Mira looked at her half naked body in the mirror. She wasn't just big anymore, she was huge. She pulled on a shirt, and it barely made it past her belly button. She pulled on a pair of stretchy black pants, and luckily they stretched enough to go over her wide hips and giant pelvis. She yanked off the shirt and pulled on a large tank top that would have probably made it to her knees before she had gotten pregnant. She was thirty-three weeks pregnant now, but according to the Jayku baby doctor, she could have the baby any day.

Due to the Jayku babies sizes, even with half the genes from their mothers making them slightly smaller, the babies grew about human-full term size around thirty-two weeks. Since the mother's are human, they tried not to let the baby get to big since the risk of complications had historically gone up once the baby grew larger than a Earther human baby size.

"Is everything okay in here?" Ezra knocked on the walk in closet door to find clothes all over the floor and wooden hangers scattered across the room.

"Nothing fits me."

"That looks like it fits you."

Mira glanced down at the used-to-be dress. "I'm a cow."

Ezra chuckled at her. "You are not a cow," he pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her. "But if you were, you'd be the cutest cow I've ever had sex with."

Mira laughed, and pushed him teasingly. "Did you confirm their arrival time?"

"Yes, they should be here sometime tonight."

"Good. That means we have time to get the furniture in the rooms. Are the guys ready?"

The painters had finally finished the apartments just last night, and they had been waiting to move in the beds and other furniture until the paint dried.

"They are already moving the stuff in. We also have double the doctors on call for any refugees needing health care, and the councils three dozen bachelor's being sent to the colony to seduce the women shouldn't be here for at least a few more days."

"I thought you were going to delay them?"

"That was delaying them. The council was very clear about their conditions on helping us fund this colony. We bring all the Earther's, they get to send a fresh batch of men every month to see if they can find partners."

"Kinda makes me miss Tuku and the selection balls. At least those were extremely clear what was going on."

"Yeah, well, we will figure out a way to make it work better later. But right now, we need the Councils support if we are going to feed all these new refugees. We are barely keeping the people here fed with the farms as it is."

"I know, I know." Mira walked out of the closet and sat on the edge of the bed. A cramp pierced her side, and she rubbed her rib cage gently to relieve the pressure on her body due to the tightening skin.

Ezra looked down at her, took in her pained expression. She was still so beautiful, but she looked so uncomfortable it made him wish he could do something to help her. "I think you should go see the doctor."

The medical wing had only started being built a few weeks ago in response to their deciding to stay here and bring shiploads of refugees from Earth. Ezra's mother had insisted one of the worlds best doctors, Rikatiza—Rika for short, be sent there until a few months after the baby was born.

"I'm fine. It's just a lot of pressure."

Ezra knelt down in front of her, taking her hands into his. "I love you. You are a strong, independent woman. But will you please go see the doctor? I don't want to wait until tomorrow."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But if everything is fine then you owe me a slice of cheesecake."

"It's not cheesecake," he laughed at her.

"I don't care what the Jayku call it, it tastes like a cheesecake and I want some for lunch."

"Fine. We will walk down to the doctors together, and then we'll go to the food court." He kissed her belly.

He stood up, held out his hand, and when she took it, he helped her to her feet.

"I'm so ready to be done with this whole pregnancy thing. This really sucks."

"I know sweetheart. You are doing so great though."

They walked down the hall to the elevator, and took the ride to the top floor. As they made their way across the docks from the apartment wing to the medical bay, two Jayku men stopped them, speaking frantically in the native language about some urgent news. Apparently the refugees arrived early, and they don't know where to put all the people. Their furniture isn't in place yet because half the rooms were accidentally left unpainted, and there is a storm on its way that has already begun flooding the construction zones that have not been flood proofed yet.

"Mira needs to go to the doctor, we will deal with it after—"

"No," Mira shook her head. "Go. I will be fine."

Ezra gave her a look. "Let me at least call your brother."

"I am pregnant, not a child who needs a babysitter. I'll be fine."

Ezra gazed deep into her eyes for a moment. "Tarkiti," he said, glancing over at one of the men. Then, in their language, he said, "Make sure Mira gets to the doctors safely. Lutuzu will go help make some room for the new arrivals in the food court until their rooms are ready. I will go greet them."

Mira sighed, but she did not protest as Tarkiti stepped up to escort her to the doctors. They stepped outside from the awning arching over the docks, and a misty rain fell from the dark, cloudy sky. Wind blew so hard, that Mira lost her balance—the giant belly did not help—and she practically fell into Tarkiti.

The Jayku man, who was at least seven feet tall, caught Mira and held her upright with a look of concern stretched across his face. "Are you okay?" He asked with a heavy accent.

She nodded. "I'm fine. Let's go." She held onto his arm, letting him hold her up as they walked across the bridge connecting the apartment wing and the medical wing.

They made it to the bubble that appeared to float along the surface of the ocean, and when Tarkiti opened the door for her—a lifting sheet of hard material that was like Jayku's doors—pain washed over Mira's belly and she grabbed Tarkiti's hand so hard, she thought she make break his fingers.

A cry ripped from the back of her throat, and she buckled forward. Tarkiti reached down—ready to keep her from falling over if need be. But just as he did, Mira stood back up.

"I need Ezra," she said through clenched teeth. "I need him right now."

"Let's get to the doctor then I will send for him."

Mira nodded, swallowing hard.

After a moment of standing there in debilitating pain, the pain passed and they continued walking. She didn't know a ton about having babies, but she did remember a little from when her mother had Ava. She had also been reading some books written in English about women from earth having mixed babies, and she knew what she had just had was a contraction. Or at least, she thought she knew.

Hey reached the small little clinic at the center of the domed structure, white sheets separating rooms. There were a few patients, a Jayku man with a cut arm getting stitches. A family of three—a woman, her guy, and their baby. And a small Jayku boy, no older than eight years old. He had to of been from the first wave of mixed children. He was the oldest Jayku child she had ever seen—and she knew it was because there weren't many of them.

The first four years after Jayku made contact was spent letting the Earther's get used to them. They didn't even mention their need for women or what had happened to their planet. Then, the first mixed child was born six years after their arrival. After everyone saw that Jayku and Earther's could have a living, breathing, healthy child, the first group of women to be brought in the official program. That was ten years after their first contact. It's been ten years since the program started. So the oldest mixed child was close to sixteen years old. But there were so few couples reproducing for the first few years, the mixed children were so rare, she hadn't seen many.

She stared at the little boy as she walked past him, taking in the faded markings along his arms. They were like dark zebra stripes over his knuckles, but got lighter and lighter as they extended up the length of his arm.

Mira wondered what type of markings their baby would have.

The doctor that she had been seeing the past few weeks turned around and smiled at her. "Hello Mira," she said, pulling a curtain in front of another pregnant woman to give her some privacy. "I thought we were scheduled for tomorrow?"

"I think I'm having contractions," Mira said, and as if on cue, one hit her. She buckled, grabbing on to the edge of a counter and letting her head hang low as she gritted her teeth.

The doctor, a Jayku woman whose nick name was Rika, stepped closer to her and rubbed her back as she timed the contraction. She was one of the only women doctors left after the plague wiped most the women out, and she was one of the best, too.

"How far a apart are they?"

"I don't know," Mira hissed in pain. "They only just started on my way here."

She finished timing the contraction as it stopped, Mira finally exhaling a breath of air she had been holding.

"I think you are definitely going into labor. Let's get you to a private room."

"Tarkiti," Mira said, taking the doctors hand as she led her to the back of the room where the more private rooms were located. "Get Ezra now."

The Jayku man nodded and took off running in the direction they came.

As Mira stepped into the small birthing room, she took in all the machines and jars of medicine lining the shelves. Mixture between Jayku and human technology, and natural herbs and medicines from Akaari. It was strange, how such different types of medicines had been merged as one. It was a new culture entirely. A new universe.

The doctor began to hook up monitors to her stomach and her arms, measuring the baby's heartbeat and her blood pressure. Mira laid back on the bed swaddled in pillows and blankets from Akaari. She looked up at the ceiling, windows built into the surface so that she could see outside. The sky was almost completely pitch black now. Flashes of lightening lit up the sky occasionally, thunder rolling back and forth over the clouds like an echo.

"Is this type of storm normal for Zyoo?"

Rika shrugged. "Don't worry about that right now. You just relax and focus on getting this baby out safely."

It looked like there were going to be multiple arrivals today. The refugees, the baby, and the storm. She just hoped they and their colony would come out of it all safely, too.