It was visibly obvious when Lina and Gourry returned from their honeymoon tour that their brief union had been fruitful. While people ribbed them about their upcoming loss of freedom and trading a life of adventure for changing diapers, Lina was glad to have a reason not to go back to it. She was still broken hearted after having to kill a friend and had had a life time of making difficult, world saving decisions. She was ready to hang up her hat and let someone else make the gut rending calls. And as always, Gourry was simply happy to do whatever she wanted.

Fortune seemed to smile on them. Hers parents' store was becoming extremely profitable and they needed some extra hands. Lina and Gourry moved in with them and hoped to be able to move into their own place by the time the baby arrived, though as the weeks passed it became obvious that it was not going to happen. They threw themselves into their new life, with all the optimism and dreams that a young couple in love could have.

The only thing that troubled Lina was how much pain she was in. And how it got worse as the child within her grew bigger and stronger. The baby would kick her so hard she would be winded. It seemed to take great delight in punching her lungs and winding her. It had a way of curling into a ball and then uncoiling harshly, so both legs and arms flew out in four separate directions at the same time! Lina was baffled by the women who would talk with delight about feeling the baby move. Lina felt hers was tearing her apart from the inside out!

Still, Lina kept quiet. She didn't want to seem weak or worry anyone, especially Gourry. And when it got unendurable she would cast a sleep spell on her stomach and the downstairs neighbor's antics would cease. Lina worried about the sheer amount of times it was necessary for her to use it, but when the baby started kicking hard enough to break her ribs, Lina felt that the sleep spells were the only way both of them were going to survive it.

One night, when she still had a month left to go, Lina was helping her mother put away the dinner dishes when she cried out, keeling over in pain as the dishes fell and shattered around her. "Lina?" her mother asked, aghast.

Lina gritted as she straightened as best she could as Mrs. Inverse supported her. The little bugger was awake and continued his pummeling even as Lina struggled to breath. She was pretty sure that first kick had broken a rib, and that the creature within was struggling to break a second! "What's wrong?" Gourry asked as he raced into the dining room.

"It's just indigestion." Lina gritted as her mother helped her to the couch.

"No it's not." Mrs. Inverse said, horrified, as she stared at Lina's stomach. The little creature was kicking and punching so hard it was plainly visible through Lina's shirt! "He looks like he's trying to claw his way out!"

Lina struggled to hold back tears as she cast a sleeping spell. The pummeling finally stopped, but she was still in a tremendous amount of pain thanks to the broken ribs. "I've got it under control." She said as her father entered the room with Luna. "I don't need all of you crowding me like a flock of hens."

"How long have you been doing that?" Gourry asked as Mrs. Inverse felt around her rib cage. Lina cried out again, and her mother started a recovery spell.

"Doing what?" Lina asked once she caught her breath.

"Casting sleep spells on it?"

"I dunno. A few months." Lina said reluctantly, feeling unusually weak and vulnerable. She wished that everyone would just leave the room until she got her composure back, "Don't worry about it, I've learned how to take care of it."

"How many times have you broken your ribs?" Mrs. Inverse asked sharply, and Lina wanted to kill her as she saw the look of guilt that flashed across Gourry's face.

"What does it…" Lina started, but had to stop. Yelling hurt too much. She leaned her head back on the couch and told herself that she was lucky to have kept it under wraps for this long.

"Have you talked to the midwife?" Luna asked.

"What's she going to do, other than tell me to suck it up?" Lina replied.

"It's not normal to keep breaking ribs like this." Mrs. Inverse insisted.

The words chilled Lina to the core. Not normal. Did that mean there was something wrong with the baby? "I'll take you tomorrow," her mother decided, "Get it checked out. Just in case."

"But…" Lina started.

"Please." Gourry said, quietly but firmly.

"Fine." Lina agreed.

And sure enough, when they went the next day all the midwife said was she just had a very active, strong baby and that there was nothing to worry about, and that no harm at all would come from the sleep spells if that was what she had to do to get through the torturous and seemingly endless last month of pregnancy.

"This sucks!" Lina exclaimed as sat up in bed and rested her head against the headboard as the last contraction died away.

Gourry patted her knee, "You're doing very well."

"Say that one more time and I'm going to knock your teeth down your throat!" she snapped.

From across the room Gourry noticed as Mrs. Inverse smiled knowingly. Earlier that morning Lina had been whining and begging for the pains to come so she wouldn't be pregnant anymore. She met the first contractions with an eager excitement and was fully ready for the challenge of labor. Several hours later, the thrill had worn thin and she was desperate for it to be over. But at least as her mother had pointed out she was progressing so quickly it didn't look as though it would be a long labor. So fast that while Gourry was ready for the baby to get here and the end of her pain, he was also desperate for it not to happen until the midwife got there. Once again he wondered where she was. Her father had left some time ago to fetch her!

"Damn!" Lina exclaimed.

"What?" Gourry asked.

"I think my water broke. Wow, this feels weird." She said.

"When is that midwife getting here?" Gourry asked as Lina's grip on his hand suddenly tightened and she let out as exclamation of pain as she curled into herself, sending a chill through Gourry's body.

Her mother walked up and put a hand on her knee, "Hush, it's almost over." She said calmly as Lina struggled to breathe through it, but quieted and relaxed in response to the touch. The door flew open and an elderly lady walked in.

"With a scream like that this looks like the real deal." The midwife observed as she bustled in and glared at Gourry, and he felt his stomach sink. Vera was the midwife that Lina had not wanted to attend her birth. Lina and Vera had butted heads from the moment they laid eyes on each other, and Lina had made it clear that under no circumstances did she want that old cow to deliver her while Vera had been equally adamant that the only way she'd attend an impetuous little wench like her was if no one else was available. It made sense now why her father was so late bringing her. The worst had happened and they had had to make due with Vera. "No men allowed."

Gourry looked helplessly at Lina as she finally exhaled with relief as the contraction released its grip on her. "I can't leave her to face this on her own."

"Her mother and sister are here, she'll be fine." Vera maintained.

"Vera," Mrs. Inverse said gently, "Can't this be an exception?"

"It's bad luck." Vera said.

"In Elmekia all men stayed with their wives." Gourry said.

"No wonder Elmekia is so backwards then." Vera snapped. "Now get!"

"I want him to stay." Lina said firmly, and Gourry felt better. He wasn't just making it worse for her!

Gourry squeezed her hand, "Then I'm not leaving you."

"You have five minutes and then you have to leave." Vera said as she started unpacking her bag.

"It's my house." Mrs. Inverse said, "I decide who stays. Now, shouldn't you be doing your job and tending to my daughter rather than picking the first fight you can?"

Vera glared at Mrs. Inverse, obviously furious. "How far apart are the contractions?"

"Three minutes." Mrs. Inverse said coolly, "And her waters have broken."

"Good."

Lina shook her head as Vera approached the bed, "Damn, he woke up."

Gourry glanced at Lina's stomach and saw the rippling movements and shook his head in disbelief over how strong and fierce the life within was as Lina closed her eyes. "This close you'd probably better not use another sleep spell." Mrs. Inverse said as Lina nodded in agreement.

"At least he's dropped too low to hit my rib cage. Oh shit, here it comes!"

She started out yelling like she had during the last one, and Gourry touched her leg like he had seen her mother do. For a brief moment she closed her eyes as she focused and quieted, but then her eyes shot open as she clutched his arm tightly and she started to scream in agony, the sound so chilling that Gourry felt his skin erupt in gooseflesh as something about the way Lina was responding to what was happening to her changed.

Vera clucked as she examined Lina, "Such a weakling. Most women don't start screaming like that till they're farther along. You've still got a way to go."

Gourry wanted to deck her, and from the look on Mrs. Inverse's face he was not alone. Beads of sweat formed on Lina's face as she struggled with the pain, and when she finally relaxed she was close to tears, "Something's wrong!"

"What is it?" Gourry asked as the anxiety grew within him.

"There's a man in the delivery room, that's what's wrong!" Vera snapped, "Serves you right for going against my advice."

"Put a lid on the superstitious nonsense!" Mrs. Inverse said curtly, and Gourry could tell by the look on her face that he was not the only one who was scared by Lina's change in composure, "Lina's a highly trained sorceress and her intuition is well developed. If she says something is wrong then you'd better look into it."

"Nerves of the first time mother." Vera maintained as she finished examining Lina, "Head is engaged, you're a bit farther along than you think you are, and everything looks fine."

Lina shook her head as tears started to run down her face and her voice shook, "Something is wrong."

"It's supposed to hurt a lot, you'll get over it." Vera maintained.

Gourry wanted to tell her that he had seen Lina tortured by a Mazoku who fully intended to kill her after wresting as much pain and agony from her as possible, and that he had never seen her break down like this. But he found he couldn't speak. He was used to facing down his fears on the battlefield, but this was an arena he had never fought in before and he was at a loss as to what to do.

Lina's mother put a hand on her shoulder, "What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know how to describe…No!" Lina yelled before she threw her head back and screamed again. Gourry was shaking as he looked at Mrs. Inverse, who looked to be feeling just as helpless as he was. For one brief moment Lina stopped screaming as she struggled to catch her breath, contorted wildly, wrenching her hand from his as she threw her arms in the air as if to ward off an invisible attack before she started screaming again, louder even than before. Gourry silently pleaded with someone, anyone to make it stop. He put a hand on her knee but she didn't even notice.

Mrs. Inverse stepped back, looking torn between terror and grief, "I'm telling my husband to get another midwife."

She left, and Lina finally relaxed as Vera looked at her watch, "That was barely two minutes apart from the last one. That is impressive considering this is your first child."

Lina lay on back on the headboard, her eyes closed and looking exhausted as she struggled to breathe. He looked at her stomach and he could see the baby kicking from within and could tell from the way she bit her lip that even though she was no longer screaming she was still in pain. He grabbed her hand and tried to think of something to say. He had just opened his mouth when her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

And then her eyes rolled into her head and she fell limp onto the bed. Gourry was so busy trying to get her to wake up that he didn't even hear the midwife yelling at him to step away, had not even noticed the fact that she was bleeding out until Mrs. Inverse had returned and pulled him away from the bed. At first he couldn't understand why the sheets had turned red. But then the horrible truth slowly sunk in. And all he could do was watch, unable even to reach out and offer a word of comfort to Lina's mother who was breaking down as they hoped that somehow this midwife that they had come to despise would rescue Lina and her child.

All he wanted was to be wherever she was.

The days that followed passed by in a haze of pain and yearning for the end of life. Gourry was no stranger to the thrall of depression, but never before had it been so bad that he wanted to die. Now, it was all he desired. He only had to wait for Lina's body to finally follow the path her mind had gone. Every morning when he woke to find her eyes open but staring lifelessly at the ceiling he thought that certainly today would be the day. But every evening ended with her barely clinging somehow to the last vestiges of life.

While none of them were sure when her body would follow, everyone was convinced that her mind was gone. She lay on the bed, unresponsive even to the cries of her daughter and comatose. No spark of life flashed in her eyes, no sign of the brilliance she once had fluttered within. Lina was gone.

Gourry never left the room. Not even to care for his daughter. He couldn't bear to look at her. It was as his brother had said. Gabriev men destroy the women they love. He'd loved Lina deeply, gotten her pregnant by demonstrating that love, and her mind had been destroyed. If he tried to raise his daughter he would mess it up. He would get mad and beat her like his father had beaten him. He would destroy her just as he had destroyed Lina. She'd be better off with her grandparents. The only thing left to do was to wait for Lina's body to follow her mind, and then he could follow her.

Not that her family was letting him go without a fight. First in an attempt to get him to leave the room they stopped sending in food, but to their alarm they realized that it gave him an excuse to starve himself. Then her mother and father both came in with the baby to demand that he care for her. "She won't stop crying, you know. She's wanting you!" "You know if Lina were aware of what you are doing she would kick your ass, right?" "Switch places, what would you want her to do?" "You know it was that damned midwife and not you, right?"

But he didn't respond to them or their demands. He ignored them and stared at Lina, whose eyes were empty, and wondered when he could be with her again.

One day Luna sent her parents out of the house and put the baby in the room with him and told him that there was no one to care for her but him before walking out of the room. And though the baby wailed, and though Gourry himself cried the whole time, he could not motivate himself to pick her up. Part of him kept hoping that somehow Lina would be miraculously pulled back into her body by the sounds of the infant's cries. But she didn't so much as twitch.

Luna's desperate attempt to draw him back into the world ended when her parents came home and scolded them both for letting her cry for so long. Luna let it wash off her back. Gourry was too distraught to care.

The next day he roused himself when he noticed that Lina's breathing had changed. It was getting more shallow and precarious. Finally. It was almost over. He got up and walked to the bureau where he kept his sword, resolved to go not a moment after she did. The only problem was that his sword wasn't there.

Rage tore through him as he stormed out of the room and downstairs into the kitchen, nearly knocking Lina's parents over, "My sword!" he bellowed as soon as he saw Luna sitting at the dining room table with two guests, "Where's my sword?"

Mrs. Inverse looked faint as she clutched her heart. "Is she gone?" she asked, and then she ran up the stairs, followed by her husband and another man.

"I want my sword!" he yelled as he stood before Luna, towering over her.

She stood up, and even though she did not have his massive height she more than held her own, "I'll give you your sword when you start acting like a man again."

He turned towards her room, ready to tear it apart until he found it when someone got in front of him and slapped him across the face, stunning him. The physical pain was sobering, and he brought his hand to his cheek as he looked down, "Adena?" he said.

His sister was livid. Her blue eyes cackled with rage. And she was holding his daughter. "Do you have any idea what it does to someone to know that their parents rejected them?" she shouted accusingly.

"I didn't…" he started weakly as guilt and shame started to course through him. "She'll be better off without me."

"No child is better off living under the shadow of knowing that their father ran a sword through himself to avoid trying to raise her." Adena shot back as tears fell from her eyes, "You owe her your best attempt to raise her."

He felt the tears well within him as Adena cut through the fugue he had been in. With horror he recoiled at the way he had been thinking for the last few weeks, "I'm so sorry."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to!" Adena shouted as she forced the baby into his arms. "You will acknowledge her!"

He felt so weak and shaky that he was terrified he would drop her, but somehow he didn't. Adena guided him to a chair as he started to sob as he finally looked at his daughter. She was so small and beautiful and perfect. How could he have neglected her for so long? Hadn't he wanted to be a good father?

"I'm sorry." He said again, "I'm so sorry. I'm going to make it up to you."

Adena wrapped an arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder. He felt terrible, but at least he was feeling something other than grief and a desire for annihilation. "What are you going to call her?" Luna asked, "These past few weeks we've been referring to her as 'the baby.'"

Gourry stared at the baby. Considering how rambunctious she'd been in the womb they had all concluded she was going to be a boy. He stroked her soft blonde hair, reflecting on how, even at this young age, she looked so much like him that there was no trace of the woman he loved within her. Though if she was as feisty as everyone said she was he wondered if Lina would manifest in her personality. Still, he wanted to do something to memorialize Lina. He was about to answer Luna when from upstairs Mrs. Inverse shouted, "Wait!"

But footsteps rang from above and down the stairs, and Lina suddenly appeared at the foot of the steps, looking as though she would topple over, but standing nonetheless as she grasped the wall for support. "My baby?" she asked.

Gourry felt as though he was seeing a ghost. "She's here." He said faintly as he stood up, scarcely believing his eyes even as he walked towards her, hoping that this was not some cruel trick.

Lina started to walked over to him as her parents followed her down the stairs. "I thought she hadn't made it, I thought I was losing her." She said as she reached him and took the baby from him, her face wet with tears.

For a brief moment Gourry was torn between contentment to finally see her hold the child he feared she would never be able to hold and crushing her into his own embrace. But the image could have been a fleeting illusion. He had to know she was real. He pulled her to him as closely as he dared without crushing the baby, his tears falling onto her hair as he relished in the life that flowed through her body. Somehow she was back and alive and solid and real! "I thought I'd lost you! How?" he asked.

"Let's get her to the couch." Her mother said firmly, and Gourry guided her over to the sofa and sat down beside her, not even daring to let her go for fear of finding he was dreaming. She was trembling from the effort of having gotten down the stairs and was obviously still weak. But then, she'd not had a proper meal for nearly a month.

It was then that Gourry noticed that Nes, his great-grandfather and golden dragon, had come down with her parents. "I didn't want to say anything to give you any false hope in case she was too far gone even for my skills." He explained, "Fortunately that was not the case. I must say, you married a fighter."

Gourry smiled as he ran a hand through Lina's hair, "I did."

Lina could not take her eyes off her baby, "How long was I out?"

"Four weeks." Luna said.

Lina's eyes widened, "Weeks?" she repeated.

Luna came up with a bowl of soup and some water, "You must be famished." She said as she set it on the table.

"I've missed so much." Lina said as she stroked the baby's head.

"Be glad you're able to be with her, period." Gourry said, "We'd given up hope for you."

"Really, all she's been doing is eating, sleeping, crying and pooping. You haven't missed much." Luna said. "And are you two going to get around to giving her a proper name?"

"Dianna." Lina said without skipping a beat. Gourry had no idea where she had pulled the name from, but he was so relieved that she was okay that she could have named her after Phibrizo and he wouldn't have objected. She then looked down at her breasts, "I've dried up, haven't I?"

"Trust me." Her mother said, "You're not missing much. It gets old fast."

Gourry studied Lina and could tell from her expression that she felt she had been robbed of something precious. He felt torn between wanting to shake her and tell her to be glad for what she had and shame over how he had so willingly forfeited those first four weeks. Then Lina leaned back on the couch. "You okay?" he asked.

"So dizzy." She said.

He took Dianna from her as Luna came around and shoved the bowl at her again, "You've not had a proper meal for weeks, eat, before I shove the bowl down your throat!"

He kept waiting for someone to tell Lina about the shameful way he'd been since Dianna was born, but everyone seemed too caught up in their relief that Lina would be okay and that he had snapped out of his depression to say anything. After Lina had eaten he carried her back to their bed. From downstairs they could hear Dianna crying. "Dammit, I should be the one caring for her!" she said, "I feel like such an invalid!"

He brushed a hand through her hair, relishing in the first time alone with her recovered, "You'll get stronger, and she'll still need a lot of looking after."

Dianna did not stop crying. After some thought Lina looked at him and smiled, "She's her father's daughter. She looks just like you. I bet you've been two peas in a pod."

At the look on his face Lina frowned, "What is it?"

"I've been in such a bad place, I've not been caring for her." He admitted, and at the look on Lina's face he chickened out, "I was caring for you, I mean, I couldn't leave your side, not while you were still alive. I couldn't take care of both of you, and I knew your folks would take good care of her, so I've let them shoulder the brunt of it."

He felt gutted under the look on her face. He grabbed her hands, "I hate the way I've been these last few weeks. But I'm going to turn it around now, and be the best father I know how to be."

"You'd better." She said, "Or I'll have to throttle you."

He leaned forward to kiss her, relief washing through him as she returned it. He stroked her face when he pulled away, "Rest now, I'm going to take care of our daughter, and I'll bring her up so you can see her in a few hours."

She smiled at him as she leaned back onto the pillows. Gourry took another look at her, alive and sleeping on the pillows, and then closed the door. Dianna was still shrieking from downstairs, and he had a lot of making up to do. When he got downstairs he was shocked to see his father holding Dianna. Between his grief and then relief over Lina, he hadn't even fully realized he was here!

"I think we'll let you have a try." Petry said as he handed Dianna to Gourry.

Dimly Gourry remembered agreeing to see his father again. Since learning about how he had reformed Gourry had given thought to seeing him again, but had put it off for fear of somehow being disappointed. But when Lina got pregnant he figured that the time had come to mend them, and finally agreed to his requests to come down to visit with Nes and Adena.

Gourry hoisted Dianna on his shoulder and started singing a lullaby he would sing to her when she was in Lina's stomach. The effect was instantaneous as she quieted down. "Looks like all she needed was her father." Mrs. Inverse said pointedly.

Gourry flailed for something stupid to say, but he was still too ashamed of his actions as Luna said, "She's been a right terror. I think she missed the both of you and has been taking out her rage with us. Never knew that babies could turn purple with rage."

Gourry decided that her folks had every right to be mad, "I think I'll go and take her for a walk."

"I'll come with you." Petry said.

When they got outside Petry put a hand on his shoulder, "Think of it this way, you got your big screw up out of the way with, and she's so young she won't even remember it."

Gourry smiled a bit as Petry pulled him into a sideways embrace, "And at least it only took you a matter of weeks to come to your senses. It took me years!"

"It's no excuse," Gourry said, even if he did feel better.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to make it up to her." Petry said.

Gourry nodded in agreement as he made a commitment to do everything in his power to be the father Dianna needed from here on out, regardless of what happened to Lina.

Gradually Lina recovered, but it was still several months before she was up to her full strength. By then Dianna had teeth, and while Lina had been highly resentful of the fact that she hadn't been able to breastfeed her, when Dianna started biting she voiced relief that her poor nipples were saved as she shook her head in chagrin over her feisty daughter who would scream, kick, and holler with rage at the slightest of provocations. And people had said Lina had had a temper!

On some level Dianna's outbursts worried Gourry. While Lina's family joked about Dianna being Lina's karmic retribution, Gourry could not avoid thinking about the abusive rage that ran through his family. His father and several of his brothers had it. What if that rage has skipped him and manifested in his daughter? Lina told him he was being stupid and that once she learned to talk and could tell them what the hell it was that she wanted the rage would stop. What Lina was saying made sense, and Lina was a lot smarter than him, so he did his best to quiet his fears and believe her.

Besides, soon Gourry had something else to worry about entirely. It was a little over a year after Dianna was born and Lina and Gourry had finally moved into their own place that the thing Gourry had feared since Lina had recovered took place. Lina wanted another baby.