Lina gnashed her teeth in annoyance as she caught Phoebe placing her foot over Rigel's, which caused his breath to catch in his throat. He gently placed a hand over hers, and the sparks flying between them were so intense Lina feared her precious manuscripts would catch fire. She'd been trying to ignore them for the last two hours. She really didn't care if her team got together during their off time, as long as they didn't bring it into the office. But today for whatever reason they couldn't keep it professional. "If you two can't keep your mitts off each other you might as well go home and get it out of your system!" She snapped.

Phoebe and Rigel looked up, "Really?" Rigel asked as Phoebe's face took a pinkish hue.

"Get!" Lina said, feeling even more annoyed that they didn't even seem abashed.

Exchanging coy smiles, the couple grabbed hands and ran off. Lina shook her head and considered her remaining team. Gretelle had a dusty old manuscript out but wasn't making her usual meticulous notes, and Lina had a suspicion that she was reading the same paragraph over and over again. Morris wasn't even pretending to work, he just kept staring at the doorway anxiously. Lina was annoyed, but her annoyance was upped by the fact that she herself was having a difficult time focusing!

Focusing on research that was. Focusing on the idea of running to her parent's store, fetching her husband, dragging him home and slowly seducing him on the other hand…

She shook her head and took a deep breath and wondered why she felt like a hormonal teenager all over again. But then, it didn't just seem like her. Her whole research team seemed to have come down with a distracting case spring fever. Well, it was the first day of spring. And it had been a long, brutal winter. Who would want to spend such a lovely day cooped up indoors after day after day of such crummy weather? But as the day progressed, Lina noticed a sexual tension building, something more than just spring fever. And judging by the lusty, lovelorn gazes of her team, she wasn't the only one feeling it!

Lina looked at the report she was writing and gave it up as fruitless. "Fine, we're having an early day today, go home."

Gretelle and Morris looked at her, astonished, "Really?" Morris asked.

"Go, get it out of your system, and come back ready to work tomorrow!" Lina said.

Lina started to gather her stuff, planning a nice romantic evening as she did. Gourry likely wouldn't be home for a few hours, and that would give her time to prepare an intricate meal. Ever since she started up her work with the guild she didn't have the time she used to for cooking, but every now and then she liked to surprise him. She tried to plan a menu, but every time she did her thoughts kept skipping to what would happen after dinner. Once again, Lina wondered what had gotten into her!

Gretelle opened the door to leave and exclaimed, "Oh, Min! What are you doing here?"

"Good day, Gretelle. I was just stopping by to visit my mom."

"Good timing, I was just about to leave." Lina said.

"I'm really glad I caught you, then." Min said as she took a seat as Gretelle and Morris closed the door behind them, "I was wondering if you could do me a big favor and watch the boys tonight?"

Lina frowned. Usually she loved the opportunity to watch her grandchildren, but tonight she was set on a romantic rendezvous. And rather grateful that all three of her children had flown the nest so that she and Gourry could be as loud and obnoxious as they wanted. "Can't. Your father and I have plans tonight. Perhaps tomorrow?"

"Oh," Min sighed, obviously disappointed as she bit her finger, and Lina recognized that same look of lust in her face she'd seen in everyone else's. "I guess I'll try Grandma and Grandpa then."

"You do know they're getting rather old to look after two such rambunctious boys?" Lina said reprovingly.

Min shrugged, "Aunt Luna will be there to keep them in line."

"What's with this all of the sudden?" Lina asked, "Some emergency?"

"No, no." Min said hastily, "Just really needing some time alone, you know?"

Min sighed, obviously in sexual frustration, surprising Lina with just how open she was being about it. Min was usually more discreet. Still, Lina chuckled, reflecting once again on how happy she was to have grown children, "I remember those days."

Lina had just gotten all of the ingredients set out on the counter when Gourry came in, grinning in his endearing manner when he saw her. From the gleam in his eyes, Lina could tell he was feeling just as libidinous as she was and would require little seducing to get going. She wasn't sure whether to be excited or disappointed. "Hey!"

"Hi!" she replied in her best come hither voice as she tossed her hair behind her shoulders and decided excited was definitely the direction to go. She winked at him, "You're home early."

"So are you." He noted as he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her and started nuzzling her neck. Lina's grin turned devilish as she noted that he was hard.

"No one could seem to focus on work today, so I sent everyone home."

"Hm," he said as he moved his hands up to cup her breasts, "Must have afflicted the whole town. No one was shopping, and all I could think about was seeing my pretty wife and making love to her, so I left."

Lina laughed. The part of her that thought something odd was going on was drowned out by the part of her that didn't want to investigate because it would get in the way of getting laid. As she turned around in his arms to kiss him on the lips she asked, "What did you tell my parents?"

He broke the kiss momentarily, "Just…" he started, stopping to kiss her lips, "that I…" he moved down to her jaw, "had errands to run."

"Hmm," she said as she started to trail her hands through his hair and down his back, "But you know, I really should get a start on dinner."

Even as she said it, she was pulling his shirt out of his pants as his own hands started to trail up her skirts, "Not hungry." He said, "Well, not for food at least."

Lina gasped as he grazed a sensitive spot, and brought her legs around him. There followed a frenzied effort to remove the other's clothing, and then to gain stability against the kitchen counters needed for the task. It was passionate and frenzied, and as they finished, Lina decided it was some of the best sex they'd ever had.

Lina felt as though she was glowing as he continued to hold her as she prepared dinner, "Twenty something years and three kids later, it's good to know I can still stoke that sort of fire within you." She chided.

"Don't ever doubt yourself there." Gourry said as he planted a kiss on her shoulder, "You're all the more beautiful for all we've been through together."

Lina hadn't thought it possible, but just like that she was ready for him again! But she managed to make it through dinner before she jumped him again. And they made it to the bedroom that time.

It was when she woke up to a still amorous Gourry the next morning that it really started troubling her. Even when they were young newlyweds three times in a twenty-four hours was taxing. But after they had finished Lina still found she was strangely reluctant to get out of bed. For that matter, Gourry didn't seem all that eager to get moving either.

Slowly they managed to drag themselves up. As they dressed they nearly ended up back in bed several times. All told, by the time she left for work she was running considerably later than she usually was. When she got to her office she was a bit perturbed to find she was the first one there. And as she got out her research but found her thoughts distracted yet again with thoughts of erotic adventures with her husband, she started to wonder if there was a reason for it. Whatever this was, it was not spring fever!

Yet as the afternoon wore on Lina found that the intensity of her arousal dissipated. And when her youngest, Attie walked in, Lina found that she wasn't too disappointed. Attie traveled a lot and still stayed with Lina and Gourry between trips, meaning they wouldn't be alone that evening. Unless, Lina considered, Attie decided to hit the taverns as she often did. "Hey," Lina said as she gave her youngest a hug. "How was your trip?"

"Rather uneventful." Attie said as she started munching on an apple. "The usual really."

"That's nice. Have you seen your father?"

"Yeah, stopped by the store first."

Lina waited for some sign that Attie had met someone. Lina had been so young when she met Gourry, and had married him when she was eighteen. Both Dianna and Min had also met their husbands and married at that age. But at the age of twenty Attie showed no interest in finding someone or settling down. And Lina had thought her sense of wanderlust had been strong!

"So, how long are you sticking around this time?" Lina asked.

Attie shrugged, "A few weeks likely."

"You weren't joking, this was one of the best books I've read since-," Dianna said as she breezed into her sister's office and stopped when she saw how unusually disheveled she looked, "Min, you look horrible! Are you feeling okay?"

"Thanks." Min replied warily, but she couldn't fault her for being right. Usually she kept her appearance immaculate, but she'd been running so late that morning she hadn't been bothered with anything beyond the basics. "And I just didn't sleep much last night."

"Oh? The boys keeping you up?" Dianna asked as she put a hand on her swelling belly.

Min grinned, "No, let's just say it was more enjoyable pursuits."

Dianna raised an eyebrow, "You too?"

"Why? Were you and Kenneth busy last night?" Min asked.

Dianna grinned slyly and cradled her belly, "I've never made it to six months before. We were celebrating."

"Humph." Min said even as she hid her apprehension from her sister. Dianna harbored a shard of Shabranigdu in her soul, and Min had a bad feeling that it was only a matter of time before he caused Dianna to miscarry again. Why she kept getting pregnant and tempting fate was a mystery to Min. Still, she knew it was useless to try to reason with her, especially as she was more than half way through and what would happen would happen, "I guess something was in the air yesterday. Mom wouldn't watch the boys when I asked her, something about wanting some time with Dad. And I had a heck of a time convincing our grandparents to take them!"

Dianna considered her, "You know, there does seem to be something in the air."

Min shrugged, "Well, it was a brutal winter. And now it's a lovely spring!"

"Hm." Dianna said, "Well, I've got patients to see."

"Anyone due to pop?" Min asked the midwife.

"No, just regular checkups."

Min took a deep breath as she left and stared at her desk. Visions of bringing her husband to her office and consummating their love on the desk rose in her mind and she shook her head. What had gotten into her? Min wasn't sure how long she sat at her desk before Dianna came barging in, her eyes wide and holding a statue Min had found while scavenging through the archives. "What idiot left this in the foyer?" Dianna asked.

Min bristled, "Me. Found it in the archives yesterday, thought it would be a good way to honor Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom."

Dianna shook her head incredulous, "You idiot! This is a fertility statue!"

"No it isn't!" Min insisted, "The box was clearly labeled…"

"It was mislabeled, then!" Dianna snapped, "Use your head, Min! I'd expect Attie to make this sort of block headed mistake, but you…"

"What makes you so sure it's a fertility statue?" Min asked, "She's holding a stack of books…"

"Min, those are her breasts!"

Min got out her glasses and put them on and looked at the statue. "Well so they are!"

"Minerva!" Dianna shrieked.

Min waved her hand dismissively, "So everyone got a bit frisky. I can go and put it back in the catacomb I found it and everyone will return to normal. Nothing wrong with a little extra love."

Dianna stared at her and Min had a feeling that she was thinking she was the biggest fool ever, "Minerva, these statues are rare and valuable! You could probably get a hundred thousand gold pieces easily for this. Because they do a hell of a lot more than make everyone frisky! They cure infertility, which is why they're so highly sought, but they also nullify sterility spells!"

Min sat down, "Nullify sterility spells?" She repeated dumbly.

Dianna nodded as Min put a hand to her mouth, "But I don't want another one! Those boys are wearing me thin as is! I can't go through this again!"

"Not just you, but every woman who has come within a certain distance to this statue!" Dianna spelled out, "And you've had it in the foyer of the guild, which is in the middle of the agora in Zephyr City where thousands of women pass through each day, hell, I don't know a townsperson who doesn't pass through this street every day."

"Of come on, Di! It's just been out one day! Just because you have sex doesn't mean you'll get pregnant."

"This statue causes a woman to ovulate instantly, no matter where she is in her cycle!" Dianna insisted, "Like I said, these are worth millions! You have no idea how much childless couples will pay to walk by this thing!"

Min shook her head, "Well, at least we have a way to improve tourism to Zephyr City. This will bring in some money at least, and I do hope you're exaggerating, especially about it nullifying sterility…Oh no."

"What?" Dianna asked as Min's eyes grew the size of saucer cups.

"Mom. What if she got knocked up?"

"Oh boy." Dianna said as she sat down next to her sister. "You said she seemed to be feeling frisky yesterday?"

Min nodded, "If she gets pregnant she is going to kill me!" Min stomped her feet, "Damn, if she has another baby she won't be able to help me with this third one! Any chance that she hit menopause and didn't tell us?"

"No, she was complaining about her time of the month a few weeks back." Dianna said matter of factly. And then a giggle escaped from her lips.

"Stop laughing!" Min exclaimed.

Dianna shook her head and covered her mouth, but the giggles kept escaping. "I'm sorry, it's just, Goody Miss Perfect screwed up for a change!"

"Well, maybe it doesn't boost fertility." Min said desperately, "I mean, perhaps it just gets everyone nice and frisky but that's it."

Dianna shook her head as she kept laughing. Min fumed, "Well, let's go and take a test."

Dianna thumped her on the head, "Idiot! It takes at least two weeks to tell!"

"Huh?" Min said, once again feeling unusually idiotic.

"Look, the earliest we're going to know is two weeks from now."

"You mean I'm going to have to wait two weeks to see if I've ruined everyone's lives!" Min exclaimed.

Dianna glared at her, "A baby is hardly a life wrecker."

Min managed not to say it was because she'd never had one, but barely. "Oh, everyone is going to kill me!" Min said instead.

Dianna sighed and patted her on the shoulder, "Come now, everyone adores you. Just bat your pretty eyes at them, fess up to being human and they'll forgive you."

Min broke out into a sob. Dianna shook her head in exasperation, "Look, what's done is done. Let's put this up for now so we can all get our minds back to focusing on work and out of the gutter. In two weeks I'll test you, and if you're pregnant, we'll figure out what to do then."

"What's this about?" Lina asked warily as she and Attie followed Dianna and Min to the catacombs.

For the past two weeks Lina's mother sense had been tingling whenever she saw her older two daughters. She could smell the fact that they were hiding something from her. And try as she had to whittle it out of them, they just weren't caving. So Lina wasn't too surprised when they approached her first thing in the morning, Dianna looking as though she was about to burst from laughter, Min looking petrified. At long last, she was going to find out their secret.

Dianna nudged Min as they came to a door and she opened it, "You remember a few weeks back when everyone was, well, frisky?"

"Yes." Lina said slowly.

Min bit her lip, "Well, a few weeks back I was down here, and I found this statue."

She handed Lina a statue of a woman. Lina's jaw dropped, "Whoa! I wonder how long this was down here! This is worth fifty thousand gold pieces at least!"

"See, she knows just what it is!" Dianna said.

Min groaned, "Oh, stop making me feel worse!"

Min looked at her mother and was about to continue when she noticed the look of horror on her face. "Mom?" she asked nervously.

"You didn't." Lina gasped.

"She did." Dianna confirmed, her voice higher than usual with subdued laughter.

Attie looked at the three of them, "I'm confused."

"What were you thinking!?" Lina screeched as she rounded on her middle daughter, "You brought this out of the catacombs…"

"And put it on display in the foyer." Dianna added.

"The foyer!" Lina bellowed as she pulled at her hair, "I can't, I mean, I could see Attie doing something like this but you, you should know better! What were you thinking!"

"That it was Sophia!" Min insisted on the verge of tears, "The box she was in said Sophia!"

Lina shoved the statue in her face, "Since when does Sophia spout breasts the size of extra large watermelons?!"

"I thought they were books." Min said as she wiped tears from her face.

"Books!" Lina screeched, "Oh you've got to get your eyes checked! Not to mention your womb."

"I did." Min said dissolutely, "I'm pregnant."

"I hope it's twins!" Lina spat, "What a mess, half of the town is probably…"

"I'm making an announcement as soon as I tell Drake. Dianna already has all the midwives on standby to handle all of the testing they'll be doing. They'll probably call for my resignation." Min said as she sobbed.

Lina took a deep breath, a mental step back, and then put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "You can overdo the honesty. Just tell them some idiot brought up a box of stuff which was not sorted properly, and a fertility statue just happened to be among the junk in there."

Min continued to cry. Lina sat beside her and wrapped her arms around her, "Look, we all make mistakes. Pull yourself together. By this time next year you'll be so in love with that new baby you won't even care that he wasn't part of the plan."

"Mom," Dianna said gleefully as she put a hand on her shoulder, "There's a chance that you're pregnant, too."

Lina stiffened, "No, not at my age."

"You haven't had the change yet, have you?"

Suddenly Attie giggled, "You're not seriously saying…"

She stopped stone cold at the look her mother gave her as Min seemed to sob even harder. "Oh." Attie gasped.

Lina stared at Dianna, aghast. "Come on! I'm forty-five!"

"You're still young enough." Dianna insisted. "And those statues boost fertility."

Lina shook her head, "Let's settle this, then."

Dianna brought out a vial of clear liquid, "I just need a drop of blood."

Lina unsheathed her sword and pricked her finger and held it over the vial. The blood fell into the liquid, trailing green as it made contact. Min moaned as Dianna smacked her lips, "Looks like we're going to have a little brother or sister."

Lina shook her head, "This is a joke, right? You two having a laugh at my expense?"

"I can't fake this!" Dianna insisted, "Besides, you remember that night!"

Lina blushed as Min kept crying. "Oh enough with the water works!" Lina yelled.

"Agreed." Dianna said, looking at Min coldly, "You don't know how many women would be happy to be in your shoes. Or yours, Mom."

"Don't you dare tell me how to feel about this, Di!" Lina snapped. "Your father and I were going to travel again! If we have another baby by the time he's old enough we'll be too old to go anywhere! Besides, we've got grandchildren to care for, and I'm so busy with work and I just…I just don't have the energy anymore."

"I'm sorry, Mom." Min whispered.

Lina put her head to her temples as Dianna packed up the statue, her mouth in a firm line. "Do you need a test, Attie? You arrived home the night Min packed this away."

Attie shook her head and blushed, "I haven't, I mean, I've never slept with anyone, so..."

"Well, unless you want to end up knocked up as well, then I'd suggest chilling with a cucumber and that telub vib spell I taught you."

"I did not need to hear that." Lina said as Attie turned crimson. Then Lina slapped her hands on her thighs, "I'd better go before I say something I regret."

Min looked stricken as Lina hurried up the stairs. Attie looked between her mother and sisters, "Perhaps I should talk to her?"

Dianna shook her head, "She's probably going straight to Dad. He'll help her calm down. And for goodness sake's Minerva, Mom's right, pull yourself together and face the music!"

Lina's thoughts were a frantic blur as she raced to her parent's store. Part of her was still hoping Min or Dianna would run up behind her and assure her they were joking, even as she knew it wasn't likely. Min was fond of jokes, but Dianna was not. Besides, in retrospect it all made way too much sense. Lina wondered how she couldn't have realized at the time that something more than spring fever was at play that day.

She raced into the store, causing Gourry to nearly jump as she stormed in, "We need to talk!"

"What did I do?" he asked as Lina's mother came into store.

"It wasn't you, it was Minerva. Our daughter. The one I thought was smart."

"Min?" Gourry said, perplexed, "She's never given us any trouble."

A customer came in. Lina glanced at him, "Mom, you deal with him."

Then she grabbed Gourry by the elbow and led him into her parents' house. "Sit down." Lina said, indicating the table.

"You're scaring me." Gourry said as he did as she asked, "Come on, is it really that bad?"

Lina folded her arms across herself, "Min found a fertility statue, mistook it for a knowledge statue, placed it in the foyer of the Sorcerer's Guild and got half of Zephyr City knocked up."

Gourry's eyes widened, "Huh?"

Lina groaned in frustration, "Oh, but they get this from you!"

"So, half of the city is pregnant?" he asked. "Does this include anyone we know?"

"Well why else do you think I'm so upset?" she snapped, "It reversed our sterility spell. I'm pregnant. So is Min. In nine months we're going to have a new baby and a new grandbaby!"

Gourry put a hand over his mouth, "You're pregnant?"

Lina nodded, resisting the urge to hit his thick head. "Now you're getting it."

He grabbed her arm and gently moved her so she was sitting on his lap, "Are you going to be okay? I mean…"

Lina scoffed, "Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine! Unless, of course, we have another one who harbors the soul of Shabranigdu. That I'm not sure I can survive."

Lina shuddered as Gourry ran a hand up and down her arm, "Well, it may not have been something I was expecting, but as long as you're going to be okay, I'm sure we can work through it."

Lina let his words sink in, and then leaned back and rested her head against his chest. He kissed the crown of her head as she sighed, "It's just, we still have our hands full with Di. Sis is right. There's no way he's going to let her carry to term. Having a baby would give her a reason to live in this world, not destroy it like he wants. She's going to miscarry any day now, and with the whole city expecting I'm scared she's going to align with Shabranigdu. Like Luke did."

And then I'll have to kill her. Like I killed Luke.

She didn't say it out loud, but he seemed to pick up on it and held her tighter. "I just thought, we'd raised our kids. We could be free again to travel. But we've never been able to. Not with Di as fragile as she is. And with this baby on the way…"

He put his fingers to her lips, "Perhaps a short, weekend trip? Before the baby arrives. It's better than nothing."

Suddenly he lifted his head to look at the door, alerting Lina to the fact that her mother had finished with the customer and was coming to see what all of the commotion was about.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Inverse asked, her voice a mixture of concern and curiosity as she approached them.

Lina sighed. She might as well get the news out. Granted, she would have felt better if her mother hadn't laughed so much.