Trust but Verify

Posted on 30 Mar 2024 @ 9:07pm by Lieutenant JG Kastor Aslanov MD

Mission: M4 - Falling Out
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Immediately following "Don't rock the boat"
1223 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

The tension in his shoulders seemed to melt away in the warmth of the chamber he'd entered and a deep sigh escaped his lips. There was a certain comfort in familliarity and he was more than accustomed to entering sickbay. It was enough like home that he was made more peaceful by the very decor. He was not accustomed to doing so with a babe on his shoulder that was supposedly his. Kastor looked unexpectedly harried at the thoughts that wouldn't ease. They spun in wild circles of suspicion and doubt, and wound their way back to despair. What was he going to do with a baby? What if the babe wasn't his?

If he's not mine, then Alice has some serious explaining to do, and then I have to figure out what to do with the baby. That is a complication I don't want, even if he isn't mine. I don't know that I could or would turn him over to Starfleet Family Services. I could claim him, even if he isn't mine, though that would be difficult without a partner.

Laying the baby down on the bio-bed he activated the sidewalls and slowly unwrapped the swaddled baby. Tiny fingers wrapped around his thicker ones, and he smiled in spite of himself. He had the look of his mother in his tiny button nose, and the wild blonde curls were all from his father. He hadn't seen his eyes yet, but they probably hadn't started to darken yet from the newborn blue. He had a small red blotch of a birthmark on the back of his left shoulder, and it fell like a drip of paint down to the tip of the scapula. A stork bite. His fingertips caressed the mark, and he sighed deeply. He was similarly marked on his right thigh, and had been since birth. Another point in favor of him being the father to this young man.

"Computer, begin Pediatric exam." he closed his eyes for a moment, his throat thick with emotion.

"Birth records and prenatal records exist for this child, do you wish to upload?"

"Affirmative, upload and verify."

"Records indicate Baby Boy Aslanov, born 11 days ago at 1320 hours aboard the Personnell Transport Pyotr. 8 pounds 8 ounces and 21 inches long. Birth certificate was filled with Starfleet in the appropriate timeframe. Mother: Alice S. Felix, Lieutenant Father: Kastor Aslanov Lieutenant. Records indicate that the Mother has terminated her parental rights in favor of the father, but requested her name remain attached for any genealogical information required by the child in question. Labor was abnormal lasting 37 hours. Mother suffered with some eclampsia, and the blood pressure reached dangerous levels 4 times over the course of the labor, which was managed by a simple beta blocker. The delivery had to be assisted by medical personnel, Doctor Elana Umi. Standard APGAR scoring was used, with a birth score of 7 and a 5 minute score of 10."

"Is there a Paternity test on file?"

"Affirmative. "

Kastor chewed on his lip, and found himself looking at the tiny baby who had the look of an Aslanov about him. Another soft sigh and he bent his head, trying to control the surge of conflicting emotions in him.

"Is there a DNA match to myself?"

"Affirmative."

He hadn't been surprised, again merely disappointed in Alice that she hadn't thought to share the experience with him. He should have been present for the birth of his son, and he felt as if something was missing there...Yet as he looked at the baby he nodded slowly making up his mind in its entirety.

"Let's check you over my boy, then we shall walk along the promenade. I am sure that there are places to go where we can purchase something like a cradle or a moses basket for you. I cannot make a nursery adequately in my current quarters, but I will requisition a new set of quarters in the family wing. That will give us enough space for you to have a proper nursery. But, I must first register your birth, and my physical custody of you." He tapped a finger on the baby's button nose, and laughed when the child sneezed.

Adorable.

"We'll have to think of a fine name for you to do the next item on our list of things to do. That, is register you as my son with station security. I'm a little surprised that your mother was able to sign away her rights so easily in her command. Delivering a child tends to have repercussions on the body. And the psyche. Anyway, i have diverted from the initial topic. I do tend to woolgather when I am thinking, and sometimes that does not serve me well. After we do all that, I'm going to have to introduce you to your Babushka and Dedushka. They're going to be very excited, and very very mad at Papa." He hesitated before he named himself Papa. Papa resonated deeply with Kastor, and he'd called his own Father Papa, he still did, though sometimes he called him sir. He'd wanted children, but had been nowhere near ready for them when Alice had stuffed the bundle containing his son into his arms and left without so much as a backward glance.

"Yes. " He heaved a deep sigh and licked his lips to continue speaking to his newborn son "They will be very mad at Papa, but I'm probably going to agree with them.". Papa. He'd said it again. It felt right in his mouth, and he'd never felt that the term 'Daddy' was one he wanted to hear over and over. He was a papa, and now, he had to step up for the sake of his child. The sheer magnitude of this change had his knees going weak as he stared at the cornflower blue eyes. "I too am angry that I didn't know of your existence until this afternoon. If I had known, there would have been much more extensive preparation. Your furry brother Balakin will be happy to meet you I think, though he will not be warm to you at first. He often is wary of strangers, and you my son are quite the novel thing for the cat. He will be your friend though, I am certain of it."

While he was speaking he was looking at the measurements of length, weight, genome and blood type. Then once the scans were complete, he tucked first one leg then the other back into the onesie that he'd come clothed in. It was clean, soft, and warm. The cap matched it and covered the boy's pale curls. He was much like his father in that regard, and if they went golden like his mother's hair he would be heart-wrenchingly beautiful. He'd been well cared for, physically while in his mother's arms. He'd lost nearly half a pound, but the signs of colostrum in his gut indicated that she'd taken him to her breast. That rekindled the heat of anger in his chest and he muttered under his breath in angry Russian. His ire softened however when his eyes once more landed on the boy.

"Beautiful boy." he muttered stroking the petal soft cheek with a bare fingertip. "We will manage you and I. I promise you that much. We will manage. "