Disclaimer: Mutant x does not belong to me only…Sam, Emily, and the new baby are mine :)

A/N: thanks for the reviews and now here goes…

Chapter 9

Shalimar insisted on sparring against Brennan in the dojo, so Christina decided to go see how Adam was doing.  Wandering around the halls of Sanctuary, Christina finally made her way to the lab.

Hearing the footsteps, Adam looked up.  When he saw that it was Christina, he smiled, "You can come in you know."

Slowly she approached him, "I don't want to disturb you from your work, but everybody seemed to have wandered off."

Taking a look at a blood sample from Emma underneath a microscope, he said, "I'm glad you came in here.  I could use some company myself."

"What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm trying to synthesize an antidote for the serum that Emma drank.  It seems to have no effect on her, but her baby is aging a month for every hour that passes.  After the baby is born, it will continue to grow, unless I can formulate an antidote to stop it.  Unfortunately nothing's worked so far."  Adam yawned and stared at the screen; he was exhausted, but the baby would be born in four and a half hours, so sleeping was out of the question.

"Do you want me to make you some coffee?"  Christina knew that coffee always helped him stay alert; the stronger the better.

"Sure," Adam smiled appreciatively at her.

"I'll be back," Christina turned and headed out of the room, leaving Adam alone to his work.

The dojo

Shalimar easily dodged Brennan's blow and swiftly dropped to the ground, kicking his feet out from under him.  Jumping back onto his feet, Brennan let a small spark fly from his fingers at Shalimar, but she moved out of the way.  *If he wants to use his powers, then I'll really go all out.*  Her eyes flashed yellow; just to warn Brennan that he was going to get it, and she lunged at him.

Brennan backed up, "Whoa Shal, I was only kidding."  Quickly thinking he added, "Wait, I need a drink."  He walked over to the towels, and water bottles that they brought with them.  After wiping the sweat off his face and hair, he took a drink of water.  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Shalimar was doing the same.  Shalimar took her hair out of the ponytail she had put it in, and her blonde hair fell gracefully down her shoulders.

Brennan put the cap back on the bottle and set it down.  *Shalimar let her guard down, now's my chance.*  Quickly he pounced on her, knocking her to the ground.  All of the sudden Brennan burst out laughing, "I can't believe you didn't think that I was going to pull something like that.  Since I won, you get to do my laundry for a week."  Before they started, they agreed that the loser would have to do something for the winner for a whole week.

Shalimar gave Brennan her best puppy dog (or should I say kitty cat?) eyes and said playfully, "Aww, come on.  You cheated Bren.  This doesn't count."

Brennan still had her pinned to the ground, "Come on Shal, you're the one who made up the rules.  You said whoever ends up on their back first is the loser.  And you're on your back, so that means you lost.  But…I guess I could let it go this once, if I get a kiss."

Rolling her eyes she said, "I guess I'll have to do your laundry then huh?"  A hurt look crossed Brennan's face, so she added with a laugh, "I was just kidding.  Come here."  Shalimar put her hands around his neck and drew him down to her.  His soft lips brushed against hers.  Shalimar opened her mouth and their tongues caressed each other.  Brennan started kissing her neck, and Shalimar had to fight with her insanely strong feral urges to flip him on his back and take him right there on the dojo's floor.  *What are we doing?  We can't do this.  This feels good…it feels right.  I want more.  No!  I have to stop!*  Brennan started to pull her shirt up, but her hands stopped him.  "Brennan, we should stop," Shalimar gently pushed on his chest motioning for him to get off of her.

"Is something wrong Shal?"  Brennan stood up and helped her to her feet.

"Uh…no.  Nothing's wrong.  I just remembered I have to talk to Adam," Shalimar ran down the steps and headed for the lab.

*Something's bothering her, but why won't she tell me?  I think I'll follow her, maybe I can find out what's wrong.*  Quietly Brennan walked off towards the lab.

The lab

Adam was sitting at his desk, waiting for Emma to come back.  He had synthesized an antidote for Emma, but he had to wait until the baby was born (the serum had bonded with the DNA, and he needed a blood sample from the baby) in order to even start working on the antidote for the baby.

Shalimar came running into the room.  Her face was flushed and she was out of breath.  "Adam…can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure Shalimar.  Have a seat," Adam gestured to a chair next to him.  After she sat down, he said, "Now what did you want to talk to me about?"

Taking a deep breath, she blurted out, "Do you think that Brennan would ever hurt me?"

Adam was shocked that she'd even ask that.  Brennan was her friend, teammate, and now it seemed like he was something more than that.  "Brennan would NEVER hurt you.  None of us will.  Is there a reason you asked that?"

Brennan crawled on the floor and sat down next to the door.  He listened to their conversation in order to figure out if he did something wrong.

Fidgeting in her seat, she said, "I love Brennan, but I'm afraid that one day he's going to move on to someone else.  His relationships never lasted very long.  I can't help but wonder when he's going to leave me.  I don't want to lose him."  She paused for a moment and then continued, "That's not my only problem, my other one's worse."  Shalimar brought her eyes to meet Adam's, and she blushed as she continued, "The feral in me can smell the desire coming from Brennan, and it's intoxicating."

Adam was puzzled, "What do you mean 'intoxicating'?"

"This is going to sound crazy, but I've noticed something different about myself.  Lately I look in the mirror, and I look different."

"You look the same to me."

"I feel different too.  More confidant, prettier, and uh…" Shalimar blushed and looked around making sure no one was there before she continued, "most of the time all I can think about is having sex with Brennan.  Before I came in here, Brennan and I were training in the dojo.  We started kissing and all of my senses were in overdrive.  I wanted him so bad, I was thinking about taking him right there on the floor of the dojo!  I have thoughts like that all the time, but it only started two days ago.  It's not normal to have thoughts like that as often as I have.  What's going on with me?"

Adam looked at her, she was confused and scared.  "Well Shalimar, I think you're in heat."

Brennan covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.

Shalimar raised an eyebrow, "You're kidding right?"

Adam shook his head, "I'm serious Shalimar.  The feral DNA in you is telling you that it's time to mate."

"But wouldn't I be hot for anybody?"

"No.  You found your mate, your feral side isn't interested in anybody else.  And about the other thing, I know Brennan cares for you a lot, he won't leave you."

Shalimar smiled, "Thanks Adam.  I'm going to take a shower, and then I'll talk to Brennan."  After kissing Adam on the cheek she headed out of the lab towards her room.  Brennan hid around the corner until she was out of sight.  Then he walked into the lab.

"Hey Adam," Brennan sat down in the same chair that Shalimar was before.  "Did you make an antidote?"

"Only for Emma.  I need a blood sample from the baby in order to make an antidote for the child, because the serum has bonded with the DNA."

Christina walked in and handed a cup of coffee to Adam, "Sorry it took so long, but I got a little lost."

Gratefully he took the cup and drank the coffee.  "Thank you, I needed that.  I've still got awhile to go before I can get some sleep."

"Since you're up, Jesse and I was wondering if you could tell is the sex of the baby."  Everyone turned around to see Emma and Jesse standing in the doorway.  Emma had put on a pair of Jesse's sweats and one of his t-shirts, (nothing else would fit).

"Of course I can.  Lie down on the table so I can scan you, and then drink this," he handed her a vial of pink liquid.  "It's the antidote, but it will only dissolve the serum bonded with your DNA.  I need a blood sample from the baby to make another one."

Emma drank the contents of the vial, and laid down on the table.  Adam ran the scanner over her round stomach.  "Congratulations, it's a girl," he put down the scanner and gave her a hug.

"Did you two finally decide on a name?  I'm sure glad its' not a boy, because if you named it 'Butch' that might have messed the kid up," Brennan grinned.

"I was only kidding about 'Butch'.  And yeah we have a name, but we should wait until Shal's here."

"I'm here," Shalimar stepped into the room wearing a pair of tight blue jeans, and a light pink tank top.  "So what's her name?"

Emma slowly sat up, smiled, and said, "Her name is Kylie Kilmartin."  Suddenly she cried out in pain, and everybody ran to her side.  "Adam, what's going on?"  The pain lasted a few more seconds, and then as quickly as it came, it disappeared.  Laying back down, Emma tried to relax.

Running the scanner over her again Adam spoke up, "It seems that the antidote did rid the serum from your body.  However, it sped up the growing process.  You just had a contraction, that baby's on it's way right now.  Brennan, Shalimar, I need you to give us some room.  Christina will help me and Jesse…would you like some painkillers?"  Adam smiled as both Emma and Jesse glared at him.

Shalimar and Christina helped Emma get out of the sweats while the guys waited outside.  After covering her up with a blanket, Shalimar went outside to send Jesse and Adam in.  As soon as the other two entered the lab, Shalimar turned to Brennan and said, "I need to talk to you about something."

A/N:  I think I'll leave it there for now.  I know their vacation is over, but the story is still going.  I'm not sure how I'm going to end this so for now I'll just keep going.  Anyway next time…Kylie is born, Shalimar confronts Brennan about what she's feeling, and …something is wrong with Christina!  Okay here I go again…whoever is still reading this story, PLEASE review!  I think I lost most of my readers, but anyone who is left out there…YOU GUYS ROCK!!!! So leave a review and for now I shall say adieu.