Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews and the like. I'm pleased you've enjoyed it so far. Just so you know, my view of Sanctuary tends to lean toward: Magnus takes care of everyone else, so Will takes care of Magnus. Even when she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, like in the last part. But especially when she isn't, which doesn't happen very often.

Disclaimer: I do not lay claim to anything from the show, only my own work and creations. Mostly just Dr. Telares, Dr. Gering, Dr. Marks and the accolo-nexum. Oh, and the Oolues, which don't actually exist, even in myth.

Survival of the Fittest

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Part Two: Things Seen

Will watched Magnus closely. She healed from her injuries quickly and seemed no worse for wear. He himself saw the signs that her recovery was complete. It was wasn't till more than a month later that the Big Guy came to him and told him that Magnus was sick. Signs of her not feeling so well began to surface. She didn't go out on missions as much, and when she did, she moved slowly. If she was jostled too much, her face turned a delicate pale green. He thought that maybe she was simply overly tired and was finally giving herself a break; taking it easy. However, when the Big Guy mentioned he'd heard her throwing up just that morning, he amended that thought and went to see her. He knocked gently on her office door and was told to enter. When he did, he stopped in his tracks.

Magnus was seated behind her desk, never in his time at the Sanctuary ever looking so pale and drawn, except after Ashley had died. He could see a slight tremor in her hands as she moved a pile of papers from in front of her to the side. She gave him a weak smile. "Will, what can I do for you?"

He shook his head and closed the door. Then he sidled up close to her desk. "You can go back to bed, that would be very nice."

"Will." She said levelly. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"Uh, cause you're sick." He answered, his voice a little sharp. "The Big Guy heard you throwing up this morning just as he was bringing your breakfast in."

"It's just a common strain of the flu." She shrugged. "In a few days I'll be right as rain."

"Since when have you gotten the flu?" He countered.

"While I admit it doesn't happen very often, it has been known to occur, and I see no reason why I should have to return to my rooms."

"Come on, Magnus. The Sanctuary isn't going to collapse if you take a few sick days. Lay in bed, get more sleep than you've had in your life. I'll bring you soup and crackers... and tea. Read a few new books, hell, read a few old ones. Catch up on your knitting, I don't care! Just for once, give yourself a break."

She snorted. "You of all people should know I don't knit."

He gave her a look. "Not the point." He growled.

"Yes, William, I think you have made your point quite clear. However, I am far too busy to-"

"Magnus, this stuff can wait. Seriously." He gestured at her papers, then leaned forward with his fists resting on the polished surface of her desk. "I've got the Big Guy on my side and Kate and Henry will back us up if I tell them what's up." He smiled. "Then how are you going to get any work done?"

She glared, a hint of a dangerous smile teasing at her lips. "That sounds rather suspiciously like a threat."

"More of a promise." He answered, pulling back and folding his arms. He raised his eyebrows.

Magnus rolled her eyes. "If you will leave me alone- I will go back to bed for the remainder of the day."

He opened his mouth to protest, but she held him off with a raised hand.

"That is as far as I am willing to bend to your stipulations."

His mouth twisted a tad in frustration but he really had no choice, so he nodded. He would take what he could get. "I'll have Big Guy bring the soup to your room in ten minutes. He better find you in bed." He turned on his heel to leave, decisively ignoring her scoff.

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A few days later, he noticed she hadn't recovered by her pallor and the shaking of her hands. He even caught a glimpse of her leaning against the wall for support on her way to her rooms. The next morning after that, he waylaid the Big Guy with Magnus' breakfast and took it to her room himself. He suspected ha was only allowed to do this because he would be more likely to notice anything wrong, whether Magnus tried to hide it or not. He knocked softly, and entered when there was no answer. He stuck his head in cautiously first, but she wasn't in her bed. He set the tray down on the small end table and looked around. Her normally clean room had a few clothes strewn at the foot of her bed. He recognized them as ones she had been wearing the previous few days. Her bed wasn't made and the covers were twisted, as though she'd been tossing about all night. That was as far as he got in his examination before the sound of retching met his ears. He hurried to the bathroom and found Magnus in her robe, vomiting into the porcelain bowl of the toilet. Quickly, he grabbed her hair and held it back for her as she finished. After she'd wiped her mouth with a towel end, she leaned back. Her robe slipped the barest bit down and folded slightly at her middle as she shifted.

Will stared. He tried not to, but couldn't pull his eyes away. Feeling ill himself, Will shifted uncomfortably. A small glimpse of her night dress clad stomach was visible in the fold, right where it could show her protruding hip bone. One furtive look at her jutting collarbone as well told him all he needed to know. Well, almost all. As he stared at her emaciated form, he found his mouth opening. "How long have you been throwing up? How long have you been struggling to keep something, anything down?"

Her eyes met his. There was no need for her to follow his gaze to see what had given her away. He saw the resignation. "Weeks. Maybe months."

"Months?"

"A week shy of two." She added defensively. "And I only had trouble in the evenings, after the work day. Couldn't seem to keep my dinner down. The rest of the time, I felt fine. Then the nights started to catch up with me. Ever since, it's just... gotten worse. The nausea lasts well into the morning now and I have night sweats. At first I thought it really was just a common flu virus, but after weeks had passed I went to the lab and started running some tests. They all came up empty."

"All of them?"

She nodded jerkily. "All except the last group. I was going to retrieve the results from the lab when I ran them a few days ago, the night you convinced me to go to my rooms for more rest."

Will appreciated she referred to it as convinced. He would have said blackmailed.

"I didn't think it would hurt to postpone till the morning, however..." She drifted off, hanging her head a little and pulled her robe tighter.

"However?" He persisted.

She sighed. "However, it takes quite a lot of energy to make it to the lab. I tried, but I could barely span the distance between my rooms and office. I've been resting, trying to regain enough energy to return. But now, it's seems to be having the opposite effect from what I would like. I'm getting weaker and I still do not know the cause."

"Damn Magnus, why didn't you ask for help?" Her answering, flat stare brought to mind an incidence the other day, when she had conversationally asked him to grab some test results for her. He had forgotten. It had been one of the first signs that something was still really off when she hadn't berated him for it. "You didn't say you couldn't walk there yourself!" He yelled. "Dammit Magnus! If you'd told any of us, we could have helped you!"

She grimaced. "So, what? I have to be sick for you to actually do as I ask?"

"No, but it helps when I know something is urgent! I need to know you're actually going to inform me when something is this important. I'd call you looking like an anorexic teenager an urgent matter."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be dramatic."

"Take a look at yourself in the mirror and then tell me I'm just being dramatic."

"I've been able to keep a little down, thank you. My weight loss has not reached a dangerous level yet."

"Please." He sneered. "I could cut paper on the edges of bone sticking out of you! Why is it so hard for you to ask for help?"

Magnus struggled up shakily to her feet, cinching her robe even tighter. Somehow she managed to look regal even when swaying slightly on the spot. "I'm asking now. Are you just going to stand there yelling at me, or are you going to help me?"

"I'm going to take you to the Infirmary, is what I'm going to do. We're going to get you on an IV and I'll grab those test results. Then, we'll call another doctor to come have a look at you. You don't like that, well tough, you haven't got a choice in the matter."

"Cheeky bugger." Magnus muttered, stumbling slightly as she tried to walk out to her room.

Will grabbed her arm. "I want to help you, Magnus." He said more gently. "Let me."

She nodded her head slowly, still looking pale.

So he helped her walk the distance to the Infirmary. They had to stop twice along the way so she could rest even with him supporting her. Once there, he did just as he had threatened. He called Big Guy in and had her set up with an IV, told Henry to call Dr. Marks in New City, he was an abnormal who occasionally helped them out, while Kate ran to the Lab and got the test results. Careful not to disturb the Big Guy inserting the needle, he grabbed Magnus' hand and held tight.

For her part, Magnus said nothing, not answering anyone's questions or listening when the Big Guy growled out an exclamation at Will's hurried explanation of what he knew. She weakly lifted herself onto the cot, then curled over into a little ball, her knees near her chest. Her messy hair was scraggly down her back and covered part of her face, but not enough to conceal the beads of sweat that had broken out from the long walk. As the others stared at her before leaving because of her lack of verbal repartee, Will stared because he could see the tremble in her limbs.

"There." Big Guy grunted, having finally finished the IV.

Magnus stirred a little at that. "Thank you, old friend." Even her voice sounded weak.

"Next time you try to conceal something like this..." Big Guy's voice might have been intimidating had it not been for the gentle edge it always held for Magnus.

"Yes, so Will has informed me. Honestly, I really did think it was just the common flu."

Big Guy grunted again and patted her leg.

Kate came running back in. "I think I got the right ones. Doc, you really gotta label these things more clearly." She handed them over to Magnus, who sat the bed up, took and examined them. After several long minutes, Henry returned.

"Called up Dr. Marks, but he's out of town at some kind of symposium."

Magnus looked up. "Dr. Marks? Yes, I could have told you that Henry."

"Wh-" Will spluttered.

"Why do you think I didn't call Dr. Marks to have a look myself? He's been out of town for almost three weeks. Honestly." She snorted the last bit and Will would have been angry if he wasn't so relieved that she'd recovered enough from the walk to be talking again. Magnus snapped the file of results shut and threw it at her feet. "Nothing. All the tests I ran came up with nothing."

"We'll draw some more blood once the IV's had a chance to get into your system, run another battery of tests. There has to be something. People don't just throw up for two months straight for nothing."

The others flinched.

Magnus looked away. "All right."

"Isn't there someone else we can call? Another doctor?" Kate asked.

Magnus shook her head. "There aren't that many who are privy to our work. Certainly not any that could do anything for me that I can't do for myself."

"Besides," Will cut in. "No doctor can really do anything till we figure out what's wrong. We can run any test a doctor can."

"We'll broaden the parameters. Run more tests. Try to understand what's happening." Magnus said. She looked around at them. "I'll be fine."

Their expressions said none of them were sure of that.

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"Well?" Kate asked anxiously at Will's elbow, peeking at the latest test results he held.

"Still nothing." Will growled angrily. His temper had been nearer the surface since Magnus had gotten sick and wasn't likely to improve. He didn't like not having answers.

Magnus was still throwing up, though not as often, and mostly just dry heaves that left her shaking so badly it was frightening. She wasn't losing as much weight, but she certainly wasn't regaining any either. Big Guy rarely left her side, but seemed to dislike his inability to help even more than Will.

"It's like the worst case of morning sickness ever." Kate joked.

Will stared at her.

"What?" She said defensively.

Ignoring her, Will ran to the lab and added a test to the list. It came back positive. Disbelieving, he didn't pause as he ran full tilt to the Infirmary. As he entered, a bewildered Big Guy looked up. Magnus had been dozing fitfully, but roused, blinking, at his arrival. Kate followed behind him.

"Will." Kate gasped, breathing hard from the run. "What the hell? Did you find something?"

For an answer, he handed the results to Magnus.

She looked at them, then looked up in shock.

"I think you're pregnant." He said still trying to wrap his mind around it.

After running the test three more times, there was little doubt that the result was correct. "This is impossible." Magnus whispered, staring at the results.

"Obviously not." Henry said, grinning uncertainly.

"No, I mean... I haven't-" Magnus made a gesture.

"Had sex?" Will asked dryly, sounding just a touch surprised and a great deal skeptical.

Frowning, Magnus nodded.

"You sure?" Kate scoffed, "Seems a necessary bit."

"I am a doctor. I am well aware of the 'necessary bits' for something like this. Besides, my body should not be reacting this violently. It was never this bad when I was pregnant with Ashley. And, though I did not check specifically for this, there are hormones that should have been released that would have been detected by the earlier tests. There is something very off with this whole thing. I will admit to the necessity of calling in another doctor, even if it must be from another city, Sanctuary, whichever." She paled even as they watched and Big Guy barely got a small bucket under her chin before she was vomiting, then retching dryly before she finally stopped. She pushed the bowl away, tears on her eyelashes, a trembling hand lifting to her face to block it from view as she settled back.

"You okay?" Kate asked tentatively.

A weak grunt was Magnus' only response.

"I'll call in Doctor Gering at the South American Sanctuary to fly here." Will said reassuringly.

Face still covered, Magnus nodded.

Quietly, they left her alone with only the Big Guy watching over her, wondering if they should be celebrating or not.

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