WARNING: the content of this may be distressing for some people, I apologise in advance.

A few months went by and Francis and Arthur were preparing for their new arrival which would be in six months time. None of the other nations had even considered that they might be expecting babies at this time, because Arthur had not expected the water supply to be contaminated and so he didn't warn them that this might be the case. Nobody suspected anything, and they were all blissfully unaware of what had happened. However, things were not as perfect as they might seem. One morning Arthur stood at the bathroom sink, his legs shaking, suffering from nausea and a terrible headache such as he had never experienced. He threw up and slowly moved to look into the mirror. He was pale, and looked very sick.

There was a knock on the door and Francis was there. "Arthur, are you alright in there Mon Cher? I am worried about you…" he said in a concerned tone of voice. "You have been in there so long…"

"It's just sickness…" Arthur replied… "I will be fine…"

As Francis stood there he heard a crashing sound behind the door, and that was his motive to break the door down. His love lay on the floor unconscious and barely breathing, something was not right with this whole mess. He cried out and went to his aid, picking him up in his arms, he took him through to the bedroom, before calling a doctor. Arthur had a fever, and was delirious, as well as sick. He opened his eyes but could barely move because he was in so much pain, his entire body felt like it was in agony.

"F…Francis…" He gasped, trying to reach for him.

Francis held his hand and kissed his fingers. "The doctor is on his way mon amour… " he said in soothing tones. "I hope this is not serious…"

"I shouldn't have tried to interfere with nature…" Arthur gasped "I just wanted to be a mother… " he uttered and then doubled up in pain as a wave of it washed over his body.

"Hush mon amour…" Francis whispered. "Let the doctor have a look at you and then we'll see what the problem is…" he said, being very supportive. He leaned over and kissed Arthur's head and held him. "I'm right here…" he whispered.

When the doctor arrived he introduced himself as Dr. Wells, and thought it would be a routine examination and that would be that, however when he examined Arthur, he was shocked to hear of the situation, that he was actually carrying a baby.

He had no idea how to handle it, and so read all the notes Arthur had made, documenting his pregnancy, and all the symptoms he had been experiencing. Apparently, things had been going downhill for weeks. There had been lots of nerve pain and sickness, and it was only getting worse. He thought it best to take him into hospital, and that's what they did. Arthur wasn't in a position to argue it, and Francis agreed he needed the expert help. After various tests and scans he eventually took Francis to one side to talk to him.

"Monsieur Bonnefoy…" Dr. Wells in quiet tones so his patient wouldn't hear him. "At first I didn't believe it, that this man could be carrying a baby…" He whispered "The fact is… he… he WAS pregnant in every sense of the word. A foetus had formed in his belly, and according to the notes I read, he even had a temporary uterus…" He continued "That chemical he made, I read that he tested it on small animals, the difference here was he kept treating the animals with the chemical till they were full term. I see from his notes that he stopped taking it after he found out he'd conceived…" he said.

"When you say he …WAS… pregnant… does that mean he isn't anymore?" Francis asked, really worried for the man he loved.

"Monsieur…." Dr Wells replied "The male body just isn't designed to carry babies…" he said sympathetically. "He doesn't have the right… physical make up. When he stopped taking that …solution he made up, then his body started to revert back to its original state… at least that is the theory we have."

"He miscarried… didn't he?" uttered a devastated Francis. "Oh God… is he going to be alright?"

"We had to perform an operation to remove the…um…foetus…" He replied. "We believe he'll recover, but he is going to go through some pain and it won't be easy for him." The doctor then took Francis to a little room and showed him the tiny foetus, wrapped in a blanket, and he was around the size of his thumb, fully formed and perfect.

"Oh no…" Francis uttered as he touched his little son. "You would have been perfect.."

With a heavy heart he went to Arthur's bedside. His sympathy and love went out to his Arthur who lay there still unconscious from the operation. He felt guilty for throwing away the chemical that he'd made for himself and wished he'd thought about it. This was horrible, and tragic. The baby that was going to be theirs was dead… and as he sat there, the tears began to flow, and the pain in his heart was terrible.

As Arthur woke from his sleep he turned to Francis only to find him crying, and that was unusual as Francis Marcel had never cried as long as he'd known him. He knew immediately why that was, but he didn't want to believe it.

"Wh…what's happened?" Arthur asked as he started to feel panicky "F..Francis!" he cried, knowing full well what had happened.

He couldn't even speak, because of the pain and the tears that flowed, he simply took Arthur in his arms and held him close. Eventually he managed a few tearful words. "It was a little boy Arthur..." He uttered through sobs. "He was so tiny..." he mumbled. "I'm so sorry..." Arthur didn't say anything for a few moments, totally numb from it all, before he wept deeply in Francis' arms. His heart was broken in ways that he himself couldn't describe, and it seemed Francis' was heartbroken too. A few days later they left the hospital, and went back to their home in Paris feeling so drained, both of them, but needing to be with each other more than ever.

"I was the one who threw it away…" Francis uttered as he held Arthur in his arms, when they got back to their home. His poor love hadn't stopped crying since it happened, he was distraught and it didn't look like he was going to feel better for a long time. "It's my fault…"

"No." Arthur murmured as he held on to him. The first words he'd spoken in days. "I'm an idiot for thinking it would work… I was born male… I can't have babies, I should have accepted that." He wept and buried his face in Francis' chest and the Frenchman held him and loved him for as long as he needed him. "I just wanted a child Francis… " he cried, breaking down completely, his fist curled up on his' chest. His larger hand encompassed Arthurs fist as he comforted him the best he could but he couldn't keep the tears from flowing either. Although he hadn't wanted the baby at first, he'd got used to the idea of becoming a father and had even started decorating the nursery and buying things for it .

"We'll get through this sweetheart…" he whispered to Arthur "We'll get through."

"I'm not going to do anything like this again…" sobbed Arthur "It's too painful…" he continued "I really….really wanted a baby… I would have called him Francis after you… I would have…" he sobbed. "He would have been just like you... I know it..."

Francis stopped him and kissed him tenderly. "Hush… " he mumbled "Don't torture yourself mon amour… it's not fair…"

More time passed, and Arthur started to recover from his ordeal. No one had yet informed any of the other nations as to what had happened, and he wanted to keep this horrible episode of his life a secret from everyone. The only thing he could think about for a long time afterwards was who the child would have become, and now all that was taken away from him. All this time Francis had been feeling very strange, and even quite sick and didn't understand why, but one evening as he and Arthur relaxed after a hard day, Arthur's head in resting in his lap, he felt a strange movement in his tummy.

"What was that?" Arthur asked suddenly. "What in the world?"

Francis didn't know how to answer him. He'd never experienced anything like that. It felt like something moving or squirming inside of him and it kept doing it.

Arthur gasped, realising that Francis was pregnant, that somehow a reverse situation had happened. "Oh my God…" he gasped "It's a baby!"

"W..what?" Francis uttered, looking terrified. "B..but it can't be, I never took any of your miracle chemical!"

"No… but… you must have." Arthur cried, "Think back to that night… you threw away the chemical into the sink and then… then… you poured a glass of water… I remember…."

Both of them stared into each others eyes, shocked, surprised, overwhelmed…

"The…chemical… got into … the water supply…" Arthur uttered. "Oh…no…"

"Wait wait wait…" Francis uttered, unable to take it all in. "You're saying I'm expecting now?" He uttered "But.. if you miscarried, that means I might… we don't have any more miracle chemical…"

"No, but I know the recipe… and I think you arent' the only one who's going to need it!" Arthur cried.

"Wh..what do you mean?" Francis asked, now shaking and panicking.

"Well if it got into the water supply… its been consumed by every nation on the planet… they might all be … pregnant…"

There was a long silence at first before Francis spoke. "Arthur…" he uttered "Is every nation on this planet sleeping with one another?"