Ever After Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Look in chapter one, if it's not there than someone has stolen it or maybe it got lost!

Okay, I apologise for the delay with this story but there was no point writing it while I was completely exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. So here is the next and last chapter of this story, enjoy.

Two months later..

It had all happened so fast that Dylan could barely believe it. First they had found out the baby was human and then while he and Rommie got use to the idea that it was going to be their child, Harper and Trance informed them that they would have to perform a caesarean because the programming for the birth of a fully android baby was not suitable for a human-android baby.

As soon as Harper and Trance had judged that it was safe for the baby to be born they brought Rommie to the med-deck. There was barely any time for Rommie to have any pre-birth fears but Dylan was there to calm her when she began to panic.

And everything went fine. Harper looked after the technical side and Trance took care of the biological side. They were a perfect team. Dylan held Rommie's hand as they began the operation.

Harper opened up the section Rommie stomach that had the baby concealed behind it. Trance stood by to remove the baby and if needed, to place it on a ventilator. It happened so fast, one second Harper was saying something to Trance, the next there was a small baby in her arms.

That was when everything went wrong. The alarms started beeping and Rommie began to shake violently. He heard Harper voice, distant.

"We're losing her. Her android matrix is destabilising!."

Dylan watched helpless as he tried to save her. Rommie's eyes were frantic and she gripped Dylan's hand. He barely heard the first cry of the baby but he heard Rommie whispered words.

"Take care of our baby."

Her eyes closed and then he heard Harper's voice.

"We've lost her."

He awoke with a shout. Sitting up in the chair he had fallen asleep in at Rommie's bedside. In a cot next to him slept his son. Rommie was fine, for a few seconds her systems had fluctuated and almost shut down but this was just a reaction to the sudden release from the strain of the baby on her systems.

Now Rommie had shut down most of her active sensors and was, technically, in a standby mode while her systems reaccustomed themselves to her normal non-pregnant form.

The seizures Rommie had experienced lasted less than half a minute and then Trance was giving her the baby to hold. A son, she had told him.

Rommie had held him and immediately she started crying, but assured them it was from happiness and that she adored the baby. He had hugged her and kissed her cheek.

The babies cry brought him out of his reverie. He had only held him for a short time but Trance had said that the baby really needed to sleep. So they had set up a cot for him beside his mothers bed and as Rommie was lying, seemingly asleep beside him, he fell asleep watching his child and his love.

And now the baby was crying. Dylan picked him up, gently, and tried to find a comfortable way to hold the baby securely in his arms. Once he had done that, he hoped the baby would stop crying, but it didn't. So he stood up and started pacing the room rocking the baby gently. And he quieted.

He sat back down and the baby started crying again. It took five times of walking and rocking until the baby had fallen asleep once more. Holo-Rommie appeared and said in a whisper, "The babies AI had just asserted itself"

And sure enough, in her arms lay a baby, sleeping like Dylan's. They were one in the same he knew. He was about to ask Rommie what the baby AI mainframe was doing when she told him.

"It appears to be sleeping but when it's awake it mostly just observes. I've created a firewall protected area for it so that it won't get into any of the main systems, at least until it's older."

And then she was gone and it was quiet once more. Beka and Tyr had already been in to see the baby and everyone had left to let them have some rest. But, they were planning a party as soon as they were all up to it. A sort of christening, in fact.

A voice from behind him startled him.

"Dylan?"

He turned to see Rommie, awake now and smiling. She looked like her old self again. He walked over and as she sat on the side of the bed, he sat beside her. She took the baby from him and his hand encircled her shoulder.

"All that trouble and this is the result. He looks so small, so helpless. How can we possibly hope to protect him Dylan? How can we make sure that he grows up good and safe. There is so much he needs to know and how can we teach him all this? What if we do something wrong?"

Dylan had been expecting this. Actually he had been expecting something worse but he was prepared anyway. Her fears were no different for anyone who was a parent for the first time.

"By example, Rommie. We will teach him how to be good and to do the right thing because we will always try to do the same and he will learn from us. We can teach him everything we know and that is all we can do. Truly it is up to him to do the right thing, to make the right choices. We can only do our best."

Rommie smiled at him. "And we will."

He kissed her and kissed the cheek of his son. "Yes, we will."

"So what will we call him?"

"Well, I know I said I wanted to call him Thomas but I think we should call him something else."

Rommie looked up at him, a little puzzled.

"What then?"

Dylan looked down at their son who yawned sleepily.

"I think we should call him Cade."

Rommie smiled at the baby and looked back at Dylan.

"Why Cade?"

"It's from a myth or a story that was written a long time ago on Earth. It was about a great warrior who was twice blessed. And I think that through all that has happened our baby has been blessed once by his creation and the name just seemed fitting."

He looked at her, waiting for her answer.

"I think that it is perfect. Cade Hunt. Captain Cade Hunt one day, maybe."

Rommie smiled at Dylan and they kissed. Cade awoke and his arms and legs flailing he made some happy baby sounds. His parents looked down at him and briefly both of them wondered what was to come.

But as his gurgling turned to a cry, both parents were pulled back into the present and the wonder of the new life before them. For the time being, it looked like it really would be happy ever after.

The End

So that's it, at least for this part of the story. I would consider doing a story of the growing up of Cade and how Dylan and Rommie would be like as parents. But it really depends on if anyone would like me to write it. I really enjoyed writing this story, probably more than any of my others. Thanks to anyone who reviewed it and I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did!