Disclaimer: Trixie Belden characters aren't mine; just borrowing them

This is answer to Questions chapter entitled "How do you prepare?"

Flashback: Mart's POV

"Talk about being non-traditional, Jim," Mart Belden uttered sarcastically as he took two offered Ibuprofen tablets from his brother-in-law. "I thought you were supposed to hand out cigars."

"You better be happy he isn't handing out punches," Bill Regan snickered from beside him.

"Regan's right, Mart. If that doctor in the delivery room had told me one more time to stay calm, he would be the one needing these pain relief pills right now, not me." Jim Frayne threw back his own dose of Tylenol and washed them down with a long swig of his coffee.

"Ugh, how do you drink that stuff?" Bill asked the younger man with a disgusted look on his face.

"Hey, I've been awake for nearly seventy two hours, I just became a dad, my wife's life has been in danger more than once today, and my head hurts so badly I can't even see straight. I couldn't taste the coffee right now if I wanted to."

"Then, why don't you stretch out here and try to sleep some? We'll wake you when the doctor comes back." Mart wanted to be as helpful as he could possibly be.

He began to realize that in his concern for his sister Trixie he had unwittingly ignored his brother-in-law's needs. Jim was a strong person, but he wasn't a super hero. Mart could see the strain of the past few days on the other man's young face. He was growing worried about him.

"I couldn't possibly sleep a wink. Katie's going to be fine, but Trixie isn't out of the woods, yet," Jim said quietly.

He flopped down on the other side of Mart and ran his hands through his disheveled, red hair. He needed a shower. Still, there was no way he was leaving or even closing his eyes for one minute until he knew his wife was no longer in danger of bleeding to death. She had been suffering from several different complications during labor and had taken a dangerous turn soon after delivery.

An anxious silence fell over the three men in the waiting room.

Mart began to wonder if his own wife and cousin were ever coming back from the bathroom. They seemed to have been gone a long time. When the two dark haired ladies finally came into view a few moments later, Mart almost leapt from his seat with relief.

"It's about time you two showed up," he jibed.

"We were wondering if we should send out a search party," Regan chimed in nervously.

"Oh, you know we couldn't get that close to the nursery window without stopping to take a peek. Katie still wasn't out there for us to see, yet. " Di held out a travel sized packet of Tylenol in Jim's direction. "I found these in the bathroom vending station. Do you think they will help with that headache of yours?"

"I appreciate it, Di, but the nurse just gave me a whole bottle. I think I scared her when I said it felt like my forehead was going to crack open. I told her if she wanted me to leave Trixie she had to get me some drugs."

"Yeah, and Regan and I were complaining about these hard chairs killing our backsides, so he shared some of his drugs with me," Mart confessed to his wife. "Of course, I still say they're pretty sad substitutes for the traditional cigar."

"Hmmph! You would complain, wouldn't you," Hallie Regan teased her cousin. "What do you care? You don't even smoke."

"It's the principle of the matter, my dear Hallie." Mart's sudden incredulity at her words was so silly and overly dramatic that it cut through some of the growing tension everyone had been feeling since Baby Katie had been delivered and Jim had been forced to leave the room so the medical staff could tend to the rapidly deteriorating Trixie. As everyone smiled at his remark, Mart was momentarily encouraged to continue diverting them from their fears, but he was interrupted by his beautiful wife.

"Has the doctor come back or said anything new, yet?" Di asked timidly.

"No news," Jim sighed in frustration.

"Don't worry," Hallie pat Jim's shoulder softly, "Trixie's stronger than any of us. She'll be fine."

Mart watched Jim cover his head in his hands. He thought he looked completely spent.

My stupid attempts at humor aren't working, here, Mart thought to himself. How do I help him?

He looked over at newlyweds Bill and Hallie who were clasping their hands together nervously and staring at him as if he should do something. He felt lost.

What can I do? I'm just as worried about her as Jim is. She's my "almost twin." If anything ever happened to her…

Mart suddenly felt nauseous.

Losing his best friend Dan to cancer five years before had nearly killed him inside. He knew he could never survive losing Trixie, too.

Immediately, his eyes met Diana's and he knew she could read his thoughts. She knew him better than he knew himself. Her gaze trembled with emotion as if willing him to reach out to his terrified brother-in-law. Mart decided he couldn't take the pressure any longer.

"Jim," he started. "Let's go for a walk. These chairs are making my bum flat."

At first, it looked as if the redhead was going to decline, but then Jim slowly stood up and coughed to hide his growing emotion.

"Okay," he said quietly.

They walked in silence for several hallways. The need to find a shred of natural sunlight pulled them toward a large picture window. Together, they stood, staring out at the busy parking lot below and thinking separate thoughts about the same subject.

"She's everything," Jim said softly, after a while.

"I know."

"I never knew I could be so happy and so scared at the same time."

"I know," Mart repeated.

"And, she's never complained. With all that's happened in the last few days, she hasn't complained once." Jim gave a small, strangled laugh as he spoke.

"That's pretty big for my sister, the queen of complainers." Mart felt a lump rising up as his own laugh caught in his throat.

The silence returned, and Mart wished his parents and little brother weren't stuck in Idaho trying to get a flight home. He needed them right now. He didn't know what to say to Jim. Didn't know what to do. He also wished his older brother Brian was not too busy working. He was a doctor in that same hospital, and he could possibly, at that moment, be standing directly over them on the floor above, but Mart suddenly felt as if he were as far away as anyone could be. Brian was Jim's best friend; he knew him better than anyone else.

What would Brian say right now? Mart questioned himself.

Jim interrupted his thoughts.

"I think we'd better get back, Mart. In case the doctor comes out to tell us anything."

"Sure, sure. I just thought you needed a minute…"

"I did…thanks. It was exactly what I needed."

As the two men began to walk back toward the maternity ward, Jim reached over and clasped his brother-in-law's shoulder to give it a quick squeeze.

"Thanks for sticking with me through all of this," he said.

As if a burst of warmth he couldn't explain had immediately infiltrated his soul, Mart suddenly knew everything was going to be alright. He gave Jim a playful jab in the ribs and flashed him a genuine smile.

"That's what brothers are for."

Later that afternoon…

"I can't decide who she looks like the most," Madeleine Wheeler commented to her daughter.

"Oh, I definitely see Trixie in her," Honey Belden replied.

"No, she's got Jim's nose," Di pointed out.

"And his hair," Hallie giggled.

"But, her eyes look like my mother's," Mart argued.

The throng gathered around the nursery window was growing by the hour, and everyone was still amazed at how strange and beautiful little Katje Helen Frayne was. The baby slept on in her bassinet, unaware of the mass of family and friends who had come to see her for the first time.

"I think she looks like herself," Matthew Wheeler said with a smile for his new granddaughter. "And she's perfect."

"Perfectly perfect," Honey breathed.

Everyone laughed. Mart felt himself grow giddy with the excitement of the moment. He was an uncle. It felt amazing. And now that Trixie had grown stronger and was no longer in any danger, Mart could finally let that reality sink in.

I'm an uncle!

He grabbed Di's hand and squeezed it.

Knowing full well her husband's quirky ways, the young woman simply shook her head at him and leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You're an uncle," she vocalized his thoughts.

So, he kissed her back. But this one was on the lips.

"Hey, hey, now!" Bill Regan protested. "You two cut that out, or you'll be the next ones having a baby around here."

"Oh no, not until I finish this Masters degree program," Mart chuckled. "And I'm gonna go straight on through to my Doctorate, too. We don't have time for a baby, right now."

"Sounds like us," Honey said with a sigh.

"Sounds boring," Hallie teased.

"Well, what about you two, then?" Mart shot back. "I think Hallie would look hilarious all fat and pregnant, don't you, Regan?"

The older man's face suddenly turned as bright red as his hair. He stammered out an "um" but couldn't make any other response come out. Everyone laughed at his nervousness as Bill's employer, came to his rescue.

"They've only been married two months, Mart. Give them a little time together first before you wish parenthood on them," Matt Wheeler said.

"Yeah, and I'm not exactly what you'd call maternal, you know." Hallie gave a casual shrug as if becoming a mother was the last thing she'd ever want to do.

"Well, neither is Trixie," Mart cajoled, "but it sure looks like she's done a pretty good job so far."

Murmurs of agreement were given out as all eyes turned back to the precious little baby on the other side of the glass. Her tiny pink mouth opened up in a slight cooing yawn.

"Aww! She's so cute!" Honey exclaimed. "I can't wait to hold her."

"Not until Trixie does," Jim's voice came from behind them, causing the group to turn quickly to face him.

"Oh Jim, dear, how is she?" Madeleine quickly stepped forward to grab her son's hand. The concern on her face spoke for everyone there.

"Resting and begging to see her daughter. She's fine, Mom. Everything is just fine, now. I came to get Katie. The doctor said I could wheel her in to see her mommy for a minute. Just a minute, mind you."

The crowd of loved ones watched in wonder as the proud new father entered the nursery and carefully removed his little girl. It was a beautiful moment as he was pushing her bassinet out the door. He couldn't stop touching her little feet, smiling down at her, or saying her name. Mart could tell he was fighting back tears as he disappeared with her around the corner.

"He's going to be such a good father," Honey said lovingly.

Regan seemed to stiffen up at Honey's words, and Hallie quickly rubbed his shoulder as if comforting him.

What's that all about? Mart wondered.

He didn't have to wait long to find out.

As the crowd of people in the hallway began to dissipate and spread out into several waiting areas, Mart noticed that his cousin and her husband were following him. It seemed as if they wanted to talk about something.

"What's up?" He asked them when they had found a quiet place off to the side.

Bill gave Hallie a nervous look, and she quickly took over the conversation.

"We wanted to ask your opinion about something," Hallie said in a rush.

"Okay… what?"

Hallie and her husband exchanged looks again.

Oh, good grief. Get on with it. Mart was now curious beyond belief.

"Do you think Dan would have wanted Bill and I to consider…um…having his child…one day?"

Mart felt the air rush out of his body.

Had he heard her correctly? Did she just say what he thought she said?

"What?"

"Oh, you heard me," Hallie fussed.

"I don't understand…"

"The Cryobank samples," Hallie explained quietly, so that no one else could hear. "Bill never… had the samples… destroyed. As far as we know, the account remains… just as Dan left it."

Mart could hear what Hallie was saying, and he could process the meaning of each word, but the overall concept of what she was trying to share with him was rapidly flying past him at the speed of light. He was still caught up on the first mentioning of Dan Mangan's name. He was still reeling from the idea of Dan having anything to do with Regan and Hallie having children together. He knew there was a logical point to his cousin's words, but all Mart could comprehend was the pain of his loss in the knowledge that his best friend was missing out on all the incredible things the Bobwhites were experiencing today. It wasn't fair. It hurt. He wasn't sure he could even contemplate what he was being asked.

"Hallie, I don't know…I don't think you should ask me this right now…I" Mart wanted to run away and hide from the sudden feeling that the room was growing smaller around him.

"See," Bill said quietly, "I knew he'd think it was a bad idea."

"No!" Mart said it louder than he'd intended. "I…I didn't say that…It's just…"

"We don't have to make any decisions right now, of course," Hallie continued, stepping closer to Mart in confidence, "but we've been talking about it …you know…thinking maybe we'll plan it out someday…when we're ready to start a family. It…it was something Dan had already sort of prepared for…"

Mart didn't know what to say. He felt a lump rising in his throat as the truth of his cousin's last statement hit him hard.

Dan did plan on having a child with Hallie someday.

"I think…" Mart started.

Suddenly, he couldn't speak.

The thought of what his cousin was planning was both beautiful and frightening at the same time. After swallowing over and over again, he was finally able to croak out a response.

"I need to get back to you on that."

Regan looked crestfallen, but Hallie only nodded sympathetically. She gently patted his arm and turned away, pulling Regan with her.

"Mart?" Di interrupted his thoughts. "Are you okay?"

He turned to face his wife as she approached, and he was met with a knowing glance.

"Hallie told you what they were thinking about, huh?" She asked.

Mart should have known his childhood sweetheart would be able to read him like a book.

So that's what they were talking about so long in the bathroom, Mart thought.

He put his arm around Di and squeezed her to him.

"Come on," Mart said for the second time that day, "let's go for a walk."