"Times of Reflection"

[Guest Fiona Weber]

There were times that thoroughly reconvinced Fiona that she truly was never intended to become a mother.

 

This was one of those times. Fiona watched Ensign... whatever her name was -- Natalia Something -- with a mixture of revulsion and awe. Awe because tending to the Robinson spawn was apparently a natural reflex for the woman. Revulsion because, well, Fiona thought she'd rather remove her larynx than make the cooing noises that the other woman was making.

 

And Natalia wasn't even one of her flighty nurses who had been trained in taking care of such little problems as Gunner. No no no. This came naturally to Natalia. How any sane human woman could be thinking of lullabies and offering children "snuggles" when they were stuck in a cage run by hostile aliens was beyong Fiona's comprehension, but clearly she had missed out on some fundamental programming chip of maternal tendencies.

 

Either way, once Natalia had finally gotten the child to sleep, Fiona had expected... well, quiet. Blessed silence, so finally she might be able to sleep. The sleep deprivation, intended or not, was very possibly the worst part of all this: if it wasn't some sort of cell transfer that ruined her rest, it was the child's wailing. But now... the other woman literally never shut up -- she was the worst kind of worrier. Was the food okay to eat? What about the water. And maybe sleeping was a bad idea. Maybe they should wake up Gunner -- NO! was the impassioned response to that concern, and at least Natalia hadn't brought that one up again.

 

Fiona leaned her head back against the cool wall, feeling another headache coming on. Maybe if she was terribly lucky, they'd either knock her out for testing or put her in an isolated cell soon. Or back with Kwai -- that had been wonderful. Then again, Kwai was also capable of things beyond reduplicated syllabics like "wa-wa" and "ma-ma". And she hadn't gone on a worry-based rant, not once.

 

This was officially her silent prayer for roommate reassignment. Or death. One or the other would have to be happening soon.