Vash dropped the pan he had been holding, then fell to his knees as he picked it up. He looked at Meryl, face drawn and pale, not allowing himself hope. Meryl turned to look at her. "That's not a funny joke. He's a plant. I'm not. We can't have children."

Kiley shook her head. "I'm not joking." She looked more closely at Meryl. "You aren't too far along… I'd say about a week, but you are really pregnant."

"That's impossible."

"How do you know?" asked Vash softly.

Kiley shrugged. "She looks pregnant to me. I can check the fetus, if you'd like."

"How? How do you, can you?"

She shrugged again, spilling coffee on her hand. She paused a moment to suck it off her skin. "I… how do you explain how you see? I mean, optical nerve, cornea, rays of light, right? Well, it's sort of the same sort of thing, only not the same because it's completely different. It's the same as how I look at my own body to heal it… sort of. I just… know. Damn," she sighed. "I don't have the words. It's just… a way I sense what's going on around me, what's happening in people's bodies." She looked at the ground unwilling to see what was on their faces as she stumbled over words.. "That sounds very invasive, doesn't it. I mean, it could be, but it isn't, it's not like I'm staring at people, more like I'm glancing at them, and I just noticed that you, well, you're pregnant. In a glance. Sort of. Only without using my eyes." She finally shut up.

Meryl's voice had a slight quaver in it as she responded. "But… he's not a human being… How can I be pregnant?" Kiley risked a glance up and watched Vash rise to his feet and take Meryl in his arms before her eyes sought the ground again.

"I have my own theories about how inhuman plants are," she muttered. Then she looked up. "I can check you a little more thoroughly if you'd like," she offered.

"Yes," said Vash, quickly. "I need to know. We need to know."

"Ok," she said ducking her head in a quick nod. "Just, come sit… no, I'll go over there." She set her coffee down and walked the few feet to them on her knees. "Just sit. This might take a while."

"Ok," said Meryl breathlessly. "Will it hurt?"

"You won't notice a thing," she promised. "Does it hurt when people look at you? No," she babbled. "Everything that's going to happen is going to happen in my head. It's just easier for me to sense if I have a tangible connection."

Kiley slid into a light trance as she opened that part of her senses that looked beneath the surface of things. She slipped her hand under Meryl's shirt, laying her palm flat against her lower belly. "You've been pregnant before," slipped out of her mouth.

"What? I've never been…"

"But you keep miscarrying. Give me a minute to look and see why."

"Oh." The pain in that soft syllable was palatable.

"Hmm." Kiley took her hand away and backed off a bit, giving her some space.

"Hmm?" repeated Meryl, demandingly.

"Well." She paused. "Well. Hmm."

Meryl's eyebrow twitched.

"Um."

"Just, tell me, please," asked Meryl.

Vash stayed silent, but he was very pale, and still clutching Meryl to him tightly.

"Well, you are pregnant. Chromosomes say it's a boy, but it's still too early for anything to be developed. There is one little… discrepancy. And it's likely the cause of your previous miscarriages." She fell silent again, thinking.

"What?" demanded Meryl, as more than five seconds passed.

"Well, plants were designed to mature more quickly, both in and out of the womb. Your body was not designed to nurture a child as quickly as this one grows, does not adapt to the changing needs of the pregnancy at the right points. So what happens is that the needs of the child outstrip your body's attempts to provide for him, and he dies… kind of like through malnutrition? Well, not entirely like that, but the same sort of concept. He doesn't get what he needs when he needs it and he dies."

"Oh. Oh, no. How horrible."

Kiley continued to look at the ground. "If it's any consolation…"

"How many times?" interrupted Meryl.

Startled, she looked up. "Huh?"

"How many times has this happened? How many times have I been pregnant? How many times," her voice caught, "have I not been able to have my baby?"

"I don't know. I can't tell," she lied.

Vash spoke. "Meryl. We're going in the ship."

"What?"

"The best prenatal facilities on the planet are going to be in Knives' ship. No one has used them since before the Great Fall. Hormones and such, explanations of where your body needs to be, what it needs to be producing in order to care for him, everything we need to help you nurture our child will be in there. It will be fully stocked and supplied, and I guarantee that we will be able to force your body to carry this child."

"Is… could you? We? Is it possible?"

"It's worth a try."

"Then let's do it." They flew apart, throwing things into bags with wild abandon. Kiley quickly gulped down the last of her coffee, then handed the empty mug off to Vash, only to watch it going flying into a bag.

"Thanks," he said absently as he tried to pack without taking his eyes off Meryl.

She sighed. "You do realize, than if you go in there, you guys are going to get caught behind the barrier."

Meryl paused in her packing. "You're still leaving?"

Kiley nodded. "It's really now or never."

"But… I thought you might help."

"You guys don't need me around. And I have to go. It shouldn't be too bad; likely the barrier will be down before the pregnancy is over. Are you guys ok with that?"

Vash looked at her. "We could just keep Knives here. I don't think you need to go to such lengths."

Kiley grinned, a wry, lopsided smile that was full of irony. "I don't think you'll be able to stop him long enough for me to get away. Speaking of which," she said, looking up at the suns, "I'd best be starting now." She backed off about fifty feet from the ship, and stood silently, eyes closed as she gathered her concentration and energy. She raised her left hand and solemnly intoned, "Boys suck."

Vash and Meryl both goggled at her. "That's it?" he asked as she picked up her bag.

"Try it," she beckoned.