Chapter Text
"Why do you think Pony Express put a lock on the medical room door but not in the sleeping quarters?" She asks him
"I suppose for the same reason they put a lock on the cockpit. Safety."
There's a moment of silence then Anya jumps up and runs to the kitchen.
"Anya?" he calls after her, alarmed.
He gets up and follows, finding her retching into the kitchen trash. "Jesus, Anya, are you sick?"
"I'm fine."
"I don't think so. Look, why don't we go to the medbay?"
He guides her gently there, then grabs a thermometer. "Here, we can see if you have a fever, and... I know first aid but not a lot about sickness. Um, was that the first time you've thrown up?"
She shrugs, not looking at him.
"Anya, please. I need to look after my crew. If you're sick we need to quarantine you, and if you have food poisoning we need to check the -"
"I'm pregnant."
"... What?"
"I'm pregnant."
"What?" Curly can't believe it. "How long - "
"A couple of months."
"From someone on the ship??" He'd assumed it was from Earth, a false negative on the pre-flight medical screening. "Who -"
Anya starts to cry.
"Shhh shh." he tries to comfort her, rubbing her shoulder. "I know, this is pretty crazy there but you and - Daisuke? Jimmy? - can figure this out." I highly doubt Swansea is your type.
"No it's not. I'm stuck here with him and now -"
Oh shit. This was worse than he thought.
"You're saying you didn't - that someone... hurt you? Who?"
She won't look at him, won't talk.
No no no no
There's one person that he wouldn't want to hear, is that why she won't - Maybe I'm wrong - She has to tell me - Will I believe her? Is she right to -
"Is it Jimmy?" he whispers.
She cries harder.
Fuck fuck fuck
The things is, he doesn't want to believe it, but Anya has no reason to lie about this. A guy in prison can't pay child support.
He'd noticed she seemed quiet and rundown but he'd just assumed that she was taking the news about the crew being let go badly.
"Okay. Okay. We'll figure this out. I can talk to him and - " I can't just get her to drop this. he realizes. Because we can't shove this under the rug if she's pregnant. Everyone will find out what Jimmy did eventually. Everyone will find out that I didn't do anything about it. "... that's not going to work, is it?"
Anya looks hopeful for the first time. "I don't think so."
I need both a copilot and a nurse - all our pays will be docked - Jimmy's gonna lose his shit -
"I don't know - what do you want me to do, Anya?" he blurts out. "Because I can't really lock him up, I need him to fly."
"You can't fly without him?"
"I'd go mad from sleep deprivation monitoring the flight by myself."
"You could let him out when he needs to fly."
"He'll lose his shit, probably refuse to do it... And what about the birth and feeding the baby? I hate to say it but we're gonna have to divert the ship to the nearest station or populated planet, call it an emergency landing so they give us enough support for me to land on my own."
"I can't afford that." Anya admits tearfully. "If it's the only solution, I get it, but I'm already going to be in trouble once this job is over. If I lose most of my paycheck too then I don't know what I'll do."
At least she sees the predicament I'm in too. "I need to sleep on it, I guess. Figure out our options. Oh, you should... we can move your bunk to medbay, so you can lock it?"
"Okay, thanks." she says, and he helps her bring her mattress and bedding in there. "Goodnight, Captain."