"Do you feel that?" Dr. Randall asked, pressing lightly with the probe on her patient's leg near the place where the dart had penetrated the skin.

"No," Rhade replied.

Having expected the reply, Dr. Randall simply nodded as she moved the probe further away from the penetration site. "How about that?"

"No."

"And this," the doctor asked, moving the probe further away.

"No," Rhade replied again. "Are you even touching my leg with that thing or are you just playing games with me?" he asked in frustration, tempted to sit up in the bed even though the doctor had asked him to remain in a lying position. "Ouch," he said, finally feeling the medical instrument poke his leg.

"I take it you felt that," Dr. Randall commented, even as she moved back to the small red spot that showed where the dart had pierced her patient's skin. "Again, let me know when you feel something."

Pressing the probe several more times, moving up from the spot of penetration this time, Dr. Randall waited for a response from Rhade again. The fourth time she pressed the probe against his leg, he told her "there."

Dr. Randall made a small black line with her pen at that spot. Before she could say anything or move onto the next test, there was a knock on the door. Glancing over her shoulder, Dr. Randall saw the door open and her nurse sticking her head in around the corner of it.

"Dr. Randall, Mrs. Rhade is here," the nurse informed her.

Dr. Randall looked from the door to her patient. Before the doctor could even ask, the question Rhade was nodding.

"I want her here," Telemachus confirmed. "We have no secrets from one another."

Dr. Randall nodded looking back to the doorway. "Let her in," she told the nurse as she returned to her tests.

Walking into the room, Jillian silently moved to her husband's bedside. She took his hand in hers as she waited for the doctor to conclude her tests. She felt Telemachus give her hand a reassuring squeeze but they both remained silent as the doctor continued her exam.

It wasn't long before Dr. Randall finished. As she pulled a rolling stool over to the bed, she met Telemachus' gaze. "What I can tell you, is that whatever was in the dart, from your symptoms, it appears to be a type of paralytic. That is why you are experiencing the numbness in the leg that the dart penetrated. There is a total loss of feeling in a small area around the penetration site. I marked the area, as I expect that area will get larger as time passes."

"So, you're saying I could lose all feeling in my leg?"

Dr. Randall nodded. "To start with, yes," she replied. "If we don't find a way to counteract whatever is causing the effect, it could spread beyond just your leg."

"Then you don't know what was in the dart?" Jillian asked, a touch of fear in her voice. She gripped the hand she held tighter as she asked the question.

"Unfortunately, no. It is a chemical agent that we have never come across before. Tarazed's top medical researcher, Dr. Neff, if working on not only identifying the chemical agent but also on finding something to counteract it. Until then, I want you to stay put. Not only do I want to monitor your condition, but the research team might need more samples to work with."

"What am I? A laboratory rat?" Telemachus asked in frustration.

"No," Dr. Randall replied calmly unfazed by the accusation. In her years of being a doctor she had seen a wide range of reactions from her patients and the frustration Rhade was showing wasn't unusual. "You're our patient and we're going to do everything possible to figure this out."

Telemachus simply nodded his consent.

"Do you have any other questions for me, right now?"

"No," Rhade replied.

Dr. Randall looked from Telemachus to his wife. Jillian shook her head slightly in response to the doctor's gaze.

"Okay," Dr. Randall said getting to her feet. "If anything comes to mind, have one of the staff get a hold of me. I'll be back to check on you in an hour, unless something comes up."

"Thank-you, Doctor," Rhade replied calmly, more in control of his emotions than he had been a few minutes ago.

As Dr. Randall left the room, Rhade closed his eyes, trying to process the news he had been given. He hated the feeling of being helpless. This was something that he couldn't help fight. He was at the mercy of Dr. Randall and her coworkers to figure this out.

"We'll get through this," Jillian said softly, still holding onto her husband's hand. "I just got you back. I don't plan on losing you now."

As much as he wanted to say something as equally reassuring, Rhade just couldn't manage it. He refused to speak of anything that could end up being just false hope. Though he had learned much from Dylan while serving under him, the man's ever ending source of optimism no matter what the situation, had failed to rub off on him.

"Where are the children?" Telemachus asked, choosing to focus on something he could possibly control.

"They're here at the medical center," Jillian replied. "I know they want to see you but I wanted to know your condition before I let them see you. They're actually in the room across the hall right now. When I left them, Tri-Lorn was entertaining them with shadow puppets."

"Shadow puppets?" Telemachus asked, having a hard time picturing the scene.

"I think he wanted to take the children's attention off of the situation. I think he feels responsible for the current situation, and distracting the children is a way in which he can help."

"He's not responsible for my choice. He didn't order me to run for triumvir, he asked," Telemachus stated, letting go of Jillian's hand so that he could sit up in the bed.

"And would you have even considered it, had he not asked?" Jillian asked, taking a step to the side but staying nearby. She held her caution about Telemachus sitting up. As long as he didn't try standing or leaving the room, she wouldn't ring for help from the medical staff.

"Are you saying you blame him?"

"Of course not. I'm just trying to point out why Tri-Lorn might feel some responsibility. Anyone who knows you, knows that you have never harbored political aspirations, though I still believe that you could do a lot of good as triumvir."

"So you still don't want me to drop out."

Jillian moved so that she was standing in front of Telemachus as he sat on the edge of the hospital bed, she stepped in close and placed a hand on each of her husband's shoulders. "I think you shouldn't let an individual or a small group of people determine your actions."

Telemachus nodded, absorbing his wife's words. He knew that what she said would be weighed in whatever decision he made.

"Would you mind bringing the children in?" Telemachus asked her. Not only did he not want to think about politics or what had happened at the debate right then, but he also just really wanted to hug his children right then. Whatever he had to face would be more manageable once he saw for himself that they were okay.

"Of course, my love," Jillian replied, leaning in fro a quick kiss before turning and heading out of the room.

Stepping out of the room, Jillian let the door close behind her as she stepped to the side. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, she tried to get emotions under control. She knew she had to stay strong for her husband and her children, but the simple truth was, the doctor's words had scared her. The fact that they did not know what they were dealing with meant that they weren't sure how to treat it. She had just got her husband back, and now she knew there was a chance she could lose him for good.

There was also the news of the child she was pregnant with. She had planned on telling him about their fourth tonight, once the debate was behind them. Jillian knew she couldn't drop that news on him after what had happened today.

But if not today, when?

Opening her eyes, Jillian pushed off the wall. It was a question that needed an answer but not one that was going to be answered right now. The pressing matter right now was to get the children in to see their father. Not only would it help put the children's mind at ease, but she knew it would lift Telemachus' spirits as well.

Crossing over to the room her children had been taken to, Jillian entered. Tri-Lorn and the two older children appeared to be putting on a shadow puppet show for Artemis. Her youngest was sitting in her chair giggling. Hearing the sound was a balm to Jillian's frazzled nerves.

"Children, your father would like to see you," Jillian announced.

The shadow puppets on the wall disappeared at the news, as both Riley and Sirius hurried over to their mother. Artemis, quickly turned her chair to follow her brother and sister.

"Is he okay?" Riley asked.

"The dart your father was hit with had a poison in it," Jillian replied, not wanting to scare her children, but not wanting to lie to them either. "The doctor's are working on a way to treat him," she stated, hoping none of them would ask further questions.

"Elden, why don't you escort the children over to their father," Tri-Lorn instructed, directing his words to one of the guards standing just inside the door.

The guard addressed nodded his acknowledgment of the instructions, and then motioned for the three children to come with him. Jillian watched them leave, part of her not wanting to let them out of her sight, which was silly really. They were safe enough in the medical facility to begin with. Given the fact that Tri-Lorn had ordered this section of the facility locked down and had his personal guards on hand, Jillian knew they were that much safer.

Still, they had been through a lot these last couple of years. Jillian worried that it might get too much for them.

"They'll be fine, and I won't keep you long."

Jillian felt here face get warm at the triumvir's comment. She hadn't meant to wear her emotions out in the open, but apparently she was.

"I'm sorry. It's just we've been through so much lately and they've seemed to take everything in stride so far."

"But you worry about them," Tri-Lorn finished. "Any mother would."

Jillian nodded, feeling a little less embarrassed.

"How is he really?" Tri-Lorn asked.

Jillian was grateful for the question. Despite everything Tri-Lorn had seen her through since the Commonwealth influenced by the Collectors had tried paint Telemachus as a Nietzschean conspirator she still wouldn't have voluntarily laid her burden upon her triumvir. However, the question allowed her to do just that, and right now she wanted someone else to at least share her worries with.

"The poison in the dart is a paralytic that the doctor's have never come across before. Right now it is affecting only his leg, but it is spreading. If the doctor's can't find a way to treat it . . ."

Jillian let her explanation trail off, unable to actually put voice to the reality of what could happen.

Tri-Lorn nodded, quite able to figure out what would happen himself. "I'll have to clear it with Tri-Laurent as well, but I'm sure he'll agree that allowing the medical staff access to whatever resources they request, no matter the cost," he said, hoping to give her some sense of reassurance. "I've also sent a message to Admiral Hunt. I'm recalling Andromeda. Whether Telemachus will admit it or not, he needs his friends' support. Also, if the Home Guard doesn't catch this guy soon, then the safest place for all of you will be on Andromeda."

"Thank-you," Jillian said. Though she didn't know Admiral Hunt and his crew well, she had come to realize that her husband had formed a bond with all of them. Though she knew her husband wouldn't have asked for his former crew, as Tri-Lorn had said, he was going to need their support.

"Go, be with your family," Tri-Lorn told her. "If I hear about any developments, I'll let you know."

Jillian nodded, before turning and heading out the door. It wasn't long before she was walking back into her husband's hospital room. As she stepped through the doorway, Jillian saw Elden lifting Artemis from her chair so that she could sit on her father's lap. A few steps later, Jillian realized that her youngest daughter was crying.

"What's wrong?" Telemachus asked as he held Artemis close to him.

Though part of her wanted to rush forward and gather her daughter in her own arms, Jillian held her place and let the scene play out.

"I'm not going to keep my promise to you, Papa," Artemis said, softly through her tears. "I'm sorry. I know it's important to keep our promises."

"You haven't broken any promises that I know of."

"I promised to sleep in my own room tonight if you let me sleep with you and Mama last night. I won't be able to keep that promise if we all stay here."

Telemachus smiled and held his daughter a little tighter. "Sweetie, those are circumstances out of your control. It doesn't mean that you're breaking your promise," he said, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "If you went home tonight, would you sleep in your own bed?"

Artemis nodded, fresh tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"Then as long as when we go home, you spend the first night in your own bed, then I will consider the promise kept, okay?"

"Really?" Artemis asked, looking up at her father.

"Really," Telemachus told her, even as he hoped she wouldn't ask if he would still stay with her. He didn't want to lie to her, and the realist in him knew that there was a very good chance that he might not be able to follow through with that promise himself.

"I'm promise, Papa," Artemis said, reaching up to wipe tears from her face, even as she leaned her head against her father's chest.