Octavia was physically almost well again. Abby had given her physical therapy exercises for her wrist. Her mobility was better, but her left hand was still completely numb, and lacked the dexterity for anything more than a rough grasp. Meanwhile, as she slowly emerged from feeling nothing, her panic attacks increased. Lincoln and Raven were the most adept at taking care of her.

"Octavia, do you want to learn how to strip wires?" Raven asked one morning. "We're repurposing pieces from the Arc, and could use your help."

"I'm not sure I can with my hand the way it is."

"Here, see if you can hold this piece," she said, placing a bit of copper wire partially covered in green plastic in Octavia's grasp. The girl's hand shook, but she didn't drop it.

"Hey, that's good!"

"I can't really feel it."

"It's a start, anyway."

Octavia became Raven's assistant after that. It wasn't really what she was meant for. She was clumsy with the tools, and often didn't understand when Raven explained something mechanical. She was supposed to fight, and she couldn't. She was alive, but she felt like she'd lost her purpose.

Wick watched Raven care for Octavia and continue working on the wiring for the giant Arc kitchen. She often worked beyond her limits, and went to bed exhausted. Meanwhile, he couldn't help falling more in love with her. They had started getting creative with their lovemaking as her belly got bigger, but many nights they just ended up cuddling together. He often would rub her tired feet or the knots in her shoulders. She was tired of being tired, and although she had two more months to go, she felt thoroughly ready to get the baby out of her.

One day at lunch hour, a woman approached her. Raven recognized her from Mecha station, but they had never spoken.

"Raven, I'm Sofia. I was on Mecha station."

"Yeah, I've seen you around."

"Well, I have some things I thought you should have. See, I had my little girl a few years ago. I thought I would have more babies, but my husband, he didn't survive the landing. I won't be having any more children, so I thought you should have these things." The woman handed Raven a bag. Inside it was a few burping cloths, several pieces of clothing, from tiny up through clothing for a two or three year old, and 10 cloth diapers.

"Thank you so much, Sophia. I don't know how to repay you."

"You don't have to. As a mama, you need these things. When you're done with them, you can pass them on to another mama."

"Thank you," she said again, getting flushed.

She was horribly off balance as her belly grew bigger day by day. She stumbled a lot, and Abby and Wick scolded her, telling her she was going too fast. She was starting to waddle, more than walk. Her belly cracked with stretch-marks, and Abby had to put cream on it to help stop the itchy pain. Her whole body just felt off. One day, as she was walking back from a simple pipe fix, she began to feel a cinching around her waist. It felt like all of her muscles were contracting at once. It knocked the breath out of her, and she bent over, trying to breathe.

"Rae, you okay?" Wick stopped next to her, putting a hand on her back.

"I don't know. My stomach feels weird.

"Is it the baby? Is it coming already?"

"I don't know, I-" She was cut off by a slightly painful tugging feeling, and just tried to breathe.

"I'll go get Abby. I'll be right back. Stay here!" He ran off.

A few minutes later, her pain seemed to have gone away, and Wick was dragging Abby toward Raven.

"Raven, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so."

After an examination, Abby said Raven was likely experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions, which meant that everything was going according to schedule.

Two weeks later, Raven was having lunch when she needed to go to the bathroom right that minute. She bolted up and walked (waddled) her way to the latrines. Octavia had gone to make sure she was okay, and she heard a soft "What the fuck?" from behind the closed door.

"Rae, you okay in there?"

"Uhhhh. I guess."

"What's going on?"

"Uhhh, nothing."

"It doesn't sound like nothing."

"Shut up."

She emerged from the latrine looking a bit pink.

"Do you need to see Abby?"

"Maybe."

It turned out, what Raven had experienced was losing her mucus plug, a sign that her baby would be coming soon. She was grossed out, and spent most of the day shuddering about it.

The next day, Octavia went to the lab to help out, only to find Raven crying.

"Woah, role reversal right here."

She sniffled "Sorry."

"What's up?"

"Um, I'm…" She gathered her thoughts. "I'm scared."

"Raven, labor is short-lived. Even if it's a whole day, that's just one day, and then it'll be over and you'll have this awesome baby forever!"

"Not about labor, about being a mom."

"Oh."

"I mean, you know my mom wasn't… wasn't a good mom. What if I end up like that? I mean, she chose booze over feeding me. She barely even acknowledged me, and she's the only role model I ever had. How am I supposed to be a good mom?" She's crying again.

"Raven, a rock could be a better mom than your mom. There's no way you'll end up like her. I've seen the way you cared for Finn, hell, the way you care for me. You've got nurturing instincts coming out your ass. You're gonna do fine."

Raven nodded, not really sure if she believed her, but not knowing how to argue. Octavia reached to squeeze the mechanic's shoulder with her left hand, rubbing her thumb back and forth a few times. Raven's face lit up.

"Hey, that was pretty good."

"The thumb or the pep talk?"

"Well, I was talking about the thumb. But I guess the pep talk was okay too."

Octavia smiled and grabbed a machine that she was taking apart for the parts. Sometime's she forgot how fragile Raven's self-esteem was because she acted so tough. She made a mental note to check in with her about it more often.