Note- Boy, I thought I would never get this chapter down! I know you're probably all sick of my excuses, as am I. I'm just glad you're still reading this! Thank you SOOOOOOO much!

This chapter holds a special place in my heart. Recently, my choir teacher passed away, and to her I dedicate this story. I loved her so much, she was the only one that believed I could sing well too. She was my first choir teacher, and although I was nearly a foot higher than her, she was always larger than life. I love you Mrs. White, and we'll never forget you.

The doctor walked in with his newly found wife, whom he found crying hysterically in the coffee room. Comforting her, he left her outside the operating room.

He entered softly and immediately saw Mr. Siren face up on the floor. The doctor, who couldn't admit that he didn't think this very thing would happen, took Raphael by the wrists and dragged him outside, where he asked his wife to look after him or put him in a more comfortable space.

Again he entered the room, this time concentrating on the baby, as if it was going to jump out and bite him.

He checked the monitors of the mother, heartbeat and such, and, satisfied, started to leave. Just then a meek voice called to him, "Doctor?"

He turned around and saw that Annalise had awaken. He walked towards her and knelt beside the bed. "What is it?" He asked gently.

"What do I do?" Annalise's large eyes were filled with tears. "I mean, isn't this supposed to be a happy time? I have just given birth, but... I feel very sad inside... Not about the baby, of course, he's an angel but..."

All the doctor could do was furrow his brow.

Annalise stopped. "Doctor! Your experiment failed! Aren't you the least bit upset?"

The doctor shook his head. "I wouldn't say it failed... He's alive, that's as much as we hoped for, isn't it?"

"But, the media?"

"Damn the media, no one will ever know about him or what happened here."

"My husband..." Annalise shivered, "He's going to kill me... I know it..."

"Why would he do that?"

Annalise looked at him. "Nevermind. ...Doctor, may I have some pain killers?"

"Pain killers? Are you in pain right now?"

"Very much so."

The doctor went to the cabinet and took out some pills. "Take only this amount. They're very strong, but I think these will be safe enough."

Erik shifted a little in his mother's arms as she reached for the glass of water by her bedside. Before the doctor could blink, she had swallowed them.

"Thank you... I shall like to be alone now, if that's alright?"

"Certainly."

The doctor made to leave the room, but before he did he said, "I'll send your husband in as soon as he wakes up."

"Alright."

The door shut with a thud. Annalise watched tiny Baby Erik breathing softly in her arms, occasionally cooing in his sleep. "Oh my baby..." She sighed. "What sort of life will you have?"

She laid him down gently on the bed and got up and made her way to the cabinet where the doctor got the pills. She rummaged through until she found them. She grabbed a handful and made her way back to the bed.

Erik had already fallen back into a deep sleep in his new position, so Annalise thought it best not to disturb him. She took her glass and looked at the pills, and then back at Erik. "I love you Erik... Always."

With one fleeting gulp, she had swallowed the pills. She crawled back next to Erik and lifted him in her arms and watched him while he slept, with tears in her eyes, until she was so drowsy she couldn't see.

Raphael was shown to the room the next morning. "She's in there," the nurse said, "Be gentle."

Raphael quietly entered the room and saw Annalise and Erik, completely covered, sleeping peacefully. He walked up next to her and stroked her hair, intending to wake her.

"Annalise... Annalise, wake up..."

Receiving no reaction, he took her by the shoulders and gently shook her. "Annalise. Annalise!" His shoulders began to shake with tears. "Why?!" He shouted as he ran to get the doctor.

They returned shortly afterward and the doctor checked her pulse. "I don't understand..." He thought.

Raphael glared at him. "Well, what has happened?"

"She's still alive, but she's in a..."

"A WHAT?!"

"A deep coma..."

Raphael collapsed to the ground. "Why?" he said.

"I'm not sure... Delivery complications..." The doctor ran out and yelled to his wife to get her hooked up to life support.

Raphael watched the doctor and then looked at Erik. "You..." He snarled, "You killed her..."

He walked up to Erik and picked him up, revealing his face. "You killed her, you monster!" He began to shake Erik back and forth violently. Erik began to scream at the top of his little lungs.

"What are you doing?! Are you mad?!" The doctor had heard the screaming and rushed back inside. "Give me that child right now!" The doctor snatched Erik away and laid him gently in his arms. "You could've killed him, did you know that?" he yelled at Raphael. "Shh, it's alright now, I've got you... Shh, stop crying," he whispered to Erik.

"Don't you dare talk to my baby like that!"

"You were going to kill him! You're a madman!" The doctor snapped back. "I won't let you do that. Even if he is yours." The doctor rocked him, "I suggest you leave now."

"If I leave, I'm not coming back! I will not father that, that... Creature of science! He's nothing but a monster! Look at him! Just look!" Raphael screamed through his tears.

The doctor stared at Raphael. "So this is how it's going to be... I would have never thought it of you... Just to run off like this... Leaving your wife." He shook his head.

"You know as well as I do that she's as good as dead. Not many people recover from comas!" Raphael began to cry again. "She was all I had... And that thing killed her! I want no part of this..." A teardrop fell from his eye. "I promised her I'd never hurt him... I promised... But I can't keep a promise like that!" His lips quivered. "I have to leave. I have to forget about this... About her... You have to let me go..."

"You have no hope in life! You have to believe in the power of love! She might survive!"

Raphael laughed. "And what will she have to live for? A monster?"

"Like you?"

"I... I will send you a check, every month. Keep her on life support until I run out of money. It's all I can do..."

"No, it's not..." the doctor said, calmer now. "Take care of your son. Love him, teach him..."

"Why don't you doctor?"

The doctor stared. Was he being serious? "Why? Why don't you want him?"

Raphael let out a shaken sigh. "I'm afraid... Of what, I'm not so sure. But mostly, I'm afraid to raise him on my own... I could never... Like she would..." At this, he looked over at his wife, paler now, and choked.

The doctor looked at Erik cuddled in his arms. He was the most retched thing he had ever seen, but he wasn't frightened of him. He was sympathetic towards him; how could he not be?

"Will I be able to find you, Mr. Siren?"

"I don't know where I'm going, but I'm sure our paths will cross soon enough, for I'm sure you'll let me know if she dies..." He looked down, intentionally avoiding the doctor's hard gaze. "What will happen to him?"

"I will raise him. I feel it's my duty. I created him, I personally molded him genetically, and I feel for the safety of all of us that I should parent him..."

Raphael could not smile. "That's best..." But secretly, Raphael did love Erik. Because a part of him was Annalise, and he loved her too much for words.

"You'd better leave. The sooner you get away from all this, the better." Raphael nodded, and made his way to the door. He looked back once, but never looked back again.

"NO! We can't take him in!"

"He has nowhere to go! His father won't have him and his mother's in a coma! A coma, Diane!"

"Charles, we can't"

"I'll work extra hours at the office to earn enough money... But we can afford him!"

"It's not the money. I can't sleep in the same house with it."

The doctor scowled at his wife. "Diane, he's a HE not an 'it'."

When the doctor had brought Erik home, Diane had almost fainted. She was part afraid of commitment, and part afraid of Erik.

"Diane, I'll build him a special room, where you'll never have to see him..."

Diane looked at her husband. "Why, Charles? Why do you want to take him in?"

Charles gazed at cooing Erik. How could such a sweet, innocent thing be such a monster? Diane didn't understand. "How could I put him in a foster home, after all he's been through, the poor thing!"

Diane shifted her weight, apparently struck by the powerful reality. She looked at her husband deeply, admiring his courage, but at the same time not believing it. She shook her head in shame at her own stupidity. "Alright." She said, finally.

Erik squeaked as Charles set him down gently on the couch to kiss his wife. "Thank you..." He whispered in her ear, sending a tingle down her spine.

He picked up Erik again. "I'll make him a room in the cellar. It's not too damp down there, rather cozy in fact."

Diane couldn't help but notice how Charles' eyes lit up at the very thought of it. She knew how he loved doing nice things for other people. She was just sorry she was so hesitant to do the same. After all, how bad could it be?