A/N: This chapter is angsty. Very, very, very angsty. I want that to be known now, before you start to read. If you've had a bad day, or aren't in a good mood, or just cry easily, be wary.

She came to him complaining of pain. He turned to face her, and took in her condition at a glance. She was slightly hunched over, her hand pressed against the small of her back while her other sat on her stomach. There were stress lines around her visible eye and he could see the pain in it as she rubbed her stomach. She had blossomed quickly during her 2nd trimester and now that she had entered her 3rd Marie looked ridiculous, her stomach as large as a watermelon.

It had become a joke that if Stein didn't know better, he would have sworn she was carrying twins.

He didn't joke now, just moved to her and laid his hand on her stomach, his eyes looking past everything to stare at the small soul that was nestled so close to hers.

"How long has it been hurting?"

"Just over a day… I was hoping that I had just slept wrong… but it has been getting worse…"

"We'll do an ultrasound."

She just nodded, trusting him to figure out if anything was wrong. He turned from her for a split second to grab his glasses from where they sat on his desk and she crumpled.

There was in IV in her arm, a damp rag on her forehead. She had a raging fever and Spirit sat beside her, a worried look on his face. Nygus sat across from him, taking Marie's pulse. Nearly the entirety of the EAT class was loitering around in and outside the lab; Spirit couldn't remember the last time that so many people had willingly come to Stein's foreboding lab.

Not that it was for a joyous occasion. Spirit's hands wrapped around Marie's left hand, squeezing it gently. She continued to sleep, unaware of the events of the day. With a heavy sigh Spirit lay Marie's hand gently on her stomach, blinking back tears, and went to find Stein.

The scientist was sitting in his lab, his head in his hands. A small, still form was covered by a white sheet on an operating table, and Spirit had to look away from it as he came in. Stein didn't acknowledge his entrance to the room. Spirit's hand fell on Stein's shoulder and the man still didn't respond.

"Marie needs you now, Stein, more than ever."

"Nygus is taking care of her." Stein's voice was low and empty, sending a chill down Spirit's spine.

"That's not what I mean, Stein, and you know it. Marie needs you to be there when she wakes up, to talk her through what's happened. She needs to know that she hasn't lost you too."

Stein didn't reply.

"You can't let her go through this by herself, she's-"

"I couldn't save her."

"Marie's fine-"

Stein gestured towards the table. "I couldn't save her. Despite everything I know, despite everything I've trained for and learned and all the precautions we've taken I couldn't save her. Do you know why, Spirit?" Stein's eyes were wild as he glanced over his shoulder at the other man before surging to his feet and moving to the covered form. His hands hovered over the sheet for a second before falling to his sides, his head bowed.

"Do you know why? Because I never anticipated a premature birth! I never imagined that I would need to have an incubator for a 6 and a half month old premature infant! I was able to get her on a respirator, but she froze to death, Spirit! I couldn't keep her body warm enough and she froze to death in my hands! She was gone before I could do anything about it!"

Silence fell heavily over the room as Stein's hands clenched into fists and he took a deep breath before continuing. "We did a checkup every week long before she was supposed to have one that often. She was taking prenatal vitamins- I personally made certain of the dosing. I didn't allow her to do anything stressful. I just don't understand."

"There are things we never can understand, Stein. Marie needs you now, though. Nygus is doing what she can for her, but you're the one that needs to be taking care of her. This is going to tear her to pieces."

Stein stood then, brushing past Spirit and out of the lab. He stopped outside the door to Marie's room, taking in the sight before him. Marie was pale, though her cheeks were splotched with red. An IV that he had set was in her arm. The most telling thing though was her stomach. While not as flat as it had been months ago, it was obvious that the woman was no longer pregnant.

Nygus looked up as he stopped in the doorway and stood. "She needs you, Franken."

"I know, Mira."

Stein sat with Marie, the others having left and forced the worried students to go with them. He had finished removing the IV and had just reapplied the wet towel to Marie's forehead, her fever having broken, and he looked around the bedroom as he sat there, his fingertips brushing against hers on the bed. Flowers filled Marie's room, and Stein was finding it a bit hard to focus with the varied scents assaulting his senses.

How did he tell Marie that he had failed to save their child?

He took a deep breath, the scent of lavender assaulting him and he stood abruptly to his feet. His hands trembled as he glared at the offending plant and before he realized what he was doing he had swept the plant off and into the floor. The vase shattered, water and flowers went everywhere.

It jolted Marie from her sleep. She sat upright with a small scream, her eye wide and unseeing as the damp cloth slipped from her face. His back was to her but he whirled around quickly when he realized what he had done.

"Marie, I'm sorry-"

He couldn't keep talking, Marie's hand was pressed to her stomach and she was looking down at it in wonder. He could see the emotions raging through her soul. After a short eternity she looked around the room and then up at him and he could see the question that she didn't want to ask.

"Marie, I-" he lost his voice and silence reigned in the room for a moment while he twisted the screw in his head. "I tried."

It took a long second for it to sink in.

Then she started to sob, drawing her knees up to her chest awkwardly. Stein stood at the foot of her bed, barely breathing the oppressively scented air. He didn't understand the swirling emotions that were assaulting him, but he did understand one thing.

He had failed. He had let something hurt Marie. His hands clenched into fists at how useless he felt at this moment. He was the cause of Marie's pain. He hadn't been able to save their child. He felt something welling in his chest that he couldn't place, his breathing staggered and heavier.

Marie looked up at him, tears in her eye and held her arms out to him. It was the same motion a distraught child makes to a parent, something that Stein had observed multiple times during his outings with Marie. He woodenly moved to her, sitting on the side of the bed, his upper body twisting awkwardly. She flung herself against his chest, a renewed bout of sobs erupting from her. His arms settled hesitantly around her.

He felt the change in her wavelength immediately. Even though she was sobbing and obviously distraught, it wasn't as intense the second that he wrapped his arms around her. He could feel some of the ache drain out of her. He could see the pain mute slightly. He didn't understand. His own wasn't abated in the slightest, now that he recognized the feeling as grief.

It didn't matter. If all of the pain and heartache that she was feeling could be transferred to him, he would take it all. He had caused it, and he would be the one to fix it.

His mind fixated on that as she tugged on his arm; he moved automatically, not quite aware of what was happening. A moment later he lay beside her in the bed, his arms wrapped around her. Her head lay cushioned on his shoulder and she hiccupped sobs. He tightened his grip on her, letting his own grief flow. He didn't cry, but he couldn't suppress the shudders that ran through his body, or the ache that seemed to fill his entire chest.

He stood in his lab, the still form that had been underneath the white sheet now bare for all to see. He had slipped away from her some time earlier, a singular thought lodged in his mind. The thing on the table would make her happy, if he could fix it.

He knew he could. He had fixed the other broke one. He had done so at someone else's behest, but was there really anyone more important than her? And it would make her happy, yes it would. It would make her very happy.

He lived to make her happy. A twisted smirk crossed his face as his fingers tightened around the scalpel he hadn't needed to use yet. He knew many, many ways to make her happy. The smirk slipped to a smile as he recalled the lines happiness had left across her body. An urge rushed through his body, and he nearly turned to go to her, but he restrained himself. They could celebrate later.

Marie rolled in her sleep, her arm reaching out to find him and she woke when she realized he had gone. She sat upright, her hands wrapping around her stomach and tears threatening to fall again. She sniffled, and forced herself to her feet, her hands scrubbing at her face as she wiped sleep and tears from it.

Marie walked through the lab slowly, still somewhat in pain. She heard Stein giggling before she saw him, and she opened the door slowly before peering into the lab.

Her eye opened wide even as her jaw dropped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth as he turned to face her, a maniac's grin on his face as a thin, piercing wail split the sudden silence.

He stood in front of her, their daughter squalling in his arms. Marie couldn't believe her eyes.

She walked towards her family, a smile on her face and giggles in her throat.

A/N: I hope you've enjoyed this update. I'll be trying to get Secrets updated next and then back to this :3