THE FIRST MATE OF THE CAPTAIN'S LADY

This chapter is dedicated to my first born who's gonna be sixteen next week! It's sweet to remember becoming a mom for the first time. ~ DK

…

Her welcome back on board for the first voyage of the season couldn't have been more different from a year earlier when the Polaris crew had their first chance to congratulate the newly married Captain and Beast master. Since Ness had informed the rest of them that the couple had only had a small private ceremony with no opportunity of a proper bedding, officers and sailors alike had taken it upon themselves to make sure that this tradition was carried out to the full extent. Not that either the Beast master or the captain had minded this at the time. Jamos and Shara had taken full advantage of their first night together in the Captain's cabin.

Upon this boarding however, Shara received no such rough handling. Once again the crew had heard the happy news, from Ness most likely. The crew treated her as if she were wrought from crystal.

"I'm fine, really," she insisted with a laugh but Jamos didn't seem to mind his men taking extra care with his wife and child either. She explained that the midwife had given her permission to make the journey and that other than a little queeziness in the mornings she didn't really feel all that different. That is until they brought aboard the first catch.

Shara observed from the deck a little disappointed that she couldn't be out with the brylks. She was armed a pair of microbinoculars and a short range comm to the sailors out in the little boat. It wasn't the same as being there herself but she could give instruction and she grudgingly had to admit that her replacements did almost as well as she could have done.

It was when the nets were lowered to bring in the haul that it hit her, a wave of the most rancid smell she had ever experienced. How had she never noticed before how strong and just how disgusting rupingfish smelled when they were freshly caught? Was it just because she was usually down in the little boat and not in the thick of the action? No, it wasn't and she knew it. It was the pregnancy and if she didn't get off the deck and away from that smell quickly she was going bring up everything she'd eaten for breakfast that morning.

With hand clamped over her nose and mouth she raced to the cabin she shared with Jamos and slammed the door closed behind her. It helped a little but it still felt as if the stench was clinging to her. She had been told that eating crackers might help to calm a rebellious stomach but there was nothing like that at hand and she doubted whether they would be strong enough to battle against this feeling anyhow. And then she remembered that there was a package of those fudge mint cookies she loved packed away in her sea chest.

The smell of the mint was an instant deterrent to the other vile fragrance permeating the room from out on deck. For a few moments she just sat on the edge of the bed smelling the heavenly cookies. When the worst of the nausea had passed, she pulled one from the bag and took a bite.

This was how Jamos found her as soon as he was able to get away from his duties, sitting cross legged on the bed eating the cookies one after the other with a relieved smile on her face.

"Sudden violent craving?" he asked, somewhat amused at the picture she made after worrying that she was alright.

"Close the door! The smell… the fish," she said through a mouthful. "I didn't expect it to be so strong. This helps, the mint."

He went to sit next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He kissed her temple and took the empty package from her hands. "I don't know what Niamh would say about you binging on sweets. Maybe we could get you some chewing gum."

She grinned guiltily. "If there were ever a time I shouldn't have to worry about my weight it's now, aye?"

There was a quick knock on the door and without waiting for an answer Ness poked his head in. "Is the Lady alright? The lads were worried for her."

Shara winced at the renewed scent that wafted in with him.

"She's fine." Jamos motioned for him to close the door.

Ness gave them a nod and then hurried to obey orders.

She took the empty flimziplast package back from her husband and buried her nose in it as if she were hyperventilating. "Maybe that gum would be a good idea."

…

Shara was trying not to get her hopes up but she really wanted a baby girl. She loved her nephew Thias but when she saw Dalla with him playing like she was a little momma herself, Shara thought it was the most adorable thing ever. So a girl first and then a boy, just like Marlon and Lana, that's what she wanted.

She studied her datapad where she had entered the list of names. On the boy side there was only one: Kason, after her father. They had vaguely discussed middle names to go with it. Kason Jamos just didn't have that ring to it. Kason Alon? No, the endings were too similar.

Shara couldn't bring herself to give it too much thought. She was so sure the baby would be a girl so those were the names she focused on. She'd been out voted on Melaana, but perhaps as a middle name? Hadassa after her mother was a favorite too. And then she thought of Irena. That was Shara's own middle name and she'd always liked it. She'd also learned that it was the name of her third great grandmother who was a Flint and had married into the Rupingwood family.

"What do you think about Irena, love?" She asked Jamos as they sailed back towards the Hold.

It was hard to believe that she was 20 weeks along already, halfway to her due date. The nausea had been bad but not unendurable until 12 weeks and then had thankfully left her. After that her belly really started to become noticeable and then just in the last couple of weeks she had started to feel the fluttery beginnings of movement.

Jamos would lay for hours next to her with his hand on her stomach waiting to feel something. He thought he had once there was a twitch beneath his palm but he couldn't be sure.

"Irena." He mused. "I thought you liked Sanya."

"I do like it but that's what Mel and Brem were going to name their little girl so I feel like that one's already been taken."

He leaned his face close to her belly and asked, "what do you think of Irena?" Then his eyes opened wide. "Was that…" he asked hardly daring to believe it.

Shara nodded excitedly.

"She er he… it kicked! I felt it!"

"We'll know soon." Shara laughed.

…

Her appointment was scheduled for almost the moment they arrived on the dock at the Hold. Niamh had her put on a gown and climb up on exam table. It was so different than when the midwife had been scanning her almost 2 years ago for abnormalities. Now she had Jamos beside her holding her hand and there on the screen was the blurry image of their child.

Ten fingers and ten tiny toes! That precious profile! And then while she was moving the view to get a measurement of the baby's upper leg bone to check growth…

"Was that what I think it was?" Jamos asked with a laugh.

Niamh moved the probe back just a bit so they had a clear image. She laughed too. "Well you were hoping to find out the gender weren't you?"

"Aye, we were," Shara said shakily. She didn't want to be disappointed. She didn't have any right to be disappointed. They had waited so long for this. Healthy was really all that mattered but tears still filled her eyes.

"Couldn't get any more obvious than that." Niamh gave another chuckle and went back to her scans and measurements.

She left them when she was finished so that Shara could get dressed. She must have thought the tears in Shara's eyes were just tears of joy.

Jamos knew better. "He's healthy."

"He's perfect." Shara swallowed and wiped her eyes. "I'd rather know now and get used to the idea than be surprised when he's born."

"We can call him by his name now." Jamos tried to cheer her.

"Kason." She sighed and rubbed her belly. Her son responded by rolling over into a more comfortable position. She was sure he was relieved to be done with all the poking and prodding. She smiled. He was more real to her now.

"Still needs a middle name." he smiled tentatively.

"You have an idea?" She asked curiously.

Jamos dithered. "Well, we know someone with this name but it wouldn't really be after him. I just kind of like the sound of it."

"What?" She laughed. "Hugo?"

"What? No!" He grinned paused a moment longer and then with a sigh suggested, "What do you think about… Kason Dane?"

Shara let that sink in and then gave him an honest smile. "I love it!"

Jamos placed both his hands on her belly and then bent down to speak directly to the bump. "What do you think, Son?"

It was that single word that brought tears to her eyes again. They had a healthy boy growing inside her.

"My boy." Jamos whispered and then, "Woah! What was that?" He grinned when her belly seemed to jump in response.

Shara laid her hands over her husband's as her belly jumped again and again every few seconds. "I think Mr Kason Dane Blackwell has the hiccups."

…

Shara and Kason both continued to progress with no complications but Niamh still advised that as she was beginning her third trimester it would be better to stay close to the Hold. Jamos agreed. They had already brought in several good catches and the weather was just starting to turn cooler.

Then they got the comm. A withdrawal of credits had been taken from the Bralykburn account and it hadn't been done from Braylk Keep. It certainly looked like Hugo had broken his house arrest.

"Marlon and I have to go check this out. We'll be back soon I promise." Jamos tried to calm her worries. "It's probably just somebody pirating from the pirates, aye? Wouldn't that be something?"

"Aye," Shara agreed. But he was worried, too. She could tell, and she wondered what sort of world they were bringing their son into where they always had to be on guard from some sort of attack.

Lana put an arm around her friend's shoulder as they watched the Polaris pull out of the harbor. "They'll be fine."

"Now I know how you felt when they went out after Hugo the last time." Shara rubbed her belly. Of course Lana hadn't been quite so far along with Thias then, this still felt like an echo of the previous event. They were even closing the gates behind the receding ship.

It was only a precaution, they said. They had no other information to indict the Bralykburns other than this trail of credits. There were no deaths this time, no children maimed and no threats that anything like that was coming.

"Come on." Lana drew Shara away from the dock. "There are vegetables to harvest in the greenhouse and then we can make something tasty with them."

Shara appreciated her friend trying to get her mind off the matter. "I suppose we can make up a few pies and freeze them." She sighed. "They'll keep till the boys get back and we can bake them then."

Her hand went to her belly as they walked along. The muscles tightened but there was no pain. Niamh had told her that it wasn't too early for her to start having a few practice contractions. It was just getting her body ready. It would make things easier when it came time for the real thing. They didn't hurt but sometimes they took her breath away.

She stopped in her tracks for a moment and waited for it to pass.

"Are you feeling alright?" Lana looked back from a few steps ahead and asked her.

Kason rolled over and got the hiccups again. Shara smiled. "Oh aye. He's just asking me when daddy will be home." It was always reassuring to feel her son move around and kick, to know he was healthy and growing.

"We can go right back to the Hold if it's too tiring." Lana suggested.

"I'll let you know. Let's get done what we can while Maris is watching Dalla and Thias."

Lana smiled. "Good point."

…

It was a good two days sailing to reach Bralyk Keep and in all that time Marlon and Jamos heard nothing else that led them to believe that Hugo Bralykburn had left his home harbor or that he was planning to do so either to attack Blackhold as he had tried before or for any other purpose. There was still that nagging record of the bank credits however and they had to see this through to the end.

Jamos would have commed home hourly if Marlon hadn't convinced him that he was only drawing Shara away from whatever she was doing to keep her mind off things. If there was a problem Shara would surely comm them, or Lana if Shara wasn't able. But what if something happened and Shara wasn't able to comm and Lana had to be with her?

It got to the point where Jamos really didn't care if Hugo Bralykburn sailed around taking money out of every bank on the planet. He just wanted to get home. Marlon shook his head and let the man comm his pregnant wife.

"Aye. everything's fine." She assured him her image rubbing her belly. "How are you doing?" He saw the worry in her eyes.

"Us? Ah well, the cabin's awfully quiet without you to share it with me." He tried to joke but she could tell he missed her. "We should reach the Keep tomorrow morning, get this all straightened out and then we'll be back in no time and you'll have to deal with me hovering over you every second."

"I'll be looking forward to it." Shara smiled, her eyes sprang open wider and she gave a little jump. "And so is Kason."

"Take care of my boy. Tell him Daddy will be home soon. And take care of yourself. Don't over do it."

She nodded agreement. "And you take care of yourself. We want you back in one piece. I love you, Jamos."

"Love, you."

…

The morning started out the same as any other. Portia got Shara up out of bed for her morning 'fresher run outside. Not that Shara had to run. Portia could be let out, do her business and came dutifully back inside at her mistress's call. The cog had been more protective of Shara lately, staying close and always sniffing for anything out of the ordinary.

Shara didn't know how much the norcog to sense, maybe it was just the animal's natural watchfulness. Or maybe it was the fact that Portia was getting to be about the age that she could carry a litter of her own.

"Do you want to be a momma too, Porsh?" Shara ruffled her ears. "I think you're going to have your paws full being a big sister to Kason."

Portia barked.

"Good morning, Aunt Shara. Morning, Portia." Dalla met them coming down the hallway.

Portia licked the little girl's face and Dalla giggled.

Shara smiled. "Is your momma getting Thias up?"

"Aye, but I was ready for breakfast."

"Me too." Her aunt agreed. "And Kason too."

Dalla giggled again and reached up to touch Shara's stomach. She had been so little when Lana was pregnant with Thias but she was enjoying this wait for her new cousin as much as any of them. "If you drink Jogan juice do you fink 'e'll get pickups again?"

"He might. He gets them a lot, doesn't he?" But it wasn't hiccups that she felt just then another of the painless contractions that she had been experiencing off and on for weeks now tightened her belly.

She must have made a face because Lana noticed something as she hurried down the hallway with Thias on her hip. The little escape artist was perfectly capable of walking on his own but she often had to pick him up and carry him to another room just to keep him from getting into trouble. Still Lana's focus left her son who was safely in her arms and went to the pregnant woman before her. "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing, really." Shara shook her head. And it wasn't, the tightness was already easing away.

"You're sure?" Lana wouldn't let it go.

Shara sighed. "Aye, nothing more than what Niamh said was perfectly normal."

As the day progressed however, more of the painless contractions then she had ever experienced before seemed to stop her in her tracks and cause her to catch her breath. And then a simple trip to the refresher had her calling out in a panic, "Lana!"

"What is it?" The other woman came running.

"Th-there was blood! Not a lot, I don't think but… but I'm bleeding!"

"Okay! Okay, it's going to be okay." Lana frantically tried to remember everything she had ever heard the midwife say. "Just umm… lay down, on your left side. I'm comming Niamh right now. Everything is going to be okay."

…

Jamos paced the great hall of Bralyk Keep. They were getting nowhere.

"And I told you I haven't been off this rock since the last time you whelps came to call," Hugo insisted. "If somebody's been gettin' into my credits that's my problem and I don't see where as it warrants this kind of investigation!"

"Papa, what's wrong?" The little girl, not so little as the last time Marlon had seen her on the holo with Glover after the storm, came down the stairs and went to her father's side. She reminded Marlon of the daughter he had waiting for him back at home and Jamos of the child who would soon call him Daddy.

"Nothin', Talia." Hugo wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head in what seemed a very unBralykburn gesture. "You go on back up stairs. These men will be leavin' us be soon enough."

She wouldn't be cowed so easily. She looked as tough as her father and gave the Blackwell brothers a hard look. "My Papa didn't do anything wrong," She told them. "He's been right here the whole time."

Jamos rolled his eyes, wondering if these pirates were all the same. His view of her as an inocent little child was thrown to the wind and he spouted sarcastically, "What? Was it you who took those credits out of the account when you were on your last voyage?"

Talia Bralykburn was silent for a moment. Then she looked up at her father guiltily and back at his interrogators. "Aye."

"Talia? What do you need credits for?" Hugo appeared as shocked as any of them.

The little girl, she looked much younger now under her father's gaze, finally gave up the gig. "I wanted to get you a birthday present, Papa."

Again Jamos rolled his eyes heavenward but before he could utter a response his comm chimed and he didn't hesitate to answer it. It was Lana looking worried and rubbing her hands in agitation. "Jamos, it's Shara. Now, now don't worry. Niamh says everything is fine. She's had some early labor symptoms."

"Don't worry?" How in Dxun was he not supposed to worry? "Is she alright? Is Kason? Is she having him now?"

Hugo let out a bark of a laugh. "You left your pregnant wife to come here and bother me about a fistful of credits?"

"Shut him up!" Jamos was shaking with fear and anger. "Or I swear I'll…"

"Jamos!" Lana's voice brought his attention back to the comm. "Shara is fine and Kason is fine. It wasn't actual labor. I'll spare you the details for now." Her image shot a look in the direction of the lord of the Keep who she couldn't see in the frame of the holo but whose voice she had heard plainly. "I'll have her comm you when Niamh's got her settled."

Jamos carried the comm unit out into the corridor. "Well, what's Niamh doing? She stopped the labor? She gave her some kind of meds?"

"None of that was necessary. As I said, it wasn't actually labor and she seems to have stopped the contractions naturally. Niamh's going to keep her on a monitor overnight and most likely she'll be off her feet for a while but probably won't need complete bed rest."

"Whatever she needs!" He insisted.

Lana's voice softened. "She needs you. Come home."

"That won't be a problem." He seethed. "This has all been a kriffing waste of time. Salt gods, I should have been there with her!"

"She doesn't blame you. She just misses you." Lana looked back over her shoulder.

"Aye." Jamos ran a hand over his beard. "Tell her I love her, and I'm on my way, and I'll give her a comm as soon as we're back on the ship."

…

"You're alright. Kase is alright." It wasn't a question. Jamos was trying to convince himself. He stood with his hands clenched on the edge of the Polaris's comm table.

"We're fine." Shara reclined in their bed, her back propped up with pillows. Her expression was guilty and worn out after the fear and stress and then relief of Niamh's assessment. "I didn't mean to cause such a fuss. It turned out to be nothing."

"It wasn't nothing." The words came out fiercer than he meant them to. "I mean, you thought something was wrong and you did the right thing. You called for help. That's…" Jamos looked away and then back into the image of her eyes projected before him. "You didn't take any chances. Salt gods I'm so glad, Shar. What if it was something and you'd kept quiet? You did the right thing." He repeated.

She was afraid he was blaming himself for not being there with her at the time but she had a feeling that his presence would have stressed her out even more. His worry and his hovering would have forced Niamh to send him out of the room anyway. She had a feeling that he was going to be intolerable when he got back. "Niamh said I just need to take it easy for a while. I need to keep my feet up for a couple weeks but I can get myself to the 'fresher and the kitchen and around the Hold…"

"Lana said bedrest." He insisted.

"Modified bedrest." Shara corrected. "I can't go for a run or a swim or help with the rest of the harvest." She frowned, disappointed at that. "Walking to the living room and putting my feet up when I get there is fine."

"Aye." He bit his lip wanting to say more. He wanted to order her to stay in bed and they would bring her anything she needed. He wanted someone to be at her side to make sure she was alright even for visits to the 'fresher. He sighed.

"I got to see him again." She told him with a smile that brought him right out of his funk. "Niamh wanted to check that Kason was still doing alright. And…" she beamed. "He's still beautiful."

"Did you get a recording of the sonogram?" he asked, excitedly.

Shara nodded. "Even when I was scared that something might be wrong, I could still feel him moving. It was like he was trying to reassure me. He got the hiccups again while I was on the monitor and it was so loud. He always gets upset when he gets them so he was kicking and swimming around and…"

"What's he doing now?" The tension in Jamos's face had relaxed and he just looked at her in wonder.

"He's quiet now, sleeping I think after so much activity." She rubbed her belly fondly and smiled. "Niamh said I should count his movements every hour."

"I can help with that." Jamos announced.

Shara laughed and his confidence and desire to do his part. "Aye, you can." Then she sobered some, still smiling. "As soon as you get home."

"We're piling on all sail and I'll get out and row myself if I have to."

"So everything's settled with the Bralykburns?" she asked.

He groaned, thinking of Hugo calling him out about being away from his pregnant wife. "It was the kid, if you can believe it. His little girl withdrew the credits because she wanted to get him a birthday present."

Shara couldn't help it, she smiled. "That's sweet."

"Aye. Sweet. And she made us sail halfway across the planet to check up on it." He hissed sarcastically.

"Well, I'm sure your son will never do anything so foolish." She teased.

"He's already managed to scare the Dxun out of me and he's not even been born yet. Thankfully." His throat tightened as he thought that that could have been the case. His son might have been born early while he was on a wild bantha chase. Could a baby that early survive? What would he have done if they'd lost him? Or lost both of them? He swallowed thickly. "Thankfully he's not been born yet. He's gonna stay put right where he is for as long as he needs to."

"Niamh said there are some things we can do to make sure he's ready if he does want to come early. There's a test I can take to see if his lungs are developed enough. And I can have a series of steroid hypos if they're not." That idea still worried her, too, and again Shara rubbed her belly and Kason gave her a reassuring filp. "She says there's every chance that I'll still go to full term though. That's the plan." She nodded trying to be confident in the execution and outcome of that plan. "We've just got to get him to 37weeks…"

…

Thirty-seven weeks came and went. Shara felt big as a fambaa and twice as ornery. One of the only things that fit her now was the awful fruit shirt that Jamos had gotten for her for her first salt and light celebration. She wore it now almost as a jibe at him as if to say, 'this is all your fault'.

After so much worry that Kason would come early it seemed almost an insult, an evil trick that the galaxy was playing on her that she might even go past her due date. She'd started researching ways that she might hurry labor along. Some of them were definitely more attractive than others. Drinking an oil that induced the loosening of the bowels in the hopes of triggering contractions? She wasn't even about to try that. But she drank a special tea that was supposed to help and she didn't mind a little spicy food, except when it gave her heartburn.

Finally Niamh gave her the option of giving Kason Dane Blackwell an eviction notice. If he hadn't come by thirty-eight weeks they were going to set a date to induce labor. It felt a bit odd picking his birthday and walking into the midwife's practice smiling and pain free. After that things went remarkably fast. Shara was sure she should never confess to another mother who had had to deal with a forty-eight standard hour labor, that she had walked in, been connected to the IV and monitors and three short hours later held her son in her arms.

It was a bit of a blur. She and Jamos had packed a bag with card games and holos and music disks to pass the time but they hadn't needed any of that. They were both so excited to meet this little boy.

And they weren't the only ones. Shara was told later that Maris had been running in and out of the waiting room getting updates all morning. Maris would tell Ness and then Ness would pass the information on to the entire crew of the Polaris who had been pacing the deck or knocking back drinks at the pub.

If Shara hadn't been so enamored with the child in her arms she might have heard them celebrating from her room in the birthing center. "Hello, Kason." She whispered.

"He's beautiful." Jamos was gazing at his son as well. He stroked the baby's face and then grinned at his wife. "And you! You were amazing!"

Lana and Marlon came in not long after that and gushed over their nephew.

"He's perfect! Oh, Marl, do you remember when Thias was this little?" Lana leapt at the chance to hold the new baby.

"Thinking about maybe having another one?" Marlon grinned teasingly.

"I don't know about having three in diapers at the same time in the Hold." Lana cut that short.

Marlon hugged her from behind and looked over her shoulder at baby Kason. "What, you don't think we could have Thias trained to use the 'fresher on his own in the next nine months?"

"If you'd like to try to train him. I probably wouldn't feel up to it if I were in the condition that would be required for that to be an issue."

"Give me that little sailor," Marlon demanded his turn holding his nephew and Lana passed him on. The big strong lord of the north was just as susceptible as the rest of them to be turned into goo with the precious infant in his arms. He cooed and jabbered at the newborn.

"Did Niamh say if Dalla is allowed to come in and see him?" Lana asked. "She's been asking all morning. I told her that she'd need to be very still and gentle."

"I don't remember her saying anything about keeping Dalla and Thias out." Shara looked to her husband.

Jamos shrugged. He had been a bit deaf and blind to anything but his son since his arrival.

"Go ahead and get her." Shara smiled. "Thias probably doesn't care one way or the other anyway, but Dalla will be alright, for a little while. Oh but she should probably wash her hands."

Lana went to get her daughter and Marlon handed the baby back to his father. Then he patted his brother on the shoulder. "You really brought in the catch of the day with this one little brother!"

"I had nothing to do with it." Shara teased from the bed.

Dalla looked around the room curiously. She washed her hands as she was told and then sat back in the visitor's chair and held out her arms. "Can I hold him, please?"

"You've got to be really careful, Chirn Bait." Jamos knelt down next to the chair.

Shara sat up a little straighter in the bed to see what was happening but she needn't have worried. Her husband was the perfect father already.

"Support his head. That's right. What do you think? Isn't he something?"

"Hi, Kason. I'm your cousin Dalla," she said softly.

Shara needn't have worried about having a girl first. Her niece was going to be a great helper.

…

So there you have it after so much worry and waiting baby Kason has arrived. And his big cousin Dalla has always been protective of him. Good thing they've got her around.

Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing and sharing this adventure with LS and me.