notdrfrasier | (no subject)

Entry tags:

joshua,
tabula rasa

(no subject)

Leaning against the side of her bed, Carolyn looked down at the pile of clothing before her in absolute shock. She'd just spent part of the morning actually cleaning out the hut, wanting to get rid of things that she just wouldn't find useful. It was when she was cleaning out the wardrobe that she'd found a box that was full of small pieces of clothing.

Clothing for a child. For a baby.

She really hadn't known what to think. And so for the past hour she hadn't done anything much more than pick up random things from the box and hold it. She didn't know what she thought might happen from it - maybe a spark of recognition? But again, nothing had happened.

Sighing, her eyebrows furrowed and she looked down at the delicate yellow onesie that she held between her hands and shook her head. Swallowing, she tossed it back in the box and with an angry kick, and sent it skidding across the room.

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"Of course. Where do you want them?" he asks.

"On the floor," she said and then realized how that sounded and flashed him a small smile. "Oh the floor over by the chairs so I can sit more comfortably while going through them."

He obliges and pushes the boxes over to the nearest chair. "Do you want me to stick around?" he asks, not wanting to overstay his welcome or go through her stuff, or her previous self's belongings, without her say so.

"Well if you don't mind, I could use the company," she said as she began to dig through the first box. "If you're thirsty, you know my coffee pot is full like always."

He smiles at the idea of coffee being a refreshing, thirst-quenching drink. "I'm fine, thanks."

He opens the nearest box. It's full of clothing which isn't really surprising. It's the size of some of the clothes that's interesting. They're way larger than something Carolyn might wear.

The box that Carolyn was going through didn't hold any clothing, but it did have some books which she thought she might find interesting. Looking over at Joshua she arched an eyebrow and hoped he wasn't looking at what she thought he might be.

"Uh, Joshua? Are those... maternity clothes?"

"I guess that might explain the size," he says, looking over at her as he holds up a maternity dress. He's not even sure what he should say next so he simply puts the dress down and looks through the rest of the clothing.

"Looks like it's all the same kind of stuff."

"I guess so," she sighed, pushing her own box aside so she could pick up a pair of maternity pants. Holding them up, her eyes widened a bit. "She was quite far along in her pregnancy by the looks of these...."

Tossing the pants back into the box, she leaned back in her chair. Her eyebrows furrowed and she stared at the box in front of Joshua, lost in thought for several moments. Again her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Joshua... Do you remember telling me about when you met Colonel Mitchell? You don't think... Do you?"

Joshua considers her suggestion for a moment. "Maybe that explains why I heard your voice coming from his hut when you weren't actually there. I'm not sure how exactly." Maybe Colonel Mitchell had a video recording of her. It's always possible.

"Well he would, I suppose, make sense..." she murmured, trying to think logivally instead of emotionally. There was nothing to get emotional over. It hadn't been her, it had obviously been an alternate reality of her.

She looked over at Joshua again and shrugged. "Colonel Mitchell and I had, I don't know... Had a 'thing' in the past. But we both went seperate ways and then ended up working together at the SGC. We decided that we needed to keep things professional. Obviously that went out the window when he and the other me showed up here."

Joshua smiles at this. He has no real experience in relationships or having a thing, apart from what Juliet said to him--something which he is not thinking about today, but he has studied humanity. And he knows first hand what it's like to be all alone on Tabula Rasa.

"Maybe it started off professionally," he adds, trying to be helpful.

"Maybe," Carolyn conceded, though eyed the box a little warily. "It doesn't make any of this any less or the fact that you heard my voice coming from his hut any less creepy."

"That's certainly true. Nor the way he's been acting toward you. Perhaps he just can't deal with it?" Joshua has a difficult time explaining Colonel Mitchell's behavior other than that of a man deeply wounded.

"Maybe," she agreed again. She was silent for a moment and her frown deepened. "Alright, this... This whole thing is just strange. And you know... I feel bad for Colonel Mitchell, I really do. But the fact that he just let me think that I'd done something wrong? That makes me a little mad."

"That seems like a reasonable response to the whole situation. You should probably talk to him."

"I don't think I want to," she said and looked away. She wasn't good with immediately confronting people she was angry at. She was very good at holding the anger in and letting it build though.

Sighing, she moved her attention back to Joshua. "I mean, what would I even say to him? 'Hey! Was the other me pregnant by you and that's why you've been avoiding me like the plague?'" She shook her head. "That's actually a conversation I'd rather not have."

"It's a difficult conversation, but why wouldn't you put it to him exactly like that?" Sometimes it's best to just be direct.

"I suppose I should," Carolyn muttered, shifting her attention back to her cast. She doesn't like feeling like this. Pissed off and hurt all rolled into one. It wasn't the fact that the other her had been pregnant, it was more how Cam had treated her since she'd shown up. So maybe if she confronted him, she could move on with things and that? That would be a good thing.

"I haven't even seen him lately. I think he's holed himself up in that hut of his."

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