Two months passed and it was the third time that Arnold had all three of the children, Chloë, Llewey and Jim-Bexley. Kriss was six months pregnant now and she asked Kryten to do the six-month scan but she never made it, instead tragedy struck.
Kriss' waters broke; Dave picked up on it straight away
"Erm, Kriss" he said, "I think your waters have broken"
"They can't have," she said, in denial "I'm only six-months pregnant"
"Kriss we need to get to the medi-bay"
Dave picked her up and carried her to the medi-bay
"You're a little bit early for the scan, sir" Kryten told him
"No" Dave shouted, "The baby is coming"
"But ma'am," Kryten panicked "she's not due for three months"
"We know that you demented droid," Kriss yelled at Kryten "you need to give me an injection to help Alicia-May's lungs develop!"
"Oh yes!" Kryten told her "I'll just get it"
Kryten got the injection and gave it to her
"Dave" Kriss called "what's going to happen" she was very upset
"Don't worry darling," Dave told her "everything will be okay"
Alicia-May Lister-Kochanski was born two hours later, she was very tiny, she only weighed 2lb and Dave could've healed her in the palm of his hand. Kryten put her in an incubator and wired her up to machines to help her breathing, but she was strong and she was a fighter.
Neither of them were aloud to hold her, they could touch her though. Kriss spent most of her time just stroking her head. She expressed her own milk to put through the feeding tubes.
"I'll go tell Arnold and the kids" Dave told Kriss "Chloë will want to meet Alicia-May" Kriss smiled
"Hello Alicia-May" Kriss said, "I'm your Mummy, Daddy's going to get your siblings. You've got one sister, Chloë, she's three, then there's Llewey and Jim-Bexley, they're identical twins, they're eighteen months old. Then there's you Alicia-May, we all love you and want you to get better for us. Alicia-May, please get better, Mummy wants to hold you, Mummy wants to feed you and Mummy wants to give you a cuddle. Please Alicia-May, Mummy loves you!"
Dave ran around the ship
"Holly, where's Rimmer?" Dave asked
"He's in his sleeping quarters, Daddy Dave" Holly joked
"Rimmer, Rimmer" Dave yelled as he went into Arnold's sleeping quarters "it's a girl"
"Oh" Arnold seemed shocked "did the scan go well?"
"No" Dave screamed, "it's a girl, Alicia-May, she's here!"
"What?" Arnold replied "she's not due for three months, is she okay?"
"She will be" Dave said, "she's a Lister, she'll fight"
"Congratulations, mate" Dave told him
"I'm a daddy again" a huge grin appeared on Dave's face "I'm a Daddy!"
Kriss stared at her new baby daughter, she had Kriss' light skin colour and her blue eyes, but she had Dave's black hair and his ears. She was beautiful, Kriss stared at her, the first thing to strike you was her nappy, it was obviously too big! Kriss put her hand through the window in the incubator and stroked her hand. Suddenly Alicia-May grabbed Kristine's index finger with her fist and Kriss started crying
"Please Alicia-May" she wailed "please get better for Mummy, I love you"
"Chloë, Chloë" Dave called "guess what"
"What, Daddy Dave?" Chloë asked
"You've got a new baby sister"
"Sister" Chloë asked, you could see the beaming grin on her face "What's her name?"
"Alicia-May" Dave smiled "would you like to meet her?"
"Yes please" Chloë smiled "what about Llewey and Jim-Bexley?"
"They can come too, but she's a little bit poorly so you can only go in one at a time, me and Mummy wondered if you'd like to go in first"
"She's poorly?" Chloë seemed worried "what's wrong with her?"
"It's okay" Dave reassured her "she'll be fine, she's just a bit small, she needs help breathing, but she'll be okay, I promise!"
"Can I see Mummy first?"
"Of course"
"Mummy, Mummy," Chloë smiled, "are you okay?"
"Yes darling" she answered, "I'm fine"
"How's Alicia-May?"
"Oh" said Kriss "Daddy Dave's told you all about your new sister has he?"
Chloë nodded "Daddy Dave told me that she's poorly"
Kriss nodded "don't worry, she'll get better" Kriss nodded at Dave "would you like to see Alicia-May?"
"Yes please" Chloë was so excited. Dave wheeled Alicia-May's incubator next to Chloë
"Why is she in that?" Chloë asked
"It's just to help her breathe" Kriss told her "it's called an incubator!"
"Incubator?" Chloë asked, "Can we hold her?"
"No" Kriss told her "she can't come out of the incubator"
"Why?"
"She's too small" Kriss smiled "you can touch her though"
"I'd like too!" Chloë told her "I'd like to stroke my sister!"
Kriss opened the window on Alicia-May's incubator and took Chloë's hand "Be gentle" Kriss told her "make sure you are very gentle"
"Will I hurt her?" Chloë was worried "I don't want to hurt her!"
"You won't hurt her" Kriss assured her "if you're gentle she'll be fine"
Chloë put her hand into the incubator and stroked Alicia-May's cheek.
"Hello" she said, "I'm Chloë and I'm your sister!" Chloë looked at Kriss "am I being gentle enough?" Chloë asked her
"Yes darling" Kriss answered
"She's lovely Mummy!" Chloë told her
"I know"
"When will she be aloud to come out of there?" Chloë asked
"In a few weeks" Kriss wiped the tears away from her eyes
"When she comes out, can I hold her?"
"Sure" Kriss told her, wiping even more tears out of her eyes! "But me and Daddy Dave haven't held her yet!"
Two weeks later Alicia-May was still in the incubator, she was getting stronger and stronger but she was still very small. Kriss cried herself to sleep every night, she couldn't believe poor Alicia-May was lying there and there's nothing she could do about it.
Dave wanted to do something too, his only daughter was lying there helpless and he was so smegged off! He heard Kriss crying and wanted to comfort her, he heard Alicia-May crying and wanted to comfort her too! He was torn, between his daughter and his future wife. He decided that right her and right now Kriss came first. Alicia-May was in good hands with Kryten, Kriss needed him now!"
"Come her, precious" Dave held his hands out to Kriss "let me give you a hug" Kriss collapsed in tears onto Dave's shoulder
"What if she doesn't get better?" Kriss sobbed, "what if we loose her?"
"We won't!" Dave reassured her "she's a Lister, Lister's are fighters
"I know" Kriss told him "I'm sorry!"
"Hey" Dave shook her "come on pull yourself together, if Chloë and the boys see you like this what are they going to think?"
"I'm just so worried about my baby!" Kriss started to cry again "she's in there all alone and…"
"She's not alone!" Dave reminded her "Kryten's with her
"True" Kriss answered
"Now, you get to sleep" he ushered her back into bed "we brought you to our bed for a reason, so you could be in your own bed"
"But…"
"No, Alicia-May will be fine, get some sleep darling"
"Okay" Kriss thought about this "she's a Kochanski too you know?" she told Dave "she's got very deep feelings!"
"I know" Dave answered
"I already know she loves me" Kriss smiled "today she put her hand on my finger, and I could feel the love, she loves me very much Dave"
"Of course she does" Dave smiled too "you're her Mummy!"
Alicia-May was in the incubator for two months altogether. When she came out Kriss was so pleased. Finally she could feed her, bathe her, hold her, cuddle her, do everything she took for granted with Chloë and the boys. It was amazing; Kriss couldn't stop crying happy tears. Alicia-May was still tiny and she was still vulnerable but she was out of the incubator and she was alive, that was the most important thing to Kriss and Dave.