first_in_time | I Will Always Love You, Baby

I Will Always Love You, Baby

After she was dressed and ready for the day, Barbara Chesterton watched her reflection as she washed up the breakfast things. Alfie was late to help her but for once she didn't mind since it gave her time to think. They had celebrated Ian's running for council the night before and she felt awful to be the bearer of bad news, particularly she'd had chances before.

Once she had finished, she found Ian in the back garden with some of the boys, constructing another hammock.

"May I talk to you for a moment?" she asked once he looked free enough. Some of the boys made noises to suggest that Ian was in trouble.

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Barbara sat in shocked silence.

"If you happened to have taken a pill subscribed," he began with hesitation since he had hinted that they try to attain the pill via another source, "then there's roughly a half of a percent chance of pregnancy for the general populace. Since tests were not performed on the effectiveness of the pill and your testicles."

"We can't have a baby. We can't deal with a baby," Barbara finally said.

So they got unlucky. Perhaps. he was definitely going to read the instructions with the pills again, and take one to school to test it in the lab.

"Abortion is only available in a few specific cases. Not wanting a baby at this time will not qualify."

That didn't come as a surprise, and Ian wasn't sure he liked the idea, even if they did qualify. He squeezed Barbara's hand, although he was feeling just as shocked as she was.

"Have you considered adoption?" Dr Taylor asked. "There are couples living in the dome who can't have children and would welcome the opportunity to bring up a baby, even if it's not biologically theirs."

"We haven't because we didn't expect to have another child," Barbara said with a frown. "But since we have nine months to consider our options, we can discuss it. I'm sorry, doctor Taylor, but I need some air. I'll book in for a check up later on in the week."

Barbara got up from the chair. Panic was setting in. The office was musty and too warm. She was struggling to breathe. She needed to get outside into the fresh air as quickly as possible.

Dr Taylor raised his eyebrows. Ian managed a "Thank you" and followed Barbara out.

In the waiting room, the doctor's wife said a cheery, "Goodbye." Ian smiled at her, but he was more worried about Barbara.

Outside, he took her hand again. "Barbara?" He hoped she would tell him what she was thinking - what she was worried about.

Barbara was outside, sucking in large breaths of fresh air and slowly calming down.

"Sorry," she said eventually and turned to face Ian when she felt more in control, "I just panicked."

Edited 2014-05-10 21:19 (UTC)

If Barbara was panicking then he had to be calm. He squeezed her hand. "We'll be all right. We'll find a way to fit a baby in."

"We already struggle to cope some days. How are we going to handle another little being demanding all of our attention, time and energy?" Barbara let go of Ian's hand to hug him to her. She buried her face into his chest.

"We'll find a way," he said, putting his arms around her. He didn't know how yet, but they'd need time to get over the shock and think.

Barbara sighed heavily into Ian's jacket, feeling more calm by the minute.

"I feel like an awful person," she said, "I should want this child and be excited about caring for it, particularly as others would love to be in my position but can't."

"I know." He sighed. "I wish we could be excited about having a baby, like anyone else would."

"Maybe we will in a little while," Barbara told him and pulled back a little ways. She wasn't crying but a single tear was sitting in the corner of her eye. She caught it with the tip of a finger before it could roll down her cheek. "If we find the energy somewhere to reorganise and start training for a brand new baby, we might look more forward to it."

"Maybe we will." They had ended up being excited about John before he was born, after all. He kissed her cheek and took her hand again, so they could start walking, albeit taking the long way home. "If I can convince the council to stop cloning children whose parents aren't here, at least we'll end up with fewer children to look after once the current lot have grown up and moved out."

"I hope you can. Aside from that it's just cruel." Barbara rested her head on Ian's shoulder as they walked slowly.

"It is," he agreed. He let go of her hand to put an arm round her waist. "It's going to be different - no school holidays and irregular hours," he warned her. They'd already had this conversation once, but they hadn't been expecting a baby at the time.

"Whilst other work goes on as normal," Barbara finished. "If there were to be a bright side, a new baby won't hurt your campaign." Since the other members of council were rather insistent that every able bodied person be involved in procreating, Barbara falling pregnant would only make them look favourably upon Ian.

"I suppose so," he said thoughtfully. He could certainly make himself out to be a family man, concerned about children. "At least the elections are before the baby will be born, so by then I won't be teaching and campaigning." They should probably get a calendar and work out a due date sometime.

"Hopefully that will mean that you'll have a little more time for baby. Do you think that the council will go easy on you for your first couple of months?" Barbara asked with a slight frown.

"I can't imagine that they will," he said slowly. "There's bound to be a lot of new things to understand and lots to do." Which did make him worry a little at how much time he'd have to help with the baby. "Do you think I should withdraw?"

"No, if you do how else will our alternate views be considered? You know that don't really listen at the town meetings," Barbara kissed Ian's cheek. "Somehow we'll cope. It seems impossible now but we should be able to work something out."

"There's no guarantee I'll win the election anyway," he pointed out. "But we'll find a way to cope," he agreed. "And we'll love this baby just as much as we love Johnny."

"But you have a good chance at winning since you're one of the youngest to try," she told him and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Perhaps." He shrugged. He wasn't sure what it was that would influence people's votes. "I suppose I'll at least be a chance from the stuffy councillors we have now."

"A good change," Barbara added, "you've got fresh ideas and, unlike most of them, you have a family. They all preach about the importance of building up families but most of them live on their own."

"Very true. Maybe they should have a few teenagers come and live with them, they'll soon learn what having a family is like." He grinned.

"Or we could work out a way to get them pregnant. Let's see if they're still all for building families when they're running on a lack of sleep and baby's crying is fraying their last nerve." Barbara chuckled.

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