Chapter 2-

When Jesse woke up several hours later, he was confused at the strange, but seemingly familiar presence of someone in his bed. He looked over and saw a pair of loving blue eyes watching silently. "Emma." He breathed, pulling her into his arms. "I thought I'd dreamed it all."

Emma shook her head, stroking Jesse's cheek. "Look at you. You should have stayed at home. I would have seen you the second I came in the door."

Jesse shook his head, touching a thin hand to her cheek. "No. I don't think I'm going to last much longer. I can feel myself physically weakening. My body isn't working the way I want it to."

Emma sighed, resting her forehead against Jesse's chest. "Jesse, Adam and I were talking earlier and we think we have an idea to save you."

Jesse wrapped his arms around her, holding her as tightly as his weak body could manage. "I don't think it'll work, but tell me your idea."

"Skyler is a molecular-psionic. He has the power to heal. He can make the tumor in your body go away. The only problem is that he is too young."

"Well that's a problem. By the time he's old enough, I don't think I'll be alive."

Emma bit her lip and then spoke quietly. "Not if we put you in stasis until he was old enough."

Jesse physically jerked. "You mean like a pod? Absolutely not!" he shouted, enraged and terrified. His biggest fear was being held captive in a Genomex pod.

"Jess, listen to me. I can't let you die. I won't let you die. Adam built pods for Sanctuary, in the event that someone found Sanctuary and tried to break in. It would be the best way for the five of us to be safe. Our thinking is this. We'll put you in a pod for at least two years. The brain is active when in stasis. I could connect easily with you on a tele-empathic level and I could talk to you everyday. Tell you about the day, how Skyler is doing. And when Skye is four, which Adam says is when he'll be old enough, we let you out and have Skye remove the cancer from your body. If you're in stasis, the cancer can't progress. Which means that you'll live longer than if you're out here, going about your everyday life."

Jesse's arms tightened. "You really want this?"

"I don't want to loose you, Jesse. And this is the best way that Adam and I know how to save you. Please, you don't have to answer yet, but at least think about it. I love you too much to just let you die. You are the man I love more than life and the father of my son. I can't let you go. I won't let you go."

Jesse nodded, pulling this beautiful woman down to him. "All right. I'll think about it and let you know in a bit. Will that work?"

Emma nodded and hugged him. Jesse squeezed her tightly and then let her go. "Why don't you go get our son? I can't leave the bed for the moment and I would like to see him again."

Emma nodded with a fond smile. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." She teased, kissing him passionately and lingeringly.

Jesse chuckled, whispering against her lips. "I'm not going anywhere." He laughed kissing her once again.

Emma smiled at Jesse's attempt to lighten the mood before running to get their son. Jesse laid back against his pillows, his eyes closing as time crept past. Skyler was playing in the lab by Adam's feet as Adam work on an experiment to help Jesse beat the cancer. Skyler looked up as Emma came in. "Momma!" he giggled, clapping his hands together loudly.

Emma rushed over, taking her son's hands between her own. "Hello, my little frog. Do you want to go see Daddy?"

Skyler perked up at the now familiar word. "Daddy?"

"Yes, my wee froggy, Daddy. But you have to be quiet okay? Daddy's sick and he's very tired."

Brendan's hand came over his mouth, looking massively innocent. "Quiet as a lamb." Skyler whispered, his eyes wide and sincere. "Skyler loves Daddy."

"Momma loves Daddy." She murmured, pressing a kiss to her son's forehead.

Adam looked at Emma with a pair of sparkling eyes. "How is he? Did you tell him our idea?"

Emma nodded, smoothing Skyler's hair. "Yes. He said he'd think about it. And now we'll just have to wait for him to make his decision."

Adam nodded and squeezed Emma's shoulder. "It's good to have you home, Emma. It's been very empty without you and your laughter here."

Emma smiled with a sad smile. "It's good to be home." She murmured, kissing Adam's cheek and leaving the room with her son in her arms.

Jesse's eyes crept open as Emma opened the door to his room. "Em?" he murmured, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Emma set Skyler on the bed and then crawled up to Jesse's head. "I'm here, Jesse. I'm here, my love. I brought you our son."

Jesse's head rolled to look at the beautiful blonde boy at the foot of the bed. "Come here, Skye. I'm okay. You won't hurt me."

Skyler, having been waiting for some permission, scrambled to sit by his father's side. "Skyler loves Daddy."

Jesse smiled, raising one hand to touch his son's face. "Daddy loves Skyler." He whispered his back arching almost imperceptibly against a sudden attack of pain.

However, Emma caught the action. She took his hand and squeezed it as his hand clenched tightly around hers. "Do you need me to go get some painkillers from Adam?"

Jesse nodded, his eyes closing quickly to try and blink away his tears. "Please."

Emma nodded and kissed his forehead. She leaned over and kissed Skyler's cheek. "Stay here with Daddy and look after him for Momma okay?"

"Ok Momma." Skyler said, curling up under Jesse's armpit, cuddled into his side.

Jesse's arm tightened imperceptibly around the tiny body, holding him close to him. "We'll be okay, Emma, Skyler will take good care of me."

Emma smiled at the view of father and son and left the room, rushing for the lab where Adam was tinkering around. "Adam! Jesse's in a lot of pain. I was wondering if you could give me some painkillers for him."

"I gave him the strongest stuff I have. Do you think he'll consent to morphine? It'll make him groggy and I know he hates it."

"I don't think that we have any other choice. You said yourself, the pills he has are the strongest you've got. Morphine is the last option." Emma said, taking the offered syringe of morphine. "Thanks Adam."

Adam nodded and watched as she ran from the lab, headed toward Jesse's room at top speed. When she arrived, she smiled at the scene in front of her. Skyler was sleeping, curled against his father. Jesse was watching his son with a look of awe on his features, one frail hand stroking the hair from his son's face. Emma came to the bed and touched Jesse's cheek. "Adam sent you some morphine." Jesse only nodded, displaying his inner arm. "No argument?" Emma teased, her nose crinkling in amusement. "You hate morphine."

Jesse nodded, looking up at her in exhaustion. "I know, but Adam wouldn't have sent it unless there was nothing else."

Emma touched his face, slipping the needle into his arm. Jesse flinched, turning his head to the side. "I love you, Emma DeLauro." He murmured, taking her hand and pulling her into the curve of his body.

"I love you Jesse Kilmartin." She whispered against his lips before kissing him, slow and deep.

Jesse's body relaxed noticeably as the morphine began to work. "Emma, could I ask you something?"

Emma looked up at him and nodded. "Of course, Jess, you can ask me anything."

"I look at our son and could never imagine doing to him what my father did to me; manipulate me, ignore me. So why did my father use me so?"

"I don't know, Jesse. I only know that he didn't deserve a son as wonderful as you. You are perfect and your father is the one who will have to suffer with the knowledge that he wasn't a good father to you. But you don't need him. You grew up to be a wonderful human being, regardless of the father who bore you. Adam raised you into a good man. Adam has been the only father that you need to remember."

Jesse nodded and snuggled into his girlfriend's side. "Emma?"

"Hmm?" she asked, shifting his head into his place between her breasts, brushing the shaggy blonde hair away from his eyes.

"If you want me to, I'll be put into stasis. I'll do anything to stay with you longer."

Emma bowed her head over him, pressing soft lips to his forehead. "Are you sure?" she asked, giving him the chance to back out.

"I'm sure. I don't want to loose you. And I don't want someone else to be my son's father. I want to be my son's father. I want to raise him as my father never raised me."

Emma smiled and hugged him close, reveling in the feel of both of her boys in her arms for the first time. "All right, Jesse. Just get some sleep and I'll go tell Adam."

Jesse nodded, his eyes slipping closed. "I just want 24 hours to say goodbye and I'll go into stasis."

Emma nodded again and tightened her arms around him. "Anything you want my love. Get some rest."

Jesse sighed and held Skyler close before following their son into the pleasant world of dreams. Emma slipped out from underneath him and padded from the room. She dressed in pajamas and then went to the lab, a robe held tightly around her. "Adam?" she asked, entering the lab quietly.

Adam turned to look at her. "Emma? What's wrong? Did the morphine not work?"

"Nothing's wrong, Adam, the morphine worked just fine. He didn't even argue with it. He and our son are asleep."

"All right, what's going on? I know you. There's something weighing heavily on your mind."

Emma sat down on the scan chair, folding her hands in her lap. "He's agreed to go into stasis."

"So soon? Are you sure? This is Jesse. He hates the pods."

"I know. But he wants to raise Skyler the way his father didn't raise him."

"Of course, it would be Skyler that was affecting his decision the most. Jesse always wanted a son to lavish the attention on that his father never showed him."

Emma sat back. "24 hours and he'll go into stasis. But he wants to say goodbye to some people first, as well as spend some time with Skyler."

Adam nodded and turned to a wall, punching in a quick code. The wall slid away, revealing five Genomex pods. Ignoring four, he moved toward one and began to set it up for occupancy. Emma leaned back on the chair, watching with a sort of detached air. "Will he really be okay?"

"Yes, Emma, he'll really be okay. Not to mention, he'll be able to talk to you whenever he wants."

"What? Jesse isn't a psionic. How could he talk to me whenever he wants to?"

"I've created a chip which will connect your powers to Jesse. If he feels lonely, he can activate the chip with certain brain waves and you'll get a tele-empathic signal from the chip. It's more for his own reassurance than yours. I want to make sure that he doesn't panic and then start to fight the pod."

"Has Jesse ever undergone chemotherapy?" Emma asked, curious about the process of Jesse's cancer.

"No, he didn't want to. And even though he was 14 when he first got sick, I couldn't exactly tell him that he had to take chemo. However, I did trick him occasionally into undergoing radiation therapy. And he's taken steroids since he was 16 to help keep his strength up."

Emma nodded and then stood. "Well, I'm gonna head back to bed. I don't think that I should leave the two boys alone."

Adam nodded, smiling at his daughter. "Good night, Emma. Stay close to Jesse okay? He was serious when he said that he couldn't leave the bed."
"I know." Emma said with a sad smile before turning and leaving the lab.

She passed the Dojo and smiled. Jesse had once told her that her strength was in her mind and that she should focus on her mental exercises. But he'd apologized, albeit with some help, after she'd successfully stomped on his and Brennan's butts. And from then on, until she'd disappeared, they'd bounced off of each other. He helped her learn to kick butt and he taught her everything he could teach her about computers. Emma had taught him to meditate, so that he was better able to handle his illness and the sharp flux in his powers. Once, late one night when everyone was in their beds and they couldn't sleep, they'd even made love on its crescent floor. That was the night Skyler had been conceived.

She entered Jesse's room and smiled at her two sleeping boys. Skyler was curled close to his father for warmth, his tiny thumb in his mouth. Jesse had his arm around his son, holding him close, his head turned to the side to look at him. Emma just chuckled and then climbed into the empty spot on the bed next to Jesse. Jesse stirred, his eyes opening to look up at her. "Hey." He whispered with a small smile.

"Hey yourself." She whispered back. "Go back to sleep. I'll still be here in the morning."
Jesse nodded, shifting his head to his favorite place between her breasts. "I don't know what I would do without you, Emma."

"Hush, Jess. Just get some more sleep. You have a long day tomorrow."

Jesse nodded again and drifted off to sleep once more. Emma started to run her fingers through his hair, struggling to remain awake so that she could enjoy the time she had with him. Her body wouldn't cooperate and she finally fell asleep around three in the morning.

The next day, Jesse hauled himself into a wheelchair and shivered quietly, until Emma picked up on his discomfort and draped a blanket around him. "Better?" she asked, speaking so that only he could hear her.

"Much." He replied, reaching over and lifting a yawning Skyler into his lap.

Skyler squawked a bit before snuggling into his father's lap. Emma gripped the handles and then wheeled him to the common room. Brennan and Shalimar were watching a movie, which immediately went off as the trio came into the room. Shalimar was up and next to her little brother so quickly it was hard to tell that she'd even been sitting down. "Jesse, shouldn't you be in bed?"
"No, I'll be sleeping for the next two years."

"What?" Brennan asked, watching as Emma wheeled him up next to the armchair.

She locked the wheels and then sat in the chair next to him. "I'm going into stasis tomorrow morning. Adam installed pods in Sanctuary. I'm going to be occupying one as of tomorrow."

"You hate pods."

"I know. But it's the only way to keep me alive long enough for the cure to become effective."

"Cure?" Shalimar asked, excited. She had been worrying like crazy since Jesse had told her about his cancer.

"Yeah. My son has a healing touch. But he won't be strong enough to get rid of the cancer until he's four years old. So I'm going to enter stasis so that I can stay alive until Skyler gets old enough to cure me."

"So you're going to willingly put yourself into your worst fear?"

Jesse nodded. "I want to raise my own son. I want to marry Emma. I want to have more children, and give Skyler brothers and sisters. I can't do that if I'm dead."

Brennan nodded and sat back on the couch, one arm behind Shalimar. "I expect you to look after my sister and girlfriend, Brennan."

Brennan locked eyes with Jesse and saw the determination in aquamarine depths. "You got it, man. I'll protect them both with my life. And I'll make sure your son stays safe as well."

Jesse nodded, squeezing Skyler tightly glad he hadn't had to explain his concern for his son. Skyler giggled, squirming slightly in an attempt to get away from his daddy's tight grip. Emma smiled at the two and prayed silently that they would have a lot more time like this when Jesse was free of the pod and free of the cancer as well.