Exhausted and fighting sleep, San managed to stay awake long enough to find an empty chair to sit on. Propping his elbows on his knees, he buried his face in his hands, his fingers trying to rub the sleep away from his eyes. A yawn escaped his mouth, but he still fought to stay awake.

"Are you alright, San?" Dalia's voice asked him.

"Yeah," he answered before meeting her gaze. "Celestia's-"

"In labor, we know. Hongjoong told us. How is she?"

"She's doing fine. I mean, she's in pain, but no complications that I know of. Dahae's keeping an eye on her."

"Good. We'll land in an hour or two, so we'll get her to hospital."

San nods.

For the next twenty minutes, he fights sleep in order to stay awake long enough to know what the plan was for the exploration. He could hear what the captain was instructing, but it all felt fuzzy as Hongjoong's voice seemed to bounce around in San's head. Thoughts of Celestia were swimming in his mind, and even started to dream she was walking into the meeting. Wooyoung had to elbow his friend in the ribs a few times to keep him from drowning into dreamland.

"San!" Grace-Anne burst into the door, jolting the young man awake, "you need to come with me, now. Celestia's water just broke!"

Without hesitating, San leaped from his seat and zoomed back to his bedchambers to find his wife kneeling in a fetal position on the floor, wheezing and moaning in pain. Dahae was next to her, holding her hand and massaging her lower back best she could. Peeking out from Celestia's knees was a puddle of a liquid substance.

"I'm here, angel," San whispered as he knelt in front of her.

"I'll go get the towels," Dahae said before dashing to the bathroom.

"I'll let you take it from here," Grace-Anne excused herself and left the room.

Celestia's pained whimpers broke San's heart. He didn't know how to make it better, but his conscience told him he needed to at least make sure his wife was comfortable.

"San, it hurts," she whined, her blue eyes now red with tears pooling in them.

"I know, my love," he nodded just before scooping her up to lay her on the bed. "Just hold onto me if you need to."

Dahae soon returned with everything she needed to help Celestia through this last stretch of labor: towels, sterile scissors, and a large bowl of water. The rest of the crew's curiosity got the better of them, and they tried to see what was happening. However, Grace-Anne stopped them.

"No!" she nearly shouted as she held her hands up in a stopping signal. "Leave them be! Celestia needs to focus and needs San and Dahae to be there for her. You'll all get to see the baby after she's born."

"Since we're landing soon, I'll call the hospital," Dinah volunteered.

Grace-Anne followed after her and replied, "She's not pushing yet, but we can at least look up the number for the maternity ward and maybe get an ambulance."

As the two women did so, the rest of the crew went about their businesses in preparing for landing. The air was thick with anxiousness, but Hongjoong reminded them to stay focused.

Labor had made the air too hot for Celestia, so she had San pull her night gown off and leave her in just her black bralette. A large but light towel was thrown over her so as to not make her feel embarrassed being nude from the waist down. San was beginning to sweat from being too nervous for his wife that he had to change his exploration attire down to a white shirt and basketball shorts, and Dahae busied herself with trying to make her friend as comfortable as possible and monitoring the baby as well. Byeol had scurried out of the room, frightened by Celestia's stressed moans.

San did his best to keep his wife cool with a cold, damp towel and kissing her face, hands, and even her still swollen tummy. He was excited to meet his little girl, but he wanted both mom and infant to be healthy and safe.

"I have to push!" Celestia cried after being checked again.

"Okay," Dahae nodded. "Hold your legs back, and on your next contraction I'll count down from ten. That's when you bear down and push hard."

Celestia just nodded and took San's hand before he could even offer it. It wasn't even a minute before the sharpest contraction took over, and she took a deep breath.

"Push, angel," San encouraged in a whisper.

With every bit of energy she could muster, Celestia bore down, determined to deliver her baby. Every contraction hurt worse than the last. She had known it would hurt but never expected anything excruciating. One hand pulled one of her legs back, and the other squeezed San's hand so hard she was causing it to turn various shades of red and purple. He didn't seem to mind, though. All that was going through his head was his role as a husband to support his wife through childbirth. This went on for about twenty minutes, and Celstia did her best to not scream; but she couldn't help whimper and yelp the worse the pain became.

"You're doing great, Celestia!" Dahae praised after about the fifth or sixth round of pushes. "Her head is right there."

Tears were starting to pool in Celestia's eyes again as she felt what was known as the "ring of fire." She pushed again. Her toes curled, and she released a squeal as she could feel her baby's head pass through. Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead, and San was quick to pat it dry with the cold towel. Her body was exhausted, and she almost wanted to give up completely. However, she had to keep reminding herself that her body knew what it was doing, so she pressed on.

After about ten more minutes of strenuous pushes, Dahae's hands reached out. San took a peek to see what was going on, and he broke into a smile.

"IT BURNS!" Celestia wailed. "I can't do it!"

"Yes, you can," he encouraged. "You're almost there. Her head's out."

"I'll guide her from here," Dahae reassured. "Just one more push."

While San was seemingly jumping out of his socks, Celestia gave one last push as she screamed in pain. The infant's small body slid out, and Celestia was able to relax again. A baby's crying immediately filled the room as she breathed in her first breath of oxygen; Celestia couldn't hold back her tears of joy the moment her daughter entered the world.

"It's a girl!" Dahae congratulated as she used a suction tube to extract any extra fluid in the child's airways.

"Angel, you did it!" San cheered as he busied himself peppering her tear stained cheeks with kisses.

"I gave birth?" she sniffed in near disbelief. Her body ached, but she cared more about how the baby was doing.

"Yes, you did! She's so beautiful!"

Propping herself up with what little strength she had left, Celestia caught a glimpse of her new baby as she was being cleaned from all of the gunk that was on her. Her face was contorted in a crying expression, but Celestia could identify her ears and eyes as carbon copies of San's and lips and nose as hers. Thick, dark locks covered her head, and Celestia already couldn't wait to put little bows in it.

"Please, let me hold her," she begged.

Dahae complied and gently placed the squealing baby on the new mom's chest. A blanket was then thrown over them to keep the child warm, but Celestia could at least hold her daughter.

San had knelt down to see his squealing baby girl, and he couldn't stop his own tears. Kissing his wife, he said, "She's ours. I know that wasn't easy, but I'm so proud of you. You're so strong."

"I can't take all of the credit for bringing a new life into the world. We both made her, therefore she shares both of our DNA." The couple chuckled as the child started to calm a bit, her head resting right over where her mommy's heart was.

Dahae then handed San a pair of sterile scissors and asked, "Would you like to cut the cord now?"

"Please," he nodded.

Once he was shown where to cut, San took the sterile scissors and snipped the cord.

"We're almost to the hospital," Dahae informed, "so you and baby will get proper treatment there."

Celestia just nodded as she continued to snuggle the newborn to her chest.

"What are we going to name our little princess?" San asked, kneeling down by his wife once more.

Glancing down at her baby, she smiled and answered, "Emerald."