AN: The dialogue from the time they're at the fire onward until the ankle rubbing is lifted from AnxiousSailorSoldier's comic. There are a few other sentences lifted from the comic as well towards the end.

"Hey Gourry," Lina said as she sat on a chair across from his bed, radiating a nervous energy. She had surprised him by popping over rather early in the morning and he was still waking up. He nodded to show he was listening as she took a deep breath, "Do you remember, well, I guess I'm asking too much for you to remember, but a month or so ago we were talking about virgin births. I mean, you know, I'm a maiden."

"Yeah," Gourry said as he felt his stomach drop. Whatever women's issues Lina was going through had not resolved. She looked even more pregnant than she had when she went to see the doctor. Hell, she looked as though she was about to pop!

"So you believe me when I say I don't know how this happened?" she said indicating her stomach.

Gourry blinked at her a few times in shock, "But I thought you said the doctor said this was women's issues…"

"I thought the doctor didn't know what he was talking about." Lina snapped.

"You mean you're…" Gourry said as his voice trailed off as a lump formed in his throat. So he had impregnated her via a magic lake!

Lina sighed as she avoided his eyes and grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach, which felt hard and solid. He stared silently at her stomach as the minutes ticked by, not fully understanding what Lina was doing as his mind struggled to accept the news while Lina glared at her stomach, "Oh really you were moving just a second ago! Don't go quiet on me now!"

Panic started rushing through Gourry as she continued to try to talk the downstairs neighbor into moving. He'd wanted to have a baby with Lina desperately, but not like this. And now he was going to have to tell her, she had a right to know how this had happened to her. But would she forgive him?

And then he felt her stomach flex with a life within the punched and kicked at his hand and it suddenly it was real. This was really happening! Before he knew it something wet was running down his face. Lina looked down as she blushed, "You think I'm lying about the virgin part."

"No," he said quickly. "Lina I…I'll be there with you no matter what. I'll take care of you and the baby."

The tension left her shoulders a little as she nodded and let out a long breath, "I still need to talk to a doctor. Get this confirmed though I think there's little doubt now. I just, damn, how did this happen?"

"Lina…"

But she stood up abruptly, "Let's get a bite to eat and see the doctor."

The doctor confirmed that Lina was indeed very, very pregnant and tried to reassure them that everything looked fine. He estimated that she likely had a few weeks left before the big day and suggested that she stay in town until the baby arrived and that he could suggest a good midwife. But as soon as they left the office Lina headed back to the road.

"Where are we going?" Gourry asked.

"Seyruun." Lina said.

Gourry thought for a moment. "We're closer to Zephelia."

"So?" Lina asked.

"Isn't your family there?"

"I can't return home like this!" Lina said as she patted her stomach.

"Oh," Gourry said as his stomach twisted with guilt, "They wouldn't take it well?"

"My big sister would never let me hear the end of it!" Lina said, "And she'd use labor as a way to teach me a lesson, make it worse somehow."

Gourry's stomach twisted with guilt for all that he was putting her through to fulfill his own dream as Lina continued, "They'll never believe that I have no idea how I got pregnant. They'll think I'm lying, making up stories. Instead of returning home as the triumphant hero I'd be the unwed mother! I can't come home like this!

"Amelia knows what we've been through. She's more likely to believe me. I mean, I think she'll be disappointed that we…" she blushed, "I just think Amelia will be better able to get to the bottom of this. Getting to Seyruun in time will be cutting it close but it's worth it. Especially if she can figure out how this happened to me."

"Right," Gourry said even though he was terrified. What if they didn't make it to Seyruun in time? What if Lina went into labor in the middle of nowhere? What if she and the baby died because he wouldn't know what to do all because he made a stupid wish in a lake?

Don't work yourself into a panic! Lina needs you to be calm, Gourry told himself as he sighed. What were they going to do? They wouldn't be able to travel with a baby. How was he going to support them? Should he ask Lina to marry him to save her from the stigma of being an unwed mother? But he didn't want her to think that the only reason he wanted to marry her was for propriety.

And above all, how was he going to break the news of how this happened to her? They walked in silence out of town together, each weighed down with their own thoughts as they tried to get as to Seyruun as quickly as possible.

"I'd rather camp out tonight and get to Seyruun with time to spare than stay at an inn tonight and lose precious travel time." Lina said as they headed towards the exit of town with about two hours to go until the sunset.

"Right," Gourry said. While he was nervous about how vulnerable they were when they camped out, whatever brough her some peace of mind was more important now.

They were unusually silent as they used the last remaining sun to travel and set up camp. It was a pleasant enough evening with a sky full of stars and fortunately the only danger that Gourry sensed was the kind he would be in when he made his confession. They sat beside the campfire together, Lina looking unusually pensive as she put a hand on her swollen stomach. As always she was terrifying in her beauty and now that she was heavily pregnant she radiated the lethal energy of a mama bear poised to strike the moment she sensed danger to herself or her cub.

He had no idea how she felt about being pregnant or how she was making sense of this. He was too scared to ask, and she was so guarded. There were urgent conversations that needed to be had, and given that he had gotten them in this mess, he'd better face them.

He squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and tried to think of a way to ease into the subject, "Lina, why didn't you tell the doctor that you don't know how you became pregnant?"

Lina answered Gourry's questions mechanically. She knew that there was plenty she had to plan, but the question of how she became pregnant consumed her to the point that she couldn't think of anything beyond that and her fears that she'd somehow conceived something evil. And how could she even begin to unravel this?

"Do you remember about eight months back when we went to the hole of long noses?"

"The Cave of Xylanos?" Lina said reflexively.

"Yes, and there was this underground lake. And you said you'd been tracking it down for years, 'cos it can apparently grant wishes even if it looked just like a regular old dark, freezing lake to me."

"Yes, Gourry." As gooseflesh started to form on her arms as a wild thought sprung to her mind. But surely she was mistaken!

"And then you pushed me in first to test it?"

"Of course."

"And you asked me what I wanted most in the world. But before you started listing off a bunch of things for me to focus on-the Sword of Light, a cure for Zel, bags of money-I thought of something,"

He suddenly hesitated as he fidgeted with his fingers as he shifted back and forth as his eyes darted to the side, avoiding her as she continued to wonder where he was going with this and why he was so nervous as he finally continued, "what I want," he said, and there was such longing in his voice that Lina realized he was sharing something incredibly personal with her, "most in the world…"

He hesitated for another moment before he finally said reverently, "Is a family."

Lina stared at him in disbelief as she started to put the pieces together as he looked away shyly as he started to speak quickly, "Aaand then nothing happened, so you got in too…"

"You mean to tell me…" Lina said as she put it all together, "That you wasted a legendary wish-granting spring on putting a baby in me?"

"I think so." Gourry said as he braced himself for impact.

"Thank god!" she said as she slumped forward in relief. She should be mad at him. She should be furious! But…she wasn't. She felt as though a boulder of worry had been lifted off of her. Now she knew and could prepare.

"What?" Gourry said.

"I'm so relieved!" as she buried her face in her knees, "I thought nothing good could come of a virgin birth. My best theory was that I was carrying the spawn of the Demon Lord Ruby Eye somehow."

"That does seem scarily like something that would happen to you."

"You're telling me." Lina said, feeling a lot better now that she knew it was an innocent baby and not something world ending. "So this baby is yours then."

"I guess so," Gourry said as he looked at her. And then suddenly it felt so intimate that they both turned away as they blushed. She was carrying a part of him within her! She was carrying their child!

"We haven't even kissed." Lina said even as she felt that desire to be closer to him. The want that had been present long before they'd visited the lake but she'd always been too scared to act on bubbling to the surface.

"How about a hug?" he asked, and she was grateful that he asked. She didn't say a word, she simply moved closer to him as they wrapped their arms around each other.

And despite the bulkiness of how they were sitting and their armor, the hug felt good. After all of the worry about what was happening to her it felt lovely to be close to him. Even if this was going to upend her world and she should be furious with him. But still, she knew good and well that when you messed with magical forces there are unintended consequences. And given the choice between a baby and a Dark Lord trying to manipulate her into destroying the world, she'd take the baby even with all of the challenges that would involve. Besides, she should have known better than to toss Gourry in a wish granting lake without prepping him with safe wishes first.

"Lina," he said after a moment as he raised his hand above her belly, "Can I feel it again?"

"Sure," Lina said, "He's doing jumping jacks or something in there."

He put his hand on her stomach as he lowered his head a little, "Whoa, I can see it moving!"

She smiled a little as she took in the expression on his face in the glow of the firelight, "This little one is a mover and shaker."

"Takes after his mother like that." He said as she started to lean back a little as she started to feel how tired she was, "Sorry I ruined your wish-lake-thing."

"It's alright." Lina said as she started to wonder what else the lake was capable of. "That's a pretty powerful lake, though."

"So what would you wish for right now?"

"Hm, can you rub my ankles?"

"Least I can do, really." Gourry said as he knelt by her feet and took her boots off and started to massage her swollen ankles as his own worries resurged. "Lina?"

"Hm." She replied.

"Are you still wanting to go to Seyruun?"

"Yeah," she said, "What, you don't have family somewhere you're wanting to go home to?"

"No." he said quickly, "What are we going to do in Seyruun?"

"Collect a payment on a debt." Lina said, "We've saved the royal families' butts on so many occasions. Hell, we've saved the whole damn kingdom even. They'll take care of us. Help us to get settled."

He felt a bit better when she put it that way. Seyruun owed them and so it seemed as though there was no better place to go now that they were faced with the reality that in a few weeks Lina would have a baby. He could take his time with finding a job and he wouldn't have to worry about providing food and shelter and Lina and the baby would get amazing medical care there. "Settled?" he asked as he continued to rub her ankles.

"There's not a way around it now, is there?" she asked as she put a hand on her belly. "I mean we could strap Gourry junior to my back, but given all the trouble we attract…I mean we are good, we're amazing really, but are we good enough to protect Junior and ourselves? I don't want to risk it really."

"I'm sorry." He said. "I know how much you love to travel."

"It was getting old." She said as she started to admit what she had kept private for awhile. "And maybe I'm sort of happy for the excuse to stop. I mean, I do want to live to see old age, and my chances of it get less and less the longer I'm on the road. This is a hard life."

"I still can't believe I'm not dreaming." He said as he stopped rubbing her ankles so he could move beside her once more.

She laughed a little as they held each other as they laid by the fire, "Yeah, me too." They were quiet for a moment as he rested his chin over her head, surrounding her with his presence. And in that moment it seemed foolish to continue to doubt how he felt about her. Still, there was one more thing she had to know, "There's something still bothering me. Surely the spring wouldn't have put a baby in whatever random woman happened to be in the lake with you, to give you the family that you wanted."

"Oh, I'm very certain I wanted it to be you."

"Gourry," she said as she buried her face in his chest. And it was overpowering. That he desired her. That he had chosen her and that all of the fears she'd held onto about her not being his type were false.

The fire popped and cracked, the sounds comforting. And for so long Lina had never thought that nothing could be as soothing as a warm fire. That was, until she laid in Gourry's arms for the night. His head rested protectively over hers, and her nostrils filled with his scent as he occasionally reached a hand to caress her stomach as their baby kicked from within.

Sure the idiot had wasted a wish at a lake to do this. He didn't wish for anything useful, like money. No, he wished for the burdens and responsibility of a family, without all of the fun that happens with creating a life. And all without her having a say in the process!

"Wait, so does the lake not take into account what I want?" Lina asked. After all she was experiencing all of the miseries of pregnancy and none of the joys of sex.

If it was that much of a joy. Lina'd heard mixed things.

"Good night, Lina." Gourry said softly as Lina puzzled it over.

Had she wanted a baby? An unspoken desire rushed through her and she backed away from it as she always did. Because either way, even with all of the reasons she'd had to be mad at Gourry, the feeling just wasn't there. He was such an idiot it wasn't as though she could have expected him to know what wishing for a family would have done to her. And considering the panic she'd felt over not knowing how and who had impregnated her, it was a relief to know it was someone she trusted. More than trusted. Someone she'd wanted to be closer to for a long time. And now she knew that she was carrying their child, she had never felt closer to him. And it felt good and right.

A silence fell, and she held him a little closer to her, as if her actions could make up for words she could never find it within her to express. She wondered if he was feeling the same sense of intimacy that she was. And if he would make a move. After all, it wasn't as if he could get her pregnant again, could he? And perhaps it was time to get rid of her v card. Especially before the baby got here. Somehow, having a baby around seemed like a major mood killer.

He started to snore softly and her eyes opened. She spoke quietly, as though she wasn't sure if she wanted him to wake up and hear her or not. "You're not wanting to…?"

"To what?' he replied drowsily.

"You know…" Lina said, "I mean, I'm already knocked up."

"Huh?"

"If we, you know, I can't get pregnant again."

"Oh." He said sharply. Then he was quiet for a moment, "I dunno. It's kind of funny, if you think of it."

"What?"

"That Lina Inverse would go on to have a virgin birth."

Oh, she should kill him! She really should! But…but…She found herself laughing instead, and soon he was joining her.

"Yeah, I guess we should wait until after Junior is born."

AN: I am REALLY looking forward to the next chapter ;-)