Okay, I'm back with the next chapter. But, before we start, here are some review replies:

To Starlight16: I would leave a message for Starlight16, but she's still too busy with her victory dance. So Jet, when she stops celebrating, please congratulate her for me. She's figured out the puzzle. SHE KNEW IT SHE KNEW IT SHE KNEW IT SHE KNEW IT!!!!!!

To 20xd6: I am also a huge supporter of Jekyll/Mina. Read this chapter, and you'll see what I mean.

To Night Music: You're absolutely right. Jekyll needs it after everything he's been through (as does Mina.) If you want Jekyll/Mina lovin', you've got it. Here it is.

To Mina: I would never make Jekyll crazy. After everything he's been through in this story, the poor guy deserves a break, don't you think?

To Clez: You knew it too. Congratulations. Don't worry, I hope to include Sawyer in the next few chapters. *patting Clez's Jekyll plushie on the head* Okay, little guy. You can relax now. Everything's going to be okay!

Okay, on with the show!

*

Mina set her empty glass of orange juice back on her nightstand. She never knew that having a head cold could make her so thirsty for orange juice. Dr. Jekyll, had he been in his right mind, would have been proud of her for drinking lots of fluids while ill.

Sadly, though, there was something wrong with Jekyll, and Mina didn't know what it was. Hopefully, it wasn't her flu. She didn't want Jekyll to suffer through the same misery.

It was one in the morning, and Mina was usually never up. However, her head cold was so bad that she couldn't fall asleep. Her nose was too stuffed, she kept coughing and sneezing, and she kept jumping back and forth between fever and chills. But she was going to get some sleep tonight, no matter how much it took.

Mina turned on the humidifier that Nemo had lent her and was about to turn out the bedside lamp and go to bed when she heard a knock at the door. "Cobe id," she said through a stuffy nose.

Dr. Jekyll slowly opened the door. "Mina?" he asked quietly. "Are you holding up okay?"

Mina blew her nose to clear it, and nodded. "Everybody's given me everything I need," she said. "How about you, Doctor? Are you feeling okay?"

Jekyll smiled and nodded. "I went to sleep, and when I woke up, I realized just how ridiculous I had sounded earlier," he said, telling a little white lie. Jekyll decided to stick to Mina's story of the sleeping potion than explain to Mina that an angel had resurrected her from the dead and made her think she had been asleep. Jekyll didn't want Mina to be overwhelmed when she was sick. "I was just tired and needed a rest."

Mina just nodded. "Okay," she mumbled.

Dr. Jekyll looked around the room. He had just noticed something. "Say, how come you aren't asleep? It's one in the morning. Even Nemo's gone to sleep by now." The captain didn't go to bed until he had given all of the night crewmen their assignments, and he woke bright and early every morning to check on those assignments. Nemo hated sleeping, but he knew his body required it. Still, why sleep when there was too much else you could be doing?

Mina sniffled. "It's hard to sleep when you have a head cold."

"I agree," Jekyll smiled, and pulled the blankets up her chin. "I've had way too many ill patients who complain about lack of nasal breathing at night." Then he paused. "Mina?"

"Yes?" Mina asked, sniffling.

"Right before you-I mean, right before I gave you the sleeping potion, you told me something. Do you remember what you said to me?"

Mina tried to think. What had she said to him? "Well, I told you that I thought I was dying. And I told you I heard Jonathan calling me upward to Heaven."

"Besides that, Mina," said Jekyll very gently. "You told me something from deep inside your heart. It was something that you had wanted to say to me for a long, long time."

Mina paused. Then, she remembered. "Oh, I have it," she exclaimed softly. She looked into Jekyll's eyes. "I told you I loved you."

Jekyll nodded and pushed aside a strand of her long, reddish-brown hair. Mina's usually piercing green eyes had softened up, and Jekyll had a feeling it was not just because Mina was sick. "And did you mean that, Mina?" he asked her softly.

"Well, I had a high fever," Mina whispered almost inaudibly, her voice weak from both illness and emotion. "So I admit that it might have sounded delirious, but yes, I really meant it," she finished, looking up at him.

Jekyll smiled, but no smile was enough to show all of the joy he had in his heart. "Oh, Mina," he said to her, quietly but excitedly, "I love you too!"

Mina and Jekyll embraced, and Jekyll kissed her on the forehead.

"Once you're all better, I promise I'll give you a real kiss," he whispered in her ear. "I didn't want to take a chance and pick up your illness. And you aren't breathing on me, are you?"

"No, Doctor," Mina giggled softly. "I'm not."

Jekyll and Mina pulled apart, and Jekyll put a hand to her forehead. "Your forehead is still quite warm," he remarked. "Here, stay still. I'm going to take your temperature."

Mina shook her head. "No, I'm fine," she promised him. "My fever's not nearly as hot as it was two days ago!"

"No, Mina, your health comes first," he assured her, squeezing her hand.

"Now, I no longer have a working thermometer, it's a long story, so I'm going to have to sneak into Nemo's room. I'm sure he has one."

Mina lay back on her pillow and smiled. "If it's a story, than entertain me. I'm miserable."

"Very well." Jekyll wiped his brow with his handkerchief. "I had to break the thermometer and drain it of its mercury for an experiment that I have been working on."

"Oh?"

"Yes, a very controversial experiment that I have since abandoned. And now, if you'll excuse me," he smiled at her, "I must go and fetch another thermometer."

Mina lay down in bed and sighed, but this time, it wasn't an exasperated sigh. It was a happy sigh. She had her personal doctor back. And this time, he was hers for good.

* * *

With Jekyll back by her side, Mina let go of caring for herself and let Jekyll care for her again. Jekyll refilled her humidifier, supplied her with endless amounts of tissues, and made sure she was given cough syrup at exactly the right times. He gave her glass after glass of orange juice and hot cups of tea.

As he went into Mina's bathroom to get her a cold compress for her forehead, he happened to glance into the mirror above the sink.

Instead of seeing his own reflection (or Hyde's, for that matter,) it was Batsie's reflection that was looking back at him. And she smiled.

"Henry," Batsie spoke to him through the mirror. "You've done good work, and I am very proud of you. As is Jonathan Harker."

Jekyll smiled. "Thank you."

Batsie just smiled back at him. Suddenly, her image dissolved from the mirror, and Jekyll found a strange man looking back at him. He was a handsome man, with reddish-brown hair similar to Mina's, and he seemed to be wearing a white lab coat. Jekyll knew he had seen this man somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.

Then he had it. He had seen a photograph of this man in Allan Quartermain's files of the League members. This was Jonathan Harker himself. Mina's husband.

"No," Jonathan Harker smiled at Jekyll. "I wish to thank YOU, Henry Jekyll. Thank you for making my Mina happy and healthy."

Jekyll was speechless. He was communicating with a real ghost. However, he didn't need to say anything else. Henry Jekyll and Jonathan Harker looked at each other through the mirror, and shared a smile. There was nothing else to be said.

*

And no, the story is still not over! I hope to have the next chapter up within a few days.

~ Alisonia