I know I promised this for last night, but its here now! Yay!~

Disclaimer: I don't own Vivian or Gabriel or anyone else from BaC but I do own the small multitude of like everyone else I've created in the valley…or yeah and the valley too…but not the national park…that er belongs to the nation….the United States of America…the FBI do too…not me…at least I don't think I own them…yep sexy men in black suits still work for the government…

Blood or Chocolate: A New Generation, Part 1

Chapter 13: Hospital Inn

When I entered the cabin it was dead silent. I knew something was wrong the only question was what. That's when I heard Esme's heaving sobs coming from Kaleb's bedroom; I ran.

The room was empty apart from Tomas, Esme, Kaleb and Abbey. At first I didn't understand why Esme was crying; Tomas seemed fine, Kaleb seemed fine, he was up and animated talking to Abbey with more fervor than he had in days.

But then I saw the color in Kaleb's cheeks, bright red-unnaturally so. He wasn't wearing a shirt, only little boy swimming trunks, which wasn't that unusual given the summer heat that was making even my tawny hair stick the back of my neck, but it was the icepacks that I didn't notice until moments later that little Abbey was holding to his wrists, inside of the crooks of his elbows, and under his kneecaps even as she spoke to him like nothing was wrong.

I picked up on a bit of their conversation a moment before they noticed me. "I like tree houses. Tree houses are cool. They look like fun. Every kid should have a tree house, we should get Bucky to build us one." Kaleb was talking, like only a small pup could, like this was the most vitally important thing in the world.

Abbey's voice held the proper enthusiasm as she replied but her face held a tight pinched fake smile, she wasn't that much older than Kaleb, not old enough to lie well. Which was what they were doing. I could tell in an instant, trying to pretend like everything was fine, like his small body wasn't fighting an infection that was giving him such a high fever that they needed to ice his body to try and bring it down. Where was Jenny?

Then I remembered Pierre. Of course he needed Jenny more now than my brother did, Kaleb could wait hours…if we could come up with a more effective way of cooling him…

"Yeah, I'll get Daddy to make one for us." Abbey was saying.

"Make sure you do, cause we really need a tree house." Kaleb was so intent on this tree house and then: "Vivie! You're here!"

"Yeah, hey pup," I came over and hugged him picking up an ice pack from the counter and placing it against the back of his neck as I embraced him lightly, not wanting to give him anymore warmth than necessary…his cheeks were so red, and hot against my neck were he pressed his face to hug me…

"Hey guess what?" He was excited about something again.

"What?"

"Mommy's letting me wear my swim shorts! She never lets me wear my swim shorts around the house!"

I could see why he was excited about this, when I was a pup Esme had rather I run around naked in the summers and skinny dip with the five rather than wash my bathing suit; it really wasn't any mystery why the loup-garou weren't modest.

"That's cool. Hey how about you take a nice cold swim right now?" I asked turning to my mother and Tomas to see if it would be alright. "I bet you're really hot all cooped up in this stuffy room."

"That would be awesome!" Kaleb started moving like he was going to jump right off the bed.

"Wait a minute squirt, I have to talk to Abbey a minute and then I'll give you a piggyback ride, how about that?"

"Okay!"

I turned to Abbey who was tugging on my arm. "What is it?"

"Mama said not to get his… toe wet, and he's already got it infected…" Her small voice trailed off.

"If its already infected than there's nothing we can do about that right now is there? We need to keep him cool and right now it's the only thing I can think to do. You got any better ideas?" I just snapped at a six year old. "Abbey I'm sorry I know you're trying to help its just-"

"It's okay. Kaleb's hurt, Pierre's hurt, the big bad government guys are here, I can cut you some slack." She smiled at me.

Abbey was really smart for her age. "Thanks pup."

"Up we go." I picked up Kaleb and started heading for the bathroom Abbey, my mother and Tomas following.

"Why aren't we going outside to swim, its nice out." Kaleb asked when he saw where we were going.

"The FBI guys are searching the woods right now for Jacqueline so we can't go to the creek, but you can float around in the bathtub."

"Okay! Do I get to keep my shorts on?"

"Yeah, you can keep your shorts on, baby." Esme answered him swallowing back a sob.

"Cool! Abbey, wanta swim with me?" Kaleb asked over my shoulder.

"I don't think that's a good-" Tomas started.

"Sure." Abbey started shrugging off her sundress.

"Abbey, the waters going to be very cold…and-" Esme tried to stop the girl as Tomas adjusted the water to the coldest we could get it-which was freezing.

"I don't mind, and besides, I don't have any sores; he can't infect me." She sounded very sure, and she knew the real problem was we didn't want her infected too.

"Come on, I want her to play with me." Kaleb complained, and how could we resist him?

"Okay." I said finally as I lowered my little brother into the water and Abbey stripped down to her Disney princess panties and climbed in the tub with him. Splashing ensued, Kaleb didn't even realize how cold the water was and he must not have noticed Abbey's goose bumps or shivering and to her credit she hid it well. She was such a good friend to him. I hoped she wouldn't get sick too.

Every once in a while the water would drift towards room temperature and we would haul the kids out to put fresh freezing water in there for Kaleb. Esme stopped crying after hearing Kaleb laugh and seeing him play and Tomas lost the permanent look of desperation, if only momentarily.

After a while I excused myself. I wanted to spend time with Kaleb just in case…but Jenny would fix him up in time, I would have to check on Pierre, talk to the suits, figure things out so I wouldn't end up like my mother crying uselessly on a bathroom floor. When I got to the inn Bucky was bringing over two suitcases. "What's going on?"

"Jenny's moving into the inn for awhile so she can be closer to the girl and Pierre. They need her right now and she doesn't want to leave them alone for a while. I'm coming too, just in case she needs some help with them at night and no one else is around to help her. We were wondering if Esme and Tomas could take Abbey for awhile? I know Kaleb's a little messed up right now but she wouldn't be any trouble."

"No, that's fine. I'm sure Esme wouldn't mind her staying over. Kaleb would love it."

"Thanks." He slid open the back doors and stepped back to let me through first.

"Hey do you know anything about Pierre? Is he stable yet?"

"Jenny's still working on him but she's stopped the bleeding, Philip gave him some of his, so he should be alright. Poor pup, he was just surprised is all, she jumped him from behind, he thought she was still attacking the agent that's why he came, he didn't expect her to be lying in wait."

"He tell you this?"

"No, he's not conscious yet, but that's what Jenny figures. There's no way a loup-garou that size could have gotten an advantage on Pierre, even if she was wild, she's not nearly as big or as strong. She had to have surprised him."

"How long till he'll wake up?"

"You'll have to ask Jen that." Bucky shrugged and opened up room five. Apparently that's where they were staying until our "patients" were healed.

I entered Pierre's room quietly. Room number three was silent except for the five sets of lungs inhaling and exhaling. Philip and Claire were still in the corner and Jenny was leaning over Pierre stitching up his neck and his arm. There was another figure in the room rubbing a yellow salve over the already stitched sections. Lucy.

"What are you doing here? Where's Charlie and Jacque?" I asked quietly.

"You know it might surprise you but I do want to help out. Jacque and Charlotte need a break and I offered to fill in for them." Lucy managed to look down on me from where she was bending over pasting the salve on his neck.

"Well good, thank you." I tried to be nice.

"I wasn't doing it for you." She snapped and went on doing her job, dismissing me.

I'd leave when I damn well pleased. "Jenny how's he doing?"

"I'll know better when he wakes, Philip gave him some blood and that'll help, but he'll only be outta the woods when his wounds are completely healed." Jenny explained

"How long will that take?" I asked.

"Well Claire's bites are healing unbearably slow, but her's were wider and she lost a lot more flesh, and she's human so…"

"So..?"

"So if we're lucky his will heal in about half the time of her's even if they are more severe."

"How long will Claire's take then?"

"Months."

"Months?"

"Humans heal very slowly."

"Okay how many months?" This was getting ridiculous.

"Five? Six? It's too early to tell."

"So Pierre will be okay in about three?" I estimated.

"He should be."

"What do you mean he should be?" Philip had joined the conversation.

"Well it depends on a lot of things really…?"

"So you don't even no if he will be okay yet?" Philip demanded.

"Well he's stable now so he should be…" Jenny looked uncomfortable.

"But there's a chance that he won't? Philip's voice was rising.

"There's always-"

"No maybe Agent Mahone is right maybe he should have went to a hospital!" Philip was shouting now and had started stepping towards Jenny from the other side of the bed.

"Hey, hey, hey! That's enough!" I pulled Philip back by his arm and put my hands on his shoulders. "Jenny is doing the best that she can with what she has. Besides there's no way we could have taken him to a hospital and you know it. Who knows what our blood looks like under a human microscope. They could think he has a disease or something and that would cause more harm than good. So just calm down. I know you're upset that you're brother is hurt but so is mine and we're not going to get anywhere by shouting at each other, especially at Jenny."

Philip shrugged away from me and started walking out of the room.

"Philip." Claire had spoken up. "Can you take me back to my room?"

Philippe looked back at her. He looked at her a moment and then back down the hall as if struggling at what to do; take care of her or storm down the hall. Caring for her won out.

"Sure." He said it quietly with one more desperate look at his brother he pushed her wheelchair out into the hall and back into room 4.

"I'll be back later." I promised Jenny. "Oh and Bucky's got you're stuff in room 5, for when you want to sleep. Gabriel and I'll take over watching him for the night."

"Thank you Vivian." Jenny smiled a grateful smile and went back to work.

I moved on down the hall wondering where Gabriel had gone, it had been at least an hour and a half since he had said he was going to question the great aunt, where had he gone?

"Vivian!" Charlotte's voice carried from the front hall.

"Have you seen Gabriel and the aunt?" I started walking towards her.

"Yeah, we're all in here." She gestured to the lounge with a celery stick and cheese slices in her hands.

"Hungry?" I asked slightly amused. I swear she'd gained another five pounds since last week.

"Yeah, I'm really liking cheese right now for some reason." She laughed at herself and the little bulge that was developing between her hips.

"Hmm? I wonder why?" I tapped her stomach. "It couldn't be cause the little pup wants cheese could it?"

"Careful or the little guy might think you're being sarcastic." Charlie nudged my shoulder as we walked to the lounge.

"Hello girls." Agent Mahone was waiting for us in the doorway. "Take a seat." For the moment it was clear: he was taking charge of the situation and there was nothing Gabriel, Jacque, Charlotte or I could do about it.

Well hmm? What's happening now huh? Tell me what you think. And also if there are any words or phrases that particularly stood out to you I'd love to hear them. Review!

:D melissaturkey

Ps this is a bit of a filler chapter really, the next one should be much more interesting…or well more things will happen at least, whether its interesting or not is totally up to your tastes… or whatever. Have a nice night! :D