They continued to slink in stop-and-go fashion through the residential area. Every few minutes, with gradually increasing frequency, they had to stop when Thera felt another labor pain hit. It became a pattern. When she could feel a contraction coming Thera would slow down, Jonah would bring them all to a stop, and Thera would fold into his embrace as the painful spasm claimed her body. Jonah would hold her, Carlin and Kaegan would keep watch, then when it was over Thera would pull back and give Jonah a nod and they'd press on.

At the last long stop Thera had sagged against the wall, Jonah in front of her and holding on to her, and at the peak of the contraction she made a muffled, pitiful sound and Jonah looked down to see her pants darken as they soaked. After that things had gotten worse. The contractions were coming faster, closer together, and Thera didn't have to tell him for Jonah to know they were getting much more painful.

They could all see Thera's labor was starting to progress quickly and it galvanized them to escape their would-be attackers.

Finally they were at the edge of the residential section and Jonah passed Thera to Carlin and crept up to confer with Kaegan.

"I don't see any signs of the enemy," she whispered.

Jonah nodded to himself and said, "We could take a chance and go straight up the middle of the street, try to take cover in one of the businesses."

"As far from here as we can get, right?" Kaegan asked.

Jonah nodded and shifted as he surveyed their options.

"Jonah!" Carlin whispered roughly.

Jonah looked back and his grip on his staff tightened convulsively. Thera was almost to the point of collapsing and might have were it not for Carlin's protective hold on her. She was clutching her stomach, her knees bent and ready to buckle, her face contorted with biting back sound as the pain raked over her.

Carlin looked hotly at Jonah and said in the same coarse whisper that he'd used to call Jonah's attention, "She can't do this anymore!"

Jonah had only to look at Thera and know Carlin was right. His mind spun and he ran through options. Fleeing any farther was not an option, not for Thera.

Jonah looked at the last line of houses they'd skirted, still within easy range of access, and gestured to Kaegan. Together they pulled back to where Carlin and Thera were and he said, "All right, we dig in here. Carlin, Kaegan, you two slip into some of these houses and find one we can use."

Carlin handed the sagging Thera, for the moment freed from the clutching grip of labor, over to Jonah then he and Kaegan snuck off to break and enter.

Thera leaned her head on to Jonah's chest and he brushed his hand over her sweaty forehead. "Want to sit down?" he asked.

Thera shook her head against him, her voice when she spoke fragile and terrifyingly honest, "I don't think I could get up again if I did."

Jonah gathered her close, as close as he could with her massive girth, and he dropped one hand to rub her back. "Don't want to have the baby in the alley?"

Thera snorted against him then went quiet. "I'm sorry."

Jonah pressed his lips to her hair. "Shhh... don't be."

"Tell Carlin and Kaegan to get to safety."

Jonah looked up for signs of either person in question then said, "They won't leave you. I can't fault them for refusing to do what I refuse to do."

"They don't have to risk themselves," she argued.

"Thera... none of us will cut and run on you."

Thera looked like she was about to argue more when her breathing started to speed up and her body tensed. "Jonah," she whimpered.

"Hang on to me," he instructed and she hugged him tightly. Her grip turned almost bruising as she rode out another contraction and to keep from crying out she bit into his jacket sleeve.

Carlin came scurrying back, keeping an eye out so he wasn't seen by the enemy, and when he reached them just as Thera was recovering he whispered, "We found a house, come on."

Jonah looped his arm around Thera's shoulders to support and guide her and he followed Carlin until the younger man turned into a modest house's ajar back door. Carlin led them inside and straight to a bedroom where Kaegan was pulling extra blankets and pillows from the closets and tossing them on to the large bed with hurried disregard for organization or neatness.

"Better than an alley," Jonah quipped gently and Thera swallowed and closed her hands over his arm, not because of a contraction but because of fear.

Jonah looked between Carlin and Kaegan. "Can you two keep watch out in the living room?"

Carlin nodded. "We won't let anyone get by," he promised with conviction and he and Kaegan left with their weapons in hand.

Jonah walked Thera over to the bed then asked, "You okay for a second?"

Thera nodded haggardly and Jonah left her side to arrange the blankets and pillows strewn haphazard atop the bed. He was creating quite the little nest when Thera choked on a cry and he looked quickly at her. She was practically doubled over, arms braced on the bed, her face a contortion of pain.

"Right, enough fluffing," Jonah muttered and went to Thera. He loosely wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back and the sides of her stomach until the contraction passed and Thera was able to regain her control. She stiffly stood up and turned to face him.

"Let me help," he said gently and took off her jacket and layers of shirts. He left one thin shirt on her for modesty and looked her in the eye. "Put your arms around my neck."

Thera reached up and did as he said and Jonah undid her pants and pulled all her layers of clothing down past her buttocks. "Nice and slow," he said and eased her back until she was sitting perched on the edge of the bed. When she was settled and relatively secure Jonah went to work removing the rest of her clothes. He knelt on the floor and removed her shoes then pulled off her many pairs of pants. When he finished he looked up at her and she didn't even try to muster a brave face for him. She already looked worn out and scared half out of her mind.

Jonah stood and patted the pillows he'd shored up near the head of the bed. "Lay back."

Thera tensed and Jonah cocked his head at her. Panic flashed through her eyes.

"I'm here," he reassured her in his softest voice and urged her back on the bed. Thera shifted into the middle reluctantly, her eyes locked on Jonah's face, then her eyes closed as another contraction gripped her body.

Jonah sat next to her, held her as she gasped for breath, and when it passed she sagged back on the bed without further need for urging. Thera grabbed his hand and Jonah brushed back her hair from her face. "Everything's going to be okay," he said gently.

Thera wrapped her free arm around her stomach and rolled partially on her side facing Jonah.

"Do you...well, can you tell how close you are?" Jonah asked.

Thera whimpered a pathetic sound, her face part buried in a pillow and the rest pressed into his thigh. "Should I base that on how much it hurts?"

Jonah winced.

Thera suddenly gripped his hand savagely and curled on her side against him.

"Shhh," Jonah tried to soothe and he draped his free arm around her and rubbed her back. He hated knowing for a fact it was doing absolutely nothing to make it easier on Thera.

Thera endured close to fifteen unending seconds of agony then gasped and released some of the tension on his hand and began to shift uncomfortably on the bed.

"What?" Jonah asked, hoping there was something he could do to help.

Thera shook her head and grimaced. "It's getting bad...ow, really bad," she said with a grimace. She rolled on to her back and curled up around her stomach then lay down again. Her face was sweaty and her palm in his slick. She drew up then lay down again as though hunting for some forever-elusive comfortable position.

"What can I do?" he asked helplessly as he continued to stroke her hair back.

Thera heaved for breath and writhed uneasily on the bed. "Jonah..."

"Yeah?"

"Jonah!" Thera yelped.

Jonah had never felt so helpless or useless. "What? Please, what?"

Thera arched back then half-way sat up, curling forward. "I think... I think I need to push."

Jonah slipped behind her raised shoulders to support her. "Then do it."

Thera clutched at his hand and fought for breath, then she brought her knees up and bore down... hard.

Jonah whispered mindlessly in her ear to try and coax her along, then, of all things, heard himself counting out loud.

Thera released her breath and sagged back against him when it passed. "Aaa, damn, hurts..." she croaked thinly and Jonah ached horribly for her but the best he could do was kiss her on the cheek and use his free hand to try and rub her back. She dropped her head down on to his shoulder and squeezed his hand.

Thera began to gulp for air again and with a strangled groan she started to push once more.

"You're doing good, you're doing so good, Thera," Jonah repeated again and again in her ear until Thera deflated against his chest again.

"Carlin..." she said in a tired voice.

"Carlin?" Jonah repeated, perplexed.

"Get Carlin."

Jonah frowned. "What do you think Carlin can do?"

Thera gritted her teeth around a new contraction and as she pushed for all she was worth she ground out, "Get Carlin!"

Jonah startled at her insistence then slipped out from under her and went to the bedroom door. Rushing out into the hall he found his way to the living room and discovered Kaegan and Carlin both standing sentry with weapons at the ready.

"How's she doing?" Kaegan asked.

Jonah looked directly at Carlin. "She wants you."

Carlin blinked, surprised, but holstered his gun and followed Jonah down the hall.

In the bedroom Thera was scooting back on the bed toward the headboard in some futile effort to escape the pain. She looked over at them and she looked terrified. "Jonah..."

Jonah was at her side again in an instant and Thera clung to him shamelessly as her body clutched around her baby. Thera pushed and did everything she could not to cry out at the same time.

Carlin stood there next to the bed, confused. "Um... what did you want me to..."

Jonah gestured toward the end of the bed gruffly. "Just... catch."

Carlin's eyes widened but he looked down at Thera then cleared his throat and moved hesitantly to the foot of the bed.

Thera was released from her latest contraction and opened her eyes to see Carlin standing before her, framed between her knees.

"Thera, you sure you want me to..." Carlin asked uncertainly.

Thera nodded.

Carlin hesitated only a moment then he pulled his gun from his belt and handed it over to Jonah. While Jonah set it on the nightstand Carlin took off his jacket and vest and laid them aside.

Thera was pushing again, teeth bared and eyes tightly shut.

Carlin got up on the bed and knelt on his knees between Thera's legs. He blushed once and in any other instance Jonah probably would have laughed.

The contraction passed and Thera melted back on the bed.

"See anything?" Jonah asked.

Carlin tried to look without looking first then he gave up and muttered, "Aside from a lot more of Thera than I should ever see..."

"Carlin!" Jonah and Thera snapped in unison.

Carlin held up his hands. "Okay, sorry... um, no, I don't see anything... well, I mean, uh, I don't see the baby yet, I don't think..."

"You don't think?" Jonah parroted.

Carlin shot a defensive look at Jonah. "Well, what makes you think I've done this before?" he retorted then he asked more softly, "How long has she been pushing?"

"Pretty much since we got her in here."

"And I'm about to do it again!" Thera warned in a rising voice and Jonah turned all attention to her. Thera bore down and Carlin cleared his throat and made himself look.

Just as the contraction was ending Carlin exclaimed, "I can see it! Just barely."

Jonah's mouth went dry and his pulse started to hammer.

"Head?" Thera asked, out of breath.

Carlin nodded and Thera closed her eyes once in relief. Jonah hadn't even thought of what they would have done if it had been breech. Only after that crisis was averted did it send his heart into his stomach.

"Help... up," Thera said, tugging on Jonah's hand, and he lifted her shoulders up and slid his body behind her. Thera reclined against him gratefully but it was short-lived as she whimpered and curled around another contraction.

"That's good, Thera, keep pushing. I can see it coming," Carlin encouraged.

"Jonah!" Kaegan called from the hallway and Jonah's blood went cold. Kaegan wouldn't call out the reason she'd asked for Jonah, not when Thera was with him and had other worries, but it would be obvious to everyone. The enemy was getting close; they were in danger of being discovered.

Thera stopped pushing and Carlin was speaking at once, "No, don't stop, Thera. The baby's crowning, it's almost here."

Thera silently sobbed and visibly trembled with the effort to not give in and push on the next contraction. Her legs pushed feebly against the bed in her best effort to not push.

Jonah slipped out from underneath her and came around to sit beside her so she could see him. She looked at him, tears tracking her weary face, and Jonah touched her cheek. "Give birth, Thera."

Thera shook her head and pleaded in a small, spent voice, "No... please." Her body rebelled and she coughed out a quiet cry and breathed unevenly to forestall the force telling her to expel the infant.

Jonah laid a hand on her stomach and looked her in the eye. "Push."

Thera tried to shake her head but he could see her tensing and tightening. Her body was going to do it even if she was fighting it with all she had left.

"Push," Jonah repeated in a voice part command, part affection, and Thera did. She curled up and pushed as hard as she could and she felt burning and stretching and more pain than she ever knew existed. Her body kept pushing and the fire spiked and the pain hit a peak and a scream tore from her throat.

Jonah turned to look at the closed bedroom door and he slipped his gun out of its holster and thumbed off the safety.

"The head's out, Thera," Carlin urged excitedly, even as his own eyes cut nervously to the doorway. In one quick movement he pulled his knife from his belt and laid it on the bed beside Thera's left foot.

Beyond the small bedroom Jonah heard a door open and footsteps enter the house.

"Jonah!" Thera whispered hoarsely and Jonah looked down at her. She was crying and her eyes were pleading for something from him.

"Oh, god," Thera whimpered and she sobbed as the need to push rose like a tidal wave.

"You're so close, Thera," Carlin urged but Thera was fighting it again.

Jonah loved her despite how frustrating she was being.

"Thera, deliver this baby," he said sternly and she was overtaken by nature. She attacked the contraction and pushed with all her might. She felt herself stretch as if to rip in two right down the middle, she felt the pain and fire build and race to consume her entire body and she could do nothing but push through it.

"Here it comes!" Carlin's voice was somewhere in the distance, muffled.

Sounds of a scuffle in the living room even farther away than that.

Thera pushed, it was all she knew and all she was. Her muscles were pulling and she felt herself stretch and burn and she'd never hurt so much in all her life and she felt herself tear.

Thera couldn't help the horrendous scream that escaped her mouth.

Jonah was right there with her, so close, and she looked at him through tear-filled eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she croaked.

Jonah brushed the damp blonde hair back from her face and ducked in to kiss her. "Don't be sorry," he said in a tense but tender voice, "not your fault." Then Jonah turned away from the bed to face the bedroom door.

Footsteps were coming closer.

Thera's scream-ravaged voice was cracking around the word 'sorry' and there was the wet sound of a baby fighting to clear its airways for its first breath.

The door opened and Jonah needed only a split-second to know it wasn't Kaegan.

Jonah's finger tightened around the trigger when a metallic noise sounded and blue flashed and Jonah's world went black.