Dave Goldfish moved with a speed he didn't realise he possessed down to the Sick Bay, where Sapphire stood outside waiting.
"Let me in there!" he said with a faint menace in his voice, which couldn't hide his fear.
"Whoa there, Dave." Sapphire grabbed him by the shoulders. "The best medical staff we have are in there."
"What's going on?"
"Okay. About an hour ago Jo went in to labour..."
"Why the hell wasn't I told?"
"Let me finish. We rushed her down here and did all the scans we could. Dave, they can't find the baby." Dave put his hands together and placed them in front of his face. He swallowed.
"Did you just say..."
"They can't find the child," Sapphire finished with him. "The scans are all negative. It's like the child doesn't exist." Dave sat down.
"Yet, she is in labour?"
"Yes."
"But there's no child."
"Yes and no."
"Yes and no?" Dave looked at her.
"In reverse order - no because they can't find the child and yes because there is something there."
"Define something?"
"We can't. It doesn't show up on the scans."
"So how do you know it's there?"
"We can see it. We sent a camera in and it's picking something up."
By now Dave had had enough.
"I'm going in there," said Dave and before Sapphire could stop him he had gone in. She went in after him and saw him standing next to his wife. "Easy, sweetheart." Jo was crying and the doctors were standing around their machines and computers trying to work out what to do next. Dave looked at the screen where the camera was broadcasting to. He stared at it, with tears in his eyes.
Meanwhile the Dark Lord was watching these events with worry. If Goldfish lost his child then there would be real trouble. Goldfish would figure on having nothing less to lose - other than his wife, and if the baby died there was a good chance she would as well. The doctors had been discussing it, but none of them dared to tell Goldfish. If the child died, then all his plans would have been for nothing. This was bad. Very bad.
"Oh sweetheart. Be brave, we'll get you through this." He beckoned Sapphire to come over. "Right. Now tell me what happened. All of it."
"I.. I don't know what you mean." Dave looked at her, his eyes seemingly peering in to her soul. "Damn it, D," she said. "You always got what you wanted with that look." She sighed. "The past few days had been getting to me. Y'know, I always pictured us ending up married, with a child. When you didn't even come looking for me, I felt betrayed."
"I thought you were getting over that."
"So did I. But this was different - I started to get jealous, and that made me angry with myself. But I directed that anger towards you. Jo told me that after the attack, you spent three months in hospital, and that you couldn't remember much about it for weeks afterwards. They didn't tell you I was missing, until it was way too late, did they?" Dave shook his head.
"When they told me," he said, " I wanted to go looking for you. But you been missing for nearly four months and there was no sign of you. They'd decided that you'd been disintergrated by one of the sentinels blasts. It took me a long time to get over you, Cloak."
"I know that, but when Jo told me I thought she was just trying to defend you. We got in to an argument and then it started. She went in to labour, and I rushed her down here. She asked me not to tell you what had happened. She didn't want you upset."
"A bit late for that," said Dave. "Anyway now's not the time. Stay with her while I speak to the doctors."
"But.. Dave... I can't. This is my fault."
"No, it isn't. It was nearly time anyway. Now go on." Sapphire nodded. Dave walked over to the doctors and looked at the screen as he did so. He stopped and looked at it. "Could it be?" he whispered under his breath.
The Dark Lord watched the exchange between the two. He smiled as he sensed the disharmony between them. Then he watched as Goldfish went over to the doctors. He saw him stop at the screen and watched his lips move slightly. What had he seen that the doctors had not?
"Okay, now we know that the hypothosis from the tests showed us a probability of what her mutant powers would be, correct?" said Dave. The doctors nodded in agreement. "Well, from that hypothosis, this is an affect of those powers."
"I don't understand," said Jo.
"It's simple, sweetheart. She's scared about coming out and her power is protecting her."
"You mean she doesn't realise this is a good thing?"
"Would you? It's nice, warm and comfy in there. Out here is a danderous world full of people who you've never met and have no knowledge of. She wants to stay, your body wants her out and your healing power is helping you to try and get her out, but she is counteracting it so she doesn't want to leave."
"I've never heard of a baby who didn't want to leave," said Sapphire.
"Have you ever asked one?" asked Dave.
"Don't be silly, how could they reply?"
"Exactly. No one asks their opinion, because they don't have enough knowledge to base a proper one. Once they are outside and get used to it they like it out here."
"Excuse me, sir," said one of the doctors, "but isn't this just theory."
"True," admitted Dave. "But it does fit the facts we have available. Now to get her out we'll need a bit of help. Sapphire, I want you to phase Jo."
"Pardon?"
"Make her intangible, thereby separating the two of them."
"Do you realise how difficult this'll be?"
"Yes. You can do it." Sapphire shrugged and held on to Jo's hand. There was a slight shimmer as both became intangible, and the doctors went to work. Beads of sweat dripped from Sapphire's head as the strain of keeping the baby tangible and Jo intangible began to take its toll. Dave mopped her brow and smiled. "No problem," he said, though whether he was talking to Jo or Sapphire, neither could tell.
Soon the doctors work was done and mother and baby were seperated completely. Once the little girl was out, her powers stopped as her mind gave way to the inevitable - she had left the place she had been and on an instinctive level she knew she could never return there again. However she also realised that the two big forms that then held her were generating a pleasurable feeling and, even though she did not understand it, she knew she was safe here.
"Hey, Bethany," said Dave, choked up with emotion. "I'm your daddy."
"Aw, isn't that cute?" asked Sapphire to Jo, the problems between them evaporating as if they had never been. Dave felt good and that all was right with the world.
The Dark Lord smiled. The baby had been born and there were no immediate problems. However to be certain of everything, and to make final preparations to his plan, he must wait for a couple of weeks, making sure the baby was truly healthy, and as powerful as they said she was. Once everything was confirmed, then Goldfish and all the others would die. He walked over to the staff. He would kill Goldfish with the very weapon Goldfish had 'killed' him with. Before he killed him, he would have him helpless, and hesitate so Goldfish could look on his assassin. This game was nearly over.
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