"Abe? ABE!" Hellboy yells into the phone, a second later hanging up. "Ah, crap."

He puts the phone back into its cradle and starts to go through Manning's rolodex looking for Hodson's cell phone number. After missing it a couple of times because he's spinning through the small file too fast, he finally finds it. He takes the hand set out of its cradle and lays it on the desk as he dials with his left hand. Just before he finishes punching the numbers, Manning walks in.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?" Manning demands.

"Stuff it, Manning," Hellboy growls as he listens to the phone ringing on the other end.

"What are you doing in my office?" Manning yells, his voice getting louder and louder. "And sitting in my chair? AND SMOKING MY CIGARS?"

"I said STUFF IT!" Hellboy shouts back.

"Um, hello?" a tentative voice asks.

"Hey, Hodson, it's Red," Hellboy says into the mouthpiece as he stares down Manning.

"Yes, Red, what can I do for you?" Hodson asks distractedly.

"Listen, I just got off the phone with Blue and he says Maggie's gone into labor," Hellboy answers.

"Oh, shit," she swears under her breath.

"Yea, that's pretty much what I said," he agrees, now ignoring the daggers being stared at him by Manning.

"Do me a favor and call Abe back and tell him I'll be there as soon as I can," Hodson requests. "I'm currently stuck in rush hour traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. See if he can slow down the labor."

"Don't think that's possible, Doc," Hellboy replies. "She was screaming something fierce when I was on the line with him."

"Damn," she swears again. "Just let him know, please."

"Hey, not a problem," he assures her a second before he hangs up the phone and starts going through the rolodex again.

"Did I hear you correctly?" Manning asks. "Mrs. Sapien has gone into labor."

"That's what I told the doc isn't it?" Hellboy grumbles as he finds Abe's number again.

He redials the number and waits. Several rings later he's taken to the automatic voice box. After leaving a message, he hangs up and tries again. For the next several minutes he tries to get through, but no one answers so he calls Hodson again.

"Hello?" Hodson answers.

"Hey, Doc, it's Red again," Hellboy states. "I wasn't able to get through. You want me to try calling Sharon or someone?"

"No, Sharon and her grandmother left an hour or so before I did," Hodson replies. "Not that they'd be able to do anything any ways. It's probably for the best that they're not there any how. I'm afraid Abe's on his own for now. I'm almost to the toll booth, so hopefully I'll be back before anything bad happens."

"Ok, Doc," Hellboy sighs. "Let me know what happens."

"I will, Red," she assures him. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Sure, Doc. Talk to ya later," Hellboy responds just before he hangs up.

After returning the phone to its cradle, Hellboy looks up at Manning who's standing in front of his desk. The director is nearly as red in the face as Hellboy and a vein is pulsing on his forehead.

"Get. Out. Of. My. CHAIR!" Manning grinds out through gritted teeth.

"Since you asked so nicely," is Hellboy's smart aleck reply as he heaves himself out of the leather chair.

It creaks and groans noticeably as he gets up and Manning winces at the sound. As Hellboy is heading for the door, he hears Manning reclaiming his seat.

"You want to explain what the hell you were doing in here in the first place?" Manning demands again.

"Sure," Hellboy answers while he takes a long drag off of the imported cigars he appropriated from Manning's desk. "I was calling Abe. You didn't give me his phone number, so I came in here looking for it."

"Did you even ask for it?" Manning asks.

"Must have slipped my mind," Hellboy replies as exhales a large cloud of smoke and exits the office.

A few hours later and Hellboy is pacing back and forth in the library in front of Abe's tank, his tail slashing through the air nearly knocking over the stands stationed in front of the glass. The tank is currently empty since the maintenance crew decided to take advantage of the time to make a few repairs and adjustments and make a couple improvements to Abe's home. Hellboy ignores the men in there as he continues to try and wear a hole in the carpet while chomping on his unlit cigar.

"Red?" Liz calls from the other side of the room where's she's been working on the computer.

"Yea?" he responds without breaking his stride.

"I just got an email," she tells him.

"So?" he growls.

"It's from Abe," she states.

He's across the room faster than any human could ever move and looking over her shoulder at the screen.

Hi Liz,

Well, the babies are here! Dr. Hodson wanted to deliver them by C-section, but I guess they had other ideas. They were born in Maggie's bathroom and I got to deliver them!

Dylan Rupert Cavendish-Sapien

March 5th, 2007

11:02 AM

5 lbs. 8 ozs. 18 inches long

blue tinted skin with faded stripes

Morgan Selma Cavendish-Sapien

March 5th, 2007

11:38 AM

5 lbs. 2 ozs. 17 inches long

green tinted skin with faded spots

There's a lot more, but Maggie's finally forgiven me and I don't want to leave her for too long.

See you soon,

Abe

PS – Don't tell Manning, but the phone he gave me got soaked in amniotic fluid.

Hellboy lets out a snort of amusement as he finishes reading the message.

"Well, that explains why he didn't answer his phone," Hellboy chuckles.

Author's note: I know that this chapter wasn't absolutely necessary to the story, but it's been bopping around in my head for the past couple of days and I couldn't resist giving my lovely readers some humor after putting them through all that anguish in all of the earlier chapters. I hope all of you liked it.