A few days later:
They had been walking for only about half an hour, but to Kathryn it felt longer. Time seemed to slow down when the first contractions began oh so early that morning. She'd tried to go back to sleep, remembering how the first time she was pregnant she had bolted out of bed at the first sign of labor. By now, after delivering three healthy children, she knew her body and what to expect. And she knew that things moved slowly.
She'd stayed in bed for a couple more hours until she felt the need to get up and move around. Her husband watched with a bemused smile as she "waddled" (she truly hated that word) around their quarters tidying things up. It suddenly seemed like their home was no where near ready for a new arrival.
Around the time that Iva left for her music lesson and Rory went to the babysitter, Kathryn and Chakotay had stopped by sickbay to see how the labor was progressing. Kathryn already knew what he would say. "Slowly." This little one was in no hurry, but her mother was more than ready. The Doctor suggested that she walk the ship's corridors for a little while to try to speed things up. And her son Anson offered to walk with her.
Anson had heard somewhere that it was very good for pregnant women to walk around a lot and so he decided that he would make sure his mother got the exercise she needed. For the entire third trimester, every evening the two of them would walk a slow circuit from their quarters down to sickbay, the science labs and the computer core before turning around and coming back home. Sometimes they talked about the baby, how Anson was sure that this one would be a girl but how he still thought Asa would be a good name for a baby brother; about his younger sisters; about his day; about almost anything they felt like. Always they walked hand in hand.
Today though, Anson seemed to be deep in thought. He asked her a couple of questions about how she was feeling and how soon she thought the baby would come, but that was it. He studied her carefully and Kathryn knew that her nine-year-old son was mentally keeping track of her contractions. She'd smiled at that.
Every ten minutes or so, the dull ache in her back and the hardness in her belly would return and she would stop walking and close her eyes. At first she would lean against the bulkhead and focus on her breathing but by now she was holding on to both of Anson's hands as the pain began to ripple through her. Her arms were held out in front of her, her own larger hands in Anson's smaller ones and her head down. His hands were held up to meet hers and to steady her, his young face looking intently up at hers. His eyes were so clear and his face so earnest that Kathryn found herself holding his strong gaze even when the pain grew stronger.
She had always known that her son was strong and wise beyond his years but she hadn't fully realized the depth of it until they were standing in the hallway, waiting for the contraction to end. Anson didn't shy away as she squeezed his hands tightly and bit her lip as the pain reached its peak. He calmly looked up at her, sometimes smiling, sometimes giving her whispers of encouragement. She leaned close and focused on him, her beautiful boy with his dark eyes and his deep brown hair. He looked just like his father, except for the faint freckles that dotted his nose and cheeks. She wondered if the new baby would look like him, or like her daughters with their reddish brown locks and their hazel eyes.
She felt the contraction coming to an end and she began to breathe normally again. Anson noticed the change and gave her a small smile.
"How are you doing?" he asked after she sighed.
"I'm alright," she said. "That last one was pretty long."
"63 seconds," he reported.
"You were counting?" she smiled as they began to walk again.
"Uh huh," he nodded eagerly. "Dad said I should keep track since you never remember too." That sounded very much like his father. Chakotay had been a little uneasy when Anson asked if he could walk her around the ship but Kathryn had said that it was fine. The Doctor had agreed and that had settled it.
"I think you are still in active labor," he continued, "not yet in transition, but you should probably go see the Doctor again real soon," he looked up at her for approval. "Is that right?"
She had to laugh at that. "It sounds right to me. Every birth is different. Things can go quickly or they can take quite a while. It is all up to this little one," she gingerly patted her rounded belly.
"Are you patient for her to come?"
"Just a little," she admitted. "Are you?"
"Uh huh," he said. "Dad is going to stay with you the whole time, right?" Anson had been worrying about what would happen if she went into labor while Chakotay was on the bridge like he was now.
"Yes, he'll be there from start to finish," she assured him.
"And you'll call us as soon as we can come see her?"
"You will be the first to know."
"Even before Uncle Tom?"
"Way before Uncle Tom," Kathryn laughed as she said that. Of course, Tom would know before the kids as Tom was planning to help with the delivery. He, like the rest of the crew, were just as anxious as she was to meet the long-awaited fourth Janeway child.
"I like walking with you, Mom," Anson said quietly as they rounded the corner for home.
"I like walking with you too, kiddo."
