Work Text:
The landship was particularly quiet this time of year, Skadi thought. When the diplomatic crises of other nations spring up, it’s usually in the winter, for whatever reason. Maybe it’s the weather? Regardless, Skadi isn’t someone that gets sent on these expeditions. The Doctor said something or other about ‘taking time for yourself’ and, ‘you have enough troubles at home’, but Skadi mostly tuned them out. Once she’s told she isn’t needed for something, she doesn’t really bother with it much longer.
She approached a vending machine and scanned its contents; it’s the alcoholic one the Ursus brats tried to break into the other day, thoroughly mangled but still operational. She flicks in some of her pay and buys a drink, a sweetened cruiser with a small amount of alcohol, the type that Gladiia might tease her for drinking. She knows her own limits with drink, though, and likes to order accordingly.
“Yo!”
Skadi flicks her gaze to the newcomer, discovering it to be a relatively dirty Grani, covered in soot and dust, waving happily all the same.
“What happened?” Skadi narrowed her eyes. A fight? Not uncommon on the landship, with the mix of strong egos and clashing beliefs making up Rhodes Island. Honestly, she’s surprised the organisation has survived as long as it has. She’s pretty sure she saw W here the other day, and from everything she’s heard that just sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Oh well, she’s not in charge. Not really her style.
“The oven broke.”
Skadi blinked. “Pardon?”
“I said, the oven broke. I tried baking, and Gummy wasn’t here to help—”
“She’s on probation for messing with this vending machine over here.” Skadi throws a thumb back to point at the tattered dispenser.
“Huh,” Grani smiled. “Didn’t take her for the mischievous type.” She almost looked proud.
Skadi wanted to add that it was in all likelihood her friends messing around and Gummy simply happened to be there, but she didn’t want to burst her friends bubble. “So you had to handle the cleanup?”
“Shit yeah,” Grani huffed, hobbling over to the vending machine. “And now I need a drink. You get yourself anything?”
Skadi raised her drinking hand, showing off the pink can.
“The sweet shit?”
Skadi blushed. “Is there a problem?”
“No, no, it’s just… nevermind. You’re full of surprises.” Grani’s drink rattles down the machine, a bottle of what looks like just straight vodka. “I prefer the lighter fluid stuff myself. Makes it feel a bit more terrible for you. Anyways, how’s the wife?”
“Wife?”
“Laurentina, I mean. Sorry, knowing you I should’ve specified…” Grani trailed off, a hint of a flush flickering and dissipating as soon as it came. “Anyways, tell me, tell me! I haven’t seen her in awhile! She out of the med-bays?”
“She was,” Skadi sighed. “But recently she’s been complaining of headaches and throwing up a bit. She keeps refusing to go to medical though, no matter how nice Louisa is about it.”
“Probably can’t stand the place at this point.”
“Neither can I. I can stand to see her unwell even less though.”
Grani’s ears perked up, flicking towards footsteps she heard coming in the distance. “Who?”
“The devil we speak of,” Skadi smiled, before flinching. It’s Laurentina, without a doubt. It smells like her. It feels like her. But something’s off.
“Dear orca,” Laurentina purred as she came around the corner, adorning a sweet smile that showed off impressive fangs. “Day drinking isn’t your style? Are you perhaps feeling lonely?”
“It’s 6pm, shark,” Skadi said, sipping her can. “And it’s not much, promise.”
“It never can be with you,” the Abyssal Hunter laughed. “But is it truly that late? I’ve been waking up so late recently I’m losing my body clock.”
“You should take better care of yourself,” Skadi suggested, but she can’t keep her voice from shaking. Grani noticed, swinging a side eye her way out of worry. She just can’t stop her mind from racing. It’s Laurentina. It has to be, her soul tells her it’s Laurentina. Every instinct she possesses can feel her partner, her lover, her fellow Abyssal Hunter. But there’s something more.
Is it residuals? “Have you been with Gladiia recently?” Skadi asked.
Laurentina cocked her head to the side. “Not in the manner you’re thinking,” she put a finger to her chin. “But I did see her depart with Dr. Kal’tsit on a mission about 2 weeks ago, if that’s what you mean. Whyever do you ask?”
“You don’t feel like you.”
“I’m sorry?” Laurentina frowned, a rare sight. Her bout of poor health has put her in a sour mood, and Skadi doesn’t want to step on anymore landmines.
She backtracks. “No it’s just, your scent! I can smell, I can feel… There’s something else there. Another.”
Laurentina’s eyes widened. “If you’ll excuse me,” the taller woman bowed, hurriedly stomping off in the direction of her quarters. Skadi immediately deflated.
“What the fuck, Skadi?” Grani walked up to her, slapping her on the back with the force of an open palm. “Are you guys going through relationship trouble?”
“No! No, it’s just,” Skadi trailed off. “You wouldn’t understand. My instincts, they—”
Grani took a step back, leaning against the vending machine, before jumping off it nervously when she felt it rock slightly. “They smelled another? Aren’t you and the hunters around each other all the time? It could just be that.”
Skadi frowned, bunching her hands at the end of her shirt, a nervous habit. Grani is right, but Laurentina denied having seen Gladiia in weeks. And Andreana is… somewhere? She’s a bit more of a loose cannon.
“Have you guys been having sex?”
Skadi coughed, spitting the drink she’d unfortunately put to her lips a second prior. “What kind of question is that?”
“You’re right, it’s a dumb one,” Grani nodded. “Since you obviously are. What I should say is, um…” She took on a vacant expression, staring absentmindedly down the long hallways of the landship at nothing in particular.
“Say what?”
“Well it’s just, with, w-with me,” Grani stumbled over her words, seemingly ready to trip and fall over her own tongue at any moment. “Oh, god, just, did you use protection?”
Oh. “Well you would know—”
“Y-Yes, I would know that you don’t like it.” Grani was turning tomato. “But I would've thought you picked up better habits in recent times,” the shorter girl sighed. “Do you understand what I’m getting at?”
Skadi cocked her head. “No?”
“Her symptoms, headaches, throwing up, oversleeping,” Grani emphasised each word. “They ring a bell for you?”
Skadi shook her head. Grani looked like she was about to strangle her, and the Abyssal Hunter didn’t have a clue as to why.
“Whatever,” Grani swatted her back, earning a small gasp from Skadi. “Just go talk to her. I would’ve thought you of all people would’ve been a bit more perceptive. I’m gonna go back to my room and pretend I heard none of this.” Skadi watched her walk off to the west-wing of the landship, swearing she could hear the smaller operator mumbling ‘not that that’s possible’.
+++
Skadi knocked on Laurentina’s door, once, twice. When she didn’t receive a response, she panicked, fishing hurriedly in her bag for the spare key, fumbling with the lock and pushing herself in.
“Shark? Are you okay?”
She hears a loud retch, and immediately rushes over to the bathroom.
Laurentina, looking like a groggy and sickly mess, threw her a side-eye while she leaned over the toilet bowl. “I thought I didn’t feel like me to you,” she snarled. “I suppose you’ve had a change of heart?”
“Don’t be like that,” Skadi frowned. “You’re sick.”
Laurentina hummed, a non-response, or perhaps the only one she had the energy to muster at the time.
“Do you need me to hold your hair?”
Laurentina shook her head. “I can handle myself, orca.”
“Please?” Skadi doesn’t know it herself, but her puppy dog eyes are surprisingly effective, even if she doesn’t recognise when she’s employing them.
“Fine.” Laurentina gave in, beckoning her partner over. “I’m terribly sorry, my love. It has been a dreadful few days.”
Skadi nodded, carding a hand through dishevelled locks. “Not to worry,” she whispered, planting a featherlight kiss on the crown of her lover's head. “I know you’re just upset with yourself. I can’t be mad at you.”
“You have your moments,” Laurentina sighed, taking a wet cloth from her lover's hands and wiping her mouth with it. “But now isn’t the time to talk about it. I feel absolutely dreadful— bathe with me?”
Perhaps it’s a little childish that Skadi is still blushing at something so quaint so many years into their relationship, but she can’t help herself. In a way, lazing about in a bath with her beloved somehow feels even more scandalous than simple sex, the soft touches and gentle relaxation more of a rush sometimes. Or maybe it’s just the heat getting to her head. It’s what she chooses to believe, to save a little bit of her pride.
After a quick wash and some long kisses, they prepare for bed. Skadi could go back to her own quarters; they didn’t always sleep together, given the nature of their relationship. However she felt Laurentina deserved some extra attention tonight, and opted to stay.
That, and to ease her own worries. Despite assuring her partner that everything was fine, and the incident with Grani at the vending machine was nothing to stress over. However, deep within, she couldn’t shake that feeling. The presence of another Hunter.
She can feel it as they lie together right now. Her arm is slung over Laurentina’s exposed tummy, caressing it lightly, and she can feel it so strongly she can barely think. She can sense it, smell it. There’s another Abyssal Hunter! There has to be, but how? She knows her eyes aren’t failing her, there’s nobody else in this room! Did Rhodes Island hire another when she wasn’t paying attention? Is it hiding under their bed?!
She goes to check it, but is quickly pulled back into her previous position with a strong yank of Laurentina’s arm and a sleepy “come back to bed”. Strong woman when she wants to be, Skadi mentally huffed.
She thought back to her cryptic conversation with Grani. Those symptoms don’t seem anything out of the ordinary! She’s seen Laurentina, no, she’d seen Specter endure all of those and more, tenfold even. A common cold could produce these symptoms, though now that she’s pondering it, no outbreaks of influenza or any other common viral illness had been confirmed by the medical team in the past two weeks, a relatively clean sheet for such a crowded landship that goes to a thousand different places.
And sex! She’s having it. That’s a given when you’re in a loving partnership, for most cases. And Skadi is most cases. And as far as protection goes—
Oh.
“Laurentina,” she whispered, slightly shaking her wife. There are tears in her eyes that have travelled to her voice before she knew it. “Laurentina.”
“What is it my dear?” Laurentina’s eyes aren’t even open, sweet thing.
“You’re…” Skadi covers her mouth with her hands. “You’re pregnant!” Tears are flowing now, like an ocean spilling forth.
Laurentina blinked. “I haven’t done a test—”
“What I sensed!” Skadi said excitedly, putting a finger in front of her own mouth as if to silence herself out of embarrassment. “The other Abyssal Hunter! It’s— It’s in you!”
Skadi had long since sworn to never make Laurentina cry again, not after all she’d been through. Not after all they’d been through. But she can’t help but find the sight of her wife, mouth agape and fangs bared in shock, with crystal eyes glistening with newly formed tears, falling apart in joy in front of her. She’s quickly enveloped in a bone crushing (to a non Abyssal Hunter, anyway) hug, forced flat back onto the bed, a chorus of happy sobs and joyous sniffles filling her ears.
“We’re with child,” Laurentina whispered, amazement dripping off her tongue. “We’re having a baby!”
Skadi nodded, nodded as fast as she could. What do you even say in a moment so wonderful? Words can’t describe— nothing can describe this feeling.
“I better take a pregnancy test just to check,” Laurentina sighed, almost giddily. “Though I doubt it’s more accurate than that nose of yours.”
“Shall I accompany you to the med-bay?”
“Why, and let a pregnant woman walk on her own? Of course you shall come.”
Skadi smiled. They hurried along the hallways, arms inter-linked. They passed a groggy Grani on the way down, clearly stuck on the graveyard shift. Who immediately shot Skadi a proud thumbs up as she walked past. Skadi is going to ask her to be more direct with her in the future to avoid such sudden revelations like this from going unnoticed, but for now she is just happy she’s supportive.
To Skadi, medical is like a personal hell. She has spent days, nights, weeks of sleeplessness, watching over a restless Specter, and then over a shattered Laurentina, raspy breaths and erratic shakes sending currents of fear down her spine. But now? They walk, jovial, arm in arm. Together, both all there mentally, both long since free from their own personal wars, even if the world at large is still fighting more. For once, taking her wife to medical is an occasion to celebrate, a culmination of their relationship and the trials to overcome.
She almost can’t wait to see Dr. Kal’tsit. Not a sentence she ever thought she’d say.
The pregnancy test is, as expected, positive. Cheers erupt in the medical bay, with even Kal’tsit smiling softly and clapping along with the crowd. Skadi nervously paced back and forth.
“We’re going to need to prepare a crib.”
“Skadi.”
“And we’re going to need to buy some baby clothes!”
“Skadi.”
“And we haven’t even chosen a name, oh, whatever are we going to name—”
“Skadi.”
The sharper tone finally made Skadi look up. “Yes, dear?”
“We’re having a baby,” Laurentina cried.
Skadi smiled, pushing her stressed thoughts of the future back to the corners of her mind. The present is far more important.
“Yes, I suppose we are.”
And the tears came flowing back.