A New World

By Wesa

Series: War of the Worlds, The Equalizer, and The X-Files. Guest appearances in future parts from characters from Due South, The Man from UNCLE, and The Pretender; perhaps from others as the whim takes me.

Standard disclaimers apply. All characters belong to their various creators and the powers that be. Some of these characters belong to Chris Carter, Fox, and 10-13 Productions. I've just invited them over to play for a while, and I promise to send them home when the party's over. Others belong to Universal or Paramount, but it doesn't look like anyone is playing with them at the moment, so I'm going to let them stay as long as they want. Littlehawk belongs to Jan Harley. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jan, for your wonderful story. I hope you don't mind if he comes over to help chaperone the party; of course, he can come home whenever you need him. Tierney, Lainie, and Kira are mine; they live here.

Constructive criticism is welcomed.

By Wesa.

Debi fetched water and set it to boil on the fire, then joined Sydney and Lainie where they were walking Kira around the village to ease her contractions. Ginger and Trudy offered encouragement while they looked after their own babies and the toddlers in the playpen.

"I can't, I can't," Kira sobbed as Paul entered the village. He went straight to her, taking her into his arms. "Have to lie down. I have to lie down," she told him urgently.

"No!" Sydney warned him. "Once she gets down, we'll never get her back up. Walking really does help, Paul. Make her keep walking."

So he walked her, his arms around her under her breasts, letting her feet ride on top of his as he moved around the village.

"I can't walk any more," Kira insisted. "There's something ... It's pressing..." Kira couldn't explain to them that she was being split apart from inside, that she could no longer walk because her legs weren't close enough together. She tried to tell them, but was seized by another contraction, which made both speech and walking impossible. Her breath left her lungs in a rush, and she lifted her knees, giving Paul the option of letting her squat or holding up her entire weight.

"No, Kira," Paul urged her. "Stand up, sweetheart. C'mon, please."

"Can't!" Kira gasped almost angrily. "Got to - Got to - Ahh'uhnnng!"

"No!" Sydney shouted. "No, Kira, don't push! Don't push! Breathe! Control your breathing!"

"Have to - Have to - Uhng! Uh!" Kira sobbed twice, then managed to start breathing properly.

"Bring her over here, Paul," Sydney said, and she and Lainie led them over to the oldest hides Debi had been able to find in their teepee, which she had spread out on the grass nearby.

When Paul had lowered Kira onto the hides, Sydney knelt at her feet, glancing up at Lainie nervously. "Kira, hear me," she said. "Dana isn't here, so you're going to have to make do with me. I'm going to examine you. Whatever you do, don't push. I want to see where the baby is. Okay?"

Kira nodded, her face frightened.

"Hold her hands, Paul," Sydney instructed. "She needs the contact. Oh, damn, another contraction. Don't push, Kira. Breathe!"

Paul watched, worried and helpless as Sydney spread Kira's thighs and checked inside the birth canal with her hands. The expression of surprise in her eyes alarmed him. "What? What is it?" he asked anxiously.

Sydney ignored him. "Lainie, put your knife in the fire for a couple of minutes. I want the blade sterilized. Debi, how warm is that water? It doesn't have to be boiling; we'll need it for the bath. It's no wonder you couldn't walk, Kira. He's close." She looked around. "Lainie, is that blade hot yet? I need it."

Lainie put the knife in her hand, and Sydney took it carefully. "I wish Dana was here," she muttered. She took a steadying breath as Kira's contraction ended. "Kira, this is going to hurt, but less than if you should tear."

Kira nodded. "I know," she gasped. "Do it."

Sydney sliced the tender flesh swiftly, saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Kira sobbed softly while Paul protested, "What'd you do that for?"

Sydney ignored him, handing the knife back to Lainie. "Sterilize it again," she said. "Debi, get me one of my needles and sterilize it, would you? I'm going to try to sew her back up, after. Then get the bunting Kira made, too, please, and the diaper-wrap."

"With the bunting," Kira told Paul breathlessly. "Tell her."

He passed along the message, then became preoccupied when Kira went into another contraction. "Breathe, sweetheart," he encouraged her.

"No, push," Sydney contradicted him. "Let's get him out here. Paul, lift her shoulders, get behind her. Give her something to push against."

**********

Paul looked down at the bundle in his arms, his face flooded with wonder as he stroked the little round cheek tenderly. His fingertip came to the corner of the pouty little mouth, which opened searchingly.

At Paul's shoulder, Suzanne laughed softly. "He's hungry, Paul," she told him. "Better give him to Kira."

Kira groaned softly. "Can't I sleep?"

"Sure, you don't have to be awake," Dana told her. "Your milk isn't in yet anyway. He just needs to suckle, and it's good for you, too. It'll help your uterus contract." She adjusted the bedfurs around Kira, then the infant Paul gently laid on her chest.

"Have you decided on a name yet?" Norton wondered.

"Lonato," Kira murmured sleepily.

Paul nodded. "It's Cherokee for Flint," he explained, stroking his son's downy black hair. "It seemed appropriate."

Kincaid thumped Norton's shoulder, then Harrison's. "We'd better get out, guys, so Kira can rest." The men shook Paul's hand again, and, with Dana, left the teepee.

"Now, Paul," Suzanne said, "you've had a rough day. Take off your clothes."

He looked up. "Suzanne?"

She laughed. "I'm not making a pass at you," she explained. "I want you in bed with your family. They need your strength and warmth; but don't even think about sex. The hair Sydney was about to use for sutures when Dana took over was ingenious, but even with Dana's professional technique it won't stand the strain. Figure it'll be close to six weeks. After Kira gets rested - well, I don't know how conventional you are in bed, but she still has her hands and mouth. Don't let her mount you until Dana says it's okay for her to resume sex. All right?"

He had bowed his head in embarrassment at her frank talk. "I was there when Sydney cut her," he told Suzanne. "You should know I'd never hurt her."

"I know." Suzanne pressed a kiss against his forehead. "Goodnight," she said, and ducked out through the door flap.

Paul stood up and undressed, then slipped under the bedfurs with his wife and their son, gently putting his arm over both. Lonato stirred and sucked at his mother's nipple. Paul smiled, kissed Kira's other nipple and Lonato's head, then Kira's lips.

"Too tired," Kira mumbled.

"I'm here if you need anything," Paul murmured. "Sleep now, Laughing Brook. You do great work."

**********

Yvette carried Phillipe on her back as she gathered reeds for the pulp and fibers they contained, from which the villagers made flatbread, string, and even rope. She had discovered that the fibers would take dyes made from berries, roots, and tree bark, and she had convinced Control to make a loom for her, so that she could try her hand at weaving. It was an unqualified success, and she had traded completed fabrics for finished clothing for herself, Phillipe, and Kincaid.

She gathered the reeds herself, for only the darkest green reeds had the fine fibers that she wanted for her textiles. They didn't grow as well at the edge of the lake or in the marsh as the thicker-fiber reeds did, but along the edges of the river both above and below the lake the reeds she wanted were the dominant form, so that was where Yvette went to gather them.

She hadn't forgotten her father's warning, delivered after his death through his young widow, but she wasn't certain that Suzanne hadn't imagined speaking with Robert; she had still been deep in grief when Colonel Ironhorse had taken her to speak with the spirits.

Colonel Ironhorse. Now there was a man who was a study in contrasts, Yvette mused as she worked. He could go from yelling at Harrison to smiling at Debi to tenderly caressing his wife's face in a matter of seconds. Strong, practical, tough, and determined. Yet the death of their first child had shaken him to his roots, and Kira's depression afterward had frightened him more than she had ever seen anyone frightened. The birth of their son a few weeks ago seemed to have finally healed them both.

Yvette smiled, her thoughts turning to John Kincaid, her husband. Her rebel. Colonel Ironhorse had thrown him out of his unit for his rebellious lack of respect for authority. She wondered whether the colonel knew just how deeply John respected him, not for his authority, for he had none in this new world of theirs, but for himself, the man. She wondered whether he knew how great a compliment that was.

She continued harvesting reeds, unaware of the eyes that watched her.

**********

"She went where?" Scott dropped the drum he was working on and grabbed a spear, yelling for Mickey and Kincaid to join him as he ran toward the place where the river ran out of the lake, leaving Samantha looking after him, wondering what she had said wrong.

Suzanne rested her hand gently on her shoulder. "You couldn't have known, Sammie," she murmured worriedly, praying the men would reach Yvette in time.

The three men reached the far side of the slough in record time, ignoring possible prey and predators alike, crashing and splashing through recklessly. They found the beginning of the river, and hurried downstream, pausing just as they crested the hill above Yvette's favorite reed-cutting place. What they saw froze them in their tracks for a split second.

Yvette stood almost knee-deep in the rushing water, clutching Phillipe to her bosom, just out of the notlion's reach where it paced up and down the riverbank, frustrated by its inability to reach its prey.

Kincaid let out a yell and charged, intent on killing the creature that threatened his wife and baby, and Scott and Mickey joined him, screaming murderously. The big catlike animal looked at them and swished its tail, expressing its now compounded frustration, but apparently decided not to challenge them. As it slunk off into the undergrowth, Yvette breathed a deep sigh of relief and took a single step toward shore, only to have her feet swept out from under her by the force of the current. She and Phillipe went under the surface, and Kincaid dove in after them.

Mickey and Scott followed the three of them downstream, twice trying to pull them from the river where dead trees spanned the water. Finally the small family managed to reach the riverbank and pull themselves from the water, where they lay panting, shivering, and in Phillipe's case, squalling at the top of his lungs, until Mickey and Scott arrived and started a small fire to warm them.

**********

"If she hadn't told Samantha -" Suzanne worried, sitting with Walter on a large boulder a few feet above the lake.

"But she did," he soothed her gently.

"If Sam hadn't told Scott -"

"But she did."

"If they hadn't gotten there in time -"

"But they did."

"If Yvette hadn't managed to hold onto Phillipe when she slipped -"

"But she did."

"If John hadn't gone in after them -"

"But he did. What else could he do?" Walter wondered reasonably.

Suzanne leaned trustingly against Walter's warm, strong shoulder, smiling a little when he bent his head and kissed the side of her neck. Robert had been right; he was good for her. Soothed by his warmth, comforted by his strength and presence, she was nearly asleep when he asked, "Is Hank spending the night with Debi and Eric?"

Reminded of her responsibility - not that she ever forgot him - Suzanne straightened and turned to look into Walter's bright blue eyes. "Debi's father," she told him, "was utterly self-centered and irresponsible. Robert was so self-sacrificing that he always waved me off or laughed if I even asked how he was feeling. Have I finally found a man who's somewhere in the middle?"

He grinned shyly, looking for all the world like a small boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar, despite the perfect dome of his bald head. "Does that mean you'll marry me?" he asked.

Suzanne glanced down at the large hands that so earnestly clasped hers. With her thumb she wordlessly traced the ring-mark on the third finger of his left hand.

"That's over," he told her sadly. "I tried, but Sharon - I guess the stress of my job, of the things I couldn't tell her - I guess it all made me impossible to live with. The divorce was final two years ago."

"You were divorced once. I was divorced once and widowed once," Suzanne observed, her mouth quirking a little to one side. "I wonder what Father Nick will say."

"I don't care," Walter declared, "as long as you say yes."

"I'm pregnant," Suzanne told him, even though she knew he was aware of her condition.

"I could hardly miss that," he chuckled. "So that means you'll need someone to look after you and your baby. Let me be the one who takes care of you and your children, Suzanne. I mean, I know you have other friends, and a son-in-law, and you probably don't really need anyone else, but -" He broke off, aware he was babbling. He bit his lower lip and looked away a moment, composing his thoughts. "I'll do what I can to look after you and your children, no matter what, Suzanne. You don't have to buy my love with - with marriage or sex."

Suzanne reached up and caught his face in her hands. "Walter. Yes," she told him.

**********

Scott and Yvette escorted Suzanne to her wedding. Debi was her Matron of Honor, and Mulder stood as Best Man for Walter. Father Nick shook his head at the idea of officiating at a wedding in which all three of the female participants and half of those witnessing it were at various stages of pregnancy, but he performed the ceremony anyway. At least all these pregnancies were legitimate and within the bonds of matrimony.

In due course of time, Suzanne gave birth to a little girl, half-sister to Robert's two children, Scott and Yvette, and to Suzanne's, Debi and Hank. When the thought struck her, she realized their little village was dangerously close to inbreeding. She told Dana, who to her own astonishment was pregnant again.

Harrison had been remarkably laid-back about her announcement, simply smiling at her. "I don't think you were abducted, Dana," he'd told her. "The aliens fixed Norton's spine. Maybe they regenerated your ovaries, too."

With a second child on the way, Dana had a stake in this inbreeding problem. She looked up at Suzanne. "We'd better hope there are other colonists on this planet," she said.

"We need to find them before the kids grow up," Suzanne said.

It was difficult, though, for anyone to find the time to explore. Then winter was on them, and the weather wasn't fit for travelling.

Shortly after the winter solstice, Debi gave birth to a little girl she named Ariel. Eric was so proud he strutted. When Kira saw the baby she burst into tears, running back to the teepee she shared with her husband. Paul followed her, but was unable to get more of an explanation than, "That's Starfire. She's our daughter. She was supposed to come back to us," choked out between wracking sobs.

"She will," Littlehawk assured her, scrunching down onto his haunches beside the pile of bedfurs. He reached out to stroke Lonato's silky hair. "Your son will bring her back into the family."

"Really?" Kira asked uncertainly.

"We have to let the kids decide," Paul warned her.

"They will anyway," Littlehawk told them. "Even spirits cannot rush the heart. We know. We've tried. You two were enough to try even our patience."

"Paul?" Tierney called from outside the teepee. "Is Kira okay? What happened?"

Paul stepped out through the doorflap, shivering as the wind sucked the warmth from his body. "Ariel reminded her of our daughter," he said. "She'll be okay, but it's going to take her a while to compose herself. Having Lonato helps. He keeps her busy. Come on in out of the wind. You shouldn't get chilled."

Tierney huddled deeper into her coat, shaking her head. "No, thanks, I believe you. Norton and Noah are waiting for their supper; I should go. But Debi was concerned about Kira, and so were Lainie and I. I'll let them know they needn't worry." She touched his arm. "You're a rock, Paul. Steady. I'm glad you were the one Kira dreamed about all those years."

He smiled wryly. "To quote Littlehawk, 'Even spirits cannot rush the heart,'" he said. "I was dreaming about her, too, you know. I still do. I never thanked you for insisting that we needed an archaeologist in the group, Tierney."

She touched his face. "If I had known how it was going to work out, I'd've insisted sooner. Give her my love."

"I will. Harass Norton for me."

Tierney giggled as she turned away, and Paul went back inside to his family.

End of part 17.