It smelled terrible. Chemicals burned my nose and my head was spinning. I felt like I had been hit with a truck. I opened my eyes to see that I was in a small bed and covered in a woolen blanket. Sunlight peered through a small window in the room that I was in and the sounds of the city filled my ears. I looked over to my side to see Helia seated in a chair next to my bed.

"You're awake." Helia gasped as he looked over to me.

"What happened?"

"The doctor will tell us soon." Helia took his hand in mine.

"Why am I here?" As hard as I tried, I couldn't remember what happened.

"You collapsed outside of Oscar's house after he was arrested."

It came back to me like the rushing waters of a flood. I remembered the party. I remembered Kipling. I remembered Oscar being thrown in the back of a police wagon. I remember chasing after him and I remember the pain that came after.

"Is?" I couldn't bring myself to say the rest. I took my hands from Helia's and placed them on my abdomen, hoping that everything was alright.

"I don't know. We are still waiting for the doctor. I don't know how much they will be able to tell us because of, well, being of a previous time than ours but all that matters is that you are okay and you are safe." Helia replied, doing his best to calm my nerves.

It didn't really help.

"No. No, I need to know that our baby is okay." I couldn't imagine how I would feel if I lost the baby.

Helia took my hand in his again and scooted closer to the bed.

"Flora, we can always have another baby. That is if you would want that. But there will never be another you. I would be devastated if we lost the baby but I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

"Flora?" a voice called out behind a curtain.

"Yes?" I called back.

The curtain opened to reveal Dr. Blackwell, wearing a black dress and a white apron stained with blood.

"You're awake, that is very good news." Dr. Blackwell smiled down at me.

"Is that...?" I asked pointing to her apron.

"Oh no, darling. I just delivered a baby to a lovely couple down the hall." Dr. Blackwell explained as she walked towards my bed, pulling up a chair.

She wiped her brow and sat down, exhaling a deep breath of exhaustion.

"I have some news." Dr. Blackwell's happy face turned to one of solemnity which I could only interpret as a bad omen.

I felt like I was going to throw up but I did my best to hold it down.

"Just tell me." I couldn't bring myself to look at her or anyone so I closed my eyes, waiting for the terrible news.

"Flora, you did not lose your baby." My head snapped towards her.

"What?" I felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head in shock.

"You did not lose your baby." Dr. Blackwell placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled a soft smile at me.

"But you looked so serious."

"I am still very concerned though. You had what we like to call a threatened abortion. You had a large blood clot that must have developed somewhere in your uterus that must have released. You are very lucky to be alive right now. I want to keep you here for the rest of the night and tomorrow for observation."

"Yes, of course. I am just so happy that..."

"Flora, you need to understand that this could cause complications later on and possibly during delivery. You need to keep your stress levels down and don't exert yourself. You are lucky that you experienced this in the early stages but that could be because of another piece of information I have for you and Helia."

I could see Helia's posture straighten out of the corner of my eyes.

"And that is?" I took a deep breath.

"Your clot could have passed because your uterus is adjusting to a new resident." Dr Blackwell smiled.

"New? I already know that I am pregnant."

"Flora, have you noticed that your stomach is expanding at an accelerated rate?" Dr Blackwell asked.

I placed my hands on my stomach and nodded.

"Flora, I did an exam when you were asleep and I heard not just one heartbeat but two. If my observations are correct, you are going to have twins."

My heart started to race and a feeling of euphoria overcame me. I looked over to Helia who had turned as white as a ghost.

"Helia?"

He didn't respond but instead continued to stare straight ahead.

"Helia!"

He blinked and looked at me with a look of confusion before looking up at Dr Blackwell.

"I'm sorry, I must have blanked out. I thought I heard you say that we are having twins." Helia laughed.

"You heard me correctly."

Helia turned his face in my direction and smiled.

"Twins?"

"Twins." I smiled back.

Helia leaned over and wrapped me in his arms. I sighed in his chest and felt safe knowing that I was with him and that my baby...babies...were alright.

"I am going to leave you two alone but Flora, remember what I said, you need to rest and just focus on keeping yourself healthy and happy." Dr Blackwell smiled before standing and leaving the room.

Helia released me from his embrace, a smile still plastered on his face.

"I can't believe it. Twins. I love you so much." Helia sighed.

"I love you too. But I am concerned." I looked down at my hands.

"How so?"

"You heard what the doctor said, I am to relax but I cannot do when we are trying to get back home. Back to our friends and family. We need to finish the potion and I have to save god knows who or what because apparently I am some Mistress of Life and Death..."

"Flora, please calm down. I told you that I am going to watch and tend to the potion. Speaking of which, I should probably go check on it soon but I didn't want to leave your side until we knew that everything is alright. As for your quest, maybe like the force that brought us here, the person or people will present themselves to you. Just wait." Helia stroked my arm tenderly.

"But-"

"Stop worrying. You make me anxious when you worry. What happened to the optimistic Flora that I fell in love back at the Red Fountain opening ceremonies? Focus on your health and everything will fall into place."

"She's still here."

"I know. Everytime I see you, it is like the sun breaking through the clouds in this gray. I think that you have stressed yourself out and it is starting to show. I am sure that being pregnant is not helping with that but trust me, everything will be fine." Helia placed a kiss on the back of my hand, "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a giant cauldron of boiling water, herbs, and inanimate object to attend to."

"Go. I will be fine." I smiled.

"If I hear that you have not been relaxing, I will not be very happy." Helia whispered in my ear and it sent a shiver down my spine.

"Yes, sir." I whispered back, my breath hitting his ear hoping to cause the same reaction.

"I can see why you two are having twins." I looked up to see a nurse who must have entered the room when I was not looking.

Helia backed away before placing a kiss behind my ear.

"I will see you soon. I am going to run back to the house to change and to check on the...servants." Helia placed his coat over his shoulders. I finally noticed that he was wearing the same clothes from the party.

"Helia," I called out, "ask how Oscar is doing. For me?"

"I will. Now relax." Helia placed a kiss on my forehead before walking out of the room, leaving me and the nurse.

"Your husband is quite handsome." the nurse said, bringing my attention from the curtain to her.

"Yes, he really is." I smiled back.

"I heard that you are having twins. The Lord has truly blessed you." the nurse smiled as he took the water jug from beside me.

"We are." I sighed.

I did feel blessed. Despite the fact that I was whisked away from my friends and family, I was lucky to have Helia with me. Now I have these miracles within me that makes feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

"I have left written instructions by Dr Blackwell on your bedside table. Please, read them over and then get some rest. This is not a suggestion but a command from the doctor herself. I will leave you be but if you have the slightest twinge of pain or spotting, please notify a nurse, midwife, or doctor immediately." the nurse smiled before leaving the room and closing the privacy curtain behind her.

I looked over to the bedside table where I saw the note from Dr Blackwell and picked it up. I read over the directions. Rest for the obvious reasons, drinking fluids, taking short walks to promote blood flow, no strenuous activities. Seemed easy enough but I felt that something out of my control was going to happen which would cause me to break some of these easy rules.

I placed the note back on the bedside table and resigned myself to sleep as there was nothing else for me to do and nobody else to talk to. So I slid down in the bed and closed my eyes welcoming the sweet peace of sleep.

I woke up to the sun setting outside of the small window in the room and Helia back in the seat that he had left earlier in the day. He was deeply engrossed in a book, his brows furrowed and he was biting his cuticles, something that I noticed when he was deep into a book or trying to solve a problem. It was a nasty habit but it was cute nonetheless.

"You're back." I said and he looked up from the book and quickly shut it. "What were you reading?"

"Oh nothing, just something to pass the time while you slept." He smiled as he brought his chair closer to me.

"Whatever it was, it must have been interesting. You were biting the skin around your nails." I pointed to his raw fingers.

"It was a book from Oscar's library. The Divine Comedy." Helia replied.

"Have you read it before?"

"No. It is old and is inspired by religion. A basis for what most people model their afterlife to be in this world. It's fascinating to read about Dante's journey."

"I am surprised that you have not already read it." I remarked, a hint of sarcasm laced in my voice.

"There are so many things that I have not read but I hope to read them all by the time that I am done with my journey in this life."

"An ambitious goal." I reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the small glass of water and brought it up to my lips.

"Well, I will try at least."

"You always struck me more as a writer and an artist who wanted to create rather than someone who wanted to enjoy other's creations."

"I don't see the two as mutually exclusive." Helia chuckled, "I would love to create a work of my own but I still would love to read and see all that I can."

"Fair enough." I took a sip of the water. "Take a walk with me. I am tired of being in this bed and my legs are screaming for me to move."

"Are you sure? Shouldn't you be resting?" Helia asked.

"Dr Blackwell left instructions for me after you left and one of them was to take walks to keep the blood flowing. Besides, I have been resting all day. Help me out of this bed." I held out my hands for Helia to grab and pull me out of bed.

Helia pulled me to my feet and helped me over to the side of the room where a blue silk robe was hanging on the hook.

"Miss Prism came to visit last night and brought this robe and took the close that you were wearing last night. She said she would be back tomorrow morning to bring more clothes for you to return back to Oscar's house." Helia explained, sensing my confusion.

"Tell her I said thank you."

"Tell her yourself." Helia scoffed. "Are you planning on never seeing her again?"

I rolled my eyes and took the robe off of the hook and put in on my body over the white nightgown. I tied the sash and grabbed Helia's arm.

"Ready."

We walked around the large building. It wasn't Dr Blackwell's office but it wasn't a hospital.

"Helia, where are we?" I asked, feeling stupid that I did not ask this question earlier.

"We are at a special clinic for women and children." Helia replied.

"Why?"

"Well, last night I took you to Dr Blackwell's office and it was stupid of me because it was late at night, her office wouldn't be open. However, some benevolent force smiled down on us because she was walking out and she you limp in my arms. She opened her doors and stopped the bleeding right on the waiting room floor. She saved your life right there. It was amazing honestly. She then instructed me to bring you here where she would check up on you."

"I see, not a lot of men here." I remarked as I looked around and saw that Helia had been the only man that I saw in here.

"Yeah, not many men would show their faces in this kind of establishment. Plus many of the women who are here are women who have had children out of wedlock and this is considered a safe haven for them." Helia explained as we rounded a corner, the stares of various women boring into our backs.

"I guess that we are having children out of wedlock." I shrugged.

"Technically but I plan on marrying you the first chance that I get." Helia chuckled.

I gave him a small nudge trying to hide the blush on my face.

"I know that you are blushing."

We turned another corner and stumbled upon the nursery where they kept the babies. There were about nine in there and each of them were sound asleep. I pressed my head to the window to take a closer look. I felt Helia's arm snake its way around my waist and pull me close to him. I removed my head from the cold glass and placed it on his shoulder.

"They look so peaceful." I whispered, fearing that if I talked too loudly that I would wake them all up despite the glass barrier.

"They do but I bet that it is a different story when they wake up."

"Would you like to hold your child?" a voice asked from behind us. Helia and I turned around to face a young nurse.

"Oh, no. None of these babies are ours." I replied placing a hand on my abdomen to let her know that I was still expecting.

"Alright, we will be shutting down this hallway soon so you may look until I am done feeding the children." the nurse smiled before pulling out a key from her pocket and unlocking the nursery door.

"Are you ready to move along?" Helia asked.

"Can we stay a little longer? Please?" I looked up at Helia.

He looked down at me and smiled before placing a silent kiss on the top of my head.

We watched the nurse silently wake each baby one by one to feed them a small bottle of milk. One of the babies curled her toes as she drank, another gripped the nurse's uniform, and the one that she was currently feeding kept his eyes closed the whole time.

The sun set behind us and by the time the nurse was done feeding the babies, the sun had gone down completely and the street lamps had been lit. When the nurse exited the nursery, Helia and I continued our walk and made our way back to my room.

I took off the blue robe and placed it back on the hook. Helia sat down on the chair and I climbed back into the bed.

"You aren't going to sleep there are you?" I asked as I looked at Helia trying to get comfortable.

"I don't want to leave your side." Helia replied.

"There is enough room up here for the two of us." I pulled back the blanket to invite Helia in.

"Are you sure that we won't get in trouble?" Helia asked.

"I am already pregnant so there really isn't anything that they can say to us." I scoffed. "So you can sleep next to me or in that chair."

Helia shot up to his feet and climbed into the bed. "There is no way that I would pass up the chance to sleep next to you."

Helia adjusted himself to get comfortable next to me before placing his arm around me and pulling me close to him.

"So, what do you think we will have?" Helia asked.

"I don't know, a dog?" I giggled.

"You know what I meant." Helia narrowed his eyes.

"It doesn't matter to me."

"Nor me but I have been thinking about it since we found out that you were pregnant. Now there will be two and it has gotten me even more excited."

"I didn't know that you were this excited, I can feel you shaking."

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't be?" Helia asked as he ran his fingers down my back lazily.

"Back in Magix, you never seemed to be visibly excited about anything. You were always so composed and in the months that we have been here I have seen a completely new side of you."

"Being with you brings out a primal instinct in me that I cannot explain. I had it back in Magix when I was with you but I meditated because I couldn't be that way when I was in the field or training. Here all I am allowed to focus on is you but when we get back I will have to take up meditating." Helia chuckled, his breath hitting my neck.

I could feel my eyelids becoming heavier and the sounds of the outside world were starting to muffle. Despite sleeping almost all day, I felt myself succumbing to sleep once again.

"Flora?"

"Hmm?"

"Nothing, just sleep. I love you."

"I love you too."

I felt Helia's lips press gently against mine before sleep finally overcame me.