Hard Choices

Posted on Sun Sep 23, 2018 @ 9:20pm by 2nd Lieutenant Gage Aravan & Piper Aravan

Mission: An Oceanic Shoreleave
Location: Personal Quarters
Timeline: MD 37 || 1630 Hours

Piper stood in the bedroom with little Liam sound asleep in the crook of her arm while she stared at a couple empty bags on the bed. They were currently en route to Pacifica, and she was having a hard time trying to decide what she needed to pack for her family. Considering there was more water than there was land, swimwear was definitely in order, but there were a few other things to see while they were there as well. Not to mention, this was going to be the first vacation her little boy would be going on, which meant uncharted territory for her.

As frustration set in, she looked down at her son as her brow furrowed. "What do you think Mommy needs to pack for you, little man?" she asked, knowing he wasn't going to answer her back. A glance at the chronometer told her Gage would be off of duty soon. "We'll worry about this later. For now, we should order something for dinner since Daddy will be here soon."

She abandoned the bags on the bed and made her way into the living room to settle down at the terminal. There was no need for her to pull up the menu, and as the owner, she knew everything that was on it. After putting the order in and marking it for delivery, she rose to her feet and made her way over to the couch to settle down. The food wouldn't arrive for forty-five minutes at least, so that meant she could close her eyes for a little while, and with that in mind, Piper soon drifted off into a light sleep with Liam settled against her chest.

For once, it hadn't been a hard day of non-stop training and for that, 2nd Lieutenant Gage Aravan was grateful. It meant that he wasn't going home sore and bruised while having to summon the energy to not fall asleep before he had a chance to spend time with his wife and little boy.

He arrived at their quarters and entered, starting to say something but stopped when he saw his wife and little Liam sound asleep on the couch. Moving quietly as only a Marine could, he headed into the bedroom to get a holo imager, then snuck back out to snap a picture of the two of them. "One message in a bottle," he whispered to himself as he checked it.

After he set it down, he moved over to lean down and placed a kiss on his wife's forehead. "Special delivery for Piper Aravan," he said softly.

Piper stirred around when she felt the kiss on her forehead and smiled, turning her head in his direction before her eyes opened. "Hi," she said softly. "How was your day?"

"It was really good," Gage said with a smile before he looked down at their son. "How was your and Liam's day?"

"It was a good day. Definitely can't complain. We spent the morning at The Black Hole and got some things done, then met with Spencer and the kids for lunch. That ended with us in the arboretum so the kids could play for a while," she began, shifting the baby over to his father for a little bit, and thankfully for her, the little guy didn't even bother waking up. Instead, he snuggled up to his Dad's chest and slept on. "We were there for a couple of hours, then walked around the promenade and did a little shopping before coming back here to attempt to start packing for shore leave. I stopped doing that, ordered dinner and took a little cat nap. Now, here we are."

Gage took his son as he settled down on the couch beside of her in his Marine fatigues and looked at him for a long moment. "We made this little guy," he said thoughtfully. "His Mom is amazing and his Dad is a lunatic Marine." He looked over at her. "Sounds like you had a busier day than me. All I did was fill out post mission reports all day."

"I think filling out mission reports all day is better than actually going on them," she stated, stretching her arms above her head with a groan. Though, Piper didn't sleep long, those few precious minutes she did get were a lifesaver. "And, I'm grateful that's all you did. Less for me to worry about."

He smiled and leaned over to give her a kiss. "I'm stepping back more than I'm a Second Lieutenant," he assured her. "There's younger, more gung ho Marines that can step up."

Piper couldn't help but laugh as she shook her head. "You're not even thirty yet, you know?"

"I'm also a father and husband, and have been doing this for years," Gage reminded her. "It takes a toll."

"You've got a fallback plan whenever you're ready to hang up your boots for good," she said, rising to get feet to pick up a few things off of the floor and put them back in their rightful places. "You are the co-owner of The Black Hole after all."

"In name," he said. "I'm just the grunt that lifts everything and knocks heads when the crew gets rowdy in the back room."

"That's not true. I've always asked for your input where things have been concerned," the young woman protested with a frown. "And I have never treated you as a grunt. Yes, you've done more than your fair share of the heavy lifting, and you know I appreciate it. I tell you that all the time."

"I know, love," Gage said with a smile. "And I appreciate you and everything you do. You keep things together and provide much needed morale for the crew by running that place."

"Better," Piper spoke with a smile as she moved toward him to leaned down for a kiss. "Speaking of, I need to get the table set. Our dinner is going to be here shortly."

"I should change, but I can't disturb little man," he said after he returned the kiss. "But at least I don't smell."

"Liam and I are grateful for that, too," Piper said as she moved toward the other end of the room to grab the baby's Moses basket. "You can settle him down in here so you can go change, then come back and get him when you're ready." It was no secret their son was spoiled rotten when it came to a lot of things, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Gage got up carefully and laid Liam in it and checked on him, then stood up and stretched. "I'll be back in a minute," he told her before he headed for their bedroom.

When he left the room, Piper made sure Liam was somewhere stationary, then went to go set the table. The food would be arriving any minute now, and she wanted to make sure things were ready to go. It wasn't until the chime sounded, that she made her way to the front door, moving in front of the sensors to open it. She thanked the young man and spoke to him for a moment, then walked back toward the table to set the containers down in the center of it.

Gage returned a minute after that and inhaled deeply. "Ahhh...that smells really good," he said as he made his way to the table. "I see you got our favorites, but then again, anything real is a favorite of mine. Such as you."

In the center of the table, now open, we some of their favorites. Piper was making his plate with a little bit of everything, then placed it in front of his normal spot, then started making her own. "You know I only want the best for you and our little man."

"And you are the best for me and always have been, Piper," Gage said as he sat down at the table. "I can't say that enough, either. You waited seven years for me to propose to you."

"I would have still been happy even if that never came," she said, setting her plate down before taking her seat.

"And that makes you even more special," he said as he cut into his food with a knife and fork.

Piper followed suit. "Do you think you feel up to helping me pack for shore leave? I'm not entirely sure what we're going to need, but that's not surprising since I've never been to Pacifica. I know we're going to need bathing suits and sunblock, but other than that, I don't even know where to begin."

"Something light to wear and white," Gage said after he took a bite, chewed and swallowed it. "Also sun hats. Between the water and the clouds, we'll be irradiated every hour the sun is up. We should see the doctor about getting our shots updated, too."

"What shots?" she found herself asking.

"Contraceptive and standard inoculations for going to a world you haven't been to before," he said. "It's nothing major."

Piper took a bite of her chicken and chewed it up, then swallowed it before speaking. "Oh, well, inoculations are definitely happening. The other... I don't know. I'd rather see what nature has in store for us. Yes, I know Liam is still young, but that doesn't mean we could have another one on the way next week."

Gage though back to her unexpected pregnancy before and equally devastating miscarriage and knew he was on thin ice. "You're right," he said as a compromise to what was going through his mind. "We're married after all and the shots are only required of single officers."

"But... you can get yours if you want to. I know it doesn't provide complete protection, but it helps," she pointed out, taking a sip of her tea.

"That would go against nature," he said as he took another bite of his food. "We don't have to take them at all, Piper."

Piper looked toward her husband. She knew him a lot better than most people did, and knew there was something bothering him. That something didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. "Honey," she began, reaching out to slip one of her hands in his. "Are you thinking about what happened?"

"A lot of things have happened," Gage hedged and since it was true, he could feign that he didn't know what she was specifying. If he told the truth, the pain would come back and all of his training couldn't stop it.

Thought the incident she was referring to had been an incredibly painful thing to experience, Piper made her peace with it, and it was because of that that she loved her son more than anyone could ever imagine. Still, she didn't want to say it out loud. "It was a freak accident, honey, and I don't go around climbing on things like I'm a monkey. If I can't reach things, I ask someone who is taller than I am to get it for me."

"I know," he said quietly as he picked at his food. "So what do you have planned once we get there? I know we'll have to get accommodations for Liam and won't get to spend much time in the water, but I hear they have a lot of shuttle tours and underwater ones as well."

"We can take him into the water, though, we just can't take him out too far into deeper water. I replicated him the sweetest little floatie, but I don't mind taking tours, either."

"Ninety percent of the planet is ocean, Piper. I don't think there is any shallow areas, but we can ask around," Gage said. "I can't wait to see it. Do you have some bikinis picked out for yourself?"

"I don't have anything picked out yet," she admitted. "And we're going to be staying on land. I managed to get us in one of the resorts. We're going to have to make sure we bring the baby's basket with us, though. They don't provide that. It's ocean front, too, so we'll have shallow water we can take him in."

"That's going to be awkward," he said. "I was planning on running around in my birthday suit for two weeks."

Piper grinned. "Well, you could still do that, but you might get some funny looks from the other tourists."

"Funny, huh?" Gage asked in a joking manner and it was clear by the smile on his face. "You mean to say you laugh at me secretly every time I get undressed?"

"Laughing is definitely what I think about when you get naked," she confirmed in an equally joking tone.

"Remind me to replicate some makeup and a big red nose ball later," he winked. "I wonder if the computer knows circus music...."

"There's only one way to find out... Computer... play circus music," Piper ordered.

Sure enough, the computer began to play a rousing circus musical that rose up and down the scale as it filled their quarters.

"Okay, okay....enough of that," Gage laughed. "It'll wake Liam up."

"Computer, stop music," she said with a laugh. As amusing as it was, her husband was right, it would wake their son up. Liam was due to wake up soon enough on his own. "Now, you know that answer to that question."

"You win," he said. "I should have known the computer would have it in the library. It has everything stored in it."

Piper took another sip of her drink and nodded. "It does, and more is probably being added to it every single day. So, if there's something that isn't there, it will be."

"So true," Gage agreed as they continued to talk while they ate, then went to make the hard choices of what to pack for the next day when the Triumphant arrived at Pacifica.