Myron woke to find Chara pulling all her clothes from the rail and throwing them angrily across the room.

"Chara?"

"I'm getting fat."

"What?" He looked at her naked body as she balanced on one leg and threw a blouse across the room. Her belly did have a roundness to it that hadn't been there before and her breasts looked plumper too. Goosebumps rose on his skin as he looked at the roundness of her belly.

"Chara, when did you last bleed?"

"What?"

"Your moon time. Have you had one lately?"

"I rarely get them. Doctor Marie says it's the years of starvation."

"But have you had one of late?"

"I... Not for months." She looked at him watching her belly and gasped.

"I can't be."

***

Chara fidgeted as Marie felt her belly, pushing down repeatedly.

"You're definitely pregnant Chara. My guess would be at least five months."

"Are you sure?" Myron looked down at her.

"You don't want to be?"

"I... I don't know." The centaur let go of her hand and pulled back a little, his eye gazing at her filled with hurt.

"I'm not like Kaia. She's loving and gentle. I don't know how to be. What kind of mother will I be?" Marie pulled the hind's shirt down and patted her shoulder.

"The best one your baby could ever ask for."

"I'm half blind and only have one leg."

"I'm half blind and I made you a leg. Together we see perfectly." She looked up at her centaur then down at the doctor.

"What will it be? A hind like me or a centaur-like Myron?"

"I can't tell you that. We won't know till he or she is born."

Marie watched quietly as the hind got up and sort the comfort of her mate's arms.

"Come back and see me every week so I can keep an eye on you both." Myron nodded as Chara buried her face in his belly.

She watched the centaur lift her up and put her on his back.

"Thank you, Marie." The she-wolf smiled and nodded to him.

"It's what I'm here for." When they left she sighed sadly, she truly was happy for the couple, just as she had been for Kaia and Gabriel. Clearly, hinds were fertile creatures. But she so wished she and Duncan would be blessed with an infant of their own.

***

Myron watched Chara try and fail to do up a shirt before she huffed and gave up, she just did it up over her breasts and left the front open over her now huge belly. She had grown rapidly in the past months. She turned and saw him watching her.

"What?"

"I was just considering how beautiful you are."

"I look like a Heffer."

"A beautiful Heffer." He answered with a wink. She was about to answer when her eye widened, clutching at her belly a gasp escaped her lips.

"Char?" He was by her side in a moment. She straightened and shook her head.

"I don't know what that was."

"Do you feel OK?"

"I... I don't know. I've felt odd all night."

"Odd? Odd how?"

"Really uncomfortable. Tight, down there." She said, pointing to her groin. "Then it goes away." When she finished her sentence her eyes widened again. He looked down to see a wet patch rapidly spread down her trouser legs as she clutched her belly again and gasped.

"Char. I think you're in labour. I'm going to get you on the bed and help you get your trousers off. Then I'm going to leave you for just a second to send for Marie."

"No. Don't leave me." She squeaked, grabbing his arm and panting in pain.

"Just for a second Char. I promise." Her eye was wide and he saw genuine fear on her face.

"I promise Char. I won't be more than a second."

"I'm not ready." She panted as he lifted her into his arms and put her on the bed.

"I think our child is though sweetheart."

"No. I can't do it."

"I know it hurts, baby. But it will be over soon, then you get to hold our baby."

"No, I don't care about that. I can't be a mother. I'm not ready. I don't know how." He stooped and kissed her forehead.

"You'll be an amazing mother, baby." With that, he galloped with all his might out of their home.

On the square people stared at him as he dodged through the crowds. Sliding to a stop at Cadmus' door he hammered on it.

"Cadmus! Cadmus!" The little story raced out the door almost tripping over his own hooves.

"What? What is it? Humans?"

"No. Chara. We need Doctor Marie. Now." Without waiting for the satyr's response he raced back to his mate.

Chara panted and gasped as Marie patted her leg with one hand as she pulled her hand away from her groin. The poor hind had been labouring for over a day and was coated in sweat and exhausted.

"I know you're tired, Chara but I can see the baby's head. Myron get behind her and lift her a little, Chara, with the next contraction I need you to push with all your might." Myron eyed the doctor, she could see by her body language that whatever she'd felt had concerned her. She whispered something to Kaia whose eyes widened slightly before she bent down and looked through the doctor's bag.

"Chara sweetie. The Baby's head is here and ready to be born. I need you to push for me." Chara gripped Myron's arms which he'd placed around her and with all her might pushed down as the next contraction started. Kaia gasped as Marie let out a relieved sigh.

"OK Chara, we have a head. Do you want to feel?" The hind shook her head, her eye wide.

"No!"

"It's OK Char. You don't have to." Said Myron, bending to kiss her sweat-drenched forehead. She drew in a sharp breath as another contraction came.

"OK Chara, push with all you have." Said Marie as the hind bore down and she took the scalpel from Kaia.

"I need you to keep pushing Chara, her hooves are caught."

"Hooves?" Gasped the exhausted hind as she kept pushing then screamed as Marie cut her and the baby slipped out of her mother's body.

Myron looked down at the infant as it lay between its mother's legs then tilted his head. Kaia looked shocked as Marie began to clean up the baby.

"Well done, Chara, you have a beautiful..." She paused for a moment. "Baby, you have a beautiful infant Chara."

"Chara sobbed a little as she slumped back against Myron.

"What is it?" Marie picked the infant up in a towel and laid it on her chest.

"I'm not an expert on hinds or centaurs. But I'm pretty sure you have a healthy little boy."

Chara gazed down at the infant and another sob escaped her lips as she wrapped him in her arms.

"I'm a mum." She sobbed as Myron put his arms around them both.

***

Marie walked into her bedroom and dropped her clothes on the floor. Too exhausted to put them away.

"What did they have?" She snuggled back into her mate's arms as she laid down in their bed with him.

"A boy."

"Centaur or hind?"

"Both. He's half man, half hind. He's adorable, he's got a man's torso like his father, but his lower half is that of a baby deer. He had the tiniest brass hooves and golden horns."

"Poor mite."

"Whatever do you mean? Poor mite?"

"Hybrids don't have it easy."

"Cassiel does just fine."

"Many won't even speak to him because of his mixed blood."

"Utter nonsense. That baby is beautiful and anyone who won't talk to someone because they are a hybrid of two creatures who loved each other isn't worth speaking to." She took in a deep breath.

"Little thing was walking within an hour of being born. The oddest thing I've ever seen."

"Horses and deer do walk soon after birth." Answered her mate as he kissed the back of her neck.