Nightwing paced outside the hospital room. Doctors were worried for her child. He had originally thought were only slashes. But the doctors found a stab wound hidden within one the deep trenches. It had stopped short of the child, but Jessie had basically been impaled after they had cut her to ribbons.

"You're going to dig yourself a hole if you keep pacing." Muse dressed like a Greek goddess came down the hall with two steaming styrofoam cups. She handed one to him then sat down on a bench outside the room. She watched him over her cup, sipping it every now and again.

"Why?" He whispered the question. Inside he was a storm. He wanted to demand answers of Muse who was sitting next to him, surprisingly calm, while her sister was undergoing surgery just behind the wall she was leaning against.

"Why didn't she tell you? Why did his happen as in her being pregnant? Why is she injured? Why what?" Her voice seemed devoid of emotion. Looking at her eyes she realized there were dark circles under them. A bruise was forming on her left cheek and her knuckles were scraped like she had punched a cement block.

"All of the above." He snapped out. Muse leaned her head back and stared at the hospital ceiling.

"She was going to tell you today. She had only just gone to the doctor recently when she started showing. They confirmed she was indeed pregnant, with your child might I add." Nightwing sucked in a deep breath. He wasn't sure if he was happy or scared by the news. "She got your text, and I was already there because she told our parents the news that they are grandparents." Nightwing winced, he hadn't even considered her parents. "Dad wasn't thrilled, but mom, mom wasn't surprised."

"I suppose I should go see them." Muse nodded a small smile tugging at her lips

"That might be good." She sighed. "I assume she's pregnant with your child because you two had unprotected sex." He laughed without mirth. They had done that a few times. Then it clicked,

"Her powers." Muse nodded,

"None of her characters had been pregnant. Or she hadn't written anything about it yet. So no full transformations for her. Honestly, if she had just asked one of them we might have known sooner."

"Why did she go at all?"

"This is Jessie we are talking about. It wouldn't matter what anyone said she was seeing this through to the end. She wasn't going to risk Simon getting a hold of Gabriel and coming after her again. Especially now since she is carrying your guys' child."

"She banished him!" Nightwing snarled. Even the idea of Gabriel in her head again made him angry to the point of violence. Muse looked at him pointedly.

"Is it truly so easy to banish someone from your heart?" The words were a slap to his face.

"She didn't love him." Muse nodded.

"Certainly not like she loves you. But he was her friend. That alone creates a bond of love, which is not so easy to sever, even with a bit of angelic magic." Nightwing grunted unhappily. He didn't like it, but he couldn't refute her words either. "We went the address you gave us. At first there was nothing. Then she felt him. Gabriel. He came around a corner and nearly walked right into us. Both him and her froze and just stared at each other. Gabriel was surprised to see her, probably more surprised to find she was with child. He didn't resist. He was actually coming peacefully. Then Simon and his goons showed up. It was a free for all. I tried to make her leave; she might even have been about to. But she saw the attacker coming up on my side while I was fighting off another goon. Gabriel was actually holding his own against Simon." She swallowed, and he could see tears in her eyes but she swiped them away. "She jumped in to shield me. I knew she had been slashed but none of us saw the stab. It distracted Gabriel, and Simon got the upper hand. I took a play out of your book. Flash bang grenade right to Simon's face. I grabbed everyone and jumped into the water and teleported here." They sat in silence until a doctor came out a few minutes later. Nightwing stood up as he approached them.

"What's the verdict?"

"We are going to have to do an emergency C section." Nightwing swallowed. "Her body has taken too much damage to support both mother and child. Our concern is that the child might be too young to survive outside her mother's womb. We need to contact her-." Muse stood and cleared her throat.

"I am her sister, and emergency contact. Do whatever you have to save my sister and her child." The doctor nodded and had her sign some paperwork before he disappeared back into the room. Nightwing felt like his knees would give out from underneath him. Muse put one hand under his elbow and the other on his shoulder. Carefully and quickly she propelled him to a seat. Once he was safely sitting down she took both his hands in hers. He was so lost in thought that he almost didn't realize it was no longer Muse standing before him, but a character from on her stories. Her hair had turned silver and her irises turned milky white. Her clothes were white robes. Her ears pulled into pointed ears and she grew about half a foot taller. She stared blankly at him and her white irises swirled. "A name." Nightwing blinked confused.

Then it was Muse that stood before him again. She laughed out loud. Never had he been so confused. There was absolutely nothing funny about any of this. Her sister and niece or nephew were fighting for their lives for crying out loud.

"Thalia, was the muse of comedy. I approve." It took him a moment for him to realize what she was babbling about. Relief warred with joy. If they named their child then they would both live.

"She's having a girl?" Muse tilted her head.

"Didn't I tell you that earlier?" He glared at her.

"No." She smiled at him.

"Well then, yes, your child is a girl." After that, time seemed to go a little faster and the weight that had been pressing against him threatening to crush him was gone. Finally the doctor came back with a tired smile on his face.

"Both mother and daughter are stable. They will both have to stay for a while. If you'd like to visit them you may for a little bit." Nightwing was already walking into the room before the doctor even finished speaking. Jessie lay in the hospital bed her chest wrapped in bandages. Beside her was a incubator with a tiny squirming figure in it. He stopped, and Jessie turned to look at him. The first thing out of her mouth,

"I swear, I planned to tell you." He choked on a laugh and moved to stand beside her bed. Looking down at his daughter he realized she was impossibly small. Her tiny body was red and the only other color was the patch of black fuzz on her head. "What should we name her?" Nightwing smiled,

"Jokes on me, so how about, Thalia?" Jessie chuckled weakly and moaned gingerly touching her back.

"The muse of comedy. Fitting." She thought about it then rolled the name off her tongue. "Thalia Alexandra Grayson. For the aunt who saved her life." Nightwing heard only his own last name. He had wondered about that; wondered if she had second thoughts about them.

I mean what I say. He looked into her eyes and saw only truth.

"Is this my niece?" Muse flowed into the room and hovered by Thalia's incubator. She stared wide eyed at the tiny baby. "She's so small." Jessie nodded.

"She a preemie so she's very small."

"Will she be alright?" Jessie looked to her daughter and nodded.

"If she's anything like her parents she'll fight to survive, no matter what." Muse snorted with a flick of her hands in the direction of her clothes she swiftly changed back into her regular clothes.

"What did you name her?"

"Thalia Alexandra Grayson." Alexandra smiled and opened her mouth to say something snarky when the window on the other side of Jessie's bed slid open on its own accord and something flew into the room.