Chapter 64

The rest of the afternoon went well with almost everyone fussing over Timmy and me for whatever reason. We all sat around and talked until almost dark, then the fight was on. For some reason Michelle had to fight with Timmy because he refused to get off my lap when it was bedtime.

"Mom, I want to spend more time with Grandpa and it's too early to go to bed. My big sister is still up, so why do I have to leave?"

I think Michelle was torn between his begging and her feelings about how quickly he had taken to me. She couldn't come up with an answer so I finally decided to get her off the hook so to speak.

"Timmy, you will need your sleep because we have a full day tomorrow. You get to go swimming in the pool then visit the village and meet a real shaman. I am sure he will want to tell you some really neat stories. He is a very wise man, and the Chief is my brother and will probably adopt you as a member of the tribe. You will need your sleep to be able to do all of that tomorrow. Besides, I am going to bed myself in just a few minutes."

He just looked at me with wide eyes and climbed down, taking his mother's hand, almost pulling her toward the house. I had to smile watching them and realized my shoulder was thumping and I was dead tired. When I got up, Kat came over and we said goodnight to everyone and headed to our room. When we got there, she made me sit down at the table and checked my wound. She changed the bandage saying she wanted to make sure it didn't look infected. I went to the bathroom and washed up as well as I could with one arm and joined her in bed. We didn't even talk because I passed out the moment my head hit the pillow.

I woke up and kissed her and all of a sudden I was feeling like I was gonna puke so I almost ran to the bathroom. I was still heaving when Kat came in and asked if I was ok?

"I don't know Kat, I woke up and all of a sudden I was feeling nauseous and had to run in here before I barfed all over the floor."

"When you get done I will take your temperature. Maybe you're having a reaction to the antibiotics the doctor gave you."

I finished and brushed my teeth going out and sitting at the table. Kat immediately stuck a thermometer in my mouth and sat looking at me. I tried to smile at her, but I was still feeling a little queasy. When she took it out of my mouth and looked at it I could see the surprise in her eyes as she looked at me.

"You don't have a temperature, Jon. I think I will call the doctor to run a few tests on you to see if maybe something else is wrong that I can't see. This is really a little strange to me. You don't have any symptoms of having a fever or reaction to medication. Let me get on the radio and see if the doctor will come over and take some blood samples to test. They have a complete lab on the ship because they are set up for triage and emergency operations in the field."

She went over and got on the radio like she had been doing it all her life. I missed part of what she was saying because Trina came in and set up our breakfast. She asked me how I was doing and made idle chit chat the whole time before she went back out. I sat looking at the food for a few seconds until the smell hit me in the face, and I had to run for the bathroom again. This time I got the dry heaves and felt like crap when I came back out and sat down again. Dammit, I thought, I hope I hadn't picked up some kind of bug or something. I was worried about this because I didn't want to take a chance of passing it to Kat in her condition. I finally had to move away from the table because I was starting to feel nauseous again from the smell. I went and lay on the bed until Kat came over and asked again if I was ok.

"Honey, the doctor will be here in a few minutes to take some blood. He will run all the tests he is able on it and then maybe we can figure out why you keep barfing."

"Kat, I just hope it's not something I picked up here. I don't want to take a chance on giving it to you. If I don't feel any better later this morning I am moving to a separate room away from you and the babies until we find out what's causing this. Why don't you go ahead and eat while we wait for the doctor?"

She didn't like it but did as I asked, leaving me to worry about what I might have caught. Then I wondered if it might have been something that freak had put on the bullet or something like that. I was running all kinds of scenarios in my mind when Kat let the doctor in. He asked me a bunch of questions about whether I had puked blood and what I had eaten since I left the ship yesterday and these types of things while drawing several tubes of blood out of my arm. He got up and sat talking to Kat for a few minutes drinking coffee then excused himself saying he would have the results in a couple of hours. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was awake again with a body on both sides of me and arms hugging me from both sides. When I looked over Sally was asleep on one side and Timmy on the other. I looked over toward the table and Verna, Michelle, Myrna and Kat were all sitting there talking in low voices. Although it was a fight I was finally able to slide off the bed without waking my two bed mates and went to the bathroom. I took care of business realizing I was starving and headed for the table, sitting down in the only empty chair there. I grabbed a chunk of melon and almost inhaled it on the first bite. The women were all watching me like I had lost my mind or something.

"What? I'm starving, I didn't get to eat any breakfast and the nap seemed to help so now I am hungry."

"Jon, the tests all came back negative for any infections or bugs. All of us have been talking and we think we know what caused you to become sick this morning. I really don't want to tell you because it's rare, but it does happen."

"Well don't keep me in suspense, because I sure don't want to go through that again. I never did that even when I had a hangover in the service."

As I chewed my third piece of melon the women were all smiling at me and looking at Kat like she had been picked to give me the bad news or something. I was starting to worry about what I had when Kat spoke up, trying not to smile as she started talking.

"Jon, how long have I been pregnant?"

"I don't know, Kat, I didn't have a clue until Sylveen came out with her big announcement. What's that got to do with me being sick?"

"Jon, how many times have I been sick in the morning since I got pregnant?"

"None that I am aware of Kat, why?"

"Jon, I hate to be the one to break it to you but I think your episode this morning was caused by morning sickness from me being pregnant. We will know for sure tomorrow morning if you wake up sick again."

I looked at her like she was from another planet. I was a man and certainly wasn't pregnant, and if she was saying what I thought she was, I might be pregnant and not know it. My God, I thought, I will be a walking medical marvel.

"Ok, Kat, let me get this straight. You're saying that because you're pregnant I might be also and I am having morning sickness because of it. Do you realize, and I know you are an R.N., that men aren't supposed to get pregnant? Do you want to explain, that since I haven't been with anyone but you, how I ended up pregnant?"

I thought they were all having fits they were snorting and giggling so loud. I looked at Myrna and she was almost tipped to the side and falling out of her chair she was laughing so hard. When I looked at the others they were almost in the same condition. I sat back food forgotten wondering what the hell was so damned funny about me being pregnant and having morning sickness. Didn't they realize that if I were I would be the first man to ever give birth? What was so funny about that I wondered as I felt a sense of pride in the fact that I would be in the history books forever. I figured Sally would be proud that her dad was a walking medical mystery. It would give her something else to brag about at school this fall to all her friends. Then Myrna looked at me and must have seen something in my face. She almost quit laughing except for a snort or two.

"Jon, I think you misunderstood what Kat was saying."

"I think she was perfectly clear, Myrna, I am pregnant and have morning sickness. What I want to know is how long it's gonna last, and if I should go to the ship and have an ultra sound like Kat did, to see if I am carrying more than one baby. Do you realize what kind of a madhouse our home will be if we both have triplets? The press is gonna drive us all nuts when it becomes public news."

They all looked at me in shock before the laughter broke out again, and this time they seemed like they had no control over it. I looked at Kat and she was laughing so hard her eyes were watering and snot was dribbling out of her nose. This was starting to make me a little, no a lot, upset because they didn't realize how this was going to affect all of us and our way of life. I got up and went out the door forgetting I was only wearing briefs and a robe I was so upset. I was halfway to the village before I realized how I was dressed. I started to turn around when Kat came up in one of the carts stopping beside me. I didn't say a word but just glared at her when she smiled at me.

"Jon, please sit down and listen to me for a minute. Honey, we were making fun of you, and no, men do not get pregnant. What we were trying to explain before it all got out of hand is that some men get the morning sickness when their wife gets pregnant. We think that's what's happening to you, and I will know for sure tomorrow when you wake up. Jon, we weren't saying you were pregnant, just that you have my morning sickness instead of me. I'm sorry if we hurt your feelings with all of us laughing at you, but as much as I love you I couldn't help myself. Jon, you have been all over the world, and I am amazed that you would jump to that conclusion. That's another one of the reasons I love you so much. You have fought in wars and watched enemies die as well as your friends, but you still have that innocent way about you that we all adore so much. Jon, I promise you that you are not pregnant; one in the family way is enough. I think that for the next few months you might wish you were if you have to barf every morning. Then again, I am glad it's you and not me that has to go through it. I am not trying to be mean, my love, but I will admit it does have a certain cosmic retribution about it. Now we need to get back because Timmy is really upset because you haven't taken him to the village yet. Michelle was up half the night with him because he was so excited about being adopted as a member. Sally hasn't been much help because she keeps telling him that you are getting old and keep forgetting things."