Hi! So in the middle of all this crazy essay writing, I thought I'd treat you to a new chapter while I took a brief break. Hope you're enjoying the story as it unravels, I must say this was quite a fun chapter to write. I especially love Claudia and Mrs. Frederic's relationship now that Claudia's gone from cheeky teen to cheeky daughter-in-law over the past twelve years. She can get away with murder that girl. Disclaimer: I don't own Warehouse 13 or any of its characters. I just borrow them when I get bored. Anyway, let me know how you're finding it, enjoy!

oxoxoxoxo

When they returned to the inn, they were slightly surprised to see Leena still in her pajamas, grumpily sucking on a popsicle. Mrs. Frederic had come over to eat with them and she shared a perturbed look with Claudia before the assistant caretaker sighed and approached the couch. "You okay?"
A shake of the head was all Leena had to answer. She winced and closed her eyes, tilting her head back. Lil was sat in her playpen, squealing and wanting attention as soon as she saw Artie. Claudia scooped the baby out of the pen and handed her over to the old man, who initially grumbled but when the child flashed a huge gummy smile his way, he had no choice but to smile back.
Claudia sat down next to her wife and wrapped an arm around her back. "Feel sick?"

Leena nodded, not saying a word. She felt that if she spoke so much as a 'yes,' she'd vomit there and then. Her head dropped to Claudia's shoulder, and only when Artie bumbled a congratulations did she smile dreamily. "Thank you," she whispered, closing her eyes. Nope. No use. She suddenly stood and dashed to the downstairs bathroom before promptly throwing up her red colored cherry flavored treat.

"Oh fun," Claudia exhaled deeply and got up off the couch. She gave an apologetic look to Mrs. Frederic and Artie, then made her way into the bathroom. Instead of angering her wife, she merely reached out and rubbed her hands up and down the innkeeper's back.

"I hate you," Leena spluttered. Claudia heard the smile and dared herself to chuckle.

"Thank you," the caretaker nodded to herself. "I hate you too." It was said in such a gushy, sickly way that Leena thumped her head against the wall and groaned. She smiled despite the nausea.

"I feel sucky."

"I know," Claudia soothed. "Why don't you go lie down?"

"No, I gotta do lunch."

"Ewww, no thank you." Claudia shook her head.

Leena blinked, clearly offended. "Excuse me?"

"I don't want no Pukey McGee preparing my food, thank you very much," she pulled Leena up until she was sat in her lap. "Mrs. F. is making something."

"She's not…" Leena said in disbelief.

"She is," Claudia chuckled and kissed her cheek. "Think you can stomach something?"

"Nope," Leena grimaced and suddenly turned back to the toilet bowl to cough up the rest of the water she drank an hour ago.

"Oh pookenstein," Claudia sighed softly, hands never leaving the woman's back. "Want me to get you anything? Want me to do anything?"

"Don't….call me… pookenstein," Leena let out a spluttering laugh.

Claudia bent down and kissed her wife's shoulder. "Gonna get you some lovely, cool h2o." She quailed at the loud moan and the sudden f-bomb shot her way. "Oookay," she slunk out of the small bathroom with wide eyes.

"How is she doing?" Mrs. Frederic asked curiously as Claudia joined her in the kitchen to prepare a plastic bottle of water.

"Sucky," the younger caretaker said simply, but Irene could sense the excitement in the woman's voice. Nausea was good. Nausea meant everything was working, and meant that Leena was clearly very pregnant indeed. Shaking the leaves of lettuce dry, Mrs. Frederic deftly sliced them with Leena's bright pink salad knife. She popped a cherry tomato into her mouth and rummaged through her purse. Claudia always found it fascinating that both she and Artie had bags with so many items inside, even Mary Poppins would have been jealous. Out came a small dark amber-like stone and the woman held it up between her fingers. "Give her this."

"What is it?" Claudia let the stone drop into her hand and peered at it in confusion.

"Crystallized ginger." Mrs Frederic replied, and continued to chop up the lettuce.

"And it does…?" Claudia asked, rolling her eyes at her mother-in-law who was still so freaking mysterious at times, she wanted to stab herself in the eye, just to see if Mrs. Frederic would react at all.

"You suck it," Mrs. Frederic replied and placed all of the salad she'd chopped up into a bowl. "Granted, it doesn't always work…It should rid the nausea she's experiencing."

"Let me guess, this piece is special," Claudia's nose wrinkled and she held the small strange piece of food in her hand, feeling the heft against her palm. "Doesn't feel edible."

"It's not," Irene replied. "Hence why you suck on it. Don't swallow, don't chew. Tell her that or she'll break a tooth."

"Not even gonna ask," Claudia scoffed and shook her head. "You are something else," she filled the bottle of water to the top, grabbed a separate bottle of Gatorade from the fridge and trudged out of the room leaving Mrs. Frederic to chuckle to herself as she set out a plate of cold meat.

"Here," Claudia sat down opposite her wife who was now leaning against the bathroom wall with her head back and her eyes closed. "Mommy dearest told me to give you this," she smiled gently at the one eye that snapped open.

"What is it?" Leena asked wearily.

"Ginger… but don't swallow it, that's all she said."

"It's a rock…" the innkeeper frowned. "I don't like ginger."

Claudia squawked. "Says the woman who cried two nights ago because she was going to miss sushi. Come on…"

Leena sighed and popped the stone into her mouth and winced. "Spicy…" Claudia's eyes squinted sympathetically and within minutes, she'd sent Leena upstairs to get changed.

When Leena came downstairs twenty minutes later she looked like a completely different woman, refreshed and almost vibrant. Wearing a simple grey polo shirt and jeans, she sat herself down on the couch next to Artie who was enjoying making Lillian laugh. The baby kicked her legs and squealed when Leena tickled her belly. "You okay?" Artie asked awkwardly.

"Fine," she looked down at herself. "Little thing is giving me hell." She said, a blossoming smile spread across her face. She moved the ginger over to the other side of her cheek, amazed that it hadn't shrunk.

"Here," Claudia handed the water over and watched admirably when Leena sipped half of the bottle down. Mrs. Frederic had finally emerged and called the strange little family over to the kitchen. It was a little weird having the mysterious woman about so frequently, but ever since she had found out, or rather, known about the pregnancy, Leena noticed her adoptive mother hovering around a little more, being a bit more sociable. Leena had always wondered whether having children when you were part of the Warehouse was out of bounds, but right now… it almost seemed encouraged. She didn't want her son or daughter to feel pressured in having a life so full of danger, so… lacking in normalcy. As she stared at Lil's little feet kicking away, she felt herself begin to panic. What if her child didn't want a family so farfetched? What if he or she got teased because they didn't have a daddy? What if something happened to Claudia, and Leena had to bring up their child on her own? She froze. At some point in her child's life, Leena would look younger than they did. Her child would grow old…and she…

Claudia had been watching Leena from the corner of her eye. She watched her wife's eyes slowly fill with tears and pulled her close. Closing her eyes, Claudia focused on what her wife was feeling. Over the years of knowing each other, Claudia and Leena's auras had mingled so frequently, that the caretaker had become accustomed to Leena's as if it were her own. "What's the matter?" She asked gently, her lips ghosting over the edge of Leena's ear.

Leena froze and swallowed. "I…I can't do this." she stood up. Claudia thought her wife was going to be sick again, but instead, Leena left the room to go upstairs.

"Ohhh boy," Claudia sighed. "Come here, my little artifact baby," she lifted Lil into her arms and settled her against her hip. "You're coming with me. Back in a nano." She excused herself from the room and walked up the stairs. Lillian was getting a little grumpy, due a nap and teething so Claudia's plan would work perfectly…hopefully. When she opened her bedroom door she was shocked to see the room empty and the bed unmade. "Leena?" She called out. "Where is she, huh?" She looked down at the nearly eight month old infant and watched in complete awe when Lillian suddenly lifted up her chubby little hand and murmured quietly, pointing to the nursery. "Holy…fu-" She stopped herself, eyes wide and her mouth in the shape of an 'o'.

Just a fluke, she promised herself but when she opened the door to the inn nursery, she held back a gasp. Stood by the window was a hunched over Leena, a baby blanket in her hand and a thoughtful expression on her face. "Thought I'd find you here…" Claudia lied, which made Leena's eyebrow raise. "Okay… Lil's got some crazy psychic thing going on and she knew you were here." She held her breath. "But that is beside the point. What's up?" Lil was grumbling now, and Claudia was having trouble keeping her quiet.

"I…" Leena's voice was hoarse and a single tear ran down her cheek. "I'm wondering if I did a very selfish thing." She whispered.

"Selfish?" Claudia frowned. "What the frig? What are you talking about?"

"You know…" Leena began to pace around the room, twisting and turning the blanket in her hand. "I get what you mean now… about bringing children up in this world. In our world," she exhaled loudly. "I was so fucking desperate to have a baby, to go through all of this, feel it kick… I just, I didn't think."

"Leena? Stop," Claudia warned in a low tone. Dealing with a self-deprecating wife and a squirmy, sore baby was not the way Claudia wanted to spend her lunch hour. Helena and Myka needed to come home soon.

"No," Leena shook her head, seemingly unruffled by the fact that Lil was now beginning to full on bawl. "This baby, these kids… we've basically just gone 'Here you go, here's your destiny… you'll work in a rusty old South Dakotan Warehouse for the rest of your lives. Enjoy." She spat.

Claudia was in complete shock and rocked Lil slowly, trying to get her to calm down. "Please don't tell me you have so little value for your life, or mine... What we do…"

"Does it matter?" Leena shrugged like she simply didn't care anymore. "You just said it yourself. Lillian is special. Everybody knows that kid is special. And what? You're telling me Irene isn't gonna just pluck her up when she's 21 and say, 'Hey! Come work at our lethal Warehouse under a couple thousand square feet of rock.'"

"Not with those words," Claudia hissed, jiggling her hip to get Lil to shut up. She looked down at the baby who was now red in the face and spluttering in distress. "Take her, I need to think about what the fuck you're saying," she handed the child over and began to pace.

Leena looked down at the slobbering child and felt fear overwhelm her. Claudia was angry. Really, really fucking angry. The redhead gripped her hair, and tried to control her fury. If Lil wasn't in the room, she'd lose it and they'd already be screaming at each other. She hadn't even realized the infant in her arms had now fully calmed down and was letting out tiny blubbers as she looked up at the innkeeper with a trustful gaze. When Claudia finally spoke, Leena was pretty sure the menace in her tone would cause their goddaughter to start crying again. "You made me feel so fucking guilty," she shook her head in disgust. "You made me feel like I was the worst person in the world because I didn't want a child. And now I do, and now I'm so happy," she seethed, "and you wanna take that happiness away from me? Because you suddenly feel guilty and you're freaking out about the future? Is that what you're saying?"

"What?" Leena rolled her eyes. "Of course not. I'm ecstatic."

Claudia scoffed. "Tell that to your face. It looks so fucking content right now."

When they stopped talking, sounds of heavy breathing and infantile snivelling echoed off the walls. Leena had subconsciously started swaying Lil gently in her arms, who was now pressed comfortably against her chest. Her hand rubbed slowly up and down the child's small back. Lil stuffed her little fist into her mouth and closed her eyes as the pain in her gums eased. Claudia had dropped to the floor in frustration, her back falling against the old wall with a resounding thump. She groaned and covered her eyes, then looked at the woman by the window. "Just look at you…" she murmured with a shake of the head.

"What about me?" Leena frowned.

"Just… look at yourself. You're like a freaking maternal superhero." Leena looked down at herself and blushed. Her breasts were stupidly huge, she felt bloated and disgusting and yet Claudia was right. Lillian Bering-Wells didn't care. She knew that the innkeeper was comfy and caring and that was all that mattered right now. "And you're losing your marbles because you think you won't be good enough."

"I didn't say that-" Leena tried to argue.

"Yes you did." Claudia shook her head and stood up, slowly approaching her wife. Lil sleepily held out a soggy hand and Claudia grinned, letting the baby wrapped her fist around her index finger. "You're basically freaking out because you're worried we'll bring our kid up badly, and you're blaming it on destiny."

There was silence until, "I hate how well you know me." Leena sighed, shaking her head.

"Listen," Claudia put a hand on her wife's shoulder and looked her in the eyes sincerely. "This baby…" She paused, still not entirely over the fact that Leena was pregnant. A huge wave of emotion caused her chest to constrict and she both felt and heard her voice tighten. She let it happen. "This baby is going to grow up learning about love, and happiness and comics and games." She watched Leena smirk. "He's gonna choose his own destiny, and he's gonna do whatever he wants in life."

"He?" Leena's eyebrows rose. "Who says it's a he? It's a she."

"Your aura tell you that?" Claudia sniggered.

"Yes."

"Liar," the caretaker snorted. "Roll with me here... This kid is gonna choose whatever the fuck he wants to do in life because we're going to tell him he can. And no Warehouse is going to stop that." As if reading Leena's mind, Claudia carried on. "And no matter what, he's gonna grow up not giving a frak that one day he'll be older."

Leena's lip quivered and she looked down at Lil whose head lay against her breast. She pressed her lips to the baby's crown, the soft downy dark hair tickling her lips. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart. I won't let it happen. I won't let our child do anything they don't wanna do." She smiled. "You're tired."

"I guess I could go for a nap." Leena said as she walked over to the crib to lay Lil down who was now fast asleep.

"Come eat first," Claudia tugged her by the belt loop and led her out of the room. "You'll feel better when you wake up."

Leena stopped still halfway down the stairs and let out a whisper. "I'm sorry I lost it. I… I didn't mean to make you feel guilty, you know that right? I… I really would have gone on just fine if you didn't want kids, I didn't…" she found herself choking back tears and found a palm covering her mouth.

"Shh," Claudia shook her head as she took her hand away. "Don't even bother lying. You want a baby, I want a baby… everything is fine. And I guess I was a little mean just now… it's not worth thinking about."

"I'm sor-" Leena closed her eyes when Claudia suddenly replaced her hand with her lips to shut her up. She reached up and covered Claudia's cheek as she kissed her wife back, her own tears dripping onto her tongue. She felt a hand settle against her lower belly and sighed. "Claudia," she breathed.

"No more drama," Claudia shook her head and kissed her again. "We are not selfish." She rolled her eyes, "I mean jinkies, you really think that funny little girl in that crib up there wants to be the only child of the weirdest family in the world?"

"No…" Leena laughed as they reached the lobby. "True…"

"And anyway, it's too late now," Claudia dropped to her knees and scratched lightly at her wife's tummy. "Right, little globule?"

"Dewdrop." Leena corrected with a smirk.

"My cute little Dewglobdrop." Claudia gushed and smooched boisterously at her wife's belly until Leena had enough of being tickled and pushed her back so that she landed on her ass. Claudia tutted, feigning grumbles and got up again, hugging Leena's waist close and pressing her ear to the woman's tummy. "Can you believe what your mama's doing? She's torturing me," she whispered lovingly. Leena rolled her eyes but couldn't quite keep the grin off her face. "She's getting fat too," Claudia nodded. "Did you know that? This little funny podgy belly poking out over her jeans-" She screeched suddenly when she felt a handful of her hair being scrunched in Leena's fist. "Okay! Owww, okay! I give!" One last dig. She had to. "But you know what?" She lowered her voice again, scrunching up her nose. "It's not really you, you're still too tiny. It's just gas and water retention." She murmured, then squawked at the soft slap to her face and looked up with a shit-eating grin.

"You gonna take that back?" Leena's eyebrow raised in a challenge.

Claudia shook her head, her hands stroking the woman's lower back. "Nope. It's the truth."

Leena let out a dramatic sigh. "You're so annoying."

"Yes, my dear… I really am. So annoying that I'm gonna make you eat something."

"Wonderful," Leena covered her face with a hand and pulled the caretaker up off the floor. After two hours, Leena had successfully managed to eat three cheese sandwiches, four crackers, two apples and a candy bar. She also fell asleep almost as soon as her butt hit the couch cushion.

Claudia smiled and watch snuggled up to the woman hours later as she watched Myka and Helena dancing around the living room, Lillian on Helena's hip. The child was overcome with joy, her smile so wide, Claudia was half expecting her mouth to melt and slip off her face. She looked down at the innkeeper who's head was resting peacefully against her chest. She pecked Leena's forehead and continued to watch indulgently as the beats to an old Vampire Weekend track caused Lil's head to shake from side to side. "I know you want her to grow up all academic and into books and all that," Claudia began drolly, "but I tell you now that girl's got some crazy rhythm going on," she smirked, her fingers casually rubbing up and down Leena's arm.

She was a little surprised that her wife could sleep through the Indie cacophony but after the emotional afternoon they'd had and the fact that Leena's body was producing a cocktail of crazy hormones, she decided to let it go. She could spend hours pondering whether there was any truth to what Leena had ranted about, but the infant dancing and squealing with her mothers forced any of those thoughts to the back of her head. Instead, it made her that much more excited. She closed her eyes briefly and imagined teaching her child how to play their first guitar. Artie teaching them scales on the old piano in the corner of the room. She sighed dreamily and pulled Leena even closer, a hand discreetly moving down to settle against her tummy. Another squeal brought her back to the present and she smiled immediately as Lil's fluffy hair bobbed up and down as she rocked herself in Helena's arms, dancing to the music.

"Here, you gonna do it by yourself? Show Claudia what you can do?" Myka chuckled and took her daughter into her arms, then placed her on the floor and held onto her hands. "Helena, put White Sky on," she said with a giggle as Lil got up on wobbly feet and started to dance without the music even playing. The track changed and Claudia felt her face flare, unexpected tears filling her eyes when Lil shifted unsteadily on her feet and held on to her mother's hands for dear life. She tilted her little head to the side, as if taking in the music before her feet began to move and she bopped sporadically on chubby thighs, bouncing up and down. Becoming more and more confident, the infant was soon bouncing and hopping around the room with her mother's help, looking at Claudia for praise. Claudia wrinkled her nose, laughing as the baby flounced around, showing off her new skill. She felt Leena shift on top of her and sighed, cuddling the woman even closer.

Lillian Bering-Wells was the cheeriest baby she had ever seen in her life, and part of the reason was because she had a loving family. She cleared her throat quietly and brushed her lips against Leena's forehead again. Her child would be the same. She nodded. She was sure of it, and no matter how much Leena freaked out, she'd make sure her wife knew that too.