CHAPTER 2

SEVEN MONTHS LATER

The nursery was finally finished. Kathryn looked around and smiled happily at the sight before her. Everything was perfect, from the nursery rhyme characters Phoebe had so painstakingly painted on the wall, to the beautiful quilt her mother had made that adorned a white cot. It was a bright, happy, room, suitable for a boy or a girl.

"I say this deserves a coffee and a cake," Phoebe said, sharing her sister's pride in the room, "or rather a juice and a cake for you."

"Evil," Kathryn laughed. "Very evil."

She was just about to leave the room when she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She gasped and put her hand to her bump. Phoebe turned to her anxiously.

"What is it?"

"I felt something. I think it was a contraction."

"But the doctors said it would be at least another month."

"Yes, but they don't know exactly. They're only guessing." She felt another pain and gasped again. "Definitely a contraction."

Phoebe put her arm around her sister and guided her to the door. "Then we'd better get you to hospital."

It had been over five hours and still there was no sign of Janeway junior. Kathryn had chosen to give birth in a beach house simulation, with a beautiful view of sands and sea, and with soft classical music playing. She was very relaxed and handling it all so much better than Phoebe would have expected. Kathryn had wanted her mother to be present, but Gretchen had not been too well of late and on doctors orders was having to stay at home. It had turned out to be a hidden blessing as she was so anxious every time Kathryn spoke to her via the comm system, that Kathryn was glad she wasn't present.

Phoebe handed Kathryn a drink of water now and she took it gratefully. She was in a lot of discomfort, but she had a high threshold of pain, and was just wanting it to be over more than anything. She couldn't wait to hold her baby in her arms and welcome him or her into the world with a kiss. If she had a girl she had decided on calling her Martha, after her favorite
aunt who had died just months before they returned to the Alpha Quadrant, and if she had a son, Edward, after her father.

Suddenly a terrible pain tore across her abdomen and she dropped her glass of water to the bed as she clutched her stomach, keeling in agony. It took only a few seconds for Phoebe to realize that something was seriously wrong and she hit the hospital commbadge resting on her breast.

"Assistance required urgently."

She then sat on the bed beside Kathryn and stroked her brow, telling her everything would be alright. Within seconds, two doctors entered the room and hurried over to the bed. They studied the data on surrounding machines and then hastily drew Phoebe away from her sister. The female doctor, who Phoebe recognized as Dr Cara Shaw, put a hypospray to Kathryn's neck and Phoebe watched as she instantly fell unconscious.

"What's wrong?" she cried, suddenly tearful with worry. "What's happening?"

The doctors ignored her and lay Kathryn flat on her back on the bed. Suddenly the machines began to bleep and everything was confusion. Then the male doctor turned to Phoebe, his voice anxious.

"We have to choose priority, the baby or the Admiral..."

Phoebe stared at him, her whole being screaming. "No ... No ... You have to save them both..."

"The baby or the Admiral," he shouted, his voice sharper this time, "quickly, or we'll lose them both..."

"The baby," Phoebe cried. "She would wish to save the baby..."

As soon as she had said those words, the doctors sprung into action. A young nurse whose presence Phoebe hadn't noticed began ushering her out of the room.

"No," Phoebe wept, "I want to be with her..."

"I'm sorry, but you have to wait outside..."

"But..."

"Your presence distracts the doctors, now please..."

In moments Phoebe was outside the room in a plain silver corridor that seemed to stretch for miles before her. She could hardly think, hardly breathe... The nurse was kinder now, comforting.

"Is there someone I can call?"

Phoebe nodded. "Barry ... my husband ...Tell him to come..."

Within minutes, Barry was at her side and Phoebe clung to him desperately, breaking her heart. This wasn't how things should have ended. Kathryn was so looking forward to having the baby and had everything prepared. It was so unfair. She would be a wonderful mother and she so deserved to be happy.

After half an hour, the male doctor emerged from the birthing room. Phoebe stood up as he approached her. He was pale, drawn, but a soft smile graced his lips.

"They both made it."

It took a moment for the words to register, and then Phoebe laughed through tears and embraced her husband once more. They held each other tight for a long moment and then she turned again to the doctor.

"What did she have?"

"A boy," the doctor smiled again.

A boy. Kathryn had a son and she had a nephew. The joy was almost overbearing.

"And they're both alright?"

The doctor nodded. "They're both going to be fine. He's a very small baby, very weak, and his lungs haven't fully developed yet so we're going to have to keep him in an intensive care incubator until he can survive on his own." He paused. "Your sister suffered a severe uterine rupture and had to have a major operation as well as a caesarian, so is going to be very weak and sore for a while."

Phoebe wiped away a tear. "May I see the baby?"

The doctor smiled. "Of course."

Phoebe gazed at the tiny creature lying in an incubator next to Kathryn's bed. He had fluffy hair, a far more distinctive shade of red than his mother, and apart from a small ridge on both sides of his forehead and his chin, he looked completely human. He was so tiny and yet so perfect. Even the tiny nails on his tiny fingers were perfect. She wiped away her tears and then turned to look at Kathryn. She was attached to a lot of wires and blood was slowly dripping into her body.

"When can she wake up?"

"Anytime," the doctor replied, "but she would be in a lot of pain. It's better if we keep her sedated."

"Could you wake her up just for a moment? She would like to see her baby, I know she would."

"Alright," the doctor replied.

He went over to the bed and put a hypospray to her neck. Moments later Kathryn's eyes fluttered open.

"My baby..." she whispered.

Phoebe reached for her hand and squeezed it. "You have a son, Kathryn. A perfect, beautiful, son."

Kathryn smiled softly and Phoebe saw tears well under her eyelids.

"And he's here, right beside you."

Kathryn turned to look and forced her eyes open. Another smile graced her lips when she made out, through a thick fog before her eyes, a tiny figure in the incubator. "I see him..."

"He has the Janeway hair," Phoebe said, " The Janeway ears too."

Kathryn smiled again and closed her eyes. "I want to hold him."

Phoebe squeezed her hand. "When you're stronger, Kathryn. Right now you need to rest."

She gestured to the doctor to put her back to sleep and in moments Kathryn was unconscious again.

All was still fog as Kathryn woke the following morning. Slowly it began to clear and she saw Dr Cara Shaw in a chair beside the bed.

"Good morning, Kathryn," she smiled.

Kathryn smiled before turning instinctively to where her baby lay. She gazed at him in the incubator and, for the first time, noticed that he was attached to a lot of wires which, in turn, were attached to a lot of machines, and that he was completely surrounded by glass. Anxiety began to consume her.

"Why the wires ... the glass...?"

"Don't be alarmed," Dr Shaw said reassuringly. "He's a very small baby. In human terms he's the equivalent of two months premature. The incubator simulates the environment of the womb which will keep him warm and protected and the sounds it generates will comfort him aswell. His lungs aren't fully developed yet so he needs a little help to breathe. But he's in no danger."

Kathryn felt a wave of relief at that and was suddenly tearful. She reached out and lay her hand on the glass. It was incredible the feelings racing around inside her. She thought she had known love before, but no feeling had ever compared to the feeling she felt for this helpess little creature. It was beautiful and yet frightening all at once.

"When will I be able to hold him?"

"In about five or six weeks time. His skin is very delicate and needs to be touched as little as possible. He's being fed intravenously and all his other physical needs are being taken care of by technology."

A tear ran down Kathryn's cheek and she wiped it away. "What happened? What went wrong?"

"You suffered a severe uterine rupture during labor," the doctor said calmly. "It's a very rare occurrence and when it does happen, we usually perform a fetal transportation. But in this case your son was too small to survive the transition. That left us with caesarian as the only option if we wanted to save the baby. That option meant high risk to yourself, but your sister told us you would wish to save the baby first." She paused. "It was a close call. We lost you for several minutes."

A cold shiver engulfed Kathryn and she fought to suppress a growing fear inside her as she thought about another baby in another time...

"Uterine rupture usually only occurs if a woman has had a caesarian in the past or has had some form of uterine intrusive surgery. As this was your first pregnancy.." she smiled.. "as a human... there was no reason to anticipate this. However, I have studied your medical history in great detail and it appears that you suffered severe abdominal and pelvic injuries during a space battle fourteen years ago. As you were treated on the ship by a nurse rather than a doctor, your injuries are not recorded in as much detail as they should have been and probably not treated as competently as they could have been. You should have been told that because of your injuries, you should never have attempted natural labor. The information
should have been recorded on your medical file."

"It was chaos," Kathryn replied, turning away from the incubator to the doctor. "I don't think I was even treated by a nurse. I think it was a crew member. We had dozens injured, including the medical staff, and everyone had to help each other." She paused. "Were you able to repair my uterus?"

"Yes," Dr Shaw replied. "But there was some severe damage to your reproductive organs. You will never be able to have another child." She paused. "I'm sorry."

"Well," Kathyn said with a soft smile, "it wasn't as if I was planning on a brood." She turned to her baby once again and another tear ran down her cheek. "I never thought it would happen to me ... never thought I would have a child. And yet I wanted one ... all these years. Mark never did and while I was on Voyager..." She reached out and touched the glass again. "I'm so thankful for this one miracle ... So very thankful." She studied his face, his fingers, his tiny little legs with tiny little toes. "He's beautiful, isn't he?"

Dr Shaw nodded. "Very beautiful."

"And so perfect." She caressed the glass. "Edward," she said, "that's what I was going to call him. Edward Alexander Janeway. But he seems too small to be an Edward or an Alexander, doesn't he?"

The doctor smiled. "You'll be surprised how quickly he'll grow, even for a Norvalen."

"But I could call him Alex," Kathryn continued. "It's small and beautiful, just like him." She smiled through tears as she gazed at her baby and then kissed her fingers and lay them on the glass. "Welcome to the world little Alex," she whispered. "I'm your Mom and we're going to do great things together."

END OF CHAPTER 2