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Story Notes:
I do not own any of these characters. Or the stuff from the Bible.
Author's Chapter Notes:

I should begin by saying that my title is based on a film about the life of Christ, and is not my personal belief about this fanfic. This story starts out sounding very serious and mellow, but it lightens up considerably after this.  I guess I just sorta let this story take me places at the start instead of me directing it.  Hopefully you will stay tuned until the end.

Clip-clop, clip-clop.
A myriad of stars shone down on the desolate country side, on a mystical, moonless early winter night.

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
The celestial bodies cast their muted glow on two weary travellers far below them, as they walked through the night toward their destination. One of them, the woman, sat upon a donkey, while the man walked along beside them, guiding the beast with one hand on its crude reigns. The woman was full with child, seemingly ready to be delivered at any moment. She swayed gently to the pacific rythms of the donkey as it walked along in the cool night.
"How much further, Jim?"asked the woman in words hung heavy with exhaustion and anxiety, although she was clearly trying her best to remain calm.
"Only a little while longer, dear," the man replied, calmly, assuringly.

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
Jim retreated back to the thoughts and worries that he had been preoccupying himself with in his mind. He wondered if it really were only a little while longer until they arrived at the village called Scranton, where he had been told in a dream he was to take his fiancee to give birth. He had never been to Scranton before, but he knew of the area. He hoped that the village had a hotel or some place where he could get a room. More than that, he hoped he could find a rabbi, or a physician, someone to help his fiancee Pam, who he was certain could deliver any moment now.

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
Pam looked down at her fiancee. She saw his furrowed brow, and recognized it immediately. It seemed to have been permanently fixed in that position since she first told him that she was pregnant. She knew he was worried. She knew that the whole situation was just crazy. It was all so much, so soon. They had only been together for a few months when Pam had received the news. She was to have a baby. A miraculous conception had taken place. She doubted it, even denied it at first, despite the divine messages she had been receiving in her dreams, but as the days turned into weeks and weeks into months, the signs presented themselves, and faith (or lack thereof) gave way to sight and Pam could doubt no longer. So here she was, a young woman, not even married yet. She was frightened, as any young mother-to-be would be, and she still had so many questions, but at the very least she knew she had her wonderful husband-to-be with her. She didn’t know what she would do without him. He was her rock, her comfort and her protector. He had been her support and encourgement all through her pregnancy. He had promised her that he would stay with her, and that she would be safe, and that he would never leave her no matter how crazy it got, no matter what other curves life was going to throw at the two of them. And in her heart, she believed him. Just rehearsing these thoughts in her head made Pam physically relax, and she drew in a deep breath. She looked to the horizon. Surely the town is just over that hill, she thought, she hoped...

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
Jim thought about stopping, and giving the donkey a rest. They had been travelling since early that morning, with relatively few breaks in between. But he knew that time was of the essence, and he felt they couldn’t afford to waste any of it. He couldn’t have Pam going into labour out here in the wilderness. He had no idea how to deliver a baby. Jim had never been with a woman any more than Pam had been with a man. He had never seen a woman and was sure he didn’t know where to even look for the child if it did start to come. This child better be worth all this trouble, he thought. The mysterious child. The miraculous child. The child who Jim knew wasn’t his. He had kept the law and had not known her sexually before she got pregnant. He had hardly even kissed her before she had broke the news to him. True as that was, it wasn’t easy convincing other people of that fact. Back home where they were known, and where it was known that they were not married, they were constantly given unwanted attention from onlookers. They glared at the couple with condemning eyes. They judged them with their glances. It was those times that Jim found the most difficult. It was during those times that he felt that urge rise up again. That urge that first hit him the night he had the first dream about the child. He remembered waking up with a start, covered in sweat and shaking with fear. The urge that told him to saddle his camel and just leave. Run away. Run to Egypt, run to Asia, run somewhere, anywhere. He knew that with his carpentry skills he could get work just about anywhere he went. But when he gave it serious thought he realized he knew he could never do that. He had been Divinely charged to stay with Pam, and he had realized that no matter how scared he was, no matter how uncertain he was about the future, he was going to stay by her side, and love her and care for her with all his strength and might, because that was what she deserved and deep in his own heart, it was what he wanted to do. It was the strength which grew out of that love for Pam that gave him the ability to move on through this night, away from those glaring eyes, and towards the destination he was charged to get to.

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
Suddenly Jim stumbled. The fatigue was taking over him. He wasn’t sure he could go on much longer. He just needed a few minutes. To rest, to sleep. I’ll just tell her I need few minutes, he said. But just as he was about to speak he heard her voice break the silence of the night.

"Jim. Jim..." Fear and apprehension tinged her voice.

Jim suddenly felt very much awake, and very alert. He looked up to his fiancee, met her eyes.

"Yes, Pam?" he inquired, although he already knew the answer, because he understood her eyes intimately. He had studied them for countless nights and days since he first saw them. He learned to read them from the very beginning. At first he could only read the most obvious messages; the things her eyes spoke clearly and loudly. Happy. Sad. Tired. But as their relationship grew and he got to know Pam on a deeper more intimate level, he became more adept at deciphering every little utterance, every whisper, every nuance in her gaze. He recognized what Pam was telling him right away. Her eyes screamed panic and distress.

"Jim," she quavered, "Jim, it’s time. It’s time."

Jim swallowed. He took his eyes off her and looked around. He looked to the East. And there it was. In the distance the houses and towns of the village of Scranton could be made out, bathed in the glow of the bright starry night. Immediately Jim tugged on the reigns of the donkey.

"Hold on, Pam. Hold on just a little longer. I can see the town; we’re almost there" he assured her, hoping against hope that someone would be awake and able to help them when they got there.

Chapter End Notes:
That's my best attempt at a cliffhanger.  Hope it works. And remember, it gets lighter and less serious in the next chapter. So stick around.  And don't forget to heap praise upon me for writing such a beautiful and memorable piece of fanfiction.

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