The Vow au bc I love this plot twist and Aqua/Jim are adorable

[done_in_3]

Three years, nearly four, of wedded bliss. Jim was calmer, more focused and honestly a better captain. He had his wife, his beloved Aqua to thank for that, she was his light, his heart, his whole world. She kept him grounded and morally upright and he honestly took fewer stupid risks with his life thanks to her. The crew ran better, the Enterprise had better records, life was good.

Jim had bought them a house for when he was on Shore Leave on Earth, it barely got used but when Enterprise was docked, well they needed to crash somewhere. It was a nice place in San Francisco, in the heart of downtown and worth every penny of the millions it was worth.The property values were sky high but Jim was a veteran captain and got paid accordingly. He used his money on very little else besides charity so he was happy to spoil his wife with a comfortable home. Besides, if and when they had kids... well if their house just happened to be in an ideal school district he wouldn't call it an accident.

Everything was perfect, which begged for it all to come crashing down soon enough. Jim wouldn't remember the crash or the drunk kids in a truck behind him and Aqua on the road, he wouldn't remember that he shouldn't be alive, his wayfinder had saved him....but he doesn't know what this anymore. All he knows is he's laying in bed, he feels numb.. and he's waking up in what sounds and smells like a hospital.

"Mmm... mm." he was so tired and yet his mind was racing with questions. 'Where am I? What happened? Where's my ship?'

Comments

[watersacrificed]

The mention of Jim being famished makes Aqua's stomach rumble too. McCoy took the hint and ended his ramblings, allowing both of them to leave. Aqua grabbed her coat and bag before following after Jim. Her hand nearly went for his, but she caught herself and placed her hands in her coat pockets.

"What do you feel like having? I think I'm good for anything right now. Though, maybe it should be some place with dessert?" Her pregnancy was making her crave sweets and breakfast foods like no other. Last night she woke up in the middle of the night to eat a bowl of peanut butter cereal.

[done_in_3]

"I remember this place we ate at in the academy that has great steaks and even better hot fudge cakes. Sounds like a winner, eh?" he touches her hand but doesn't take it. He will carry her bag though, and open her doors and drive her around like a nice guy.

One thing Aqua might notice once they announce this pregnancy is how much the entire crew will hover at her feet. Jim was wondering about it himself.

"We should think about telling the crew... you know, not soon but just.... about how we want to do that."

[watersacrificed]

"Ohhh, sold. I'm totally sold on the place. I don't know if I'll be able to wait to eat steak before cake." Aqua let out a soft chuckle, her hand coming out of her pocket to have it brush along the back of his. There's a silent offer of her hand, if he wants to take it.

The idea of telling Jim's crew--his family of their pregnancy was something they hadn't talked about. There were other things on their mind, like his lack of a memory for starters. Sooner or later they'd have to tell them, but...how?

"Yes, we should. I don't want to say anything for another month. Just...in case." Speaking too early about a pregnancy could jinx them.

She hopped into the car and let him drive them to the Academy. There wasn't much of a baby bump on her, but having a coat hide her stomach was becoming part of daily clothing.

[done_in_3]

Well he had looked up what he could about the situation after Aqua became pregnant. She wouldn't show for another few months yet, still plenty of time to wait and bide their time... he wasn't keen on waiting the requisite three months though, impatient as always.

"Another month it is then, we'll still be early by social standards." he wove in and out of traffic effortlessly, with an easy smile on his face as though this was something he recalled from a great day out.

"Until then we can just gorge on chocolate and ice cream."

[watersacrificed]

"We?" Aqua repeated with a soft chuckle. She could gorge on chocolate and ice cream, since she was eating for two. but Jim? He was still captain and had to maintain prime physical condition, even while eh was on vacation.

"I think you'll need to stay away from the chocolate, Jim. Too much and you might lose your edge," she teased, relaxing in the car as they drove up tot eh Academy. She rarely stepped foot there, not unless Jim had business there. Even then if he did, then she only came along if he requested it.

Aqua preferred to stay in their home or on the Enterprise. For the sake of her not getting lost, she liked those two places the most.

[done_in_3]

"I never said I wouldn't work it off. I can eat what I want." it was just a question of portion. He ate anything, he just made up for it in his workouts.

They arrived at the restaurant and headed inside, Jim was drooling at the idea of a big steak and some steamed broccoli. Maybe some corn too. He's famished.

"You're both healthy though so I'm happy. But you gotta watch it too, just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you can go overboard, Bones said you only need 300 extra calories a day."

[watersacrificed]

"Work out? I haven't seen you do that in a while.." More teasing, something to put them on equal ground. Aqua was very happy to have a clean bill of health for her and the baby. Jim seemed to be doing well, but they could discuss that later. Even after eating a stack of pancakes and a side of eggs, Aqua was still hungry. Her appetite was growing, something that was normal. But ear Light, she was ready to starve.

She followed his lead, heading inside to the restaurant. they were seated right away. Thankfully there was some bread and butter for her to nibble on.

"Do you really think I'd go overboard?" she raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to answer as she took a small bite of buttered beard.

"I'll watch what I eat and won't have too many sweets, promise."

[done_in_3]

"Then I won't either." he perused the menu, ordering them a small appetizer. Artichoke hearts. One of his favorites. He remembered a moment of eating them, laughing with Aqua in a booth, but not this restaurant. It felt like they'd had that carefree euphoric kind of conversation countless times.

"..." he blinked as he chewed one of the vegetables.

"It's... not a month yet, but it seems too early to start making a space for the runt but too late to still being doing nothing."

[watersacrificed]

"We're kindda stuck in limbo." Which was true. It was too early to do much of anything, but if they waited too long then they wouldn't be prepared. She moved from the bread to having some of the artichoke hearts. Funny, it took some convincing from Jim to get her to try one. She didn't mind artichoke dip, but the hearts were something else.

"We could look at designs or figure out at least where it'll go..." she thought it about again, nibbling on the heart.

"I don't want to hire anyone for this. I..think its something you and I could work on."

[done_in_3]

"Well we can think about it for now so when it's time to get to work we already have a plan. And I like that idea, let's work on it together, a little at a time. We'll get a crib and blankets and sappy photo albums that make house guests go 'awww'."

A baby... it was still so new. Even when their food arrived and he sank his teeth into delicious steak and veggies, he was floored by the idea he was going to be a father. He was already a father in technicality.

[watersacrificed]

Aqua let out a light chuckle, happy to know Jim wanted to do the project together. They already had someone help them decorate their home. The nursery would be their own personal pet project. Something they could do together and forged a stronger bond.

"We'll have to take pictures then. A lot of them. We already so many..." shoe boxes filled with photos that hadn't been sorted out into different albums. It was amazing to know Jim had so many of them together.

"I still wonder how you managed to get half of the pictures that we have now. You're very sneaky with a camera."

[done_in_3]

"I'm just a ninja like that. And we can put them on digital albums, for when we're feeling nostalgic and have nothing better to do.

Lunch was good, after that Jim kind of wanted to wander, though he was pretty sure Aqua needed a break.

"You want to go home or go somewhere else?"

[watersacrificed]

"Yeah, you are a ninja...." she took another bite of her food.

"Okay, we can do that. but I still like the photo albums we have. Oh, can you imagine getting one of those baby books and having to fill it out?" Specifying when and where their baby first laughed, smiled..first photos. Aqua was trying hard not to get sentimental or teary eyed, but it was certainly tugging at her heart strings.

"We can go somewhere else...I feel much better after eating steak." And having a small scoop of ice cream. Where ever Jim wanted to go, she'd be happy following him.

[done_in_3]

"Well when you have the missions I do... and yeah, we're going to be complete saps about our kid aren't we? Gonna get embarassing Tshirts about it and take stupid photos only we care about and force our friends to look at them. Let's go to the used book store near the house and see what we can't dig up about baby books, eh?" he had read things online but he wanted a concrete book too, or four or five. He knew Aqua would feel better in a place full of books anyway.

[watersacrificed]

"I wouldn't say we'd take stupid photos. More like candid ones..." Things that weren't staged or faked. The only ones she wanted staged were the ones for family portraits. Those photos were everyone wore matching outfits and smiled. Something like that.

"That works..." she wasn't too picky about where they went, sitting in the car as they drove on. In a matter of minutes they were there and browsing through the pregnancy section. The classic 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' was there. Aqua picked it up and began to thumb through it a little.

[done_in_3]

Jim was goofing off though he picked up a few books. He got some helpful looking books for fathers, ones that spelled everything out and treated you like an idiot. He was an idiot on this subject, he needed to know everything.

He looked at her book though and leaned over her shoulder.

"It should just have one page saying 'a baby'."

[watersacrificed]

Aqua had to stifle a laugh, because if he started to laugh it would quickly draw attention to them. Most people knew who Jim was and if word got out that they were in the baby section of a bookstore, rumors could start. They weren't ready to tell the rest of the world about the pregnancy.

"Hard to wrap your head around?" she teased, looking over at the books he picked out.

"There's also a book specifically for the baby, you know a 'Baby book'. Writing down their firsts and such."

[done_in_3]

"Yeah you talked about that at the restaurant. You want one? Get whatever you want." he had the money obviously.

He hadn't though about being discrete, he'd let his guard down in his amnesic state. He was vulnerable right now, and someone like him had plenty of enemies who would use this chance to kill him or worse.

He ought to say something to the crew, his family, about the baby or at least his amnesia.

[watersacrificed]

"I did?" Aqua blinked, trying to remember if she did say those words. He's right, at the restaurant she mentioned it. A light blush came over her cheeks.

"I did, didn't I. I guess it slipped my mind, but no. I want to hold off on getting that. Maybe when we're closer to the due date..." Her heart raced a little then, thinking about the coming months when their baby would come into the world. Would Jim have his memory then? She hoped, prayed and tried to keep her mind away from the possibility that he might not.

"I know, but I'm good with one book. It's the only one that's really caught my attention. Are you buying all of those?"

[done_in_3]

He shrugged. "Can't have too many, right? I need all the help I can get and I'll donate what I don't use." he made a fortune on his ship, he had the credits to burn. He took Aqua's book and headed to the checkout, then to the car.

"Home? You feeling alright, you need a rest?" this sounded familiar... him always checking on Aqua. That was always on his mind, even on Enterprise, how is Aqua, where is she heath-wise? He was always asking her how she was holding up, his ship wasn't the easiest one to live on when confined to quarters.

[watersacrificed]

"You'll be fine. You've handled...other things and managed to come through it." She was going to say he'd been through worse, but having a baby wasn't the worst thing. Aqua let Jim take the book from her hand, following him to the check out area.

"Hm? I'm feeling fine. Not tired.." she cast a glance at Jim, wondering what brought that on. Then again, he didn't much reason to ask if she was feeling okay. She was pregnant after all.

"We could go anywhere else you'd like to go."

Ack, I thought I replied!

[done_in_3]

"Dying isn't the same, this is a good thing. A hectic thing, but a good thing." he remembers imagining this day, with both fear and anticipation, a deep longing. He'd wanted a baby hadn't he? Or... did he? The memory was slipping away, almost like a half remembered dream. The more he clawed for it the more elusive it became.

"I dunno, I'm kind of out of ideas unless you want to go talk to the crew about me being amnesic."

Its okay, it happens

[watersacrificed]

"That part is up to you. It's your business to tell your crew or not." And frankly, she couldn't believe it was taking him this long to tell his crew. Then again, he didn't want to worry them, especially since they had the time off. It still left both of them without a definitive idea what they would do.

"We can head home and play board games if you like. We haven't done that in ages." Jim was the one who introduced her to such things and Aqua loved it whenever he got competitive. It was always a lot of fun and something for them to bond over.

[done_in_3]

Well his crew already knew from Bones but he hadn't reached out to them himself. He had kept his distance trying to figure out Aqua and where he stood personally before getting his old life explained to him by his family.

But he missed them and most of them were in town at the moment.

"We should talk to Spock and Uhura about the baby first, you know, when it's time. Nyota will be excited, she'll probably want to light the fire under Spock's ass to have a baby soon. She'll want to help you anyway, her and Carol will." and you know, everybody else.

"Board games? Am I that much of a loser now?" he smirked. "Sure, what do we play exactly?"

[watersacrificed]

"I figured. I'm sure they'll take the news well." Rather more than well. Knowing Jim's crew they would ecstatic and Aqua wouldn't know what to do with the attention. She wasn't the type to like people fussing over her. She preferred to have the attention on someone else and hang in the background.

"What do you mean now? You kindda were one before I met you," the bluenette teased back.

"We play monopoly, which was a hard concept to grasp for me when you first brought it out. Then there's Jenga, loads of fun and..." She listed off several others, including card games.

"we could play for a bit then if you like, maybe go see your crew? they miss you a lot, I'm sure."