Sorry for the delay in updating. College is a little busy right now. Just give me a few more days, and please don't feed me to the blue in anger. Okay, lame joke, but at least it makes sense.

Chapter 2

Arrival

They set down a few miles away from the cryo facility since there wasn't enough clear area to land nearby it. Yuji wanted to take the Armor Shrikes, but Marlene insisted that she could manage the walk. As they walked towards the facility, they relished in the view. It was incredible to see how in less than a year, most of the traces of the Blue had faded. Their cocoons, eggs, webbings, whatever, were all gone. There were only three things left that showed they had even existed; the destruction the had left behind, the diminished population of the planet, and the Blue graveyard in South America where Yuji had met the will of the Earth.

Yuji took a deep breath, attempting to block out any disturbing memories with the good ones he already had and were still being made. "It's great to be back in Japan."

Marelene glanced at him and sighed. She couldn't share the experience of returning home with him. Second Earth had been where she had lived, but it had never been home. "It must be nice to come back to a peaceful home."

Yuji stopped, faced Marlene, and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Marlene, Japan may be where I have lived most of my life, but since we fell in love, my only home has been with you."

Marlene smiled. "Thank you, Yuji."

They resumed their walk, and before long, had arrived at the facility. After finding a safe entrance, they wandered around the now Blue free hallways.

"You never said what you were looking for here," Marlene said, placing her hand on her stomach as she felt a slight twinge. It quickly passed.

"Before we were frozen, we were allowed to place items in storage for when we were woken. I left a few things, mementos, books, things like that. But I remember that there wer a few scholarly types who were frozen when I was, and they had placed educational material in storage. I'm hoping to salvage whatever information we can."

"But, Yuji, the databanks we brought from Second Earth probably has most of this information already."

"True, but I want to have as much information as possible to pass on to the future." Yuji stared hard at Marlene. "The future has to learn from the past. It was the mistakes that humanity made as a race that nearly led to our extinction. I want to make sure we never repeat those mistakes. I don't want the children who are yet to be born to go through what we already have."

Marlene covered her stomach protectively with her arms. She understood how Yuji felt. She would rather die than let her children suffer.

They continued wandering the halls, looking for the storage area. Seeing these corridors brought back the memories of when Marlene and Yuji first met each other. It wasn't a very pleasant memory, as Blue had attacked them as Yuji had woken up. Suddenly, Marlene remembered a particular detail and burst out laughing.

Yuji eyed her curiously. "What's so funny?"

Marlene stopped laughing long enough to talk. "I was remembering how, after you ran away from us and ran into that Blue, that you got so scared that you peed your pants." She then started laughing again and Yuji joined her.

"Hey, I was scared. I'd like to see how calm you'd act when –"

Their laughter cut off when Marlene gave a sharp gasp and sank to the floor. Quickly, Yuji kenlt down beside her. "Marlene, what's wrong!?"

Breathing heavily for a second, Marlene looked at Yuji with worry in her eyes. "I've just found another thing we have in common, Yuji."

Yuji didn't understand what she was saying. "What do you mean?"

She no longer looked worried; she was scared. "We've both soaked the floor here. My water just broke. The baby's on its way."

Yuji froze. Amd quickly summed up the situation in his head. This is bad. Neither of them had expected this to happen. Her estimated delivery date wasn't supposed to be for two more weeks. They had no transportation back to their ship; and they had no medical supplies available except for what was in the facility, and that was all decades old. There were just so many complications that could –

"Yuji!" Marlene exclaimed, snapping him out of his daze.

Yuji decided to take control of the situation. "Come on," he said, putting her arm over his shoulder and helping her stand up. "Let's find you someplace to lie down. Can you walk?"

"I think so, but hurry." Awkwardly, the two of them moved on until they found a hallway filled with doors. Luckily, they soon found a room with a bed that was relatively untouched except for dust. Yuji pulled off the blankets and set Marlene down on the relatively clean covers. Just in time, too; because that's when the contractions started.

"Ah!" Marlene yelped briefly before stifling it. She had been trained as a soldier, and she would try and suppress her pain.

"Are you okay?" Yuji asked.

"Oh, sure, except for the fact that I'm about to push a person through me!" Marlene snapped at him. "I'm sorry. I'm just scared. Do you remember what we read about this? I'm having trouble recalling it." She actually did remember, but she wanted to give him something to focus on so he knew what to do.

Yuji tried to calm down and remember what he could. "After the onset of labor, contractions occur at intervals of ten to thirty minutes, with the intervals becoming shorter as time goes on. When enough dilation has occurred, the child is born." In frustration, Yuji punched the wall. "This shouldn't be happening! You weren't supposed to be due for another few weeks! Why didn't we bring anything with us?! We should have known this could happen!"

"Yuji!" Marlene exclaimed, louder this time. "We've got to make due with what we've got. If the baby and I are going to get through this, I'm going to need you.

Yuji pulled himself together. "You're right. Let's see. We're going to need towels, blankets, water, and whatever disinfectants are available. Will you be okay if I go look for those?"

"Just deal with the pain of contractions? Yeah, I can handle that. Just go, and hurry!"

Before he left, Yuji handed Marlene his sidearm, their only weapon. He wouldn't let her give it back to him. He felt safer knowing she had it.

Yuji ran off. Twenty minutes and two contractions later, he was back, carrying supplies.

"I found sheets and towels in a closet. I also found vending machines that still had water, and I've brought several bottles. There were also some soap dispensers near the sinks."

Marlene began to think that things were looking up, then she noticed that his right hand was bloody. "Did you punch through the vending machine?"

Yuji glanced at his fist and nodded. "Yeah, I was in such a rush I didn't think of protecting my hand. Anyway, what should I do now?"

"Just hold my hand," Marlene breathed as another contraction hit her. Yuji did just that.

The next eleven hours developed into something of a routine. Yuji would help Marlene with her breathing techniques, rub her face with a damp cloth, check how far along she was, hold her hand, and start over. The sun was setting, but there was still plenty of light left since their window faced the setting sun. The contractions came so close together that they were only moments apart. The pain was getting worse and worse, and eventually, even Marlene's discipline as a soldier wasn't enough to silence it. Finally, Yuji announced, "I think you're at ten centimeters. It's time."

"Finally," Marlene sighed, although she knew the hard part was still ahead. Yuji got up and started moving towards her side. "What are you doing?!" she screamed in disbelief. "Stay there!" Yuji realized what she meant and returned to the base of the bed. "Yuji, two things. First, when this is over, you are not touching me for at least four months! Second, next time, you're carrying the baby!"

Yuji chuckled. "I'll see what I can do." He made a bundle of blankets on the floor next to him to wrap the baby in. "Now you just need to push with your next contraction."

They didn't have to wait long. Another contraction, the strongest one yet, struck Marlene with a pain more intense than she had felt at anytime in her life, worse than any pain she had ever felt from fighting the Blue. She did her best to overcome the pain and just started pushing with all she had. She put all of her strength into pushing the wonderful little life that she and Yuji had created together out of its home for over eight months and into a new, larger world; a world free of Blue, a world that promised this child a life free of violence. "Aaahhh!"

"It's coming!" Yuji called. "I can see the head! Push, psuh!"

"What do you think I'm doing?!!"

"The head's through! The arms! The torso! It's out!" Yuji stood up into Marlene's line of sight, holding a crying child in his arms. "It's a boy! Our son, Marlene; our son."

Marlene weakly smiled. Yuji used his combat knife to cut the umbilical cord, then cleaned their son off, wrapped him in a blanket, and carried him over to Marlene. They both just gazed at the baby for a moment in silent wonderment of the miracle of life.

That silence was soon broken as Marlene let out a bloodcurdling scream. "Yuji! I'm having another contraction!"

Yuji was shocked. "What?"

"There's another baby! I need you back here!"

Yuji looked around frantically, and spotted an empty box close by. He carefully placed his still crying son inside it, then ran back to the base of the bed. Several moments later, he stood up, again holding a crying baby in his arms, wrapped in another blanket. His eyes were wet with tears and he felt overwhelmed with joy. "It's a girl, Marlene. We have a daughter."

He didn't hear her reply, so he said, "Marlene?" When she still didn't respond, he looked away from his daughter and saw Marlene, lying limply in bed, her eyes closed.

Yuji's eyes widened in terror and he screamed, "MARLENE!!!" He ran to her side, still holding their crying baby girl, whose screams were joined with those of her twin brother. Yuji quickly checked her pulse, and felt that it was still strong. He also noticed that her chest was still rising and falling, and he sighed with relief. She had only fallen asleep.

He knew she needed to rest after her ordeal, and it was nearly dark outside. He set up a flashlight and sat in a chair next to his sleeping lover, doing his best to take care of the children.

Little did either of the two newfound parents know that someone else was aware of what had transpired, and that someone else had other plans for the twins besides a long and happy life.

I hope you enjoyed. The story will start to take a more dramatic turn in the next chapter or two. I assure you, even if you didn't like this part, things will start to get more interesting. And if you find any of this too farfetched, it's my first fanfic. Please read and review. It helps my confidence. Thank you.