"How do you feel, Imzadi?" Will gazed at his wife with concern. Deanna's bloated abdomen swelled up like a mountain in the middle of the bed, and her legs and feet had become badly swollen as well. She hadn't been able to get out of bed for several days, except for short trips to the restroom, and even then had had to be heavily supported by her husband.

Now she turned troubled eyes to him. "Not too good. I've had a terrible backache all night long. I think it's time to get Beverly."

Will patted her hand and then was off in a flash, returning with Beverly about five minutes later.

"Will told me you aren't feeling well." Concerned green eyes met pain-filled black ones. "I'd like to examine you."

Deanna got into position, and Beverly examined her. "You're in active labor, all right. As you know, due to the number of fetuses, I'll have to perform a Cesarean."

Deanna nodded as Will squeezed her hand. "Everything will be all right."

Beverly helped Deanna roll onto her side so the anesthetic could be administered. She lay there in an awkward position for twenty minutes until it had taken, and then Beverly and Will rolled her onto her back so Beverly could make the incision. She set up the drape so Will and Deanna couldn't see, then picked up the scalpel. Five minutes later, she lifted an ever-so-tiny infant into the air. Will cut the cord, and the baby began to squirm and bleat.

Beverly cleaned her off, weighed her, wrapped her in a blanket, and cuddled her close to Deanna's side. "Sierra Rose," Deanna breathed, touching the paper-thin skin of her new daughter's face. A moment later, the infant was placed into an incubator as Beverly prepared to deliver her sibling. Sienna Dawn was born next, followed by Scarlet May, then Season Lily. Will gasped as the fifth child was delivered.

"Starling Branch!" he exclaimed at the sight of his firstborn son. Stone Forest came next, then Storm River. Next were September Rain, Shyanne Juniper, Silver Lake, and Summer Meadow. Each new infant was wrapped in a blanket and placed in an incubator, then Beverly sutured Deanna's incisions and removed her IV line.

"There will be some discomfort when the anesthetic wears off," she told her patient. "I'll give you an analgesic when you need it."

Deanna was too overcome with relief and joy to worry much about that. Time seemed to stand still for her and Will as they gazed at each of their eleven tiny children in turn.

"She has your eyes," Will remarked as Sierra's black orbs pierced his own, seeming to read his every thought. "I'll bet she grows up to be an amazing telepath."

"Starling sure has your grip," Deanna replied. "I can see him twenty years from now as the brightest star at the academy."

"Sierra and Sienna will always be very close," said Will. "See how Sienna reaches for her big sister, as if she knows she's right in the next incubator?"

"Of course they will be." Deanna felt sad, thinking of Kestra. "Look how Storm kicks! We certainly named him right! He's kicking up a storm!"

"Silver is so delicate and graceful," said Will. "I can see her growing up to be a ballerina."

"Season will be our little tomboy." Deanna chuckled. "See how she's already squirmed halfway out of her blanket."

"Look how Stone sleeps so peacefully, as if nothing could ever disturb him," said Will. "We named him right as well."

Scarlet opened her little pink mouth and began to wail.

"Oh, how I wish I could nurse her!" Deanna exclaimed. The infants were too weak to suckle so would have to be fed by dropper.

Deanna rested, then pumped breast milk which would of course have to be supplemented, and all their crew mates came by to admire the undecaplets. After they'd left, Deanna and Will fed each infant with a dropper, two at a time. The babies were weak, and the new parents had a hard time getting them to swallow the milk, so the feedings took an extremely long time.

Deanna had a long, difficult recovery from the surgical birth. Although the incisions healed quickly, it took her abdomen a very long time to shrink back to its pre-pregnancy size. In the time she wasn't either pumping milk or holding and feeding her children, she did a lot of toning exercises, and in the end still had to have surgery to remove the extra skin.

All eleven babies thrived, although Silver, Shyanne, and Summer all had to be given oxygen for a brief time, and Storm had surgery to repair a hole in his intestine. For that reason, he lagged behind his siblings somewhat in weight for a few months but eventually caught up to them.