"The Fairest One of All" CHAPTER SEVEN





The weeks passed and the child inside of Charlie was getting bigger and bigger. Tucker relished living in the safe atmosphere of this Enterprise, but he feared for the future of his daughter. Everyone knew it, so the crew worked hard to keep the engineer's spirits up and help him forget his troubles. With that in mind Hoshi came up with what everyone thought was a great idea. The crew wanted to give Charlie a surprise baby shower.

Archer approved of the celebration but vetoed the surprise part. "In Charlie's neck of the woods when people jump out of dark corners and yell, it's more likely to be an assignation attempt instead of an invitation to a party." The captain pointed out. "Go ahead and get started Hoshi, but better leave the surprise part out of it."

"Yes sir." The comm officer acknowledged and ran off to start planning.

And so, with only one week left in Charlie's pregnancy, Archer lead the engineer to the mess hall. "Everyone wanted to do something special for you and the baby, so we decided to give you a little party."

"Party?" Charlie asked the question like he'd never heard the word before, and he hadn't. "What's that?"

Somehow Archer wasn't surprised. He figured they didn't have a lot of parties on Charlie's Enterprise. "It's a sort of celebration." The engineer's mind flashed on the games in the circle and his face paled. Archer saw what Charlie was thinking and hastened to reassure him. "No, no. It's not that kind of thing at all. It's fun. You'll see."

Tucker nodded and forced himself to relax. This crew had done nothing but treat him more than decently ever since he arrived. It was time to quit suspecting, consciously or subconsciously their motives, just because they happen to look like the bullies back home. It was time to trust them totally.

Seeing that Charlie had calmed down, Archer gestured for him to enter the mess hall first. When Tucker did he was amazed at what he saw. The room was full of balloons and streamers and in one corner there was a big cake. The engineer was eagerly greeted by his friends, who sat him at the center of the action. "What'd you say this is?" Charlie asked, a little dazed at it all.

Hoshi filled him in before Archer could answer. "It's a baby shower."

"A shower?" When Charlie looked to the ceiling as if expecting rain any second everyone laughed and assured him that there would be no inclement weather here.

"Like I said," Archer reminded him. "It's a party."

"Oh yeah." Charlie nodded and looked around. "So what do you do at this... shower?"

"Well, besides the cake and the punch, the whole point of the party is to give you some presents for the baby."

"Presents?" Tucker asked. "What are those?"

Charlie's question took everyone in the room by surprise. How could he not know what a present was?

"You know." Hoshi stammered to explain. "A present is a gift."

Obviously Charlie had no idea what she was talking about. Archer's heart sank when he realized that Tucker had probably never received a present in his life. The captain tried to clarify things for the engineer, but how do you explain a present to someone who had never even heard of the concept before?

The captain gestured to the gift table. "See all those boxes over there?" When Charlie nodded he continued. "They're called presents." Archer picked one up and handed it to Tucker. "It's wrapped with pretty paper to hide what's inside it."

Tucker had never seen anything to beautiful before. He would be the envy of all of his bunkmates for merely possessing such a box, yet Archer hinted that more was actually inside. "Why do you hide the..." Charlie stumbled for the right word... "Gift?"

Archer nodded that he had it right. "We hide it to add to the surprise when you open the box. Presents contain only nice things." The captain hastened to add. "In this case most of these are for your baby."

"All of these are for my little girl?" Charlie looked overwhelmed and a little bewildered. "But what do you expect in return?"

"Nothing." Hoshi replied, slightly dismayed that Tucker still expected that they would want a quid quo pro for everything. "In this universe we get a certain satisfaction when we give to others. That feeling is our reward."

Charlie shook his head at such a bizarre, but wonderful concept. Then he looked to Archer for guidance. "So, what do I do next?"

"First you look on the box. There's usually a card on the paper that tells you who that gift is from."

"Oh." Tucker peered closely and read... "To Charlie and his baby from Malcolm." The engineer was amazed. Four weeks ago a Malcolm Reed was threatening to kill his child, but now on this other side, a similar, yet different man was actually giving his little girl a present. This was just another example of how the people here were so much better than the folks back home. Trip looked up and smiled at Reed. "Thanks."

Malcolm returned the smile. "You're most welcome."

"So, what is it?"

"You find that out by unwrapping the paper." Archer pointed out.

"How do I do that?"

"Usually you rip the paper off so you can see what's inside."

"No!" Charlie protested. "It's so pretty. I don't want to ruin it."

The engineer looked so upset at the thought of wrecking such pretty paper that Hoshi couldn't stand it. "That's okay, Charlie. You can remove the tape at the ends and bottom and lift the paper off in one piece."

"Tape?" Charlie asked, then the engineer in him took over and he examined the package carefully. "Oh, I see." He got the idea and started to carefully remove the cellophane. Within seconds he had the paper off in one, large sheet and carefully folded it and set it beside him. Then he looked at Malcolm for permission. When the armory officer nodded, Charlie opened the box and gasped. "What is this?" He brought a stuffed animal out of the box.

"It's called a Teddy Bear." Malcolm explained. "Children in our universe love to cuddle up with stuffed animals. It gives them a sense of security to know that they have a companion of their very own.

Overwhelmed, Charlie cuddled the bear to his own chest as his eyes began to fill up with tears at the magnitude of such a gift. His simple gratitude set off a chain reaction and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

After that the party kicked into full gear and everyone shared in Charlie's joy as he opened each present. Soon the engineer was surrounded with clothes, toys, diapers, everything that a baby could possibly need. Tucker was having a wonderful time, and Malcolm realized that this was probably the best day of Charlie's entire life.

The contrast between Charlie's home and their own was never more striking than at that moment, and Reed wasn't the only one to feel it. Hoshi was the first to put it into words. "We are so lucky."

The armory officer nodded. They were so incredibly lucky to have been born in this universe rather than the other. This feeling only intensified as he watched Charlie play with a rattle that he'd been given, because Malcolm knew that the engineer had probably been denied such pleasures when he was a child. Suddenly the armory officer was filled with a dark foreboding. Malcolm quickly made excuses to Hoshi and crossed the room to join the captain. "Sir, may I have a word with you for a moment?"

"Sure." Archer lead Malcolm out of the mess hall and into the corridor. Before Reed could open his mouth the captain held up his hand. "I know what you're thinking. You don't want to send Charlie back."

"How can we, sir? He'd be even more vulnerable over there with a baby to take care of than he is right now being pregnant. The odds of them both surviving are very, very small."

"I know." The captain ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "I don't want to send him back either, but we can't leave our Trip over there forever. We need him back too."

"Why can't they both stay over here?"

"Two Trip Tucker's in the same place might get kind of confusing, besides I'd like to help the other people on Charlie's ship too if I could.

"Oh?" Malcolm perked up at the tone in Archer's voice. "It sounds to me like you've got a plan."

"The beginnings of one, Malcolm. The beginnings of one." Archer clapped the armory officer on the shoulder. "Let's not worry about this for the rest of today and let Charlie enjoy his party, but tomorrow we go to work."

"Yes sir." Malcolm smiled and followed Archer back into the mess hall, feeling better than he had in a long time.




To be continued.......

 

 

 

Click here to get back to scottbakulaonline.com's update page.