Jayne fired up the shuttle and took off, right into the heart of the storm. “Gorram it,” he muttered, looking ahead through the snow splattering the window, seeing flashes of lightning in the dark heart. “Don’t like the look of this.”

He banked the small vehicle and tried to go around, attempting to get some altitude, to at least climb over the worst part and get back out into space. Suddenly the craft was buffeted by a wind that seemed to come from nowhere, and he was fighting the artificial gravity as well.

“Jayne?” Freya called, hanging onto the strapping on the wall.

“Just … trying to …” His biceps bulged as he tried to physically manhandle the shuttle, then there was a bright flash and the controls went slack. “Nee ta ma duh tyen-shia suo-yo duh num doh gai si,” he ground out as he grabbed the com.

“That so doesn’t sound good,” Freya said, feeling the little ship begin to freefall, nausea making itself known.

“Serenity. We’re going down. Our position is …” He scanned the console but there was nothing. No life at all. And none of the curses available to him seemed to fit the situation. “Ain't got a clue. Serenity, you there?”

Hank pulled down the com. “Jayne? Say again. I didn’t quite get …” He thumbed the switch. “Jayne?” Still nothing. “Jayne!” Only static answered him.

“Hank?” Ma’s voice as he came up behind him. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” Hank admitted, trying everything to get back in contact with shuttle two. “I think I heard Jayne say they were going down, but that was it.”

“Going …” Mal gripped the back of the pilot’s chair, feeling his fingers sinking in. “Get them back on the com.”

“I'm trying, Mal!” Hank said harshly. “Nothing works.”

“A storm,” River said, having silently joined them. “They’ve been knocked down like flies.”

Mal shot her a hard look, then stared back out into space. “Hank …”

“Fast as we can, Mal.” ---

“Frey, you okay?” Jayne asked, hurrying through into the back of the shuttle, one hand clasped to his head where he’d banged it hard on the console. Blood was running down his face.

Freya was on the floor, her arms wrapped around her belly. “Oh, dandy,” she said as she panted through another contraction.

“I mean are ya hurt anywhere else?” He looked down at the pool of liquid beneath her.

She shook her head, then relaxed a little as the pain receded. “My waters broke. Did they hear you?” she asked.

Jayne shrugged. “Don’t know. Gonna have to wait and see.” He glanced back at the storm still raging outside the window, snow already building up. “Don’t even know if the beacon’s working after the hit we took, but I got it switched on anyway.”

“And if it isn’t?” She tried to get up and he reached down, gently lifting her back to sit on the bench.

“If they’re looking for us by sight, could take a while.”

Freya stared at him then nodded slowly. “In which case, you’re going to have to help.”

“Help?” He looked puzzled. “Help how?”

“The contractions are too close together, Jayne. Simon probably isn’t going to get here in time. You’re going to have to help deliver my son.”

He staggered back, collapsing onto the floor, and the look on his face was almost worth it. “Do what?”

“Believe me, Jayne, you’re actually the last person I’d have chosen as a midwife, but it don’t look like there’s another option.”

“Can’t you just … hold it?”

She gave him a look that so resembled one of River’s ‘boob’ looks he almost laughed. But that inclination vanished as she said, “You’re going to have to see how dilated I am.” ---

“Mal, we’ll find them, don’t worry,” Hank said, setting Serenity’s sensors to pick up the shuttle beacon. “It ain't that big a moon.”

“I knew I should never have let her talk me into this little side trip,” Mal said to himself. “Shoulda made her stay on board. Then she’d be …” He tried to swallow back the lump that had somehow gotten into his throat.

“She’s got hours yet,” Simon assured him. “I keep telling you –“

“And I'm telling you this is Freya we’re talking about!” Mal rounded on the young doctor. “She ain't like other women.” He took a step forward. “And with that scarring –“

Simon put his hands on the other man’s chest. “She’ll be fine. That was why I let her out of your bunk. This is a strong, healthy baby, with a strong, healthy mother. And we’ll get there.”

“And if she’s hurt? What then?”

“She’s not hurt,” River said quickly, coming between them and making Mal take a step back. “She’s in labour, but she’s not hurt.”

“You sure, albatross?”

“Positive.” She smiled at him. “You’ll be seeing your son soon enough.”

“Hope you’re right, girl,” Mal said, going back reluctantly to stand behind Hank, who was still trying to pick up the beacon. “Hope you’re right.”

River gently took Simon’s arm and pulled him outside the bridge.

“What is it, mei-mei?” he asked.

“She’s in labour,” his sister said.

“I know.”

“No, you don’t. She has been for hours, and we might not get there in time.”

“It’s advanced?” Simon glanced back towards Mal brooding tensely on the bridge.

“You can’t tell the captain,” River added quickly.

“Why not?”

“Because he’d realise who the midwife is going to have to be.” ---

“How what?” Jayne’s forehead creased and his brain shut down.

“To see if the baby’s head can come through yet,” Freya explained patiently.

“You mean …” His face screwed up in disgust.

“Yes, Jayne.” She smiled. “Come on, you’ve seen lots before.”

“Yeah, but not yours. And Mal’s gonna kill me.”

“I can’t do this myself,” Freya pointed out. She got laboriously to her feet and began to unbutton her soft trousers, kicking her boots across the shuttle.

Jayne took a step back. “What’re you doing?”

“Taking off my pants, Jayne. You can’t do it through them.”

“Why do I have to be doing it all?” he asked, a pleading note in his voice she’d not heard before.

“Because I need to know how long it’s likely to be.”

“Until …?”

“Until you play catch.” She let the soft fabric fall to her feet and Jayne caught sight of the tight, smooth skin stretched across her swollen abdomen.

“Aw, hell, Frey …”

She sighed. “Look, see if you can find some clean blankets. And some water.” ---

Mal stared out of the bridge window, only seeing the storm, the great mass of swirling cloud that covered half a continent.

“Tell me you got something,” he growled.

Hank, frantically using all his skill to try and find a needle in a haystack, shook his head. “It’s just too small,” he said. “And I ain't picking anything up on the beacon.”

“That’s my wife down there,” Mal said quietly, darkly.

“I know!” Hank took a breath. “Mal, I'm trying my best!”

Zoe put a hand on her captain’s arm, and he looked across at her. For a long moment there was tension on the bridge the likes they’d not felt before, then Mal nodded. “I know,” he murmured. “Just … find her.”

“We need to be in the eye,” River said calmly, pointing down. “If we can see we can find them.”

Hank looked over his shoulder at her. “It only gives us a narrow view, pumpkin,” he said gently.

”We’ll find them down there.” She pointed again. “We’re so close.”

Mal stared at her, then put his hand on his pilot’s shoulder. “Do it,” he ordered. ---

“God, Frey …”

“How many finger widths?”

“I don’t know,” he said unhappily. “It ain't something I do as a matter o’course.”

“You mean you’ve never –“

“Frey!”

“Jayne, please.”

“Five, I guess,” he finally said, withdrawing his hand quickly and wiping it on the blankets.

“Oh. It’ll be soon then.”

“Soon?”

“Jayne, you have to wash up. As clean as you can up to your elbows. And sterilise your knife if you can.”

“Why?” he asked suspiciously.

“To …” Her face took on an agonised look as another contraction pulsed through her. He could only watch until it passed. “To cut the cord,” she said finally.

“Oh, ruttin’ hell.” ---

“Simon …” River breathed.

“Close?” he asked quietly.

“Very.” ---

“Get ready, Jayne,” Freya said, her hair stuck to her head with sweat. She was exhausted, but she still had to keep him going. “I'm going to have to push, very soon.”

“Is that a good idea?” Jayne asked, in no better state himself.

“I don’t think I have a choice.”

As she spoke there was a noise like the storm coming back, and a downdraft caused the snow in the windows to blast away, rocking the small shuttle.

“It’s here!” Jayne said, getting to his feet excitedly. “It’s Serenity!”

“Run-tze duh fuo-tzoo,” Freya breathed, then began panting as another contraction took hold.

The ground vibrated as the Firefly landed, and thirty seconds later Jayne opened the hatch, allowing a blast of cold air and snow in, followed by Simon and Mal.

The doctor was by Freya immediately, and Mal went down on his knees, holding her against him.

“Honey?” he asked, wiping her face with his sleeve.

“You kept your promise,” she panted, smiling at him through the pain. “That you’d see your child born.”

“Of course I did,” Mal said, holding her hand, feeling the sheer determination of the woman against his chest to see this through. No matter that he’d seen Kaylee go through this, had it worse, but Freya was his wife, and this baby was his.

“Next one, Freya,” Simon ordered.

“Whatever you say, doc, whatever …” A massive contraction made her scream and she pushed.

Mal was appalled. Was this the result of all their love? Hurting Freya like this? What he’d done to her?

She lifted her face, red as it was with her efforts, and smiled at him. Actually smiled at him, comforting him.

“That’s it,” Simon said, supporting the baby’s head and rotating the shoulders. “Keep pushing.”

Suddenly, with a gush of liquid, he had their child in his hands.

Mal looked up. “Is it …”

There was a small wail.

“Your son is fine,” Simon said.

“My son?” Mal went pale. He’d known it was a boy for months, but to be told he was a father … like this … “Are you sure?”

“See for yourself.” Simon gently laid the baby on Freya’s belly.

She reached out, almost afraid, and carefully laid her hand on her son’s head. “Hi there,” she said softly. “I'm your momma.”

Mal could hardly see for the tears in his eyes, but put his hand on hers, feeling his son’s hair through her fingers. “God, Frey …” he managed to say around the lump of raw, emotional love in his throat.

“Hello, Ethan,” Freya said.

“What?” he asked, looking at her.

“You said … Ethan, for your father.” She glanced into his eyes before going back to her son.

“No, I mean …” He looked at Simon. He had never … although he’d thought privately …

The doctor shook his head. It didn’t matter. Not now. “Do you want to cut the cord?” he asked.

Mal swallowed. “Um … what do I …”

Simon handed him a pair of surgical scissors. “Just cut there.”

Mal did as he was told, and Ethan was a separate person.

“We need to get you back to Serenity,” Simon said purposefully, all back to being a doctor. He looked at the mercenary standing at the doorway, an odd look on his face. “Find as many blankets as you can. It’s going to be cold out there.”

Jayne looked at him. “Got them right there.” He pointed to a pile.

“Good,” Simon said approvingly.

Freya grunted, a look of pain crossing her face. Mal was immediately scared. “Frey?”

“It’s alright,” Simon assured him. “It’s just the placenta. It has to be delivered.”

Mal uttered a short laugh of relief. “Kinda wondered if it was twins.”

“I wouldn’t have minded,” Freya said. “Although carrying two …” She smiled through the pain.

“Okay, all done,” Simon said at last. “Jayne, get the blankets and wrap Freya in them. Mal … you’d better carry your son.”

“Carry …” Mal shook himself. He was captain of Serenity. He should be able to control himself better than this. “Absolutely, doctor,” he said quickly. Reaching forward he lifted Ethan into his arms, wrapping one of the clean towels they’d brought around him, then a blanket. “That’s it, little feller,” he whispered. “Soon have you safe home.”

Jayne picked Freya up, his muscles holding her easily despite her bulk. She looked back over his shoulder. “Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?” she asked, tears in her eyes.

Jayne turned, and almost choked himself. He’d never seen the captain so centred, so emotional as this. Just a man, standing with his first born son in his arms, gazing down into his child’s face. “Yeah. It’s good,” Jayne agreed. Freya didn’t answer. He looked down. “Doc!” he shouted.

Simon was at his side immediately, checking Freya’s vitals. “She’s unconscious,” he muttered. “We have to –“

“Doc.” This time Jayne was quiet, very still. “I think she’s bleeding.”

“Frey?” Mal said, coming close.

“Jayne, hurry.” Simon led the way out of the shuttle, through the snow and back to Serenity. ------------

Author’s Note:

Okay, for those of you who don’t like the angst, just skip forward to the end of the concluding chapter. For those of you who like a little bite with their fluff, read on …

to be concluded