Remember that this is only fiction and, of course, I have no idea whether things that will be mentioned in this chapter can really happen.But isn't that the beauty of science fiction, to make one ask "what if?" like the commercial for the Sci-Fi channel? I'm just hoping to entertain and excite the senses of all Sci-Fi and AvP fans.

Speaking of fans, I'd like to give a big, southern-style shout out to reviewer "Flamer Yaoi" for that absolutely amazing review. I grinned for days and days after reading it. Whenever I feel a reviewer is dumping on my story, I'm going to reread yours to make me feel better. I sincerely believe that ILL does not deserve such a fantastic label, but from the top and bottom of my heart, Flamer Yaoi, thank you so very, very much and I hope you like the rest of the story. Kisses to you!

Chapter 5

A half-hour later Nia was still prostrated over the toilet with Jax kneeling beside her, hold back her long, black as she gagged.

"You are going to be all right." he was trying to reassure her. "It is normal for human females to experience nausea and vomiting in the early stages of pregnancy. It will pass and you are going to be all right." The robot certainly had excellent bedside manner.

Nia groaned and wiped a sheen of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "Why did you do this to me?" she grumbled. "Of all the women on Earth, why me?"

"Because the Yaut'ja need your help." Jax replied, his tone serious.

"How in the hell does carrying that thing out there's baby help anybody?" Nia wanted to know, gesturing to the front room where Prae'tor had remained all this time.

"Would you please stop calling him those foul names?" Jax scolded. "He has feelings, too."

"Damn his feelings!" Nia shouted. "Was he thinking about my feelings when he killed a man right in front of me? Was he worried about my feelings when he drugged and kidnapped me?"

"I can only imagine how upset you must be about that…"

"Upset is an understatement!"

"…but the Yaut'ja are desperate." Jax finished. Nia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"Desperate how?" she asked.

"They are dying." He stated plainly, his expression serious. Nia just stared at him for a second, not speaking, her face blank; but she soon found her voice.

"Forgive me if I don't give a damn." she said sourly, then stood up in front of the face bowl and splashed cold water over her face.

"I must say, I find your lack of humanity…disturbing." Jax replied, rising to stand beside her. Nia dried her face and glared at him with one hand on her hip.

"Then you're really going to hate this," she warned. "I want you to terminate this pregnancy." The light behind Jax's mechanical eyes brightened and flickered, making Nia think that they had malfunctioned.

"But…we cannot." he protested.

"I don't wanna' hear that crap! If you can get me pregnant, you can abort it."

"No, that is not what I meant. Ending the pregnancy is not an option." Jax rectified. Nia stepped closer to him.

"I don't want that thing's baby growing inside me!" she hissed, stabbing her finger toward the front room.

"The baby is also part human." the robot supplied.

"Does it look like I care?" Nia snapped in reply. Jax could only stare at her in silence because he was at a loss for what to say to her next. Finally he suggested,

"Let us return to the front room. The baby's vitals are irregular and I think it would be best if you sat down." He left the bathroom before Nia could protest. After a second, she followed him and returned to her previous position on the bed. Prae'tor had since sunk his large frame into an odd-looking recliner and appeared to be utterly comfortable. Nia wondered why he was so quiet and still during all of this, but after a second thought, she was glad that he had remained so. On the other hand, she was not going to just sit back and let them treat her body like a baby workshop either.

"Why won't you about this pregnancy?" she demanded of Jax, who was busy in the kitchen preparing something. When he was done, he brought the container to Nia and she learned that it contained chicken broth.

"It will settle your stomach." Jax informed her, but she didn't drink it right away.

"Well?" she said instead. The robot seemed vexed that she wasn't drinking the brew, but he said nothing. He could hear that the baby's vital signs had settled down again and he wanted it to stay that way.

"There is a virus sweeping through their race. They would have seen it coming if they were not so engrossed with their hunts and their over-inflated egos." Jax directed this last part over his shoulder to Prae'tor, who responded with a low, non-threatening growl.

"Do not be absurd!" Jax said to him.

"What did he say?" Nia asked.

"He alleged that I am jealous of his trophy collection and his renowned honor among the clans." Jax supplied. "But he is incorrect." A perturbed expression crossed Nia's face momentarily.

"Anyway, like I was saying, by the time the Yaut'ja medics realized that they had a full-blown epidemic on their hands, it was too late. The virus had mutated and a cure has yet to be found." Jax explained. "Many lives have been lost, including many veteran elders of the hunts. Prae'tor's own mother and brother were among the casualties."

That thing's got a mother? Nia wondered to herself and glanced at the Yaut'ja, whose head was bowed a little, probably in grief. But she still had a hard time feeling any sympathy for him, especially after all he had put her through.

"I have a hard time believing that a race as advanced as these…people seem to be can't stop some little virus." Nia disbelieved.

"You do not understand." Jax began again. "The Yaut'ja have a very strong immune system. They practically never get sick. Their healthcare basically consists of first aid for battle wounds, the regeneration of lost body parts and childbearing for the females. But this virus is a…" he paused searching for the right word. "…conundrum."

"Why? You just said that they aren't vulnerable to disease."

"This virus attacks the Yaut'ja brain stem before their immune system can attack it. One second a healthy, robust Yaut'ja male is getting ready for the hunt, the next second he is on the ground with blood seeping from his nose, mouth, and ears."

Nia clutched at her stomach and tried to stop herself from gagging by sipping on the broth. "Take it easy on the details." she pleaded.

Jax looked apologetic. "Forgive me. I was simply trying to explain the gravity of the situation." Nia nodded and swallowed more of the soup. She felt the warm liquid roll down her throat to her stomach and was glad that she didn't throw it back up.

"So what does all of this have to do with me?" she asked exasperatingly. It had been a long day and she was fast loosing her patience- and sanity.

"Because the same virus that is indiscriminately killing the Yaut'ja is the same strange illness that you suffered from as a child." Jax informed her. Nia's brows raised in interest.

"How did that happen?" she asked.

"A hunter must have unwittingly brought it back from Earth and it must have mutated. There are several theories." Jax hypothesized. Now Nia expression changed to one of confusion.

"What do you mean a hunter on Earth?" she queried.

"Nevermind that." Jax snapped, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to Prae'tor. Nia would have pressed the issue, but she still had questions pertaining to her own welfare.

"So, I'm guessing that you guys need a couple of ounces of my blood to extract a few anti-bodies and create an immunity, right?" she asked. Jax didn't answer right away. He seemed like he was struggling for a proper explanation.

"Actually, that was the first action we took." he finally admitted. "But it did not work."

"Why not?"

"The anti-bodies were just too…" he paused for a second. "…human, for lack of a better term."

Nia's face fell in agitation. "Excuse me?"

"No offense." Jax recovered quickly and grinned. "The human and Yaut'ja systems are like oil and water, they do not always mix. So, I came up with the perfect solution." He grinned proudly.

Nia was almost afraid to ask, but she did anyway. "What?"

"Well, in my studies of human medications I have learned that some substances are insoluble."

Nia looked baffled.

"In other words, sometimes two different solutions will not mix together, like oil and water, for example." Jax clarified, and Nia's perplexed look disappeared slightly. "So, to solve this problem a chemist will add another ingredient, called an emulsifier, so that the two liquids can blend."

The woman's befuddled expression returned.

"The baby you are carrying, Nia, he is the emulsifier between you and the Yaut'ja." Jax simplified. Her eyes widened in shock. She glanced from the robot to Prae'tor, then back to Jax.

"Wait a minute," Nia objected. "Something doesn't add up. If our immune systems don't match up, or whatever, how in the world did you get our DNA's to mix?"

"Well, it was not like we were trying to join a feline with an ape. You are both humanoids and you have some similarities."

Nia tossed the Yaut'ja a disgusted look, then set her eyes back on Jax. She could feel her blood boiling.

"Why didn't you just ask for my permission before you did all of this to me?" she demanded.

"We could not risk you saying no." Jax replied. Nia narrowed her eyes at him.

"So, because he's some kind of warrior that's bigger and stronger, and I'm just some…weak human female, that gave him, you, THE BOTH OF YOU, the right to do all of this to me?" she shouted.

"Neither one of us would describe you as weak." Jax corrected, hoping to calm her down. "We both think very highly of you and we only want what is best-"

"Bull!" Nia snapped, cutting him off. "What you two have done is wrong, it's immoral, it's…it's… sadistic!"

Prae'tor growled.

"I agree." Jax said to him, then to Nia he said, "You look tired. Maybe you should lay down for a while."

"I'm not tired…" she contradicted and jumped up from the bed.

Here we go again, thought Jax.

"…I'm furious!" she finished and promptly pitched her mug across the room toward the kitchenette where it crashed into the wall, splattering yellow broth and glass pieces everywhere. The lights behind Jax's eyes grew brighter in shock. Prae'tor jumped to the edge of his chair and released a snarl that sounded deep and angry to Nia.

"She has every right to be." Jax said to him, back in control of his eye-lights. Prae'tor growled again and hissed.

"But she is right!" Jax added more firmly. The Yaut'ja glanced from the robot, to the human and back to the robot. Nia's heart was pounding in fear, but she didn't sit down. Finally Prae'tor sat back in his chair again. He hissed at Jax, who then turned to glare at Nia's abdomen.

"What?" she asked, unconsciously laying a hand over her belly.

"Prae'tor can also monitor the baby's condition through his mask. The child is in distress because you keep getting upset." Jax replied. Nia was about to protest, but Jax raised his hand to silence her. "However, on behalf of himself and his people, Prae'tor would like to offer his apologies for kidnapping you and performing experiments on you. We both agree that that was the wrong way to handle the situation." Jax related. Nia was a little taken aback because of their act of contrition, but she wasn't sure she was ready to forgive.

"What were you two arguing about?" she asked, changing the subject.

"He wanted to sedate you again." Jax replied simply.

"Isn't that bad for the baby?"

"Maybe if it was a human child you were carrying." The robot answered, almost smiling. "But his concern is understandable. The past few hours have been very tense. You need to lie down."

"Stop trying to control me." Nia snapped, not ready to surrender yet. But her words didn't have much conviction.

"I am not trying to control you. I am trying to look out for you and the child." Jax assured her.

"Go to hell." Nia barked at him and began pacing back and forth. "I'm not stupid. I know that as soon as I give birth, he's-" she pointed at Prae'tor, "-going to do the same thing to me that he did to Donnell."

"That is not true, Nia. We-"

"I don't want to be here. I want to go home!" she continued, her voice growing steadily weaker, as was her strength, but she kept pacing. "And I certainly don't want to be pregnant with some monster's baby!" Jax rose from his chair and walked to her. Nia stopped and folded her arms across her bosom.

"You do not mean that." Jax countered calmly. "You just asked me if another sedative was bad for the baby. You would not have asked that if you were not concerned about its welfare."

Suddenly, Nia clutched at her abdomen and doubled over. She groaned in pain, and sank to her knees with Jax clutching at her arm. Prae'tor was out of his seat and at her side in seconds. Before she completely collapsed, she was in the Yaut'ja's arms and was being carried to the bed. Jax already had the coverlet pulled back and Prae'tor laid her down, then stepped back.

"Rest, now." Jax said softly to her and slid the heavy blanket up to her shoulder. Nia had no energy to protest this time. "Things will appear better when you wake up, you will see."

"I want to go home." Nia moaned again, her eyes already closing.

"You will, Shao'uta. I promise." Jax swore.

"What's a sha-o-uta? Nia mumbled, drifting off.

"You, my dear. You are the Shao'uta."

But Nia was already asleep.

Thanks for reading! I hope to have chapter 6 up in the next two weeks, at least. Love ya' !