Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 15:32:26 -0600 Reply-To: Julia Kosatka Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Julia Kosatka Subject: Into the Light, 5/6 (REPOST) ADULT best gained at a slow, steady pace. He was never able to finish teaching me." "An argument for flashlearning if ever I heard one," Duncan said drily. "It's too bad they didn't have DNA-drip technology. It might have come in handy." Methos answered him but Guinan had stopped listening. It had just started to sink in exactly what this would mean to her. She had never expected to have more children. Not because she couldn't, her race remained fertile for a very long time, but because she just hadn't thought she would ever *want* to do it again after having so much trouble with Jahn. She hadn't wanted to risk making all those mistakes again. She also knew that even if she avoided the one's she'd made before, there was always a slew of new ones waiting to surface. All that paled, however, before the prospect of having *this* child. This-- this was like becoming Eve! She didn't even know what *species* this child would be! Would there be compatibility problems? Would she need medical intervention to carry to term? What exactly *was* term, anyway? Humans gestation was close to ten months, her own people went more than fourteen. She had no idea what to expect with a child of a species which for all intents and purposes had never before existed. Maybe she ought to call Bev and see if she would... Mid-thought, she suddenly became aware of the silence in the room. She looked up to find both Duncan and Methos staring at her. Methos looked curious, Duncan concerned, and something more. Something that hurt just to look, let alone to feel with the enhanced perceptions of her Othersense. What had she missed? "Guinan..." Duncan began, then stopped, shaking his head. "I... I don't know what to say to you. I've never been in this situation before, never expected to *ever* be in this situation, but it's got to be much, much harder for you," he swallowed heavily, his gaze ranging past her to stare at something distant rather than meeting hers. "I would understand if you-- I mean, I know that it's possible you might not--" He sighed. "I wouldn't hold it against you if---" He stopped again, and she could feel the pain in him as if she were a full empath. What could he be trying to say to her that would hurt that much? Suddenly she knew. She remembered past conversations, she knew the way his mind worked, and there was only one conclusion to draw. He was telling her that it was her decision, that he would not try to influence whether she carried the child, or not. Knowing how he felt about it, that had to be one of the hardest things he'd ever said. She put her fingers against his lips to stop him from trying again, shaking her head. "Shhh, Duncan. Don't. You don't need to say it, I understand. This *is* quite a surprise, and I'll admit I never expected to become a mother again, especially not at this stage of my life. I can't say I'm not a little scared by the prospect, my last attempt wasn't exactly a shining example of success, but if you two are willing to help," she looked from Duncan to Methos, "...I would like to try." "You know I'll be there," Duncan said quietly. "I would never expect you to do this on your own." "How could I not?" Methos said. "This is the most interesting thing that's happened to me in centuries. Besides," he grinned, "...a quarter of those chromosomes are *mine*. I ought to take a hand in things." He was clearly trying to lighten the mood, but then Duncan brought it firmly back down to earth again. "Guinan, I think the first thing we should do is have someone take a look at you and make sure this isn't going to be dangerous for you. If there's some reason why Immortals are always foundlings, I want to know it before you get far enough along to be at risk." She stared at him, shaken. She hadn't thought of that aspect. It was something to take into consideration. They needed a good xenobiologist, a geneticist, a doctor... she really *did* need to put a call in to Beverly Crusher. It would be months before the Enterprise-D was ready for her christening, and Bev probably wouldn't mind coming out to Valhalla. "I'll call Beverly Crusher. I suspect she'd jump at the chance to come help, and perhaps she can get Tarana Ortiz-S'dalai to come too. She's a hell of a xeno. Between the two of them they could probably scare up a good geneticist too." Duncan looked relieved. "I would feel better about it if we had some expert help. Neither Methos or I would be much help." Methos grinned. "I don' know *nuthin' 'bout birthin' no babies, Miz Scarlett!" Guinan groaned, shaking her head. "Okay, okay, that's enough! I think right now it's time to get some *sleep*. We'll deal with the details in the morning." "Sleep?" Methos asked, looking disappointed. She smacked him on the hand in exasperation. "You're incorrigible!" He grinned. "I know." **** "It's time." Duncan didn't look up from the screen of his computer where he was entering columns of figures. She wondered which of his many business enterprises he was working on. "Time for what?" he asked absently. "You know, *time*." Guinan said, with deliberate emphasis. He looked up, finally, curious but still not understanding, until he saw her face, then he was on his feet so fast that his chair went flying. "Now?" "Now," she confirmed. "Have you called Beverly?" "Not yet, I wanted to tell you two first. Where's Methos?" "Oh god... he took the kids to the village!" She smiled at the utter panic in his voice. "That's okay, it'll be awhile." "But you said..." "Duncan, settle down. You know these things don't happen instantaneously. It'll probably be hours." He swallowed hard, and nodded, looking a little sheepish. "Right. Sorry, I guess I panicked a little." She grinned. "Just a little." She massaged her lower back, trying to ease the ache that seemed to bracket her spine. "I'll be glad to get this over with, you know. I didn't bargain on having an elephant's child." He chuckled. "I guess it just takes time to make a quality product." She glared at him. "You try being pregnant for sixteen months and tell me how *you* like it!" He spread his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "No thanks, watching you do it has been bad enough." "It wasn't so bad until she started doing katas in there... ouch!" Guinan winced as a contraction took her. She relaxed into it, feeling unusually weary for it being so early in the process. She shouldn't have stayed up late the night before. When the pain eased a few seconds later she sighed. "Guess it's time to call Bev. You remember what we planned?" "How could I forget?" Duncan asked, smiling. "We've only gone over it a hundred times. You want me to run the tub?" "No, let Bev do that, you know what a perfectionist she is. If we get the temperature off we'll never hear the end of it! Just stay with me for now, I'm feeling a little... I don't know, just a bit odd." He looked at her, his eyes dark with concern. "Odd? How?" She shrugged, shaking her head. "I can't explain it. Just odd. This doesn't feel quite the same as I remember." "Is something wrong?" "I don't think so. Just different." Duncan stared at her a moment longer, then looked away and reached down to right the chair he'd knocked over. He pointed to her, then to it. "Sit, I'll call Bev." Guinan sat and watched him put through the call, not wanting to argue over something that small. Besides, he needed to feel like he was in control of something. As she had found herself doing more and more often of late, she focused inward, to the child she carried, sharing wordless communication, projecting reassurance and love. She could sense the eagerness of the baby. She was ready to be born... had been for some time. She was as tired of the cramped, tight environment as Guinan was of *being* the cramped, tight environment. She wanted out, to experience the things she could vaguely sense through her mother's perceptions, and her own fledgling faculties. She moved, pushing a hand against the prison of flesh that surrounded her, protesting this new tightness. It had never been this tight before. Guinan winced, and soothed mentally, sharing a visualization with her of what was happening. She might not be able to completely understand, having never been *outside*, but still, it couldn't hurt. The hand drew back, and Guinan relaxed a little. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into Duncan's worried gaze. "Are you all right?" She smiled and nodded. "Just trying to explain a little to her. She doesn't understand." He shook his head in amazement. "I still can't get over that. I mean, I've heard of talking to babies before they're born, but not like *that*." "It's customary in cultures like mine where psi skills are common. Though the concepts are pretty foreign to a baby, they understand a lot more than you'd expect." "Hello? Anybody home?" Beverly Crusher called from the hallway. "In here," Duncan called back, opening the door. The petite red-haired doctor stepped into the room looking coolly efficient, her medical satchel slung over her shoulder. "So, this little girl's finally decided it's time to see daylight, has she?" "It seems so." Guinan acknowledged, smiling. "Well, all I can say is that it's about time! I wouldn't trade places with you for anything. At least she's not as big as she is old." "I'd never have made it to term if she were! Can you imagine?" They shared a moment of completely feminine sympathy, and then another contraction came. Guinan focused on it, riding the wave of sensation, and Beverly lifted her tricorder, scanning. Her eyebrows drew down; she adjusted the device, scanned again, and her mouth twitched in irritation. "Hmmm, that's odd. I'm getting some sort of interference. Maybe it's the computer. Let's go down to the birthing room and I'll see if it persists. If it does, I may have to get a more powerful tricorder. Has your water broken? How long have you been having contractions and what's the timing?" "My water broke about an hour ago. I've been having regular contractions for around three hours. They're about eight minutes apart now." Guinan saw a look of indignation flash over Duncan's face and chuckled. "Oh, settle down, you didn't need to know until it got to this point." "What do you mean I didn't need to know, damn it?" Bev patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. "She's right. You didn't need to know. You'd just have gotten all worked up for no good reason. First stage labor is just plain boring." Beverly took Guinan's arm and steadied her as she got up. Guinan wondered if she should mention the odd lassitude she'd been feeling, and decided not to. Being tired wasn't a medical condition. Duncan hovered close by on her other side as they walked to the erstwhile "birthing room." They'd decided to do a water birth, it being the most comfortable. Guinan was heavily prejudiced in favor of comfort. Beverly aimed her tricorder again, looking happier this time. "It's working here. It must have been the computer." She studied the readings and her eyebrows shot up. "Well, you certainly took your time about calling me, didn't you? You're already nearly at full dilation. This may not take long at all!" She looked around, suddenly, as if just realizing something. "Where's our other daddy?" "Methos took the kids to the village a couple of hours ago," Guinan told her. "He should be back soon." "He'd better be, or he'll miss out on all the fun!" "Should I call down to the com-station?" Duncan asked. "I'm sure someone would be happy to find him and tell him." "It wouldn't be a bad idea. You never can tell how a delivery will go, and this one seems to be proceeding apace." Duncan nodded and excused himself to go make his call. Beverly studied the readings again, and frowned. "There are some odd things going on here... but then, there have been some odd things going on all along, haven't there? For all I know, this is normal. Why don't we get this show on the road before you deliver that baby on the bare tile?" "Sounds like a plan to me." Guinan began to unfasten her tunic. It was funny how the same clothing she'd worn for years on the Enterprise had served her well as maternity clothing. She'd never realized how loose they'd been. Beverly busied herself with her satchel, laying out her equipment, then stripped down to a one-piece swimming suit that clung to her slim form like a second skin. Guinan eyed her sourly. "Oh, fine! Here I am, the beached whale, and you show up in *that*!" Beverly chuckled. "You know they won't be paying a bit of attention to me, so you've got nothing to worry about. Any way, what was I supposed to do, wear my street-clothes in the tub? Just consider this the latest in delivery gear." "If you say so." "I do." She ran her decontam unit over the tub, added the saline pack, and then started the water. "This is a really great bathroom." Guinan smiled, reminiscing. "Yes, it is." Beverly must have picked up on the tone in her voice, because she suddenly looked intrigued. "Oh, really? Do tell?" Guinan chuckled. "Well, suffice it to say it's an appropriate place for her to be born, since she was practically conceived here." Beverly giggled a little, and grinned. "You wild woman, you!" "That's me, a real feral..." she gasped as another contraction rolled through her, cutting off her words. For the first time she felt the need to breathe with it, felt the urge to push. Beverly was right, all of the sudden things seemed to be speeding up. As the contraction reached its height, a wave of dizziness swept through her, and she felt sudden fear. It took her a moment to realize it wasn't her own. She spread her hands over her abdomen and thought soothing thoughts. "It's all right, hon, I know it's scary, but it has to be this way. It'll be over soon, and you'll get to meet everyone." She sensed negation in the response to her own projection, and distinct reluctance. She smiled. "You can't change your mind, little one. Once you're on the way, there's no stopping it." "That's for sure," Bev's voice sounded oddly tight, and Guinan looked up, seeing concern in her friend's eyes. "What's wrong?" "I just tried to scan you while you were having that contraction, and got that damned interference again. And I don't like the readings I'm getting now." "What sort of readings?" "All your neural activity indicators are much lower than they were a few minutes ago. They're coming up again, slowly, but the drop was quite noticeable." "Well, that explains why I've been feeling tired." "Why didn't you mention that to me?" "It didn't seem important." Beverly sighed. "Please let me decide what's important, okay? You tell me everything. This is a bit worrisome." "Look, don't mention it to Duncan, okay?" Beverly eyed her narrowly for a moment, then slowly nodded. "I won't, for now, but I reserve the right to tell him if I think its necessary." Guinan nodded. "That's fair, but I don't think it will be." "Who's the doctor here? You, or me?" "You, but I'm just having a baby, not major surgery." "Yes, you're just having a baby... a baby with an entirely new genotype and we don't have a *clue* about any possible complications! I wish you'd let me do this delivery at the medical center. I don't like not having the proper facilities available!" "I don't like hospitals," Guinan said, knowing she was being stubborn, and not particularly caring. She just knew she wanted this baby born in the house, in a place where Duncan and Methos were safe. There was no holy ground in a medical center. Granted, it was highly unlikely that another Immortal would show up at this particularly inauspicious moment, but she didn't like taking chances. "What are you two arguing about?" Duncan asked, coming into the room. Guinan watched him glance at Bev and waited for the double-take. He didn't do it, instead he turned directly to face her. She almost smiled, realizing Bev had been right. He hadn't paid a bit of attention to her. For Duncan, that was nearly unheard of, and it made her feel a little better. Beverly took advantage of her silence to jump in and reply. "We were discussing her refusal to have this baby at the medical center where I have access to better equipment, instead of this home-birth boil-the-water- and-get-the-towels nonsense." Duncan looked from one to the other. "Um... is there a problem?" he asked, torn, wanting to support Guinan's decision yet obviously concerned Guinan shook her head. "No there is not. I am *not* going to the medical center and that's final." Beverly stared at Duncan. He looked at Guinan, then back to Beverly. "I'm sorry, but it's her decision." Beverly sighed. "All right, I'll see what I can do with stone knives and bearskins. Time to undress, big guy." Duncan raised an eyebrow, then grinned. "God, you're as pushy as she is!" "You better believe it," Beverly said, winking. "I'd better get to it, then," Duncan said, and left again to change into something he could wear in the tub. **** Duncan watched Beverly Crusher check the tricorder readings again and frown, clearly not liking what she saw. With every contraction Guinan grew noticeably weaker, and as the contractions got closer together she was less able to recover before the next one hit. He kept looking at the doctor questioningly, and felt a growing fear when she didn't reassure him. She seemed to make some sort of decision after checking the tricorder, and she put a hand on Guinan's arm. "Guinan, I need to talk to Duncan, will you be alright here for a minute by yourself?" Guinan nodded. "'Course I will. Go on, but don' tell him 'bout the icky parts, or he won' stay." Duncan was glad to hear her joking, but her slurred speech worried him a lot. "Not a word about the icky parts," Bev assured her as she stepped out of the tub and motioned for Duncan to accompany her. He followed her out into the hallway where they stood, dripping on the wooden floor, mindless of the possible damage. "Something's wrong," Duncan stated flatly as soon as the door was closed behind them. "Yes, there is," Beverly admitted, her voice tight with worry. "What?" "I don't know. Each time she has a contraction, something drains off more of her neural energy. It's starting to affect her motor responses and it's getting worse." "Which means?" Duncan prompted, though he suspected he knew what she was going to say. "Which means..." she took a deep breath. "If it continues at this rate, within an hour she won't be able to sustain autonomic functions." He felt momentarily dizzy, as if all the blood in his body were pooling around his heart in an icy shield. "She'll *die*?" "She *could*, if we don't do something about it, but I don't plan to let that happen." Duncan grabbed her arm, yanking her toward him. "Damn it! We asked you time and again! You said she was safe, that she wouldn't be endangered by bearing this child!" "I thought she would be! We all did! No lethal projections showed up on *any* of our simulations, and she's shown no problematic symptoms up to this point, nothing at all! She's been perfectly healthy, so has the baby, there was nothing to indicate any problem! We need to get her to someplace with more sophisticated equipment so I can figure out what the hell is going on!" Duncan didn't waste time arguing. At this point, Guinan's well-being was far more important than her desire to deliver the child at home. "I'll call in our coordinates and arrange for us to be transported immediately." "No, we can't do that! This interference I keep getting might disrupt the transporter's pattern buffers like it does my tricorder." He absorbed her words, and his jaw clenched in frustration, but he worked through it, and seconds later he nodded. "Right... the aerosled, then, I'll go get it." Beverly nodded. "That will do fine. I'll get her out of the tub and into some clothes." Duncan headed for the door, but before he reached it, it opened, and Methos stepped inside, grinning. "Hello you two! I'm told I'm needed here..." His voice trailed off as he took a good look at Duncan, and his smile faded. "Duncan?" He gazed past him and saw Beverly. "Dr. Crusher? What's wrong?" "She's dying, that's what's wrong," Duncan replied flatly. "We've killed her." Methos flinched as if Duncan had hit him. "What?" "I think we just found out why Immortals are always foundlings. It seems that something about Immortal physiology apparently kills the women who bear them." He reached for the door again, and Methos grabbed his arm. "How, damn it? What's going on?" Duncan was unable to find his voice, and Dr. Crusher spoke for him. "I'm sorry, Methos. I don't know what's causing it, but something is draining off her neural energy each time she has a contraction. There's also some sort of weird interference during contractions that renders my tricorder virtually useless. The two events may be related, =========================================================================