "At least that's one thing I won't have to worry about."
"I can see that there are a few other things you're worried about. Anything you want to talk about?" he asked.
"If I told you I'd have to kill you," she said finally a genuine smirk coming to her face. But just as quickly it vanished. "But really... I can't really say too much," she said, her eyes misting once again. "But I almost had to kill the father of my child. I put Jovan Kalimar where he is right now because I had to. I can't explain why, just that he was going to kill me and my daughter and my friend... And I have no idea if he's going to wake up that same monster or not... It hurts to know what I had to do, but it also hurts to remember what he almost did and the things he said... There's a chance the Jovan Kalimar I know is gone..." Again another tear fell and she wiped it away, gaining her composure back as best as she could.
"I've seen a little about what happened. He wasn't in his right mind. And let's face it: in Starfleet people have to do a lot of very distasteful things on a constant basis. Don't hold that over him. Who's to say that any one of us wouldn't have done most or all of the same things in his position?"
"Toren, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you don't know what I'm talking about..." she said, her green eyes filled with such pain. "You don't know what he really is, what he became... "
"Then why don't you educate me?" he asked. "It's all covered under physician-patient privilege in here. Do you think you're the first person to come through Sickbay with a lot of sensitive information?"
She nodded. "Okay," she said. "You're Bajoran. You'll understand a lot of this anyway. You know about the Order of Light? Do you know about the orb of Kalimar? You know that the orb of Kalimar was created from a Pah-Wraith and not a Prophet? Well, Jovan Kalimar is fused with that orb. The more he uses the powers of the orb the more evil he becomes. He becomes the evil of Kalimar... The Order of Light didn't tell us this. We found out later when it was too late. And here we are... He tried to kill me and the ones I love and I had to try to stop him any way I could..."
"Perhaps you should talk to the vedeks at the temple here on the station. They could probably give you better guidance than I on prophecy. For that matter, maybe Jovan should talk to them as well. But if he was meant to fulfill a prophecy, then that means that there's a specific task for him to fulfill. Maybe this was it, and he's free now. That's a question for the theologians." Toren took a deep breath. "If the Orb was influencing his actions, then it's the Orb that is to blame, not Jovan. Anyone could have been affected the same way."
"I do understand," she said as she wiped away more tears that trickled from her eyes. "And I would want Jovo back, believe me... But he might be Kalimar when he wakes up. And if he is, what then? It's like I'm lost in this black tunnel and no matter which way I turn I can't find my way out... There's no acceptable answers."
"We're keeping the forcefield up until we know he's stabilized," Toren said.
"You're a nice guy. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you..." she said. "Especially not at his hands..."
"It won't. Believe me, as many things as we've had happen around here over the past couple of years, this is the last place he'd want to try anything!" Toren chuckled.
If only it were that simple she thought as she smiled. "Lets hope you're right," she replied.
Toren returned the smile. "Talk to the vedeks. Maybe they can shed some more light on this than I. But I can assure you that if Jovan or Kalimar or anyone else tries to do anything aboard this station they're going to be in for the fight of their lives!"
With that, she smiled one last time. "You're right about that, I think."