Author's Note: Post-finale, another installment in my series of Wash/Taylor fics, though all that's really needed to be known from those is that Wash is alive and now married to Taylor. Starting with chapter 3, this will build off of certain plot points of A Phoenix By Any Other Name, specifically as they relate to how Wash escaped death and later escaped the Phoenix Group - this story started as a baby fic, but it is actually far more than that, thanks to my muse. Story is already complete, was previously published on LiveJournal.

Disclaimer wise, I just wrote this because I enjoy writing, no copyright infringement intended, and I certainly do not own Terra Nova.

"Alicia."

She feels someone nudging her shoulder, but the bed feels far too good for her to pay attention. In fact, she just burrows into her pillow as if no one had spoken. She feels a weight drop onto the bed next to her, and then someone, she assumes it's Nathaniel, nudges her shoulder again. "Alicia?"

"Crap," she thinks, realizing that he sounds worried and that she needs to respond. "What?" she asks, her voice muffled by her pillow.

"Are you OK? You usually beat me waking up, and we need to leave for perimeter check." As he speaks, his hand brushes through her hair, moving it out of her face.

She blinks and rolls over to look at him. "What time is it?"

"Sun will be up in less than twenty."

Out loud this time, she mutters, "Crap," making him chuckle. She pushes up on her elbows shoots him a dirty look, but her head feels fuzzy and her body heavy. She hasn't felt this exhausted in longer than she can remember.

How she feels must show on her face, because concern immediately clouds his eyes. He reaches up and puts his hand to her forehead. "Alicia, you feel warm to me."

She shakes her head. "I never get sick."

"And yet, your feeling warm seems to contradict that." He raises an eyebrow at her. "Take the day off, Alicia. Sleep for a while longer, then go see Elisabeth later."

"Don't be silly, I'm fine. I can be ready to go in a few minutes." She tries to struggle out of bed, but he puts his hands on her shoulders and shoves her back down into the pillows.

"I can turn that into an order, Lieutenant. Don't make me."

She relaxes, glaring at him and crossing her arms across her chest. "You know, some would call threatening your wife like that a little rude."

He laughs. "I must have missed that day in charm school. Enjoy your day off, Alicia. And go see Elisabeth. I'm not making that part an order, by the way, but I'm going to tell Elisabeth to be expecting you later this morning." He leans down and kisses her forehead.

She swats him away with her hands. "That's playing dirty. Elisabeth won't leave me alone if you tell her I'm not feeling well."

"I know." He grabs her hands and holds them down with his. When he has her restrained, he leans down and drops a kiss on her lips. "Just humor your overprotective husband. Please, Alicia?"

She sighs in defeat as he releases her hands. "That's playing even dirtier. You win. I'll go see her."

He smiles. "Thank you. Go back to sleep, Alicia."

"OK. Love you." She turns back over and snuggles into her pillow, loathe to admit to him that he's right, she needs to sleep more.

He runs his hand through her hair. "I love you too." His weight lifts off the bed, and she falls back to sleep before she even hears the front door open and close.

When she wakes up again, she can see light streaming through the blinds on their bedroom window. She rolls over and looks at the clock, and she's stunned to see that it's almost 10. She sits up on the edge of bed, becoming frustrated when she realizes that she still feels tired.

She drags herself to the shower, and that does revive her somewhat. She still doesn't feel like herself, and if she's honest with herself, she's felt off for a few days now. But this is the first day that she's been tired like this.

After she eats a piece of toast and drinks a glass of water in the kitchen, she heads to their room to get dressed. She pulls on a t-shirt and a pair of comfortable cargo pants, and, pulling her hair back in a ponytail, she heads out to the infirmary.

When she gets there, even that brief walk left her feeling more tired than before. She looks around, and not seeing her, she asks a nurse where Elisabeth is. The nurse points Alicia towards Elisabeth's office, and a moment later, Alicia is knocking on the door frame, the door to the office already open.

Elisabeth looks up from the plex pad she's reviewing. She waves Alicia into the office. "Well, there you are, Lieutenant. I was about to call you. Your husband was quite concerned about you when he came by this morning."

Alicia drops into a chair in front of Elisabeth's desk. "I'm fine, Elisabeth. I'm just here to humor him. I'm just a little tired."

Eyeing her critically, Elisabeth says, "You don't just look a 'little tired,' Alicia. You look exhausted."

"Not you too, Elisabeth." Alicia rolls her eyes, but Elisabeth just gives her a stern look. "Fine. Run all the tests you want. You'll see."

Elisabeth nods, and she stands up, beckoning to Alicia to follow her. They head to a private exam area, and Alicia climbs up on the biobed. After several minutes of scans, she hears Elisabeth mutter, "That's odd."

Alicia furrows her brow. "What's odd?"

Elisabeth shakes her head. "It's probably nothing. One more scan and we're done." A moment later, Elisabeth makes a humming sound. "All done, Alicia. Come back to my office with me. There's something we need to discuss."

Alicia can't help but feel worried all of a sudden. "Elisabeth, what's going on?"

"My office, Alicia. Now."

Elisabeth leaves the exam area, Alicia hot on her heels. When they get to Elisabeth's office, Elisabeth points to the chair and sits down on the edge of the desk. Alicia closes the door behind them, and she sinks into the chair Elisabeth indicated.

"Seriously, Elisabeth, you're scaring me here. What is wrong with me?" Alicia can't help the note of irritation that has crept into her voice.

Elisabeth frowns a little. "Nothing." Alicia starts to argue, but Elisabeth cuts her off with a wave. "Alicia, when was your last period?"

"What?"

"Your last period, Alicia. When was it?"

Alicia blinks, trying to remember. "It started around 5 weeks ago, Elisabeth. It's always been light and irregular since I've been on the birth control injections." A thought suddenly occurs to Alicia. "Crap, Elisabeth, I haven't had my shot in months. I need to get that before I leave today."

"I'm afraid it's a bit late for that, Alicia." Elisabeth gives her an unsure smile, as if she doesn't know if her news is good news or bad news.

"What does that mean?" Elisabeth cocks her head at Alicia, an incredulous look on her face, and a light suddenly goes on in Alicia's head. She feels panic flood her, and she starts shaking her head rapidly as she whispers, "No. No, Elisabeth. That isn't possible. I can't be pregnant. You've read my chart, my history. You know I can't…" Alicia stops talking and starts taking short, panicked breaths, tears forming in her eyes.

Elisabeth sits down in the chair next to Alicia and takes her hand. "Alicia. Your chart says it's unlikely. It does not say it's impossible."

Alicia just sits there blinking. "But what about the damage to my uterus, Elisabeth? Won't I miscarry?" She pauses, trying to calm her breathing and fight back the tears. Her voice drops to a whisper again. "I never wanted to get pregnant, not knowing I'll probably lose it."

"Oh, Alicia." Alicia looks up, expecting pity but instead seeing understanding on the doctor's face. "It's not a guarantee that you'll miscarry. And I personally think your earlier doctors' assessments, that 'three or four percent chance' nonsense and such, were far more conservative than called for."

Blinking again, Alicia stares at Elisabeth. Before she can stop them, a couple of tears escape, leaving her feeling mortified that she's crying in front of Elisabeth, even though she considers Elisabeth a friend. She takes a deep breath. "You think it might be OK?"

Elisabeth nods, handing Alicia a paper towel to use as a tissue. "I do. The last scan I ran on you was an obstetrical scan. While there is precious little to see right now, at 5 weeks, what I could see looked on track. And the scan showed that your hCG level is over 2000 and your progesterone is in the 20s. Those are good numbers. I'll just want you back here in a few days to check them again and to re-scan you."

"Is there anything I need to avoid, anything I need to do?" Alicia feels her breathing finally calm down, and she is now going into medic mode.

"Do you take the multivitamin we distribute for women?"

"I do."

"OK, that has most everything you need, but I have a pre-natal supplement for you to start taking instead." At Alicia's nod, Elisabeth goes on, "I'm going to want to see you for weekly scans, Alicia. And no more sparring with the soldiers. Most physical activity is fine, but nothing that involves the regular possibility of blows to your midsection. Just listen to your body. Rest when your body demands it. "

"Fair enough, Elisabeth. We can come up with a story for the sparring." She looks up at Elisabeth. "I don't want to tell anyone until I'm at least 12 weeks, Elisabeth, including your husband."

"I respect that, Alicia, and Jim will not hear it from me. But, I will warn you, given that he's been around me through three first trimesters, when more symptoms start kicking in, probably in a week or two, he may sort it out." Elisabeth gives Alicia an apologetic look. "He is a cop, after all. Observation is one thing he actually is pretty good at."

Alicia sighs. "Understood. And what about going OTG?"

Elisabeth hesitates. "I'd like to tell you no more until you deliver." At Alicia's death glare, she hastily adds, "But I won't. For now, you're fine to go, but I'd prefer you stay to the south, away from the Badlands, and by extension, away from the Phoenix Group soldiers, and stay to areas where we don't think there will be heavy predator activity."

"I'm going to need you to back me up on that with Nathaniel, you know?"

"I know." Elisabeth smiles. "One thing, Alicia. With your history and current condition, I do doubt you'll make it to 40 weeks." Alicia looks alarmed, and once again, Elisabeth hastily adds, "I just mean we're going to set a goal of about 37 weeks. That's probably a more reasonable expectation than 40. But honestly, if we can get you to 32 or later, it's good, and if we can get you to 35, it's perfect and that's the real target. I'll only be truly concerned if it's earlier than 26 weeks, though. Anything 26 weeks or later, and I can work with it, Alicia."

"I'm going to end up on bed rest, aren't I?" Alicia sounds miserable at the thought.

Elisabeth shakes her head. "Not necessarily. It just depends on how things go, Alicia."

"OK." Alicia takes a deep breath and rises from her chair. "I have to go tell him."

Elisabeth stands up too. "Let me go get your vitamins. Also, starting next week, I'd suggest that you keep a snack and some water handy at all times. The best way to avoid feeling sick is to avoid letting your stomach get empty. When you feel hungry, eat. Trust me. Now, I'll get the vitamins and meet you at the front."

Alicia nods, heading out of the office. She leaves the infirmary, standing on its front porch. A moment later, Elisabeth joins her, handing her a bottle of vitamins, which Alicia quickly pockets. "Do you think he'll take it OK, Alicia?"

"We're about to find out." She taps her comm. "Nathaniel?" He responds quickly, and she says, "Are you busy? I need to come and talk to you." He responds that he's not. "OK then, I'm on my way. See you in a few." She turns to Elisabeth. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck." Unbidden, Elisabeth then reaches up and hugs Alicia, whispering in her ear. "By the way, Alicia, congratulations. You're going to be a wonderful mother, you know."

At that, Alicia has to blink back tears again. Stupid hormones. "Thanks, Elisabeth."

Just a couple of minutes later, Alicia is climbing the stairs to the command center, heading for Nathaniel's office. When she gets there, he's alone, so she locks the door behind her. When she faces him, he has a funny look on his face. She rolls her eyes. "Mind out of the gutter, Nathaniel. I'm here to talk, and I need us to have privacy for this."

His brow furrows and he crosses the room to her in just a couple of strides. "What's wrong, Alicia? You're sick, aren't you? What did Elisabeth say?" As he speaks, he pushes her towards one of the chairs at the conference table.

She shakes her head as she sits. "Nathaniel, sit down please." He does so without argument, proving to her that he's pretty worried. "I'm not sick."

"You're not? Then what's wrong? Why are you so tired? You've been pushing yourself too hard, haven't you? Between keeping an eye on the outposts and working with the soldiers, you've worn yourself out. We just need to look at your workload and maybe push some things down." He jumps back up and starts to actually pace.

Her eyes widen as he goes on and on. Clearly, he spent the entire morning sitting here thinking about this. She can't decide if she finds that endearing or irritating. If only because it's the path of least resistance, she settles on endearing. Either way, though, she needs to make him stop talking, not always the easiest thing to do, especially when he's worried or has run across a problem to be solved. She decides to go with a direct attempt to cut him off.

"Nathaniel!" Her attempt has the desired outcome. He stops talking and stands still, looking at her. She stands up and walks to him, placing one hand on his chest and looking up at him. "I'm tired because I'm, well," she takes a deep breath, "I'm tired because I'm about 5 weeks pregnant."

Judging by the look on his face, that is about the last thing he expected her to say. He simply freezes, standing there staring at her.

"Nathaniel?" She starts to wonder if she needs to get a chair closer to him, just in case he goes down.

He blinks. "Wait, what? You're…"

She nods. "Pregnant."

He goes silent again, and it's starting to worry her. All of a sudden, though, it seems to sink in. One corner of his mouth starts to quirk into a smile, and he steps forward, wrapping her up in a huge bear hug. Her arms automatically go around his neck, and he straightens up, lifting her feet off of the floor.

She emits a surprised squeak when he picks her up, and he immediately puts her down again, looking contrite. "Are you OK? I didn't hurt you, did I? You need to sit back down."

Reaching up, she cups his face with her hands. "Nathaniel, calm down. I'm OK. You definitely didn't hurt me, you just surprised me. And I don't need to sit."

"Well, I do." He covers her hands, still on his face, with his. Taking them, he pulls her with him to the chairs they just vacated, and he sits down after releasing her hands. She drops into the other chair, curling her legs under her.

"I'm not going to ask you how this happened, Alicia." She snorts at that. "But, honestly, aside from the obvious part, how didthis happen?"

She gives him a sheepish look. "I've always been on the birth control shots, but after I…died and came back, I just forgot to go to Elisabeth and get it when it was due. Apparently, my ability to actually get pregnant wasn't quite as negatively impacted as my doctors back in 2138 thought it was."

"But?"

She sighs. "There isn't necessarilya ' but.' Elisabeth is going to monitor me closely, and I have to go in every week. She doesn't think I'll make it to 40 weeks, but she isn't worried yet. The real goal will be for me to make 35 weeks. Anything beyond that will be a bonus."

Looking up at him, she can almost see his mind rearranging duty rosters and such. "Stop it."

He looks back at her, startled. "Stop what?"

"Stop figuring out how to bench me, Nathaniel." He opens his mouth to argue, but she doesn't let him. "I already talked to Elisabeth about what I have to stop doing and what I don't. I have to stop sparring with the guys, and she wants my OTG trips limited to the lower-risk locations – nothing towards the north and the Badlands, and nothing into known predator territory. Otherwise, I'm just to listen to my body and rest when I need to."

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, because your history of that is so good. And I don't want you OTG at all. As of now, you're grounded."

"No!"

He shakes his head. "Consider it an order, Alicia."

"No, Nathaniel. You cannot ground me. Not yet."

"This isn't up for discussion, Lieutenant," he nearly growls at her.

"Damn it, Nathaniel, I am not going to let you do this to me." She knows she should've expected this reaction, but she didn't expect him to pull rank on her.

He narrows his eyes at her. "If you won't look after yourself, I guess I'll just have to do it for you."

At that, she recoils almost as if he had slapped her. Feeling the hormone-induced hot tears pricking at her eyes, she just stands up and walks out, ignoring his demands that she stay.

She leaves the command center and slips into the crowd at the market, not looking back once. She heads straight for her favorite place for solitude, an unmanned guard tower on the east side of the colony. She only stops long enough to buy a snack and some water in the market.

Getting to the guard tower, she climbs the steps quickly, hoping to avoid being spotted. She sits down on the floor of the tower, leaning back against the wall and drawing her knees to her chest. Accepting that her raging hormones and the hurt she feels in her heart aren't going to cooperate, she drops her head to her knees and lets the tears come in earnest.

**WT**WT**WT**

If Alicia had looked back, she'd have seen him trying to follow her, only to be stopped by a rather irate-looking Elisabeth Shannon. The much smaller woman steps in front of the very irritated looking Commander. "What the hell did you say to her?" He may be mad, but he doesn't have anything on Elisabeth.

"Let me by, Doc."

"No. You will leave her alone until you calm down. She's already upset, and she doesn't need to be more upset." He blanches at that, and Elisabeth takes his arm and forcibly drags him into the infirmary and into her office. Shutting the door behind her, she orders, "Sit."

Much to her surprise, he obeys. She stands in front of him. "Commander, I don't know what that was about, but I know that the last thing you want is to hurt her. Sadly, if her face as she passed the infirmary is anything to go by, you've already done that."

"All that happened was a discussion of her duties in light of her condition." It sounds weak, even to his own ears.

Elisabeth spots that as well. "Really. A 'discussion of her duties' made her leave the command center in tears? She may be hormonal, but she's not thathormonal, Commander."

He winces at the mention of Alicia crying. "I may have grounded her and said that I'm going to take care of her if she won't take care of herself."

"Damn it, Taylor, that is the worst thing you could have done, and it's not even necessary. She can continue most of her duties as usual. I'd even go so far as to say that she needs to, both for her sanity and for her to be able to keep this quiet until she's further along."

"Why does it need to be kept quiet, Doc?"

He seems honestly confused at that, and she takes pity on him. "Taylor, the vast majority of miscarriages occur in the first trimester, the first 12 weeks or so. She wants to clear that milestone before going public. And she's terrified, Taylor. She didn't say so, but I could see it in her eyes. You need to take it easy on her, and you need to let her set the pace for changes. I already set limitations. Did she not tell you about those?"

He has the good grace to look embarrassed. "She did. I just didn't react very well."

Elisabeth pats him on the shoulder. "You're going to have to relax. She's going to be anxious enough for the both of you. And you can never say anything again that even vaguely sounds like she isn't putting your child's health and viability above everything. Quite honestly, if I hear you've done that again, I may actually hunt you down and beat you with an IV stand."

He laughs then. "Yes ma'am. Now, do you know where she was going, Elisabeth? I'm sure it was somewhere other than home."

She thinks about it for a moment. "There's a guard tower on the east perimeter that's usually unmanned. I've been there with her before. She may be there."

"Thank you, Elisabeth." He stands and turns to go.

"Commander?" He turns back to her. "Congratulations."

With a small smile, he ducks out of her office and is gone.

**WT**WT**WT**

Alicia hears the clomp of boots on the stairs to her little haven, and she knows it's him. The hurt she felt at his earlier words sits in her chest like a hard knot, so she can't help but tense up and protectively wrap her arms tighter around her legs.

A moment later, he appears in the entrance to the tower, and the contrition and worry she sees in his eyes ratchet her anxiety down a notch. She doesn't speak, though, just waits for him to make the first move.

He crosses the floor to her in just a few strides, and he sits down next to her, legs stretched out in front of him. "I'm sorry, Alicia."

She knows that he's never been one to apologize often, and while she appreciates it, she needs to know if he understands why she was so upset before. When she speaks, her voice sounds scratchy and raw. "For which part?"

He sighs. "For all of it, but mostly for hurting you. I know you would never do anything to jeopardize the baby. I'm sorry for sounding as though I thought you would."

Tears come to her eyes again, and she sniffles a little. She can't help the flash of annoyance she feels knowing how pathetic she must sound and look. "Thank you. And about the rest?"

He turns to her, and she looks up to meet his eyes. "We can follow Elisabeth's instructions." She nods. "But Alicia, I've got to put a disclaimer in here. I'm going to drive you nuts. I'm going to worry about you, and I'm probably going to ask you how you are far more often than you'll be strictly happy with. So, I propose that we make an agreement here."

She gives him a tentative half-smile. "I'm listening."

"I promise that I will let us follow Elisabeth's direction on this, including your ability to do certain tasks and go OTG." He looks at her for agreement, and at her nod, he goes on, "And you promise to be patient with me when I am overprotective and worried, and when I'm getting on your nerves asking questions, trying to make you take it easier, and just generally being a pain in your ass."

She huffs out a laugh at that last part. "OK, Nathaniel. Those terms are acceptable."

Hesitantly, she scoots a little closer to him and drops her head to his shoulder, and she feels him relax and let out a breath. As he wraps his arm around her, pulling her even closer, she realizes how bad he'd probably felt about upsetting her.

They're silent for a moment before he offers, "You'll be happy to know, too, that Elisabeth yelled at me. She also threatened to hunt me down and beat me with an IV stand if I upset you like this again."

She smirks. "You know, I like her more every day."

"For someone so damned little and generally opposed to violence, I admit it, she's kind of scary."

Alicia laughs softly at that and turns into him more, slipping her arms around his midsection. "You just keep that in mind."

He reaches down and slips an arm under her knees, pulling her into his lap. "I really am sorry for earlier, Alicia. I never want to be the reason you cry."

She curls into his chest, her head back on his shoulder. "It's OK, Nathaniel."

He shakes his head. "No. It's not OK. But I promise it won't happen again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Nathaniel."

He leans back to look at her, a questioning look on his face. She smiles. "Considering the way my hormones are raging, I may be crying on and off for the next thirty-plus weeks. I'm pretty sure at least some of the time that it's going to be your fault." She feels his laughter rumble up through his chest, and she adds, "Buckle up, baby. It's going to be a bumpy ride."