I'm back with another update! Going to do two chapters again, yay! Thanks to all the reviewers, I'm going to answer the questions, now!

I have plans for revealing more details on the illness that affected the males, it will be revealed in this story. I hope it won't be too much of a twist ;) Both of your reviews gave me some ideas.

About Nia having to choose between Ace and Butch, recall that during Keelie's dream she was with both of them. They were happy. She did not have to choose between her two loves, things work a little differently there.

Sorry about missing the question about Anahi's reaction to males being assaulted^^" I'm still working out the kinks on my headcannons on jackal culture, y'all really have helped me flesh so much of this world out. It is not entirely unheard of in packs for males to be assaulted in such ways, but it is extremely rare as in most cases(but not all) that the males are stronger and more powerful than the females. I wouldn't say that they wouldn't believe it happened, but it would not be something other jackals would be sympathetic to. Of course it would depend on the pack the degree of concern, and the victim's rank. For the most part though, as long as it does not negatively affect the pack life, it would be ignored (Kane and his father for example). Anahi realizes that Fortune was not raised for pack life, but she would consider him not following his duty as a male jackal. However she would keep her thoughts to herself, as his actions do not affect her. For the females, if she was not the perpetrator's mate there would be a problem, otherwise as long as the pack was not affected, there would not be an issue.

Hope this explains everything! Enjoy!

Spade shivered as one of the nurses stuck a thermometer in his mouth. He was huddled under lots of blankets, but he was still shaking. "Mama," he managed to get out, "I'm so cold."

She tucked the blankets around him tighter. It was getting harder for him to form sentences. He'd struggled a lot with those four words. "I know sweetie," she said softly. "Papa went to get you some hot chocolate."

The thermometer beeped and the nurse checked the readout. She frowned, it was dangerously high.

He hiccuped.

Tails came in the room. He had been helping study the poison.

"Hello tails," Tempest said quietly.

"Hi Tempest. Can we talk for a minute?"

She nodded, and followed him to the corner.

He sighed, "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is, I've found an antidote for the poison. The bad news is, I don't have all the ingredients."

Her eyes watered, "can we get what you need?" She was desperate to save her baby. "Do we have time?"

He looked through his papers, "it's a slow working poison, so we should." He handed her a page. "This flower," he pointed to the picture on the page, "is what we need. The only place it grows is deep in these woods." He showed her the place on the map.

"I'll go."

She looked up. Infinite was standing there. He'd ran into Jay and been informed as to what was going on. He'd come with him to the medical bay.

He came over to them. Tempest just gaped at him. "Finn, what about Gaia?"

"Tempest," he said softly, "let me help your boy. You and Jay need to stay with him."

She turned to look at him. He was still huddled under the blankets. Jay was with him, trying to help him drink. But he was shaking so much he couldn't. Jay got in the bed with him and pulled him into his lap. He smoothed his mane and mumbled soothing words. She could see his shivering from here.

She sniffled, leaving him to talk with Tails and she joined the other two.

She placed a soft kiss on Spade's forehead. She could see the fear in his expression as he was still shaking. She rubbed his arms, trying to warm him up.

"I'm cold," he whimpered.

A nurse came back with more blankets. She wrapped them around him with a soft smile. "Is that better?" She asked sweetly.

He nodded as his shivering slowed. Slowly, he began to warm up.

"Are you comfortable?" She asked as Jay set him down and he lay back on the pillow. She tucked him in.

He nodded, pulling the blankets up to his chin, or trying to anyway. His fingers couldn't hold on to the fabric.

Tempest pulled them up for him, "better?"

He nodded again.

"You rest now," the nurse said, "I'll come check on you soon."

"Finn?" Gaia asked as she leaned against the doorway, "what are you doing?" In the couple weeks that had passed since she'd discovered her pregnancy, she'd been less sick. She still wouldn't say she was happy about it, but the idea of having Finn's baby was growing on her. Suffice to say, he was still unaware he was a father.

He looked up from the bag he was packing. "You heard about Spade?" She nodded. "I'm going to find the last ingredient for the antidote."

"Are you taking anyone with you?"

He shook his head, turning back to the bag.

She sighed and crossed the room to stand beside him. "Take Ace, he can handle himself out there. I want you to come back."

He gave her an odd look.

She took his hands, "I need you to come back." She couldn't bear the thought of their pup growing up without a father. Their father.

"Gaia," he said firmly, "I will come back." His eyes flicked to her stomach. She swallowed under his suspicious gaze. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No," she said. She gave him a bright smile, drawing his attention back to her face. "Everything is fine. I just worry you know." She put her arms around his neck, giving him an intense kiss.

The gesture quickly made him forget his suspicions. And when she opened her mouth, he forgot everything else.

She smiled to herself. He'd gotten good at this kind of loving. She knew what she was getting herself into, but she didn't mind. In fact, she wanted this. Vanilla had assured her these activities were safe. That the baby would be fine.

He gave her one last kiss and pulled back. He laughed at the pout on her face. "As much as I would love to do this, I need to go. We don't know how much time Spade has."

She was disappointed, but understood. "Ok. But please, take Ace with you."

He sighed, "ok."

He found Ace in the cafeteria. Fortune was with him. "How's Spade?" He asked while sitting down.

Ace looked up from his drink, "he's not doing well. From what the doctor said even though the poison is slow, it's very painful."

Infinite clenched his fists and cursed Eggman under his breath.

"Kane and Lilly went to see him," he added.

Infinite sighed. He knew he should go see his nephew before he left. Even though he had been there before, he couldn't bring himself to see the boy so sick. So he had left.

"I'm going to find the last ingredient for the antidote," he said.

Before he could ask Ace said, "I'm going too."

Infinite grinned.

Fortune grabbed Ace's arm, "I want to come," he signed.

Ace looked at his little brother with worry, "I don't think that's a good idea. I don't want you to get hurt."

He frowned, "I can take care of myself. Besides," he added with a sad expression, "I get tired of staying here. I'd like to be helpful for once."

Ace sighed. He was worried, but it might be good for Fortune to get out of the base for a bit. Now that their mother wasn't here she wouldn't throw a fit about it either. But now that she was gone, he almost understood her worry. She'd loved Fortune the most, and she was always so afraid something would happen to him. "Ok," he finally said. "If it's ok with uncle."

Infinite nodded. "You might want to pack a bag," he added. "It may take a few days."

They nodded. "We'll meet you at the gates," Ace said.

After they left, he went to tell Jay what was happening.

When he got there, Jay was sitting in a chair beside his son's bed with his head in his hands.

Infinite set his hand on his shoulder and he flinched, jerking his head up. "Hi Finn."

"How is he?" His heart sunk at the pain on his brother's face.

"He's not good. He's scared, he's hurting, and I can't do anything about it." He looked over to see Tempest holding him in her arms. Kane and Lilly had left already.

"I'm going to find what we need for the antidote," Infinite said, pulling Jay's attention back to him.

"By yourself?" He asked. He continued before he could answer, "but what about Gaia? You have someone else to care for."

He frowned, "Gaia can handle herself while I'm gone." His voice lowered sadly, "she's not like Bella you know."

"But I thought..." he trailed off. Finn wasn't aware that she was pregnant. He had picked up on the way she held herself now. Like she was guarding a precious secret. Finn obviously hadn't been paying attention. And she hadn't told him. He smirked, "you're slipping brother."

"What are you talking about?"

He shook his head, "forget it." He could be wrong. And he didn't want Finn to get all worked up over nothing. "But really," his hand rested on his arm, "you don't have to do this."

"I want to do this Jay. I'm not going alone, Ace is coming with me."

Jay smiled, "thank you."

Ace took Lilly's hands in his, "I'll be careful. I promise."

Kane stood by their feet, watching. He was so worried about his friend.

"I know you will. I'm still worried though."

"I know." He softly kissed her mouth.

She slipped her arms around his neck, kissing back. She was aware that Kane was still watching, so she pulled back before they could get carried away. "Don't take any unnecessary risks. But please, save Spade."

He nodded. His ear twitched when Kane sniffled. He knelt down to his level. "Hey, you ok?"

"This is all my fault," he whimpered while rubbing his face.

"No it's not. Spade was the one who decided to go to the waterfall despite being told not to."

"I should've said something sooner."

"We can't change what happened. We can only do our best to fix it."

"You'll fix it right? Promise you'll fix it."

Ace looked into the little boy's face. His eye was quivering as the tears welled up. He was so upset right now, and Ace would do anything to bring his rare smile back. He never thought he would get so attached to a child, especially one with so much baggage. "I promise."

He was caught off guard when Kane threw his arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He cautiously rested his hand on the boy's back. "I love you Ace," he mumbled through the tears. "You take such good care of me." He squeezed tighter, "and mama."

Lilly gasped silently at the expression of love for her. Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away.

Ace pulled back and rested his forehead against Kane's in a sign of affection. "You take care of mama while I'm gone. Ok?"

His heart swelled with pride. Ace trusted him. Ace respected him. Something his own father had never done. "I will."

One last hug, then Ace stood back to his full height.

Kane went and took Lilly's hand, a determined look on his face.

"Is Kinnley going with you?" Lilly asked. He'd already told her Fortune was.

He shook his head, "he was concerned he'd only slow us down. Besides, he's helping in the medical bay."

She nodded. "We'll be here when you get back." She squeezed Kane's hand.

Ace gave her a quick peck on the lips and hurried off.

Gaia hummed lightly to herself as she headed back from supper to their room. Finn had already gone, so she was left to her own devices. A bath sounded good right about now.

The hall was somewhat dark, but she didn't mind.

As she reached the door to the bedroom, something tapped her shoulder. She screamed and whirled around to hit the attacker.

"Are you crazy?!" She hissed when she saw it was Jay.

"Didn't mean to scare you," he said putting his hands up. He noticed the way her other hand subconsciously held her stomach.

"What do you want?" She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

"Why didn't you tell Finn?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. Why didn't you tell him he's a father?"

"How did you find out?" She growled.

"You told me."

She rolled her eyes at his familiar grin she hadn't seen in a while. "So you were suspicious then?"

"Yeah." He leaned forward, "but this is a big deal. Why didn't you tell him?"

"I don't owe you of all people an explanation. You don't have anything to do with this." She turned her back on him to go in the bedroom.

"Maybe not, but Finn deserves to know."

"He's already left."

A sigh. "Did you not want this?"

She turned to glare dangerously at him. Letting him know to drop it. But Jay was never one for subtlety.

He continued. "Finn would understand."

"You don't know anything ok?!" Tears rolled down her face. "Pups are all you jackals care about! He cares about his bloodline more than me!" She clenched her fists, "so don't tell me he will understand! Because he won't!"

"Gaia please," he tried to soothe her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you so upset." She especially didn't need to be stressing herself right now. It was still early, so it was more likely for things to go wrong.

"So what did you mean? What was the purpose of all this?" Her arms went back across her chest.

He crossed his arms too. "Because I feel it was wrong to let Finn go without telling him. I was hoping to speak with you before he left, so maybe you would tell him."

"It wouldn't matter. He's determined to help Spade."

"It would. He would be more careful. You know he doesn't always think things through first." His ears fell back, "that's what got him in all this mess anyway."

Her eyes watered, "I never wanted him to do something foolish. I want him to come back home safe. His baby needs him." She hiccuped, "I need him."

Jay looked sadly at her. It was a bad idea to confront her like this. She was very emotional right now. "I'm sorry Gaia, I never should have brought this up. I just wanted to help."

"Well you didn't," she snapped. "I just wanted to relax tonight, and now I don't feel like doing anything but going to bed."

"I'll go. But please, tell Finn when he gets back."

She kept silent.

"I am sorry Gaia. It was not my place to get involved."

The wolf nodded, knowing he meant well. She smiled softly, "don't worry about it Jay. I'll worry about my baby, you worry about yours."

He dipped his head and turned to go back to his family.

After he left she went into her room, tossed herself on the bed, and cried.