Stephen and Nori went to their hut to prepare for their dinner that they had been invited to at Neklus's hut that coming evening. In the hut, Stephen looked over at Nori as she stood their staring into a reflective surface resembling a mirror that was there and noticed that she was a little blushed.
Stephen looked at her and said, "Dana, are you feeling okay?"
Dana turned towards Stephen and put a smile across her face. "Yes, Stephen. What would make you ask me that kind of a question?" Dana was puzzled at his question.
Stephen walked towards Dana. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it is the reddish color that is all over your cheeks that isn't normally there. Are you sure everything is okay?"
"Oh!" Dana blushed a deeper red and snickered. "No." She dug into the dirt with the toe of her boot. "It's just that the light clothing we are wearing, um, I mean that us women are wearing. I mean, around the crew I feel almost completely naked. That's all."
"Are you serious?" He let out a laugh. "I've been to the gym with you, Dana. The clothing that you wear there is a lot more revealing if I may say so myself."
"Yeah. But no, Stephen!!!" She stomped her foot down. "Come on now. Be serious."
"I thought I was."
"This is different, and it is all of the time. Well I have to admit I like it. After all it is a lot cooler than those Starfleet uniforms. I know I could get use to it, but just right now I feel out of place. Every time I walk past the male crew members of the Virgo, I can sense that they stop what they are doing and stare at me as I walk past."
Stephen let out a little chuckle. "Dana, I don't know if you have noticed it, but you are a very beautiful woman. And I have heard a lot of the crewmembers say a lot of nice things about you. Even some of them saying, 'If the captain didn't have his hooks into her I know I would go out of my way to be with her.'"
Dana blushed again, and Stephen felt the smile race across his face. He reached out and pulled her close to him and gave her a long passionate kiss. "Now come on. Do what you have to and let's get a move on. We wouldn't want to keep our hosts waiting now would we?"
"Hmm," she said, joking as she tapped her finger on the temple of her head. "I guess not." She smiled.
Stephen and Nori stepped outside of their hut the same time as did K'Lara and Jonathan. They all met in the middle and walked over to Neklus tent. It was the largest one in the camp. They were welcomed and offered a cup of wine. They took it and sat down and talked until the feast had been prepared and ready for consumption. Then they moved out and all sat around the big fire. This went on for a long time late into the evening.
"Excuse me," K'Lara said to the crowd. "It's been a long day and I need sleep. I'm sleeping for two now." She said as a small smile crept across her face.
Jonathan looked into K'Lara's eyes. "Are you all right, dear?"
She stared at him for a moment, confused. "I'm fine, Jon," she finally answered. "I'm just a little tired is all. I think I'm going to bed."
K'Lara got up and walked away. Then Jonathan turned towards everyone and smiled. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think that I am going to turn in as well. After all, we have a long day a head of us." He stood up and brushed bits of dirt and sand from his clothing.
"Okay, Jon. Meet me over at Neklus's hut at daybreak," said Stephen.
"No problem cap...Stephen." Jonathan said with a smile. Then turned and left the campfire.
Gori had started telling his jokes and amusing stories at the campfire. Stephen, Nori, Neklus and his wife were laughing. They all became surprised as they saw Jonathan running back to the campfire. All of a sudden he tripped on a log and landed face first into the dirt. Neklus and Gori saw that and burst into roaring laughter.
"Captain!!! Doctor!!!" Jonathan tried to say as he blew dirt from his mouth and gasped for air.
"Jon, that is Stephen and..."
"K'Lara is having the baby!" Jonathan screamed.
"What?!" Dana said, jumping up.
"Come on," Lataro said as he got up and grabbed Dana's arm and pulled her along. He ran quickly with Dana in tow followed closely by Neklus, his wife and Stephen. When they got there K'Lara laid there moaning breathing heavily. "Dana please do something for her!!! She is in pain!!! Come on!!! Do something please!!! Her screaming!!! Make it stop!!!"
Jonathan's mouth was running a mile a minute. He was panicking. Immediately Dana kneeled along side K'Lara to help her and see what she could do.
"Dana, is she going to be all right?!".
"Jon. Quiet!" Dana looked over at Stephen who was smiling. He had never seen his First Officer in such a state, and it was quite amusing.
"Stephen," began Neklus, "is this Jon's first child?"
"Yes."
"Oh." Neklus walked over to Jonathan who was hopping around from side to side making Dana extremely nervous. Neklus approached Jon and smiled; Jon returned the smile. Suddenly Jonathan felt a sharp pain as the small log broke against his head. Jonathan was knocked unconscious, and Neklus now held one half of the broken log. He turned to Stephen. "This, my friend, is what we do for all first time fathers." On the ground, Jonathan was out cold.
K'Lara glared at Neklus, "You're lucky I'm not in any shape to make you pay for that."
She cried out as another wave of pain hit her. She closed her eyes and tried breathing like Dana showed her several weeks back. She was getting the hang of it, but she still found it strange.
"Keep breathing," Dana told her, ignoring her comment. She continued to scan her patient as K'Lara continued to breath.
"She's going to deliver," Dana announced. "It could take anywhere from thirty minutes to several hours. We need to get her inside now!"
Dana helped K'Lara to her feet and moved her quickly into a near by hut. She lied the half-Klingon down on a mat that was already prepared. She then ordered Neklus to keep anyone other than Stephen or Jon out of the hut.
"She doesn't need an audience," Nori told them as she returned to her patient.
"Is there anything I can do?" Stephen asked concerned.
"Yes, you can get Jon in here now. He needs to be with her when he awakes."
Stephen nodded and went to drag Lataro into the hut. He could already tell that it was going to be a long night.
Dana gave as much comfort to K'Lara as she could. Without the Virgo or a sickbay there was very little she could do. Everything was up to K'Lara now. Labor pains came and went. After a few hours, the time came. It was already April 3, 2383. The baby was coming and nothing was going to stop him. Just then, Jonathan started to stir with a few moans here and there.
"Jonathan, quick come over here," demanded Dana.
Jonathan walked over to Dana and K'Lara. "How is she doing?"
Dana put a smile on her face. "They are both doing fine."
Jonathan could see that Nori was nervous about something but didn't say anything; he just watched and did what was asked of him. He put his hand on the back of his head and wrenched in pain. "Damn! Did anyone at least get the number of that starship that used my head like a landing pad?"
Dana let out a giggle. "I want to see that once we are done here."
"No problem, Doctor."
Dana could see the baby's head. It was coming out slowly. "He crowning." Dana paused. "Okay, K'Lara, you are working against the labor pains. They are there to help you deliver the baby. Next time you get the pains I want you to push as hard as you can. Okay?"
K'Lara nodded her head.
"Then, when they stop, I want you to relax."
The next pang of labor came. K'Lara started to push with all she was worth.
"Okay, come on, K'Lara. Push... Push... Push... Push..."
K'Lara stopped; the baby was half the way out.
"Okay, K'Lara, this is it. One more time and you can hold your baby.
The pains started again, and K'Lara squeezed Jonathan's hand as tight as she could and started pushing.
"Come on, K'Lara. Push... Push... Push... Push..."
K'Lara laid back exhausted, but relieved.
"What is it? What is it? Doctor, what is it?" demanded Jonathan.
Dana smiled at Jonathan. "Come here, I'll let you cut the cord." Jonathan used a hot knife one of Neklus's assistants had been heating over a fire. He cut the cord that linked the baby to its mother. He had a smile from ear to ear. He walked over to K'Lara with the baby and handed the baby to K'Lara.
Nori sat back, exhausted. She closed her eyes, "Oh, Prophets, thank you for letting everything go okay. With the baby being sixth months premature, anything could have gone wrong."
Suddenly, Jonathan yelled, "DANA!!! COME QUICK SOMETHING IS WRONG!!!"
Nori's eyes flew open and a very cold feeling raced through her body. The same feeling that went through her body when death's icy cold hands took her mother. She jumped to her feet and ran over to K'Lara's side. "No, please no, K'Lara." She turned to the tent flap. "STEPHEN!!! I NEED YOU IN HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"
With goosebumps racing all around his body, Stephen said, "What? What's wrong?"
"K'Lara's hemorrhaging and has lost a lot of blood. I am losing her." Just then K'Lara passed out. "Put the baby on the bed and take Jonathan out of here! I cannot do K'Lara any good with him like that! He is making me to nervous!"
Stephen dragged Jonathan outside of the hut. "Come on, everything is going to be okay. K'Lara is in good hands."
"DANA!!!" yelled Jonathan.
Dana ignored him and started to operate on K'Lara. Three hours into the operation, while Nori was sewing K'Lara back up, the baby started to cry. Dana thought that it must be feeding time, then she realized that it was a pain cry. Nori raced over to where the baby was laying on the bed. She unwrapped the covers from the baby and searched all over the baby for a rat or a bug bite but found none. Then she noticed that the baby was having a hard time breathing. Now Nori started to panic because their wasn't anything she really could do until the baby would stop breathing. Then she could perform CPR, but that wouldn't fix the problem of the underdeveloped lungs and it wouldn't be long before it happened again. K'Lara started to convulse again. Tears started to fall from Dana's eyes. In her mind she was screaming, No, please, no! Please, K'Lara, help me. Please don't die!"
Nori heard the baby stopped crying. "NO!" she screamed as she ran to the baby, but it was too late. The baby was gone and so was K'Lara. In the space between where the baby was laying and where K'Lara was laying Nori dropped to her knees. "Oh great Prophets, please hear my prayer. I never asked for anything for me ever. This is the only thing I pray and I hope you feel I am pure enough at heart to accept my prayer."
In walked Kaltanthop, the old priest.
"Please, with all of my heart I am asking that you please let K'Lara and her baby live. I will give you my life in exchange for theirs."
Kaltanthop calmly asked her. "You realize what you just offered? Your life for theirs?"
Dana didn't recognize Kaltanthop's voice and thought it was the Prophets speaking to her, never opening her eyes not once. "Oh great Prophet's, yes, yes I know I offered my life in exchange for theirs. K'Lara is the best friend that I have. She is a very special person to me and to others. And the baby, given a chance, would have been a great friend as well. They deserve a chance to live together and to get to know each other.
Kaltanthop approached Dana. "What if it was you laying in that bed. Do you think K'Lara would offer her life in exchange for yours?"
"Yes, I do, but even if she didn't have, I wouldn't be mad with her. I would understand, and I would still love her. It don't matter, in my mind. It is my life, and I should be allowed to do with it as I please."
Kaltanthop moved towards K'Lara then to the baby, and he noticed that they were both still alive but barely, and that they were both in a coma. He smiled that Dana overlooked the fact that they were alive because of the state of mind she had come into, even though he knew she had nothing more to offer them.
Kaltanthop said a few words raised his hands into the air. A bunch of crystal-like colors formed in midair and started to twirl around. They split into two groups and descended down onto the motionless K'Lara and the baby. With that, Kaltanthop walked out of the hut.
Dana opened her eyes and stood up. She moved towards the baby with tears streaming down her face. When Nori got to the bedside and saw the baby laying their alive, healthy, and smiling, she froze. Then she heard K'Lara start to stir. Nori turned completely around and looked at K'Lara. Then she saw her sit up in the bed and ask Dana for her baby. Nori's eyes rolled up into her head and she passed out.