Maggie wakes with a throbbing headache and tear salt crusted on her eyelashes. She's exhausted emotionally as well as physically and it takes quite some time before she opens her eyes. When she finally gets the courage up to do so, the first thing she sees is the top of the play pen.
Her heart sinks with the knowledge that she has failed them. Those two perfect little beings deserve a better mother than she is. With a depressed sigh, she rolls over and tries to go back to sleep.
Despite her best efforts to slip back into unconsciousness, she can't sleep. Between her aching head and the pressing needs of her bladder, there is no way she can escape her reality into dreamland. With a groan, she climbs out of bed and heads for the bathroom.
She glances into the play pen as she walks past and is brought up short. On shaky legs, she steps up to the crib and looks into the empty play yard. A quick 'check' of the area shows that they're nowhere nearby and she barely manages to grab the side of the crib as her legs give out.
She can hear her heart is pounding in her ears and it feels like her lungs have forgotten how to work. Her entire body is trembling and tears pour down her face unheeded. She can't think, she can't move and she can barely breathe
She knows she's not worthy to be their mother but that didn't mean she wanted them taken away. She knows he said they wouldn't be removed, he said that he loved her and he said that he would help make her better. As she stares into the empty play yard, she knows only one thing now: he lied.
They
Are
GONE!
A scream rips from her throat as every ounce of her being goes into wanting to die. She continues screaming as she loses all control over her powers. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knows it's wrong to let her powers loose like that, but she doesn't care. They're gone and life isn't worth living without them.
Abe is forcefully woken up when the mental contact with Maggie rips him from sleep. He's disoriented for a few moments before he can grasp what is going on. As soon as he realizes what's up, he heads for the top of the tank and towards Maggie.
He fights his way to the surface and then struggles to the edge of the tank. The waves created by the earthquake slam him against side and he has to use his suction cups just to hold onto the moving floor. By the time he gets out, he's a bit bashed up. When he tries to stand up, he nearly gets thrown back into the water by the wind.
He crawls as quickly as he can into the bedroom where he finds her clinging to the side of the crib, screaming at the top of her lungs. With great difficulty, he drags himself over to her, thankful that the floor is tiled and he can use his suction cups on it. He tries to touch her mind as he struggles towards her, but she's so incoherent that she's completely unreachable.
By the time he reaches her, everything that's not nailed down has been blown against the walls of the room with the exception being the play yard. Even the queen sized bed has been pushed across the room against the wall at a strange angle and is partially blocking the small alcove next to the bathroom. This time he's prepared for her emotions, but even so a shiver runs down his spine at the intensity of them.
It takes him several tries, but he finally does manage to grab hold of Maggie's face with his hands. He latches on with the suction cups and forces his mind into hers. She screams even louder as she fights to get away, hitting, scratching and kicking, trying to break free and the port-a-crib goes skidding across the floor. He holds on for her life.
He stops almost all of the nerve pulses from her mind to her body, effectively paralyzing her but keeping her breathing and heartbeat regular. And even though she can't move, it doesn't stop her ability to move land and air and the earthquake and wind storm continue. He dives deeper into her mind trying to find the control to her power, but even he can't seem to find it. So instead he forces her into near unconsciousness until the automatic controls take over and the shaking and wind finally stop.
Without even thinking about it, Selma and Rupert counter the wild wind and uncontrolled earth around them, but are unable to completely counteract Maggie's power. Instead of even trying, they hold the babies to their chests and take off towards the house, making a sphere of calmness around themselves so that their way is unimpeded. They don't even check on the others as they race past.
They charge through the house, ignoring the sound of items falling and breaking. Then they're down into the basement, through the hidden door and running full out down the long corridor with Selma doing her best to shorten the distance. By the time they reach the bureau, they're both out of breath, their legs are shaking from the effort and their arms feel like they're about to fall off. By some grace of the heavens, Hellboy is stumbling his way down the hall just as the lights go out and the emergency generators kick in a few seconds later, turning on the emergency lighting when they do.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Hellboy shouts just as the rumbling and wind stops.
"It's Maggie!" Rupert gasps back as he stops and leans against a wall.
"We need to get to her!" Selma pants, barely able to stand.
Without a word, Hellboy picks Rupert up in his right arm and then Selma up into his left. It's awkward and cumbersome, but at least they're all moving. When they enter the library, Hellboy doesn't even stop to stare at the carnage of his father's pride and joy. He steps up to the spiral staircase and places them on the ground.
With a mumbled thanks from the both of them, they head up the stairs as fast as they can, Hellboy bringing up the rear. By the time they reach the top of the steps, the muscles in their legs are screaming in pain, their lungs are burning and their hearts feel like they're about to burst. When they pass through the remains of the door to Abe's tank room, they can hear Abe talking calmly to Maggie as she whimpers in response while first Dylan and then Morgan start to whimper in distress.
They stumble into the room and find Abe and Maggie on the floor. She's lying curled up into a ball with her head in his lap and he's gently stroking her hair as he speaks quietly to her. As soon as Abe sees Rupert and Selma with the babies, he pulls his hands away while Maggie turns to look at them. She quickly scrambles away from him and towards her parents. Her face is blotchy, her eyes are bloodshot and there are bright red circular welts down the sides of her face. As soon as she reaches her parents, she nearly snatches the babies from them, never getting up past her knees.
She collapses back down to the ground with the now crying babies clutched to her breast as tears of relief course down her face. Abe crawls over to her and wraps his arms around them. She turns towards him and they sit there, huddled together on the floor as Rupert finds a chair first for his wife and then one for him. By the time the stitches in Selma's and Rupert's sides fade and their breathing and heart rates have returned to normal, Maggie turns to look at them with a grateful look in her eyes.
"How did you get them back?" she asks as she repositions the now calm but wide awake babies in her arms.
"Back?" Selma counter questions in confusion.
"From Manning," Abe clarifies. "How did you get them back from Manning?"
"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry," Selma sobs as soon as she realizes why Maggie was so upset, dropping to her knees next to her daughter, she reaches out and starts to stroke Maggie's wind blown hair. "Your father and I took them. We didn't want them to disturb you when they woke up and then Susan asked who was taking care of your animals and so we went to check on them and the house was such a mess we just couldn't leave it that way. Oh god, baby, I'm so sorry."
"You took them?" Maggie inquires in a small voice, not wanting to believe it.
"We weren't taking them away, honey," Rupert tells her as he slides down onto the floor next to his wife. "We were just going to check on the animals and come right back."
"But the house was such a mess, we couldn't just leave it that way," Selma repeats.
"You are not a bad mother, home owner or pet owner," Abe interjects, instantly catching onto her thoughts as she starts to slide back into a deep depression. "You were overwhelmed with the responsibility. Everything's fine now. The house is fine and Magick and Wizard are alright too. You are not a failure."
"But…," Maggie starts, turning towards him.
"'But' nothing, young lady," Selma sternly interrupts as she grabs her daughter's chin in her hand and forces Maggie to look at her. "You are not Super Girl or Wonder Woman. You can't do everything and no one was expecting you to. When you came back out here I thought you'd ask for help from the others. If I'd known you were going to try and do it all by yourself, I would never have allowed you to come back here alone. And since it's not likely that you'll be coming out west again any time soon, your father and I are moving out here."
"But your home is in California," Maggie sniffs.
"There's a house in California," Selma corrects finally releasing Maggie's face. "But you and the twins are here. I have spent the past twenty-three plus years wondering if I'd ever see you again. I don't give a fig about some house. What I care about is you and them."
"But Daddy built you that house," Maggie insists.
"So, I'll build her another one," Rupert tells her. "It's just a building, Maggie. A thing. It doesn't mean anything to us. You and your family are what are important to us. You got that, young lady?"
"Yes, Daddy," Maggie replies meekly with a small smile.
"Good," Rupert states with a nod. "Now, can we please get off of this floor? I'm freezing my butt off here."
"Daddy!" Maggie exclaims with a surprised laugh.
"Well I am," he grouses as he struggles to his feet.
As soon as he's back on his feet, he helps Selma to hers. They then carefully take the drowsy twins from their mother as Abe helps Maggie to her feet. As soon as she's steady, Abe goes over to the bed and shoves it back into place while Maggie finally makes use of the bathroom.
Soon Maggie is settled back on the bed and Abe takes up his position next to her. At first she doesn't want to take the twins back, but her parents just dump them in her lap. Then her parents take up spots on the foot of the bed and they start to make plans for Rupert and Selma's move to the East Coast just when Dr. Hodson comes bursting into the room.
Hellboy quietly follows Maggie's parents up the spiral staircase. He's barely controlling his anger as he gets a bird's eye view of the mess of his father's library. He just manages to control himself enough to not slam his tail into the central post or staircase railing or bend the railing with his right hand.
He watches passively as Selma and Rupert enter Maggie's bedroom and observes as Maggie eagerly reclaims her children. He's confused by her actions but that doesn't change his mood any as her parents end up on the floor next to her, Abe and the twins. He's about to open his mouth and demand answers when he's brought up short.
Don't, Abe thinks at him.
Why not? Hellboy thinks back, knowing Abe will hear him.
She's upset enough, Abe replies as he looks up at his old friend. I don't need you making it worse.
What the hell is going on? Hellboy snarls in his mind.
She's sick, Abe responds.
Sick how? Hellboy demands.
She has postpartum depression, Abe answers shifting uncomfortably. Would you please bring me my respirator?
Hellboy steps back into the tank room and looks around at the mess in there trying to find the respirator. The neatly stacked towels are blown all over the place, the table is floating in the water and the chair is nowhere to be seen. Hellboy doesn't see the device he's looking for plugged into it's charger on the shelf. In fact, even the charger is missing. After looking for about a minute, he finds it under some towels.
Sorry, buddy, but your wife's tantrum destroyed you respirator, Hellboy states, still not happy with the mess that was created.
In that case, could you get my spare out of the truck please? Abe requests.
"Sure, fine," Hellboy rumbles deep in his throat just before he leaves.
Thank you, Abe says as Hellboy starts to descend the stairs.
Grumbling all the way, Hellboy stomps down the steps, carefully steps over books and papers and exits the library in a right snit. He thumps his way down the hall, red emergency lights glow, barely giving him adequate illumination for his trek. As he continues his journey, he passes Dr. Hodson in the hallway looking flustered and upset.
"What's up, Doc?" Hellboy asks, unable to resist.
"My blood pressure," Hodson grumbles. "They just finally got the doors to the infirmary open. Do you know how clear the way to the library is?"
"It's clear enough, there's a few things in the way, but nothing major," he answers with a shrug. "Just watch out for the papers and books on the floor when you go in."
"You've been in there?" she asks in surprise.
"Yeah, took Maggie's parent's to her," he replies.
"Are she and the twins alright?" she inquires eagerly.
"They seemed fine to me," he responds with another shrug. "They were having a family hug fest when I left."
"Maggie's touching the twins?" she excitedly demands.
"Well, yeah," he says, confused. "Why wouldn't she be?"
But he doesn't get an answer as she goes flying down the hall, her white lab coat wildly flapping like a pair of strange wings. With a shake of his head he turns and continues his trip to the garage. Within moments Guillermo comes around the corner.
"Do yourself a favor and don't go in there," Hellboy warns him.
"That bad?" Guillermo questions.
"Worse," Hellboy replies before he continues walking.
"Mierda," Hellboy hears Guillermo mumble just before Hellboy turns a corner.
Hellboy chuckles to himself as he continues on. A while later finds him returning to the library with the respirator. Upon finding Maggie's grandmothers headed in that direction, he hands the device off to them and then goes off to offer what help he can around the bureau. When he finally returns to his room hours later, he finds the power has been restored; Liz has cleaned up the room and is now playing with Trevor on the bed.
"Hey, beautiful," he greets as he climbs into the bed with them, causing the shocks to groan in protest. "How ya doin'?"
"We're good," she replies as Trevor manages to grab his own tail and fall over backwards, giggling hysterically. "The cats are finally recovering. I got the place cleaned up a bit. I'm glad everything heavy around here is bolted to the walls. Any idea what's up with Maggie?"
"Abe said she's sick," he answers as he starts to tickle his son. "She's got something called postpartuam depression, whatever that is."
"Postpartum depression," she automatically corrects. "Did he say how bad she has it?"
"Naw, he just didn't want me to upset her," he responds as Trevor grabs his father's hand and tries to drag it to his mouth. "Oh, no you don't, you little shark. You've got sharp little teeth in that mouth."
"Hey, Red," John calls from the door. "Ready for dinner?"
"You better believe it, Boy Scout," Hellboy happily replies. "Where've ya been, Squirt?"
"I've spent the past few hours cleaning up like everyone else," John answers as he pushes the first cart of steaks into the room.
"Was anyone hurt?" Liz asks.
"A few concussions and a couple broken bones, nothing major," John responds as he unloads the platters onto the table.
"Have you seen Maggie?" Liz inquires.
"Not since this morning," John replies while pushing the now empty cart out of the room.
"How bad is she?" Liz questions when John returns with the next cart.
"Um, I really don't know," John answers jumpily, quickly transferring bowls and plates to the table.
Liz and Hellboy watch as the agent tries to hurry through his duties, obviously nervous about something. Liz looks at Hellboy and he knows that look, so he gets off the bed and heads for the door. Before John can make his escape, Hellboy closes the door and blocks the way.
"Um, excuse me, Red, I need to get these carts back to the kitchen," John states, trying to hide his worry.
"How bad is she, Squirt?" Hellboy growls as Liz steps up behind John with Trevor in her arms.
"I-I-I-I'm not at liberty to say," John stammers nervously.
"John, we wouldn't ask if we weren't worried about her," Liz assures him.
"I'm not getting out of here until I answer, am I?" John meekly asks after several seconds of silence.
"Afraid not, kid," Hellboy replies as he crosses his arms over his massive chest and leans against the door.
With a resigned sigh, John tells them about Abe finding Maggie and her attempt to take her own life, how Abe kept her asleep as he and Abe took care of the twins all night and how Guillermo called her family in to help. When he's done, the silence stretches out for something shy of eternity while Hellboy and Liz absorb what they've been told. Eventually, Hellboy opens the door and John makes good his escape, leaving the couple to mull things over. As Red shuts the door, Liz sinks down in the nearest chair and starts to cry, pulling Trevor closer to her.
"Hey, Sparky, what's wrong?" he asks in concern as he kneels down beside her.
"It's my fault," she sobs when she finally answers. "Maggie's sick because of me."
The instant the earthquake and wind storm start, Guillermo and Susan stop eating and concentrate on countering Maggie's powers. While they are not able to stop her completely, they are able to lessen the damage caused by her. After what seems like hours later, everything becomes calm again and the two Mages sit there trying to get their bearings back.
"Wow," Peg gasps after finally collecting her wits. "I've never been in an earthquake that's lasted that long. And what was with the wind?"
"That was Maggie," Susan softly replies.
"She lost control of her powers again," Guillermo adds as he struggles to his feet. "I need to check the library."
Guillermo makes his exit as fast as he can with the women following him. He passes through the house without a glance at the damage that's been done, but Peg notices. Without a word, she goes in search of the shut off valves for the water and gas, but doesn't bother with the electricity since the power is obviously out. Peg spends several minutes mopping up water that's escaped from the dishwasher before she continues down the stairs into the basement where she finds Susan waiting for her just on the other side of the hidden door.
"Where'd you disappear to?" Susan asks as they start to walk.
"I turned off the gas and water and then mopped up the water that leaked out of the dishwasher," Peg explains.
"Oh, good heavens, I would never have thought to do that," Susan states. "I'm not sure what we would do without you, Peg. You always seem to be so cool, calm and collected when there's a disaster going on. How do you do it?"
"I raised four boys," Peg replies. "Natural disasters have nothing on the destructive capabilities of boys on a mission."
"My goodness, I had no idea that large brood at Rupert and Selma's welcome home party was all yours," Susan gasps.
"Not all of them, but most of them are my kids and their families," Peg responds just has Hellboy catches up with them.
After taking the respirator, they continue on their journey to the library. Once they step through the door, they're met by some very creative swearing in Spanish. Before Susan has a chance to start berating the distraught librarian, Peg hands her to respirator and sends her upstairs. After checking that Guillermo is calming down, she helps him start to pick up the mess that was once the library. Things are going fine for a while until she starts to clean up near the tank windows.
"You're holding them!" Hodson exclaims. "That's wonderful!"
"I still don't think I deserve them," Maggie mumbles as she leans into Abe.
"Maggie, just getting you to accept them again is a major step towards recovery," Hodson happily replies. "Just keep taking your medication and everything will continue to get better. Now, is there anyone in need of medical assistance up here?"
"No, doctor, we're all fine," Abe replies, wondering where Hellboy is with his respirator.
"Good, then I'm going to go check on Liz and Trevor before seeing where else they need my help," Hodson states just before she turns around and heads out the door.
Hodson exits the library as Guillermo is about to enter. After checking that he's ok, she heads off towards Hellboy's room where she's fairly sure she'll find Liz. With great trepidation, Guillermo steps through the door into the library and all but has a heart attack.
Hellboy wasn't kidding. The place is an absolute disaster area. Guillermo gingerly steps into the room, mindful of the papers, books and artifacts strewn about the floor and gets a good look around.
Not a single book remains on any of the shelves and loose papers have been blown everywhere. The computer on his desk has crashed to the ground and is lying there in about a million pieces. The only good news is that the statue by the gold doors didn't fall over and the wind blew out the fire in the brazier before anything could catch on fire.
He's furious that he's going to have to clean up this mess, quite possibly by himself, but he knows that if Maggie hears him it'll probably create even more problems for her. With that in mind, he starts picking books as best he can while venting his frustrations by swearing rather heatedly in his native tongue. Several minutes pass like this and as he's reaching the end of his anger and frustration, Susan and Peg step into the room.
They look around in horror briefly, though he barely notices, before Peg sends Susan upstairs. When he sees Peg helping him, his ire cools even more and he stops swearing. They don't talk as they each work on clearing an area. Shortly after Peg works her way over to the windows of Abe's tank, she stops and examines the floor and then the wall very carefully.
"Guillermo, do you know how to drain the water from Abe's tank?" she asks clear out of the blue.
"Not a clue, my dear," he answers in confusion. "Why?"
Instead of replying, she heads upstairs as quickly as she can. She gets to Maggie's bedroom completely out of breath and staggers into the room, clutching the stitch in her side. Before she can get her wind back, Abe is out of the bed and across the room in a heartbeat.
He tears down the stairs and through the library, seemingly heedlessly, though he doesn't step on a single book or piece of paper. He navigates to a corner of the library that nobody goes into and yanks open the door leading to the equipment room to his tank. Instead of the constant hum of the filter and aeration systems going, it's completely silent and pitch black inside the room.
Abe doesn't need the light as he heads over to a large valve on the wall and starts to open it. It doesn't want to turn at first, but after a few moments struggling with it, it starts to move. He opens the valve completely and listens to the water rushing through the pipe only for it to stop a second later. A hand on the wall and he has his answer.
A moment later he's across the library and up the steps again. He strips off his respirator and only just manages to shove it into the arms of the first body that presents itself mere seconds before he's diving into the water. He heads straight to the bottom and finds the drain clogged with several towels and the metal and plastic chair that usually lives in his tank room.
With some difficulty he gets the chair out of the drain and quickly gets it out of the water. He returns to the bottom of the tank and grabs hold of the towels and with a great big heave, drags them out of the drain as well. A second later, he realizes he forgot to shut the valve before diving in and unfortunately, not even he can escape the pull of the suction. He quickly finds himself wedged into the hole, unable to get out.
Guillermo, would you please close the drain valve, Abe urgently requests, pain tingeing his thoughts as he shows Guillermo the valve in question.
After what seems like days, the pressure slowly releases him from the drain and Abe slowly makes his way to the top of the tank, towels still in hand. After checking to make sure everything is in working order, he tosses the towels onto the floor and then uses the ladder to get out of the water. After retrieving his respirator, he puts it back on as he makes his way back to the equipment room where he finds Guillermo standing outside the door.
"Please go to my tank window and let me know when the water gets below the bottom of the glass," Abe says as he steps into the room once more.
Abe opens the valve once more and this time the water gushes through the pipe with no problems. About half an hour later, Guillermo gives the word and Abe shuts the valve. Abe slowly limps out of the equipment room, quietly shutting the door behind him. He walks over to the librarian and finds him comforting Maggie as the others look on.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Susan complains. "Why did Abe just drain most of the water from his tank and why is Maggie crying this time?"
"It's my fault," Maggie sobs while Guillermo makes shushing sounds as Abe steps up to them and lays his hands on her.
"The earthquake broke the seal on the glass of my tank causing a leak," Abe explains as he strokes his wife's hair. "Given enough time, the pressure would have caused the window to shatter."
Author's Notes: Once again, sorry about the delay, but it's another long chapter, so I hope I'm forgiven.