Chapter Two

Jaime had (surprisingly) not heard her attackers approaching and didn't take the time to look around now. Instinctively, she clutched the baby protectively close to her chest as she turned and reached for the front door. She began to head inside but was stopped by a hand roughly gripping her arm. She whirled around, confused and frightened, just as Steve loudly squealed to a stop directly in front of the house, startling her would-be captors and attracting their attention just long enough for Jaime to make it into the house safely with Jenna.

As quickly as she could, she ran down the hall and gently placed the baby in her crib before heading back to the front door. Her bionics had been temporarily adjusted to normal strength several months before Jenna's birth, though, and realizing she could be of little or no help to Steve, she turned instead to the phone, to notify Oscar. Tears flowed silently down her cheeks at the thought of what might be happening to her husband...

Steve had jumped from the car and immediately charged toward the two intruders, grabbing one by the collar and slamming him into his cohort before they had a chance to react. They staggered right back to their feet, so Steve bashed them together again, more forcefully this time.

"Threatening a newborn baby – and my wife! - you're lucky I haven't stomped both of you into dust, right here!" One of the attackers raised his gun and Steve reacted instantly, kicking it from his grip; the gun went flying through the air and the bones in the hand cracked painfully. "Wanna be next?" Steve growled at the other man, who responded by meekly tossing his gun to the ground at Steve's feet. "Who are you?" Steve demanded, "and what the hell made you think you could attack a woman with a baby?"

Jaime finished her call for help and had just parted the curtains to peer anxiously outside when the sound of a gunshot rang out from somewhere in the trees. She screamed as Steve fell to the ground, and no longer caring if she could fight the intruders herself, she rushed to his side. His eyes were closed in a grimace of pain, and the two men had vanished.

- - - - - -

Jaime sat anxiously in the hallway outside Steve's hospital room, waiting for Rudy to come out and tell her she could finally see her husband. They had been very lucky; the bullet had been halted by one of Steve's titanium ribs before it could do serious damage. It had fractured several human ribs in its path, though, so although he would be in pain for some time, he would recover. As Jaime waited, she cursed her inability to defend herself (and her daughter). She'd agreed with Rudy's suggestion of a temporary tune-down so she wouldn't accidentally hurt herself or the baby during the rigors of childbirth, but now that she'd had a good, strong dose of helplessness, Jaime didn't like it one bit.

She was instantly on her feet when Rudy joined her, and when the doctor noted her pallor and slight unsteadiness he silently wondered if he'd soon have a second patient. "He's pretty out of it," he told Jaime. "I gave him something to help him rest. You can see him now."

Jaime nodded, then paused before going in. "Rudy, I want my strength back."

"We talked about this, Honey," he reminded her. "Your body is still too weak to handle it; you'd probably go straight into rejection. In another month or so, maybe, but right now, we just can't take the risk."

"If Steve hadn't come home, Jenna and I would've been sitting ducks. I couldn't protect my own child!"

"Maybe not bionically," the doctor pointed out, "but I know you; you'd have found a way. Look at how quickly packed her bag and got her safely to your aunt's house."

"Yeah, but -"

"Soon, Jaime. We'll talk about it in a couple of weeks."

"There's...something else, Rudy," Jaime added softly. "I heard Steve's warning – my ear is fine – but I never heard those men sneaking up on us. I think my instincts are gone."

"I doubt that. You've just given birth; you're a little preoccupied, and rightly so." He gave her his most reassuring smile. "You'll be just fine," he said, hoping silently that he was right.

- - - - - -

Jaime stayed by Steve's side, dozing a little but mostly just watching him sleep, until the next morning. She was grateful that her aunt had so much experience with infants; Jenna was in good hands, allowing Jaime to have breakfast with her husband before retrieving the baby.

"Tomorrow, we get to bring Daddy home," she cooed to her daughter as they returned to the house. "I'll bet you miss him as much as I do." For the rest of the day, Jaime was careful to rest whenever the baby was sleeping, as Rudy had been reminding her to do. She spent some of their 'awake' time stocking the master bedroom with extra pillows, blankets and a bed tray, humming as she worked. The binoculars out in the trees never spotted her, since she didn't leave the house.

- - - - - -