Past Tense [Alex/Ardy]

[Ardyn Jaeger]

NOTE: This takes several weeks after the current mission. We pre-wrote this ahead of time and just are copying and pasting the story. FYI.

[A couple months after the race]

[Bridge]

Ardy tried to make herself comfortable for the fifth time this shift, albeit, there wasn't much she could do about that. It was getting fairly obvious why now, with her increasingly distended abdomen starting to interfere with things. Noting the end of her shift, she nodded to Ensign Shawhan and went down to her quarters to finish packing the last of her belongings, quite the task in itself.

[Alexander Wu]

[Personal Quarters]

Shore leave. It was a concept as alien as fatherhood to Alex, and who was now troublingly faced with both realities. In light of everything that had happened, T'Ra was surprisingly understandable and supportive, and had even granted his and Ardyn's request to take leave together, berifting Discovery of her two most experienced pilots. Alex did suspect the Captain's friendship with Ardy had something to do with it, along with the weeks of accumulated leave that he had to eventually spend.

So now here he was, half his closet folded into a duffel bag. It wouldn't be long before they arrived at Rigel Station, and then afterwards, a fast civilian liner back to a place where he spent the majority of a past decade trying to avoid.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Ardyn's quarters]

It was certainly an odd concept for Ardy to go on shore leave. She'd only asked for a day off.... once? Probably not even that. T'Ra actually recommended the vacation as a chance to take it easy.  Fat chance of that.  Her job was definitely an adventure, even on the slow days, but perhaps a break wouldn't be bad, especially with her due date coming up soon.

She had been actually feeling much better now with the morning sickness gone, and it probably would be a good idea to get to know the man who fathered her baby more fully. Anyhow, she had some unfinished business that she had to take care on Earth. She wasn't exactly looking forward to that.

Finishing zipping up her bag, Ardy took a moment to look around the room. "Hey Alex, need help with your packing?"

[Alexander Wu]

[Alex's Quarters]

Alex hadn't realized just how unfashionable he had become until now. His bag wasn't even full, and he had run out of civilian clothing to put away. Susan would've dragged me to a boutique and forced me to buy the first half dozen outfits I tried on, he thought to himself ruefully. Alex found himself thinking of her more and more often, now that his ticket home had been punched. To his own surprise, it hadn't been horrible, though the scars were still fresh.

"Come on up, Ardy."=/\= Alex replied, digging in the bottom of some dusty tote, fruitlessly trying to find a pair of shoes he had long lost.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

Ardyn knocked on the door before entering, the doors sliding open with the familiar whoosh that accompanied the air locks. The room looked like a tornado had ripped through it, with various objects littered around. "Still packing?" she asked with a playful grin as she sat down on his bed and lazily folded a uniform shirt of his for him. "Y'know, we're just going on vacation, not leaving Starfleet forever." she said jokingly

[Alexander Wu]

"Never say never." Alex retorted, throwing a rolled pair of socks at her. "I'll have you know I don't vacation often. And I do tend to procrastinate a bit." He admitted, adding another pair of trousers to the bag. He couldn't really think of much else, asides from the last minute necessities. Sweeping a couple PADDs off his desk and into the side pocket, he went through his belongings one last time. Alex pulled a shirt out of his closet which could only be described as flamboyantly tropical, though he couldn't for the life of him remember where he had gotten it from. "Whatcha think?"

[Ardyn Jaeger]

Ardy snickered at the ridiculously patterned shirt, noting the very loud pattern of tropical flowers and dancing flamingos. "It looks absolutely ridiculous, definitely bring it." She said with a grin as she tossed back the socks.

The baby kicked again, almost as if it was reminding Ardy that it still was there. It still felt so unreal that all this was happening, especially to her. She glanced over to Alex. Out of all the guys out there, she definitely felt glad it was him. "You'd better finish up soon. We're almost into Rigel Station. Don't want to miss the party before it starts, ya know." She said with a playful grin

[Alexander Wu]

Tossing it into the bag, Alex chuckled. "In it goes. You better have brought something that matches." He did one last hapless search before zipping up the bag, adding his ablution kit almost as an afterthought. "Ready, boss." Alex slung his bag over his shoulder, meandering over to Ardyn and casually massaged her shoulders. "I'll have you know, I am the party." He replied cheekily, smiling down at her. "Where's your stuff anyways?"

[Ardyn Jaeger]

"It's up in my room.  I'll get it in a moment." Ardyn said with a chuckle. "Anyhow, gotta get one more shirt I got when I was lurking around Risa. I think it still fits. You'll like it."

Just then, an announcement came through the comms. " Attention. We will be stopping at Rigel Station at 0947 hours." Ardy gave Alex one of her playful smirks. "I guess that's our stop."

[Alexander Wu]

"Are you sure it still fits?" Alex asked coyly, sliding his hands down to her abdomen. "If we had the time, I'd suggest checking before we leave." He winked, taking her hands in his and stepping back to help her up. "Come on, let's go get your bags."

Alex wasn't sure what him and Ardyn were, and neither did any of their friends. On a ship as small as Discovery, everyone quickly found out about their predicament, and he was suspecting a pool had already been started regarding their official Á¢â,¬Ëœstatus'. Alex didn't much care either way; he was happy. "It's too bad Discovery couldn't take us all the way back to Earth...though it will be nice being just a passenger for once."

[Ardyn Jaeger]

"You said that right. I haven't been a passenger for years, it's going to be so weird" Ardy grinned slightly as she pulled herself up with his help. Alex was wonderfully overprotective at times, which was nice for the most part, albeit quite the adjustment from her normal independent habits. It drove her nuts sometimes, but she had other things to worry about.

Heading to her quarters, she snagged her things. "I'm ready when you are"

[Alexander Wu]

"Uh huh." Alex quite casually relieved Ardy of her bag, carrying it in his free hand while feigning its heaviness. "How many bodies did you pack in here?" He queried with a grin, nudging her towards the door with his boot. "Lead the way, airlock 5B, I believe."

He trailed behind as they went through the corridors, mindful of not bowling anyone over in passing. "Once we get settled on that liner, we should really start actually planning this trip a bit...you know, before we get there."

[Ardyn Jaeger]

"So I might have packed in one of the skeletons in my closet," she joked as they began heading down the corridor. "We probably should. Though we have a week or so before our return trip. We'll be fine "

[Alexander Wu]

Mildly surprised, Alex gave her a slightly puzzled glance. She had been the one who chose Earth as their vacation destination, in lieu of someplace like Risa. For him, it would be like going back to where he had grown up, though had never felt like home ever since he had lost his sister. Home was whatever ship, station, or berth he so happened to fill, until Starfleet saw fit to move him again. At least, that's what it had been. Now with Ardyn...Alex didn't really know what home was anymore.

"Ah, here we go. Finally. I thought my arms were going to fall off." He joked as they reached the airlock and passed through.

[Ardyn Jaeger]

Ardy chuckled slightly. "Y'know, you didn't have to take my bag, though I don't mind that you did." she said with a wry grin as she patted her abdomen. The baby was getting heavy, no doubts about that.

It wasn't going to be all rest and relaxation for her, though. Her family was still mostly on Earth, and with the baby on the way, she figured she would have to tell them sooner or later about the kid. The last time she had really checked up on them was years ago, and even then, things were... strained at best. She didn't want Alex to be dragged into this, but this probably was the best time to do it.

Noticing the conflicted emotions in Alex, she paused just a moment from her thoughts as they headed through the terminals of the station. "You okay there, Alex?"