She struggled to make it to the gate; the pain was increasing quickly and she could no longer feel the child's movements within her womb. A slice ran through her back and brought her to her knees as she hardly made it to the metal bars. Her hand slid over the locking mechanism an easy one to break for someone of her experience. Grabbing hold of the wrought iron she pushed forward and forced herself inside the Sanctuary and towards the fortified walls.

Helen Magnus heard the perimeter alarms sound and immediately flipped through the security cameras attempting to discover any information about the situation at hand. She was surprised to see the woman heaped against the gate on the rain soaked ground. Her clothes ragged and drenched and her body unmoving except for the slight rise and fall from her uncontrolled breaths. She reached for the radio quickly, "Henry, I need the infirmary ready." Pushing away from her desk she moved quickly to the door leading outside. Hearing a "Got it Doc" on her way out.

She was the first to reach the woman and noticed the blood soaking the ground. Taking her pulse Magnus wiped away dull brown strands of hair from the woman's face—she looked oddly familiar. Magnus ran her fingers over the prone form searching for injuries, for any cause of her rapid pulse and lack of movement. The large coat was covering most of her body needed to be removed; Magnus slowly opened the front of the lapel and stared hard at the bulge. She was pregnant, and heavily at that. It was then that she saw where the blood was coming from—this was not good.

She spoke once again into the radio as Bigfoot arrived to assist. "Henry, I need a neonatal unit in the OR." She could sense Henry's pause at her words, knew he was taking a minute to digest what she'd asked him words, but she didn't have a minute. Releasing the button on the radio she turned to her oldest friend. "We need to get her inside now." The Big Guy picked the woman up in one swoop and quickly made his way back to the front doors. She followed closely behind making sure the gate was shut and locked before hurriedly going back inside.

Once in the infirmary she slipped off her rain soaked jacket and flipped her hair up in a pony. Donning sterile gloves and a mask she began to work at the woman's clothes cutting them off as fast as she could. When the woman was finally void of material that would get in the way, Magnus assessed the situation further, she was most definitely thirty-nine to forty weeks, but she had not taken care of herself. There were bruises all over her body and track marks on her forearms and in between her fingers. It took Magnus two tries to get the IV in and even then she wasn't sure it wouldn't blow soon thereafter. She slapped on the electrodes to monitor her heart rate and that of the fetus.

She started the ultrasound to find if the infant had turned yet when the young woman's eyes flickered open. "Don't let me die." Helen turned, leaning over the still frame. "Don't let me die."

Helen's hand came up to the woman's cheek; she could see the fear, the terror in the younger woman's eyes. "I promise." The younger nodded and moved a hand to her abdomen.

"It hurts."

"I know," Helen didn't remove her hand as the tears began to fall through the pained lashes. "It's too late to give you anything to help with that." The woman just nodded understanding. "What's your name?"

"Sara. Whitcomb." Helen could see the girl waiting for the reaction—to be kicked out. Dana Whitcomb's daughter at her own door—how ironic?

"Well Sara," Helen plastered a smile on her face, "it looks like you're going to have a baby today." Helen made to move away, but Sara gripped her hand.

"Please, don't let me die."

"I promise—"

"No! You don't understand!" Sara was getting desperate, she needed this woman to understand; it was the only way she could survive, she clenched in pain as another contraction hit. "She put something inside me." It was a whisper, nothing else.

"Who did?" She should not have asked that question first, she should have asked what it was.

"The doctor, my mother had her do it. Please don't let me die." Her face contorted in pain as a sharp contraction hit her again.

"Just breathe," Magnus' voice was calm and soothing, completely opposite of the woman before her.

Sara just shook her head violently from one side to the other, "It's not right, something's not right!" She began to seize, her body going into convulsions. Bigfoot stepped in to help Magnus hold on to her flailing limbs down. Sara began to cough up blood, her body shaking and jerking.

"We need to get the baby out now." Magnus shouted, a little uncharacteristically. She shot a paralytic into the IV and waiting for Sara's body to stop all movement. As soon as she did, Magnus began her work, slicing into the lower abdomen—through the skin first and then through the wall of the womb. The babe's head was right there, she could see it. Glancing quickly at the monitors and then at Sara's complacent face she started to pull the baby. This would be the quickest C-section she had ever performed.

Placing the baby on the mother's chest she swiftly began to rub her skin, clearing the fluid from its mouth and nose. "Come on," she chanted quietly; vigorously she rubbed the baby's chest until she heard the soft intake of breath. Handing the newborn to Bigfoot she returned to the first patient. She heard the explosion, felt it in the woman's body as she moved to close the wound. Looking quickly at the monitors they all read dead. "What?" She moved her hands to find a pulse—nothing. Starting CPR she pushed down on the woman's chest to only have blood flow from her lips over her cheeks and out of her ears. Magnus stopped immediately. It was then that she heard the soft sounds of the second and third minute explosion, was the best way she could describe it. Stepping back suddenly she barely missed the blood spattering from Sara's open stomach.

"Dear God," passed through Magnus' lips as she leaned over the still and very dead girl. "She was right." Moving her already bloodied hands to the opening, Magnus looked inside. Everything was destroyed: the liver, the kidneys, the intestines, the stomach. Taking the knife Magnus sliced into the woman's chest. Her heart was disintegrated. It was here that she found small pieces of metal floating in the escaping bodily fluids. They were bombs—they must have been designed specifically to kill the girl after the contractions had started. "Dear God," uttered once again, there were dozens of them in various places around her body.

She closed the body and cleaned her skin: her mind reeling with unanswered questions. Finishing, she pulled the gloves from her hands and headed into the room next door, where she knew the infant was. She could hear the soft wails and smiled to herself, knowing exactly what the child wanted. The three men in her life were surrounding the clear hospital bassinette looking from the infant to each other in utter confusion. Kate, not surprisingly, was among them.

Helen reached in and picked up the child, holding her close to her chest. "Henry," said quietly, looking into the eyes staring up at her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a fifty. "Go to the store, I need formula and diapers." He took the money and turned, then quickly flipped around.

"What?"

"I'll go with him." Kate stated pulling him back by the shoulder, "He'd probably end up getting pull-ups if he went by himself."

Helen smirked at that, knowing it was very possibly true. Patting the baby's bottom she began to sway back and forth. Bigfoot and Will exchanged glances before moving away without a word. This was a side of her that Will had never seen and could barely even imagine—but then again, she was a mother.

Helen held on to the child until she quieted and fell asleep in her arms. Carrying her carefully in one arm Magnus made her way to the lab with the samples she had taken from the infant's mother. She wanted to know exactly how those bombs inside her had worked. Why kill the mother? Why would Dana Whitcomb place her own daughter in that situation? How could any parent do that?

Performing lab work one-handed was not something she had done in a while, but she was getting the hang of it again. Using her teeth to open the eppendorf tubes full of samples she had taken from Sara. She once again found that pipetting was the easy part one-handed. Glancing quickly down at the infant once again she moved to look into the microscope. She felt the eyes on her; leaning back she looked down again. "Hey there little one," lifting a finger she traced the soft cheek of the hours old babe, "I know you're hungry, Henry should be back soon with something for you." Her eyes crinkled and she looked down into her arms. "What to do with you now? Send you back to that awful woman? I should hardly think so." The infant started to coo and Helen stood bouncing the child lightly in her arms, humming.

"Uh, Doc?" She looked up to find Henry and Will standing in the doorway: Henry awkwardly holding the bottle in front of him. "The Big Guy made it up." She took it from in, testing the temperature on her bare wrist before feeding the infant.

"Right… then," she looked odd, standing there and feeding the infant and trying to maintain her enclosed persona. "Sara was implanted with fourteen devices that were set to kill her as soon as she began labor. They were set off one by one from the beginning of her contractions until just after I delivered the child. Now, Sara is the child of Dana Whitcomb and she told me that he mother had done this to her." She looked around at her staff, "What else have we learned?" She looked pointedly to each person, one after the other. "Well?"

They all looked down at their toes, Biggie speaking and thrusting his hand forward and grunting, "Found this, in her jacket."

Resting the bottle against her breast, Magnus took the paper and unfolded it against her leg.

Helen,

If you are reading this, then I am undoubtedly dead and you were unable to save me. Three months ago my mother contacted me and asked I participate in one of her experiments. She impregnated me with an embryo and asked that I bring it to term. What she failed to tell me was that the embryo had been altered to grow rapidly. That was only a few weeks ago. It was two days ago that I understood why all this was happening. I am truly sorry.

She is yours.

Sara

Magnus read it again. And again. Her mouth opened and shut multiple times as she looked from person to person, again and again. Finally, she let her gaze fall to the infant who was still suckling the now empty bottle.

"Magnus?" It was Will who spoke. She handed him the paper and waited for him to finish. He didn't say anything just looked at her. Helen looked at the others dismissing them quietly and they took the hint. She looked down at the child again and back up to him, tears swimming in her eyes.

She shook her head, "I can't." She looked down at the infant again, "I can't." Shoving the child into Will's reluctant arms she practically ran out of the room.

"Ok then." He turned around not quite knowing what to do. The infant started to spit up, "Eww." He held the baby away from him and grimaced; "Gross." Tapping lightly on the baby's back as he held the girl with one hand which allowed the spit up to dribble down the back of his hand. Attempting not to vomit himself he waited until the infant was done. Moving back to the infirmary he placed the infant on a bed as he moved to the sink washing his hands, gagging. He took a wet cloth and moved over the infant cleaning her face and the blanket she was wrapped in. Deciding the blanket needed to be changed he removed it quickly only to discover that he didn't know how to replace it.

Kate showed up precisely at the moment. "Kate!" He called exacerbated. "Help a guy out will ya?" She came over and looked at the situation.

Sighing she made a quick decision. "Ok, but this does not leave the room."

"Anything you want, just help."

Sighing heavily one more time she quickly laid the infant on the fresh blanket and folded once, twice and then tucked in once and twice and was finished. "There. I swear Will, if this leaves the room—" She walked out on that comment, knowing he wouldn't dare.

"Ok, now what?" He looked down at the infant who started to cry. "Oh, no, please don't do that!" He picked the infant up, holding her away from his chest but she continued to cry. Giving up, he pulled the infant in close, like he had seen Magnus do and she quieted instantly. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Talking to himself once again: "Ok, baby asleep. Now, what the hell was that about with Magnus?" His brain began running quickly and surprisingly it took him a few scenarios before he came up with the obvious. "Ashley."

He headed to her office; they were going to discuss this whether she liked it or not. The door was open, she wasn't there. Instinctively he knew this, but he went inside anyway. Perhaps he shouldn't take the infant with him when he confronted her. The girl was, after all, the problem.

Radioing the Big Guy he got a quick response. "I'm setting up the bassinette in the nursery. You can bring her by." He grunted.

"Ok, be there in two." The bassinette was made up and the Big Guy was working on some sort of swing as Will laid the infant down. "Right, have fun you two." Walking away quickly he made for the one place she went to think. Climbing the tower stairs he knew she was there. The rain hadn't stopped, in fact, it had grown fiercer. Upon opening the door he was hit with a sudden wave of wind and water pelting him. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she stood on the ledge. Coming to stand behind her he grabbed her shoulder pulling her back and down off the wall and level with him.

"She's not Ashley, Magnus." He was looking right into her eyes, boring the thought into her brain. "She's not… Ashley."

Her eyes widened when she looked at him, "I know." It was so quiet he almost didn't hear her, "But still—I can't help but think—be reminded of all that's happened." Taking a breath she began to relax. "God, what am I supposed to do with a baby?" Her eyes connected with his again. "I can't take that loss again—even if it is from old age. I will outlive her. I can't watch another child die."

There she had said it, her biggest fear. It was the reason why she hadn't gone to see the Count, why she huddled away in her own little world year after year. She was afraid of what yet another devastation of significant magnitude would do to her. She was looking at her feet and he couldn't help but feel an overwhelming urge to hug her. Three years ago he never would have considered the possibility of giving her physical comfort. She was untouchable. "C'mere." He pulled her into an embrace wrapping his arms around her. She was a taken aback for a moment, but her hands found his back quickly as her face buried in his chest finding his clothes drenched. The tears fell from her eyes unbidden—God, when was the last time she had cried?

She rubbed her nose in his shirt, and it was moments later before she spoke "You're all wet." Her voice was muffled, but he could hear the hitch of a joke on it.

"Well that tends to happen when standing outside in a storm." He could feel her smile.

"Thank you, Will." She placed a hand on his chest pushing back slightly. Glancing up she placed her hand on his cheek. Only seconds later she turned towards the door going back inside. He followed only steps behind when he saw her shiver. Figures she would catch a cold from this, it would be her own doing—he would not be sympathetic.

"Hey, go get warmed up and changed—it's Kate's night for dinner and she said she was actually going to cook this time." Magnus looked back at him as he spoke. If Kate was cooking, that meant two things: the first was that it would be edible and the second that it would be Indian and amazing.

Her lips quirked into a soft smile, "Ah, you know the way to my heart young William." He heard her teasing tone and went with it.

"Hurry up now or I'll eat it all before you get a chance." He made his way to his own room to change.