Everyone, it seemed, was strung taught as a bow. The agreed upon date for Jake's c-section wasn't until two days from now but Jake could go into labor at any minute.

Since everyone wanted to be present when the baby was born Dirk had set up several rooms in Jakes house where the kids could stay as long as was needed. Dirk was actually really glad everyone was around because that meant there was someone always with Jake at all times. He was walking a razors edge of anxiety and anticipation.

There had been two false alarms already and Jake had apologized profusely for what had been merely indigestion.

Jake appeared to be the calmest one of the bunch and laughed often at all of the mother hen behavior he was witnessing.

Nights were even worse for Dirk. He only slept in fits and starts; waking up at the slightest movement from Jake who always slept like a rock. Dirk was glad his shades hid the circles under his eyes from everyone but Jake.

Jake was just glad this whole ordeal was almost over. It worried him to see Dirk under so much strain and he would very much like his body back to just himself thank you very much. As much as he loved their baby he was ready to go adventuring again. This forced idleness had done nothing for his boredom and no amount of movies could tame his restlessness.

And no sooner then he thought this than he remembered that even after the baby was born he probably wouldn't be up to much adventuring. It was going to take a while to recover from the surgery and then they would be too busy with the baby to even plan for much else. Jake wondered if he could enlist some of their friends as babysitters once in a while.

Jake smiled then as he recalled the fervor of everyone else as they prepared the nursery next to Jake and Dirk's bedroom. Definitely no shortages of babysitters.

Still somewhat restless Jake levered himself out of bed and threw on some relatively clean clothes from the piles around their room. He then wandered down to the kitchen to find something to eat for breakfast.

Dirk was already in the kitchen as Jake walked in and plopped into a chair with a grunt. Dirk automatically brought him some cereal and a glass of juice.

"Thanks." Jake began eating resting one arm on top of his gravid stomach and resting his head in his other hand as he set his elbow on the table.

"You ok?" Dirk sat down beside him.

"Dandy," Jake replies absently, "Just bored. I think I'm going to eat outside."

Jake grabbed his bowl and rose stiffly heading for the door.

"You sure?" Dirk asked warily as he followed him down the stairs to the entrance.

"Dirk, if I don't see more than these walls sometime soon I'm going to go quite mad with cabin fever. Plus this may be the last chance I get to be outside for a while anyway."

Dirk's only reply is to keep following. Once Jake reached the front door Dirk opened it for him and Jake stepped outside and breathed in deeply savoring the scents of his jungle home. He took a seat on a convenient rock not too far from the front door and began eating his cereal with his eyes lost in the jungle around them. Dirk sat on the ground and leaned up against the back of the rock Jake was sitting on.

After finishing his cereal Jake set his bowl aside and leaned back on his hands. Jake watched as a small flock of bull fairies buzzed through the clearing swooping through the foliage as they played a game of air tag.

Jake smiled at their antics. He had always enjoyed watching the little creatures and was glad he got to see them before he was forced inside again.

One of the little fairy bulls pulled away from the group when it spotted Jake and flew right up to him. Jake smiled at the little bull as it seemed to sniff the air. Without warning it decided to land directly on Jakes big stomach. Startled Jake looked at the tiny creature as it cocked its head to look at him.

"Dirk," Jake whispered excitedly, "Look."

Dirk turned around to see what had put the excitement back in Jakes voice and saw the little fairy bull sitting on Jake. For a moment he froze in place wondering if he should chase the creature away or if he was overreacting again. But as soon as he thought that Jake brought one of his hands up and held it in front of the fairy bull. It sniffed his fingers and unexpectedly started to nuzzle his hand.

Jake laughed delightedly at this and Dirk relaxed remembering that these little bulls had never caused trouble for Jake when he lived alone on the island. It was the bigger fauna he had to worry about.

They both watched as the bull gave a tiny moo and took off again heading straight for the undergrowth and disappeared.

"Bye." Jake called after the fairy bull.

Jake leaned back again, this time with a wide smile as he closed his eyes and listened to the jungle noises. He heard nothing in particular for quite some time but suddenly he registered the tiny mooing of a fairy bull and it sounded like it was getting closer.

Jake opened his eyes and faced the general direction he heard the mooing coming from and his eyes widened when he saw a large section of the undergrowth shudder and part as if something very large was moving through the vegetation.

"D-Dirk?" Jake said urgently.

Dirk was immediately standing at Jakes side as they watched for more movement.

"Jake, get inside." Dirk grabbed Jakes arm to pull him to his feet but before either could so much as twitch a single fairy bull burst from the leaves in front of them mooing excitedly. Not a heartbeat later a very large frightening Fauna followed it.

Clifhanger! Ha sorry!