Things didn't improve between Will and I until 8 months into my pregnancy. Over those months, we sort of just devolved into coworkers again.

He'd still kept me off work duties but suddenly it didn't feel like it was for my protection anymore.

In those months, I felt the loneliest I'd ever been. The men spent most days outside the ship exploring more of the region. They built shelters miles away and surveyed farther than I could ever hope to see.

All the while, I was stuck indoors or in the ship's vicinity while the pregnancy basically ruined my body. I was tired all the time and my emotions were all over the place. This caused me to not interact with the rest of the team even when they were around.

I didn't help that we didn't eat together either. We'd come to an agreement that even if they would keep using the animals as food, they would ultimately treat them with respect and make it painless.

They monitored the ages of what they killed and made sure they never put a strain on the population. That was the best I was going to get so I took it.

I never thought having a baby would be that hard. My back hurt, I had headaches, my feet were swollen and I peed all the time but in those beautiful moments when I felt him or her kick and roll, it had made it all worth it.

Every time I'd felt a kick, I'd start to tell Will about it but he never seemed interested so I kept it to myself or shared the moment with Kira whenever she came around which wasn't a lot. Kira had given birth two months earlier so she was always busy with the little ones.

Sometimes it would dawn on me how crazy it was that I felt closer to an alien predator than to the team I'd traveled across the stars with.

=^..^=

It had been a pretty normal day, I'd felt the occasional kick but the baby was being pretty quiet that day. I'd felt strong enough to take a walk which I'd been returning from when I suddenly felt sick.

I was also feeling a bit dizzy so I hurried to get indoors and off my feet.

My eyes locked with Robert's as I approached the ship and I asked him for help. He rushed to my side and asked what was wrong.

"I don't know" I responded, "I'm a bit dizzy and I feel like..."

Before I could finish, I felt an intense urge to throw up. I turned away from him and retched as a watery liquid passed my lips.

"Somethings really wrong" I felt my eyes water.

He looked worried and in over his head, "Let's get you to the med bay" was all he managed.

=^..^=

"Pola, find Will and John" Robert said as he placed me on autodoc. "Diagnosis" he added. We'd seen John say that enough times to know how that worked at least.

"John and the Captain have both been alerted to the emergency. Please note, the captain is currently on an expedition with Cillian" Pola's voice was muffled and sounded funny. I struggled to keep my eyes open.

I must have seen my dad standing over me because I called out to him, "Dad, you're here". I don't remember why I'd said that. My memories told me he was right there but obviously that wasn't possible.

"Autodoc diagnosis" Pola continued "Kidney and liver stress detected. Possible failure imminent".

It was getting harder to keep my eyes open. Robert was trying to tell me something but I couldn't hear him. I just wanted to sleep.

=^..^=

When I awoke, I was on my side facing Will and John having a conversation about something I couldn't hear. Will looked so dirty and John stressed.

They both turned to me when they saw that I was awake.

"You really scared us, Dani" John said. I studied him. He had meant that. In our own way, I think we cared about each other.

"Sorry" I whispered.

"How do you feel?" Will asked. He hadn't asked me that in a while.

"Sore, tired" I answered while adjusting in the bed. They must have moved me while I was out. "Is my baby okay?".

"They're fine, don't worry. But there's something we need to talk about". John assured. Of course he already knew the gender of the baby but I had asked him not to tell me.

"What is it?" I asked worried.

John took a breath before walking closer and sitting at the foot of the bed.

"I'm not an OB so I'm not 100% on this but based on the symptoms, your blood pressure is much higher than it should be and with the swelling and the vomiting, I believe you have pre-eclampsia".

I'd heard the word before but didn't know what it meant. All I knew was that it sounded bad and I didn't want it.

My eyes glanced to Will and then back to John, "what does that mean?" I asked.

"It's something that can happen in late stage pregnancy and usually causes high blood pressure" He explained "This can affect your blood vessels which can damage your organs".

"My liver and kidney?" I asked.

"And your lungs, yes, but none of that has happened yet". Will listened attentively but didn't say anything.

"And my baby's fine" I asked again.

"Yes" He assured me again with a reassuring smile "I'm prescribing you some blood pressure medication and we'll see how that goes"

"And if it doesn't work?" I asked not willing to leave anything to chance.

"We might have to induce labor early but don't think about that yet. Just take it easy" John made a decent doctor. Why did he have to go and rip people off and get himself arrested.

"Can I go?" I was feeling a lot better and the bed in the med bay wasn't exactly comfortable.

"Better you stay here tonight where I can keep an eye on you" There was a doctor's quarters connected by a single door to the med bay. "Just get some sleep".

What the hell. I decided to give that a shot.

=^..^=

When I woke up, the ship was still quiet and the lights were dim. I looked across the room and spotted Will sleeping in a chair in the corner.

I smiled at the sight. Just like that last time when I'd screamed in the forest, he always pretended to be angry at me but was always there when I really needed him.

Sure it sucked that he'd left me to deal with the pregnancy alone after basically forcing it on me but that was the mission. He had his job, and this was mine.

What did I want anyway? For him to hold my hand through it all? That didn't seem likely. Either way, I had done eight months without him so what was one more?

But still, him being there, sleeping in that uncomfortable fucking chair, something about that sight did it for me.

I shuffled to sit on the bed and the sound of that was enough to wake him up.

"Sorry for waking you up" I told him as soon as he was awake enough to understand me. "What are you doing there?"

That seemed to embarrass him because he didn't respond. The quiet act wasn't going to work for him anymore. I knew he cared.

My belly was so big now that even standing by myself was proving to be a mean feat.

He stood and began walking over to me.

"What do you need? I'll get it for you" He offered.

I smiled. "I need to pee" I kept up with my attempts to stand, "so unless you're planning on bringing me a bowl..."

He took my hands and pulled me gently to my feet.

"Thanks".

The journey to the medbay restroom and back should have been a short one but had somehow taken ten minutes. Everything was sore.

"I never want to do this ever again" I told Will as I exited the bathroom.

"Pee?" He asked with a smile.

"Haha funny" I said with a playful roll of my eyes.

He took my hand and helped me back into bed. Unnecessary but not unwelcome.

"Being pregnant sucks" I told him as soon as I was comfortable. Will took a chair closer to my bed.

"You're bringing life into the world" He replied "I think it's beautiful".

I scoffed, "feel free to get the next one then".

"Nah" he quickly dismissed the thought, "I couldn't do it."

"You'd think so but modern medicine is very impressive. I mean look at me"

"No one else could have done it besides you" he countered.

"So you did choose me to do it and not for whatever bullshit reason you came up with to justify it".

"Yes absolutely" he admitted.

It didn't bother me anymore. It did at one point. The thought that they chose me because I wasn't as much of a man as they were.

"But it wasn't because of how you looked" Will continued "Maybe it was a bit but not entirely. You just feel like a woman, if that makes sense"

It did. More than I'd have wanted to admit eight months ago but it made sense to me now.

"So what..." I had started to say something but suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head "... ah!" I whimpered.

What had I been saying?

"What's wrong?" Will rushed to my side.

"I'm okay" I answered shaking it off, "Just a little headache"

I went to say something else to lighten the mood but it was getting hard to breathe. I closed my eyes and tried to slowly inhale and exhale.

I felt Will who must have taken a seat beside me take my hand and rub it gently. That felt nice.

I felt sore everywhere. That felt less nice.

His right hand moved and began rubbing my back. I let myself fall and eventually my head found its place on his shoulder.

I stayed focused on my own breathing which was proving harder and harder every second.

"I think it's time to call John" I said. I didn't need to tell him twice.

=^..^=

John had checked my heart rate and my blood pressure and it was clear as day on his face that he didn't like the results.

At that point, I was fully laying down with my head on Will's lap while he made small circles with his palm on my back.

"Give it to me straight doc" I forced a smile.

"Well your blood pressure is still too high" John said. "I think we're going to have to induce labor early".

"Is that safe?" Will asked.

"The child's lungs might be a bit underdeveloped which is why I injected steroids earlier to aid their growth but it hasn't been nearly enough time"

"Can't we wait a bit?" I asked him. In the end, the most thing was my child's health.

"Your liver is already under a lot of stress. If you're having trouble breathing, it means fluids might be building up in your lungs. I'm afraid we can't wait".

"So what now?" Will asked with his hand remaining on my back.

"I'll prepare the solution, it's administered by IV so I hope you're not squeamish about injections".

=^..^=

Will and I traded war stories about earth to pass the time. He told me more about foster care and what it was like at NASA camp. I told him about normal people college which he didn't get to go to and I didn't get to finish.

"Marty was so bad" he laughed. I did too. "At literally every sim. Nobody wanted him on their team" He laughed again. "The guy could barely even open an airlock".

He was mostly just keeping my mind off things with stories.

"You know back then, they used to be manual?"

I nodded to show that I was listening.

"But to be fair to the guy, doing it in zero-g was no mean feat, I mean thank God for artificial gravity"

I'd been feeling mild contractions for about 10 minutes already. I didn't want to say anything because that would mean the conversation would stop.

"You're lucky you never had to live in space back then, it was brutal".

I didn't want it to end. He hadn't said 3 consecutive sentences to me in months and now he wouldn't shut up.

"Sometimes we'd come back to Earth after an extended trip and have to relearn how to walk".

A big one hit me and an involuntary whimper left my lips. Like a guard dog at attention, he was barking "John, get in here".

"Has it started?" John rushed in.

I nodded.

"Help me get her on Autodoc" he told Will.

As quickly as he could, Will approached me and picked me up gently from under my arms and knees before placing me on the medical table.

John checked my blood pressure, temperature, heart rate and more before asking me to place my feet on the table.

"Will, would you mind waiting outside?" John asked.

"It's okay" I said "He can stay... if he wants to".

Will didn't move so John began. He put on a pair of gloves, lubricated before heading out of my line of sight and underneath the gown.

I felt his cold fingers prodding around down there and tried my best not be seem too uncomfortable. After what felt like an eternity, he emerged.

"3cm" he announced "Buckle up, it'll be a long night"

=^..^=

He wasn't kidding. 8 hours later, the suns had been up for some time already and still only minor contractions few and far between.

"Hey" Cillian peaked in through the door. He was heading out with Robert since Will insisted on remaining by my side.

"Hey" I forced a smile.

He came full into view so I wouldn't have to strain to look at him.

"How do you feel?" he asked me.

"Awful" I pouted.

"I hope these two are taking good care of you"

"They're doing their best" I replied with a smile.

"We're heading out for a couple hours, thought I'd drop in before we left"

Cillian was really nice. I'd quickly found that the tough guy act when we first met had been just that, an act. 'Never show weakness when you get to prison' kind of thing. He was always very nice. Atleast to me.

"Good luck" I said.

"You too. See you when I get back".

=^..^=

Not even an hour after they left, the contractions started getting worse. I was feeling an intense pressure in my lower back which caused me to shift and turn with very little success.

John guided me through breathing exercises and other ways to relax. These did very little to help.

I squeezed Will's hand through the worst of it. He looked more worried than I did.

"Tell me a joke" I pleaded as I squirmed in bed.

"I don't know any jokes" he replied.

"William, tell me a joke right now" I forced as a particularly painful tightening in my abdomen caused me to squeeze his hand harder.

"Pola, tell us a joke" He tried.

"No!" I screamed partly as a response to the cheap trick he'd tried and partly from the pain "I don't want to hear weird computer humor right now"

"Fine, fine" he laughed "But when it's awful, don't say I didn't warn you"

I forced a smile trying not to focus on the pressure.

"I was in a bar back on earth and on the news, I hear.." he made a funny reporter voice "Breaking news! A midget fortune teller has just escaped from prison."

I looked at him questioning where he was going with this.

"This guy next to me looked me dead in the eye and said, 'So if I understand correctly, there's a small medium at large'".

I stared at him. He looked at me expectantly with that schoolboy grin of his.

And then it clicked. I let out a small involuntary laugh and shook my head, "that is so bad" I squeezed his hand.

"I told you" he laughed again.

"And we can't call them that" I playfully frowned at him.

"Sorry" he said still laughing. It was clear to me he found that silly joke funny. That atleast made me smile.

=^..^=

Nothing could have prepared me for the absolute worst pain I had ever felt in my life. Nothing else came close. For a period of 45 minutes, I experienced the most mind-numbing torment that I never thought possible.

I imagined this was what the Pathfinder felt when it passed through that wormhole. Waves of contractions that never let up.

I screamed and begged John to just cut me open and get the baby out.

'Fuck the experiment' I remember screaming.

"9cm. We're almost there. You can do it" John encouraged. I screamed at him some more.

Looking back, I felt most sorry for Will. He looked horrified and speechless. Props to him though, he never let go of my hand. Even as my fingernails dug into his skin.

=^..^=

By the time I was fully dilated, I think I was mostly numb from the pain. The worst was over. I knew that because nothing could be worse than that.

Whatever God made a feeling worse than that didn't deserve to be worshipped. I wondered whether all women had to go through this or if this pain was unique to me because my body wasn't designed to go through this. It must have been the latter right? The existence of multiple children by the same woman was proof that my pain was unique. Right?

'We'll never know' I thought to myself as John told me to get ready to push.

=^..^=

'I'm not strong enough' I remember thinking over and over again.

John was telling me something. I couldn't hear anything except this ringing sound in my ear. My head pounded like someone was dancing the salsa in my skull.

I read his lips, "PUSH".

I shook my head, "I can't"

"You can" he had said back. I was crying. I could feel the baby's head in my pelvis but I wasn't strong enough. My legs were so weak.

"You can" he repeated "You're strong".

"I'm not" the tears rolled freely down my cheeks. I was so tried.

"Contractions have slowed" John said while taking a few deep breaths "Take a break for a minute or two. Try to conserve your energy"

I was thankful for the break but it wouldn't make any difference. I wasn't strong enough.

"I'm sorry" I said turning to Will who was still gripping my left hand.

"Don't say you're sorry. Because you're going to do this".

My gaze glanced down to the bed. Blood everywhere.

"I believe in you" Will told me. I tried to force a smile but I didn't have the strength even for that.

"I believe in you Dany. And I love you" he said to me. "I want to spend the rest of my life together with you and our kid so don't give up"

He rubbed my hand gently. I could feel the beads of sweat dropping down from my hair. I was soaked. Tired. Dehydrated.

"I love you too" I told Will as John was returning. He looked disheveled. He had been going for as long as I had as well. I made a mental note to thank him when this was over.

"Okay Dany, I need you to give me ten solid pushes and I promise you you'll be holding your baby"

"Just ten? I can do this all day" I forced a smile.

"Attagirl" he said.

=^..^=

In the end, I almost gave up multiple times during those final ten. Well seven as it turned out.

The first time I nearly threw in the towel, it was Will bringing my limp hand to his lips that spurred me on.

The second time I nearly quit, it was John telling me that I was so close and that there were only a few more that kept me going.

The third time, it was the sound of my baby girl crying.

=^..^=

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That was one of the harder chapters to write. Please let me know what you thought about it.