"Well, your blood pressure isn't going down and your labs aren't looking very good right now either. As of right now, you have pre-eclempsia and are at high-risk for seizures. There's only one way to stop it and that is to get you induced and get that baby out."

She stared at the doctor in shock, her entire body going numb. Induced? But she was just in for her weekly visit. She still had a week to go before her due date. "I have to be induced."

"Yes, and the sooner the better. The longer we wait, the more risk there is for complications to you and the baby."

She let the words sink in and nodded slowly. Her murmured "okay" started a flurry of activities that eventually lead her to her birthing suite where she was handed a hospital gown and given the instructions to change in the bathroom, leaving her personal belongings in the bag hanging from the silver hook on the bathroom door. She moved in slow motion, still having difficulty understanding what had happened. She'd had the picture perfect pregnancy up until now. Her labs had always been perfect, her baby's heartbeat always strong, her blood pressure right where it should be. And now she was high-risk. It didn't seem at all fair.

Once she was dressed, one of the nurses helped get her situated in bed and then the hospital staff vacated the room. It was then that she lost her composure, doubling over and giving into the tears that had been threatening.

"What's wrong, babe?" her husband asked, leaning over and taking her hand.

"This just wasn't at all what I was expecting. It's kind of scary."

"I know. But everything will be okay. You're going to be fine."

She hoped so. She didn't like the sound of being prone to seizures.

Her doctor entered the room, followed by a nurse and they gave her something to start contractions; then allowed her to walk the halls with her husband. Every time a contraction would hit, she would wrap her arms around his neck and lean heavily against him, breathing through the pain, swaying back and forth to take her mind off of it. They allowed her to walk the halls twice. Then they called it quits and told her something she hadn't wanted to hear at all.

They confined her to bed and started the pitocin drip, instructing her to lie on her left side to keep her blood pressure down. This did not make her happy at all. It wasn't her plan. She had wanted to walk, wanted to use whatever techniques possible to handle the pain so that she could avoid an epidural at all costs. And she held strong to that hope, even after six hours of contractions that kept getting progressively worse. Breathing by this time had become something she could hardly concentrate on, focusing on something besides the contractions wasn't even an option. And to make matters even worse, the intensity of her contractions was causing her to throw up as well. This wasn't her picture perfect labor at all.

A nurse came in to up the pitocin, as they had been doing every 15 minutes for the past four hours since they had started the drip, and gave her a sympathetic look. "You know, if you want the epidural, now would be the time to ask for it. You haven't made much progression and you're not even in active labor yet."

"I'm not in active labor?!" She asked incredulously. Then what the hell was the pitocin for!? Obviously it wasn't doing its job if she hadn't progressed at all. By the end of the four hours she had been convinced that she'd made a huge amount of progression and that things were moving along accordingly. It was frustrating to find out that she'd been wrong and that her body was stubbornly refusing to comply with what the doctors and nurses were trying to make it do.

"This could go on for another four to six hours."

She groaned and her husband clasped her hand, looking at her with pleading eyes. "Hun, you did great. You made it this far without an epidural and I know you're against getting one…but you heard the nurse. Four to six hours."

She wanted to fight against him, to vehemently deny that she needed anything to help cope with the pain, but that would be an all out lie. She was loosing her composure, loosing her control and she'd been at this for six hours. Four more hours would leave her exhausted. She couldn't even imagine how she would feel at six.

"Okay," she whispered harshly, her throat dry and raw. "Yeah, give me the epidural."

Once it was ordered, it took fifteen minutes for the anesthesiologist to show up. And when he did, she almost laughed out loud. The man was old, his posture slightly slumped, his scrubs hanging off his slight frame.

"So," she said, once the room was empty of everyone but her nurse and the aged specialist. "I suppose you've been doing this for a while, hm?"

"Nope. First time," he quipped, shooting her a charming grin. She trusted him immediately.

It took him five minutes to prepare everything and inject the needle into her spinal-cord and as terrified as she had been, she now felt silly for her misplaced fear. The procedure was painless and simple. She hardly noticed the prick of the needle and once the drug took effect, the pain was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and fell back in bed, smiling up at the ceiling.

"Can you feel that contraction?" he asked as he adjusted the line from her epidural over her shoulder.

"Nope, not at all!" She said cheerfully.

"Good. Get some rest then."

She did so gladly, falling into a light sleep. That light sleep and the wonderful drugs lasted three hours. She was woken up from the pain in her abdomen and glared at it as if it had offended her. "You're not supposed to hurt," she muttered.

Her nurse walked in and she turned over to face her. "Um, I think the epidural is wearing off. I can feel my contractions again."

"Well, lets get you checked and find out where you are then we'll see if we've got enough time to get another injection in to make things more comfortable for you."

The news was not good. "Well, you're at 8 ½. You could end up going any time. I can call an anesthesiologist up though and see what they think they can do for you."

She nodded eagerly. Anything to make the pain stop again. Three hours pain-free had not been enough.

A different anesthesiologist showed up, a younger female who'd taken her sweet time getting there. And she had no good news either. "You're too far along for me to give you another epidural."

She stared at the woman in horror. "No, please…you have to give me something. Anything."

They decided to give her a mild painkiller to take the edge off her contractions. It worked for all of two minutes and then she was feeling the mind-numbing burn of her contractions again. And to top it all off, she suddenly felt like she needed to push.

She told the nurse this immediately, grasping for an end to it all and the nurse checked to see how far along she was.

"Nine and a half. We'll get the doctor but if you feel that urge to push again, just go with it and let us know."

She did just that for the next thirty minutes, hardly aware of anything that was going on around her. All she was aware of was the intense burn, the ache of her contractions, and her slowly depleting strength.

Once she hit forty minutes and another contraction started up, she silently vowed that it would end now. That baby was coming out of her. She pushed through the contraction and continued to do so even after it was done, dead-set on delivering her baby into the world. Her determination paid off. There was a moment of silence before the nurses started cheering and the wail of a baby echoed throughout the room.

This is not Jaiden's story. Nor is it Charley's. Its mine. My little miracle, Samantha Noel, was born October 2nd at 3:11am. There was a lot more to the story than that. My entire family was there through the duration, my mom and sister actually in the room when she was delivered. Sammy was 10 lbs, 8 ozs (delivered naturally. For those of you who know what labors like, yes, I am super woman, lol) 22 ½ inches long and ahead full of glorious black hair. I wanted to let you all know just why I haven't been posting recently and share the story of Sammy's birth with you.

It's been fun, adjusting to the demands of being a mother. I've enjoyed every sleepless, exhausting moment of it. Actually, I get a lot of sleep. I shouldn't complain at all.

Another reason this took so long is because I simply didn't want to part with it. This is it…the end of Something to Live For. After years, I have finally finished and have to put an end to what is probably one of my most favorite stories. I had so much fun writing this and so much fun meeting all of the characters and all of you. It's been one hell of a trip, huh? I'm just glad that I was able to end it all with some good news for once. Thanks to everyone who saw this through. I hope you aren't disappointed with the wait. To make up for it I will be posting a spin off of this fic as well that I finished LONG ago.

So here it is guys…the end. I hope you all love it and again, thank you all for your understanding, your devotion and your support. I've been blessed with such wonderful fans and friends. Happy Holidays to you all! Oh, and if you want to see pictures of my little girl the link is on my profile page! Love you all!!

Disclaimer: The usual applies. Another HUGE thanks to Black Storm for letting me use Srebro in this fic. I miss you hun!

The Happily Ever After

"Just yank it out, man. The faster you go, the faster the pain will be over with."

Srebro ignored Vinnie's tense request and continued to examine the damage done to his leg. "If I could just yank it out, I would. It's not that simple so shut your trap and have some patience."

Vinnie glared at the other man. Not so simple…well he wasn't the one with a thick chunk of shrapnel in his leg.

"What I'd like to know is how they got their hands on that kind of ammunition." Srebro grabbed a strip of cloth from the pail of steaming water beside him and dabbed carefully at the wound, attempting to wash free some of the blood. "Those aren't the kinds of guns I'm used to dealing with."

Throttle paused in his aggravated pacing of their tented confines. Outside, the war waged on. A loud explosion momentarily drowned out the noise of shouting men and constant laser fire. They'd been at this for months, slowly pushing forward. They were making advances but not fast enough. And then the Plutarkians had taken them completely off guard, opening fire on them with guns that shot bullets, not lasers.

"Limburger…Brie…any one of the Plutarkian scumbags sent to earth. All of them played rolls of political importance. They could have gotten their hands on countless amounts of weaponry." Throttle rubbed a hand over his face. The action spoke volumes of how exhausted he was. "Not like they had any security to worry about when it came to smuggling guns back to the mother ship."

"You want something to bite down on?" Srebro asked Vinnie.

"Why?"

Srebro held up a pair of small medical tongs and Vinnie blanched. "Sure."

He accepted the thick strap of leather Srebro handed him, bit down on it, grabbed the metal frame of the cot he was reclining on and nodded. The disinfectant came first and Vinnie held his breath against the sting. Then Srebro started digging. Vinnie groaned in pain, dropping his head back and screwing his eyes shut. He was trying to be careful but that didn't make it any less painful. Vinnie gripped the edges of the frame tighter and willed it to be over.

"Just hang on, man. I've got a hold of it. This next part isn't going to be too much fun though."

He started to pull and Vinnie clamped down on the strap of leather. A low, distorted scream escaped him.

"Almost done."

Almost done, my ass, his mind screamed.

"There."

Vinnie spit the strap aside, dragging in deep, ragged breaths. Glancing at him wryly, Srebro tossed the tongs and extracted shrapnel into a bucket of boiling water. He started wrapping Vinnie's leg as the wounded mouse collapsed on the cot.

"Kinda makes you think," Vinnie panted, "about the convenience of lasers. Sure, they hurt. But at least they burn the wounds and close 'em up a bit."

"I don't really think of any weapon as a convenience," Srebro remarked dryly.

Vinnie levered himself up on his elbows. "It was a joke, man. Lighten up."

The canvas flap to the tent opened, admitting Stoker, Modo and Rimfire. Each of them looked equally tense.

"We spread the word about the change in weapons," Stoker said. "Most of 'em took it pretty well. Our defenses should hold up but given the situation, I think we should go over a few different options. You okay, motor mouth?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine." Vinnie swung his legs over the side of the cot and tested his left leg, wincing as he put his full weight on it. "Takes more than a little shrapnel to slow down the velocity atrocity."

"Man, Rookie. That lacked your usual arrogance. That little girl really did tame you."

"Yeah. You should hear how she went about it." He grinned suggestively.

"I'll pass thanks."

The flap to the tent opened once again and an older soldier, one that had served since Stoker had joined the Freedom Fighters, came striding angrily into the tent. "Projectiles?!" he shouted, getting right into Stokers face.

"Calm down, Jack," Stoker said, lifting his hands to put some distance between himself and the enraged man. He could see the anger building to an inferno in Jakes eyes and knew it wasn't a good thing. Jack was known for his temper and even more so for completely losing it. On several occasions he'd started fights in the bar and been on the receiving end of a number of blows. The crescent shaped scar on his chin was proof of that.

"How the hell am I supposed to calm down, Stoker? The enemy is out there shooting at us with projectiles!"

"It's not a big deal! Unexpected, yes. But those weapons are not anywhere near as technologically sophisticated as ours."

"We've got shields to block lasers. We've got nothing that'll block a bullet!"

Stoker was quickly losing his patience with Jack. He balled his hands into tight fists at his side and counted to five before replying. "You're overreacting and you're way out of line. Need I remind you that I'm your commanding officer? If I give you an order, you follow it and right now I'm ordering you to calm down and back off!"

Jack sneered at him, his dull brown eyes narrowing in hostility. "Funny that these weapons would show up at the same time those little tramps from earth did."

The room fell dead silent, save for the loud click and hum of the laser blaster now pointed at the back of Jake's head.

"Two options smart ass. You can either take that back…or you're brains can be splattered all over the canvas in front of you. Pick one," Vinnie growled.

Jack swallowed hard. But he didn't make any apologies. "Now who's overreacting?" he asked Stoker.

Stoker watched Vinnie carefully. Vinnie would shoot; he had no doubt of that. The man had just insulted his wife. The last time anyone had insulted someone Vinnie loved in front of Stoker, the guy had ended up with a broken nose, a few bruised ribs and a fractured arm. Vinnie was a force that couldn't be controlled when provoked.

"I'd take it back," Stoker said evenly. He noticed Throttle standing beside Vinnie, his hand resting on the younger man's shoulder as he tried to quietly talk him into lowering his weapon.

"Is that an order?"

Vinnie suddenly grabbed Jack's shoulder, yanked him around and sent his fist flying into the older man's face. The sound of bone cracking was enough to eliminate Stoker's patience. Before Vinnie had an attempt to really start working the guy over, Stoker got in between them, pushing Jack a little harder than he maybe should have and sending him to the ground. "That's enough!" He planted a hand on Vinnie's chest to stop him from any further advances. "I said, that…is enough."

"You're just gonna let him get away with hitting me like that?" Jack sputtered. He rubbed the back of his hand against his busted lip, smearing the blood in a crimson streak over his chin.

"You're damn right I'm going to!" Stoker shouted. "You should know better than to insult a man's wife. And you're lucky I stopped him when I did. There's a good chance you wouldn't still be breathing right now if I hadn't."

Sickened by the very sight of the man, Vinnie turned on his heel and stormed out of the tent, ignoring the shouting. He veered to the right and walked a ways behind the tent into an open field, trying to calm down. He couldn't though. The guy had implied that his wife was a traitor! He'd been listening to soldiers cut down his wife for too long now. Having one go as far as to imply that she'd been responsible for the Plutarkians change in weaponry was too much.

He slid his hands over his face and dropped his head back, trying to gain some control over his wild thoughts, trying to separate anger from the desperation that was slowly eating away at him. Desperation to see Jaiden, to hold her, just to be near her.

"Bro?"

He turned slowly and let his tired gaze fell to meet Throttles. It was like looking in a mirror, regardless of the glasses he wore. The pain, the stress, the longing was all reflected back at him. "If you're out here to tell me that I shouldn't have held my gun to that bastards head, don't waste your breath."

Throttle shook his head. He came to stand next to Vinnie and together they stared across the sands to where they knew home was. Behind them the sky was sporadically lit by explosions. The sounds of war were constant.

"You're quicker than I am at the draw, Vin. I would have had mine pointed at the same spot if you'd been any slower."

"It's been seven months. That'll put Jaiden at nearly eight months. One more and she'll be having our baby girl…and I won't be there to see it. I'll be out here…fighting. Remember when that used to be enough for me? Just…being out here and going at it without thinking?"

"Yeah." Throttle grinned and threw an arm around Vinnie's neck. "And frankly, that attitude of yours would give us heart attacks. Can't tell you how many times I'd worry about returning to base without you. Listen, Vin." He dropped his arm and turned to him. "I know how much this is killin' ya inside. I go through it every minute of the day. I wake up missing the feel of Charley's arms around me, I go to bed dreaming of her smile and wishing this was all over so I could go back to her. Only way its going to end though, is if we get out there and end it. These guys need to see that reckless side of yours, they need to see the side of us that's known so well so they'll have some kind of hope."

Vinnie nodded. He hated to admit it but he'd been only half participating in this fight. The rest of him had been subdued into pining away to be with Jaiden again. It was a horrible thing, going into battle without wanting to be there. It made men not care what happened to them. Depression was a hard thing to battle when you wore it so tightly around yourself. He knew that. Hell, he was living it. He was glad he could see the facts though and realize that he had to do something to free himself of it if he expected to get back to Jaiden alive. And that was the important part. Getting back to her. But before he let go…

"What do you think they're doin' right now?"

Throttle's grin deepened. "Hard to say, bro. If I was to take a guess at it…I'd say getting into everything and trying to help out even if people didn't want them too. Stubborn ladies, ours are."

"Boy, you said it." Vinnie chuckled and gave Throttle a rough pat on the back. "Let's get back in and help Stoke out. Hopefully that Jack guy got smart and took a hike."

"If he didn't?"

"Then I'll pound on him a bit more until he gets the point."

************************

Jaiden braced her hands on the bathroom counter and released a slow breath. "Ohh, baby girl. You've gotta quit kicking your mama," she murmured, rubbing a soothing hand over her large stomach.

The baby was active today. She'd been active all night, keeping Jaiden in a constant search for a comfortable position to sleep in. She hadn't been able to find one though and had spent a fitful night trying to get as much sleep as she could. To wash off the tired look when she climbed out of bed that morning, she'd showered and put on enough makeup to hide the dark shadows under her eyes. She'd come to expect a sleepless night every now and then with Calla. She seemed to be a restless baby already and she hadn't even been brought into the world yet. So far, she was proving to be just like her father.

Slipping on a hooded sweatshirt over her dark green sweatpants, Jaiden left her lonely quarters and wandered slowly down the hall to the med bay where she, Charley and Rachel had established themselves to be lower level nurses for the wounded soldiers that were brought in from the battle field. They're jobs were limited but it was something to do to keep their minds and hands busy. They were to take temperatures, change bandages if needed and keep the soldiers company during their stay.

It was often hard for Jaiden to see the men come in looking like they did-bruised, battered, scarred and sometimes, but not often, looking as if they were standing on the doorstep of death itself. But the soldiers brought her something that she had desperately needed during her time away from Vinnie. They brought her hope. Not a one came in that didn't sing the praises of Vinnie, Throttle, Modo and Stoker. They even heard stories of Rimfire's heroics. It wasn't much, but it was certainly enough. The women needed to know that their men were okay and the soldiers that were brought in seemed to understand that.

As she entered the med bay, waving across the room to Charley and Rachel, she was immediately greeted by her newest and most obnoxiously cheerful patient, Stephan. He was Srebro's second-in-command and had suffered several injuries, one of which included a blast from a laser that had nearly taken off his arm. Yet, even with as many battle scars as he was sporting right now, he was still a bottomless pool of optimism spilling out every which-way.

"Jaiden!! Come over here you beautiful knocked up lady!"

Rolling her eyes but unable to stop the smile that curved her lips, Jaiden crossed the room and gratefully sank into the chair beside his bed with an enraptured sigh.

"Any day now, huh?" Stephan asked, patting her knee.

"Hopefully. I don't know how much longer I can lug this little one around." She laid her hand over his. "So how's favorite patient today? Annoying as ever?" she teased.

Stephan snorted and pulled his hand back, acting affronted. That's all it ever was with him though. An act. A week and a half of treating him had taught Jaiden that much. "Annoying," he muttered. "I'll have you know woman that what you may think of as mere annoyance, others feel is a great level of entertainment."

"Oh, I'm sure," Jaiden replied dryly. "No, really Stephan. How are you feeling today?"

He shrugged his good shoulder; the one not hindered by bandages. "Still like I've been shot a couple of times. Startin' to get feeling back in my arm though. I suppose that's a good thing."

"That's a very good thing." Jaiden shifted in her chair and gingerly moved to sit beside Stephan on the bed. She pealed the bandages away from the wound on his side and noted that the area looked clean and seemed to be healing nicely. With great care, she set about cleaning the wound and redressing it while Stephan watched on quietly.

"You're gonna make one hell of a mom, Jaiden," he said after a while.

Blushing, Jaiden moved onto the bandages around his upper right arm. "What makes you say that?"

"I've watched you with the other soldiers and obviously with me. You've got this way about you."

Jaiden lifted her head briefly to flash him a skeptical smile before going back to work on his arm. "A way about me, hm?"

"Yeah." Stephan winced as the antiseptic stung his ragged flesh.

"I'm sorry."

"S'alright honey. Bein' in pain is better than bein' dead." He paused, waiting for the worst of it to be over. He may have spouted out some pretty tough words but it still hurt like hell. When she was bandaging his arm, he pressed his case. "You care about things Jaiden and it really shows. A person like that turns out to be a pretty damn fine mom as far as I'm concerned. And you're tough. You come in here every day and listen to the stories the guys tell you about your man. You don't let it get to you."

Finished with his arm, Jaiden sat up. "Letting it get to me would kind of show a serious lack of faith."

"In your husband?"
"Yes." Jaiden nodded. She hesitated on what she was going to say next but figured Stephan would be one of the only people she could confide in that wouldn't think she was a small child fantasizing about an uncertain future. "It would show a lack of faith in Vinnie. But it would also show a great lack of faith in Srebro."

"Srebro?"

"He…he promised me that he would bring our guys back. I didn't believe him at first but then he said he always keeps his word. And…I don't know."

"Sounds like Srebro. You know," Stephan reached out and caught Jaiden's hand. Her words and actions said she trusted the promise. Her eyes claimed differently. "You're right to believe him, Jaiden. He's honest to a fault. If he said he'd bring your men home safe, he will. He'd probably go as far as to put himself in the line of fire if he had to."

Jaiden gasped in horror. "I wouldn't want him to do that."

"Wouldn't really affect him."

"I'm…sorry. I don't really understand what you mean."

"Srebro's immortal, Jaiden. It's kind of an 'inherited curse' as he so eloquently puts it. So putting his life on the line for anyone isn't the biggest deal to him."

Jaiden nodded slowly. Immortal…how horrible. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like to live forever while everyone around you grew old and died.

"Hey."

She looked up into Stephan's eyes, shaded by a fall of unruly spiked bangs. "I'm starving, what about you?"

Grateful for the change in subject, Jaiden smiled and nodded. "I'm eating for two, Stephan. I'm always hungry. Are you sure you should be walking though?"

He started to sit up, wincing as the injury on his side stretched and rubbed. "Oh, I'm sure I shouldn't be but that's not going to stop me. I've been layin' in that damn bed for too long. A walk isn't going to kill me."
They made pitiful attempts to help each other up, both laughing as they failed repeatedly but eventually managed to end up standing next to each other, Stephan wrapping his uninjured arm around her shoulder, trying to put as little weight on her tiny frame as possible.

"Where are you guys off to?" Charley asked with an amused smile as she approached the pair. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and she kept a hand at the arch of her back in attempts to dull the constant ache.

"We're starving and Stephan is restless so I'm going to walk him down to the cafeteria. You want us to bring you back something?"

"Yeah, whatever they have would be great. Except anything that looks like mush or pudding. Ugh." She made a face and drew in a shaky breath. "Man, even the mention of those two things makes me queasy."

Jaiden chuckled, silently agreeing with her. They both had aversions to anything less that solid when it came to food, especially since the food on Mar's was already questionable. "Sandwich and juice sound good? I think that's what they've got on the menu today."

"Sounds perfect."

"Rach," Jaiden called across the room to where Rachel was talking quietly with one of her older patients. "Going to get some food. Would you like anything?"

She glanced up and shook her head with a smile. "No, but thank you. Had a late breakfast this morning."

"Okay. Be back in a while Charley."

With Stephan leaning slightly against her, the two moved at a slow pace out of the med bay and walked down the hall towards the cafeteria.

"Man, it feels good to be out of that bed," Stephan sighed, breathing in deeply as if the hallway offered a cleaner kind of air than that of the room he'd been stuck in.

"I can imagine."
"If I can get through a walk to the cafeteria and back without anything crazy happening, I bet they'll let me out of that place."

Jaiden shot him a wry grin. "Don't get too carried away hun. You aren't a hundred percent yet and I personally would feel much more comfortable if you limited your movement until the stitches were out at least."

"Maybe you're right." He grinned and tightened his arm around her. "See, there you go being all motherly again."

"Right," Jaiden muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Jaiden? Jaiden!"

The frantic cries caused Jaiden's heart to plummet and her breath to catch as she watched Primer jog up to them from further down the hallway.

"What? What's wrong Primer?" she asked when she'd come to a stop in front of them. In her panic, she'd nearly moved out from under Stephan's arm and left the poor man completely unsupported. She caught herself in time and quickly apologized, moving firmly back against his side and holding him steady.

"Wrong?" Confusion briefly flashed across the breathless woman's face. "Oh! Oh, no…nothing's wrong. I just…I have a question that's kind of important."

Jaiden released the breath she was holding, half tempted to throttle the younger woman. Running up to a wife of one of the soldiers like something terrible had happened…what was she thinking? "Primer…"

Hearing the warning tone in Jaiden's voice, Primer quickly grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking Jai. I've just been looking all over for you and I have this really important question that no one else can answer and I've been so nervous-."

Jaiden reached out and snagged one of Primer's flailing hands, effectively catching the anxious woman's attention. "Calm down and tell me what you need," she said slowly.

Primer's gaze flickered to Stephan as a blush stained her pretty cheeks. She hadn't even noticed him in her haste to get to Jaiden. Now that she did, she wasn't sure she could ask her anything without feeling mortified. But it was so important that she did. She turned her pleading gaze back to Jaiden. "I need to know how to say 'I love you' in sign language."

Jaiden smiled slowly. She should have seen this coming. Helix and Primer had been spending almost all of their time together. It wasn't uncommon to see the two sitting close together in the mess hall, their hands clasped together under the tables.

"Primer, why on earth would you need to know that?" Jaiden asked innocently. She regretted the words the second Primer bemoaned her name on a shrill whine. "Okay, sorry. Yeesh, good thing Helix is deaf," she joked.

"Oh har har," Primer shot back. "Come on Jai."

"Since you asked so nicely." She slowly signed the words 'I love you' once with Primer watching avidly and the second time with the younger woman copying the signs.

"Okay, so like this then?" Primer repeated the combination of signs once more with an only slightly higher level of confidence.

"Right. When were you planning on telling him?"

"Now."

"Well, if you're doing this now, I'm coming with you. No way am I going to miss seeing Helix's reaction. Just walk slow? I don't move at6 much more than a waddle."

"Yeah, neither do I," Stephan murmured, staring woefully at the floor. "Especially when I'm retaining this much water. And don't even get me started on the swollen ankles."

Jaiden elbowed him lightly. "Oh, shut it."

By the time the three reached the cafeteria, Primer was an anxious mess. She spotted Helix immediately. Though spotting him was never hard to do. The black furred giant, with his thick mo-hawk, silver studded ears and intimidating size stood out in a crowd without trying. He sat by himself at a far table, absentmindedly munching at a piece of toast while reading a large book. Probably something as brilliant as he is, she thought with a dreamy inward sigh.

Jaiden nudged primer gently. "Well?"

"Yeah. Um…I just…" Primer took a deep breath, shaking her hands in an unsuccessful attempt to loosen her gathered nerves. "Okay, I'm going."

"Good luck sweetie!"

Primer flashed them a bright smile before setting off through the cafeteria.

Jaiden's smile, plastered on her face as she watched the young woman, faltered and she sucked in a short, pained breath.

"You okay?" Stephan reached out, lightly placing his hand on her arm.

"Yeah." She sucked in another breath, trying to pull as much air into her lungs as she could before slowly breathing out. "I'm fine. I think I just took a roundhouse kick to the ribs."

"She's that brutal?"

"Well, not necessarily brutal. Probably just cramped and impatient to get out."

"When are you due?"

"Three days-."

"Well that's not too long for her to wait."

"-ago." Jaiden finished with a tired grin.

"Ouch."

"Yeah. And she's been pretty antsy today. It's a little uncomforta-ah!" She winced and put her hands over her hard belly, waiting for the pain to subside.

"Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Jaiden nodded quickly, waving off his concern. "Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry about me. Oh! Quiet. Primer's telling him!"

Her need to take the focus off her condition was almost comical, making it easy to humor her. Though he was very tempted to tell her that not only were they on the opposite side of the room but they were also watching a conversation done in sign language so there was no way they were going to hear anything.

The two made small talk, Primers hands flitting nervously. Helix smiled and after a while, gently grabbed them, no longer able to make sense of what she was saying. And then he told her that he loved her.

Jaiden smiled, her eyes welling with tears as she watched Primer fumble over a response and throw her arms around Helix's neck.

"He beat her to it, huh?" Stephan asked.

Blinking away the tears, Jaiden nodded. "And without looking the least bit nervous. Vinnie was like that. Calm, collected-I would have never known he was nervous if he hadn't admitted it after I told him I loved him too." Her thoughts stretched across the war ravaged desert to where her husband fought. "I went to visit my parents grave and he came with me," she continued distantly. "He told my dad first, then me. When I told him I loved him back he told me ha-."

Stephan watched Jaiden screw her eyes shut and press a hand to her stomach. "Kicking?"

"Mmm." Jaiden drew in a breath and slowly released it, concentrating hard on what she was doing. She repeated the action, then opened her eyes. "Not sure that was a kick. Walk with me?"

Slightly concerned, Stephan nodded. He offered his good arm and together they moved out of the cafeteria. They were halfway between the cafeteria and the medical ward when Jaiden pulled him to a stop. Just as before, she drew in a slow, concentrated breath, closed her eyes tight and lifted her hand to her stomach. Only this time she whimpered-a tiny, pitiful noise. Stephan's stomach flipped uneasily. "You're not going to go into labor on me, are you?"

"I might."

Well, I should probably let you know then that I'm pretty clueless when it comes to women having babies."

Jaiden managed a breathless laugh. "That's okay. So am I. Just do me a favor and don't freak out, okay/"

Stephan nodded mutely. His voice would give him away and prove him a liar if he spoke. He'd seen war, he'd seen men die, he'd been pulled from deaths door several times and felt the fiery pain of a war would. None of that had ever scared him. But a woman in labor, brining a life into the world with no one around but him to help her scared the absolute hell out of him.

"Okay, that was one." Jaiden muttered to herself. "And I don't have a watch. We'll just…keep walking and I'll make a wild guess."

"Shouldn't you be laying down in a hospital bed or something?"

"No, not yet. That was just one contraction. I've got a lot of time. We could actually go back and get you some food if you want. That's what we were going to do anyway and I'm pretty sure Charley would appreciate it if we brought back the food we said we were going to bring her."

Stephan nodded again, gaping at her with a mix of awe and confusion. He couldn't understand what was going on so he just went with what she told him to do. By the time they had returned to the cafeteria, picked up their food and left again, Jaiden had had two more contractions. The last one she was able to time off a clock on the far wall.

"Seven minutes apart. Okay, now might be a good time to talk to Cat. But let's get you back first."

"Jaiden, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes." She looked up at him, unflinching. "I'm fine, Stephan. I'm still walking and still thinking straight. Let's get you back and make sure none of those wounds re-opened."

"Alright. Far be it for me to argue with a pregnant woman."

Jaiden chucked softly and slid her arm through his. "Smart man."

Back at the med bay and five contractions later, Stephan was done being smart and he was done listening to Jaiden's reassurances. Once settled in his bad he shouted across the room to Charley, "Jaiden in Labor! Will you please get this damn stubborn woman to a hospital room?"

Jaiden gaped at him. "Stephan!"

"What? You are and you should be in bed, not waltzing around the hallways and taking care of wounded soldiers. And I'm pretty sure your husband would agree with me."

"Ooh," she glared at him, trying hard not to smile. He was absolutely right. Vinnie would have dragged her in by now, despite her best arguments. "You would play the husband card."

"Damn right, I would."

"Jaiden!" Charley rushed as best she could to them, Rachel right behind her. "Did your water break?"

"No, I'm just having contractions."

"Seven on the way here. About three to five minutes apart." Stephan supplied.

"You kept track?" Jaiden asked.

"Woman goin' into labor on me? You bet I did."

Rachel put a motherly arm around Jaiden's shoulders. "Thanks Stephan. Jai, why don't we get you down to see Cat, hm?"

Jaiden put a hand at the small of her back. She could feel another contraction coming on, this one stronger than the last. She'd been proud of herself for handling her labor as well as she had, but now things were getting harder and she wasn't even to the delivery part yet. "Yeah," she said tightly. "Getting to Cat would probably be a good idea."

Stephan gripped her chin lightly, coaxing her to look up. "Good luck, darlin'. I'm sure you'll do great. You bring that little gal to see me, okay?"

"I will. Thanks Stephan. And thanks for not freaking out."

"You bet, babe."

"But you did," Charley murmured once Rachel had Jaiden out of ear shot. "Didn't ya?"

"Oh yeah."

Chucking, she followed the other two, shaking her head at Stephan's admission.

"Almost done Jai. Just hold on half a minute."

"Half a minute?" Jaiden whined. She gripped Charley's hand tightly and swallowed the panic that seemed to rise and fall, accompanying her contraction. A half a minute…she could do that. Then add it to every other half minute she'd breathed and tried to focus through for the past six hours.

"And…done." Charley gave her a smile of encouragement and patted her hand. "Good job sweetie."

"Why am I sill doing this?" Jaiden cried, dropping her head back. Her body felt like it was on fire, her limbs were sweat soaked and trembling and the pain, especially now that she was so focused on it and how much everything hurt, was far beyond any pain she'd ever experienced. "Why isn't she here yet?"

"She'll come, Jai. You just have to keep focusing on you breathing and getting through the contractions until she's ready. Did you want to try walking again? Cat said that would help things along."

Jaiden shook her head miserably.

"Okay, did you want to try switching your positions around a bit? See if that helps with the pain?"

Again Jaiden shook her head, more vehemently this time. Charley reigned in her frustration. She knew Jaiden wasn't trying to be difficult. But she wasn't being very helpful either. She was disregarding every effort Charley was making to help her and being pregnant herself, Charley was quickly losing her patience with Jaiden.

The door open, admitting Carbine, and Charley almost leapt out of her seat to run across the room and hug the other woman. She needed all the help she could get with Jaiden and who better to be there than the General herself.

"Is everyone having fun in here?" Carbine asked cheerfully.

"No!" Jaiden sobbed, twisting her head away from Carbine and giving into her tears of pain and self-pity. Her vehement answer and her childish antics had Carbine arching a brow. This side of Jaiden was something she was not at all familiar with and she personally did not care for it. The girl had more guts and pain tolerance than that. Why on earth was she acting like a spoiled child?

"Um, Charley…can I speak to you in the hallway? It'll just be a moment."

"Will you be okay by yourself for a bit?" Charley asked Jaiden, rubbing her arm in a slow, downward motion. "I'll leave the door open so if you need anything, just shout."

"Pain meds would be nice," Jaiden growled.

Charley sighed and again, resisted the urge to just shout at the younger woman. "I know they would be hun, but we've been over this. Cat has nothing she can give you that she's one hundred percent comfortable with administering. It hasn't been tested on human's and probably wouldn't be safe. She went over this with you and you were fine with it. You wanted to go naturally anyway, remember?"

"Well I dont now!"

Sighing, Charley gave up and crossed the room, quickly striding past Carbine and into the hallway. "I don't even know what to do with her right now. We've gone over and over relaxation and breathing techniques and she's completely forgetting everything we covered. It's like she wants to be in pain!"

"Calm down, Charley. It'll be okay," Carbine said, quickly pulling the door shut. She didn't care if Charley had promised to leave it open. Jaiden didn't need to hear her friend's frustrated tirade. It wouldn't make anything about child birth any easier if she knew that one of her pillars of support had collapsed. "Why don't you go get something to eat and I'll stay with Jaiden for a while, okay?"

Charley nodded tiredly. "Yeah. I can do that. Good luck."

Carbine gently shoved Charley towards the waiting room, then turned on a booted heel and squared her shoulders. This wasn't going to be fun, but what she was about to do was most certainly necessary. She opened the door, then closed it behind her and strode to the foot of Jaiden's bed. "You don't seem to be handling this too well."

Jaiden lifted a hand to cover her bleary eyes, not bothering to wipe away the tears running constant streams down her flushed cheeks. "No, I'm not. I don't want to do this anymore."

"Well, that's sad to hear. I expected more from you Jaiden." She expected more but she certainly hoped she wouldn't end up regretting what she was doing. "You've got a man out there fighting for this planet and for you. He's putting his life on the line every day but you cant go through a few hours of birth? You've seen men come into the medic bay near death, in more pain that they can put into words. Do they complain? Do they say they don't want to do it anymore? Seriously Jaiden, grow a pair because what you're pulling right now is childish and pathetic."

Jaiden's hand had fallen to her lap during Carbine's speech. Her look of pain was replaced with one of stunned horror. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Carbine was being unforgivably mean! "Why…why are you being so…"

"So what, Jaiden? So mean? Why am I being such a bitch? Because I honestly expected more out of you. I expected you NOT to be like every other woman that's thrown herself at Vinnie and to actually have a backbone. But apparently I was wrong. You aren't any better than they were. You're nothing more than a weak Earther."

"I am not!!" Jaiden shouted, forgetting about her pain.

"You're not huh? Then prove it! Do something besides whine about your situation because I'll tell you something, sweetheart…the men dying out there, the men wounded and fighting…they're not going to think much of a woman that gripes about having to do something as natural as give birth."

"Shut up!" Jaiden screamed. Her hands clenched the sheets on either side of her and her eyes flashed with determination. "I'm not some weak, whining Earther. I'm Jaiden VanWham and I'm going to make you eat those damn words!!"

Carbine smiled. Mission successful. "That's my girl. Let's have a baby then, shall we?"

Three hours and forty five minutes later, that's exactly what Jaiden did. Calla VanWham came into the world screaming like crazy and her mother smiled with pride. Great set of lungs her little girl had, just like her father.

***************************

Vinnie stared out at the expanse of sand and bodies, shuddering from a combination of horror, and the cold lonely breeze that swept over the sands. It was over. The war had finally been won but the outcome wasn't something he ever wanted to remember. Fourteen long months of fighting. The land showed the damage of every long month. Blood soaked the sand, the dead lay where they had fallen. It was an awful image. It was an image he knew he'd never forget, no matter how much he wanted to.

A hand landed lightly on his shoulder and for a moment he continued to stare out. "Looking at all of this kind of makes it feel like it wasn't even worth it," he murmured, turning to look at Throttle. "Or is that just my opinion?"

"No bro, I'm pretty sure all of us are thinking that right now. But no one ever said war was pretty."

"No. They didn't."

"Luckily, we've both got something far more pretty waiting for us back at the base."

"Are we cleared to go back?"

"Yeah. Stoker sent me to let you know. Why don't we head home?"

"Throttle," Vinnie turned away from the carnage and offered his leader a weak smile, "I don't think you've ever had a better idea."

*****************************

For Rachel, the days and nights had run together. She no longer knew when she slept, when she ate. She knew she spent a majority of her time watching the horizon and waiting. Some had tried to stop her but her determined refusal to move from the domed window in the observatory was too much for them to overcome and everyone who tried, aside from Jaiden and Charlie, had just given up. The other two women had tried continually, but usually their attempts ended in them joining her and watching that deserted horizon, waiting and hoping that they would see something.

She knew her constant vigilance was not healthy but it was all she had. That and hope that Modo would return safely. With every wounded soldier that came in to the med bay she lost more and more of that hope. What was left she clung tenaciously to.

"Still empty?"

Rachel turned and smiled a sad welcome to Carbine. "Yeah. Where's Charley and Jaiden?"

"Grabbing what little sleep they can before those two terrors are up and at it again."

"Carbine, you can't call babies terrors," Rachel lightly scolded.

"Have you seen those two together? I swear you can see it in their eyes. They're plotting to drive their poor mothers insane."

Rachel ducked her head and laughed. She knew exactly what Carbine was talking about. Calla and Devon did seem to have some way of communicating that was noticeable when the two were within feet of each other. And whatever communication they did usually resulted in loud shrieks or howling cries which they would hopefully grow out of some day and would, as Jaiden demanded they do several times in the past few weeks, "play nice."

"So what are you doing up, Carbine? It's after three in the morning. I thought I was the only one crazy enough to stay up this late."

"You are," Carbine agreed wryly. "You're hardly getting any sleep, Rachel. How is it that you haven't fallen over in exhaustion yet?"

"Hope keeps me going."

Carbine nodded in understanding. They stood silent, both staring out and seeing the same thing…nothing. Blowing sand made restless whorls in the landscape. It made everything look so empty, so desolate. Rachel sighed and hugged herself, attempting to ward off the overwhelming loneliness.

"I was sleeping," Carbine started softly. "Received an urgent call. Keep an eye on that horizon Rach." She turned to leave, clasping Rachel's shoulder and flashing her a tired grin. "The war's over."

The words took several seconds to seep in and by the time they did, Carbine was gone. Rachel's breath caught, then shuttered past her parted lips as hot tears blurred her vision.

"Over," she whispered as if repeating the word would make it sound more real. After months of unanswered prayers and constant vigilance, it seemed almost impossible that a few words could simply put an end to it all.

Approaching footsteps accompanied by the tiny gurgling of a baby echoed softly in the cavernous room. Rachel barely registered the sound through her racing thoughts.

"Hey Rach," Charley greated. "Was up for a three am feeding and Devon wouldn't go back to sleep so we decided to go for a walk. Figured I'd find you up here."

Seeing Rachel, Devon let out a tiny squeak and smiled. He was only four weeks old but looked entirely like his father. The only thing he seemed to have received from his mother were her startling green eyes.

"I think he just wanted to see his Auntie Rachel." Charley laughed softly and nuzzled her son's nose. Looking up at the other woman, Charley's smile vanished. "Rachel? What is it? What's wrong?"

"The war's over," she whispered almost trance-like.

Charley's grip tightened on Devon. "What?"

The distant roar of engines broke the silence and Charley and Rachel turned to gaze wide-eyed out the massive domed window. The once empty horizon was now lined with bikes and clouds of dust kicked up from the tires. Four bikes lead them, tearing over the dessert at top speed.

"Charley?!"

"Go, I'll catch up." Charley shoved her lightly, laughing through the tears that now rolled down her face. "Go!"

After dropping a quick kiss on Devon's forehead, she did exactly that. She hit the stairs and bounded down them, skipping every other step. She tore through the empty hallways and rounded corners without ever breaking her stride. As she neared the garage she could hear the massive door rolling open, squeaking on its hinges, the rough purr of engines bouncing off the walls and a sob broke free. She skidded around the open doorway into the garage and immediately saw Modo. He had just dismounted his bike and was taking his helmet off.

"Modo," she whispered, then shouted his name, sprinting across the room.

He turned just in time to catch her as she flung herself at him and clutched her tightly, kissing her hair, forehead, cheeks, neck, anywhere he could reach as she eagerly returned the favor, laughing through her tears.

"You're okay! Thank God, you're okay!"

"Course I am, darlin'." He pulled back and cupped the side of her face in one massive palm. "Couldn't risk getting' hurt when I had something so important waitin' for me at home."

"I love you," she murmured, pulling him down for a long overdue kiss.

"Where the hell is my wife?! I think I need a homecoming like that." Vinnie nudged Modo aside and swept Rachel into a brotherly hug. "Hey sweetheart."

Rachel whipped at her tears the best she could with both arms wrapped around Vinnie's neck. "Hey. Your wife is sleeping."

"Something Rachel hasn't been doing much of," Charley quipped as she walked into the garage and made her way over to the small group.

"Whoa." Vinnie stared wide-eyed at Charley and her wriggling bundle. "He looks exactly like Throttle."

"That noticeable, huh?" Charley wrapped an arm around Vinnie's waist and buried her face in his chest to hide her tears. "I'm so glad you guy's are back."

"Glad to be back, Charley-girl."

"Why don't you got get that homecoming you want? I'm sure Jaiden wont mine you waking her up at all."

"Gladly. Let me get someone to take my place. Yo, Throttle! Come here and take over huggin' your wife, would ya?"

Charley looked up, her heart tripping anxiously. Throttle shoved his way through a group of soldiers celebrating their victory, showing none of the patience he usually practiced and came to a dead stop several feet away from where Vinnie and Charley stood. He took in the sight of his beautiful wife, his throat closing up with emotion, then gazed down at his perfect little son, now sleeping peacefully in her arms.

"Charlene," he breathed.

"Here, I'll take my nephew. You go give that husband of yours a proper greeting," Modo demanded lightly.

Charley handed Devon over, never taking her eyes from Throttle. Her arms were only empty for two seconds before her husband was in them and kissing her with passionate abandon. He didn't give a damn who disapproved at that moment. Missing Charley had been torment. Having her in his arms again was his salvation. "I'm never spending a night without you again," he vowed.

"Good. I wasn't going to let you anyway." Charley pulled back and combed her fingers through his bangs, brushing them out of his eyes. "Just hope you don't mind sharing those nights with Devon."

"Well, as long as I get a few nights to myself a week."

"I think that can be arranged."

"Modo, why don't you bring my son here?"

"Careful, don't wake him up. Watch his head!" Charley said, flitting nervously between Modo and Throttle.

"No worries. We're not wakin' up, are we little man?" Throttle crooned, cradling Devon easily in his muscular arms. "No. We're not. What color are his eyes?"

"Green." Charley wrapped her arm around Throttle's waist and stared down at their sleeping son. "Just like mine. The rest is all you. Right down to the charming personality. He's got almost every woman on this base wrapped around his little finger."

"Almost?"

"Yeah. Jaiden's a little reluctant to fall victim to his smile."

"Jaiden?" Vinnie muttered in disbelief, the mention of his wife's name stopping his attempt to leave.

"Yeah. She's been keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't make any advances on your daughter," Charley said with a grin.

The second the word "daughter" passed her lips, Vinnie was gone, tearing out of the room. He was a man on a mission, wanting nothing more than to hold his wife, to see his daughter, to welcome sanity back into his life.

He barely suppressed the urge to yank the door to his rooms off its tracks, impatient with the final barrier that kept him from his wife. Yet even though he was feeling an overwhelming need to see her, he still entered the dark room quietly.

Jaiden was asleep, her hand lying on the pillow beside her, fingers curled in. Her lips were parted and her hair was a slightly tangled cloud of burgundy spread over the linens. He couldn't think of a time when he'd found her more beautiful than she was at this moment. His chest swelled painfully and his eyes burned as he started to cross the floor on legs that had turned numb. And then a tiny noise, one he did not recognize at all stopped him in his tracks. He turned towards the noise, towards a small bassinet sitting a few feet from the bed and right next to and old rocking chair. He forgot how to breathe.

The noise came again, louder this time, and followed by a small sigh. Had it been nine months already? Was his daughter here? Was she in that bassinette making those beautiful noises?

His direction shifted to the left of the bed and he walked carefully, so carefully to where the bassinette sat. He peered over the side and swallowed hard. His hands curled over the sides and he just stood there, staring at total perfection. She was tiny, so tiny. And her fur was bright white. The small poof of hair on her little head was light brown. Little fists waved fitfully in the air, freed from their swaddled confines. And her eyes- her eyes were liquid pools of violet, a shade darker than her mothers, watching him intently.

"Hey," he breathed, his voice catching. "Man you're just…you're just perfect, aren't you?" He reached down and picked her up, clumsily wrapping the blanket around her. She fussed and he reacted without thinking, shushing her and stroking her cheek with a fingertip. He sank into the rocking chair, eyes burning, hands full of a miracle he was part of. His life shifted instantaneously. One minute he'd been a homebound war hero, intent only on seeing and holding his wife. Now, he was a father. A father to the most perfect little girl he'd ever seen in his life. The emotions were huge. Fear, doubt, joy and an all consuming love that welled in his heart, in his throat, held him captive in its grip. It was so sudden, it was amazing. It was, above all, the best rush he'd ever had.

Her face, which had been a picture of serene beauty, scrunched up and her cheeks turned a ruddy red.

"Oh hey, no, no kiddo. It's okay. I'm your daddy. I was away for a while but I'm back now. Hush now, baby girl." He gave it a great effort and for a second, as the silence stretched on, he thought maybe he'd been successful. But the silence broke on a piteous cry that built into a mighty wail. All those wonderful emotions that had swamped him only seconds ago suddenly turned into a feeling of complete helplessness.

"She needs me," a voice called softly from the bed.

The cries from his daughter immediately died down into tiny little hiccupping noises and Vinnie looked up into the tear-filled eyes of his wife. The blankets pooled around her hips. The t-shirt she wore was his and had slipped down her shoulder. Her hair hung in a disheveled mess around her and she was pure beauty. Nothing more than pure beauty.

"We both need you gorgeous."

He stood and with his daughter cradled in his arms, went to Jaiden and sank down beside her on the bed. One arm went from the baby and wrapped tightly around Jaiden, drawing her to him. His world, which had been so tilted and jaded for so long, righted itself immediately and with his wife in one arm and his daughter in the other, he knew true peace.

"Is it over?" she whispered.

"Yeah Jai." He kissed her forehead; then buried his nose in the sweet scented curve of her neck. "It's all over."

She nodded, her tears choking her, making it impossible to say all the things she wanted to say. So instead she held him tighter, saying a silent prayer of thanks for the safe return of her husband.

******************************

"So you guys are heading back already, huh?" Stoker watched as Throttle and Vinnie pitched their bags and their wives bags up into the hull of the spaceship. "Sure you don't want to stick around?"

"Charley's got a business to run, Stoke. Besides…this may be home to us but," Throttle scratched his head and looked around. "Just don't feel like it anymore, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You guys adjusted pretty easily to life on Earth. Suppose having a couple pretty ladies around helped."

"You bet it did," Vinnie chimed in, slapping Stoker on the shoulder as he passed him.

The war had been over for several weeks now and as happy as the bros were, everyone could tell they were itching to get back to life on earth. And no one blamed them. They'd made a home for themselves there. They'd been accepted by the majority of society and recognized for their heroic deeds. They fit in there just as easily as they fit in on Mars. Their wives, unfortunately, could not say the same.

"Throttle?" Rachel joined the three, Throttles son Devon squirming in her arms. "Would you mind taking your son so I can pack the rest of my stuff? We've been having a great time but Auntie Rachel needs a break."

The father in question was more than happy to comply. "Come here, kiddo," he said affectionately, holding out his hands. Devon almost jumped into them, an open mouthed grin splitting his cherubic face. "Been givin' Rachel the run-around huh? Well, that's alright. You and me can have some fun getting the ship packed up." He cradled his son in one arm and grabbed another duffle bag from the slowly depleting pile next to the ship, pitching it into the open door of the ship effortlessly. "Some day you'll be big and strong like daddy. Not that you're not strong now," he quickly corrected. "Saw you get Uncle Vinnie with that right hook of yours the other day. Very impressive little man!"

"Are you actually praising him for taking a swing at me?" Vinnie yelped incredulously.

"Well, come on Vin. You have to admit, it was a heck of a punch."

Vinnie rolled his eyes, then saw Jaiden walk in and went to her, taking the small duffle bag hanging from her shoulder and tossing it at Throttle. Throttle caught it easily with one hand, sending a superior smirk in Vinnie's direction before tossing the bag up in the hull. "That everything for you guys?"

"Should be." Jaiden ran a quick mental check list and nodded. "Yup, that's everything. She switched Calla from her right arm to her left and looked back over her shoulder. "Charley and Modo were coming with the rest of it."

"You guys got a chance to say goodbye to the kids, right?" Stoker asked.

"I think that's what Modo's doing right now. We all said goodbye to Primer this morning and got a hold of Rimfire before he took off again."

"Yeah." Stoker scratched his head, looking concerned. "Ever since I brought Keighly back, those two have made themselves pretty scarce. She's always hidin' from everyone and he's always chasing her around. Not sure how I feel about that."

Keighly was Stoker's half-breed niece, rescued from one of the plutarkian slave ships. She hadn't been received warmly and due to the treatment she received, was unwilling to trust anyone but Stoker. Rimfire had taken to following her around, keeping a safe distance. It was obvious he had fallen for the girl.

"Well, Stoke. If he's been following her around like a lost puppy then you'd better get used to the thought of those two being together. From the looks of it he's dead-set on gaining her trust and I doubt mere friendship is what he's looking for."

Stoker glared at Vinnie. "Well he's going to have to gain my trust too if he's lookin' for anything more than a simple friendship from my niece."

Jaiden walked up to Stoker and patted his cheek. "I'm sure Rimfire will treat her with respect. She needs someone to help her right now."

"I know. She's just a kid though. I don't know if I like the though of her being with any guy after all that she's been."

"Yes, but can you imagine how wonderful Rimfire would be for her?" Stoker made a sound that was half disapproval-half agreement and Jaiden laughed. "Relax and give me a hug, will ya?"

That was an easy enough set of instructions for him to follow. He grinned rakishly and swept her into his arms, careful to avoid squishing Calla. "Man, I'm gonna miss you ladies. You take care of motor-mouth. Keep him in line."

"You know I will."

"And you," he tweaked Calla's nose. "Keep that dad of yours on his toes. I don't want to hear any stories about an agreeable teenager. Charley-girl?"

She went into his arms, taking Jaiden's place and planting an affectionate kiss on his cheeks. "You take care Stoker. And don't take your sweet time proposing. You're a lucky guy, landing yourself someone like Carbine."

"Don't I know it." He ruffled Charley's hair. "You take care too darlin'."

By the time he'd finished his goodbyes with Vinnie and Throttle, Modo and Rachel had joined them and gotten in line for theirs. There were no tears, only a resigned sadness teaming with the overall feeling of acceptance. Stoker had wanted it this way. He'd made them say their goodbyes to everyone else before boarding. No need for any feelings of guilt to be involved when the famed Biker Mice made their way home.

"Well you kids have a safe flight. I'll probably be dropping in sometime to see how ya'll are doin'."

"You're welcome any time, Stoker," Charley said, giving him one last pat on the cheek before making her way up the short ramp into the ship with Jaiden and Charley.

Stoker sighed and faced the three mice he'd always felt were like son's to him. He felt a fathers pride and a fathers sorrow at having to watch them go again, but knowing at the same time that the lives they were going to be living on Earth were going to be full of love and joy.

"How the hell did you all grow up to be suck great young men," he wondered aloud.

"We had a pretty good man raising us. Taught us well," Modo murmured.

"Real well," Throttle agreed.

"Come here, you knuckleheads." Stoker pulled them all into a group hug, involuntarily knocking all of their heads together. "Keep your tails out of trouble and just try enjoying a peaceful life."

"Stoke…" Vinnie started to argue.

"Some of the time. A little downtime never killed anyone, Vincent. Ride free boys."

They repeated the sentiment, each patting Stoker on the shoulder before retreating into the ship. The engine came to life with a low hum. Then the jet propellers kicked in and the ship started to climb slowly into the sky. From the windows, Stoker could see Rachel, Jaiden and Charley all waving. He grinned and waved back. And he never stopped waving until they were out of sight.

Epilogue:

"Rach, are you heading for the kitchen?"

"Yeah. I was going to grab another glass of water." Rachel answered once she'd hauled her bulk awkwardly off the couch. "Why?"

"I was just wondering if you would like to do the honor of whacking Vinnie upside the head if he's anywhere near the pumpkin pie."

"Rachel placed a hand over her rounded stomach and smiled. "Gladly."

"Just don't overdo yourself." Jaiden reached down and plucked the ornament Devon had snagged off the tree out of his hand, replacing it on an empty branch well out of his reach. "I'd hate to have to tell the doctors that smacking a six foot mouse sent you into labor."

"I'll try not to."

Jaiden chuckled and stepped away from the Christmas tree to admire her handy work. Not half bad. The bottom of the tree was bare thanks to the two curious one year olds who couldn't keep their little hands and tails off the ornaments. But a tack of presents would easily fix that.

"Want me to plug the lights in?" Charley asked from behind the enormous spruce. She'd been running damage control on the opposite side of the tree.

"Yeah, go for it."

A moment later the tree sparkled with hundreds of colored lights. Devon looked up in awe from his place on the floor next to her, his attempts at snatching ornaments forgotten.

"Perfect," Jaiden praised, smiling up at what they had accomplished after hours of work.

"Almost perfect." Charley stood next to Jaiden and turned her head to the side. "The bottom's kind of bare."

"That's what presents are for."

"Didn't even think of that. Hey, hold it there little man." Charley scooped her son up, stopping his progressive crawl under the tree. "The sooner we get the present there, the better."

"I know you said to smack Vinnie, but he was actually trying to stop Modo from treating his niece to a little bit of pie," Rachel said, joining them.

Jaiden glanced back and shook her head. Modo was carrying Calla, Vinnie was right behind them and Calla's face was covered in pumpkin pie.

"Modo…I would expect such actions from Vinnie. You're supposed to be a positive roll model."

"Sorry ma'am. She gave me that little pouty face. You know I can't resist that."

"Well you'd better learn how my dear husband. Our little girl isn't even born yet and I already know she's going to have you wrapped around her little finger. I'm not looking forward to playing bad parent."

Modo stopped next to his wife and leaned down to give her a quick kiss. "You know that ain't gonna happen, darlin'."

The front door opened to admit Throttle, his shoulders dusted with a thin layer of snow. He had an arm full of presents, unlabeled and ready to be placed under the tree later on that evening when the kids were asleep. Modo quickly went to help him before either Calla or Devon noticed the arrival of more gifts.

"So, how's everyone on Mars?" Charley asked.

"Doin' good." Throttle said as he hung up his coat and kicked the snow from his boots. "Rimfire proposed to Keighly and they're thinkin' about getting married next year sometime. And Carbine went into labor early last night. She had her twins around 10am this morning."

"Twins?!" Jaiden asked incredulously. "Did she even know she was going to have twins?"

"Nope. She was stubborn on finding out anything about her babies until the very end. But both babies and their mama are doin' good. They named them Leah and Maverick."

"Well, looks like we'll be planning a vacation to Mars sometime in the near future." Charley said. "After Rachel has her baby of course.

"Speaking of which," Rachel whispered so only her two friends could hear her. The men were too busy with present to even notice the conversation taking place. "Do you think I should tell Modo that I'm having contractions now, or after we open presents?"

Jaiden and Charley gaped at their smiling friend. "How far apart?" Jaiden asked.

"Oh, we've got time. They started a few hours ago and are still a good fifteen minutes apart."

"Well, that's probably something he would want to know then," Charley said then grinned. "Of course it could wait until we're done opening some presents."

Rachel laughed and nodded in agreement. "I've had my eye on that big one in back."

"That's from me and Throttle. You're probably going to need it to leave the hospital anyway."