It happened late one afternoon as they were sitting on the couch watching television.

One minute everything was quite except for the television, and then next minute Maze was swearing loudly in his native tongue and half sitting up from where he had been reclined against the side of the lounge, clutching at his back. James sat forward and demanded to know what was wrong but Maze was too busy holding his breath to answer. After a minute he released the breath in a rush and simply said “I hope you are ready for this.”

For some reason, he had expected it to be quick process. But Maze explained that even though the birthing process was different, the labouring was much the same; long and painful. When James questioned how long it would take, Maze simply replied in a clipped tone that it would take as long as it took and added that he would prefer it if for the duration of the labour James would keep his stupid questions to himself. James couldn’t help but smile at this; the sharp-tongued alien he’d fallen in love with appeared to be making a return.

He hadn’t been joking about it being a long night. For hours James watched helplessly as Maze slowly waddled around the house with one hand constantly moving in small circles over his stomach, murmuring under his breath in his own language. At first James thought he was swearing because of the pain but as he watched the alien closely he realised that while he was obviously in pain, he didn’t look angry. In fact, Maze looked calmer than he could ever remember seeing him and James felt tears well in his eyes as he realise Maze wasn’t swearing at all; he was talking quietly to their child.

For the first few hours James tried his hardest to do whatever he could to help Maze. He offered water, food, foot rubs, massages, anything to help the alien through the pain, but Maze’s stubborn side was also making a reappearance and refused every single offer. There was only one point during the whole night when Maze showed any sign of the pain he was in.


James had once again offered to get him anything he wanted and Maze had turned his eyes up towards him, looking on the verge of tears, and quietly asked James to rub his lower back. The second James had agreed, happy to help in any way he could, Maze slumped forward against him and pressed his face into James’ chest, wrapping his arms around his neck. He draped most of his weight onto James and James accepted it happily, reaching around to gently rub his lower back as best he could from the strange position. The whole time Maze shifted his stance from one foot to the other in a continual motion that James assumed was somehow helping him with the pain.

Some time around three in the morning Maze told James to get some rest. James refused at first, it wasn’t right that he should rest when Maze couldn’t, but Maze explained once again that it was going to be a while longer and once it was over he would need to rest but someone would need to be awake enough to care for the child. James grudgingly agreed and went to lay on the bed fully clothed. It felt like only minutes he’d been asleep when Maze came into the bedroom, switched on the lamp next to the bed and quietly announced in a strained voice;

 “It’s time.”


James quickly got up and followed Maze into the nursery they had set up over the months. Not knowing what sex the baby would be, they had asked James’ mother to to help decorate the nursery and she had somehow thrown together a bunch of different coloured things and made it look perfect.

Before he was even in the room Maze ordered him to stay by the door and not say a word or come any closer no matter what happened before he moved to stand in front of the crib they’d picked out together. Once again he watched helplessly as Maze struggled with the pain, continuing to whisper under his breath in his alien language. He felt somehow as though he were intruding on a very personal moment.


Suddenly a loud snarling sound tore from Maze’s throat. James desperately wanted to go to him but Maze had told him not to move any closer no matter what and a second later he realised why. A scorching wave of heat hit him and he staggered back a little, staring at Maze in horror but the alien looked perfectly fine. The heat seemed to be coming from him, but the only sign of it was showing in the pained look on his face.
Almost as soon as it begun it was over. Maze snarled once more, a feral, pained, terrifying sound that filled the room as the heat died down and the snarling was replaced with the sound of cooing.

James stared in awe at the tiny bundle in the crib.