Jilleen made a side trip on her way to her husband’s pinning ceremony. In all the time she had been aboard she had not seen her friend Blake. On the first day, Blake had been unavailable, and now that Jilleen’s time on the ship was near its end she rushed to catch her.
There was significantly less activity aboard the Battlestar since liberty started in the morning. She had no problem finding the Office of the Flight Surgeon near the sick bay wards. Avalon’s layout was no different than Pegasus’s when she was an active pilot years ago.
She entered the office with a soft attaché case hanging by her side. “Marissa?” Jilleen called Blake by her middle name.
It was a surprisingly slow day in sick bay. Most of the ship personnel were taking advantage of the liberty granted this morning. Blake was planning on doing the same now that she was thinking for two but she had gotten sidetracked with paperwork, those reports that had to be done whenever somebody broke a nail around Avalon. It was very tedious.
She had been aware of the special envoy that was aboard which by association meant that her friend was also around somewhere and Blake was desperate to go see her to update Jill on how things were going with the baby.
Blake was signing her name on medical reports when she heard her middle name being called out. Dropping her pen, she got to her feet. “Jilleen?”
A big smile crossed Jilleen’s face as she approached her friend’s desk. “So how is my pregnant girl friend?”
“Shh, you’re going to make everybody jealous.” Blake got to her feet and moved around her desk, opening her arms to hug her friend. “I’m good, how is life on Sagittaron?”
Jillleen embraced Blake and kissed her on the cheek as a gesture of their friendship as was her custom. “Life is good,” she said before pulling away. She then took a good look at Blake. “You’re hardly showing right now,” she complimented, except she did notice a little weight gain since their last meeting on Caprica. She wanted to be kind.
“You’re a lousy liar. I’ve put on some weight since last time...eating for two after all but thanks for pretending.” Blake did not mind that she had put on some weight, she was expecting it. “How’s the hubby?”
She expected that question. “He’s getting promoted today. I was on my way to pin his new rank. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m proud of him.” It was the truth. If anybody knew, Blake known how hard his recovery was back on Caprica when she was one of his doctors. Jilleen would leave it at that if there were no more questions about her relationship.
“That is great. Give him my best and my congrats.” Blake was pleased to see Jill’s husband doing so well after everything that happened. She took a seat on the edge of her desk. “So how have you enjoyed your stay on Avalon?”
“I’m not sure. My stay seems so short, hoping down to Tauron, then from Battlestar to Battlestar with the Admiral, and back on my way to Tauron again before going back to Sagittaron. Not the best for the love life,” she joked. If only Blake knew half of it.
“If you don’t like it then why don’t you transfer?” Blake smiled knowing she wouldn’t.
“I think I used all my transfers up,” she said. “I only have six more months left on this tour anyway. It’s not like five years ago during the troubles when James was there. And I’m working with some amazing officers.”
“Just a suggestion.” She never could imagine herself jumping from one place to the next. At least with this position she was grounded on the same ship. “Any plans once this tour is up?”
“Good question,” she did put some thought into it before the last couple of days. Jill paused for a few moments more as she considered it. “I was thinking a command would be nice, but lately returning to civilian life is tempting. Maybe a consulting job on Caprica.” If she was divorced, going back to Aerilon would be harder.
“You’d be bored with civilians. You like the military life. Why don’t you see if the Admiral could pull some favors and get you a command?” Blake never knew Jill was thinking of a civilian life once this tour ended.
The military was something she had left in common with James, but that seem pointless now. She gave up flying fighters to be by his side, and now he is moving up the ranks in Special Operations which kept them separated most of the time. It was not exactly Special Operations, it was both of them with ambitious goals. Her expression turned downward as she thought about it.
“I remember my friend Jake talking about giving back. Maybe I can teach, because I don’t think I can put in anymore years in hopes of commanding a Battlestar in the far future. I’m not exactly Admiral Cain.” Jilleen shrugged and tilted her head.
“Well nobody is like Admiral Cain.” Blake jested as it was somewhat true. Blake never wanted her own command, she was already help people by taking care and making them better. She wasn’t even that high on the command chain, maybe running the infirmary of a Battlestar but not commanding one. “So have you spoke to James about this”
The topic was back to James again. “He really doesn’t have a say,” there was the slightest hint of anger in her voice, not directed at Blake, but at the mention of James.
“True, it is your career.” Blake did not latch onto the tone of Jill’s reply but merely the answer itself. “I’d just hope that you do something you want to do, that is all.”
“Thank you,” she was sincere. “What about you? What’s your plans now that you have a baby on the way.”
“I don’t know. Never thought of myself as a mother.” She chuckled. “I’ll wait until the little one is here then I’ll think about that.”
“It’s a big change.” Said Jilleen.
“Yeah but I don’t want to stress myself out now with that. I want to concentrate on the now.” She was never one for planning ahead, always in the moment which kind of made her whole relationship with Jon stick out as it had survived her live fast mentality.
“What ever is in your future, I’m sure you will be a good mother.” Jilleen reached into her soft attache bag and pulled out a small green shopping bag. “I got you this for you. It's a little something,” she handed the bag to Blake. Inside was a colorful weaved mojo bag.
“Aww you didn’t have to do that.” Blake took the bag from Jill with a smile. “I feel bad because I haven’t gotten you anything and I won’t see you for ages.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she pointed at the mojo bag. I was a bag of ‘magic ingredients’ used by some Sagittarans as a substitution for medicine. “I got this from an old shaman woman. She said the herbs inside and fragrance combine is good for a healthy pregnancy. I don’t think she understood it wasn’t for me.” She laughed. “It smells nice anyway.”
Blake laughed, “Well thank you, I’ll make sure to use it.” So Blake was a practitioner of medicine but she was aware of certain cultures from the other colonies which believed in these substitutes for traditional medicine. She would at least use the mojo bag.
Jilleen thought the mojo bag was more a novelty item and Blake would appreciate the irony. To her, Sagittaran purists’ beliefs were as backwards as those rural isolationists’ in her home colony.
“I’m happy for you.” She was also a little envious of her friend for being brave enough to begin a family. In that moment, she wondered if her unwillingness to start a family with James in the past was an indication that their marriage was doomed to fail all this time. Her eyes moisten at the edges.
“What’s wrong?” Blake had been observing the mojo bag Jill had gave her when she looked up at saw her friend seemingly daydreaming at that moment.
“I’m happy,” she wiped at the corner of her eye. “Can’t I be happy for you?” A half truth was better than a outright lie. It would do no one any favor if she made this about herself. Jilleen was good at hiding her frailty. She learn how very well growing up and mastered it when she went into the military.
Blake put the mojo back down and placed an arm around her friend. “Of course you can.”
“I wish there was more time I could spend with you,” Jilleen told her. “Duty calls. I have to go see James, and then I’m off to Tauron, and then back Tawa with the boss..” Tawa was the capital of Sagittaron.
“I know, me too but we both have our jobs.” Blake laughed at that but she would miss her friend being away again. She sort of wished she could accept a ground posting now that she was pregnant and everything.
“This is so ridiculously short. I promise to make it up to you.” She hugged Blake. “Take good care of yourself.”
“You don’t have to make anything up to me. We both know what this life is like. Just take care of yourself and that husband of yours.” Blake hugged back.
“Copy that,” Jilleen let go. She would take care of herself, but her husband was another matter. She wished that she made more of an effort to see Blake, instead of wasting her time on the first day she arrived.