Hearing the crying of a baby is normally annoying, but when it's the first cries a baby has made, it sounds beautiful.

It certainly sounded beautiful to Marvin, who was anxiously pacing up and down outside the hospital room his wife was in. He froze as he heard the crying, his heart both leaping and dancing at the sound. His face melted into the biggest smile it had ever held, and his hands automatically flew to his face, his fingers covering his mouth.

A few minutes later, his old friend Doctor John Hopwood came out of the room. Catching sight of Marvin, his tired face spread into a smile. "Mother and baby are healthy."

Marvin exhaled deeply in relief. "Thanks, John. What…What do we have?"

John grinned. "Why don't you go in and see?"

Marvin blinked. "Really? I can?"

"Why not?"

"Well…" As Marvin hesitated, a lightbulb above them suddenly blew, causing the lights in the entire ward to go out. Luckily, there was enough light coming in through the windows that it wasn't dark. "That's why not."

John grimaced. "We have removed everything that could potentially be dangerous, so apart from the floor, ceiling, or windows, I don't think anything will be able to hurt you or Steph."

"Or the baby?" Marvin asked anxiously.

John smiled. "Or the baby. Go on, Marvin. We've all been round you long enough that we can handle whatever is thrown our way."

Marvin beamed and hugged his friend. "Thank you, John."

John patted Marvin on the back as the latter headed into the room, shutting the door behind him.

There was nobody inside the room apart from his wife, Stephanie Steele, who was lying on the bed, cradling a bundle in her arms. Her short silver hair was covering her face, but Marvin could see that she was smiling broadly. He knew her green eyes would be full of love, and also disbelief that SHE had made this little creature in her arms.

Well, her and one other person.

Beaming, Marvin stepped forwards. "Steph?"

Stephanie looked up sharply. Spotting Marvin, her face melted. "Marvin."

"How are you feeling?"

"So tired," sighed Stephanie. She looked back down at the baby in her arms. "But this little bundle of joy is a million percent worth it."

Marvin could feel his eyes watering as he came to stand at the side of the bed. "Do we have a son or a daughter?"

Stephanie smiled and tilted the bundle so that Marvin could see the tiny face of his newborn child. She moved the fabric slightly, and Marvin saw that the baby was dressed in a tiny pink onesie.

His breath caught in his throat but he managed to croak, "A girl?"

Stephanie nodded, tears of happiness leaking out of her eyes. "A daughter."

"What should we name her?"

Stephanie blinked, thinking for a moment. "Didn't we decide on a flower name if it was a girl?"

Marvin nodded, wiping his eyes. "Rose or Lily or something like that."

"Lily," Stephanie echoed. "To match her pale-ish skin."

Marvin laughed. "It's not THAT pale. But I do love the name Lily. So we'll call her that."

Stephanie beamed. "Lily. I love it."

Marvin sighed happily. "I wish Vinnie and Bal could have been here to see this."

Stephanie smirked. "They're probably having a grand old time protecting pistachios in 2017."

"Remember when WE went there?" Marvin smiled wistfully. "We met some pretty interesting people."

"I'd love to see that Milo kid again," Stephanie said. "He was very interesting. He reminded me of you, you know. Optimistic, adventurous, compassionate."

Marvin blinked and ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I guess."

All of a sudden, Lily disappeared from Stephanie's arms.

She let out a shriek and dropped the empty blanket. "MARVIN?!"

Marvin leapt a foot backwards. "What?!"

He spun round and spotted the baby lying on top of the filing cabinet in the corner. Marvin went towards it but then scrambled backwards. "Steph, you get her!"

Stephanie struggled to get out of bed. "Why me?"

"Because if I do it, the filing cabinet will probably break or tip over!" Marvin snapped back. "I don't want Lily to hurt herself!"

Stephanie managed to get off the bed, and staggered over to the filing cabinet. Reaching up, she managed to lift Lily off the top of it and into her arms. "What happened there, little one?" she murmured.

Lily cooed in answer.

"That…wasn't me," Marvin said, stepping towards his family. "That's wasn't…you-know-what."

Marvin didn't like saying the name of his curse out loud, so whenever he referred to it as "you-know-what", anyone who knew him understood exactly what he meant. He believed that mentioning the name out loud made everything worse.

"I know." Stephanie sucked in a breath. "Somehow, it wasn't you. And ML only passes from father to son, so…Lily can't have it."

There was a knock at the door. Frowning, Marvin went over to it and opened it. Outside stood a red-haired woman of about thirty years of age. She was wearing a white lab technician's coat. Marvin recognised her immediately. "Clarissa, is everything okay?"

Clarissa moved into the room, past Marvin, who closed the door behind them. Spotting Stephanie and Lily on the bed, she went and sat down next to them.

"Hey, Clarissa." Stephanie smiled. "Meet Lily."

Clarissa smiled back, but hers was a weaker smile. "John sent me," she said hesitantly. "He took a genetic sample from the baby just after it was born. There was some…abnormal results."

"A-Abnormal?" repeated Marvin nervously.

"A mutation of some kind," Clarissa clarified. "Has Lily displayed any kind of unusual abilities? I understand it's only been an hour since she was born, but-."

"She teleported," Stephanie interrupted. "One moment she was in my arms over here, the next she was on top of that filing cabinet." She pointed at the cabinet in question.

Clarissa frowned.

"It's not…you-know-what, is it?" Marvin asked nervously.

Clarissa shook her head. "No. This is a mutation in her DNA."

"So…these abilities…" Stephanie hesitated. "She'll have these forever?"

"I'm afraid so," Clarissa said reluctantly. "But the good news is that it's not a strong mutation, so there'll be no chance of anything major happening."

"What if we encourage these abilities?" asked Stephanie. "Cause them to grow?"

"Then…they MAY grow into something major. I don't really know, sorry. But I think it's best that the abilities are NOT encouraged to grow."

Marvin and Stephanie nodded at each other.

"I'll leave you two some time to talk over what you want to do now," Clarissa said, standing up. "I'll be outside."

She left the room.

Marvin had tears in his eyes, just as he had a few minutes earlier, but these were not tears of joy. "S-Steph…we have to send her away."

Stephanie stared at him. "What?!"

"We can send her to live with Vinnie and Balthazar," offered Marvin. "They will be more than happy to-."

"WHY?!" demanded Stephanie.

"If word of this gets out, we might have some of our old enemies trying to use her against us!" Marvin cleared his throat. "More specifically…Maisy."

Stephanie squeezed her eyes shut, imagining the devastation that would be caused if Marvin's younger sister got her hands on Lily and encouraged her abilities.

"We need to make sure nobody knows about her abilities. I'll tell the Hopwoods to keep quiet about this. If word gets out, Lily will be in danger."

Stephanie let out a sob. "I-I can't leave my baby, Marvin!"

Marvin felt his heart break. His chest and throat were stinging. But he knew this was the best course of action. "Steph, trust me, this isn't any easier on me than it is you. But we have to make Lily's safety our top priority."

"But you're talking about her growing up away from us!" Stephanie cried. "We wouldn't get to hear her first word, see her first steps, teach her how to ride a bike…"

"I-I know, Steph-."

"It'd be like she isn't even our daughter at all!" Stephanie buried her head in the blankets covering Lily and stared crying.

Marvin felt his own eyes begin to leak as he went over to his wife and hugged her tightly. "I know, Steph. I know. And it'll be hard. But we have to consider Lily's safety. And she just won't be safe with us."

"It's not fair," whimpered Stephanie. "It…It's not fair…" She kissed Lily's forehead over and over again. "I love you, Lily. I do. I will always love you."

"So will I." Marvin's voice broke but he took Lily's tiny hand and held it as tightly as he dared. He stroked her cheek with his finger, chuckling weakly as Lily reached out, took the finger, and stuck it in her mouth. "I love you, Lily."

Clarissa suddenly came back into the room, looking slightly bemused by the two crying adults. "D-Did you decide something?"

"Could…Could you take Lily, please?" Marvin croaked. "We need you to take her to Dakota and Cavendish."

Clarissa blinked. "Are you making the right decision?"

"We are," Marvin replied simply.

Clarissa slowly nodded and moved forwards. She reached out and started gently pulling Lily out of Stephanie's grasp. Stephanie cried out and struggled weakly, but Marvin put his hand on her shoulder, and she was forced to let her daughter go.

Then Lily began crying, sensing that she was away from her mother. Clarissa tried to sooth Lily by rocking her, but the newborn's cries only increased in volume.

This was agony to Stephanie, who buried her head in Marvin's shirt and started sobbing uncontrollably. Marvin also began crying as he clutched his wife tightly, both of them leaning back in the bed.

"I'm so sorry, Lily," Marvin whispered.

Forgive me.