Disclaimer: I do not own the Airborn series...

As Marie and John watched the water below pass under them, John could not help but think how beautiful flying through the sky was. This chance to work for Lunardi is a dream come true, for he had always been fascinated with flying. Just the thought sent chills through his body; he was so excited for this opportunity. The only thing he hesitated at all about would be leaving his newly married wife. He loved her and their soon to come baby so much he didn't want to ever leave them, but he knew he had to this. He almost felt like something higher was calling him to the air.

"Why, you're in a trance! Whatever are you thinking of?" Marie asked John. John looked over at the love of his life, and smiled. "The wonderful future ahead of us! I just can't believe we get to go to the New World," John responded.

Marie patted her large belly saying "You are certainly right about that!"

"I think I am going to go on a walk, explore the ship a little bit. Would you like to come?" John asked her. While they had been able to secure lodgings on the ship, their room was incredibly small, and it was nice to be able to leave every once in awhile. "No thanks, I will just take a nap for now, I'm feeling tired," Marie said.

So John walked out of their cramped room into the hallway. He slid past others in the hallway, climbing the stairway to the atrium in front of the cafeteria. The Daphnia was very different from the classic first class ships; instead of staterooms for the rich who were on a pleasure trip, there were many smaller "third class" rooms with just enough room for two bunk beds. Also, instead of spacious dining rooms, there was one large cafeteria, which was optimized for the most amount of space for sitting.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" yelled a young waiter, who was hurrying through the aisles, trying to get to the kitchen while carrying an absurdly large pile of dishes. Unfortunately, he ran straight into John, spilling everything all over the floor and John. "I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to bump into you, I promise I'll pay to fix your shirt," the boy stammered.

"Don't worry about it; I needed a new one anyway. It was just an accident. Here, let me help you with those," John said while bending over to pick up the dishes on the floor. After everything was cleaned up, the boy said, "I'm Tom Bear, cabinboy…and hopefully one day sailmaker! Anyway, thank you for your help. If you won't take a shirt, I could at least give you the grand tour!"

"I'd love that, thank you very much. I will take you up on that," John said. Suddenly another boy ran up to Tom. "What am I going to do Tom? One of the passengers is giving birth! We have no doctor on board!"

"Boy, can you tell me if this woman is in berth 206?" John asked rapidly. "Why yes sir," he replied. "Oh good God, Marie's having her baby! I have to go now, I'll take you up on that tour later," John said as he ran back to his room. "Wait sir! There's a lady in room 223 who I think is a midwife, her name is Julie," Tom yelled. "Thank you!" John replied.

John ran straight to room 223, and flew right in without knocking. "Please, please help me, my wife is giving birth," John gasped out. "Oh…okay" Julie said after looking up from her book. John then grabbed her wrist and ran to his room.

"Here he is! Your new baby boy," Julie said to Marie as she handed over the child to his mother. She looked lovingly down at her child, with John standing at her shoulder playing with their son's little hands. "Thank you for everything you have done for us, we would have never made it through this without you," Marie said.

"Oh believe me, you did all the hard work," Julie said laughing, "Do you know what you are going to name him?"

"Well honey, do remember that man that saved my life ten years ago, the one who introduced me to flying, and most importantly, to you? I think we should name our baby after him" John asked Marie.

"Of course, that's perfect; he changed our lives so much! It's the least we could do. Matt Cruse is such a beautiful name," Marie Cruse said, happy as she could ever be.