Chapter 4 – D-Minus 9 Hours
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." – Lao Tzu
John had done a great deal of thinking in the last three hours. He had been watching Delenn endure her contractions, each one seemingly bigger and stronger than the one that came before, and it had led him to one single, solitary belief: Delenn was not the strongest woman he'd ever known.
She was the strongest person he'd ever known.
Maybe he was biased. Maybe it was because he loved her; maybe it was because every time she cried out in pain, his muscles tensed as if to suffer her contractions with her; maybe it was because, as she often said, they were old souls – finding each other time and again across countless generations, so linked with one another that they felt each other's pain and knew each other's thoughts. But he knew as Stephen confirmed regular contractions at six minutes apart that she was facing this challenge the way she always did, with a strength of body and of soul that John couldn't fathom existed in any human he'd ever met – not even himself. This situation was testament to that; she was lonely and afraid, but she remained focused on the ultimate goal. She cried out with the pain, but she was still his Delenn, still composed in the breaks between contractions, remaining, somehow, calmer than the three men who stood watch over her. She accepted the contractions as they came as she had always accepted pain when it was necessary –without reservation, without asking that it be taken from her or relying on someone else to bear the burden of it.
Lathann came forward after each contraction and wiped Delenn's brow, fed her ice chips at Dr. Franklin's suggestion, rubbed her aching muscles… anything she needed, without question. John's heart literally ached with his desire to be the one performing these tasks, to demonstrate, in some small way, his love and adoration for her. Instead he felt isolated, stranded. He began to pace and rub at his goatee, as though the physical movement of wearing a hole in the floor might somehow bring him a few footsteps closer to his wife.
"She has passed into the core'na." John momentarily halted his pace dead center in front of the com screen at Lathann's quiet observation. His Adrenato was still pretty shaky, but in preparation for this event, he'd done a fair amount of research into Minbari birthing terms and rituals, and so this term resonated across the emotional center of his brain. Her water had broken. There was no turning back now.
Delenn had lost all count of her contractions and how much time came between them. As far as she was concerned, they were coming in a constant, unrelenting rhythm. In that respect, she was glad for Dr. Franklin's professionalism and his stopwatch. In a lull in the pain, she became vaguely aware of Lathann's presence as he leaned over her and used a cool, damp cloth to mop her face.
"How far are we from home, Lathann?" she asked.
The Ranger marveled at Delenn's calmness. He was young enough, naïve enough, to have never known true pain himself – physically or emotionally. But he had taken a pledge – we live for The One, we would die for The One. It went without saying that this pledge encompassed anything that came between life and death, and for Lathann, that meant he was about to deliver The One's child into the world. He silently vowed he would face this task with honor and without fear, as he would any mission he had embarked on thus far and any he would face in the future. "Just less than eight hours," he replied now. He noticed her hand stretched out in his direction, and instinctively, he took it.
Delenn smiled her thanks at him and squeezed his hand gently. Then she said very quietly in Adrenato – and Lathann knew she was making every effort to make sure Dr. Franklin and the president could not hear it – "You spoke with Lennier. Do you think this was a fool's mission?"
"No, Entil'zha." Lathann shook his head vehemently, even though her eyes were closed and she could not see it. He squeezed her hand more firmly in reassurance. "He called to you for help. All life is sacred, even that of those who have wronged us. And had we not come to Lennier's aid, he likely would have met his death. The malfunction of his ship aside, this part of space is no longer safe for races from Alliance worlds."
"But… Lennier knows that." Delenn's brow creased as she tried to work out the logic. Her mind was a jumble from the events of the past few hours, let alone the past few days. "And while he is many things, 'foolish' is not one of them. Did he tell you what he was doing so close to Centauri Prime in the first place?"
"Yes. He came out of hyperspace when he detected the engine problem. Despite where he was, he knew there was better chance of rescue in normal space."
A wave of guilt washed over her. How could she have thought, even for a second, that Lennier had lured her out here with impure motives? She felt tears in her eyes and allowed them to fall; Lathann gripped her hand tighter, mistaking them for tears of pain. "Another contraction?" He asked.
"No. Soon, though." She sighed and looked at the Com screen monitor. "John?" She asked, and on his half of the screen, Delenn watched her husband rise to his feet. He had sat down some time ago, after Dr. Franklin kindly suggested that John's pacing was counterproductive to the process and that he should attempt to relax, for the good of himself and his wife.
"Yes?"
"You should eat something."
It made Delenn smile the way he laughed at her suggestion. "You shouldn't worry about me."
"When you meet our son, I do not want you to be delirious from starvation."
"I'm already delirious," he replied softly. "With joy."
"You're not angry, then?"
"With you? Delenn… we covered this. This is one of the happiest days of my life, and… despite the creative method by which we're accomplishing it, I am so glad that I could share it with you. I'm about to be a father… and more than that – I have the honor and privilege to be the father of your son. How could I be angry with you when I love you so much?"
The corners of her mouth turned up, but it was an empty smile. That wasn't entirely what she'd meant. "Are you angry with Lennier?"
John opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again. Was he? Your mother has taken a ship out to rescue someone who… someone whose jealousy nearly cost me my life. He'd put these words on record for his son just three hours before. But he'd said something else, too: One thing I don't want you to learn from me is how to hold a grudge. I want you to look to your mother instead, and learn a depth of forgiveness that is beyond human. Forgiveness… "No," he said finally.
She nodded at his reply in the instant before her body was overtaken by another contraction, and John reached out with one hand. Her eyes remained open this time, locked with his, their souls bared to one another in the intensity of the moment. He felt her pain, and she felt it somewhat less this time, as though he was helping to carry it. It was joyous; she felt more complete than she had since her labor began. She felt, for the smallest of moments, that he was there with her.
The pain passed again, and Delenn was vaguely aware as Dr. Franklin instructed Lathann how to check the progress of her dilation. Her eyes never left John's as the Ranger went about this task. She had a fleeting thought that this was most undignified, but then it was gone, and there was only the two of them, just her and her John. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you."
