Disclaimer: I don't own anybody who was ever on the show.

Author's note: I can't watch anymore. It's too painful.

Chapter 3

In Minnesota, things have gone from bad to worse. Just before Mallory lost her connection with Duke, her water broke. Emerald's tail whipped back and forth worridly. Mallory was going to have her baby within the hour, and they had no way of contacting the team. The phones were dead and their coms didn't work.

"Uh, guys?" said Tanya, who was currently listening to a battery-operated radio.

"What?"

"Does this place have a basement?"

"Don't think so, why?"

"Because a tornado just touched down a few miles from us. It's heading straight for us at 60 MPH,"

Emerald's tail slammed into the ground, then continued to whip back and forth. "Great. Mallory's going into labor, and we have a tornado heading for us. Just perfect."

"And it's the biggest one they've seen in the history of Minnesota."

Emerald's shoulders sagged. "Perfect. We might as well find some way of keeping ourselves to the ground. There's a bathroom towards the middle of the house. Let's go in there."

"Good idea. The plumbing goes in for miles, if we can strap ourselves onto the toilet, that just might work." Tanya agreed, then walked over to Mallory. "You think you could walk most of the way?" Mallory nodded, despite her being in pain. They all made their way to the bathroom.

On the way Emerald stopped and went into a bedroom. She came out again with three belts, and a towel. "Let's go," she said. When they got into the bathroom, Emerald said "Here. We can use the belts to strap ourselves to the toilet." She almost had to shout so Tanya and Mallory could hear her over the wind.

"Are you nuts? That's the worst way to die!" complained Mallory.

They all jumped as they heard the windows breaking in the house from the force of the wind.

"It's good enough for me," Tanya said quickly before taking a belt and crouching next to the toilet. Emerald and Mallory followed. They stretched a large blanket over their heads. Just as they finished, they heard a loud cracking noise. Crack, crack, CRACK!

"I think that was the roof," guessed Tanya. She peeked under the blanket, then quickly pulled it back down. "Yep, I was right."

"Here it comes!" announced Mallory, face twisted with pain.

Emerald and Tanya scooted closer to Mallory. "Tanya, I want you to catch the baby when it comes out and quickly wrap it up in this towel," said Emerald as she handed the towel to Tanya.

"I'm ready," said Tanya.

"OK Mal, this is your first time so I want you to push as hard as you can, we need to get it out as soon as possible." Mallory nodded. "Ready, and push!"

To the sound of the walls breaking around them, Mallory started giving birth. She pushed without letting out a scream, then pushed again.

"Come on Mal, you can do it! Push!" With a push, Mallory took a couple of breaths and pushed again.

"I see the head!" reported Tanya.

"OK Mal, we can see the head, you're almost there! Come on, and push!" With another push, Mallory took a few breaths.

"The head is out!" shouted Tanya.

"We have the head! Here come the shoulders, deep breath and PUSH!" Mallory took a deep breath and pushed as hard as she could. She let out a small cry and took a few breaths.

"The shoulders are out!" shouted Tanya.

"OK Mal, one more," Emerald glanced up through a hole in the blanket. "A…" she froze. "Holy… TREE!" Mallory glanced through the hole in the blanket, and she saw a huge tree, flying at them. The sight of the tree flying at them and the pain of giving birth was too much to take. Mallory passed out just as the tree was about to land on them.

-

When the weather started to turn bad, Veranda changed back into her gray shirt and black pants. They were standing next to the basement door with Steve when the lights went out. They went down the steps, only being able to see with the flashlight Steve had with him.

"I was prepared for this," he told them as they descended down the steps. "I was listening to the radio wen they said we were getting an F5,"

"What's and F5?" asked Nosedive.

"That's the most powerful and destructive tornado that is possible." Once they reached the basement, Steve led them to a corner. "This is the safest place to go in this building during a tornado," They took the supplies down there and Steve took the blanket and said "Be careful, his type of tornadoes are very dangerous. They've been known to kill hundreds." Just then, a loud crash was heard and pieces of the wood ceiling fell on them. Three of the pieces hit them squarely on the head. All three of them fell to the ground, unconscious.

-

The scream/shout Skystar let out was heard by everyone in the Pond. Everyone came running into the Ready Room to hear about the tornado.

"What's this on a tornado?" asked Razorwing, again thinking about Emerald in Minnesota.

"There's a… a huge tornado in Minnesota. It just landed on the local ice rink,"

Razorwing almost fell over. "If I know Veranda, she's IN that ice rink!"

Wildwing froze too. "If Veranda's there, Dive will be there too!"

"We've got to do something, we can't just stay here!" cried Sunstar.

"We're not. We're leaving for Minnesota. Canard, Darkfire, watch the kids. The Sisters, Razorwing, Duke and I are taking the Migrator,"

"But that will take days!" complained Duke.

"It's our only choice, and their only way home."

Once all the sisters, Razorwing, Duke, and Wildwing were in the Migrator, they took off for Minnesota. Duke tried everything to keep his mind off Mallory, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. He tried staring out the window and daydreaming. He tried taking a nap. He tried fiddling with his Saber. He just couldn't get his mind off of her. He though about how scared she was, possibly in labor with their child… He was distracted by a hand on his shoulder.

"She's fine, I'm sure of it," said Waterstar.

After staring at his Saber for a few seconds, he said, "Before I lost the connection with Mallory, she sounded like she was panicking."

"What did she say?" asked Firestar.

"Her exact words were 'Duke, my' and that was it. It sounded like she was trying to say something else, something that began with a w."

"That doesn't sound like something to worry about, unless…" Waterstar looked at Firestar with a look that was a mix between terror and worry. Firestar had the same look, meaning she knew what Waterstar was talking about.

"Unless what?"

Firestar looked at him. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

The look on Duke's face was enough of an answer.

Waterstar frowned and said, "We're not sure, but we think she was trying to say her water broke. She could be having the child now."

Duke's shoulder's sagged and he rested his head on his seat.

"Oh no."

"What is it Wing?"

"A traffic jam. It might be almost two days before we get there."

Duke groaned and said to himself, "Why did I let her go?" He tried his com again. No such luck. He could just see what was happening. He could imagine Mallory lying on the ground, giving birth. If a piece of flying debris was to hit her… he covered his eye with his hands. He didn't like the way this was turning out, not one bit.

To be continued…