Michael carried Talia into his room, thankful that he had somehow avoided running into anyone on his way there. At least she was breathing better and he could feel her baby moving, almost constantly moving. Surely that was a sign that she would be alright, that the water and the psi cop hadn't done any major damage.

He carried her into the bedroom and was just about to tuck her into bed when he remembered her wet clothes. She was in a shapeless white dress that was extremely different that the shapely business suits that she had worn months before. The dress was soaked and clinging to her body, emphasizing her fragile condition.

"Can't leave you in that," He muttered as he laid her down and started searching through drawers for something that she could wear for the moment. A moment later he found a shirt that he thought might fit. It would probably be a bit snug around her stomach but it would do until he could arrange something else. He levered her up into a sitting position and pulled on the dress easing it over her head and slipping her arms out of the sleeves. He was shocked when he saw what the dress had hidden, a series of scars running down her back as if she had been beaten with some sort of edged object. He bit back a curse at the sight of the scars. The next time Bester showed up, he was definitely going out an airlock.

As soon as he had her dressed, he laid her back in the bed and tucked her in, adding an extra blanket when she started to shiver. "You just rest now, okay? I'm going to call and get Stephen down here to make sure that you and the baby are fine. Oh, and if he threatens you with a food plan, just remember that he has no authority to make you follow it. I'll make you something when you feel up to eating. A nice friendly dinner. You'll be back on your feet in no time." He dimmed the lights as he exited the room. If she had been Downbelow for any length of time, the lights at full strength would hurt her eyes when she woke up.

He tried to signal Stephen on his link several times without getting a response before calling the medical lab to see if they had any idea where he was. After talking with Dr. Hobbs he learned that Stephen had left a few hours earlier to help Marcus with something in Downbelow. Michael debated for a moment, considering whether he should ask Dr. Hobbs to come down, before deciding not to get anyone else involved unless he had to. Better to keep Talia's presence known to as few people as possible until he knew what was going on.

He debated who to try next after breaking off the connection with medlab. He had a feeling that Marcus might know something about how Talia got there. A ranger had been found dead in Downbelow the night before. Could he have been the one who brought Talia here? A ranger could have gotten Talia back onto the station without detection easily. They had to be involved somehow. Why else would Marcus have asked Stephen to come Downbelow to help with something unless he expected to find someone who needed a doctor. He supposed one of Marcus's contacts could have required help but he just didn't think so. Maybe it was wishful thinking clouding his judgement but he was sure that this was the real Talia. If the rangers were involved, they certainly wouldn't have brought the artificial personality here.

He activated the companel again, calling Susan. He was fairly sure she was off duty at the moment. Maybe he could get her to track down Marcus and Stephen, not to mention bringing some better clothes for Talia. She wouldn't be happy when she found out about this, but he needed her help.

******

Talia slowly stirred and forced her eyes to open. She looked around the room trying to figure out where in the world she was, moving slowly to avoid aggravating her aching body. A moment later, she spotted a large cartoon picture hanging on the wall and stared at it in puzzlement. There was something very odd about that, someone who she had heard liked cartoons but....

Just then a jolt of pain shot through her stomach taking all thought out of her mind. She moaned as she remembered what had caused her to fall into the water. She concentrated, reaching within, touching her children's frantic thoughts. They were much too paniced to respond to her gentle mindtouch, struggling to come into the world. As another pain hit, she recalled who she had heard of that liked cartoons, Mr. Garibaldi.

"Mr. Garibaldi?" she weakly cried as she struggled through the pain only to feel something pop just as the pain finally ended. The shock of the pop took her breath away and before she knew it, another pain washed over her, stronger than the previous ones. She was definitely out of time. "MICHAEL!!!"