Freddy thought back to the night Damien had forced Porn Night for his benefit. Watch, he'd replied to Freddy's questions. Watch, and learn. Everything has a purpose here in Hell. So Freddy, and Damien, had watched, daily, Damien with increasing glee. Freddy with increasing boredom, impatience, and anger. Life had gone fucking wonderful for all the bastards; Everyone was in high spirits, frolicking and laughing and getting on with their lives. Not even one of them had had nightmares, not even the alternate version of his bitch daughter. For some reason, however, Damien had been delighted with the progression of things, and daily reminded Freddy that he needed to watch, and wait, and that this wasn't some torture he'd devised for Freddy. So the former Dream Daemon watched, and waited. He didn't have very long.

Springwood, three months later

"What do you mean, I'm pregnant?" Maggie's voice rang out in the doctor's office. She and Doc had been careful to use protection, always. Except for that first night, a voice in her mind whispered. That first, beautiful, amazing, cathartic night that had truly made them Husband and Wife. Maggie shivered deliciously; just the thought of that first night never failed to send a bolt of longing through her. She forced her attention back to the present, as the doctor was still grinning at her, grinning and talking, about vitimans and rest and exercise, all the normal things a pregnant woman should do. A baby, she thought in wonderment. She'd eventually have to quit her job; the doctor was warning against stressful situations, and although Springwood wasn't the Springwood of old, her job was still a stressful one. How were they going to make it on one salary? How was Alan going to take the news? She thought back the past three months, the way Alan would smile happily whenever Tracy called him "Daddy," albeit jokingly, the pride in his voice when he'd introduce her as "My daughter" to strangers, father's pride in his face even as people gave covertly puzzled looks at them, Tracy's milky white skin, then his own dark brown visage; the way he lovingly ran hands and lips and tonuge over her stomach after they'd made love each night, as if he could already picture the seed of their love planted there. A goofy smile crossed her face--he'd be thrilled, and insist they'd manage. We're going to have a baby!!!

Springwood, three months later

"What do you mean, I'm pregnant?" Katherine's voice was almost a shriek in the doctor's office. The doctor started to smile at her, then frowned, taking in her shocked look, the sudden whiteness of her face. "Could I have a moment alone to think, please?" The doctor nodded in sympathy and left her alone. Katherine's mind was racing with shock and fear. "How could I be pregnant?" She knew that her doctor thought she didn't want to be pregnant at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. She might now want kids now, but in the furture, of course! Especially since she'd found her soulmate. Al, as she'd taken to calling him, was everything she could have ever dreamed of. Her friends loved him, her family adored him, and she..well, he could do no wrong as far as Kathy was concerned. Thinking of him brought her back to her fear, and she burst out laughing, calling herself an idiot. At her doctor's first words, she'd automatically flashed back to Dale, now a distant memory in her mind. Al had taken care of everything; at her insistance, he'd stuck to her cover story, calling the cops and saying she'd come home and suprised a mugger, who'd then beaten her and fled. Her parents he, himself, had told the truth to, promising that that bastard would never bother Kathy again. She'd never know exactly what Al had done, since he refused to speak of it, and Dale...well, Dale refused to speak to anyone at all, though he'd sent murderous glares her way until a friendly camera guy had informed Alan about it. Dale hadn't looked at anyone much after that, sticking to himself for the month it had taken him to get an out-of-state transfer.

In her mind, for some reason when the doctor had told her the test results, she'd instantly became afraid, wondering what she'd do if it were Dale's. She didn't believe in abortion, and she knew that Alan would raise the baby as his own, he'd never punish the child for the sins of its father. Her laughter was borne of the relief that she'd remembered that she and Dale had never had sex. The night he'd tried to...but she'd driven him off, then Alan, her sweet, handsome Knight, had come to her. They'd stayed in that week, Alan taking care of everything, while her bruises healed and her mind healed and they'd laughed and loved and critiqued the Best Of shows the network had hastily thrown together in her absence. She'd fallen more and more in love with him with every movement he'd taken, every word he'd spoken, and every time he'd taken charge of a situation, it had felt right to her. He didn't do it out of some convoluted notion of a man or woman's "place", but out of care and concern for her and her well-being. She wondered how he was going to take the news, then remembered one talk they'd had not long after getting together. They'd just made love, and were laying sprawled across her bed, his head reasting on her stomach. He'd kissed her bare skin, then remarked that he'd always wanted kids, how his parents had always raised him and his siblings with love and devotion, despite their hardscrabble beginnings. And how he'd do his best to give any children he had everything he could with both his love and his time, as well as his bank account. She smiled and touched her stomach, wonderingly. This feels so right. He's going to be thrilled. We're going to have a baby!!!

Across town, the same day

"What the HELL do you mean, I'm pregnant?!?" Loretta Krueger yelled at the top of her lungs in the doctor's office. She was 63, she'd come to menopause a bit late in life, true, but she'd still gone through the Change. So what the hell was her doctor trying to tell her? This wasn't funny, not at all, not one bit. She'd been looking forward to "old age", though she'd felt it as keenly as Fred had, all their children growing up and leaving the house. Yes, she missed them, and she lived for the moments her older son brought his kids over for visits or babysitting. But she had her job, and she had Fred, and she had been planning on retiring at the end of the year, passing on the business to their younger son when he graduated from culinary school and came home. She'd planned on doing the things retired couples do: Plodding in the garden with her husband, travelling, taking cruises, hell, playing bingo even! And she'd even talked with her doctor about taking hormone pills to try to get some of her sex drive back. She'd totally enjoyed her romp with Fred three months earlier, and figured they could get back to having an active sex life again, like they used to. And as much as she adored her grandbabies, she was never cut out to be the "traditional" rocking chair grandmother. And now this. How could it be? What were her kids going to say? What her friends going to say? Hell, what would Fred say?? Holy shit, we're having a baby!!!

Damien watched the unfolding scenes as pridefully as if he'd fathered the babies himself. And he very well might have, goofy bastard, Freddy thought. He winced slightly as Damien's head snapped around and that dark, scowling gaze was leveled his way, as though Satan's son had read his mind. Freddy clicked the blades on his glove defiantly and sent his own glare back to the man.

"As...fun..as this has been, what's with the sudden Paternal Instinct? I'm happy to have more kids to kill, but you didn't need to plant any homegrown bastards on my account" He grinned, then scowled again as Damien rolled his eyes, looking upward as if praying for patience.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Damien replied. Freddy shrugged, he didn't get it, but damned if he'd tell the queen that. He was getting sick of Damien's holier-than-thou attitude, tired of getting his face rubbed into every little detail of what he didn't have. The bastard better come up with something, fast, or Daddy wasn't going to be the only one having problems down here. Freddy's patience had come to an end.

"Of course you don't get it. No wonder you died so many damn times." Freddy stepped forward with a snarl, to be stopped by the damnable upraised hand. "Please, not again. It's tiresome that you haven't yet learned that fisticuffs isn't my cup of tea. Watch." He passed his hand over all three pools; the air above them shimmered with a pure white light. Freddy wasn't impressed.

"Yeah, so? Great light show. What's that got to do with me?" Damien rolled his eyes once more. "I told you before a child's soul, his energy, is pure; untainted. It's magical." He ran his hand over the pools again, the light leaped and sparkled as if with a life of its own. Freddy still didn't get it; that much was obvious by his posture and the disgusted way he watched Damien play with the sparkles of light. Damien sighed yet again. "Alright then, since you've shown me yet again that I need to spell things out to you. Pure innocence, pure dreaming innocence. I'd thought you'd have gotten it by now, as you once came back through the dreams of an unborn child. And now you've got the combined power of three. Freddy, my dear, dense, friend, I'm showing you the way home."

Freddy stared at Damien in mute amazement a moment. Of course he should've known it! He had come back, through a child. The bastard of that whore, Alice. He would've made it too, had the slut and that bitch mother of his not conspired to turn his Jacob away from him. But now...now he had three babies, with the combined energy and the boost of multi-demensional energies tying them all together. And two of those whores knew nothing about him, they wouldn't know to stop him, or how. He threw back his head and laughed, pure, unrestrained joy. Damien, watching, laughed with him. How much fun this was going to be! Enjoy it while it lasts, whores Freddy thought. Enjoy it, cos Daddy's coming home.