~ B'Elanna ~
Breathe? Like she really had a choice in that! Tom was still hovering over her, scanning. She wanted this thing out! The Doctor came to the other side of her, holding a PADD.
"What's that for?" B'Elanna asked. The Doctor seemed to flush the slightest bit with embarrassment.
"Well, without my advanced medical knowledge data banks, I need a PADD with the information on it for troubleshooting..."
"Troubleshooting?!?!" B'Elanna bellowed in disbelief.
"Although I'm sure I won't need it here." The Doctor quickly reassured her with a smile. He circled to where Tom was still checking progress. "Well, B'Elanna, it looks like you will have a quick delivery. My little goddaughter is certainly impatient!" He beamed at both parents and then continued around the bed to the end.
"Hmm…it could be a few minutes until we're ready to start. B'Elanna, if you feel up to it, I would like for you to walk around a little bit, just to help bring the baby itself down with its own weight." Tom started to close the tricorder to help his wife up, but she was two steps ahead, already walking around the cramped room. He tried to put an arm around her for support, but she shrugged it off. No need for that. She was a Klingon! B'Elanna walked a little more, until she doubled over with pain in her womb. Tom grabbed for the tricorder.
"Doctor…" he started.
"It's okay, Lieutenant. Let's lie her back down and get ready for one healthy child!" B'Elanna tried to manage a smile, but it came out as a grimace. With the Doctor positioned at the edge, he started to give instructions.
"Okay B'Elanna…on the count of three, push! One…two…three!" B'Elanna, up on her elbows, bore down with all her might. She could hear the Doctor's sigh.
"Harder, next time! One…two…three!" Again, B'Elanna pushed. And again. And again. With a cry of frustration, she laid back down on the bio bed. From above her knees and swollen belly, she could see the Doctor's bald head rise up, and a hand grab the PADD.
"I thought you said we didn't need that!" she said, exasperated.
"Well, I lied!" he replied. His fingers skimmed over the controls, and his eyes seemed to simply digest the information so quickly! Tom still held the tricorder, slack in hand, watching everything in wonder. She turned her attention back toward the end. Setting the PADD down, the Doctor lowered himself again.
"Okay. This time, I'm going to make a small cut and try to reach in and grab the baby."
"Can you do that?!"
"Well, the literature says that if the baby is trying to come out feet first, which yours is, that we need to – "
"Never mind, Doc! Just…go!"
"Okay, if you insist. One…two…three!"
For the slightest second, B'Elanna felt herself black out, experiencing the gruesome pain and awesome power, all at once. The cut into her uterus hurt like hell, and the Doctor wasn't exactly helping, but the power of bearing, it was…amazing. And then she could see again, not as an observer, but as a mother. From somewhere not too far away, a small howl went up in the air, a triumphant battle cry from the little warrior. B'Elanna couldn't help but smile. This child was indeed part Klingon, and as the Doctor set little Miral in her arms, she realized she wouldn't have had her any other way.