Hellboy and Liz return home from their separate missions, but the best of what Hellboy had left behind, unexpectedly follows him.
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Hurrying up the helicopter ramp with Liz, Hellboy gave a passing quick nod to the rest of the agents and headed straight to the pilots to give up Joaquin's coordinates. Swiftly studying the handwritten note, senior pilot Lon raised his eyebrows at Red's explanation of the shield's explosive effects.
"Awesome gruesome," marvelled Lon. "We'll definitely give 'er a wide berth. We have lift. Adios, Majorca. Goin' home!"
.
With Thing One looked after, Hellboy took a seat among the others. "Everybody good?" he asked, eyeing up the team's sooty appearance and singed clothing.
"You had a wet assignment. We didn't," agent Nelson understated with a smudged, airy grin.
Their team leader admitted drily, "Things got a little hot." But Liz seemed as pleased as the rest.
Hellboy waited for someone to flesh out the details.
"Story short, we chased all three harpies back into their little cave hole," agent Greer obliged, "and Liz melted enough obsidian magma to seal it."
"I like," Hellboy complimented. Then, next on his mind, "Where's Blue?"
"Abe's team is, so far so good, coming back tomorrow." And Liz turned her attention to Red's newest facial cuts.
.
The team crypto-pathologist sat nearby, holding back until Hellboy spoke up.
"Doc, you look like a hurtin' unit."
"Barrels of tissue samples from your monster are on board. We towed out and sank the remains. We could have used your help," scolded Dr. Patterson. "Where were you?"
"Sorry, Doc. It went out of my hands. Not fair to the rest of you that I was being threatened with a good time."
"What a weird thing to say!" Liz checked over the bloodstained rips in his coat. Crouching in front of him, she reached up to unbutton from his neck, down. "You've never closed your coat," she said only for him to hear, but Greer and Nelson mugged at him behind her back, miming a mommy attending to her toddler. The instant Liz stood up to slip the coat off Red's shoulders, the silly expressions switched off.
.
He half-smiled back at them while Liz examined the bandages surrounding his torso. "The job went off easy," he told his listeners. "Afterwards, some citizens took me to their house. I couldn't get back to point until I met up with the guy in the humvee. That's about it."
"That's about it?" echoed Nelson. "And who gave you that face?"
Hellboy looked satisfied. "Those are butts I've already kicked."
.
In the process of locking away Hellboy's ballistic knife, Liz discovered a cardboard corner peeking out of the sheath. She drew out a business card and read, 'Coronel Joaquin R. Damián – Llucmajor, Majorca'. It listed three contact numbers. She slipped it into her jacket pocket.
Returning to Hellboy, she took the seat beside him and buckled in. She handed over the card and as he read it, Liz could see that it was a good surprise.
"If I ever made a friend, fast," he said, inclining his head to her, "it's Joaquin. I couldn't have got away without him bringing me back. I'll tell you, later."
"Did you give him anything?" she asked.
"Business card? Never had any. Babe?" he whispered lower, "Your maternity leave starts tomorrow, right?"
. . .
Liz used her new inactive status to push Hellboy through his reporting obligations, sooner than later. He entertained her with an energetic blow-by-blow of his pursuit and defeat of the Mediterranean sea entity; then noticeably to her, skimmed over most details of what had followed at the estate house. He decided that Liz didn't need to know anything about Renata's touchy-feely advances.
.
"You were careless in the first place, to get captured," she concluded of it all, "but with the power Renata had to get all those men to do her will, she was the turning point. And who could have imagined that explosive shield existing there? You believed that you could get away whenever you wanted to. Joaquin's timing and motivation were a miracle for us. He had no reason to want you there. And since he's offered to keep it quiet, and I hope he does – he might turn out to be a decent man."
.
Yeah, he'd been careless and over-confident, but it had all turned out well for knowledge of the shield. He had got his bell rung a bit into the bargain, and he was used to that. And he'd been lucky to meet the resourceful estate overseer.
. . .
"Liz, the lab isn't such a good place for you," Hellboy protested.
"I'm curious about your demon's dissection. I'd like to watch." She hurried past him to reach the bio-lab's door.
"Wait a minute." He opened a box on the wall and took out a face mask for her to wear. But as soon as she stood within the open entrance, she gagged at the stink fanned across the room from the heaps of raw fleshy tissue laid out on the pathologist's aluminium table.
"Bye!" Liz gasped, turning tail.
.
Dr. Patterson's eyes crinkled above his own surgical mask. "What's up with Liz? She's used to attending necropsies."
"Start without me," Hellboy replied, "I'll be back in ten." And he went to catch up to her.
"I can't deny that I'm more sensitive to nausea inducing smells," she admitted, one hand poised and ready at her mouth. "Go back. I just need a change of air."
.
While the doctor was wrist-deep in the basins of fishy flesh, he gave Red his initial opinions. "Since I'm concluding that this beast is an amphibian, it may have been able to deposit eggs multiple times. Unless it arrived from demon-land fertilized, there could be another hermaphrodite on the loose."
"No news on any more of this kind, Doc."
"And listen to this – if you had only injured it, the creature could have regenerated those parts, and survived. Those are some physical characteristics of the earthly amphibian order, Caudata."
"I know that's what you've got to compare, Doc. Thanks. The unearthly differences are for me to find out."
. . .
Telling Liz that he was going to do something really different today, Hellboy punched in the lengthy international number, waited for the connection and activated the speaker. The answering accented voice spoke a short greeting and identification.
"Joaquin! It's Red. I found your card, mano."
"Red," repeated the man with quiet surprise, then excitedly, "very large Red, yes!"
"How's life?" Hellboy asked.
"Good enough," replied Joaquin, "but there has been no excitement here since you left."
"After what I've seen – nothing has an outside chance of sneaking up on you."
"You are so right, my friend!"
"And Renata?" ventured Red.
"She has – lately become very different. So devout in her faith, and much plainer in appearance, but is well," Joaquin answered. "And for you, the dark-haired beauty?"
"She's the one."
"You are blessed, Red!" Liz smiled at his reply.
"Coronel Damián, I'm Liz Sherman. I need to thank you for bringing Red back to us."
"Mi placer, Señora." Liz could hear the warmth in his voice. "It was little enough to do for a slayer of murderous dragons. And I am simply Joaquin."
"I'm glad to speak with you, after all I've heard."
"And we will, again," Joaquin returned. "Am I permitted to contact you, Red?"
"I'll get your clearance, and give you a heads up when it's in place."
"Until then, Red. Adios."
Liz raised an eyebrow. "He likes you. Are you keeping in touch?"
"Next time, with face."
. . .
Three weeks later, Hellboy listened to Joaquin's unhappy news.
"It has all, so much changed!" he exclaimed. "Renata has invested her estate into a national center for the welfare of women. My last responsibility has been to oversee the conversion of the property to suit her purposes. When I speak to you next, I will be living in Miami!"
"She fired you?" Hellboy asked.
"No men are allowed, except for custodians who must leave by a certain hour." He breathed out in exasperation. "She has provided for my retirement – a house, the severance. Perhaps I shouldn't confess - but my heart is broken, my friend!"
Hellboy stared at the screen in silent regret, and Liz leaned in to speak.
"I'm sorry, Joaquin. You must have thought you would always be with her."
"Bella dama, your comfort is welcome. Had our circumstances been different – but Renata could never marry her servant. I envy you."
"We're not married," Liz answered simply. "Talk about different circumstances – we have them all."
.
After exchanging goodbyes, Red considered what he knew of Joaquin. "He took care of her, and ran everything about her estate. And for him, it's all gone."
"Now he'll be alone in a different country, and needs friends. Somebody."
"He sure seems alone," Red agreed.
Joaquin's displaced situation resonated with Liz, especially since she now carried Red's children, and looked ahead to a full future of her own that she could never have foreseen.
. . .
As more weeks went by, Hellboy realized that Liz had made a fond friend in Joaquin. On this day, the Spaniard smiled disarmingly from the screen. "Red, please listen until I've finished what I have to propose."
One look at Liz told Red that something was up, but he let curiosity rule.
"I feel buckwild for something to do, ese," Joaquin began.
Hellboy leaned back in his chair, holding in a laugh. "Been hanging with a different crowd, homeboy?"
"When I run my kilometres daily, I hear such words," Joaquin explained, "and to continue. In my previous career, I co-ordinated the elements for banquets and large celebrations of every kind. For you, I will create a wedding reception at my new home." Seeing Hellboy's startled reaction, Joaquin smiled and raised his hand against interruption. "Liz believes that a most advantageous date will be October 31st. A costume ball theme ensures no overt attention. You'll marry in your way at your residence, and after, will board private jets for flight to Miami with your chosen guests. You'll assist me by naming your preferences, and I will have everything in place."
.
Hellboy fixed Liz with an open, questioning look. She gave him an approving smile.
"But this is huge!" Red told him, "How-"
"It's my gift, mi amigo, to the four of you. The little ones will not yet have arrived."
Another surprise – Joaquin knew as much about the expected babies as he did.
"This is happening to us!" Hellboy exclaimed. He gave the side edges of the screen a two-handed grip, as Joaquin looked back in amusement.
. . .
At supper that evening, the couple had more than usual to talk over.
"I couldn't believe it, the first time he offered," said Liz, "but he was serious, and we firmed up a few ideas."
"I'll make Manning give us the time off."
"You know, we won't have much responsibility."
Red looked pensive. "I'd like to do it the way Pop would have wanted."
"We only have to tell Joaquin about a food menu and the number of guests."
"Our licence," Red mused, "I've been trying for months to wrangle Washington to stand up for us on that. We'll head out to the Registrar in person if they don't. The photo ID always kills me."
"Clothes for the occasion. I know what I want. Do you?"
"I'll think about it."
. . .
Daily working life at the Bureau was the same in most ways – case briefings, research, investigations, updates, keeping up the equipment, and oh yeah, the boss. Tom Manning walked up to Hellboy's weight station in the main gym.
"Come to poke the bear?" Red smirked.
"I can't say I approve of you reaching out to this man," cautioned Manning, when Red turned his stern attention on him.
"I'm asking you to push hard for our marriage licence," retorted Hellboy, "or bad things could happen. You count on me all the time. And I'll never be locked up again."
. . .
Red visited the Bureau's uniform shop at quartermaster stores to make his request for his wedding day suit. He stood for measurements and figured the rest would take care of itself.
"We've made only a start," the tailor informed. "I ask that you take time to choose a style from my catalogue, and a fabric from these samples. Also the desired footwear."
Hellboy obliged with a quick flip through the pages. "This jacket and pants," he indicated. "This black leather. And these boots, size fifteen."
.
And he later accompanied Liz to her own dress design appointment with the same tailor.
"Times like this," he told her, "I think you'd have more fun if you had a lady friend, like for shopping, and talking about babies-"
"I have no complaints, big guy," she replied, "some of our female agents ask too many personal questions about you."
"Like what?"
"Nice try."
.
But Liz had lasted only long enough to approve a dress fabric when she just had to flee, again. Red hurried home with her, where she rushed straight into the bathroom and began to retch. He felt sorry for her morning sickness, and guilty enough for his part in it. He paced helplessly.
"Say, Liz -"
"Don't – don't come in!"
"I won't," he promised, "But do you maybe want some crackers -"
"Oh, gawd, no!" The straining sounds continued, and after, her faint panting died away. He heard her freshening up at the sink, and she was out moments later, taking in his concerned expression.
.
"Red, this is nothing serious, just mostly inconvenient. It could last another month."
Anxious to be helpful, the future father offered, "I'll carry barf bags for you."
"Oh, don't say barf!" she choked, wheeling back to the bathroom for another queasy bout.
.
Hellboy bit his lip, knowing that he was in the weeds on the matter. Liz didn't like being fussed over, and preferred hiding out when she felt ill. She emerged to find that he had turned down the bed covers for her. She gave him a little uncertain smile, and made herself comfortable.
"Need anything, Liz?" he asked in his softest voice, drawing the blanket over her.
"Mm, no.." Liz sighed, hugging a pillow to her stomach.
.
Red frowned at his own ignorance on the entire topic of childbirth. That would have to change. Turning on the computer, he searched and found far more information than it was possible to read in a lifetime, and what he did absorb in half an hour, was frankly terrifying. Maybe his intellectual pal Abe, could condense it down to essentials and make it less scary. Sure, he could.
.
When Liz showed signs of waking, Hellboy went to the bed to sit by her.
"Liz, when do you think you'll feel good again - I mean for way later?"
She smiled to ease his anxiety. "I guess at four, five months, in human terms. By the end of October, I should be better, but nobody knows how long I'll be carrying."
"I think Abe can help us with that."
"It's worth a try."
"You're not afraid," he said with admiration, fully aware that all the risk and physical pain would fall to her.
"I am a little, but I'm glad we're pregnant."
"We're pregnant," he repeated, liking the sound of it, the reality of it; that she had said it. He tried not to let imaginings of what could go wrong, overwhelm him.
.
For Hellboy, the most comforting and sorrowful place in Section 51 was the home of his best friend, in the carefully preserved domain of his late father. Standing outside the transparent wall of Abe's aquarium, he began, "Sometimes, I think I depend on you too much, Brother."
The merman swam up to regard him closely. "Not at all, Red. Wait, and I'll get out."
.
Seated opposite him, Abe encouraged Hellboy to give up his problem. His friend sighed and raised his eyes to the ornate ceiling.
"We're too much in the dark about the kids-"
"If Liz wishes it, I'll take frequent readings to determine rate of their development and the state of health of mother and infants. I'll do all that I can." He warmed at Red's relieved expression. With his friend seeming speechless for the moment, Abe considered that in all the years he'd known Red, nothing had occupied his mind as totally as this future he'd believed would never be his. He'd been concerned that Hellboy would be left with only work and his mourning for Professor Bruttenholm. Instead, all now rested on the safety of one woman.
.
"She'll be here, soon," Hellboy told him, "and we have something else to ask you."
Gladly accepting the best man honours, Abe immediately went into extended planning mode. He made a detailed study of applicable wedding tradition to learn all of his duties and the next day, presented some suggestions.
"You must have wedding bands," he proposed, "and they need to be ordered now, as Red's will have to be specially sized. And Liz, a diamond engagement ring?"
"Don't want one, Abe. It's a bad fit in a glove."
"Who will attend you, Liz?"
"I'll have Joaquin. You'll like meeting him."
"You two are being very unconventional," declared the merman.
Hellboy winked. "You just noticed that, Brother?"