"Oh, hell!" Doc took in the scene in one expert glance. It had been years since he'd delivered a human baby, but the process was the same. The pregnant stock aboard ships didn't really count, but it kept him sharp, anyway.

The big wet spot on the rough floorboards told the story. Anne's water had broken this baby would be born one way or the other within the next hours.

"Mauro, will the chart table in the Captain's office move?" Doc demanded.

"Si, you want it?" Mauro had no idea what they could need it for.

"Now please, go. Make sure the charts are properly rolled though. Captain is picky about his maps and the positions they show."

"I'm sorry Alex, everyone out. The ladies will have to pace with everyone else outside. There is room for only Anne, me and Elanor. Too many will be a problem." Doc shooed them through the door.

"Excuse me," Anne tugged on the doctor's sleeve. "I want Pansy and Livy. They promised and I need them here."

"All right. We won't have much room to work though." It worried Doc.

"Seems to me, I'm doing all the work here," Anne said, her sense of humor coming through, before she clutched her side once more.

"How long have those pains been coming?"

"My back has been cramping since yesterday morning. I thought it was nothing to worry about."

"Most of the time it isn't. When did the ones in your side start?" Doc was trying to put together the timing of the stages she had to go through.

"In the night sometime. Woke me up sometime around four bells, and then I slept a bit again." Anne remembered a couple of shouts when the wind shifted unexpectedly around that time.

"My dear, you've been in labor for over a day already. Mild contractions, but labor. It will get harder now."

"Tell me something I didn't already know. These contractions hurt like the devil. It's like something is trying to turn me inside out." Anne yelped as another one hit.

Doc noted the time on his pocket watch and slipped it back into his waistcoat. Alex had returned with the enormous chart table and they wiggled it into the cell. Not much room to spare, but it fit. Warm water steamed on the stove, and clean sheets and toweling lay on one bunk. Doc put his birthing kit on the other table and took stock.

"Get the old mattress from the brig, we'll put it on the table, and you're to get up on it, Anne. We'll help you get settled." Doc knew exactly what he wanted.

"Callum go take one of the others and bring it back quickly," Doc added. "Alex, out, get the women settled, take blankets too. We might be some time yet." He'd know as soon as he examined Anne.

Once the mattress was in place, Doc lifted Anne up onto the improvised birthing table.

"There is no room for modesty here. I've sent all the other men out, if you or Livy are offended, leave now." Seeing them shake their heads, he told them, "More coal on the fire then, and get Anne's dress off of her. She'll need it and I don't want the mess of labor to ruin it further. Bad enough it got a soaking when her water broke. In fact, give it to someone outside to launder and dry. It will be ready for later."

Anne cried out and pulled her knees up instinctively as Doc probed her as gently as possible. She clutched Pansy's hand on one side, and Livy stood on the other, with one arm around Anne's shoulders and other wrist locked in the vise of Anne's other hand. Both squeaked as Anne's hands clenched even tighter.

"My dear, no matter what, do not push. I know feel you must. You're further along than I thought possible for a first child." The baby's head was there between her legs, but what he saw around the small neck frightened him. This child could be stillborn if he didn't do something immediately. Carefully he slipped a finger between the pulsing purple cord and the child's fragile body. With movements he'd practiced only once before, and he prayed he got them right, he carefully coaxed the umbilicus over the soft skull.

Success, and not a moment too soon. Anne reared up, grunting, and with a whoosh of fluid delivered the child to the shoulders.

"One more, two more if you count the afterbirth," Doc encouraged. "Get ready to clean the child, Elanor."

His helper had anticipated him and had a small basin of warm water and rags already floating in it. "Give it to me as soon as it's born. We'll cut the cord, then she can deliver the afterbirth."

With a grunting scream Anne pushed again. Like an eel, the child slid free into Doc's waiting hands.

"You have a fine son! All of his fingers and toes are there," and as Doc made the announcement as the baby snuffled his first breath, mewling softly. Quickly he held the newborn up by his feet, wiping mucus from its nose and mouth, and an outraged wail sounded over the eerie stillness. Outside, cheers and clapping erupted.

He handed the baby boy to Elanor and efficiently tied the string she handed him around the cord, cutting it and smiling. "He's on his own now. We'll see to a baptism when we get to Fremantle."

"Let me see him," the new mother begged, but Doc dug his hand into her suddenly flaccid abdomen. Anne shrieked. Pushing through sobs she expelled the placenta onto an old sheet Doc had hastily placed over the tattered, stained mattress.

"In a moment, let me get the birthing blood cleaned up, and let doc finish up. You might need a few sutures yourself. He came so quickly at the end." Elanor worked carefully, cleansing all evidence of Anne's hard work from her son. "He's healthy and pink, and already hungry." She wrapped him in a cotton sheet they'd torn in two to make a swaddling blanket and brought the baby to his mother.

The first thing Anne did was unwrap the tiny bundle so she could see for herself there was nothing wrong, stroking the tiny scrunched-up face, and putting a finger in his wee hand. When his tiny fist curled around her slender digit, the smile that beamed from her, made them all laugh. Such a joyful moment, in the middle of the ocean, was nearly unheard of. Navy ships didn't allow women aboard.

"He looks like my father, he has his mouth and his eyes, the same blue exactly." Anne declared.

"Put him to your breast," Livy helped Anne settle her son in the crook of her arm and brought the seeking mouth to her nipple. "This will hurt a bit until you get used to it dear."

"Tis an odd sensation," Anne agreed, her eyelids beginning to droop.

"Let's get her into the bunk and covered up." Elanor suggested and Doc scooped the baby and mother up to put them in the warm lower bunk beside the stove.

"Lay on your side child, the babe will continue to suckle, and you can rest." Doc told her.

"His name is William, for you Doc, you saved me from myself. William Peter, for he will be my rock. He gives me a reason to live." Anne declared. "We'll find a priest, like you promised?" She asked.

"Aye, child. Rest now," Doc soothed, touched to be honored by the new mother.

Doc patted Anne's shoulder and then pulled the blanket over her and her baby.

"Watch over them, Elanor. Let me know if she bleeds, but I don't think there will be a problem. This birth was normal. No complications."

"Except the babe almost strangled on the cord. I've never seen it prevented. I would like to know how." Elanor kept her husky voice low, so as not to frighten Anne.

"You do exactly as I did. The trick is keeping the mother from pushing. Slip your fingers under it and it will give, the placenta is tearing loose and will give you wiggle room. Depending on where it is crossed, you go over the back of the skull like I did, or over the face." Doc explained.

"I'll remember. We lost two babies in our caravan that way, both within a year. It was the beginning of the leader's distrust in the healer. It was why he blamed her for his son's death so easily."

Doc squeezed Elanor's hand in sympathy. Then he went to open the door.

"We have a healthy baby boy. Alex, Callum, the table was only needed for a brief time, but it was exactly what I needed. Now you can put everything away and discard the mattress. I'll take care of this," he hefted a bloody bundle of sheets, and headed to the stern. The cheers and excited chatter of crew and prisoners alike followed him aft.