Altaïr's patience was stretched to the limit. Maria was obviously in labour and refusing to be attended to. He moved across the floor of the room they shared and glared at her for the thousandth time but her smirking face told him she was still not yet ready to back down. It had started just before dawn...

He had felt her weight shift from their bed and when he opened his eyes she was standing bent over one hand clutching the bed the other pressed against her stomach.

He sat up, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's just a twinge. Go back to sleep."

He lifted the blankets in a silent invitation to her to get back into bed. He fell asleep again with her body curled up beside his, his legs wrapped around hers.

He awoke sometime later and was more than a little disappointed to discover he was alone in bed. They had a habit of snuggling up together before they got up. Sometimes they made love, sometimes they only talked but waking up with the person you love beside you was a pleasure he never considered until he experienced it and once he had he was loath to let it go.

He shifted his head towards the window and from the corner of his eye he saw her, his body was out of bed and beside her before his brain fully understood what was happening.

She was lying on a pile of cushions her body curled up in the foetal position. She smiled when he reached her, "Good morning sleepy head come here and give me a kiss."

He never kissed her but he did take her hand, "What's wrong, why are you on the floor Maria?"

"Nothing is wrong silly, my back hurts and lying on the bed wasn't helping so I moved to the floor."

He accepted this readily enough and joined her on the cushions, happy not to be denied his usual start to the day.

He scrunched down behind her and absent-mindedly rubbed her back while he went over his plans for the day. "The Rafiq of Acre will be here around mid-day do you suppose he is here to request more money or more men?"

She chuckled softly, "Perhaps both Altaïr after all Acre is a big place."

She snuggled deeper into his body, "You can't be serious!"

He nodded, nibbling her ear knowing full well what she had just felt pressing against her.

She turned her body to face him, "Did I mention how much my back hurts?"

He moved onto his back and pulled her on top of him.

"I'm not in the mood, I feel like an overstuffed bag of oats." But she returned his soft kisses and allowed his hands to wander up and down her back.

She leaned her elbows on either side of his head, "Doing that is what got us into this situation in the first place."

One of his hands tangled with her hair and brought her lips closer to his, "Yes and it will again." He kissed her savouring the softness of her mouth against his, "If you are too uncomfortable we can wait until later."

He wasn't sure if she even heard him.

He had marvelled at how her moods and emotions had been so dramatically altered by her pregnancy but this was definitely his favourite of all these changes. She would come to his study at random times and lead him off somewhere quiet to make love. She had been an eager lover before but he liked how unpredictable she had become. Once or twice he had hoped she would show up for him and when she didn't he had gone looking for her.

She lay down beside him a soft sheen of sweat covering her face, she was panting softly. He wrapped an arm around her neck and caressed her stomach with his free hand.

"We should get dressed we can't lie here all day."

He chose to ignore her words, feeling much too content to even think of moving. He placed a small kiss on the head resting on his shoulder and pulled her body closer to his own.

The meeting with Jabal had come and gone and he had just finished a light lunch when Maria approached his desk. Her face looked flushed and her gait was unsteady, well even less steady than normal. She sat on the edge of his desk and puffed her cheeks out. "Why is it still so hot Altaïr? It should be cooling down by now, it is unseasonably hot."

He smiled and agreed with her. In fact it was no hotter or colder than normal for autumn but he learned early in her pregnancy to agree with her irrational observations, of which there were many.

"Would you like to go for a walk Maria? It may well be cooler by the river. "

She puckered her mouth to the side considering his offer, "No thank you love, I'll take a stroll into the garden and find a nice tree to rest under."

He got up and helped her off the desk, "If you change your mind you know where to find me."

Her eyes rolled, "Same place you always are so yes I know where to find you."

He thought of offering to escort her but changed his mind; this mood would pass as quickly as the others had.

She paused at the top of the stairs and he heard her wince, "Before you ask I'm fine it's just my bloody back. Don't worry if this child of yours ever decides to stop torturing me and be born you will be the first to hear of it."

He and Rauf had spent the next few hours assessing the higher grade of novices and once alone he found he couldn't concentrate. He sat staring at his papers before he gave up and went looking for Maria. She wasn't in the garden, nor was she around the training ring. Next he tried their rooms and when he found them empty he began to worry.

Making his way to the village and trying to seem casual as he asked various people if they had seen her. None had. He saw one of her friends drawing water from the well, "Good day to you Nijma, have you seen Maria?"

The young woman was wearing a full veil but from the way her eyes scrunched up he knew she was smiling, "Yes not long ago she passed on her way to the river, is something wrong Master Altaïr?"

"Not at all, I simply want to see if she is feeling any better, thank you Nijma."

He saw her sitting beside the river and even from a distance he could see she was in some discomfort.

"I thought you didn't want to come down here?"

She jumped a little at his voice, "I changed my mind and must confess it was one of your better ideas. I soaked my feet in the water, it felt lovely."

Sitting beside her he touched her cheek, her face felt clammy. "How are you feeling my love?"

She folded her arms across her massive stomach, "I'll be honest I've had better days."

He let her rest against his arm and the two sat together listening to the calming sounds of the river. Suddenly she bent forward and grabbed at her lower stomach, he moved in front of her and took one of her hands from her stomach. "How long has this been happening?"

"Not long just let me lie still and it will pass."

Taking her in his arms he effortlessly hoisted her larger than normal frame up from the ground, "What the hell are you doing? Put me down you half wit."

"No Maria you need to get to the midwife."

"Put me down now and I'll walk beside you calmly, if you don't I'll bite your ear off!"

Putting her feet back on the ground he kept a firm grip of her hand and pushed his other into the small of her back steering her towards the village, "If you have any pain we can stop just let me know."

She chuckled as she waddled along beside her over protective husband, "Don't worry I think you'll know if I feel any pain."

They made it almost half way up the hill to the fortress before she stopped in her tracks and bent over almost double, "Oh my dear sweet mother of mercy!"

One of the Rafiq's passing stopped to ask if they needed assistance but Altaïr politely declined much to the man's relief he hurried past before the mentor changed his mind and asked him to carry his wife up the hill. "Just keep still my love it will pass and I can always carry you."

Her head swung toward him as she snapped, "If you so much as lay a fu- a- um a hand on me I will break your neck."

Glancing at a woman passing them he took a second to be grateful his sometimes indelicate wife had chosen not to curse but the threat still carried weight. Taking her hand he led them the rest of the way to the fortress with her allowing him to take the lead until he steered them to the corridor where the healers did their work.

"No take me to my room and let me rest she can come there to check on me you know how I suffer terribly in those dank little rooms."

Still not sensing any reason to be concerned he agreed and eventually helped her to her room and her bed. "I'll go bring a midwife to attend you."

Grabbing his hand she pulled him back onto the bed beside her, "No stay with me a while they will only send you away and these things can go on for hours."

He lay on top of the covers beside her and rubbed her back as he spoke to her about his earlier meeting. She listened calmly asking questions when she thought of them and tried to cover up the fact that another pain was tearing through her stomach but it became too much and she groaned, "Oh God I never knew it would hurt so bloody much."

Moving from his position behind her he suggested it was time to get help but she threw him a look so evil in intention that he stopped in his tracks and blinked back at her. "What is wrong?"

"I'm not having anyone here you can stay and help me through this you have ended enough lives perhaps helping to begin one will give you a new perspective on life."

He took a step closer to the bed, "Maria that is ridiculous. I'm going to get fetch a healer."

Sitting up on one arm she hissed, "Put one foot outside that door and I'll never let you near me again assassin."

So it was he now found himself in the position where she refused help or to let him leave. He understood pregnant women could be strange but he never knew stupid was part of it. Another agonised cry from his wife was the last straw he moved to the door and said, "Enough of this I will not endanger you or our child simply to pander to your whims Maria I am going to get someone now."

"If you insist on having help I suggest you bring your good friend Malik since you are both such experts on child birth."

He stopped with his hand hovering over the door handle, "What are you talking about?"

She got off the bed one leg at a time and moved toward him, her normal threatening manner somewhat diminished by her side to side body movements but her face was as dark as he had ever seen it. "I heard you and he make the little jokes and the wager. I was in the recess and I heard him say how I would turn the air of the delivery room blue and you replied I would likely beat the healer black and blue. That is what you think of me is it!"

Closing his eyes he cursed silently, "No Maria it was just as you said – a joke. Malik and I were not making genuine observations."

"You lying little toad I heard the entire exchange you think I can't do this without lowering myself to swearing like a sailor but I have news for you my child is going to be born in a gentle atmosphere of peace and calm and you will bloody well be right there with me holding my hand and witnessing first hand my impeccable behaviour. " Standing between him and the door she tugged it open, "Go then and if you return with anyone other than your gossip crony I will lock the door and birth it myself!"

First he found a midwife and instructed her to go to his room but to wait outside for him to arrive then he tracked down Malik in the library, "Come with me now."

Tugging his sleeve he took him at full speed along the twisting corridors to his wife bringing him up to speed along with way, "I don't actually expect her to make us witness but an apology is certainly due and will be given that should be enough."

Malik pulled his robes free from his friends grasp and chuckled, "This is not my problem Altaïr and if you think I'm going anywhere near that woman while she is in labour you have clearly taken too many blows to the head!"

"Yes you are and you will appease her because my child is on the way and it will have the care required to make that as safe as possible."

Malik took a second to consider, "Fine a quick apology then we leave but I make it from this side of the door she would barricade us in with her to prove a point."

Altaïr smirked as he walked on, she would do that and more but so long as his wife and child were safe at the end of this nothing else mattered.

Shoving the door as he nodded to the midwife he made to enter, it was locked. "Maria, open the door we are here."

"Who exactly are we?"

Malik coughed feeling out of place, "I'm here Maria give me a chance to apologise please."

He heard the bolt being thrown on the other side of the door and placed his hand on it to push it open, "I was wrong Maria but in all honesty it was a je –"

His tunic was in her grip and he was dragged bodily into the door, "You who know so much about life and people Malik who better to welcome my first born into the world. It is fitting you should be here since you will be like a second father to it anyway."

She smiled but there was no warmth behind the gesture it was pure victory. Malik straightened himself out and continued speaking. "Maria I'm not staying it wouldn't be proper but I am sorry for joking about your manners."

"Not nearly sorry enough for being a smug bastard Al Sayf now take a seat in the corner and prepare for a long night."

Altaïr stepped up to intervene but grabbed her hand instead when she dropped to her knees, lifting her to the bed he looked to the healer but she was already beside them rolling up her sleeves. "Maria this is no place for men they will only be in the way. From what I can gather they have been fools and they deserve to suffer but can I suggest you pick another time?"

Her body arched on the bed as her husband watched her bite down to hold back a scream, "Is this normal?"

"Yes it is, now get out from under my feet will you?"

He stepped away from the bed his face suddenly pale he looked to Malik for wisdom but Malik was on his way to the door.

"Stay there you sneaking coward."

Facing her with a sheepish grin on his face he stood still.

Maria closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, "Go away the pair of you. You make me sick. How dare you judge what you will never understand?"

"We will be close by Maria." Malik spoke as he left the room not giving her a chance to change her mind but Altaïr stayed where he was.

She was in real pain and he hadn't expected that, yes he had heard the tales of the screams that women were inclined to do in childbirth but his wife could fight and train like any man and he knew she was not weak but her reactions now had him hovering unwilling to leave her. "Let me stay Maria I can help."

The midwife looked ready to scream herself when he spoke but Maria lurching forward and almost howling brought her attention back to her. She lifted her legs and moved to better see how far along things had gone. Taking his chance he slipped behind his wife and brought her back against his chest, holding her hand and stroking her hair.

Things seemed to happen quickly now her pain increased as did her need to vent but she held back not allowing herself more than a soft moan or a growl throw gritted teeth. She had his hand locked in a death grip and her feet seemed to be digging their way through the mattress but so far she had remained calm and in control. Breathless and sweating she leaned her head against his shoulder to rest between contractions but as soon as she turned her head to speak to him her face twisted in sheer agony but again she held back anything she might have said had it not been for he and Malik's thoughtless comments. Guilt began to gnaw at him as the midwife told her to push and he felt the woman he loved put every shred of effort she had into the action before she collapsed back onto his body.

"I'm truly sorry Maria we were wrong to joke." Kissing her brow as he spoke hoping to make peace with her before another contraction claimed her attention but there was no time his words were cut short by another order to push.

"Push Maria push hard." The midwife spoke from between her legs, "I can see the head we are almost there."

He felt her body lift from the bed as she did all she could to help their child enter the world. Her teeth gritted she bore down hard before she dropped again to the mattress.

"Don't stop now Maria it's too close one more big push!"

Exhausted and almost spent she pushed, he found himself gritting his teeth willing his body to help her get over this final part.

"I have him he is here it's a boy."

He was handed to Maria who was still leaning against her husband. Altaïr reached a hand over her body to touch his son's face, a combination of them both - A tiny head covered with dark hair and his mothers blue eyes framed by his own dark lashes. The midwife told him to take his son while she helped Maria finish off whatever that meant.

Taking the boy wrapped in a white shawl he moved to the door where he saw Malik standing, "How long have you been there?"

"I was outside the entire time but when she said it was a boy I felt safe to look." Moving to him he leaned in to look at the newest member of their family and he smiled. "I'm proud of you Maria he is perfect."

Altaïr was proud of her too, he had an inkling of how hard it had been and it left him wondering if he would ever go through it himself. "She was incredible in spite of us making her self-conscious."

Malik nodded, "Sorry about that Maria we'll make it up to you."

The midwife smiled at Maria once she had finished cleaning her up she leaned over and whispered, "When will you tell them the truth that you had planned all along to have a quiet birth?"

She smirked as she looked past the woman to the two men that she now owned, "Probably won't ever tell them."

The midwife had left and Malik was about to as well, he leaned over and kissed the exhausted woman on the forehead, "I'll go let you get some sleep but I'll come back tomorrow to see if you need anything."

Maria smiled back at him tempted to set him free from his burden now she was all cleaned up and cosy in a fresh bed but a humble Malik was just too good to let go. "Thank you Malik." Taking the baby's hand she waved it, "Darim say good night to uncle Malik."

He grinned stupidly making noises at the baby boy in her arms until he noticed Altaïr smirking at him, "What? He's a baby it's what you do with them!"

Maria was half asleep as Altaïr lay beside her with Darim in her arms enjoying his first meal, "I never imagined it would be so painful I thought that women said that to engender pity."

"I'll confess I thought the same but I know better now." Yawning she looked at their son, "We made him can you believe that? But thank God it's over it can't have been easy for you either."

Stroking her hair once again he smiled softly and watched them both until the baby fell asleep. "I'll put him to sleep you rest my love."

Moving with the boy in arms to the chair beside his crib he rocked him until he noticed how small his lips were, "Maria his mouth is tiny."

Maria was fast asleep and the conversation about the world's tiniest mouth would have to wait but Masyaf's newest father sat a while longer with his son remembering the path which had brought him into the world. Maria had suffered the cramps, the sickness, the moods and the sudden temperature intolerance but she had bonded with him too. Her connection to this life began the instant he was in her stomach or the instant they knew of him being there. He had to stand by watching and waiting but not idle, life for a father-to-be is no less affected than that of the mother.

He had to watch her suffer unable to help, to worry about them both. Would it be healthy? Would he be a good father? He had to find Maria the food she simply had to have at the oddest of times. He was the one who had to take the sword from her hand and lead her from the training ring telling her once the child was born she could resume her duties. But mostly he had worried, helpless to offer anything more than back rubs or gentle words. Now he was here and within his reach; Altaïr finally felt useful and truly a part of it. He would be the father he never had, raising his own children within a family environment guiding them and advising them.

Darim moved his head closer to his father's chest sleeping and secure. The assassin stood and lowered him into the nest of blankets in his crib and wrapped them around him. "Welcome to the world my son."