After The End

Baby

Clem had made her decision to force her delivery and while they didn't agree with or like the idea, Sam and Mitch went along with it. I had mixed a solution to help to speed up the contractions and get ready to give it to Clem. "What is that?" Mitch asked.

"It will speed up her contractions."

Clem holds up her arm, "hurry, this doesn't feel right."

I give Clem the shot and place the needle back on one of the far tables. "Now comes that hard part," Clem shouts out in pain. By this time, I have pushed myself as far as I can and need to take a quick break.

I look up to Mitch, "Go get Abe, hurry."

Clem looks over to me, terrified, "Kat. you can't leave. You can't."

I shake my head, "Clem, I'm gonna be right here. I promise. I will be right back." I look over to Sam, "Take care of her until I get back."

I get up and head into the stairwell again, where Jackson is still sitting on the stairs, "Kat. You should be with Clem. What are you doing in here?"

"Keeping you from giving up."

"There's a difference between giving up and running out of time."

"As far as I know the clocks still ticking. I know you have the information from the dead man switch."

"I've looked at it for hours."

I nod, "As Jackson."

"Uh.." Jackson looks over to me confused, "Yeah."

"All I've heard over the past month is how much you're like you're father and sister. Maybe it's time you use that to your advantage. Don't look at the code as Jackson. Try looking at it like an Oz. Your sister learned a lot from your father and so did you."

Jackson nods, "follow those ants." he chuckles, "My dad uses to tell these terrible jokes when he was working and there was this one, that he used to say." Jackson laughs, "What does the aardvark say to the taxi driver? Follow those ants." Jackson looks up from the computer in his lap to me, "I think I just found a way to Abigail's beacon operating system."

"Can you reprogram them, or shut them down?"

"I'm not sure that this computer can handle this software." The computer begins to crackle, "whoa."

"What's happening?" The computer stops and the dead man's switch starts flashing again.

"The dead man's switch is okay, but the software is insane. We need a much larger processor. We need a bigger computer."

"The IADG has a super processor that should work, right? We need to get that switch to Dariela and Logan as soon as possible."

Jackson nods, "Dariela's team should be here in an hour, the problem is we don't have an hour. We have fifteen minutes."

I sigh, "I need to get back to Clem, I told her I'd be right back." I hurry back into the lab as quickly as I can. When I get there it looks like Abe as everything ready to go. "Clem?"

"Kat!" Clem calls to me as I pass by her.

"It's okay, I'm right here. I promise you're gonna be fine." once I get down to the edge of the bed I look to Sam and Mitch, who are on either side of Clem holding her hands, "okay, Clem. Are you ready?" Clem nods, "Alright, sweetie, push." Clem strains as she pushes, "okay, breathe. breathe." Clem takes a few more breathes, "Okay, push."

Clem shakes her head, "No, I can't."

Mitch takes a deep breath and speaks to Clem softly, "You are doing this. Right now." It's odd to think that when I first met Mitch I questioned if he was really a father or not. But now, not only is he one of the best fathers that I had ever met, he was someone I considered to be a father figure. Even though he may not always have the best timing or temper, he always comes through in the end.

I look over to Clem, "One more big push, sweetie, come on." Clem strains and screams in pain, as she does the little one comes out, "He's here. He's here." I gesture for Sam to come over to me when he does, I let him cut the cord and the baby starts crying. I pick the baby up and hand him to Clem. Clem smiles brightly and begins to cry. As Clem and Sam smile down at the baby the air starts whirring.

I guess Max's plan worked. After a few minutes, I take the baby back and clean and wrap him up, before handing him to Mitch. Mitch smiles down at the little one, "Hey, welcome to the world, little guy. It's a little messed up right now. But it's gonna get a whole lot better, now that you're here."

I look over to Mitch and sigh, "The auxiliary power's on. Max did it. And the clot passed."

"Thank God." Mitch looks down at the little one again, "Come on, let's get you back to mama."

"Hi." Clem bounces the little one in her arms, "Thanks, Dad. Couldn't have done it without you." Clem looks over to Abe, "Can you test him? For the CLM protein, see if your theory works."

Abe nods, "Sure."

I walk over to Clem and look at the little one over her shoulder, "We're gonna see if you can save the world."

Abe walks over to the little one and pokes his foot, of course, he starts crying again. Clem calms his back down, "Good job, you're so brave."

I hear what sounds like someone coming down the stairs and turn to see Jackson, "it's a boy."

Jackson smiles and wraps an arm around me as he looks down at the little one, "He's perfect."

Clem looks around to the group, "where's Grandpa?"

I look over to Mitch, "he should be back by now."

Mitch nods, "I'll go look for him."

Sam kisses the little one on the forehead, before hugging Clem. Jackson hugs me tightly as well, as we celebrate the baby. Jackson kisses me softly, "looks like that training never goes away does it?"

"I told you, I am an overqualified nurse." I smile, "But since the power's back up we need to get a hold of Dariela."

Jackson nods and heads off into the computer lab area of the lab. I stay for a moment longer with Clem before going with Jackson, when I get there Jackson already has Dariela on the phone and the system fired up, "Spores are down. All clear, that's your window."

I smile and walk up behind Jackson kissing him on the cheek, "Time to save the world, genius."

Jackson shakes his head, "You already did that when you delivered Clem's baby."

I shake my head, "No, that was all Clem. I just caught him." As I look up I see Mitch carrying Max into the lab. "Jackson..."

Jackson looks up and sees them as well and the two of us head back to the others, seeing Mitch hand Max the baby. "Say hello to your great-grandson."

When I get a better look at Max, it is clear he doesn't have long left. The color is gone from his skin, he looks weak and drained. But he holds the little one and smiles down at him, lovingly. After a few moments, Max's head falls back and the life fades from his eyes. I walk over and take pick up the little one, tears rolling down my cheeks, but it's nothing compared to those coming from Mitch and Clem. Clem is snuggled up into Sam's chest and Mitch has turned his back. I look over to Abe, "I'll watch him for a little while."

Abe nods but doesn't say anything. I turn and see that Jackson is back in the computer lab, so I walk back in with the baby. Jackson turns to me, "You know, I thought that when I saw you like this I thought you'd be holding our baby."

I chuckle and smiles, bouncing the little one, "maybe some day. Thanks to this little guy."