An: Here we are, another chapter for all of my lovely readers!

Though her students all saw her around town all summer, on the first day of school they all were incredibly excited to see her expanded belly. Many of them brought beautiful baby gifts for her, from small baby gowns, to poorly knit blankets made by the children's own hands, but she accepted each one with tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. She knew that soon, she would have a baby, and would have to take her leave, but the thought of it made her heart ache. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep teaching when she could barely keep on her feet more than ten minutes at a time, and she wouldn't be able to teach when she had a tiny baby in tow, but she would enjoy each and every moment with the sweet children.

"Mrs. Thornton?" little Opal asked, raising her hand, even though class hadn't started yet.

"Yes Opal?"

"When the stork brings you your baby, does that mean you can't be our teacher anymore?" a chorus of gasps followed from the little girls seated around her. "That's what my mommy and daddy were saying."

"Well, Opal, when someone has a baby, that baby is very, very small, and someone has to take care of them all the time, because they can't do anything for themselves yet." Elizabeth explained carefully.

"Like Brownie!" she gasped.

"Exactly." Elizabeth nodded very seriously. "And so when the baby gets here, for a little while at least, the baby is going to need me to take care of it; so I won't be able to come to school."

"Why can't you bring the baby here?" Opal asked.

"Yeah! We could all help you take care of it!" Emily said, clapping with excitement.

"Oh, we could! I'm real good with babies Mrs. Thornton!" Cassandra, now there for her last year of school, said from her seat at the back of the room. room.

"I know, and you're all very, very sweet." Elizabeth smiled, tears forming in her eyes. "But the baby is going to need a lot more attention than I can give it while I'm teaching...and, as much as I love all of you, I know that if I brought a baby in to work with me every day, none of you would ever be able to focus! Am I right?" She asked, and the girls nodded sadly. "But I promise that I'll bring the baby in to visit- and I promise that I'll do everything I can to be sure that your new teacher is wonderful!" this seemed to be enough to satisfy the children just enough to get them settled into their seats as Elizabeth rang her cowbell, with a bemused smile as she thought of where it had come from.

…

Jack was pacing the floor nervously, so that even Rip was made uneasy. He looked at the letter in his hands for what felt like the hundredth time since he'd received it that morning. A temporary assignment in the North? A temporary assignment. In the north. He was to report next week, and then be away for at least a month- maybe more. How could he go when Elizabeth would be giving birth in three months? How could he leave when her pregnancy had been so difficult? How could he defy orders? This was one of the things he had most feared when he had been courting her; how could he leave her? How could he stay?

"Honey, I'm home!" Elizabeth called when she opened the door and saw his red jacket hung on its peg by the door. She took off her jacket, and hung it beside his, frowning a little. "Jack? Sweetheart?"

"In here." He called from the sitting room. She came in, and took a seat on the sofa beside him. He swiftly lifted her feet, and began unlacing her boots, which he now did out of necessity, as she could no longer see her feet, much less bend down to reach them. He frowned a bit...Who would do this for her if he had to go? Elizabeth watched his face, noting the strangely somber expression he wore as he gently slipped the boot from her foot, and gently rubbed her foot; she blushed. There was something so incredibly ordinary, and yet so incredibly intimate about moments like these that she didn't quite know how to handle it.

"Jack?" She asked as he left one foot resting in his lap before he moved onto her other foot. He lifted his eyebrow to acknowledge her. "Why the long face? Is something wrong? I thought since you found out that Cody and Becky were our little thieves, everything's been running like clockwork here?"

"It has, Elizabeth." He sighed, and set the second boot on the floor, running his hands gently over the stocking covered skin of her ankles. "Too well, I'm afraid."

"I don't understand." She ran her hands over her stomach as her brow furrowed. He cleared his throat uneasily, and pulled the letter from the side table, handing it to her at once.

"It seems they think I'm going to be needed elsewhere, for just a little while." Jack said, and Elizabeth bit her lip.

"This...is dangerous, Jack. I've heard about what's going on up north, all of the gangs- oh Jack, how can you go?" She asked, tears already forming in her eyes.

"I don't want to, Elizabeth- if there was anything I could do, you know that I don't want to go. An order is an order. It isn't for long, only a few months-"

"A few months is how long we have before our baby gets here Jack! What if you're gone when the baby comes? What if...what if you don't come home at all?" She asked, her voice strained. He took her hands, and kissed them reverently.

"Elizabeth, I promise you, I will always come back for you."

"That's sweet, Jack, but I know that isn't your a promise that you can make." Her tears were starting to fall more freely now, and she could barely manage to keep them from becoming full blown sobs. He took her in his arms, his hand naturally coming to rest on the curve of her stomach. "I can't do this without you Jack!"

"You won't have to!" he insisted, kissing her hair. "But even if you did, Elizabeth, you could do it. There's literally nothing that you can't do; you're strong, you're beautiful, you're everything Elizabeth. You're already the most thoughtful, loving mother there could be." She shook her head against his chest, and cried harder. "It's only a few weeks, a few months at most. And I'll be home."

"I'm going with you." She insisted.

"Elizabeth-"

"Are you going to deny me this?" She asked, pulling back and looking into his eyes. "I'm your wife; I'm not going to be apart from you for months! I'm not letting you miss the birth of your first child- our first child!"

"Elizabeth, I want nothing more than to have you with me, at my side. Always." He said, putting his hands on her face. "But before I married you, I promised your father that I would always protect you, and care for you. You said yourself that it's dangerous there, Elizabeth, and you're right. Would you bring our baby into a place like that?"

"Don't use our baby against me, Jack!" She said, twisting out of his grasp. She hoisted herself off of the sofa, no easy feat considering her changed center of gravity, and began to pace about the room. "I can't be without you Jack, not now, not for so long!"

"We knew that this was a possibility before we even considered getting engaged, Elizabeth- this is why I-"

"Why you what, Jack?" She asked, her face turning red. "Why you wish you'd never married me?"

"Do not put words in my mouth Elizabeth!" He said through gritted teeth.

"What else am I supposed to think, Jack? How can you talk about this like it's so easy for you to go-"

"Easy? God knows that this isn't easy for me, Elizabeth! The idea of leaving just you was hard, but to leave you carrying our baby? It's damn near impossible, Elizabeth!" He said, grabbing her arms. "And I would love nothing more than to take you with me, so that I could keep my eye on you, and protect you, and never miss a thing when it comes to our child!"

"Then just-" He silenced her with a shake of his head.

"But that would be selfish." He said firmly. "As much as I want you there by my side, as much as I need you, I know how selfish it would be to drag you up there, and have you living in a tent, probably without a bed, maybe miles away from any semblance of a town where it would be safe for you to have the baby- and damn it, I'm not going to let you give birth in the middle of what's basically turned into a war zone! Not when you could be safe, warm, and comfortable here."

"I don't want to be safe, or warm or comfortable." She said, choking on a sob. "Not if it means I don't get to be with you." She fell into his open arms this time, her body twisting sideways so that she could rest her face on his chest. "I'm not brave enough without you Jack- you make me brave, you make me safe, how can I- How can I?" She sobbed, not able to finish the thought.

"I make you brave?" He almost laughed. "Was I with you when you decided to get on that train and head out into the middle of nowhere, determined to teach? Was I holding your hand when you went into the mine with all of the widows? What about when you helped Abigail clear her husband's name? When you stood up to Gowen, when you tested if Billy really loved you. When you kept Julie safe in the face of the Toliver gang? No, Elizabeth, I don't make you brave- I might help, maybe I give you a little additional courage, and I know that we share strength, but everything you need to be a good mother, everything you need is inside of you, Elizabeth. I believe that more than I believe in anything." He tilted up her chin to look into her eyes, and placed a hand firmly on either side of her face. She shook her head, and leaned his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth, I'm so sorry."

"I am not- will never be sorry that I married you. You know that right?" She asked, clasping his hands tightly. "But I'm afraid you're going to resent us-"

"Stop that right now Elizabeth!" He said, kissing her. "You're the love of my life, Elizabeth. You and the baby are everything. Resent you? I could never do that. How could I ever regret a single moment? In a way I'm more fortunate than most any of the other mounties. I have someone to come back to, something that really does give my life meaning. There's nothing I won't do to be back to you in time for the baby to come."

…..

The week they spent together before he left was bittersweet; Elizabeth cried often, but did her best to be supportive. She took the week off of teaching school, and spent every minute she could with her husband. The morning he had to leave, they made love, and lingered in the kitchen for as long as possible after eating breakfast before they had to go. They held hands all the way into town in silence. As people watched them, the silently slipped out their doors and followed them through town. Elizabeth let Jack say goodbye to everyone he was close to, to Gabe, who had tears in his eyes, and to Lee and Rosemary, and then Frank and Abigail before he reached Elizabeth again. He took her hands, and kissed them before laying a hand on her stomach. She embraced him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'm not having this baby until you come home!" She insisted.

"I don't know if that's possible, Elizabeth." He chuckled in her ear and kissed her cheek.

"She'll wait for you Jack. She loves her daddy." She insisted through her tears.

"I might not be home until late december." Jack said softly, and she cried again. "If you have the baby before I come home-"

"No!"

"But if you do-"

"No!" She shook her head again.

"Let me finish Elizabeth." Jack said, pulling back and cradling her cheek in his hand. "If you have the baby before I come home, you know the names we've agreed on."

"I do." She nodded with a slight smile. "And when you come home, you'll get to name her."

"Right." He said, kissing her softly. "I love you."

"I love you." She kissed him again, and pulled his hand onto her stomach. The baby moved and she looked into his eyes. "This is why you have to come home, Jack. For her."

"For both of you." He said, kissing her again.

"I'm not going to say goodbye."

"I won't either." He shook his head. "I love you."

"More than anything." She nodded as he kissed her softly on the lips. He mounted his horse, and Abigail took Elizabeth's hand as Elizabeth did everything she could to stop herself from breaking down in front of everyone. As he turned, she pulled away from Abigail and followed him as swiftly as she could. "Jack?!" She called, and he stopped at once. He dismounted, and ran to her, clasping her face, and kissed her deeply, more deeply than he could have in front of the towns watchful eyes. She kissed him twice more after that, and then he had to go. As she watched him riding away, she had to fight to keep her knees from giving out from under her. Abigail seemed to catch her at just the last moment, and supported her friend as she sobbed into her shoulder. "I need him!"

"And he'll be back for you Elizabeth." Abigail whispered, and Elizabeth shuddered. Abigail took her hand, and showed her the rings she was wearing, and then put her hand on her friend's stomach. "All of this, Elizabeth, you've given him so much to come back for." Elizabeth nodded, and put her hand on her mouth as she stifled her crying. Jack glanced back, and felt his heart squeeze uncomfortably as he longed to go back to her, but he knew that it would have been impossible to leave again.

AN: There it was! A bit of hard, but there will more good stuff coming I promise! Thanks for reading!