By morning, Linda was gone, off to deal with another emergency and Stephen was still watching over Clea. It had been thirteen hours since she was found in the library. She should have woken up by now. Perhaps Linda was right - Clea had suffered a head injury.

'Stephen! Stephen!' Bats walked through the door. 'Hey! Good morning, Doc! How's the estranged wife?"

'Very much the same, Bats,' said Stephen.

'Well, I'm sorry to hear that.'

A knock on the door. 'Stephen?'

'Zelma.'

'Can I come in?'

'Sure.'

The door opened and Zelma walked in. 'How's Clea? Oh.'

'No change,' said Stephen.

'I'm sorry,' said Zelma. 'I know how much she means to you.'

'I've been meditating on this all night,' said Stephen. 'I must meditate further.' Or call a second opinion, he thought. 'Zelma, do you mind staying with Clea a while longer, while I consult someone else?'

'Um -'

'Fantastic. Thank you, Zelma. You're a good friend.'

Stephen hurried out of his room, the Cloak of Levitation following close behind. The Cloak of Levitation draped itself over his shoulders and he fixed the Eye of Agamotto in it's usual place as he entered the library.

Any signs that Clea had collapsed in here bleeding had been scrubbed away. Since Stephen's books had also been kept back on their shelves, he assumed Wong and Zelma had done this last night, while he was standing vigil at Clea's side.

Stephen sat down, floating of course, and summoned to him a book on the Faltine. It wasn't an impressive looking book like many others in his collection, but Clea had given it to him for his birthday one year back in the 1990s on the off chance it could have information in it to defeat Dormammu. And because it was given to him by Clea, he treasured it. Now though, Stephen was finding himself hoping it had information in it that could help Clea.

He flicked through the pages. He flicked through the pages again. He flicked through the pages backwards. Upside down. In the mirror.

Nothing.

Stephen had plenty of books on the Dark Dimension, and he still had the information the Ancient One had taught him.

It was time to contact another Sorcerer Supreme.

Stephen closed his eyes and meditated, entering the astral realm.

'Illyana. This is Stephen. Doctor Strange. I need to talk', he called out. 'It's urgent.'

'Strange?' asked a disembodied voice, the one belonging to Illyana Rasputina, Sorcerer Supreme of Limbo. 'What is it you need?'

'Clea came to me last night, gravely injured. She lost a battle with Dormammu.'

Illyana appeared to him in her astral form. 'You think Dormammu is going to try and take over Earth?'

'It's entirely possible,' Stephen admitted.

Illyana frowned. 'I haven't heard any rumblings of anything like that in Limbo,' she said.

'Do you know anything about the Faltine?'

'The Faltine?' Illyana was taken aback. 'Strange, isn't that your area of expertise? You're married to one.'

'And I may be looking for a part Faltine child,' said Stephen.

A pause as Illyana tried to work out what that meant. 'Clea's pregnant?'

'Clea was protecting the child when she was injured. Dormammu is after it.'

'But the child is yours, isn't it?' asked Illyana.

Stephen opened his mouth to say something, but Illyana shook her head and spoke across him.

'I'm not stupid, Doc. It's yours and Clea's unless you went to the Dark Dimension and did the deed with Umar - I know you're a dog, but that's your wife's mom, so I doubt even you'd be messed up enough to give your wife a sibling that's half yours.'

Stephen shut his mouth.

'So what did Clea say?'

'She said to me "you must save our child" before she collapsed.'

'Okay. So where's Clea now?' asked Illyana.

'In my bed,' said Stephen. 'She's - I think she's comatose. Not responding to traditional or magical medical intervention.'

'That explains why you asked if I knew about the Faltine,' said Illyana.

'I'm asking you, Illyana, Sorcerer Supreme to Sorcerer Supreme, if there's anything you can do to help -'

'I'm sorry, Strange, I'd love to help you only I'm rather busy I with the X-Men right now. There's this whole thing with Mister Sinister - it's hard to explain,' said Illyana.

'Anything involving Sinister is going to be hard to explain,' Stephen conceded.

Illyana's eyebrows knitted together as she thought. 'Um… maybe try Doctor Voodoo. Or the Scarlet Witch.'

'Oh.' Stephen did his best to hide his disappointment.

'If you need help locating the child, I can always ask around in Limbo for you,' Illyana offered.

'Thank you, Illyana,' said Stephen. 'I appreciate it.'

Illyana nodded before disappearing from the astral plane.

With no help from the Sorcerer Supreme of Limbo, Stephen decided to take her advice and contact a former Sorcerer Supreme, and a good friend of his. Doctor Voodoo - Jericho Drumm.

He came out of his astral form to cast a spell of communication.

'This is Doctor Strange calling Doctor Voodoo.'

'Doctor Voodoo here. What's going on, Strange?'

'Clea's here.'

'Dealing with your ex is never good, but it's hardly an emergency -'

'She's in a coma.'

'… Really?'

'I was hoping you could help.'

'Do you want me to heal her?'

'I don't know if you can, but I've already had the Night Nurse take a look at her.'

'So what happened to put her in a coma?'

'I don't know if she is in a coma for sure, Jericho, but she's not woken up in fourteen or fifteen hours.'

'Not good.'

'She collapsed in my library after a fight with Dormammu.'

'Dormammu is coming here after her?'

'I don't know.' Stephen debated telling his friend about what Clea said. 'She said he's after a child. My child.'

'But you don't have children.'

'That's what I thought too.'

A silence.

'Shit. Stephen.'

'Why didn't she tell me?'

'It might not be yours. It might just be a child that he is after who is under Clea's protection. Did you think about that?'

'Yes. That's most logical, but I can't get the other thought out of my head.'

'Do you know where this child is?'

'No. And I think I need your help locating it.'

'You don't have any information about the child that you know for certain.'

'I… don't.'

Even though Stephen thought it was true, that he'd somehow fathered a child with Clea, he did not know this information for certain.

'What about Clea? Is she going to be okay? Besides the coma.'

'The Night Nurse said her physical injuries are survivable.'

'There you go.'

'But I'm concerned about her magical injuries. I examined them with the Eye and Dormammu definitely tried to kill her - only the injuries are in the wrong places. They were right, but now they're wrong - am I making sense? It's as if he was going for a full Faltine rather than a half.'

'It sounds like you are concerned for her. You should be - estranged or not, Clea's still your wife. Did you sleep at all last night?'

'No -'

'Get some sleep. Things always look better after sleep. You may find a piece of the puzzle that you were missing with your brain refreshed.'

'But -'

'This isn't my advice as a sorcerer. It's my advice as your friend. I will be happy to help you find the child or stop Dormammu as necessary. But after you've rested. Good luck, Stephen. And I hope Clea recovers.'

Stephen was getting desperate by this point, so he pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through his list of contacts until he found Wanda.

To: Scarlet Witch

Are you bsuy?

From: Scarlet Witch

Why? you wanna drink in BWND?

To: Scarlet Witch

Clea's here

From: Scarlet Witch

You wanna avoid her

To: Scarlet Witch

I wnat go hlep hr

From: Scarlet Witch

Has something happned?

To: Scarlet Witch

Are yuo busu?

From: Scarlet Witch

I was with Agatha. If yuo need my help I can get there

To: Scarlet Witch

Domrammy dfeeatd Clea. She in th esantcum badly hury

From: Scarlet Witch

She's faltine right? didn't know she could get hurt

From: Scarlet Witch

I'm on mu way Stephen.

Almost immediately after that, there was a knock at the door of the Sanctum. Stephen went down the stairs to see it was Wanda.

'You're here.'

'Of course, Stephen,' said Wanda. 'You're one of my closest friends. You've helped me out more times than I can count.'

'I appreciate the help, Wanda,' said Stephen.

'What are we dealing with?'

'Clea. She got into a fight with Dormammu and lost. She teleported into my library which is supposed to have all these magical protections against that. I think it's because…' Stephen stopped.

Wanda nodded. 'Because she's your wife.'

'Yeah,' Stephen said quietly. 'I called the Night Nurse who fixed her physical injuries, but she had other injuries as well.'

'What kind?'

'Magical. The kind that would kill a Faltine.'

'She's not dead though?'

Stephen shook his head. 'She's unconscious. Has been since - pretty much since she got here.'

'But there's something else, isn't there?' Wanda asked.

'She… it's not important.' Stephen led Wanda down the hall to his room. 'But she said that I have to save our child…'

'Stephen. Um. Congratulations, I suppose,' said Wanda. 'Who else knows?'

'Just me, Zelma, Wong, Illyana, Jericho, and my dog Bats,' Stephen listed.

'That's a big list,' said Wanda, 'for what was supposed to be a secret.'

'You knew?'

'Not until you told me, but I'm assuming Clea wanted it a secret or else she would have told you or literally anyone else.'

'I told you and Jericho because I trust you - you are two of my dearest friends.' said Stephen. 'Illyana figured it out for herself. And Wong and Zelma were also in the library when Clea told me.'

'And your dog?'

'He's a ghost; he wanders where he chooses and eavesdrops.'

Wanda nodded. 'Can I see Clea?'

Stephen opened the door to his room and Wanda walked inside and looked around.

'Stephen, I wasn't expecting your bedroom to look so… pedestrian,' she said. She walked over to Clea on Stephen's bed. 'Hello, Clea. If you can hear me, it's Wanda - the Scarlet Witch. Stephen tells me you were injured fighting Dormammu. I'm sorry to hear that.'

'Not as sorry as Dormammu is going to be,' said Clea.

'Clea?!' Stephen hurried to her side and took her non-bandaged hand in his. 'You're okay. I-I've been worried sick. You've been out for sixteen hours.'

Clea sat up in Stephen's bed, hissing in pain as she put pressure on her broken hand. 'Have I really?'

'Clea!' said Zelma in surprise as she walked up to the doorway. 'You're-you're back!'

Stephen turned to Zelma. 'Where in the name of the Vishanti have you been?' he asked. 'You were supposed to be watching over -'

'I went to the bathroom, Stephen,' said Zelma. 'Or am I not allowed now?'

Stephen sighed. 'No. Of course you're allowed. I - maybe - I'm not thinking straight.' He turned back to Clea. 'I'm going to bring the Night Nurse back so she can look over you.'

'The Night Nurse?' asked Clea.

'You were hurt. I had to call someone,' said Stephen. He turned back to Zelma. 'Tell Wong to call the Night Nurse - tell him to tell her Clea's awake.'

'Uh. Sure,' said Zelma and hurried off.

'Clea, how do you feel?' asked Wanda.

'Like someone's dropped a pile of bricks on me,' said Clea.

'You've been injured,' said Stephen. 'So take it easy. Your arm has been cut open, as has your palm, your cheek, and your eyebrow. Your hand is broken. You also have many magical injuries which I managed to cauterise in my astral form.'

'Uh, thank you, Stephen,' Clea said. 'But I must return to the Dark Dimension -'

'You will do no such thing. You are injured, weakened. You need rest. You will wait for the Night Nurse, and then we're going to have a good talk about what you told me last night,' said Stephen.

'Does the Scarlet Witch need to be here?' asked Clea.

'No.'

'Yes.'

Wanda and Stephen both looked at each other.

'Yes,' said Stephen. 'She does. She knows.'

Clea looked over at Wanda, who confirmed with a nod.

'The good news is there's no sign of a concussion,' said Linda, satisfied with her analysis. She looked from her tablet where she was keeping her notes, and up at Clea. 'You're very lucky.'

'I have a broken hand and cuts all over me and you say I'm lucky?' asked Clea. 'Dormammu is coming.'

'Don't worry about Dormammu. I have a lot of friends I can call on if they're needed,' said Stephen. 'Since our estrangement, I've got extremely well connected not just with Earth's mystics, but the Avengers, the Defenders, the Fantastic Four, the Midnight Sons, even the X-Men -'

'It isn't the same, Stephen.'

'I can call Deadpool if I need - and that's Deadpool.'

'They wouldn't be able to help,' said Clea.

'You'd be surprised with what the superhero community would help with,' said Linda.

'I'm always willing to help,' said Wanda.

'Stephen, this is a problem between you and me. It is our problem to solve, and ours alone. Not the Scarlet Witch's. Not the Night Nurse's. Or Zelma's. Or Wong's.'

Stephen's shoulders fell. 'This is about what you said last night.'

Clea stayed silent.

'I need to know, Clea. What you meant by "our child". Did you mean -'

'I did.'

All the breath left Stephen's body. He didn't know how to react. He'd suspected as much since Clea said that, but it was now confirmed.

Linda frowned slightly as the cogs turned in her head. She was not a stupid woman, far from it, but it was clear she was having difficulty processing the words "Stephen Strange is a father".

'So Stephen's a father?' asked Wanda.

Clea nodded. 'Yes.'

'And the child is yours,' said Wanda.

'Yes.'

'You and Stephen have a child. Together.' Wanda nodded. 'Okay.'

'Yes.'

'When?' asked Stephen, oddly calmly. 'When was the child born?'

'Fifteen of your years ago,' said Clea.

'So you were pregnant sixteen years ago,' said Linda.

'We were still together then,' said Stephen. He wasn't quite angry, but he was getting there. 'So why didn't you tell me?'

'What?' asked Clea.

'You didn't tell me. You didn't let me know -'

'I had to do what was right!' Clea sat up at the edge of Stephen's bed. 'I had to protect my child, Stephen - our child!'

'Protect our child from what?' asked Stephen? 'Me?'

'Stephen, please, calm down -'

'Don't you tell me to calm down, Wanda!' Stephen snapped. 'My wife has been keeping secrets from me!'

Clea slid off the bed and stood toe to toe with Stephen 'I did so with good reason!'

'You shouldn't get Clea riled up like this - she needs rest,' said Linda.

'She should not have kept the existence of a child from me!' Stephen shouted.

'That is our child, Stephen!' Clea shouted. 'You do not wish to protect our child from Dormammu! You know the power Dormammu has - you've fought him yourself!'

'Clea, I have other duties as Sorcerer Supreme,' said Stephen. 'And besides, you were the one who neglected to tell me we had a child - that I had a child! Why didn't you tell me?!'

'We are Sorcerers Supreme!' Clea shouted.

'Can everyone please calm down!' Wanda shouted.

All the shouting drew the attention of Wong and Zelma, who were standing in the door. Bats walked through the wall to stand in the middle of Stephen's room.

'My duty is to the Dark Dimension! Yours is to Earth! Dormammu is precisely why I kept the child secret!'

'I had a right to at least know about it! To know that I'm a father! Don't you dare forget Clea, you are not human!'

'Do not get xenophobic with me, Stephen Strange!' Purple lightning flashed across Clea's eyes. 'Do not forget you are human! We have a half-human child!'

'That child is part Faltine!' Stephen shouted. By now, he was being physically restrained by Wanda and Linda, just in case he cast a spell he might later regret. 'The child was born of two Sorcerers Supreme! It has innate magical ability! And you sent it away!'

'I wanted to keep her safe!' Clea's voice changed from a soft feminine voice to deep and thunderous. She lifted herself up with her magic, lighting dancing on her fingertips.

Everyone backed away from Clea, not knowing what she would do next.

'SHE HAS A NAME! IT IS SOFIA!' Clea screamed as she transformed from her familiar form into a much different one - one of pure magical energy and flames.

The form of the Faltine.

Stephen is not a loner, he has friends and allies. It's just sometimes he alienated himself.
Stephen's texts are sloppier than Wanda's. That would be because his hands tremble and he touches the wrong keys. Sometimes his autocorrect picks it up. Sometimes it doesn't. His friends don't usually mind/care. That's just him.
And Clea's okay. I was never my intention to keep her down for too long/fridge her. She's much too powerful a Sorcerer for that.