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Chapter Two

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"...passed out. Is she okay?"

"Blood pressure and pulse...normal range...labor for a long time...don't know what is a typical length for Thanagarian. Can't give her anything for the pain."

The voices faded in and out of her consciousness. Slowly, the darkness lifted ever so slightly for Hawkgirl as she regained her awareness.

She thought she heard a voice say. "All right, dear, another one is coming."

Hawkgirl had just start to wonder what was coming when she was seized by an enormous wave of overwhelming excruciating pain that she thought would rip her in half at its crescendo. Her eyes snapped open. She screamed and struggled against the straps holding her in position on the table she lay on.

"Shayera, honey...remember your breathing...we have to breath. Focus on me."

Shayera turned her head to the right, in the direction of the voice. It was John Stewart wearing a surgical cap, gown and mask. She recognized his green eyes against his dark skin.

"John," she pleaded breathlessly. "Help me, please. What's happening to me?"

"Darling, hold on. The baby is almost here." John placed his fingers in her right hand. "Here, take my hand and focus on me."

With sweat streaming down her brow, Shayera groaned, "Baby? What baby? ...I'm not pregnant... OHHH! DAMN. THIS HURTS."

A voice at her feet said, "That was a good one, dear. I don't want you to push yet, but we are really close."

Shayera tried to get her breath back. She turned her head to look at John who had a pained expression in his teary eyes. She realized she had been crushing his fingers during her contractions. She smiled to herself that she was at least able to share a little pain with him.

She swallowed, took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. "Are you the father?" she said flatly, never taking her eyes off him.

"After five years of marriage, I hope so," he answered. He wiped her brow, keeping the sweat out of her eyes.

She smiled weakly at his response even as she was confused by what was happening to her. She decided she could ask questions later. Right now, she would focus on making the pain stop.

"Okay, dear, this will be a big one. Don't push. Look at your husband. Focus on your husband," the voice at her feet said.

Shayera kept her eyes focused on John, never wavering in her gaze and let loose a string of profanity in Thanagarian, followed by a couple of seconds of shallow breathing, followed by a string of profanely in English. She alternated this pattern until the contractions subsided.

John wiped her brow again and said, "You know, contrary to what you just said in Thanagarian, my parents were married before I was born, they were not cousins and my mother was not a canine."

She grinned. "When did you learn Thanagarian?"

"Well, English was not your first language, but you learned it. After five years of marriage, I thought I should know a little of your language for moments like these, don't you think?"

Shayera closed her eyes and grinned, "Mister there won't be many more moments like these - I can guarantee that."

"Okay, mother to be, with the next one, you can push until I tell you to stop. Get ready," said the voice at her feet.

With the next contraction, Shayera pushed and grunted and pushed again and was rewarded with the cries of new life.

"It's a girl...with wings yet. Congratulations, mom and dad. We need to get her cleaned up a little and mom fixed up a little and let you meet the newest member of you family."

John and Shayera were both smiling broadly at each other. John bent over and kissed Shayera on the forehead and whispered "I love you."

Shayera smiled but didn't answer. He kissed her on the forehead again. A nurse appeared on Shayera's right side and held the new baby up for Shayera and John to see.

"She's beautiful," John said, "just like her mother."

"The first child I've seen with wings. Do you have a name for her yet?" The nurse asked.

Shayera looked at John but didn't say anything.

John smiled at Shayera and looked at the nurse. "Her name is Sarah. Sarah Hol Stewart."

Shayera repeated the name to herself and silently agreed that it was a good name.

"Dad, you follow me out and we will have our mother here in her room in a few minutes," said the nurse.

John left with the nurse and Shayera closed her eyes and tried to grasp what was happening to her.

Just a few minutes ago she had had John's baby. Her body told her that much was real. He had said something about being married for five years, but earlier leaving her quarters he said they had been married for two years. She had to get answers but now she was too tired to think of anything but resting.

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"Hi, sleepy head."

Shayera opened her eyes and looked into John's smiling face. She was in a private room in a hospital. Stuffed animal figures were plastered on the wall, the room was filled with flowers and a crib was on the right hand side of her bed.

"Hi, yourself," she answered as she slowly sat up.

John pulled up a chair on the left hand side of her bed and sat down next to Shayera. He held her hand and kissed it and grinned like the proverbial Cheshire cat.

Shayera looked at John with an air of amusement and figured that nothing was going to wipe that smile off his face. "Men," she thought to herself.

"John, we need to talk." She said. "I need some answers because I am so confused so bear with me, okay?" Without waiting for his answer, she said, "How long have we been married?"

John looked puzzled. "Is this a test? Because if it's a test, I know the answer. The answer is five years and two months, right?"

Shayera stared into her lap trying to form the next question in her brain. She turned to John and asked, "Tell me again how we got together?"

John's face took on the pleased look of a little kid who had the answer that the teacher wanted. He smiled and said,

"That one I will never forget. I got back from the trial on Aduris 4 and I was still very depressed. And you reached out to me. You asked me to teach you how to play chess. And we played every day. In the beginning I won most of the matches, but you have beaten me every week for the last five years. I don't quit playing with you, because you make conceding so much fun. Anyway, you are everything I ever wanted, always there for me and I love you so much."

Shayera blushed and said, "John, I don't know what to say. I do care for you a lot. But, I don't remember any of the last five years and I do know how to play chess. John, something has happened to me and I don't know what it is or how to explain it."

At that moment, a nurse walked in the room. She was all smiles as she picked up baby Sarah.

"Time for mother and daughter to bond," the nurse said as she handed the baby to Shayera. Shayera held the baby awkwardly.

"No dear. She's not a weapon...Hold her like this." said the nurse as she adjusted the way Shayera held the child.

"Are you going to breastfeed?" the nurse asked.

Both John and Shayera answered at the same time but gave different answers. "Yes," he said. "No" she said.

Both John and Shayera looked at each other in surprise while the nurse looked at both of them and then said to John. "Ah...Dad, that's normally the mother's decision."

John looked down at his shoes in embarrassment and said, "Yes...you're right. It's just that we had talked about it before and I thought that what she said she was going to do...oh well... whatever she wants."

"Dad, here's a bottle," replied the nurse handing the bottle to John. "I'll be back in a little while."

After the nurse left, John handed the bottle to Shayera who pulled the baby closer to her and fed the hungry child. John sat on the edge of bed and leaned into Shayera who leaned back against him. He kissed the top of her head and thought for a moment he heard her purr.

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John came back to the hospital bright and early the next morning. He entered Shayera's room and suddenly stopped. He found Shayera sitting up in her bed, with her eyes closed, breastfeeding little Sarah. Before he could say anything, she opened her eyes, glared at him and said, "Not one word, Mister. Not one word," and closed her eyes again.

John smiled and replied, "Yes, ma'am. Not one word."

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"Mrs. Stewart. Mrs. Stewart. Time to wake up. Today's the day you go home. Here's Sarah."

Shayera sleepily took Sarah from the nurse and started breastfeeding. She thought about what had happened over the last couple of days. She distinctly remembered coming back from Earth-2 like it was yesterday and suddenly finding out she was married to the Green Lantern and then just as suddenly bearing his child. Five years of life in twenty-four hours. And she wasn't sure she could get used to being called Mrs. Stewart.

She had reasoned that she wasn't in her own reality or her own timeline. She had figured out that something must have happened when she entered the Earth-2 dimensional portal perhaps transporting her to a parallel universe or maybe she was simply asleep and dreaming all of this.

Yet, was this reality so bad? John was a good man and he clearly loved her. And this child at her breast was hers and she had the aches to prove it. Is this what she truly wanted with her life - to be a mother and a wife? She was a warrior, trained to fight, but was this life so bad that she had to find a way to leave it? It was all right and it was all wrong.

The Green Lantern stood at the doorway, holding a small bag, watching the Madonna tableau transpire in front of him. He thought to himself that Shayera looked as peaceful as he had ever seen her and maybe motherhood agreed with her.

He cleared his throat to let her know he was there. Shayera looked up at him and smiled.

"Here, John." She said, offering Sarah to him, "Take your daughter."

John put the bag down at the foot of the bed and took Sarah. "I brought your other 'baby' with me just in case you wanted it."

Shayera slowly got out of the bed and walked to the foot of the bed and opened the bag. There was her mace and clothing for her to wear home. She took the clothing and went to the bathroom to change. She came out a few minutes later and there was an orderly with a wheel chair waiting for her.

"Your ride is here, dear lady." The Lantern said as she stepped out of the bathroom.

Shayera sat in the wheelchair and took Sarah back from the Lantern. He grabbed the bag containing the mace and followed the orderly down the hall, past the reception desk and out of the hospital.

"Which car is yours?" asked the orderly.

Both John and Shayera smiled knowingly at each other.

"It's around the corner so I'll take it from here," the Lantern replied.

Still holding Sarah, Shayera stood up and the Green Lantern formed a transport bubble around them all. Shayera suddenly heard a voice call her name. It was the same voice that had called her earlier but this time it was much more painful than it had been previously. As the bubble started to move, Shayera fainted from the pain.

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