Phosphorus Phamily Phoundations

Posted on Fri Oct 16th, 2026 @ 4:11am by Lieutenant Kally Kellerman & Ensign Henry Taylor & Tessa di'Orion

2,082 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Interim 3: Subspace Drift
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Two days before DS16

The reports were filed, the inventory was stocked and counted, Sickbay was naerly back in order and Kally finally exhaled the breath she'd been holding since they'd set course. She leaned against a biobed, as did Henry, Tessa and Doctor F'arra, everyone looking somewhat dead on their feet.

As Doctor F'arra bid them all a grumpy goodnight, Kally sighed and looked at the other two. "You two should knock off as well for a bit," she said. "You both look beat."

"We can help get things cleaned up here," Henry said. "You need sleep too."

The weariness that Tessa showed on her face was only exacerbated by the gigantic yawn that ripped through her, but she nodded gamely, “It’s part of an orderly’s duties to help clean up anyways.” She made mention of that, with a wider gesture than she usually made, “We’re used to getting less sleep here and there anyways. You go sleep, we’ll be just fine.”

"I am not sleeping for a week after what I just went through," Kally sighed. "But some help would be appreciated."

“You got it!” Tessa said in a slurred voice, spun towards the nearest of the biobeds, took a step towards it and as she started to take the first step towards it, began to fall bonelessly as her eyes rolled backwards and she passed out.

"Damnit," Kally said as Henry caught her. "I knew she looked worse for wear. Has she been taking her supplements?"

"Every meal," Henry said, lifting her onto a biobed. "Has it worked into the replicator."

"Let's hope this isn't something new," Kally said, scanning her quickly. She frowned at the readings. "She's as bad as she was the last time," she said. "Almost worse."

"Do you think her body's rejecting the supplements?" Henry said, worried.

Kally shook her head. "No, then I'd find it in her system unprocessed. This is like it's just vanishing, or being pulled out of her by..." she blinked and scanned Tessa again, then quickly grabbed a hypospray, loading it with a double dosage of Tessa's nutritional compound and injecting her quickly.

The Tialan girl woke with a full-body shiver. She’d been standing just a moment ago, she knew that, so why was she lying on her back? Her eyes semi-focused on them, seeing now how close to her Henry and Kally were leaning over her. “What are you doing up here?” She asked them, ”Or down here? Or am I up high?” Her voice was still slurred, “And turn off the air conditioning, it’s freezing… It’s actually been really cold for a while now, few days…”

"You are supposed to report that kind of thing," Kally said, giving her another dosage, then replicating a glass of barley water. She helped Tessa sit up and put the glass in her hand. "Consider this a warning," Kally said, her voice stern. "If you are feeling off, you tell one of us. No exceptions. Especially now."

"Why?" Henry said, looking panicked. "What's wrong?"

Kally glanced between them, then turned her tricorder so they could both read it.

“If I complained every time that I got cold, Cass would…” Tessa took a sip of water instead of finish the sentence, her eyes blinking as she tried to focus on the readouts. The injections made her feel much better, though it was a warmth that was spreading out slowly from the injection points. The water made a more rapid exit from her mouth than it had entrance as she reviewed the readings, “Why do I have multiple heartbeats?” She asked before she reached up to wipe her mouth. Clearly, she was hallucinating right now. She didn’t have multiple hearts.

"Multiple....heartbeats?" Henry said. He looked at the readings again, trying to make sense of what he saw, the realization of it hitting him like a phaser on heavy stun. He wasn't hearing them anymore as his own heartbeat was now completely obscuring all other sound in the room.

"Steady, Ensign," Kally said, coming around quickly to get him a stool. "Or should I say, Dad," she said, grinning, looking at Tessa.

At that, Henry collapsed onto the provided seat and stared at Tessa, open-mouthed. "Tessa...you're pregnant..." he said in awe.

Tessa’s eyes opened wide as the news hit, the look of shock on her face clear and evident, then the open mouth turned upwards into a wide smile, eyes lighting up, “I’m...pregnant?” She asked Kally.

Kally smiled and patted her hand. "You are," she confirmed.

The young woman threw her arms wide open and hugged the doctor tightly. “Urd’s gigantic tits! This is amazing!” Her eyes went to Henry’s and she released her and gestured to him to come over, then wrapped her arms around him as well, giving him a kiss, but not releasing him like she had Kally.

Henry held her tightly, trying to wrap his brain around everything. A baby. He was going to be a father. He held her tighter, feeling tears leak out as he pulled back to smile at her.

“So? Which is it? A boy? A girl?” Tessa looked at Henry from a couple inches away, “Do we even want to know?”

Henry wanted to know, but he wanted to hear Tessa's opinion first. Kally's shake of her head, however, forestalled any discussion.

"That requires scans and a blood sample that I'm not putting any of us through tonight," she said. "We can do it tomorrow when we've all had some rest. In the meantime, they're healthy and that's what matters most."

Henry nodded, then stopped cold. "'They'?" he said.

Kally grinned wickedly, showing them the fresh scans she'd taken while they were embracing. "They," she said. "God help you both, you're having twins."

"Twins," Henry said, gripping Tessa tightly. His grip suddenly loosened as he began to sink down towards the floor, slipping off the biobed. His size being considerably larger than Tessa, Kally had a much harder time guiding back onto it, but the two of them, together, managed.

Kally prepped a hypospray and pressed it to his neck gently. After a moment, his eyelids fluttered and he looked around. "What happened?"

"You were so overcome with love and joy you couldn't withstand the onslaught," Kally said, dryly.

Henry blinked then saw Tessa and everything came rushing back. He sat up quickly, too quickly, rocking slightly, threatening to fall off the biobed before steeling himself and grabbing Tessa and pulling her up onto his lap, kissing her with everything he had. "Twins," he finally breathed, grinning ear-to-ear.

Instead of the smile that had been on her face before, Tessa’s eyes were staring off into space, though her kiss had been just as exciting as his had been, “Twins? Are you sure, I mean, absolutely sure it’s twins?”

"Yes," Kally said, cautiously. "Three distinct heartbeats. You're carrying twins. Is that a concern?" She saw the look of apprehension on Henry's face and was doing her best not to add to it.

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad, really I don’t.” Tessa said, forcing a smile. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy, but twins…are rare on Tial. Not as in one in ten, or one in a hundred, more like once in a generation rare. And always presages some major event on the planet.”

"Well, they aren't exactly one-in-ten with humans, either," Kally said. "And as far as your planet goes..." she shrugged, having no idea what to say.

"It means Heart's Forge is already giving the planet it's first miracle," Henry said, giving her a smile. "And our twins are going to grow up knowing nothing but love and honor. I'm sure Tial wouldn't mind a bit more of that. Not to mention two warriors as brave as their mother."

"But we aren't ON Tial, and I think you still have much to learn about us, my dear, sweet Henry." Tessa squeezed his hand tightly. "Besides, they'll only become followers of Bey'a'Dande if they wish, I will not force them to choose that path. I most certainly am not one and..." She swatted him sharply but playfully with a free hand, "It's not like you let me go and practice back when we were boarded at that station!"

Henry smiled. "What I mean is, followers of Bey, Urd, or whomever, any child of yours is going to be a force to be reckoned with."

“Ours, Henry, children of ours will be forced to be reckoned with.” Tessa leaned her head against him. “Okay, let’s do the math… Earliest real possible time for this was right before we got to that station, or close to.. So call it four weeks ago? Take that away from a roughly thirty-five week normal gestation for us and we’re looking at another thirty one weeks. Just under eight months!” She brightened visibly, literally, “I’m going to have to send another a message!”

Kally looked at the readings. "I'd say more like a bit over five weeks. You're due in more like just over 29 weeks." She broke out into a grin. "December's a good month for twins, you know."

Henry let out a breath. "I'll have to requisition much larger quarters, and I'll have to start brushing up on prenatal care, and we'll need to schedule birthing classes, and we should probably research early child developmental toys, and--" he stopped as Tessa kissed him and he held her tightly, returning it. "We'll get it all done," he said, nodding.

"We have time." Tessa whispered in his ear, before leaning back on the bed again, it having been propped up for her, "We'll be fine. And what's with birthing classes? Why do we need to take lessons on it? I've helped with several of them, I know the process and the anatomy and all of that?" She rolled her eyes, "You just worry about keeping me fed, Henry!" She looked to Kally, "We need to talk about nutrition, don't we? Because if this was... What I think it was, now we have a big problem, not just a minor one."

Kally nodded. "We'll keep an eye on things. Rather than make your food inedible, why don't we just stick to injections for now," she said. "I'll monitor you and we'll figure out a rhythm."

"And I'll make sure you have everything you need," Henry promised.

"But..." Tessa looked at Henry in desperation, "We're supposed to debark to go to Earth in the next couple of days, aren't we?" She looked back at Kally, "I'm supposed to meet his family!"

Kally smiled at her. "You're perfectly safe to travel for several months," Kally said. "In fact you can...what's wrong Henry?"

Henry had gone somewhat pale, although his concerns were far different than his girlfriend's. And therein lay the problem: she was only his girlfriend. His father was going to blow a whole new gasket. "It's...it's nothing," he said, taking a few deep breaths. "If you don't mind, Doctor, I'd like for Tessa to be discharged so we can go back to quarters."

Kally eyed him for a moment, then nodded. "All right. If either of you need me, call any time."

Henry nodded and picked up a padd, filing the discharge paperwork and handing it to Kally. He smiled at Tessa and held out a hand to help her down.

The look that Tessa gave him was one of curiosity. She knew something of his history, but not much of it, but it was clear he wanted to talk to her in private. NEEDED to, actually. Uncharacteristically, she remained quiet and let him guide her down from the biobed, latching onto his side as he wrapped her shoulders within one arm protectively, "I'll make sure I keep you updated on things. I'll test myself several times a day and if anything looks low, you'll be the second person I tell." She was serious, too serious for Tessa.

Kally nodded. "All right. Both of you go home and get a good night's rest so you can enjoy disembarking." She broke into a grin and hugged them both tightly. "And congratulations to you both."

Henry gave Kally a weary smile and bent over as he hugged her back. "Thanks, Kally." He turned to Tessa and offered a hand to help her down from the biobed. "My quarters? They're closer."

TBC

 

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