A/N: Here is the third and final installment and the sequel to A NEW BEGINNING.

Timeframe: Takes place 3 months later. The crew has found a semi-permanent home on Harvest and everyone is doing their best to adjust.

Kaylee weathers her latest pregnancy while River continues to puruse her greatest desire. Simon worries over his wife and Rylee's abilities seem to hint at something dire.

Many thanks to Leiasky for the beta and continued support.

To my readers: Thanks for sticking with me on this epic journey. Here we go - please leave feedback and let me know what you think!

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A NEW DAY, ch. 1: Double Trouble

***

Kaylee threw up again, the fifth time that morning if her counting abilities could be trusted, and then, with a heavy sigh and a few tears, she sank back on her heels, her head hanging.

It wasn’t fair – she was certain of that. She had been pregnant twice before and while each time she’d had bouts of morning sickness it had always dissipated after her first three months. But not this time; now in her sixth, close to seventh month, she was still waking every day with nausea and often could not keep more than a few bites of food down. And she was tired of it.

With another heavy sigh, Kaylee bit back a rush of tears as her stomach again churned violently. It was early, really early and she had managed to get out of bed without waking Simon, but now she wished she had. He had been wonderfully supportive, taking on more than his fair share of parenting duties as she had been down and out over the past six and a half months, but she was so worn out, so exhausted that she wished there was something more he could do for her. As selfish as it was, it was the truth.

Sitting back a bit more, Kaylee rubbed her belly lightly and felt one and then another sharp kick to her side. Gasping a bit at the ferocity, Kaylee figured that her little ones weren’t any happier at being awakened at all hours than she was.

“Kaylee?”

The light knock and soft voice could only belong to Simon, but Kaylee was not quite able to move at the moment, or speak, as she gagged and retched again. Panting a bit, by the time she was certain she was done, Simon was kneeling down beside her, rubbing gentle circles on her back and pulling her hair away from her face.

Turning a watery and weary look to him, Kaylee saw his own concern for her reflected in his eyes. “Oh, bao bei,” he murmured, leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. Kaylee closed her eyes at the simple touch, and then felt more tears come that she could not stop. Noting her desperate look, Simon quickly picked her up, being sure not to jostle her too terribly and brought her back to bed.

With a heavy sigh, Kaylee rolled over onto her left side, as it seemed to be the only side that she could find any comfort on, and felt the bed shift as Simon got in and gently, tenderly scooted towards her, placing a light arm across her expanding belly and nestling his face into her shoulder. In a few moments he felt her breathing even out, and with a small sigh, Simon propped himself back up on one elbow to gaze down at her.

She was still beautiful, always had been, always would be. But the glow he had seen surround her during her pregnancy with Rylee had been missing this time around, replaced instead by a weariness and fatigue he had never seen her exhibit before. And Simon felt terrible.

She could barely eat, barely spend more than a few hours of the day out of bed and she barely had any energy to spend with Daniel or Rylee and Simon could not help thinking that it was all his fault. He knew, or at least, the doctor side of him knew, that they never could have guessed how difficult this pregnancy would be on Kaylee. They never could have predicted that she would be carrying twins, or that he would be shot and almost killed in her first trimester, causing untold amounts of stress to her changing body – but that didn’t stop Simon, the husband, from blaming himself.

He had tried to apologize to Kaylee, especially in the past few months as she had moved from her first to second trimester and things had not gotten any better. But she would always smile at him, resting a hand against his cheek or kissing him lightly and tell him that it wasn’t his fault – that women had been havin’ babies since the start of the ‘verse and they all had survived just fine, just like she would.

But Simon was not so convinced. There was more to Kaylee’s symptoms than simple morning sickness, he knew that. He had been doing a lot of reading in the past few months, trying to prepare himself for the challenge of bringing two new babies into the world at once. He had even ordered special equipment, grateful for the money his mother had turned over to him as those funds had been the only way he could afford it. So now, in Millie’s clinic, there were two incubators, an oxygen hood and infant sized ventilators and tools, in case they should be needed.

Of course, if they were Simon was petrified about his inexperience in using them. Sighing a bit, he pushed those doubts away and again gazed down at Kaylee’s sleeping face. Praying that tomorrow would be better, but knowing from experience it probably wouldn’t, he leaned down and kissed her lightly before lying back beside her and finally falling into a restful sleep.

***

“I don’t want any more babies.”

Daniel looked up from his breakfast and regarded his sister’s pouting face. She was upset again, that much was plain and with a sigh, Daniel set down his spoon and asked, “Why not?”

“Because, they’re making mama sick,” she told him, her lower lip jutting out even farther as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at her lap. It was early and Daniel and Rylee had both awoken at the same time, sneaking down to the kitchen so they could eat the really good cereal that their parents thought they had hid, but that their grandparents left within easy reach.

Daniel watched as Rylee’s eyes, at first angry and determined flashed with a bit of pain and filled with tears. She had been growing increasingly resistant to the idea of being a big sister over the past couple of months. At first Daniel had thought she just didn’t want to share; he was fairly certain that had he been older than a year when she’d been born, he would have had much the same reaction. But now, as her attitude persisted and grew worse, Daniel was beginning to wonder if she might not be onto something.

Their mother had been awfully sick and that was not like her. In his five years, Daniel had only known her to stay in bed for one whole day and that had been due to a terrible fever and because his dad had made her. But now, she was sleeping more than she was awake and while their father did not seem overly concerned, putting his mind to rest, Daniel knew that dismissing his sister’s intuition, especially knowing that she was a reader, was probably not the smartest thing for any of them to do.

“Do you know something, Ry?” He asked her quietly, dropping his voice to a whisper.

She raised her big, watery eyes to meet his face and shook her head quickly. “No, I just don’t want them,” she told him fiercely, and with that, she pushed herself away from the table, and bolted out the back door, heading outside in the early morning light. Daniel watched her go, wondering if he should follow her. Figuring that she’d left to be alone, he shrugged a bit and went back to his cereal. And with a grin, he pulled his sister’s half-eaten bowl towards him as well.

***

Inara was holding her baby, a smile on her lips and song in her voice as she rocked the tiny babe to and fro. Her heart was so full of love for the little one before her that she had a hard time recognizing all of it for the dream it was. With a contented sigh, she nuzzled her nose to her new baby’s soft cheek, but when she pulled away to gaze into those bright blue eyes that reminded her of Mal, she was confronted with empty arms and an even more hollow heart.

Looking around frantically, she felt her tears come quickly, as the dark room closed in around her. Searching for her child, she clawed at the black walls, trying to find her baby – and waking with a start.

Panting a bit from the intensity of the dream, Inara looked over to her side and saw Mal’s sleeping form. Biting back an audible sob, Inara rolled onto her side and buried her face in her pillow, crying silent tears as she again grieved for her loss.

It had been almost four months now since the accident, since she’d lost their baby and while Inara wanted to let it go and move on, she couldn’t, and it was killing her.

With a start, she jumped slightly as she felt Mal’s arms come around her and pull her towards him. Rolling her over to face him, she did not even try to hide her pain from her husband; he had become much more adept at unmasking her disguises anyway – the extra work only served to tire her.

Pressing a kiss to her lips and her forehead, Mal brought her close, and she buried her head against his bare chest, inhaling his comforting scent and trying to find warmth in his embrace. He had been undeniably wonderful to her over the past months, trying with everything he had to be patient and understanding, even as he himself continued to grieve. Of course, it helped that he had work to do.

His first job with Willis and his contact Chen had gone well, very well, and so now he, Zoe, Jayne and River were off planet at least five days every week, transporting more goods to the rim planets in system. It was steady, legal work that kept him close to home and brought in some coin. They had discussed leaving a few times since Simon and Kaylee had gotten back and shared their desire to settle, stating they would choose a planet once the twins came, but Marie and Walt had told them numerous times they were welcome to stay as long as they wanted and Mimi was happy here. Besides, as long as Mal felt he was contributing to his family, earning enough money to repay their hosts, he was just fine with staying put.

Inara was glad that she’d had this nightmare when he’d been home. The truth was, she’d had it at least a half a dozen times in the past four months, but this was the first time he’d ever been here to hold her when she’d awoken and she was grateful.

When she had finally managed to control her sobs, she whispered, “I’m sorry, Mal.”

Looking down to her with a confused expression, he kissed her again gently and asked, “Sorry for what?”

“For this,” she told him, indicating her tear-stained cheeks. “I want to be over it, I do, I want to move on, but I …” She couldn’t finish the statement as more tears came, and Mal just held her tighter.

“And you will, darlin’, you will,” he assured her, pressing a kiss into her soft curls.

“How do you know?” she asked him brokenly, wrapping her arms around him and holding tight.

“’Cause I know you, and there ain’t nothin’ in this ‘verse you can’t do,” he told her firmly, believing every word.

With a slight lilt to her tone, she asked him quietly, “Did you just call me stubborn, Malcolm Reynolds?”

Pulling back to get a good look at her face, Mal felt his heart grow just a bit lighter as he recognized the twinkle in her eye. “Me?” he asked her casually, a look of mock indignation on his face. “Nah,” he said, again holding her to him. “You must be dreamin’.”

Swallowing back a few more tears, Inara nestled into him, deciding that if she was going to dream, she would rather do it in his arms.

***

River awoke to a long, slow kiss that caused her entire body to tingle. With arms stretching up and around Jayne’s neck, she pulled him tighter, smiling against his mouth as he continued to kiss her soundly. When they finally had to part for air, Jayne wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to his chest as he flopped back down on the bed with a sigh.

Smiling at him, River propped her chin up on his shoulder and said sleepily, “Well, good morning to you too.”

Chuckling a bit, the warm sound vibrating from his chest and into River’s, he brought his face back to hers and kissed her again. “Good mornin’,” he whispered, stroking her cheek with his hand before lying back on his pillows.

Sighing, River cuddled into him and took a deep breath. Things had been so much better in the past few months. Since they had started taking jobs again with Mal, Jayne had once again felt useful, making him so much happier and River was glad to see it. She wanted him to be happy and she knew that the months prior to all of this, with Simon’s injury and the miscarriage had been particularly taxing for him. Jayne, like most men, was a fixer and none of what had transpired in those horrible months had been within his control to repair. But these jobs, they were and the satisfaction he felt at hard, honest work made him relaxed in a way River had rarely seen before.

Of course, it also helped that she had stopped mentioning the antidote. For weeks after her blow-up with Simon it had been all she could talk about, the only thing for her to focus on. But, as she had scoured the cortex for any information and come up empty-handed search after search, she had slowly let the idea go, knowing that she would have to wait and watch and plan if it was ever going to come to pass.

She was not giving up, it wasn’t in her genetic material to give up, but she was biding her time. Her mind churned day and night with new ideas, new avenues to explore, plans to implement. She knew that if she waited, if she played all of her cards just right, one day she would again be pregnant with Jayne’s child and instead of suffering a horrendous loss, she would bring that baby into the ‘verse and she would love that child with everything she had.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Jayne’s husky voice pulled her from these thoughts, and with another wicked grin, she looked back to him and wiggling her eyebrows told him demurely, “Nothin’.”

Knowing that look, Jayne cradled her head in both his hands and brought their faces together. “It don’t look like nothin’,” he murmured, his breath hot against her cheek.

Smiling even wider, River kissed him, passionately, and soon she and Jayne were driven only by their want and desire for each other.

***

Kaylee awoke the next morning actually feeling a bit like her old self and she let out a sigh of relief. Staring out the open window, she saw that the sun had risen and assuming that Simon was already up for the day, she started to slowly work her way out of bed. But she stopped as soon as she heard the door open behind her.

Turning at the sound with a quizzical expression her eyes immediately filled with tears at the sight she saw before her. Standing in the doorway with a tray laden with food, including strawberries, was Simon, Rylee on one side and Daniel on the other. “We made you breakfast,” Daniel said proudly, looking up to his dad with a big smile on his face.

“I squeezed th’oranges,” Rylee told her, walking around to her side of the bed, and presenting her mother with a hand drawn picture. Leaning forward to kiss her daughter soundly on the cheek, Kaylee looked at the paper in her hand having to blink several times to clear her tears and the blurriness there.

As she gazed at the drawing, she had to giggle as she noticed that the forms who could only be Daniel, Simon and Rylee were standing, while Kaylee was lying in a bed, outside, with a very large circle around her middle. Looking back over her shoulder to her husband, she indicated the drawing and asked, “You seen this?”

Grinning sheepishly, Simon moved towards her, Daniel beating him to the bed and crawling up on it towards his mother. Kissing his wife lightly, he murmured, “I tried to convince her to redraw it, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”

Grinning again, Kaylee kissed him back and then said, “Nah, it’s shiny.” Looking back to Rylee, Kaylee leaned down and picked the girl up, hugging her tight even as her abdomen protested the extra weight. “I guess that is pretty much what I’ve been like, huh?” she asked her daughter, brushing the girl’s brown bangs from her eyes.

With wide eyes, Rylee nodded and then scooted off of Kaylee’s lap to sit beside her brother, while Simon moved in closer to his wife. At the sight of all the food he’d prepared Kaylee felt her stomach churn again. Noting her sudden paleness, Simon placed his hand to her forehead, and asked, “You all right?”

Smiling at him through her nausea, she pointed to the tray and told him, “That’s a lot o’ food for a lady who’s been throwing it all up lately.”

At her admission, both children looked to each other and said, “Ewww,” in unison, causing their father to chase them from the room. As soon as they had both deposited kisses to Kaylee’s cheeks and said “I love you,” they were out the door, Simon closing it behind them.

Returning to Kaylee’s side, he noticed as she pressed her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose, and took a few deep, shaky breaths. “Kaylee,” he asked quietly, edging closer to her. Resting his hand on her shoulder, he asked, “What is it?”

Trying to smile, but unable to, Kaylee kept her eyes closed for a moment more as she answered him. “Just a headache,” she said quietly. Counting to ten, she finally reopened her eyes and tried to bring him into focus. Blinking rapidly, she was unable to do so, and Kaylee felt her heart race a bit at her inability to see clearly.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Simon assured her, getting even closer and pulling her against him. Cradling her head to his chest, he ran a light hand through her hair and tried to again stymie his guilt. “You probably just need to eat something.”

Pulling back to look at him, Kaylee shook her head a bit. “I’m just gonna throw it up,” she told him miserably.

“Please?” Simon asked, his eyes begging her to heed him. “For me? Just a few bites, I promise.”

Reluctantly, Kaylee nodded and reached out a shaky hand for one of the strawberries he’d brought. Smiling at her knowingly, he murmured, “How’d I know that’s what you’d go for?”

Smirking back at him, Kaylee took a few bites, grateful when her body didn’t immediately reject her favorite fruit. Sitting back against her pillows, she allowed her other hand to come down and cradle her belly. He watched her for a moment, so glad that she was actually eating and enjoying her food. As the seconds passed, he finally stood, and pressed a kiss to her hair. “I want you to stay in bed today,” he told her. “All day.”

Looking up to him, Kaylee pouted as she said, “Aw, honey, mom and I was gonna start plannin’ for Ry’s birthday today.”

Simon nodded and squeezed her hand lightly before heading to leave the room. “I’ll send her up, all right? You just take it easy today.”

As he reached for the door, Kaylee’s voice stopped him, “Simon, the babies is all right, ain’t they?”

Turning back to her, Simon widened his fake smile and told her, “Of course they are, I just want to be sure you’re going to be all right too.” She smiled at him, even as her eyes again grew heavy with sleep. “I love you,” he told her quietly, watching as she started to drift off.

Sinking back down into the bed, she murmured back, “Love you,” before her eyes closed and she was again on her way to a dreamless sleep.

Taking a deep breath, Simon left the room and headed with a hurried step towards Millie’s. He didn’t want to be right, but if he was, then he had just told his wife an outright lie – and that did not sit well with him.

***

Simon found Millie enjoying breakfast with Zoe, Ellie and some of her kids. With a grimace he tried to hide, he entered the kitchen and was greeted by a chorus of “Hellos” and “Good mornings,” and even a few hugs as Ellie jumped down off her seat along with Cadie and rushed towards him.

“Good morning,” he replied, hugging both little girls and giving them quick kisses into their hair. Catching Zoe’s curious gaze over the tops of their heads, she seemed to read something in Simon’s eyes and quickly moved forward.

“All right, girls, now leave the doc alone,” she chided, pulling Ellie back towards her seat. Ellie gripped Cadie’s shoulder, intent on dragging her with her, but Cadie had kept her eyes locked on Simon’s face as his gaze had drifted from Zoe to Millie and she refused to move.

Realizing he was being stared at, he looked down to Cadie and saw the concern in her big, brown eyes. Patting his hand gently, she whispered, “It’ll be okay,” and then wandered back to the table, climbing into her chair to finish eating.

With a look to Zoe and then another to Simon, Millie rose and followed the young man as he headed back out to her porch. Simon didn’t want to alarm the children, but he needed to fill Millie in on as much as possible. Once they were safely outside, the older woman crossed her arms over her chest and told him, “All right, boy, speak your mind.”

Simon smiled slightly at her and trying to quell his rising concern began to recount Kaylee’s symptoms: the persistent nausea and vomiting, headaches, blurry vision, and weight loss. Turning to Millie as he ran through the list, he told her, “She hasn’t gained enough weight for carrying twins, and she can hardly keep anything down. Plus her fatigue …” Simon’s voice trailed off as his guilt once again overwhelmed him. His beautiful wife had been suffering for over six months, and Simon, famed doctor, was unable to ease her pain – and he was part of the cause in the first place.

Millie had given him her full attention as he spoke, listening to what he was saying and reading his body language for all he wasn’t. She watched now as his shoulders hunched forward and his eyes clouded over. It was true, Kaylee was not having the easiest time, but Millie could tell that the man before her now wasn’t either. He was tired, exhausted, more than likely from worry than just about anything else. Not that he didn’t have a reason to be.

Waiting a moment for Simon to collect himself, she asked quietly, “You got any theories?”

Nodding once, Simon still would not meet her gaze as he said, “A few, neither of them good.” Taking a deep breath, he finally turned to regard her, leaning against the porch and crossing his arms over his chest. “I think Kaylee’s suffering from a severe case of morning sickness called Hyperemesis Gravidarum.”

That was a fancy term Millie did not know, and she told him as much. Explaining, Simon said, “It’s basically all the symptoms Kaylee’s been going through.”

“What’s the danger?” she asked him, gauging the severity of his diagnosis by the way his eyes again clouded with fear.

“Her health, in general,” he told her quickly, his brain having already memorized the list of possible complications. “She can barely keep any food down and she’s been losing weight. She’s throwing up at least three to five times a night. She’s just miserable.”

Millie grinned at his assessment, knowing, after having visited with Kaylee at least once a week during her pregnancy how annoyed the girl was at being so sick. Taking a deep breath, she asked him, “What do you wanna do?”

Simon sighed heavily again and closed his eyes tight, trying to fight back his initial response. He knew what he wanted to do, but he knew Kaylee would never go for it, even if it would be better for her and the babies, and although he wanted to force her, he knew that wouldn’t be fair. Looking to Millie again, he saw the compassion in her gaze and smiled. Reaching out a hand to her arm, he squeezed gently, and told her, “I really appreciate all you’ve done, for me and for Kaylee.”

Shrugging at his compliment, she told him, “I ain’t the fancy doc. I’m just followin’ your lead.”

Shaking his head slightly, Simon rebutted, “That’s not true. You know more about pregnant women and birthing than I could ever hope to learn and it has put my mind at ease knowing that Kaylee is in such good hands.”

Catching on, Millie cocked an eyebrow at him and prompted, “But?”

“But,” Simon said slowly, wishing he could think of something else. “I don’t like this new complication and I fear for Kaylee’s safety and the twins. If she really is early and goes into preterm labor too soon, even the new equipment I bought won’t necessarily be a guarantee that either baby will survive.” Letting out one more big breath, he told her quietly, “I’d really feel a lot better if she’d go to a Core world to have the twins.”

Nodding once, Millie told him, “Well, that might be for the best. Can your ma help?”

Simon looked to her with a hopeful gaze and said, “Yes, I think so. She loves Kaylee very much and if I asked, I think she would take her in, make sure she was healthy and well. Be sure that the babies were delivered in the best hospital with the best specialists.”

With a quizzical gaze, Millie thought over his statements, and realized that he seemed to be using the singular a lot. “But you’ll be there too,” she reminded him. “Won’t you feel better, bein’ able to talk to her doctors, get her monitored?”

Simon could not face his friend as he again sighed. Allowing his eyes to drift to his feet he explained quietly, “If Kaylee goes to the Core, I can’t follow. It’d be too dangerous for me. There’s still a price on my head. And if they discovered that Kaylee is my wife, having my children, they’d use her to get to me – and to River.”

In a second Millie completely understood Simon’s trepidation. Taking a step closer to him, she said quietly, “Simon, you know I love you and I love Kaylee.” He glanced to her at this statement, his eyes belying his confusion at the admission. “But son, if’n you ask Kaylee to leave you now, when she’s near seven months pregnant with your babies, to go through the rest of this alone, I’ll near kill you myself.”

Simon’s eyes widened at the threat, knowing that Millie didn’t mean it, but also knowing it was her way of impressing upon him just how idiotic his idea was. Part of him knew she was right; Kaylee had already had to shoulder an entire pregnancy and birth by herself years ago, when she’d had Daniel, and he knew that had been unbelievably hard on her. He knew that asking this of her now, leaving her now was not the husbandly thing to do, but as her doctor, he also knew that if her condition got worse, he could easily lose her, one of the babies, both of them or all three of them, and that was a risk he could not take.

Shaking his head, Simon’s stubbornness got the better of him as he said, “It doesn’t matter, Millie. I can’t sit by and watch her suffer, I’ve done that enough as it is.” Standing to his full height, he resigned himself to the fact that Kaylee would have to go to his mother and have these babies surrounded by the latest technology with the best specialists if he was going to be assured of her safety. “She has to go.”

And with that he strode off the porch and back towards his in-laws, not giving Millie the chance to voice the protest she had ready. Sighing heavily as she watched the young father’s form grow smaller, Millie did not envy his situation or the coming confrontation with his very pregnant, very distraught and very temperamental wife.

***

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