(Ok, I couldn't leave well enough alone with Rachael and Eric. All references to characters you don't already know are characters in a new fic I have in the works.)

The day started alright, but by the time she'd returned home to make a little dinner for two, the cramps were getting to be too much. Swearing her gender, Rachael Myers went to the small medicine cabinet and popped a few pain killers into her mouth and rubbed her belly to sooth the aching pains that were shooting through it. Mood unaffected, she continued to sing as she pulled a meal together with the meager contents of their refrigerator. Neither she or Eric were the shopping type, and since Lauren no longer lived at home, they rarely had a lot of food. Which was annoying since she liked to cook. By the time she had a pan of simmering chicken on the stove, the front door opened and closed behind her.

"That smells heavenly." Eric greeted his wife with a kiss to the cheek and inhaling the food she was preparing. Rachael leaned her head back to rest on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her thin waist. Nuzzling his nose into her ear, Eric murmured words inappropriate for most audiences.

Giggling, Rachael pulled away. "Another night sweetheart." She wrinkled her nose before kissing him gently. "Not the right time of the month."

"Damn." Eric swore and kissed her deeply before pulling away. "Jake finally goes back to school and this happens." He teased, referring to their son who'd just moved back to his boarding high school the week before, leaving them with the proverbial "empty nest", something they were both enjoying immensely.

"You'll survive." Rachael swatted him with a dishtowel as he tried to escape toward the bathroom. When he emerged with wet hair a few minutes later, Rachael had their dinner on the table. It only took them a few minutes to eat before they spent a mundane evening watching a football game on television before going to bed early.

Rachael woke up the next morning to a kiss being placed on her forehead. A smile lit her face when she saw Eric hovering over her with a smile. A second later a sharp pain caused her to frown and roll over, a small moan escaping her. "Shh." Eric whispered soothingly as he sat on the bed to rub her back. "You need something?"

"Ibuprofen and coffee." Rachael muttered darkly into her soft white pillow as she blindly grabbed for Eric's, and hugging it to her stomach. "Lots of both." Eric obliged quickly, hating to see her in pain, even if it did happen once a month. "Thank you." She sat up to sip the coffee and down three of the pills at once.

"You sure you need that many?" Eric frowned.

"Yep." Rachael winced as she spoke without ceremony. "Trust me; I've been doing this for thirty years."

"I trust you." Eric placed another kiss on her forehead. "Want me to call Jen?"

"Please." Rachael shook her head. "Tell her to call in one of the girls." She referred to the employees she and Jen managed at the new and slightly altered version of 'Nick of Time: Odd Jobs' where the two worked together.

"Alright, get some sleep." Eric kissed her one last time before leaving the house with a frown plastered on his face. Something Wes noticed the moment his brother-in-law came into the office they shared.

"Wow, what happened to you?" He grinned, which only made Eric frown more.

"Rachael's sick." Eric practically sneered at his wife's brother, and the man who'd become his friend over the past twenty years they'd worked together. "Worse than the usual monthly thing if you know what I mean." He explained with a frown as he sat in his chair.

"Ouch." Wes sat forward, concern marring the face that was happy the moment before. He and Rachael had been raised like twins; exactly a year apart, they were as close as any two siblings could be. "She going to be ok?"

"She says so." Eric shrugged and turned on the computer his son had explained in detail how to use.

Back at their house, Rachael crawled out of bed to the bathroom, mystified by the lack of blood that usually came with the horrible pains she was feeling. Using the bathroom was impossible, so she went out into the kitchen and lay down on the cold tile flooring, relishing how it felt against her heated skin. She dozed off for a few minutes, but the sharp pains came right back with a vengeance, twice as strong as before. Rachael let out a hiss of air, panic filling her mind. It had been an hour since Eric had gone to work, leaving her alone in the house, and the pain medicine hadn't kicked in at all. She'd been in pain before, two stints in the hospital before having her children, and then the two stays giving birth to Lauren and Jacob were all the worst pain in her life. Except this, this was more than she could handle.

"Eric." She murmured softly, trying to get to the phone that sat on the counter, but it was just out of her reach. Unable to stand, she curled into a ball on the floor, praying he'd call and get worried when she didn't answer. The phone sat silently on the counter for what seemed like hours on end. The pain came in waves, coming sooner and sooner together, her mind working with the pain instinctively. It was almost as if she was in labor. No. Her mind was suddenly alert with the horrifying thought. Sure her other two pregnancies had ended with less pain, but she'd been given high doses of medicine to help alleviate it. Judging by the smallness of her waist…

No. Terror filled her. She was miscarrying on her kitchen floor with no one there to help her. Wes' first wife Courtney had died in a room filled with doctors and nurses while giving birth, the chances she was going to survive this, wasn't good. Rachael tried once more to move for the phone on the counter, but instead of grabbing for it, she fell, landing on her hip in more pain than before. A pile of plates fell off the counter and shattered on the floor, a horrific sound she could barely comprehend.

"Mom?" The curious voice of her twenty-one year old daughter was almost soothing to hear, if unexpected.

"Lauren!" Rachael screamed out her daughter's name, and looked up in time to see Lauren sprint toward her, going right to hold her head.

"Mom what's wrong?" Weak from the stabbing pains, Rachael tried to speak, weakly gesturing for her legs, trying to communicate the frantic thoughts in her mind. Lauren's companion knelt next to Rachael and looked at her, gaining recognition immediately. Meghan Corbett had been friends with Lauren since their high school when they'd somehow met despite going to rival schools. They'd stayed close past high school, and worked for the same organization, but in different locations.

"Rachael, where does it hurt?" Meghan asked in a much calmer tone than her friend. Rachael closed her eyes as a wave of pain passed and splayed her fingers over her stomach, tears squeezing out of her eyes to mix with the sweat she'd accumulated on her face. "Lauren, call your Dad and the Silver Guardians." Meghan ordered, and looked up at her friend when she didn't move. "Now, Lauren." She snapped, getting Lauren to blink back to life and grab the phone and dial.

"Eric Myers, Silver Guardians." He answered the phone calmly, a note of frustration only audible to those who loved him.

"Daddy, come home now, Mom's sick." Lauren said in a panic, unable to describe exactly what was going on. Eric stood up at his desk immediately, getting Wes' undivided attention.

"Lauren, what's happening?"

"She can't move, she's on the floor in pain, Daddy get an ambulance."

"We'll be right there." Eric dropped the phone in its cradle and sprinted out to where the Silver Guardian's team of emergency responders and got them at attention to speed to his own address, panic clouding his mind as he let Wes drive, too shaken to drive himself.

Before they could get there, Meghan was talking to Rachael calmly and had moved her legs to finally see what they both thought was a miscarriage. Rachael gasped when Meghan pressed on her stomach gently and the younger woman paled at what she was seeing. "Rachael, you need to push." She looked up and then to Lauren. "Get towels."

"No." Rachael managed the word and shook her head. This couldn't be happening. Her mind could only focus on one thing. You didn't need to push if you were miscarrying. She wasn't miscarrying.

"Push damnit." Meghan ordered in a voice that forced Rachael to bear down heavily as she'd done twice before. "Good, good, now again." Meghan encouraged her as Lauren came around the corner. "One more time, push." Rachael gave one last push and felt a release from her body, the pain fading slowly. The familiar cries of an infant shattered through the air, stunning Rachael and Lauren, who was numbly holding a pair of towels in her arms. Meghan gently pulled a tiny baby away from Rachael's body and tucked her into the towel in Lauren's arms, stunning her.

"Rachael!" Eric's panicked voice entered the house second before he entered the kitchen and froze, eyes first on his wife, then his daughter's friend covered in blood, and finally the baby in his daughter's arms.

"Eric." Rachael's weak voice brought him back to his senses and down to her. "I… I don't…"

"Shh, don't talk." Meghan soothed her as the EMT's came into the room, taking the baby from Lauren and immediately beginning to tend to Rachael, cutting the umbilical cord and settling the baby in Rachael's arms. Meghan helped the two men hoist her onto the stretcher and wheeled it out to the waiting ambulance, concern for both the newborn and her mother causing the air to be silent and tense. Wes stared at his sister and pale brother-in-law as they took the baby into the 'bus' that screamed its way to the same hospital both Lauren and Jake had been born in. Meghan followed in the truck she'd driven Lauren there in, Eric with his wife, Wes speeding to Brighton Academy to retrieve the only member of the Myers family who wasn't already present.

After being admitted into the hospital, Meghan spoke briefly with the doctor about what she'd done for Rachael and the baby before sitting with her friend, a hand resting on her friend's back.

"What is it?" Lauren asked suddenly after spending many silent minutes in the waiting room. Meghan turned to her friend inquisitively until exactly understanding the meaning of her question.

"A girl." Meghan smiled weakly. "You always wanted a baby sister."

In her hospital room Rachael lay still on the bed while gripping Eric's hand as tightly as she could. The doctors were doing things to her body that she wasn't entirely sure of, the numbing cream or whatever they'd used to keep her more comfortable. Finally, after what seemed like hours of stress and silent pain, a doctor came to her with a serene look on his face. "Rachael, you bled a little more than normal after giving birth, but we were able to control and stop it." He smiled with the good news.

"My baby." Rachael tried not to panic.

"Your daughter is fine." The young doctor smiled. "She was in the NICU for about two hours while we checked her over, but as far as we can tell, she's full term. You said you didn't know you were pregnant?" He knit his eyebrows curiously when Rachael nodded fearfully. "Well despite your lack of prenatal care, you'll both be fine. Relax, you're a healthy woman, you don't smoke, and rarely drink, she always had a chance." He nodded to the frozen form of Eric. "Congratulations." He looked to the doorway where a nurse carried in a small bundle. "She weighed seven pounds fourteen ounces when she got here, and is twenty inches long." The nurse showed the baby to her parents who both looked at her with wonder. Rachael released Eric's hand and gestured for him to take their tiny daughter, which he did, cradling her expertly in his arms, all his muscles useless with the baby.

"Beautiful." Rachael mumbled sleepily as she watched Eric with the baby she didn't know she was pregnant with. Full term. Amazing. Breathing slowly and finally relaxing, Rachael's last spoken words while she was awake surprised her husband. "We should let Meghan name her."

Although her words were slurred, Eric understood and nodded as he held the baby in his arms. A daughter. A second daughter. He mentally amended. And speaking of the first daughter… "Excuse me." He summoned a nurse quietly as Rachael was falling asleep. "Could you go get someone for me?"

"I'm sorry sir, only family is allowed in after hours." The nurse looked truly apologetic as Eric frowned.

"One is my daughter, the other delivered this one." He snapped and she nodded with a smile, leaving the room and returning in only a few minutes with Lauren and Meghan in tow. Lauren immediately went over to her mother and smiled as she brushed back the loose hairs that had fallen across Rachael's face. Her second action was to look at the baby her father held and breathed out.

"Oh." Was all she could say. "She's beautiful." Moving closer, she looked at the peaceful face of the now clean baby.

"She looks like you did." Eric said softly, shifting the baby into her sister's arms for the second time in her short life. Meghan shifted from foot to foot near the doorway, arms held tightly around her waist, feeling like a complete outsider. "Meghan." Eric stood and smiled, shaking her hand tightly and awkwardly. "Thank you."

"I was well trained." Meghan grinned impishly, referring to her career with one of the best intergalactic police departments there was.

"We want you to name her." Eric grinned before stepping back toward his wife and daughters. "Let us know before we leave." He bent over to kiss Rachael's forehead gently, then Lauren's, and finally, the baby's.

Hours later Meghan woke with a jolt to a kiss on her own forehead and opened her eyes to see the confused face of her fiancé hovering over her. Before she could greet him, his words of concern nearly made her laugh. "I hope that's not your blood."

"If it was, I think I'd be in a hospital bed, not this awful chair." She smiled weakly and stood, kissing him properly. "It's Rachael's." She winced a little at the pain in his eyes. "She's alright."

"I know, Lauren told me everything. You delivered my baby cousin." Chris Collins was a tall man, strong and usually good at controlling his emotions. But with this, he looked frazzled where he stood in the middle of the vacant waiting room.

"I did, and I get to name her." Meghan grinned and rubbed her eyes. "Is Jake here?" She took his wrist and twisted it to see the time. "Wow I passed out."

"You did, and yes, he's with his parents and sisters." Chris replied with a roll of his eyes. "I got here just before he and my Dad did." Chris looked down the hall to see Wes coming toward them. "Dad."

"Hey son, Meghan." Wes grinned and gave his future daughter-in-law a quick hug. "Jen said she'd be bringing clothes for you soon." He checked his watch and frowned. "She's probably downstairs, I'll be up."

"Thanks." The two stayed while Wes left as fast as he'd come, going in the same direction. "Got any names ready?" Chris asked as they sat down on the couch together.

"Yep, but I think her parents should know first." Meghan curled into his chest and closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief. They'd been together for a little over a year now, engaged for most of that time. Their wedding was being planned by their sisters, and as such was going to be a glamorous affair with, or without their consent.

By the time they were back in the hospital room, Meghan had changed from her blood stained shirt into one Jen had brought her that most likely belonged to Chris' sister Miranda, and grinned broadly as the tiny baby girl curled into her arms. Rachael fought to keep her eyes open, but the way Eric was gently stroking her hair and face was relaxing her to the point where sleep was inevitable. But her eyes stayed open to see the girl who'd delivered her daughter softly coo and rock the small baby.

"Mama, sleep if you need to." Lauren whispered the words carefully from the other side of the bed, using the term she'd called her when she was a little girl. Jake sat next to Lauren, his black hair stuck out at all angles, still dressed in pieces of his school uniform, the khaki pants and dress shirt, tie and jacket discarded in a corner.

"I want to know her name first." Rachael replied, words slurred from her exhaustion. She'd had only an hour nap before waking again. Meghan looked to her and smiled, rocking the baby in her arms, the natural fit of the child there causing her fiancé to look at them from a distance across the room. Wes' son was just like him; Rachael mused silently as she watched the terrified boy sit in the corner, hands defensively placed in his pockets.

"Then I'll let you get some sleep." Meghan smiled at Jake and Lauren, then Eric and finally Rachael. "I did a little research. Her first name means 'Joy of the Father' in Hebrew." Eric's eyes seemed to shine with pride at the thought. "Rachael is also Hebrew, and this one's middle name is Scandinavian, like 'Eric'." The entire family looked intrigued as Meghan explained her sources, which themselves were very well thought out for the four hours she'd had to come up with it. "I've decided on, Abigail Odina Myers."

"Abby." Rachael murmured, her eyes blinking shut as she slipped into the peaceful world of dreams. Eric watched his wife fall asleep, content that she wasn't in any medical trouble by the many machines she was attached to, but hating them at the same time. He'd only seen her in this position a few times, this was the third time after giving birth to his child, twice from injuries she'd sustained as a ranger. The same injuries sent her twice, both times scaring him so badly he'd had to admit to himself he was still hopelessly in love with Wes' sister. Married for the past twenty-one years, she was his best friend, and he was hers, even though sometimes they had more fun fighting than anything else. In the heat of an argument Rachael had once shouted at him that she'd 'rather fight with him than kiss anyone else'. They'd spent the next three days locked in their house alone. Now that house would hold a baby for the first time in fourteen years. Years since he'd changed a diaper, woken up in the middle of the night to sooth and feed a hysterical child. His child. Even though they had unofficially decided they were done with children years ago, he was thrilled to have another one. Another daughter to spoil as only a father can.

"Pop." Jake's voice cut into his thoughts and he saw his older children standing next to him, Lauren holding baby Abigail in her arms, Meghan and Chris nowhere to be seen.

"We're going to go, take Abby back to the nursery." Lauren whispered with a smile before bending down to kiss him on the cheek. "We'll go stay at the mansion tonight." Jake hugged his father as quickly as he could, trying to be the manliest a teenage boy could. Eric nodded; happy his kids were going to stay at the mansion Rachael and Wes had grown up in, the same house Alan Collins had given to Wes and his wife, Jen, before moving to Boston. Being with people tonight would help them through this surprising turn of events.

They left the room, wheeling Abby's clear plastic bassinet with them to return her to the safety of the nursery. Eric turned back to his sleeping wife and brushed her long black hairs away from her face. A few of them had started to turn a silvery color, but when Rachael discovered it she'd laughed and shown it to him with a smile. She called them proof their children had run her ragged through her life, and wore them like a badge. And now they were starting over. A feeling of contentment settled in his chest as his hand stayed wrapped around Rachael's. Three children, two girls, and a boy. A grin slid onto his face as he stood up, kissed Rachael's forehead and moved to the short couch in the room, settling down on it, slipping into unconsciousness as soon as his head hit the stiff pillow.