A/N – thank you to Fenrisulven13 for chatting with me about what might happen if Slattery delivered Baby Green. After our talk I was inspired to write this one-shot. Hope you all enjoy!

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An Unexpected Delivery

"Congratulations on your promotion, Commander Green." Mike Slattery's deep voice filled the small cab of the elevator.

Kara smiled. "Thank you, sir. Congratulations to you as well, Captain. Danny and I were thrilled to hear that you would be taking command of the Nathan James."

"Yes, congratulations ma'am, sir," Rick Miller added as he rushed into the elevator just before the doors slammed shut. Kara hit the button for the fifteenth floor of the federal courthouse, where President Michener had decided to set up his offices due to the sweeping views of St. Louis. Rick hit the button for the twelfth floor, where military command was located. Kara knew that Danny regularly made the guys run the stairs for exercise, but today Rick had apparently elected to take the short route.

Kara's promotion to Lieutenant Commander had gone into effect only two weeks before, at the same time as she transferred to her new position as the President's senior military advisor (a significant promotion that Kara suspected Admiral Chandler and Captain Slattery had been behind). Kara had already discovered one perk to the new job. Instead of her uniform, she was currently wearing a rather comfortable blue and white striped maternity blouse and a pair of stretchy maternity pants. After five months of stuffing herself into tighter and tighter uniforms, Kara was amazed by how comfortable the loose fitting clothing was.

"How does Lieutenant Green feel about saluting his wife?" Mike asked, a twinkle in his eyes.

"He is simply happy that it is Commander Green rather than Commander Foster," Kara replied.

"Yes, Andrea bought me a rather nice bottle of Scotch that evening for talking her into entering the pool," Mike chuckled.

Following their wedding three months ago, Danny had launched an all-out campaign aimed at convincing Kara to change her name from Foster to Green. Kara actually hadn't needed much convincing, not being particularly attached to Foster, but Danny's persuasive tactics had been so amusing that Kara had waited several months before gracefully conceding. Which meant, of course, that Tex had arranged a betting pool on the issue. Andrea Garnett, who correctly selected the date that Kara had her official ID changed, had taken the pot.

"At least she won't sweep both pools," Rick noted. Kara gave him a curious look. "Her guess for the baby's birthday was today."

Mike shook his head. "You know that you just jinxed us, right Miller?"

Before either Rick or Kara could respond, the elevator ground to a halt. Kara held back a sigh. Despite getting the power back on, lack of maintenance on the power lines for more than a year had taken its toll and blackouts were fairly frequent. Fortunately they rarely lasted for more than a few minutes. With no air conditioning, the elevator would quickly get hot and stuffy and, at nine months pregnant, Kara found her tolerance for either was significantly diminished.

Mike pulled his radio out of his belt. "This is Captain Slattery. I'm in elevator bank three at the judicial building. Anything going on I should know about?"

"Looking into it now Captain," responded the frazzled voice of Paul O'Connor. Following the team's arrival in St. Louis, O'Connor, like Kara, had been transferred to land duty. In O'Connor's case, his new job was to get the power grid in St. Louis up and running; a job that sounded simple but had taken months of hard work and coordination to accomplish. O'Connor had managed the job quicker than anticipated, despite struggling with lack of trained personnel and replacement parts, but he still took it as a personal failure every time the power went out unexpectedly.

"Keep me apprised. Commander Green and Petty Officer Miller are here with me if anyone is looking for them."

"Understood sir. I'll get you out of there as soon as I can."

"Slattery out."

Despite O'Connor's promise, all three of them knew that they were going to have to make themselves comfortable. Fortunately, all three were carrying water bottles and Kara's bag was filled with what Danny jokingly called her emergency snacks – otherwise known as granola bars and Twizzlers.

"Ma'am, you should probably sit down." Rick's voice was slightly more anxious than usual.

"I'm fine Rick." Kara replied with a smile. "Still three weeks to go."

But no sooner were the words out of her mouth then a sharp pain had Kara gasping. She leaned forward, bracing one hand against the wall of the elevator while the other clutched her bulging belly. When she looked up, Rick's face had lost all color and even Mike appeared concerned.

Mike was the first to react. "You okay Foster?"

Kara smiled at the unconscious reversion to her maiden name. As the pain faded, Kara straightened, thankful that it was over. "Doctor Scott mentioned that I might have pains during the last few weeks, but I didn't expect them to be quite so forceful."

Mike frowned. "False labor shouldn't hurt."

Both Kara's and Rick's eyes swung over to Slattery. He arched an eyebrow at them. "I did have three kids. I know a thing or two about the matter."

"I feel fine now," Kara began. But just like earlier, the second the words were out of her mouth, she felt another sharp pain tear through her body. If anything, this one was more painful than the first, like somebody was squeezing her stomach in two. Even worse, the pain was followed by a rush of fluid. For a humiliating moment Kara thought she had peed her pants, and then realization struck.

Rick stared at Kara's now soaking pants, his eyes bulging. "Mother Mary and Jesus, please tell me that is not..."

"It is," Mike cut him off. Kara would have smiled at Rick's horrified face if she could do anything other than groan as another sharp pain, which she now realized had to be a contraction, overtook her. Mike picked up his radio. "O'Connor? We have a problem here. Foster's in labor. We are going to need to move up the time line on that extraction."

The response was not what any of them were hoping for.

"Sorry sir, it's going to take awhile to get the power back on. Someone drove into the junction box at the corner of the block. We're trying to get him out of the car now but he is pinned in there pretty well. Until he is out and the car is moved, we can't even start on restoring the power to the building. I will try to find someone to get you out of the elevator in the meantime."

"Understood. And let Doctor Scott and Lieutenant Green know what's going on," Mike added.

Kara hoped she didn't sound as desperate as she felt when she turned to Slattery. "Please tell me someone knows how to get this elevator moving even if the power is off."

"Firefighters are trained for this type of rescue. Unfortunately they are probably at the accident right now. Sounds like they might need the jaws of life to get that guy out of the car. But hopefully we will be the next stop." Mike was looking down at his watch as he spoke. "Damn. Less than a minute apart."

"I thought first babies took hours to make an appearance!" Kara snapped, dropping to a crouching position as another pain hit.

"Depends on the woman." Mike replied, pulling off his belt and considering the contents. "Christine was in labor for two hours with Whitney. Shay arrived in forty-five minutes. With Lucas the doctor made me take a class on home births just in case."

"Seriously?"

Kara felt real panic as it sunk in that she might actually be delivering this baby in elevator. As if it wasn't bad enough to be having this baby early – without Danny or her mother or Rachel here like she planned – Mike Slattery was going to deliver the baby? Something that would presumably involve him seeing parts of her that Kara would have preferred he never knew existed? And what about Rick? This elevator wasn't exactly large. He was going to get a front-row view as well.

Apparently Rick was having the same thoughts. "Sir, maybe we can climb out the top of the elevator? Get to the floor above?"

"This isn't Speed and you aren't Keanu Reeves," Slattery replied in the voice he usually reserved for dressing down new seamen. "Besides, how do you propose that Kara climb out of here when she can't stand?"

Rick gave Kara another panicked look. "We have to do something!"

"We are doing something. Emergency personnel are on the way. We just have to wait for them. And if that means delivering a baby in an elevator, well, that means delivering a baby in an elevator."

Kara groaned again, unable to stop the tears that were now streaming down her face. She had never been in so much pain in her life. The sound seemed to snap Rick out of his panic.

"What do you need from me sir?" Rick asked, voice still shaking but more collected.

"Do you have your knife?" Rick pulled it out of the pocket. "Good. We will need that to cut the cord. And take off your shirt."

Rick and Kara gaped at Mike as he began stripping down to his pants. The man rolled his eyes. "We need something to wrap the baby in and to use as a cover-up for Kara. Unless you want a practical demonstration on exactly how babies make their entrance into this world, Miller."

Given the speed at which Rick began stripping down, Kara suspected he was as horrified by the idea as she was. Pulling off his shirt, Mike kneeled next to Kara. "I'm going to help you sit down and then we need to get these pants off. Miller, this is good practice for you. Let Kara squeeze your hand. And no whining if it hurts."

Five minutes ago Kara would have insisted that she could get her pants off herself, but right now she was just thankful that Mike was there to help her unlace the shoes she couldn't reach and peel the sticky, wet pants down her legs. The pain in her middle had become almost constant, one contraction on top of another, and the formerly comfortable maternity pants felt like sandpaper against her skin.

By the time Rachel's voice came across the radio ten minutes later, all Kara cared about was getting this baby out of her as fast as possible. As she panted through another contraction, squeezing Rick's hand until he winced, Mike quickly updated Rachel on the situation.

"It sounds like you are doing everything right Mike. Can you tell me how far down the birth canal the baby has moved?"

Mike hesitated for just a second before meeting Kara's eyes. "I'm going to lift the shirt now. I won't touch you though."

Rick stared at the ceiling, red as a tomato, as Mike checked Kara's progress. "I can see the head. If Kara is anything like Christine was, a couple of good pushes are going to do it."

"Okay, Kara can you hear me?" Rachel asked.

Kara attempted to answer in the affirmative but all that came out of her mouth was a muffled cry as another contraction hit her hard.

"Pretty sure she's past the point of caring about anything you say, Doc," Mike responded.

"Then I want you to push Kara. On the next contraction, Mike is going to count to three and I want you to bear down hard. Mike, make sure you are ready to catch that baby."

For the briefest second Kara actually felt the pain receding as she bore down, then it was back, crashing down on her again. Kara squeezed the hand that Rick had offered her, trying to pretend that it was Danny's.

"That's it Kara," Rachel encouraged, although she couldn't possibly know what was going on inside the elevator from her position roughly seven floors away. "Just a couple more pushes."

Two minutes later, a muffled scream escaped from Kara's throat as another contraction hint and then, just as quickly as it had begun, it was over and a baby's shrill cry filled the elevator.

"It's a boy!" Mike announced, his voice reverent. And as happy and exhausted and overjoyed as she was, Kara's first thought was for the son that Mike had lost and how difficult this moment must be for the man. "Here you go, Kara. Your son."

Happy tears spilled down Kara's face as she cradled the infant, who Mike had wrapped in Rick's shirt, to her chest. He was incredibly red, his head rather cone shaped and plastered with thick black hair. But he was still the most beautiful thing Kara had ever seen.

Just then the elevator began moving. Kara let out an exhausted laugh at the timing. Her attention returned to the little boy she was holding just in time to see him open his stunning blue eyes and take his first look at the world around him.

"Hi Frankie. I'm your mama."

The elevator doors slid open to reveal the concerned faces of Admiral Tom Chandler, Doctor Rachel Scott, Commander Andrea Garnett, and a team of firefighters and EMTs.

Rick took one look at the gathered crowd and collapsed backwards, smacking his head on the side of the elevator on his way down.

Mike raised an eyebrow. "He might be taking the role of the new father a little too seriously."

Rachel smiled as she quickly checked Kara and Frankie, leaving Rick to the EMTs. "You all did great. Looks like mama and baby are in good shape."

Danny chose that moment to burst through the doors of the building, his attention going immediately to his wife and newborn son. As Danny rushed by him, Mike slapped the new father on the back.

"Next time Green, deliver your own damn kid."