A.N. Hello, there, readers! Jane, here. This is my own version of the scene in which Erin gives birth to Elijah in Minus Morgul.

l.l.l.

The stairs continued endlessly above Erin, Frodo, Sam and Gollum. Even though they'd only been climbing for about an hour (and they were only about 10 feet off the ground), it felt to her like an eternity. Erin really didn't think she should be exerting herself like this when she was a little over 8 months pregnant, but her logic was that the longer they took to destroy the Ring, the sooner Frodo would be lost to her. And she was not going to have that be any fault of hers.

She was so unbelievably exhausted that she half wanted to lie there on an outcropping and wait to be captured. She didn't voice her fatigue though, not when Frodo looked and felt even worse than she did, and tensions ran high amongst the group. Even when they did get periods to sleep, it seemed like the baby always chose that moment to wake up and break dance in her womb.

Without speaking, Gollum climbed nimbly up farther into the darkness. There was no sound except for the haggard breathing of the climbers and the pressing silence of the evil that surrounded them. As Erin grabbed onto a rock above her head, her hand slipped and she cut her hand on a rock.

"Ah!" She gasped in pain, before the fear of being heard clamped her jaw shut. She wiped her hand on her huge belly; a red smear surrounded by grime. She was ravenous, the baby was kicking her bladder, and every single inch of her aching body was begging for sleep.

"Erin, are you okay?" Frodo asked from above her. His voice was concerned, but his eyes were unfamiliar and foreign to her.

"Yeah." She said quietly, "I'm fine." It was with difficulty that she kept the bitterness out of her voice.

Suddenly, a wave of pain hit her in the midsection, and for at least 30 seconds, she could hardly breathe with the force of it. She half- climbed, half- fell down a couple feet and kneeled on the nearest jutting ledge, breathing deeply through the pain. It felt like all of the muscles in her back and lower abdomen were completely cramping up. Like period cramps, but far worse.

"Erin?" Sam called, and with agility Erin didn't know the hobbit possessed, leapt down onto the ledge beside her and laid a hand on her back. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head mutely, the pain making her unable to speak.

"...Are you going into labor? Here?" Sam asked. Panic was creeping into his voice.

The pain subsided and Erin was able to talk to him. She let out the breath she'd been holding. "Shit. Yes, it would seem like it, Sam." She spoke, her eyes huge. "I'm so sorry." She shook her head. "I should never have come with you..." Her overpowering emotion right now was sheer fear.

"Erin?" Frodo's voice came from far above them. "Sam?"

Sam looked up at Frodo's voice but uncharacteristically ignored it. "You can't change the past, Erin, so there's no point in dwelling about it." He put his hand on her shoulder, brushing off her apology. "But where should we go for this? There isn't really enough room here, but there might be on the ledge above us." He pointed to a larger ledge about 5 feet above them. "Can you make it up there?"

"I think so." Erin stood up and nodded. "But we'd better hurry. When the next contraction hits I might fall."

Without much difficulty, they both got up onto the ledge before the next contraction hit her like a brick wall. She bit into the strap of her knapsack to keep from crying out. The next contractions lasted about a minute, and by then, Frodo had climbed back down to their level.

"What is it?" He asked, dropping onto the ledge. "Are you going into labor?" He asked, his true concern shining through the mask the Ring had created.

"Yes." Erin wanted to cry. She'd never been more scared in her entire life. If this labor didn't go the way she hoped it would, she could die here, and so could her baby. What the fuck had she been thinking coming with Frodo and Sam? She could bleed out during delivery, and they would have to leave her body behind in Minus Morgul, where she would eventually be eaten away by –

"Erin, are you alright?" Sam shook her shoulder slightly. "You look horrified."

Erin blinked back tears. "I'm really scared right now." She whispered.

The contraction had ended, but a slight pressure was building. She rubbed her belly, and the baby kicked where her hand rested.

The two hobbits and Erin sat there on the ledge, waiting for something happen. They couldn't progress, not when there was a chance another contraction could hit while she was climbing and Erin could fall.

Erin sat in the silence, willing this baby to hurry up and come so that they could get on with their task. A minute later, another contraction hit her. This one lasted longer than the others, and the pain was even worse. She lay down on the rocky ground and held onto Frodo's icy hand. Going by her knowledge of birthing from the few books she'd read before she ended up in Middle Earth, she figured hers might be a fairly quick labour. She voiced this to Frodo and Sam, who looked slightly relieved. They sat on that ledge for another hour, and counted through another five contractions before her pants became wet. Frodo had to point it out to her.

"Oh my God! My water broke!" She gasped, "I can't believe this is happening to me..." She whispered, as a great surge of emotion crashed over her. "I'm so scared..."

"It will be alright, Erin." Frodo spoke to her softly. And for that moment, it was like Frodo Baggins had never held the One Ring.

She gave him a watery smile, which vanished quickly as the worse contraction she'd had yet washed over her. "Oh GOD!" She cried. "I think it's time." She exhaled as that contraction left her, but as soon as it had, another one arrived. She moaned. She could feel a great deal of pressure now, and all she wanted to do was push.

"What do you mean? How do you know?" Sam's voice had become rather high-pitched.

"I just know!" Was Erin's response. Shamelessly, (and with difficulty) she took of her pants and began to push through her next contraction. All she wanted to do was scream through the body-ripping agony that was overwhelming her, but she couldn't for fear that they'd be heard. She crammed her extra shirt into her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Time crawled by. About a half hour later, she spit out the shirt, her body completely drenched with sweat. "I can't do this." She panted. She could hardly describe the pain that had taken over her lower half. "I just want the pain to end. It hurts so much..."

"It will. It will all be okay, Erin." Frodo said reassuringly, stroking her head. If he was scared, he was doing a good job not showing it "Just keep pushing."

She nodded numbly, stuffing the fabric back into her mouth and screaming into it.

Another half hour later, Sam said excitedly. "Erin, you're almost there, I can see the head!"

She gave another huge push, and then blessed relief as the baby came out. "Give him to me!" Through her exhaustion, she knew what she had to do – she'd seen it on TV. She took the squirming, silent, bloody creature from Sam's stunned arms and used her mouth to suck the gunk out of the baby's mouth and nose. At the instant, he started to wail. She had the presence of mind to realize how gross she would have thought that only a couple months ago. But things were different now; she was a mother, and this was her child. Erin cried out in sheer happiness, wiping the blood and stuff off the baby boy with the shirt she'd used as a gag.

"Wow." Sam muttered appreciatively.

The baby continued to cry until she wrapped him up in the shirt and held him to her (now aching) bosom. When he made contact with her warm body, he quieted down considerably. Frodo timidly approached them and laid his hand on the baby's head. "He's beautiful." Frodo muttered, a mixture of emotions flashing over his face. "I can't believe he's mine."

"He's definitely yours. " She grinned. "If you need proof, look at his ears and his feet. They aren't human." She pointed to the baby's pointy ears and larger than average feet. A true smile broke out on Frodo's face, and he hugged her.

"Erin, how did you know he was a boy?" Sam asked curiously, when Frodo and Erin broke apart.

"What?" Erin asked absently, stroking the tiny baby's face with her fingertips. He had reddish-blonde hair.

"Before I'd even said if he was a boy or a girl, you said 'give him to me' ". Sam said, a half-smile on his face. "How did you know?"

Erin paused, remembering. "I don't know. I just did." She smiled at her own answer. "Part of me always knew the baby was little... Elijah." She smiled to herself at the reaction her friends were going to have to the name.

"Elijah..." Frodo repeated the name, the nodded his head. "It's a great name, Erin."

Before she could respond, a great rumble came from the structure behind them, and a huge green beam of light shot into the sky.

"Oh my God! What's going on?" Erin yelled over the roaring noise. She pressed her fingers gently against tiny Elijah's ears. Frightened, the baby began to cry.

As soon as the words left her mouth, a deafening screech came from above them.

"Nazgul!" Sam screamed, throwing his Elvish cape over himself and Erin.

..1.

A.N. Sorry it ends so abruptly, but I didn't feel like writing anymore. J It's quite a luxury to be able to say that!