Well this is Chapter 24, Please read and review. Hope to hear from you soon.

Chapter 24: For Eternity

Dante sat there unable to reply or comprehend what the doctor had been saying. Elli was pregnant? Had Elli known that before whatever had happened, happened? Only one person would know and he had to know for himself. The doctor looked at him in a worried silence but didn't say anything. Dante finally moved and stood up.

"Did Elli know she was pregnant, did she come to you?" He was sure he was yelling, but he felt cold inside and nothing reached him, no emotion, nothing, just the pain of what had happened and the guilt of knowing it was his entire fault. Dante wanted to stop himself from yelling, but he couldn't, he just couldn't control anything other than his movement, and Dante was only half sure he had control of those.

"look Dante, I know you two are engaged and all, but anyone I see is in confidence, I can't tell you anything, I'm sorry" The doctors eyes went wide when he saw Dante come towards him, but Dante payed no attention to any of it. He couldn't control himself at all, and before he knew it he had the doctor up against the wall, holding him by the cuff of his neck with only one hand. Before he knew it he was yelling something at the Doctor, and even if he had wanted to, he wasn't about to stop.

"You listen to me, my wife has suffered enough, and here you are telling me that you cant tell ME if she knew she was pregnant, do you have any idea how bad she will feel if she knew, how bad I will fell because all of this is my fault! Now you tell me right now what the heck is going on otherwise you are going to need to repaint and remodel this wall, cause I'm thinking of renovating!" Dante knew he wasn't screaming, but the tone of his voice would have been very harsh and threatening he was sure. Dante realised Fable was at his side growling at him, at him! But Dante couldn't control himself enough to let the doctor go. The doctor was almost crying and his face was turning purple from not being able to breath.

"Stop, Dante no…" Elli said weakly as she dragged herself from the emergency ward. She was weak and she was going to fall. Dante let go of the doctor, or more likely threw the doctor to the floor and went to support Elli. She looked at him and stroked his hair as she smiled weakly at him.

"I knew Dante, I knew I was pregnant, but I didn't want you to worry just yet, I knew if you knew you'd probably never let me out of the house. I'm sorry Dante..." Elli said smiling at him before she fainted in his arms. Dante wasn't angry anymore though, he was upset. He lifted Elli up carefully and laid her down on the bed in the emergency ward. He then went back out to the doctor and picked him up, hugged him, and apologised.

"Dante, I can understand that you were upset, do not worry, I do feel you have the right to know, and you acted on that, no one can expect anything less of someone in your situation" The doctor was still really shaken, but Dante couldn't do anything more than apologise. The doctor sent Dante home, and said the Elli would be fine in a few weeks, though a little touchy about her pregnancy. Dante took Fable, and Night who had been waiting outside and went home to Cliff and Ann.

3 Weeks Later Elli's P.O.V

Elli left house that morning to go and do shopping, Cliff and Dante had gone out hunting, so she took this opportunity to go out and get some fresh air and forget about her miscarriage. Just the thought of it was bringing tears to her eyes again. Elli called to Aqua to come with her, and she was off.

She stopped in at the shop that was owned by Karen's father, she had no idea how she was supposed to explain what had happened to them. She went in and quickly purchased her items. She left as quickly as possible and walked down the street. She decided to wait in the town square and watch the sky for a while, soak in some sunrays.

Elli drifted into a drowsy sleep, as she felt weak from walking around so much that day. She could feel her eyes begin to close, but she was too weak to keep herself awake. She began to dream…

Elli nursed a little boy in her arms, her own son, hers and Dante's. The little boy was beautiful and so much like his father. Dante sat with her smiling at his pride and joy, a son that would later take over his farm and follow in his father's footsteps.

Karen walked up and grabbed the little boy off Elli and walked away, Elli tried to go after her, but for some reason she couldn't move and she couldn't stop her. Karen turned to her and smiled wickedly. Dante sat and hugged Elli as he went cold in her arms. He had lost his son, their son.

"Dante wouldn't have my child, and now he can't have yours either, neither of you can!" She yelled wickedly and faded into the distance. Elli ran after her but only ran farther from Dante into smog that she would never find her way out of. She could hear Karen again.

"He wouldn't have mine, so he can't have yours, and it's all because of me!"

"NO!" Elli shot up in the bench as she realised she was still in the Town Square. Karen's mother was there obviously headed back to the shop. Her mother stopped before her and held her tightly, the way she used to when they were kids and Elli had had no mother.

"It's ok Ell, it's ok, I'm here," She whispered to her as Elli cried in her arms. Elli couldn't understand why Karen's mother would still be there for her after what she had done to Karen, but it didn't seem to bother her. In fact Elli had only just realised Karen's mother must have come back to Mineral Town when Karen had. But her mind only focused on her own hurt and pain after that.

They stayed there for what Elli thought might have been a good two hours before Karen's mother took her back to the farm. After that Ann took care of her and thanked Karen's mother on her behalf.

Elli lay there thinking about everything for a while. Ann sat by her and made small conversation some of the time, while other times she just sat and rocked in the rocking chair that Elli had put in her bedroom. She had it put there as it reminded her of her Grandmother, the Grandmother she took care of every week now. Stu still lived with their grandmother, but he was a little older now, old enough to take care of himself.

Rain began to pour down outside and Elli stared out the window. She heard a loud knocking on the front door and she got up and weakly made her way to answer it. Ann offered to answer it for her but Elli wanted to answer it herself. As she got down the stairs she realised the knocking had stopped after the first couple, perhaps it had been a prank, but a prank in this weather, all the way out here?

Elli opened the door to see standing there in the rain was a rather small child. He was soaking and he was shivering in the weather. Elli didn't know why he had been left there, or who he was, but no child should be left out in the rain like that. She ushered him inside and he handed her two envelopes, one was from the Doctor, and the other was written in familiar handwriting. She decided the one from the Doctor was more urgent, but first she wrapped a towel around the little boy and sat him down in front of the fireplace.

She opened the letter from the Doctor and read in dismay…

" Elli

I am so sorry, but I fear the results of our test and extras and ultrasounds tell us that you lost a baby boy. And I am sorry, but the tests also show that you may not be able to become pregnant again, and that the birthing process, should you get pregnant, could be life threatening to you. I am terribly sorry…

The Doctor"

Elli broke into tears as she read and she opened the other letter, as she read she put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

" Elli

I know what I did to you was wrong, and I have heard the consequences it has had on you, it is for this reason they are sending me off to jail/gaol for manslaughter. It is for this reason I am offering you my son, I know he is not yours, and it may never be the same, but if you truly can no longer have any children, maybe you will love this one as much as you would your own. I'm sorry, and I know I deserve what has come to me.

Karen"

Elli's eyes dried up and she looked over at the little boy sitting near the fireplace, and pulled DNA tests out of the envelope to revel that he boy was Dante's. Elli didn't care anymore, but if it was Dante's then it gave her more reason to take him in as her own. She went over to the young boy.

"What's your name?" She said lovingly

"Dan, named after my faver, but showter" He told her trying to explain that Karen had named him after Dante, but he used Dan.

"And how old are you young man?" She said in a motherly tone.

"I am almost one year old," He told her. Elli stared at him, amazed at his intelligence, he could talk and walk and everything. He definitely took after his father. A tear came to Elli's eye as she sat there in front of this little boy; Dan.

"Um, are you going to by my new mummy?" He asked her as bluntly and innocently as Elli had ever expected anyone to sound. Elli began to cry as she held out her arms as if to hug Dan. Dan stood up, if a little wobbly, and walked over and hugged her. As she cried she heard him whisper.

"Don't be sad mummy, I will wuv you" And she felt joy spark up within her.

Dante and Elli later discussed things, and decided to keep little Dan. For two and a half years they kept him. Then on the 29th of Spring when little Dan turned three, Elli was rushed to the hospital as she was about to give birth to a miracle child. Elli had been told she would never be able to become pregnant, and she had, but she had also been told it could be life threatening, she had never told Dante that part, but when she had become pregnant, she wasn't about to stop the process no matter how much it threatened her life.

It was this act of selflessness that left Dan, three years old, holding his new baby sister Elli, and his father crying as he held Dan's mother as his mother lay on the bed eyes closed, not responding to anything that was said or done around her. He heard the Doctor say that 'She is gone' to his father and his father began to cry even harder. Dan hardly understood what it all meant, but he knew that his mother was never coming back, and that it was up to him to look after this new bundle of life.

"I'll always take care of you Elli, and I will always love you" He whispered to her just before her father took her into his arms, and called Dan to follow him. Dan ran back to his mother, as she lay lifeless on the hospital bed.

"I'll take care of her mum, don't worry, I promise," He said as one glistening tear fell from his face and landed on his mother's cheek. He ran off after his father and caught up easily. He then took his sister back and looked into her brown eyes; they were identical to his.

"I will stay by you for life, I will take care of you forever, and I will love you for eternity Elli"

For eternity…

The End

Discovering the Past, Creating a Future

By Aerie Elf

Well this is the end of Discovering the Past, Creating a Future. Hope you liked it. I know I enjoyed writing it. Thank you all for your reviews and thank you all for reading. Watch out for a sequel! Laters.