Azar came across Arella and Terry reclining in the library. Ever since her arrival, Terry had been Arella's constant companion, a shadow, really. He wasn't in love with her, he was just…besotted in a way. Terry thought all earthlings had at least 2 heads, 3 eyes, 4 toes on each leg and other crazy machinations. Imagine his surprise when he realized they resembled Azarathians. The very first time Arella took her shoes off, he had stared at them for about an hour. And then he inspected Arella's feet up close and personal, counting her toes. For a while, Arella avoided him like the plague, and Azar didn't blame her. But after therapy-like meetings, Arella was now comfortable enough to be in the same room with him alone. Azar was glad Arella had at least one friend.

They both looked up as Azar entered the library. "What is going on here?" she asked the two teens who were each reclining in a bean bag chair, Arella's pregnant belly standing out like a sore thumb. Really, the child should not be walking around. She was about to burst. And if anyone doubted the heritage of the babe growing in her stomach, they just had to ask her how many months she'd been pregnant. Arella had only been pregnant for 8 weeks, but she looked like she had been carrying for 9 months.

"Terry is quizzing me on the future perfect tense of Azarathian verbs," Arella said, beaming at Azar. Another thing Azar quickly learned about Arella was that she was incredibly intelligent, given the right tools to study with. In these past 8 weeks, Arella had learned about 80% of the language of Azarath. "That is so nice of him," Azar beamed. "Terry, may I speak with Arella alone?" Terry nodded. He immediately jumped up and all but skipped out the library. Arella moved to get up, but Azar stopped her. "No, no, no, child," Arella said with a laugh. "I'll come down to you," Azar relaxed in the comfortable bean bag. "I'm not that old," she said. Arella cocked her head to the side. "But Terry said you're almost 200 years old."

"Yeah," Azar said looking at her, "I'm not that old." She and Arella broke out in a fit of giggles. "Azar," Arella said worriedly, "have I offended you in some way?"

"No, child. Why would you think that?" Azar asked in confusion.

"You haven't spoken to me these past 2 weeks," Arella's eyes swam with unshed tears. "If I did anything to you…"

"Honey, no," Azar squatted in front of Arella and took her face in her hands. "I did not mean to make you feel that way." Azar paused with a sigh. "There is something I need to tell you," she said, "but I would rather we do this somewhere else. This bean bag chair is uncomfortable, and I am not as young as I used to be," she said with a small smile.

Arella sat on her bed, her arms hugging her belly, lips slightly parted in horror. "Azar, are you sure?" she asked in a small voice. Azar nodded, standing a few feet away. "I am absolutely sure."

"And the only way to survive is to keep the baby away from me? You want to take my baby away from me?" Arella asked in tears.

"No, child," Azar rushed to her side before taking Arella's hands in hers. "You'll be able to breastfeed him."

"But only if I am wearing a full-faced mask."

"You'll be able to watch his growth from afar." Arella released a sob. "And once he has enough emotional control, you'll be able to meet him."

"Well how long with that take?" she cried.

"I do not know, sweetie," Azar said sitting beside her on the bed, gently rubbing circles on her back.

"So, there's a chance I will never get to see my child face-to-face," she cried, "because we'll all be dead."

"We don't know that," Azar comforted her.

"I didn't ask for any of this," Arella sobbed. "I didn't ask for this," she leaned into Azar's shoulder and released a torrent of tears as Azar held her close and rocked her, softly humming.

A couple of hours later, after she had run out of tears and taken a nap against Azar, she looked up at Azar's kind face. Something had just occurred to her. "You referred to my baby as a he. What makes you think it's a he?" Arella asked curiously.

"It is just an educated guess. Trigon has only ever given birth to boys." Arella nodded, seeming to accept that answer. Azar didn't want to tell her that the reason was because no daughter of Trigon's had ever survived infancy. Arella didn't need the extra stress. After a moment, Arella moved away from Azar. "Sorry for crying all over you and falling asleep on you," Arella said, a slight blush coming to her face.

"It's fine," Azar said. "I just wish I could do more." Arella nodded, as she moved to stand from the bed. Before she could take one step, she buckled over and let out a scream. "Aahhh!"

"Child, what is it?"

"I don't know," Arella said through the tears. She then began to…pee? What the…? She looked down to see herself standing in a puddle of water. "Oh my," Arella said as both she and Azar realized that her water just broke.