Karissa had just finished her appointment with Ensign Derek Monroe when she suddenly found she wasn't feeling too well. She wasn't sure exactly why, but she just all over didn't feel right. Then she noticed that she was cramping. That's when she realized something was wrong. As she left her office she tapped her commbadge.
"Ensign Dinara Tyran," she said as she headed toward sickbay, the cramping getting worse.
[Dinara here,] came the reply.
"I need you to cover for me. Something's wrong and I need to get to sickbay."
[Do you need anything else?] she asked, concern in her voice.
"No, that's okay, just cover my shift for me. I have two more appointments."
[Okay,] she replied.
Karissa tried to fight back the tears as she stood in the corridor as she felt the cramps get worse. She was so worried. She didn't want anything else going wrong. So much had already happened during this pregnancy. Suddenly Ryan appeared and went to her.
"Are you ok?" he asked instinctively.
"I'm fine," she replied, "I just don't know if the babies are...." Her brown eyes conveyed her concerns and fears.
"Ryan to bridge, initiate a site-to-site transport for Commander Bentara and myself. Beam us straight to sick bay."
[Aye sir.]
As they materialized everyone was momentarily surprised. Ryan immediately escorted Karissa to a biobed as Dr. Hancock approached.
"What's wrong?" he asked, with worry.
"I'm cramping," Karissa replied, a stray tear finally falling from her eyes.
Will scanned her and called to one of his assistants for a hypospray filled with some medication that they didn't catch the name of. All Karissa could think about was her babies.
"What's wrong with her?" Ryan asked.
"She's gone into pre-term labor," he replied. "If we don't stop it now, she'll have the babies, and...," he said, scanning her abdomen. "They aren't developed enough. They wouldn't have the best chance at survival. Because of her special genetic make-up we can't risk letting them come early, and especially not this early...."
"So what can you do?"
"I'll be giving her a dose of Antributiline to try to stop the contractions. We should know in a few minutes if this works," he said, as he injected Karissa with the medication.
She heard the sound of the hiss as the medication flooded into her. She silently hoped that this would do it. She kept a grip on her emotions as best as she could, though the fear of something happening was strong.
"It'll be okay," Ryan said, gripping Karissa's hand.
Karissa tried to smile, but barely managed. Even Will gently patted her arm, trying to reassure her. After all, one of the children was his. After a couple of minutes, Karissa noticed a marked difference and allowed herself a little smile. "I think they're starting to slow down," she said.
Will scanned her again and smiled with a nod. "Yes, they are. It looks like they will be stopping shortly, though you'll have to stay here for about twenty minutes so we can watch you and make sure they don't come back. You'll be given medication to take at regular intervals to keep the contractions at bay. And you'll have to be placed on light duties until your due date. No lifting anything, no strenuous activity.... You are to rest as often as possible between now and your due date."
"But--"
"Karissa, this is for your babies."
She nodded in agreement.
"And to make sure of that, I'm not going to let you out of my sight," said Ryan. "Karissa, I think it's time that we moved in together, don't you?"
Karissa's eyes popped open in surprise and her mouth dropped. "Wh... what?" she asked with a hint of a smile. "You want me to move in?" The surprise was still apparent in her eyes.
"Well, it makes sense, I thought...," said Ryan, now regretting just blurting it out like that.
"Oh, it does!" Karissa replied, with her smile brightening. "I just hadn't allowed myself to think about it, with everything else that's been going on...." Tenderly she reached over and caressed his face. "Are you sure you won't regret living with me?" she asked.
"Do you think I'd have offered otherwise?"
"I suppose not," she giggled. "So how do we arrange this?"
"I'll bring your stuff over to my quarters later. While you *rest*."
She took a breath and fought back tears. "I love you.... I don't know what I'd do without you." She smiled and caressed his face again, leaning over so she could tenderly kiss his lips.
Will politely cleared his throat as he pulled out a tricorder to scan Karissa again. "Sorry to break this up," he said as he began scanning.
"That's okay," said Ryan. "I need to get to engineering and see how the repairs on the ship are coming." He leaned over and kissed Karissa on the forehead. "See you later. I love you."
With one last smile, she watched as Ryan left sickbay and left her in Will's capable hands.