The doctor's surgery was very…tiny. It was just a dull-coloured tent with a sign that read 'Doctor Hamncap' in red paint on the flaps. The three friends stepped inside to find themselves in a waiting room, full of sick patients. Some had swollen throats and were coughing blood, some were green with red spots all over their faces, some seemed perfectly healthy. They all grew silent when the three of them sat down. Several women gawped at Glitch, making him feel a little self-conscious. Raw plopped himself on the floor behind the chairs, hoping he wouldn't be stared at. They waited for a few minutes until a young woman came through another tent flap.

" Right, who's next?" she asked in a raised voice as she scribbled something on the clipboard she was holding. In unison, all the patients pointed in Cain, Glitch and Raw's direction without a word. The woman grinned politely. " Would you like to come through?" she added with a soft tone.

They stood up and followed the woman to the other section of the tent. They entered and saw a round, stumpy older man with greying hair and thick square glasses. His unruly beard was black and dirty. He had a pale, wrinkled and drained face that had seen many a tragic injustice in his fifty-eight year lifetime. He looked up from his desk. When he saw them, he grinned with a tremendous thankfulness and happiness.

" My saviours!" He stood up and gave a respectful bow which made Glitch blush a deep rose colour. " What brings you to my office?" asked Dr. Hamncap in a loud confident voice.

" Well…" Cain began, " Flatfoot here got himself into a bit of a tangle." He chuckled as he said this, but to Glitch, it wasn't a nice joke at all.

" Yes. I-I-I-I, um, I can't remember but…I was resting in the sun bed Lav-uh, I mean – Queen Lavender Eyes – had. The next thing I knew, I banged my head, and the baby hasn't moved since."

Raw put his hand on his friend's shoulder and it came to him. " Couldn't hold extra weight; snapped and broke!" he cried.

" Oh, dear," the doctor answered sympathetically with a frown. " Let me have a look at you then, Sir Ambrose. Come and sit on the examination table."

Shyly, Glitch plopped himself on the table with slight difficulty. Anxiously entwining his fingers, he slouched, making his belly seem larger that it really was. Cain patted him tenderly on the back, before Dr. Hamncap started speaking.

" If you would remove your top, sir?" he said as he readied the equipment he was going to need to use. Glitch did as he was told without a word. " So you were lying on a sun bed when this happened?"

" Um, yes. It's been a long summer and I just wanted to enjoy the heat for once."

" Tough weather we've been having, isn't it?" the doctor replied. He placed a foetal stethoscope on top of the curve and listened intently.

" Thankfully the king of Ket was there to help us," Glitch continued, giving Raw a cold glare.

" Heartbeat's fine," the doctor mumbled under his breath.

Cain gave his boyfriend a nod of support. He smiled, but just only slightly. Glitch heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes in relief. His belief in God had waned but in this moment, it came back to him. With all his heart, he prayed to thank the mysterious spirit for keeping the child out of harm's way.

" Let's see if it's completely OK. I'm going to see if it hasn't any visible injuries," he said in a cheery voice that sounded unsettling. " This is my favourite part of the job," he realised.

Glitch nodded, suddenly feeling shy just when Dr. Hamncap dropped the foetal stethoscope back on the trolley, making a loud clanging sound against the metal. He gave Glitch a signature glitchy beam as he eagerly rubbed his grubby mitts together. He walked across the room and opened one of the cupboards. Grunting, he brought out a heavy projector-like machine with a green cling film-like screen.

" Wait!" Cain protested. " We don't want any scan."

" Cain, i-it's all right," Glitch told him.

" Don't want to know gender," Raw explained.

The kind old doctor smiled as sweetly as a small child would. He nodded, which indicated an incredible understanding. " I'll block it out for you, OK? Good thing I have the 0.2 model, isn't it?"

Carefully, he placed the heavy machine on another trolley and pushed it over to the examination table, on which Glitch was sitting. The pregnant patient lay back on the table with his back supported by a pillow. Cain, still unconvinced, pulled up a chair and sat beside the father-mother-thing, to give him all the support and comfort he could give. Raw curled up on the floor, making him appear invisible to the naked eye. The doctor, humming an amazingly irritating tune, set up the device, ready to make the image of Cain and Glitch's child appear. All three saviours wore nervous smiles as the confident doctor pressed a blue button on the machine's keypad. He typed in several codes and numbers before a blinding platinum yellow light switched on. It beamed straight into Glitch's developing belly. From beneath his hat, Cain raised his eyebrows disapprovingly. He didn't care if he was going to see his second child for the first time, the machine seemed dangerous and it could be harmful to unborn infants. The light reflected back into the machine and it finally sprung to life. It made a monotone humming sound as it gently vibrated. Glitch stared at it in awe. Something – a memory – glimmered across his mind. The sounds of clicking, banging, whirring and even laughter echoed around his head. It was his idea and his…What was it called again? Suddenly, a grainy image emerged from the screen. Slowly – oh so, very slowly – the picture began to expand beyond the screen until it became almost like a 3D image of a dark-skinned alien looking thing.

Glitch cooed and a gigantic grin spread across his face. He continued to smile until his face ached. That alien thing was the baby. It was the baby! " Oh, isn't it just beautiful?" he cried to his friends.

" Yes, indeed-y!" Dr. Hamncap interrupted.

Raw scrunched up his face to attempt to conceal a snigger. He covered his face with his paw and let out a low and gruff chortle. To him, the infant looked like a piece of raw meat, resembling something that he enjoyed to eat. Cain, however, sat there like a lump. He was dumbfounded. Unable to speak, he just gawped at the picture of his daughter or son. It was beautiful and all of a sudden, he felt excited and impatient for its arrival. He couldn't wait to hold it in his arms, kiss it and love it. Right then and there, he planned to teach it all kinds of different things, like how to ride a bike and how to pack a good punch and how to spit. But then as the excited feelings faded away, a great lump of guilt lodged itself in his throat. This wonderfully tiny being was a part of him, and he wished it was dead just a few months before. As Glitch watched him with a heavy heart, Cain's eyes filled to the brim with tears. Slightly embarrassed, he shut his eyes for a moment and released a breath. When he opened his eyes again, he gave a pained smile and kissed Glitch's cheek, though the cerulean diamonds were icy with the bothersome tears.

" Cain, are you all right?" asked Glitch, hesitantly, with a furrowed brow in concern.

Cain didn't answer. Instead, he sighed, the tears stinging his eyes.

" Cain? Cain, sweetheart. Say something, please," Glitch continued. He wriggled uncomfortably on the table.

Cain hung his head. With his eyes closed, he tried to block out everything around him. It had worked in the tin suit; it would've worked anywhere else but here. Breathing heavily, it became increasingly difficult not to cry. He looked up once again. As he stared his boyfriend straight in the eye, he uttered the following quiet and dogged words. " I need to be by myself," he murmured. He got up to leave the tent but Glitch stalled him.

" Cain, if it's anything to do with what you said about the termination, you can talk to me. You do know that, don't you?"

" Yeah, but I've nothing to say."

If there had been a door, Cain would have slammed it. He walked through to the waiting room, where Dr. Hamncap was sitting and speaking with his patients and Raw was off in his own little world. The doctor's eyes met with Cain's and before they could exchange words, Cain rushed out. His knees fell weak and he collapsed to the ground. His broad shoulders began to shake. The tears that were caged up in his heart, leaked through the icy blue glass spheres. Covering his face with his hands, he began rock back and forth as the most horrible thoughts raced through his mind. If Glitch did have the abortion, they wouldn't have that wonderful little human to cherish and nurture. That was when a large lump of horror and remorse lodged itself in his throat. He tried to swallow it but it was stuck there. Little did he know that a very small portion of it would be stuck there for the rest of his life. Cain wept for several more minutes until he was too tired to cry. With an unusually wide grin on his face, he stood up and gulped the warm August air through his nose. Feeling much happier, he went back to the doctor's office, where he would receive the final disgnosis.

" Well," Dr. Hamncap began. " Sir, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the baby. The baby's fine." Raw, Cain and Glitch heaved three big sighs of relief. " But you say your head hurts?" Glitch nodded his head. " That concerns me very much. It's most likely you have a mild concussion, so I am advising you to rest for a few days. I trust Sir Cain will see to that?"

A small smile formed in Cain's mouth. " If that's what Glitchy needs, then all right. You can count on me." Lovingly, he gave Glitch a pat on the back.

Later on in DeMilo's taxi, when Raw had drifted off to sleep, Glitch was watching Cain very closely. Cain was leaning against the side with his head in his hand, watching the world whizz past the window. He did all he could to do to avoid looking at Glitch.

Glitch gave a slight frown in confusion. " Are you OK?" he asked, rubbing his lower back.

Cain nodded, mouthing, " Yeah," silently.

" I dunno. You seem a little distracted. Are you sure you're OK?"

Cain turned to face him. With tear-stained cheeks, he grinned. " Sure. It's just that…I saw my second kid for the first time today. There isn't a better feelin' than that!" Glitch collapsed into his arms and hugged him. They kissed and held each other's hands for the rest of the journey.