Iggy could sense that something was wrong with Elisabeth. In the short time they had been married, a year and a half, he had learned that when she thrashed around in bed that something was majorly wrong with her.

He put his arm on her shoulder and whispered, "Elisabeth. You okay?" His voice was filled with worry. He hated knowing she was hurting.

She gasped, "Iggy! Oh, my God! Get Dr. Martinez! Now!" She grabbed his shirt and pulled his face close to hers. "We have a situation!" She was gasping for breaths and suddenly, Iggy knew what was wrong.

"Oh crap! At one in the morning?" he asked, hopping out of bed.

Another thing that had happened in the time since they got married was that Elisabeth had gotten pregnant. Dr. Martinez hadn't known when Elisabeth would be ready to give birth. Given their bird DNA it was hard to say, but it had taken nine months like any normal pregnancy.

"Yes! At one in the morning! This baby is impatient!" she shouted at her husband. Her eyes were wide and she groaned in pain, clutching her stomach, which was pretty round. That groan was all the motivation Iggy needed.

He ran out of the room and ran down the hall to Fang and Gazzy's room at lightning speed. He banged his fist on the door rapidly until he heard Fang coming towards the door.

"It's one in the freaking morning." Fang mumbled, groggily when he opened the door. "You better have a good reason for waking me up." He ran his fingers through his matted hair and yawned.

"We have a little situation." Iggy replied, hoping Fang would get the point. He needed to move as fast as possible.

"Oh my God! You go get Dr. Martinez and take Elisabeth downstairs. I'll get everyone else." Fang said, becoming alert and focused. This was no time to panic or dawdle. Everyone had to be ready to move at a moment's notice, so they had practiced. Fang knew this was no drill and hoped everything would run smoothly.

Iggy nodded, and headed down the stairs two at a time. He had to get to Dr. Martinez fast. Elisabeth was ready to go at any time. Who knew how long this would take? He had to get to her as quickly as possible.

Fang went back to his room and roused the Gasman who went to Elisabeth's room to make sure she was okay until Iggy got there. So far, so good.

Fang then thundered down the stairs, passing Iggy and Dr. Martinez. He was headed to Angel, Ella, and Nudge's room to wake them.

He threw open the door to the basement and found all three girls sitting up in their beds. They looked like they had been awake for hours. They were grinning from ear to ear.

"What're you guys doing up?" he asked, out of breath.

"It's kinda hard to sleep with all this noise." Ella said, stifling a yawn. Well, maybe someone was still a little sleepy.

"Ooh." Nudge squealed with delight. "This is exciting! A baby!" Of course Nudge only saw the positive side of the whole thing.

It was all they had been talking about since everyone had found out Elisabeth was pregnant. They went on and on and on. It was the wedding all over again.

"Yeah, we'll be excited about it later. Right now we need to go find Max." Fang said, trying to get them out of bed.

"Fang, Max is standing in the doorway." Angel said, getting up. She pointed, grinning.

Fang turned around and sure enough, there was Max, standing in the doorway, looking alert and ready to go. She had tied her hair back and was dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She even looked beautiful when she was trying to remain calm under a very stressful situation.

"Iggy just got her into the living room. Gazzy helped him." Max told him.

Fang nodded and everyone hurried upstairs to the living room. It was go time and Dr. Martinez was probably going to need everyone's help.

Once in the living room, they saw Elisabeth lying on the couch in a long nightshirt, Dr. Martinez putting on surgical gloves, Gazzy looking like he was going to puke, and Iggy with a pained expression on his face from where Elisabeth was squeezing his hand so tightly.

"Good, everyone's down here." Dr. Martinez said, now donning a surgical mask. "Okay. Small children out of the room please." she said to Gaz, Nudge, Angel, and Ella.

"Aw, come on Dr. Martinez." Nudge pleaded. "Let us stay. This is really exciting. I wanna see."

Ella nodded her head and begged, "Please Mom. At least let me and Nudge stay. Please." she added, giving her mom Bambi eyes.

But Dr. Martinez just shook her head. "Sorry kiddos. Out."

"But Mom," Ella groaned. "It's not like I haven't seen live birth before. I've watched you help animals give birth plenty of times. I'm only two years younger than Max, Fang, Elisabeth, and Iggy. Come on."

Dr. Martinez continued to shake her head. "It's different." she told her daughter sternly. "I need you and Nudge to keep Angel and Gaz occupied. That's how you can help okay?"

Ella shrieked angrily, grabbed the Gasman and Angel by the arms, and stalked out of the room with Nudge trailing behind her. She made sure to slam the door for emphasis.

When Ella's yelling subsided, Dr. Martinez turned to Max. "Max, go get me a washcloth for Elisabeth's forehead. A wet washcloth if you don't mind."

Max nodded and ran for the bathroom. She returned moments later with a wet washcloth and placed it on Elisabeth's forehead, which was creased and beaded with sweat. She looked like she was dying.

"How are you doing?" she whispered in Elisabeth's ear. She was concerned. She'd have another flock member to take care of and she wanted everything to go perfectly.

"I've fought Flyboys, gotten my shoulder dislocated, and broke my nose so many times I've lost count, but all of that is nothing compared to the pain I'm in right now." Elisabeth said, her face screwed up in pain.

"'Hell hath no pain like child birth.'" Dr. Martinez quoted.

Suddenly Elisabeth screamed and squeezed Iggy's hand tighter. "Dr. Martinez!" she shrieked.

"Oh my God, is it coming now?" Dr. Martinez said, rushing over in front of Elisabeth. "Sweetie, I need you to spread your legs apart. Can you do that for me?" Max noticed the anxiety in her mother's voice. This might be more difficult than anyone anticipated.

Elisabeth nodded and did as she was told. She squeezed Iggy's hand tighter, causing him to gasp in pain.

"Iggy! I hate you!" she yelled out of pain. "This is all your fault!"

Iggy nodded. "I know." he told her calmly. "I know and I'm going to fix it okay? I'll fix it right now." He then turned to Fang. "Fang, fix it! Do something to calm her down!" Iggy shouted, looking like he was in more pain than Elisabeth.

"What am I supposed to do?" Fang asked, panicking. He didn't know what to do. This wasn't exactly his area of expertise. Wasn't this supposed to be Iggy's job? What could he do?

"Elisabeth, breathe deeply for me." Dr. Martinez instructed. She was trying to get Elisabeth's mind of the pain. She didn't have any of the drugs necessary for an almost painless delivery. This was going to hurt like hell.

Again, Elisabeth did as she was told. She trusted Dr. Martinez. Besides, the breathing was distracting her from the pain. It was giving her something to do, giving her something to concentrate on.

"Put on the radio." Iggy said through clenched teeth. "Music will calm her down." He hoped with every fiber of his being that the music would calm her down, otherwise he was going to have a broken hand.

Fang nodded as Elisabeth let out another shriek of pain. He dashed over to the radio and turned it on.

THEY SAY THAT TEENAGERS SCARE THE LIVING-

"Fang! That's not helping!" Max screamed over the music. "It's too loud! Change the station and turn down the volume!"

Fang, exasperated, turned down the volume and changed the station. It wasn't his fault. Nudge had been the one listening to the radio earlier. And anyway, it was Iggy's idea to put it on in the first place.

-Arms wide open under the sunlight-

"Better?" Fang asked. He wasn't changing it again. He wasn't going to get yelled at for stuff that was out of his control.

Iggy nodded as Elisabeth slackened her grip. "Much." he said, breathing a sigh of relief. It seemed to be working. The music was soothing her.

"I see a head!" Dr. Martinez informed everyone. "Just keeping pushing Elisabeth. Come on you can do it." Everything was looking great. It didn't look like there would be any complications.

I take a breath, I take her by my side

We stand in awe, we've created life

Suddenly Dr. Martinez pulled out the baby, naked and covered in blood and goo. "It's a girl!" she cried, cutting the umbilical cord. She carried the baby over to the sink in the kitchen as tears streamed down Elisabeth and Iggy's faces.

With arms wide open, under the sunlight

Welcome to this place, I'll show you everything

With arms wide open, now everything has changed

I'll show you everything

I'll show you every-

Fang shut off the radio as Dr. Martinez turned around, holding the clean baby girl. His niece. He was an uncle. Another change to take in.

"She has wings!" Max exclaimed.

She did. She had small cloudy grey, chicken wings. That had been another thing they weren't sure about. Would the baby have wings? Apparently the answer was 'yes', but would that be true for others?

Elisabeth's smile grew wider. A little girl. She wouldn't admit it, but she had secretly wished for a baby girl.

"Do you want to hold her?" Dr. Martinez asked. She remembered the first time she held Ella. She had been filled with joy knowing that the little person in her arms was a part of her. It was a great feeling.

Elisabeth nodded and stretched her arms out, taking her baby from Dr. Martinez. She cradled her in her arms, counting her fingers and toes and exclaiming at how tiny she was.

"I'll go get the others." Max said, sprinting out of the living room. Would they be excited or what? Nudge wouldn't be able to wait to dress her up. The poor baby.

"She's probably so tiny due to her bird DNA. She's smaller than you all were because her genes were inherited rather than implanted." Dr. Martinez explained. Another question answered.

"What's she look like?" Iggy asked, grinning with amazement. It was times like these when he really wished he had his sight back.

"She has your eyes." Elisabeth whispered. She had his beautiful eyes. Elisabeth had hoped she would. "Her wings are a cloudy grey color. She has dark hair, just like me. Oh Iggy, she's adorable." Tears fell down her face again. She was a mother. "Do you want to hold her?" she asked him.

Iggy nodded and felt the little baby being plopped in his arms. He wished he could see his daughter. He bet she looked just like her mother.

"Hey." he whispered to her. "I'm your Daddy. I'm your Daddy" Tears fell down his cheeks as he said those words. He was a father.

Iggy smiled proudly as Nudge, Ella, Gazzy, Angel, and Max trooped through the living room over to the couch. He listened as they cooed over his new daughter. If only he could see the looks on their faces.

"Congrats Ig." Fang said, thumping Iggy hard on the back. Iggy just couldn't stop smiling.

Angel graciously sent him a mental picture while everyone else was exclaiming over the baby. His little girl was beautiful, just like her mother. He had hoped she would be.

"She's so cute!" Nudge squealed. Max shot her a look and she lowered her voice. "What're you gonna name her?" Nudge continued more quietly.

"I don't know." Elisabeth said thoughtfully. "Any suggestions?"

"I have one." Angel said. "How about Makalya?"

"Nah." Iggy said, shaking his head. "It doesn't suit her."

"How about Sara?" Gazzy asked. He had just been throwing out a random name. He didn't expect them to go for it.

"I don't think that's good enough." Nudge said. "I have one. How about Margarette Lacy Breanna Nicole?"

"Too long." Fang laughed. What was it with Nudge and ridiculously long and fancy names that nobody could spell? Would they ever know?

"It should be something pretty." Max said, studying the baby. "But not too long." she added. She didn't want Nudge to come up with anything else.

"What about Vanessa?" Ella joked. She couldn't think of anything good enough for the little girl.

"Uh, no thanks Ella." Elisabeth said, laughing. No way was she naming her daughter after that horrible girl from her past.

Iggy mumbled, "Belle.", as he played with a lock of his daughter's soft hair.

"What?" Elisabeth asked. She wasn't sure if Iggy had actually said anything, but she also wasn't sure he hadn't.

"Belle. I think it means beautiful in French." That's what his daughter was, just like her mother.

"Yeah, it does." Elisabeth replied. "But it sounds more like a middle name to me. Any suggestions Fang?" The truth was, she didn't want to name her Belle because she didn't want her daughter to grow up vain. She wanted her to be down to earth.

Fang just shrugged. He wasn't good at this kind of stuff. It just wasn't his style. He didn't know what to pick. All of the names, except for Nudge's and Ella's, sounded good to him.

"Oh come on." Elisabeth said. "She's your niece. Besides, everyone else gave a name. It's your turn."

He sighed and said, "I really think you guys should pick out the name. She's your kid." He thought for a second and then replied, "It should be something that you guys like. Something to do with music, I guess." He wasn't going to point out that Max hadn't actually given a name.

"How about Melody?" Elisabeth asked. As soon as she said it, she knew she found the right name. It suited her daughter perfectly.

"Mel for short." Iggy said. "I like it." He still thought Belle was good, but Melody sounded just as good.

Everyone else agreed. Melody was perfect for the little girl.

"Melody Isabelle Smith," Elisabeth whispered to her daughter, "You are going to grow up to do great things."