Author's Note: I had this chapter finished a while ago, but that damn one with Stryker held me up. Anyway, it's labor day for Anya. I tried to make it as true to life as possible, and I've drawn from my experiences, my mom's experiences, and my grandma's experiences to depict what the whole childbirth thing was like. For example, my dad had to convince my mom she was still pretty when she was pregnant with me even though she was gigantic. None of the things Anya feels and/or does is fake; it all really happened to at least one of the women in my family. I really strove for accuracy in this respect because I get sick of watching or reading stuff that depicts childbirth that is pretty far-removed from reality. I hope you all appreciate it.

Dr. MKDemigodZ-Warrior: Kailyn's chapter will be exactly that: Morgan learning to adjust to Tomas. Of course, it's gonna be challenging when she says things to him like, "My daddy can beat you up!" LOL

en-lumine: Thanks! The Tetrachs were inspired by both the Greek Amazons and the Ancient Celts. The man-hating part comes from the Amazons (the name 'tetrach' means 'chief' and 'falcata' is a Celtic sword), but I wanted to give them a little bit of tolerance towards them once they'd earned their respect. As for Halsey/Hydro, I was just thinking about his interaction with the Lin Kuei kiddies as children, and he struck me as kind of an ornery fellow in his own right. I'm glad he came across how I wanted him to. :D

ROCuevas: Thank you, and thank you for your support as always :)

Obelisk of Light: I'm glad you thought so. And you aren't the only one excited to see what happens to them in Seido. I am curious to see that myself! LOL P.S. I tried to incorporate your Raiden idea into this one, but once I'd finished it, it just didn't look right. So I took it out. I'm sorry, but I'm sure there will be other opportunities for him to interact with Baby Zero later on.

Anya stood in her large bathroom – grateful at the moment because it was so huge – and looked at herself in her full-length mirror in loathing. She was precisely one week overdue to give birth, and she looked like a fucking planet. Or so the told herself as she ran her hands over her belly, her striped pajama tank top making the giant ball of baby look even fatter. Everything looked fatter – her belly, her boobs, and God help her, her ass. God, she was so ugly, and at the thought, she burst into tears, which prompted Kuai Liang to come running.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as he squeezed into the bathroom with her. He had already gotten dressed in his solid black training clothes, but even in such a simple outfit, he looked hot. And Anya didn't. And she was absolutely certain he was going to leave her because of it.

"I'm ugly!" she wailed, throwing her hands dramatically to her face, pressing her palms into her eyes as big, watery tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Oh, honey," he sighed, slightly chuckling as he sat down on the toilet. "No, you're not."

"Look at me!" she cried. "I'm huge!"

"So?" he challenged, raising an amused eyebrow. "You're pregnant."

"And I'm going to be for the rest of my life!" she now sobbed.

He exploded into a laugh that he instantly stifled. "Now you're just being silly," he said.

"I am a week overdue, Kuai Liang," she argued, not sure why he thought this situation was so damn funny. He shrugged at her, prompting her to make her point. "I have a week-old child in me! I'm gonna be 80, and I'm gonna have a 53 year old baby in me."

"Anya-"

"Look at this," she interrupted and then lifted up her shirt to expose her bulging belly. Then she drew a circle in the air around it. "How is this supposed to come out of-" and now she drew a circle in the air over her genitals, "-this?" The thought terrified her. There was just no way she could pass that huge thing and live. She was a nurse and had seen other women do it, but now that it was her turn, she didn't think she could do it herself.

Kuai Liang looked up at her with a smile. "Ahn, you're the nurse in the family," he reminded her. "I think you're better suited to explain that than I am."

"You're right," she squeaked, her voice creeping up in octaves that only dogs could hear. "I do know how. Muscles rip, bones break…" She started to sob again.

Now her husband sighed and got to his feet, going to her to hug her. "It'll be okay," he assured her as he swayed with her and ran his hands through her hair to comfort her. Ordinarily, that would've worked. But right now it didn't.

"Even if that's true," she began, her voice slightly muffled against his muscular chest, "pregnancy has ruined me. I'm all fat and ugly now and you're going to leave me for some cute chick named Bianca."

This time, Kuai Liang exploded into laughter that he didn't even try to contain. "I love you," he snickered, hugging her tighter. Then he pulled away slightly and curled his finger under her chin to make her look him in the eye. "I don't ever want to hear you say that again, Ahn," he told her. His sapphire blue eyes sparkled in amusement, but his face was completely serious. "I have never seen a fat, ugly person in you, and even if you actually were fat and ugly, I wouldn't know it because to me, you're the most beautiful person in the universe. You're also funny as hell, you're so smart, and you're infinitely kind. And you're the mother of my child." He looked at her with a knowing grin. "So there's no way in hell that I'd leave you for some chick named Bianca, or any other chick for that matter."

Anya sniffed and weakly smiled. "Thank you, Kuai Liang," she said. "That makes me feel a little bit better. You always know what to say to make me feel better."

He lovingly stroked her chin. "Well, you're my girl," he shrugged.

She looked at him for a long moment, and then burst into tears yet again. "I love you so much, Kuai Liang!" she cried, and that squeaky high voice returned.

"Oh, honey, you're a mess," he told her, holding her close and patting her back.

"I know!" she wailed, sobbing onto his chest.

"Anya, how much sleep did you get last night?" he asked as he gently pressed her head against him to comfort her.

She shook her head. "Not much," she whimpered. "I was up and down because my back hurt so damn bad, and I had to pee like eight million times." She wiped her eyes and nose on the front of his t-shirt. "I feel like crap. My back still hurts and now my stomach does too, probably from crying. And I'm achy all over." She looked up at him with red, swollen eyes. "And I haven't seen my feet since July," she said. "Do my socks even match?"

Kuai Liang looked down and then back up. He shook his head. "No," he said, that amusement in his eyes and voice returned.

"Dammit," she squeaked, the tears welling up again. "I'm sick of being pregnant."

"Okay, this is what we're going to do," he said. "I'm going to take the day off, and so are you."

"No," Anya stubbornly replied. She pulled away from him and wiped her eyes, trying hard to regain her composure. "You can't miss work, and neither can I."

Kuai Liang smirked at her as he tapped some buttons on his wrist-comm and hailed Tomas. "Hey," he began. "I need you to cover my classes for me today. And tell Kamala that Anya won't be coming to the infirmary today."

"What's up?" his friend asked.

"Anya's not feeling well, so I'm going to stay with her and take care of her."

"Roger, dodger," the cyber-ninja said before their connection ended.

"Kuai Liang, you didn't have to do that," she told him.

"Maybe not," he agreed. "But I wanted to. I know you're miserable and I want to help."

Anya softly laughed. "Thanks," she said.

"And just remember what Dr. Green told you yesterday," he said. "If the baby hasn't come on her own by Monday, then he's going to induce you into labor. So one way or another, you don't have that much longer to go."

She nodded. "Yeah," she murmured before she walked to the sink to wash her face and comb her hair.

"Come on," he urged as he watched her. "Let's go put you to bed."

"Actually, Kuai Liang," she said, "would you take a walk around the Temple with me? After we eat breakfast that is. I'm starving. And it hurts to lie down. Walking seems to help."

He grinned and joined her side. "Well…" he trailed off. "I suppose I could do that. For a price."

"Oh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. But he said nothing, and instead stole a kiss.

About an hour later, Anya found herself lazily strolling through the Temple arm-in-arm with Kuai Liang. She'd eaten like a pig at breakfast, having stuffed her face with bacon and sausage links and a pile of pancakes loaded in butter and warm maple syrup. Usually, she was content to eat some brown sugar oatmeal and some fresh fruit, but today, she felt like gorging herself. So now, as she waddled through the halls with her husband, she felt mildly uncomfortable from eating too much.

But it had been a nice stroll, regardless of her persistent backache and overstuffed belly. The children ran past them, hurrying to their various classrooms, shouting their hellos, some stopping long enough to give them both hugs. Anya loved that the kids felt happy enough to be so affectionate, and she knew Kuai Liang felt that way too. It was a far cry from the way he'd grown up.

The Grandmaster and his wife talked about it a little, but when Kuai Liang sighed and grew wistful, his eyes lost in distant memories, Anya changed the subject and they talked about Halloween, which was only about three weeks away, instead. She suggested that they have a party for the children and let them trick-or-treat in costumes by going to each of the adults' rooms for candy.

And then, Anya's water broke. It was a strange feeling, and for a second, she paused in shock, wondering if she'd accidentally peed in her pants. One time, when she was a little kid, she and her friends liked to fill up flimsy plastic sandwich baggies with water until they were swollen and tight, and then use them as water balloons. That didn't work so well, however, because they never broke when they were thrown. So the kids were forced to poke holes in them and throw them that way. Anya remembered that popping sensation in her hand, that sudden jarring explosion of water. And right now, it felt exactly the same, only this time the unexpected pop happened deep inside her. Warm liquid dribbled down her legs, soaking her sweatpants, filling up her shoes, and pooling on the stone tiles.

"Kuai Liang?" she said uncertainly. He stopped and looked at her, noticing immediately her wet pants.

"What happened?" he asked.

"My water just broke," she told him. Her voice was dreamy, full of shock.

Immediately, his face paled. "Okay," he told her, struggling hard to maintain his calm voice, but rapidly failing. "Let's get you to the S.F. hospital right away," he said, his voice breathless. He started pacing around, rubbing his mouth nervously as she still stood there, stunned, with heart racing. Kuai Liang looked at her in disbelief. "Come on, Ahn," he prodded, motioning for her to get moving. "We've got to hurry!"

Finally, Anya snapped out of her stupor and smiled at her husband. "It's not like the movies, Kuai Liang," she told him, chuckling as she started walking again. Her pace was casual and calm. "I'm not going to have the baby right this instant. I've probably got several hours to go yet." And then it hit her. The baby was coming. Finally. She looked at the Grandmaster, who was still mildly panicked, she could tell, and grinned. "Hey, she's coming," she said. "By tonight or tomorrow, she'll be here. And we'll be parents."

"Can you hurry up?" he impatiently replied, his face strained with worry. "We seriously need to get you to the doctor."

"I have to change my clothes first," she replied. "And I have to get my suitcase." She thought about it. "Oh, and we need to tell Tomas and everyone. Do you want to call your mom, or do you want me to?"

"Anya-"

But she wasn't listening. "You know what, since you've got to tell Tomas, I'll talk to your mom. Oh, and we need to get a message to my mom. And my dad."

"Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" Kuai Liang demanded to know.

"What's the matter?" Anya asked.

"What's the matter?" he yelped. "Only an hour ago, you were a hysterical mess in our bathroom, and now you're like in La-La Land and completely oblivious to the fact that we have to hurry up."

Now it was her turn to laugh. "Babe," she grinned, shaking her head. "I'm not dilly-dallying, if that's what you're saying," she told him.

"Yes, you are," he argued.

"Not really," she said. "I know we have to go. But I'm serious. We don't have to rush around like they do in the movies. I'm not gonna run through the halls, screaming my head off, getting everyone worked up. Right now, I'm not in any real pain. My back hurts a bit, but it's certainly nothing to act like that for." She shook her head again and then held his hand. "You need to calm down, Kuai Liang. This isn't healthy."

He looked at her like he couldn't believe she'd just said that. "Are you kidding me?" he asked her. "You've been a raging nutcase for the last several months, crying over things like broccoli – broccoli! – and you're telling me what is and isn't healthy?"

"Would you just try to focus on the part where in a few hours, we'll get to meet our little girl?" she asked, smiling. That finally got his attention, and he inhaled deeply, centering himself to regain control over his feelings. Calmly, he tapped his wrist-comm again and hailed Tomas.

Another hour passed, and Anya had just changed into a hospital nightgown and climbed into the delivery bed – which felt decidedly unusual and irregular beneath her body – while Charlene, her nurse, typed on her keyboard. Kuai Liang, meanwhile, sat in a hard, upright chair near the window with his arms crossed, scowling. He wasn't angry, Anya knew. It was merely his usual expression while amongst strangers. When she'd held his hand earlier as they'd traveled through the portal and through the halls to the hospital wing of the base, she sensed nothing but concern and nervousness deep inside of him. So she smiled at him reassuringly while Charlene started an IV in the top of her hand and then fastened a heart monitor to a strap encircling her belly before attaching electrodes to various spots on her body.

By this point, Anya's mild discomfort had grown a little worse. Now, sharp pinching pain clawed at her insides every few minutes. She could immediately tell when the contractions were about to come on. The muscles in her abdomen and back started tensing of their own accord, at first painlessly but rapidly standing on end in a spasm that stripped her breath away. And then the muscles would magically relax, and she'd feel mostly fine for a few more minutes.

But as Charlene typed more stuff into her computer, a particularly strong contraction gripped Anya in its merciless clutches, and this time she involuntarily grunted in pain as she tightly gripped the bed-rails on her bed as if doing so would make it go away. It wouldn't, however, and it seemed to last a particularly long time as she grew dizzy and lightheaded from not breathing. Logically, she knew that breathing would help. But the reality was that her body wouldn't let her suck down air at all.

"Anya, are you okay?" Kuai Liang asked, his voice tinged with worry.

"I'm just peachy," she strained to say. She huffed a few times through her mouth, vaguely noticing that Charlene was now studying the computer monitor attached to the electrodes.

"Ooh, that's a strong one," the nurse commented.

"No…kidding," Anya gasped. At last, though, it finally released its hold on her and she relaxed onto the bed, her back hurting even worse with spasms.

The nurse, who evidently ignored her sarcasm, cheerfully said, "Okay, dear. Now we wait. Here's your call button if you need anything. Before I go, can I get you anything?"

"No," the other nurse told her, panting. "I'm fine."

"Okay," she smiled. "I'll check on you in a little bit."

And just like that, she was gone. Anya felt strangely empty by her absence. The delivery room, which had been designed to resemble a comfortable family bedroom, was oddly quiet save for the low hum of the IV pump and the computer screens behind her head. Some part of her had expected her nurse and her CNA stay with her the whole time, hovering, watching closely. She thought it would be more exciting, that there would be more action. But there was nothing but silence. It felt surreal.

"How are you doing?" Kuai Liang asked her, breaking through the unnerving quiet.

"Embarrassed," she confessed, blushing as she looked at her hands.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Because you're watching me," she said. "I'm pretty sure if it was you having contractions, you wouldn't even blink. It's…embarrassing." She shyly smiled.

He scoffed and faintly smiled, shaking his head. "You worry about the weirdest things sometimes," he said.

"Well," she proudly began, "I want you to know that's the extent of me showing pain. I'm gonna be just like you. I can do this."

"I can't do this!" Anya wailed a few hours later, burying half of her face in her pillow as she gripped the edge of the fitted hospital sheet with both hands. Kuai Liang had long since gotten up from his chair and was trying to rub her back, but she couldn't hold still long enough for her to derive any sort of relief from it.

"Babby, you've got to breathe," Maggie told her, stroking her face. Her mother-in-law had arrived an hour ago, and hadn't been able to stop smiling in excitement once since she got there. "It'll help a lot if you do."

"I'm trying," Anya whimpered. And then, another fiery spasm ripped through her body. It felt as if white hot daggers were slowly carving out her insides. She let out a small, involuntary shriek and accidentally ripped the hospital sheet with her bare hands. "When in the hell will they give me my epidural?" she growled a few moments later, glaring daggers at Charlene, who was typing on the computer again. Anya had half a mind to get out of bed and fling that entire portable podium across the room. She hated that computer, and hated Charlene for being so utterly calm.

"When you reach five centimeters," the nurse absently told her. "You're only at four now."

"I'll show you four," Anya snarled as she sat up and curled her hand into a fist that Kuai Liang quickly grabbed and pushed down into the blankets. He flashed her a look and shook his head no.

And then a new sound touched her ears. She cocked her head to hear better, and she quickly realized it was screaming. Accompanying it were the sounds of men talking, and nurses cooing. It took her a moment to realize what it was, but soon she figured out that in another room close by, a different woman was in the process of delivering a baby. The thought made her burst into tears.

"Anya, what's wrong?" Kuai Liang asked as he stood by her and rubbed her shoulder.

She looked up at him through teary vision. "There's a woman having a baby," she whined.

"Yeah, so?" he prodded. "Isn't that what you're doing?"

"She's at ten, and she's screaming like that," Anya continued. "She must be in agony. I'm only at four, and I feel like I'm dying." Her voice faded to a pathetic, frightened whisper. "If I feel like this right now, what's it going to feel like when I'm at ten?"

When Anya first returned home to the Temple after her stint in Outworld, and had truly begun to focus on her pregnancy, she had sworn not to be one of those wives who angrily cursed at their husbands in the delivery room because she thought it hurtful and decidedly unfair. And how could she talk to Kuai Liang like that anyway? He was the most wonderful man on the planet and he didn't deserve to be talked to so hatefully.

But in spite of herself and all the plans she made months ago, she started hurling obscenities at him after her epidural didn't take like it was supposed to, and only half of her body went completely numb while the other half still felt everything. She felt like Two-Face from Batman, and somehow, it was all Kuai Liang's fault. As a particularly awful contraction ripped the left half of her body apart from the inside out, she screamed at him that he was never allowed to have sex with her again. Another one soon followed, and when he leaned over to stroke her hair to comfort her, it sent her into a fit of rage. Instantly, she threw her arm around his neck and pulled him into a headlock, screaming, "I am done with this shit! I'm going home! I'll learn to live with all the extra weight!"

This made Maggie laugh, and as Anya angrily muttered insults at her husband, who was looking at his wife in a mix of surprise and anger after he broke free, she patted her son on the shoulder and said, "Don't take it personally, Babby. I would've done the same thing to your father when I had each one of you kids, except he refused to join me in the delivery room. He opted to go get Chinese food down in Chinatown. With you, I wound up slapping my nurse. Every woman curses the father of their child during labor. It's how it goes."

"Well, Anya's been insane these last few months anyway," he calmly told his mom, passive-aggressively making a dig on his wife as he rubbed his slightly red neck. "I take everything she says and does anymore with a grain of salt."

"Why don't you come over here and say that to my face?" the nurse growled at him, hanging onto the bed-rail for dear life as she lay on her side, curled into a ball. She squeezed her eyes shut and moaned while she waited for the pain to pass. "I will pull your scrotum up over your head."

"You're so cute when you threaten me," he shot back, now smiling as he cautiously stroked her hair. She had braided it that morning before coming through the portal to the S.F. base, but her dark hair was tousled and coming loose in places from flopping around in her bed.

"Kuai Liang," she whined, fighting off anguished tears, suddenly scared more than angry. "Please knock me out. Please grab my shoulder and zap me with ice and knock me out."

"Um, let me think about that," he sarcastically told her. "Uh, no.

"If you love me you will," she sniffed.

He gently laughed, stroked her hair some more, and then leaned over to kiss her temple. "I love you more than anything in this world," he told her. "But I don't know if that'll hurt the baby, or you. And I'm pretty sure you want to be conscious when she's born."

"Consciousness is overrated," she whined. "You can take pictures." The contraction faded for all of two seconds before coming back in full force. She yelped and then let out a long, low howl.

"I know, honey, I know," he said, rubbing her shoulders and her back again. Then his hand drifted to hers on the bed-rail and squeezed it.

"No, you do not know!" she roared. "Why don't you come over here and let me kick you in the nuts, and then you might have an idea how I feel right now."

And then an overwhelming feeling consumed Anya then. She felt this powerful, incredible need to just push. It was a feeling that defied logic and elevated instinct to an expression of truth. Whereas the contractions felt like a boa constrictor clamping down around her waist, this felt like the muscles were pulling downward towards her groin, promising sweet relief.

"I have to push," she gasped in surprise. For all of her nursing training, she didn't know the female body did that, signaled the woman that it was time to actually deliver. It was kind of cool, she briefly thought, but she couldn't ponder it for long because another contraction chewed out her insides, prompting her to cry out.

Now Maggie gasped too. "Oh, my God!" she yelped. "Okay, I'm going to get your nurse. But don't you dare actually push, Anya," she said before she disappeared through the door and into the hall.

"But it feels so good," Anya whimpered into her pillow, lying as much on her tummy as she could to mute the pain. She clutched her pillow tightly.

"It's almost over," Kuai Liang told her, the relief in his voice apparent. "Thank God."

"Oh, like you've had it so hard," she snarled. She crossed her legs to try to keep her body from pushing on its own as it was trying to do. For a moment, she gave in and felt a blissful, if brief, respite from the agony.

A minute later, nurses charged into Anya's room, and Maggie followed. What followed was chaos, or so it felt, and the mother-to-be could scarcely catch her breath. Charlene had her in stirrups within seconds, and promptly shoved her fingers up inside her to check her progression. Pleased, she announced that Anya was at nine centimeters, and that someone needed to get Dr. Green in there stat. Charlene's nurse companions sat her bed up and arranged a variety of tools to aid in delivery on a stainless still tray. On the far side of the room, near the door, a team of CNAs set up an area for the baby, when she came. It was equal parts scale and heat lamp, Anya knew, and it was where they would clean her up and measure her APGAR scores.

All the while, Kuai Liang held her hand while watching the scene. His face betrayed virtually no emotion, but Anya sensed through her fingers his curiosity about these happenings, and his excitement even more. There was also the hint of worry for both his wife and his child, but when she looked up at him with exhausted eyes, he merely smiled at her and patted her head.

"Can I have some drugs?" Anya pleaded with Dr. Green when he came in a second later.

"No," he gently told her as a nurse helped him suit up in a surgical gown and gloves. "We don't want to delay your progress any longer. Painkillers may slow labor."

Anya frowned. "Dammit," she cursed. Sudden fear coursed through her. Sure, women for thousands of years before the invention of morphine went through childbirth drug-free. But why do that if you didn't have to? Why endure that kind of pain?

Dr. Green stationed himself on a stool in front of Anya's bed, getting a direct view of her nether-regions. She had long since gotten over being embarrassed by such things, however, having been forced to give the good doctor the full monty numerous times over the course of this pregnancy, and instead she looked at Maggie, who was now leaning in to kiss her goodbye.

"Good luck, Babby," she told her. "I'll be in the waiting room. I can't wait to meet my grandbaby!"

"Thank you, Maggie," she said. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart," she said before she looked up at Kuai Liang. "And I love you too, Babby. You come get me the moment that baby is born!"

"Maybe not the exact moment," he said. She smiled and nodded her understanding before she then left the room.

Now, all eyes were on Anya, and as she knew from her rotation in L&D during nursing school, the doctor gently gave her commands to guide her through delivery. When to push and for how long, and how to let the contractions help her. It was a slow, awful process, and she wrenched her face into an ugly mask as she grunted and groaned in pain. Several times, she held her breath as if doing so would give her added power. And she felt like she had the worst constipation in the history of constipation.

One of the nurses, one she hadn't seen before, loudly said, "Push, Annalise! Push harder!"

The middle-aged woman kept repeating that to her to encourage her, but it rapidly got on the mother-to-be's nerves, so she stopped what she was doing and glared at her. "What in the hell do you think I'm doing?" she shouted. "Interpretive dance?"

"Anya," Kuai Liang said, rubbing her shoulder to calm her down.

"Well, it's pissing me off!" she defensively replied. "I'm not an idiot." She glared at the nurse again. "Hey, lady, why don't you let my doctor boss me around."

"Okay, calm down," Dr. Green told her. His voice was slightly muffled by the mask he wore over his face. "It's not good for you or the baby, Anya. I need you to concentrate for me."

So Anya did just that. She felt her innards shifting around, and soon thereafter, she felt the baby pass into the birth canal. Every muscle down there strained and stretched to the point of snapping, and it burned and stung deep inside of her as if someone were dragging hot forks through her genitals. Inwardly, she prayed that this kid didn't get stuck down there. At this point, they would have to cut Anya in half to get her unstuck. Sweat dampened her face and hair, soaking her bangs and the locks near her temples. Anya groaned miserably as she clutched Kuai Liang's hand and squeezed so hard she thought she'd break his fingers. Thank God he was so damn tough.

"I can see the head," Dr. Green announced a minute later, prompting Kuai Liang to leave Anya's side to go look.

She glanced at him, and felt somewhat embarrassed as his face twisted up in disgust. "Anya," he began, his voice full of repulsed awe, "how are you doing this?"

"You're not helping," she struggled to say, her voice threatening to crack.

"Just a little bit more," the doctor coaxed.

Anya was tired of labor, was tired of delivery, and was tired of being pregnant. So she pushed harder than ever and used the bed-rails to help give her strength. Her insides obeyed her mental commands, and the muscles tensed, squeezing her abdomen as hard as she possibly could. A strangled cry left her as the baby slid through her like a shot. In a few moments, Anya sensed the outermost hole stretching as the head passed through her groin, and for a split second it was the worst pain she'd experienced all day, but she was too breathless to shriek like she wanted. There was a warm gush of fluid, and the disgusted expression returned to Kuai Liang's face as he looked over the doctor's shoulder. Anya felt the doctor's hands guide the head out, but she didn't care because she just couldn't stop pushing.

"Just a bit more," he told her. "I've got the head. Push a little harder, Anya."

But she was already ten light-years ahead of him. She raggedly inhaled and started again, now feeling more of the baby leave her body. She cried out when there was another sharp cut of pain followed by the distinct sensation of something ripping and more warm fluid gushing over her genitals and inner thighs. Once that pain mostly passed, though, she didn't need to push any longer. The baby slid easily out from there, and Anya knew that she would never forget that odd feeling of passing knees and toes through her private parts.

"What is it?" she asked tiredly. Part of her thought that Kailyn and all the ultrasounds she'd had during this pregnancy might have been wrong about this baby being a girl.

"It's a girl," Dr. Green told her, and she laughed in relief.

By this point, Kuai Liang was by her side again, kissing her cheeks, her lips, her hands. At the foot of her bed, the baby stared shrieking, prompting her father to laugh. "She's got a good set of lungs," he told Anya with a smile, and she panted as she nodded, exhausted.

Now Dr. Green set the baby girl on top of Anya's chest while he fussed with the umbilical cord. She was much heftier than Anya imagined, having more substance to her than she expected. But then again, Anya wasn't sure why she'd thought the baby would weigh as little as a toy baby doll. As she pondered this, amazed by the weight of her child, her solidness, the nurses covered her with a towel to keep her warm. Then Anya ran her hands all over the little creature crying on her, trying to feel every inch of her newborn daughter. The girl was covered in blood and other bodily fluids, but that didn't matter a bit.

"Look how much hair she has," Kuai Liang remarked, his voice slightly choked up. He was right. Their daughter had a full head of hair, and it was fairly long for a newborn as well.

"No wonder I had so much heartburn," Anya joked as happy tears streamed down her face and he gently patted the baby on her back. It was an old wives' tale. Babies with hair in utero supposedly caused the mother excruciating bouts of heartburn, and this was definitely true for Anya. There were days she guzzled Mylanta like a Slurpee.

"Would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" Dr. Green asked Kuai Liang then, and he silently nodded, joining the doctor's side, nervously taking the scissors from his hand.

Anya scarcely paid attention as the doctor guided her husband through the process of cutting the cord, and instead focused on her beautiful little girl who was now asleep on her breast. She couldn't get over the fact that this little angel was hers, and that she was now a mother. Not just in spirit like she was for the kids in the Lin Kuei Temple, but in reality as well. Tears streamed from her eyes.

"You're so perfect," she muttered over and over again, gently squeezing her baby's tiny hand.

Then the nurses took her away, much to her chagrin, and Kuai Liang followed them closely to watch them clean her up and weigh her while Dr. Green helped Anya deliver the afterbirth. And then the nurses cleaned her up as well, helping her exchange her blood-soaked gown for a fresh one while the CNAs stripped her bed and changed her sheets.

Finally, though, the nurses brought the baby back to her, this time dressed in a onesie and a pink and blue stocking cap, wrapped like a burrito in a baby blanket. Charlene carefully placed her in her mother's arms, and for the first time, Anya really got a good look at her little girl. Her sleeping face was wrinkled up and flushed red, but in her eyes, she was still the most gorgeous baby in the history of babies. And she looked very much like her father.

"She's so tiny," Kuai Liang said, curiously looking over Anya's shoulder at his little daughter. "Were we ever that small?" he wondered.

"I think so," she laughed as she looked up at him. "Do you want to hold her?" she asked.

He nodded, so she carefully passed her to him, reminding him to support her neck and head. He sat down in the chair with her and studied her face, tracing the contours with his finger. "I feel like I'm going to break her," he muttered distractedly. Though he would never admit it for a thousand years, Anya saw tears creep into his blue eyes and threaten to spill over.

"What are you going to name her?" Charlene asked as the other nurses started to leave. "Or do you know yet?"

"No, we know," Anya told her with a smile. She glanced at Kuai Liang and then back to her nurse. "Her name is Olivia."