WARNING: This story deals with an unexplained pregnancy.  It is NOT a result of rape, although it is implied that it could be.  I do not wish to upset anyone, thus the spoiler for my own story.

Disclaimer:  These people don’t belong to me, Paramont got there first.  Since these disclaimers don’t make a bit of difference I’m not going to say that no copyright infringement was intended because lets face it, that’s exactly what I was doing.  So I am stealing the characters, the ship, maybe a load of technobable, a few dilithium crystals and an EPS conduit. If they want them back they’ll have to come and get them.  They should be warned however that I own 4 swords, two shotguns and a big ol’ truck, so I’m not going down easy. And although I haven’t made any money from this or any other story I wouldn’t turn it down if someone wanted to pay me. So there.
 

Part 1

B’Elanna was certain she was dying.  She had expelled everything she had ever eaten in her entire life in the last thirty minutes.  Now she was ten minutes late for the start of her duty shift and had yet to take a shower.  The hybrid wasn’t looking forward to trying to move but she had to get to Engineering.  She knew she could go to sickbay and the Doctor could probably give her something but was reluctant to admit weakness, even to the holographic man.

Gathering her courage, the engineer moved as quickly as she dared to the shower stall and turned it on as low as it would go.  She didn’t have time to use the water setting and she hoped the low frequency vibrations wouldn’t aggravate the situation any more.  B’Elanna wanted to get her rebellious stomachs under control before stepping through the doors of her domain.  She didn’t want to think about the humiliation she that would suffer if she started vomiting in front of her staff.

The proud Klingon dressed as fast as she could and grabbed a cup of hot tea on her way out the door.  She hoped the mild liquid would help calm the nausea but was only willing to try a few sips before she got to her department.  All she wanted was to get the night shift’s report and retreat to her office without incident.  B’Elanna was sure that whatever was wrong with her would pass if she could sit quietly at her desk for a while.

As soon as B’Elanna stepped through the thick metal doors the entire room fell silent.  She glared as best she could with her mid-section doing backwards summersaults at the curious looks she received.  The only times the chief engineer had ever been late for a duty shift were due to senior staff meetings overrunning, and that had only happened twice.

She strode up to Lieutenant Carey with as much poise as she could muster to relieve the man of his post.  As she opened her mouth to greet him and ask for the gamma shift reports the lights unexpectedly dimmed and the floor beneath her pitched wildly to starboard as it rose up to meet her.  The lights only flickered once more as B’Elanna’s body slammed into the unforgiving metal grating and then everything went black.

B’Elanna groaned as her vision swam and refused to come into focus. “What happened?  Damage report.”

“Easy Lieutenant.  You took a hard fall.”

The Klingon blinked to get the fuzzy image of the speaker to clear.  “Doctor what are you doing in Engineering?  Carey, I thought I asked for a damage report?  Carey, where are you?”

The EMH shook his head as he ran the medical tri-corder over his patient.  “You’re in sickbay Lieutenant.  You fainted in Engineering and were transported here.”

The haze finally lifted from her eyes and B’Elanna could see that the photonic man spoke the truth.  She sat up and the nausea she had battled with earlier returned full force.  The hybrid had to lean precariously over the edge of the bio-bed as her empty stomachs wrenched and convulsed painfully.  She allowed her grip on the raised bed to relax a bit as the doctor’s hands held her firmly in place and kept her from tumbling off.

“Easy Lieutenant.  You have a concussion and, combined with your other condition, moving around quickly is not a good idea.  I guess congratulations are in order.”  The EMH cheerfully informed the engineer as he kept her somewhat upright.

It might have been the blood pounding loudly in her ears or the gagging noises erupting from her throat but she was certain she was having auditory hallucinations.  The hologram couldn’t be congratulating her on having the flu.  That was beyond absurd.

As the nausea subsided once again to a tolerable level B’Elanna pushed the photonic man back so she could see his face as she spoke.  “ Have you lost your mind?  What the hell are you talking about?”

The Doctor was a little taken aback. He had assumed the Klingon had known.  “You’re pregnant.  About three weeks according to the scans I’ve done.  So, would you care to tell me who the lucky man is?”

B’Elanna felt all the blood drain from her face and suddenly felt colder than she ever had before.  “That’s not possible.  I broke up with Tom three months ago and I haven’t been with anyone since.  How the /hell/ can I be PREGNANT?”

The horror of the situation was almost more than her mind could comprehend; how could someone do this to her without her knowledge and what else might they have done?  The hybrid would have expected to feel knifelike rage over news of this magnitude but instead she was chilled to the bone. There was an emptiness inside of B’Elanna that was almost as frightening as the violation itself and it scared her.

The doctor was struck speechless for a moment.  He had known about the break-up, the whole ship knew about it.  He had assumed when the tricorder displayed its findings that B’Elanna had simply found someone else.  “Stay calm.  We will find out what and how this happened.  Do you want me to have Captain Janeway and Tuvok come down here?”

B’Elanna nodded emphatically.  She didn’t just want the captain to come to sickbay; she needed her there.  The older woman had been a source of support and strength for her ever since she had walked in on Tom and one of her best friends in a lovers’ embrace.  She had felt more betrayed by Harry than she had by the pilot.  In the explosion of emotion that followed, several things became obvious to the engineer.  Paris had never truly been in love with her, he was in love the idea of taming the Klingon and the ego boost it gave him.  The seemingly innocent Ensign Kim was anything but.  And they were both lucky she had been able to contain her anger until they were out of her sight.  The living room didn’t fare as well.

Janeway had helped her work through the feelings of worthlessness that had been evoked by Tom’s attitude about the relationship and its ignoble end.  She wasn’t sure she wanted the Vulcan present but she trusted his integrity and knew he would be discrete.  B’Elanna also knew she would need his help to solve this conundrum.  “Yes call them.  I want an investigation started immediately.”

The doctor retrieved a hypo-spray and held it up in front of the engineer’s face.  “I’m going to give you an injection to counteract the morning sickness then I’ll contact the captain.”

B’Elanna felt the knots in her gut begin to untie themselves within just a few beats of her hearts.  She watched the Doctor as he excused himself to call Janeway from his office.  As soon as he was out of sight, the hybrid curled into a ball as she tried to make herself as small as possible.  She felt dirty, violated, degraded and more vulnerable and exposed than she ever had before in her life.

The tears started without warning or restraint and they streamed down toffee-colored cheeks to gather in a desolate pool beside the anguished woman’s face.  Quiet sobs wracked B’Elanna’s exhausted form.  She wished the captain would hurry up and get there.  She needed the tenacious woman’s support soon or she was afraid her cracked psyche would shatter.

Janeway was walking as fast as she could while still looking nonchalant with her security officer hot on her heels.  Doctor’s call had sent a chill down her spine.  He had only said that she and Tuvok were needed in sickbay immediately.  When she asked if it couldn’t wait for ten minutes while she finished going over the personnel reports with Chakotay, his resounding no and furtive glances had convinced her to hurry.

Now as she reached her destination, the captain felt her apprehension rising.  Something terrible had happened to a member of her crew and she was afraid that her small team had or was about to become smaller.  Kathryn blew through the door to sick bay calling for the EMH before it had completely opened. “Doctor, what’s happened?”

Before the Doctor could begin to answer her question the captain’s gaze was drawn to the small huddled figure curled up pathetically on a bio-bed.  Without a second thought she rushed to the sobbing woman’s side.  Janeway pulled the Klingon into her arms and held her trembling body close, stroking her soft ebony hair and murmuring comforting nonsense.  When she felt the spasms calming, the auburn-haired woman pulled back and looked deeply into the hybrid’s tear-swollen eyes. “B’Elanna, tell me what’s wrong.”

The soft compassionate tone in her commanding officer’s voice nearly unraveled the engineer’s newly won composure.  Blinking back new tears and wiping away the evidence of the old ones, B’Elanna‘s voice was strained and harsh when she answered.  “I’m pregnant.”

“What? Are you sure?”  The captain was shocked.  Kathryn had been a much-needed shoulder to cry on after B’Elanna called things off with the pilot. The hybrid had told her everything she did, thought or said during the course of her day since then, so she was certain B’Elanna would have told her if there was someone new in her life.  Even if it had only been a one night stand.

The older woman had considered the quick-tempered engineer a friend and a gifted colleague before but the time they had spent together in the last few months had changed her feelings.  She had come to know B’Elanna on a more personal level and had found herself cherishing every moment she spent with the Klingon during their off-duty hours.

Janeway had also found an added bonus to their interactions.  By helping the Klingon work through her feelings, the captain had found that her decision not to get romantically involved with any of the crew much easier to bear.  So although they were not intimate, their conversations filled a small part of the void that being alone for so long had created.

B’Elanna didn’t have any answers and it made her want to hit something or scream until she woke up from this nightmare or both. “I don’t know.  There hasn’t been anyone since Tom; you know that.  There’s just no way I could be pregnant but the doctor says he’s sure.”

The EMH stepped back to the workstation directly behind the bio-bed B’Elanna was sitting on and pulled up the test results. “There’s no mistake Captain, Lieutenant Torres is with child. Unfortunately the fetus is still too small at this early stage of gestation to get a clear sensor reading on it.  But it does appear to be healthy and developing normally.”

Janeway felt the need to pace in order to work off some of the homicidal urges now rushing though her at trans-warp speed but the tight grip on her arm kept her stationary.  B’Elanna needed her moral support now more than ever.  The captain stepped closer to her officer and pulled the distraught woman against her. “How long until you can get an accurate reading Doctor?”

The balding hologram shook his head knowing they weren’t going to like what he had to say. “At least another month.  It’s barely the size of pea at the moment and being inside her body makes it difficult to get accurate information about DNA.”

Janeway’s voice exploded from deep within her chest; searing anger propelling it forward like a missile. “That is completely unacceptable.  We need to know how this happened.  A month is too long to wait.  I want another option Doctor and I want it now.”

The Doctor was a little taken aback.  He had expected B’Elanna to have such an outburst but coming from the normally self-controlled captain made him take a step back.  “There is a way but there are risks to the fetus.  I wouldn’t recommend it at this stage.  If you can wait just a couple of more weeks then it will be safer.”

B’Elanna shook her head emphatically.  There was no way she could wait.  She needed answers and she needed them now. “I don’t care.  Just do it.”

The captain tightened her grip on B’Elanna and forced herself to calm down.  She knew the young woman was acting out of fear and anger and if their places were reversed Kathryn wasn’t sure if she would react any differently.  She would have to be the Klingon’s reason until she could regain it for herself. “Just a moment let’s not jump into anything until we know all the possible ramifications.  Doctor, what is the procedure and what sort of risks are we talking about here? Is B’Elanna at risk in any way?”

The EMH turned his attention to the captain recognizing that at the moment B’Elanna wasn’t exactly rational.  “No, there is no danger to Lieutenant Torres at all.  However I would advise waiting until she is thinking a little more clearly and can make a decision based on facts rather than emotional responses. The procedure consists of removing a small amount of amniotic fluid and running a DNA analysis on it.  That will give us a complete genetic profile.  At this early stage there is a fifteen percent chance that the fetus will be damaged and will be born with serious defects or it may spontaneously abort.  If we wait a little while longer there would be more of the fluid available and the danger would be greatly reduced.”

B’Elanna grabbed the Doctor by the front of his holographic uniform and pulled him down to her eye level.  She wanted to hit him but knew the utter futility of the action and consoled herself with the fact that she could do a hell of a lot of damage to his program later.  “Listen to me you egotistical computer glitch, we don’t know what the hell this is in my belly and we don’t know how it got there.  You will do the test and do it now because I want you to.  And if you keep talking about me like I’m not in the room you’re going to see emotional when I do some serious reprogramming to your matrix later.  Got me?”

The EMH pulled out of the strong grip the hybrid had him in and smoothed out a non-existent wrinkle from the front of his shirt.  He was a little upset by B’Elanna’s threat because he knew full well that she was both capable and likely to carry it out, so he made a concerted effort to placate her.  “Of course Lieutenant.  I’m simply concerned about your well being.  I don’t want you to do something you may regret later.”

The hybrid’s upper lip curled showing dangerously sharp teeth as a low snarl rumbled up from her chest. “I don’t see how I could regret a pregnancy of completely unknown origins that I had no part of nor even wanted, ending.  If fact, I think it’s for the best if you just go ahead and terminate it now, then you can examine it and I can be rid of it.  As touched as I am by your concern, I want this thing out of me now.”

Most of the crew on the ship assumed that the Klingon was most dangerous when she was loud.  Janeway knew better.  She had seen B’Elanna’s favorite defense mechanism in action many times before, taking fear or confusion and turning it into anger and yelling her opponent down.  The captain knew loud might be accompanied by a few knots and bruises on the head of whoever had stirred her ire but it usually burned itself out quickly before anyone got seriously hurt. It was when B’Elanna became coldly quiet and her keen intellect controlled her warrior emotions with a razor-sharp focus that the hybrid became truly deadly.

Janeway knew she had to act fast in order to avoid the slaughter she knew was coming.  Stepping between the Klingon and the holographic man the captain pulled him away. “Doctor, Tuvok, would you please excuse us for a moment?”

The security officer merely lifted an eyebrow and gave a slight nod of his head before removing himself to the doctor’s private office.  Tuvok had been uncomfortable with the lieutenant’s initial emotional display and was relieved to distance himself from any other outbursts until they had the information they needed for him to begin his investigation.  The doctor looked as if he wanted to argue but the captain’s flinty glare convinced him otherwise.  He stalked off in a huff muttering to himself about being under-appreciated.

Janeway quickly forgot the EMH’s antics and turned her attention back to her overwrought officer, softening her gaze and her voice. “B’Elanna I’m not going to tell you what to do.  I’m not even going to tell you what I believe you should do.  All I am going to do is ask that you wait to make this decision, let us figure out how this happened.  Give yourself a little time to think about your options and their consequences, because believe me, whatever choice you decide on will have them.”

B’Elanna forced the anger that had risen like a dark tide in her mind to recede enough to consider the captain’s words.  The woman had taken the volatile hybrid under her wing when anyone else would have written her off as unsalvageable and had given her a chance to prove herself.  For that alone B’Elanna would have listened to her, but the older woman had become more than just a mentor she had become a close friend.  And while the Klingon didn’t agree with many of things Janeway did, she trusted the redhead more than anyone she had ever known, including Chakotay.

The engineer nodded to herself as she made her decision.  If all Kathryn was asking for was a few days then she would give it to her. “I’m more scared than I have ever been in my entire life.  When I think that someone did this to me without my knowledge, my stomachs tie themselves into knots and I feel like passing out.  But when I think that maybe I did something and I just can’t remember it; that makes me feel like I’m drowning in tar.  I don’t know which one is worse.  I’ll wait a couple of days but only because you asked me to.  However, if this is some disgusting gelatinous alien spawn that wants to take over the galaxy via my belly I’m getting rid of it no matter what anyone says.”

Kathryn recognized B’Elanna’s weak attempt at humor for the desperate grasping at straws that it was.   The hybrid was holding back most of her fear behind a thick dam of stubbornness and sheer will but the captain knew that the dam could break at any moment and the flood of emotion would engulf her in a torrent of panic.  The captain reached down and gently brushed the hair from the engineer’s sweat-dampened brow and grasped a caramel-colored hand in her own.  “No matter what happens B’Elanna I will be right beside you.  You’re not going to go through this alone.  I promise you that.”

B’Elanna felt hot tears prick her eyes at the captain’s vehement declaration that she wouldn’t be alone.  All she could do was nod her head, not trusting her voice.  She saw Janeway signal to the Doctor to come back in and begin the procedure and as the EMH got closer she found herself gripping the captain’s hand  in near desperation.

Kathryn had to force herself not to wince as the small bones in her hand ground together painfully.  She knew B’Elanna didn’t mean to hurt her but that didn’t make the discomfort any more bearable.  The captain leaned down as close to the Klingon’s head as she could and whispered just loud enough for her to hear but softly enough to keep her words from the Doctor.  “Relax I’m not going anywhere.”

At the soft words and warm breath ghosting over her ear, B’Elanna felt the tight fist of anxiety loosen its hard grip just a bit.  She hadn’t realized she had been squeezing the captain’s hand that hard until she saw the obvious look of relief on the older woman’s face as she relaxed her hold.  The hybrid gave a look of apology to Janeway before turning her attention to the doctor. “Run the test.  I’m willing to wait until the results are in to make a decision but I’m not willing to put off the test for even a few hours much less a few weeks.  I need answers Doctor.  I need to know what happened to me.”

The EMH wisely chose to refrain from trying to convince the Lieutenant.  Instead he gave her a gown to change into and then went directly to the replicator and selected the instruments he needed for the procedure.  Once he had everything he needed the Doctor returned to his patient’s side.  He set the medical implements out in the proper order and selected the first one before turning to B’Elanna. “Now this is a slightly invasive procedure so I will need to use this to completely remove any contagions on the surface of your skin.”

The hybrid just nodded as she watched the Doctor run the small medical device over her taut stomach disinfecting it.  The next piece of equipment he brought out however nearly undid her and it was only Janeway’s firm hold on her hand that kept B’Elanna in place.  At the end of a small collection tube was the biggest, most frightening, archaic thing she had ever seen the Doctor use.  The huge needle had to be at least 10 centimeters long and as it gleamed under the bright sickbay lights it seemed to wink at her while the EMH turned it in his hands to inspect it.

“You’re not going to just jab that thing in my belly are you?”  B’Elanna wasn’t afraid of a little pain, she was just nervous.  She was used to the advanced medical techniques of the era that utilized highly sensitive scanners to gather information about the body.  She had, of course, undergone surgeries before but never while she was awake and watching.

The EMH looked from his instrument to the lieutenant’s drawn face, worry plainly evident in her molten brown eyes.  He knew she was frightened by the whole experience and he hurried to reassure her. “It will have to be inserted into your abdomen but it looks worse than it is.  Once the probe has breached the uterine wall a microtubule will extend from inside the larger needle.  I will then guide it using the bio-bed diagnostic hood into the placental sack and remove a very small quantity of amniotic fluid.  I would give you a local anesthetic but it tends to corrupt the results when the sample is exposed to the chemicals in the genetic scanner.”

The Doctor activated the canopy attached to the bed and brought the probe into position.  He saw B’Elanna screw her eyes shut as she tensed in anticipation. “All right Lieutenant just a small pinch now and a little bit of pressure.  ”

The hybrid sucked air in deeply from between clinched teeth at the painful intrusion.  She had to force herself not to clamp down on the captain’s hand as a burning pain flared brightly in her stomach and then traveled outward in blinding ripples. “Why did you say pinch and pressure when it feels like you’re jabbing a red-hot poker through my body?”

“It may be your Klingon physiology.  It is believed that some Klingon females develop ultra-sensitive abdomens when they are pregnant.  It’s thought that it is an evolutionary response to large numbers of offspring lost during battles.  If the belly was painful to the touch the mother wouldn’t go into battle and lose the child when she was injured.  Evolution failed to take Klingon stubbornness into account. There, all done.”

The EMH had been expertly guiding the probe as he spoke.  He had been telling the truth when he told B’Elanna it was a dangerous and delicate procedure.  He only had a window of a few millimeters between the placental wall and the developing fetus.  One slip and irreparable damage would be done and the engineer’s body would have most likely spontaneously aborted the child.  Luckily he was a hologram with superior motor skills and concentration.  If he had been a human doctor the outcome could have been disastrous.  He mentally patted himself on the back as he took his collected sample to the bank of lab equipment to analyze it.

B’Elanna rubbed at her sore mid-section as she watched the doctor scurry off, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.  She was about to ask him why the hell he had just left her there without giving her something for the pain when she felt a soft cool hand run lightly over her exposed stomach.   The diminutive woman’s gentle touch was an immediate balm that soothed her jagged nerves.  The Klingon was still hurting but the compassionate caress made it bearable.

The next instant there was a tingling tickle as Janeway ran a dermal regenerator over the site of the puncture draining away the pain as it healed.  B’Elanna looked up into the warm indigo eyes of her captain, gratitude written on her face.  The older woman effectively held her attention while the Doctor began his examination of the genetic material he had taken from her body.  The hybrid was so lost in the concern and kindness shining in Janeway’s bright orbs that the next few minutes slid by in a hazy blur.  It wasn’t until the computer issued a harsh beep that her mind was yanked back to the present and both women turned to look at the EMH.

The hologram noticed he was under scrutiny and immediately turned to address the other occupants of the room. “The computer has finished the first part of the test.  According to the DNA markers on the genetic material, the fetus is three quarters Human and one quarter Klingon.”

“So the father of B’Elanna’s baby is someone among the crew,” the Captain interjected.  The thought that anyone on her ship could have taken advantage of the young woman sent jagged shards of anger lancing through her heart.

“I think it’s safe to assume.  The next text will tell us for sure though.  Computer, compare the DNA sample to all crewmembers on file.  List any paternal matches.”  The doctor gave the command and the computer began to systematically examine the genetic profiles of everyone on board.

‘Analysis complete.  Two matches found.’

For a moment the EMH found himself completely speechless.  He recovered quickly enough that no one was aware of his initial astonishment. “Computer, confirm results.”

‘Confirmation complete.  Two matches found.’

“That’s impossible!  Computer run a level one diagnostic on the genetic sequencer.”  The Doctor was visibly upset.  If what the computer said was true an already tense situation was about to become explosive.

Kathryn took one look at the hologram’s distressed face and hurried to his side to see what had the normally unflappable doctor so upset.  One glance at the display screen made her blood run cold and she had to reign in the ferocious impulse to add her outraged voice to that of the EMH.  If what the computer said was true then the captain was about to be forced to reevaluate everything she thought she had known about this person.

B’Elanna watched her sole source of support abandon her at the doctor’s hysterics and felt terribly exposed from the lack of contact.  She had tried to be patient during the test but as the seconds ground into minutes without answers she felt herself unraveling without the older woman’s calming touch.  Now she watched as Janeway struggled to stay calm and felt her control slipping away that much faster. The captain’s knuckles had turned white where she had gripped the console and her face was nearly as red as her uniform.

The computer announced that the diagnostic was complete and no faults had been found in the unit and B’Elanna felt the last of her reserves shatter at Janeway and the Doctor’s reactions.  The look of pained disbelief on the captain’s face and the utter devastation on the holographic visage of the EMH propelled her off the bio-bed.  The Klingon pushed past them to see the screen and nearly shrieked.

Listed in bold irrefutable letters were the two, one hundred percent certain parental matches for the child she was carrying.  Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres and Seven of Nine.

For the second time that day the lights flickered and the floor lurched as the stunned engineer fainted.

tbc