A/N: Well, Mom is out of the hospital, folks, and doing just fine. I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers. And I'll try to get back on schedule with you for posting.

Disclaimer: Ha! Prove it! Pfffffffft!

Chapter Twenty-Two: So I Guess Congratulations Are Out Of Order?

Johnathan was barely in the door of the bar when Charly grabbed his arm and pulled him back outside and into the alleyway in back.

"Merlin's Beard, Misser!" The Elite stated. "Are all Unspeakables as uptight as you are?"

"You want 'uptight'?" Charly asked, turning sharply to the man behind him. "You want to see uptight? Get a mirror out, Treaks, and take a good look when I lay this little piece of news on you."

Johnathan steeled himself up immediately. "What news?"

Charly was practically bouncing about the alleyway now, pacing from one side to the other. "Your little bird, the one who your suppose to be handling. The one where....'Oh, don't worry, I have everything under control there.' 'She'll get bored and forget your partner in a few weeks'? That one?" Charly leaned into the man for emphasis. "She's. Pregnant." He stated piercingly.

Johnathan simply stood staring at the man. "She's what?" He asked slowly.

"Pregnant!" Charly nearly screamed at him. "And they're both very happy!"

Johnathan maintained his emotionless stare. "Then I guess congratulations are out of order?"

"Oh no." Charly replied sarcastically. "I'm sure the great one can't wait to congratulate them. And to show you what a sport I am, I'll let you tell him the happy news."

"How very kind." Johnathan replied dryly. "But as is ever with you Unspeakables, you've managed to identify the problem, but failed to provide a solution. No matter how obvious it is."

"Really? And what is so blatantly staring me in the face?"

Johnathan gave the man a tight smile. "You eliminate the problem."

Charly stood for a moment in silence as though thinking over the man's words. "You want to kill her?"

"Katlin? Certainly not if it could be avoided. But she is currently rather... inseparably connected to the problem."

"And that's you're solution? Kill the mother and the child?"

"I wasn't voluntarily excluding the father from that list."

Charly narrowed his stare at the man for a moment. "Excuse me. But the whole reason I got into this to begin with was to keep my partner alive. So, 'yes', I'm afraid he is excluded. His life isn't being forfeited just because your stupid bird went and got herself in the 'family way'."

"I'm sorry." Johnathan again stated very dryly. "But I believe that particular state still requires two to achieve."

"Well, it also takes two to stop. Now I've been doing my darnedest to keep them apart. 'What' exactly have you been contributing to this venture, I'd like to know?"

"Katlin has been under a continuous spell to prevent her from becoming pregnant. A much simpler answer than yours, wouldn't you say?"

"Well, apparently someone forgot to cast their little spell one night, didn't they?" Charly shot back. "Since she is, in fact, pregnant."

"I never forgot." Johnathan declared firmly. "The only thing that could have happened would have been that one of them countered the spell, on purpose or by accident, and Katlin became pregnant."

Charly sighed quietly. "Well, something sure happened." He stated. "And the 'how' of it isn't really important. What is, is what we're going to do about it before the great one finds out. Because if he does, we're both in it deeper than we've ever been before."

"I gave you a simple solution, Misser. You only need to employ it."

"Me? I thought Voldemort's great Elite were the ones so keen on killing helpless children?"

Johnathan glared at the man before him. "That's the problem with you Unspeakables." He stated. "No real stomach for killing when it's necessary."

"You're talking about an unborn child."

"I'm talking about a child with the potential from its birth to be an uncontrollable force. And when you look at the situation for what it is, the choice is quite easy."

"When you reduce it to a cold equation, what isn't?"

"What are you suggesting then? Letting it be born? Letting it live? Are you suddenly doubting everything you've been told? Everything you've seen? Dammit, Misser! You've seen the power of this thing. You've seen what it can do. It needs to be stopped."

"I'm not questioning that." Charly replied. "I'm saying you're awfully fast to jump to the conclusion that the fastest way to solve all your problems is to kill them."

"When it's the only way."

"But it's not. You see, that's the problem with you Deatheaters. You find one plan that you like and you stick with it. You don't bother to try and think up any new ones."

"I'm listening."

"It's simply a matter of adapting the plan to fit the new circumstances. The plan still remains to get them separated."

"That doesn't solve the problem of the child."

"Once that is done," Charly went on, "once Orion is out of Katlin's life, I would think she would be all too easy to convince to get rid of the child herself. She isn't going to want to have the child of the man she just left or who just left her."

Johnathan fixed a cold, hard stare on the man. "You have been trying to separate them since they got together. What have you accomplished with this strategy? Let me see?" Johnathan tapped his finger on his chin as he stared at the sky for a moment before turning back to Charly. "Oh! That's right. She pregnant!"

"I didn't expect them to actually fall in love."

"And whose fault was that? Based on another great plan to break them up."

"Plans take time, Treaks. And I'm still working on that one. All it takes is a few well placed suggestions to start one or the other thinking."

"And by the time you get around to implementing it, the child will be an adult."

"Hardly." Charly replied in an increasingly agitated tone. "Orion mentioned heading up the coast tomorrow to a small pub they're rather fond of for brunch. And nothing allows one to think things over like a good, long drive. And I've given my mate plenty to think over."

"Fine." The man replied with a small smile. "I'll make you an offer then. I'll work on mine, you work on yours, and we'll see whose solves the problem first."

The man disappeared with a small 'pop' before Charly had a chance to answer. Leaving the Unspeakable with a tight knot suddenly forming in his stomach. He knew very well what Treaks' 'solution' was. Nor was it something the Deatheater was likely to try and pull off on the spur of the moment. He would plan it all out. Carefully. That gave Charly at least some time to try and implement his own plan. One that would require likely most of the time he had.

Unable to apparate on his own, Charly quickly hurried back to the office on foot. There was no time like the present to start working on his own plan to save his partner's life.

And just remember;

What Would Jesus Do.......for a Klondike bar?