When Vicki came to, she saw both the doctor and Henry staring down at her with worried expressions.

"You okay honey?" the smiling doctor asked. Vicki sat up slowly and steadied herself on the edge of the table.

"I guess," she mumbled.

"Now, I want you to lie back again, let's have a look see shall we?" the doctor said cheerily.

"Wait, can we have a moment please?" Vicki asked. The doctor nodded and said she would be back in five minutes. After the click of the door left a deafening silence in the room, Vicki cleared her throat and met Henry's confused eyes.

"I've never smelled him on you, when? When did this happen?" Henry ground his teeth.

A look of hurt of hurt and confusion washed over Vicki's face followed closely by anger, "Are you accusing me of cheating?" she hissed.

"Do you have another explanation?" Henry began to pace.

" I didn't cheat and that's it, plain and simple, thanks for the vote of confidence," Vicki choked back a slight sob.

"What am I to think? I cannot possibly be the father, " Henry sighed. He wanted to be the father more than anything but he knew his seed was dead along with the rest of his body.

"If you think so little of my character then get out," Vicki said forcefully.

Henry furrowed his brow and was in front of her in an instant, "Vicki, I love you and you love me..but.."

"But what Henry? I am not a cheater, hell it'd been two years since I'd been with a man when I first slept with you. I'm not some two bit whore, just.." Vicki closed her eyes and bowed her head, "get out." The next sound she heard was the doctor opening the door and calling out to her. She opened her eyes and realized he had indeed slipped out.

"Did he leave?" the doctor asked.

"Yeah..he uh..had to get to work," Vicki lied. She wiped a lone tear with her finger and sniffed,"damn hormones," she muttered. Her years of experience as a physician told her this was not the case, however, knowing Vicki Nelson as well as she did, she left it alone-for now.

"Let's look at your baby okay?" the doctor tucked paper in the waistband of Vicki's jeans and lifted her shirt slightly.

"Do you remember when your last period was?"

Vicki thought but for the life of her, she had no idea, "No I don't. They aren't that regular, sorry."

"No worries, this will tell us a lot," the doctor squirted the warm jelly on her stomach and placed the wand strategically on her belly. Immediately a picture showed up. It looked like a miniature person, arms and legs flailed as if they were waving and running.

Vicki's didn't notice her eyes were misting over until she realized the screen was blurry. Blinking hard and swallowing harder, she smiled as the doctor began pointing out the fetus' arms, legs and head.

"Looks like you're about ten to twelve weeks, looks healthy and happy, he's quite active," the doctor talked while cleaning her stomach off.

"It's a boy?" Vicki asked in bewilderment.

"No, just a habit to say 'he', here, take these for the father," the doctor handed Vicki a few photos. She knew the baby was Henry's. It was an impossibility for it to belong to anyone but him because she was far from being considered for a virginal birth. She wanted badly to ask the doctor about a half vampire baby but knew she might be looked at as crazy.

"Hypothetically, if one of the parents has, say, a defect of some sort, what's the likelihood it's passed on to the child?"

The doctor shrugged, "Like anything else, it's a fifty-fifty deal, you just don't know. Is there something you need to tell me? Trust me, I've heard it all."

Vicki shook her head no and the doctor added, "We can do extra testing the next visit to be sure if you like?"

Not helpful, she thought to herself, "Thanks," she said out loud.

"Oh, Vicki, make an appointment for next month and," the doctor winked, "congrats!"

Vicki smiled weakly and nodded then exited the room. Secretly, she was hoping to find Henry outside but was disappointed.

"Fuck him," she shoved her hands in her jacket and fingered the photos of their unborn child. Part of her was so terribly shocked, she couldn't separate that emotion from the pain of Henry accusing or insinuating she cheated. She might be a lot of things but a cheater was not one of them. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she hailed a taxi and got in. During the ride to her apartment, she began to wonder too. How could Henry be the father? What had changed in Henry that would have enabled him to get her pregnant? She went over the last few months, things that happened, places they'd been and then, it struck her..Mike. Henry had been cradling Vicki when he used his newfound healing powers.

"He healed Henry too, but why did it take so long?" she wondered aloud. The taxi driver frowned at the fare in his backseat talking out loud to herself but Vicki was still lost in her thoughts and could have cared less. Now, could she convince Henry this was true? If nothing else, she would force him to give a sample to Mohadevan .

Easier said than done..

**

Justin slept fitfully dreaming of Jessica and strange things. He awoke sweating and panting and not in a good way. Throwing his bedcovering back, he padded to the bathroom hoping to beat the morning rush of siblings and parents. Thankfully, he was in and out before anyone got up. Justin loved school and looked forward to the escape it afforded him each and every day. What today would bring, he didn't know but he felt as though he were on cloud nine. While walking to school, someone bumped into him and books went flying.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," a beautiful girl told him. She was scurrying to gather her things and her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

"I should be apologizing, I didn't pay close enough attention, here, let me help," he offered. Soon, books were regained and things were in order.

"Are you headed to the high school?" Justin asked.

"Yes, you?" the girl answered and asked.

"Yes, want to walk with me? I'm Justin by the way," he stuck his free hand out and her soft hand took his in a firm yet feminine shake.

"Hi, I'm Eve," she batted her baby blues. Justin's heart lept.

Maybe this was a good sign, then again..maybe not…