Dawn sighed and paced back and forth. She was restless, the child in her womb was restless, and so was the storm outside. Marie had gone into labor about five days after arriving at the cathedral. It had been nearly three days and still the baby had not come. The midwife did not vent her frustration, but she was certainly feeling it. Lucie had mixed up some concoction to try and help the labor along. Claude pretended he didn't see it as she carried into Marie's room.

"Any progress at all?" he asked wearily when Dawn emerged.

Dawn sighed.

"The midwife says she's dilated enough, but something's wrong. All that's been coming was blood and more blood."

She dropped her voice so that Marie (and any other eavesdroppers would not hear).

"Just between you and me, I think the baby's ectopic."

"Ectopic?" Claude asked, bewildered.

"Outside the uterus," Dawn answered, "usually, they don't survive past three months' conception, but I've heard of two or three cases of full-term pregnancies."

"But if the baby isn't…there, then how does it get out?" Claude asked.

Dawn's face was grim.

"It doesn't. Not without surgery."

Claude's face went ashen.

"What about Marie?"

Dawn shrugged.

"Depends on where the baby attached to…I honestly don't know. We don't have the technology to fix it if the baby's stuck to any vital organs."

The midwife came hurrying outside.

"Last rites," she said quickly, "now!"

The sinking nausea in Dawn's gut told her that this was not good news. Claude swallowed hard and the mask fell firmly into place. Marie stared at him, glassy-eyed, through the pain.

"Help me!" she gasped.

Claude performed her last rites and Marie began to shudder and cry weakly. She clung to Claude, begging him to help her. She apologized for all the nasty things she'd said to him. Dawn's heart wrenched in sympathy: this girl was younger than she was.

"I heard there was a bit of trouble," a familiar voice said. Marie stopped crying into Claude's shoulder and looked up. Shadow stood in the doorway. Behind him were Michael and Grace. Dawn's face lit in recognition.

"May I?" Shadow asked gently.

Marie reluctantly released her grip on Claude.

"Everyone out," Shadow said crisply, "this will take a delicate touch."

Claude wrapped one arm around Dawn's shoulders and steered her towards the door. Normally, she'd chew him out whenever he did that, but she allowed him to do it this time.

"I feel so bad for her," Dawn said sympathetically, "I was just like her at one point."

Claude's eyes were dark with empathic pain and nervousness.

"How do you deal with it? When you know somebody's going to die?" Dawn asked. It was something she hadn't thought of until now. She had seen him perform last rites before, but she wanted to know how he dealt with it on the inside.

He sat beside her on the stairs and stroked Squishie's head. The dog whined, looking towards the door. Dawn knew it was because she smelled blood and was afraid for Marie.

"Well…I can honestly say it never gets easier," Claude confessed, "the best we can do is keep them calm and try to ease their minds. Violent deaths are very hard to bear…the only thing we can really do for them is to pray and ease their passage from this world to the next."

Dawn rested her head against his shoulder. She inhaled his comforting scent and soaked in the warmth of his presence.

"And what about afterwards?" Dawn asked.

"We try to think about how we were there for them, that they didn't die by themselves…that, if they were truly saved, they are in God's presence and will never want for anything again."

A scream echoed through the hall and Dawn cringed.

"The hardest thing I ever had to do was visit a mother who had a miscarriage," Claude continued, "the child was little more than three or four months…it had only just begun to look human. It was tiny with skin like glass…but the mother didn't want to let go of it. She died a few days later…the doctor said she had developed an infection, but I think she died of a broken heart."

"That must have been rough," Dawn admitted, one hand protectively over her belly, "I've been praying that ours will be all right."

A warm smile spread over his features.

"It will," he said gently, "I'm sure of it."

His hand caressed the bump in her abdomen. He felt movement just below the shell of skin and fabric that kept the baby safe.

"And you're sure it's a boy?" Claude asked.

"Pretty sure. In our family, if you get sick like I did, it's always a boy. Girls don't tend to make their mamas ill twenty times a day. Besides, I just have a feeling. I hope we get at least one with your eyes."

Shadow emerged from the room, a small bundle in his arms. One pink arm had freed itself and was moving in protest. The baby was crying, but it sounded awfully weak.

"How's Marie?" Dawn asked cautiously.

"Resting," Shadow said, grinning slightly, "fortunately, it wasn't that bad. The baby was only stuck…she was laying across instead of head-down. Still, it's an intervention I was happy to make. Keep her in bed for a few days and make sure she gets plenty of rest, food, and drink. She'll pull through."

Dawn's relief was evident when her shoulders sagged. She accepted the tiny bundle. When she raised her head to look at Shadow, but the Trio was gone.

"How does he do that?" she muttered.

Claude suppressed a smile.

"You're so little," Dawn remarked to the newborn, "like a little sugar sack…and just as sweet, I bet."

At first, Claude wasn't sure what to think. He saw a wrinkly red face and an odd tuft of dark hair. How was it that most women thought babies were beautiful?
"Say 'hi Claude, this is your future'," Dawn told the infant as she eased her into Claude's arms.

One tiny red hand grasped Claude's finger and what felt like an electric shock ran through his nerves. There was such strength in that little hand…for a baby who could have died, she was so strong…

Suddenly, Claude understood why women carried on so much. Though his head understood that there was one of these inside Dawn's body, his heart suddenly did as well. All at once, he was very warm and very scared at the same time. Something no bigger than a grain of sand, maybe even smaller, would grow into one of these and come out to face the world. The gravity of this hit him like a tidal wave and he was suddenly drowning in love for both this child and the one that he and Dawn had made. His son or daughter would need protection and love…

Dawn smiled warmly. Seeing Claude with the baby melted her heart and she cleared her throat so that the errant tears wouldn't escape. Instead, she smiled.

"You look good with a baby," she remarked.

"So do you."

"I guess it doesn't matter that we have no idea what we're getting into."

"I suppose not."

Squishie tried to lick the baby in the face, but Dawn caught her before she could.

"Not yet, Squish. You have to wait until she's big enough to handle your kisses."

Squishie settled for licking the baby's hand, mostly to spite Dawn. Dawn hugged the dog to her chest.

"You little rat. Jealous, huh? I bet you'll be a good big sister, though."

Squishie wagged her tail.

"Dawn?" Marie's voice floated down the hall weakly.

Dawn got up to see what she wanted.

The sight was gut-wrenching, but Dawn's face stayed still. She pretended not to see the blood-soaked rags or how pale Marie looked.

"I didn't get to see…what was it?" Marie asked weakly.

"A girl," Dawn answered, "Claude's got her."

"All I could think of was how much she was hurting me," Marie admitted, "but I heard her cry…and I still hurt…but I didn't care so much…"

Dawn smiled.

"You should try to get some sleep. You've had a rough three days," Dawn told her.

"I want my baby."

Without arguing, Dawn retrieved her. This was a good sign, she thought. If she already thought about her daughter this way, it was promising. Maybe she wouldn't keep her negative attitudes.

Once the baby was secured in Marie's arms, Marie unwrapped the blanket to study her. Ten fingers, ten toes. Two legs. Two arms. Everything was in the right spot and nothing was missing.

"So…you're the one who's been tossing around in there," Marie remarked, "I expect you like having the extra room out here."

Dawn could swear that the baby smiled.

"Don't think I've gone soft because I've decided to keep you," Marie told her daughter, "you will learn to have a better life than I have. First, we'll start with a name…Brat doesn't become you, does it?"

Claude stood in the doorway, his sky-blue eyes twinkling. Dawn sent him an answering look.

"We'll give you a good, respectable name…how about Ruth? Ruth was one of the toughest women in the Bible. That archdeacon doesn't think I've been listening during my lessons, but we'll show him, won't we?"

Dawn and Claude slipped from the room with conspiratorial grins. The new mother and daughter needed time alone. Dawn was ready for a nap. Claude agreed with her. Squishie played with her ball between Claude and Dawn's room and Marie's, ready to alert the couple if Marie needed anything. The small bells were chiming in the tower to signal the new life that had just come into the world.