Chapter 57: Contact

The young prostitute had been tentatively identified as "Kara," last name still unknown. Her throat had been slashed, a deep left to right cut that seemed to have been done from behind, and she'd died quickly, a blessing considering what the killer had done next. She'd been cut open from sternum to pubis.

Rita had heard that several organs had been removed, though that wasn't confirmed. The coroner was still working on the body, and not about to talk to reporters. What didn't need to be confirmed were the facial mutilations, which had been seen by witnesses before the police arrived…including a few who had snapped pictures with their cell phones. According to Rita, Kara had sustained multiple deep cuts to her face, splitting her nose and severing part of her right ear.

"That's exactly what you're gonna read on the front page of the Sun, so don't you dare scoop me," Rita said.

Dawn and Buffy both struggled to smile. "Wouldn't know how," Dawn said.

Jeremy caught the sisters' eyes. Rita noticed, and her gaze traveled over him.

"Friend of yours?"

Dawn nodded, but wasn't about to introduce him to a human acquaintance if she could help it.

She kept looking at Jeremy, sizing him up. "Single?"

Dawn was about to say something noncommittal when Jaime saw Rita looking, and shifted closer to Jeremy, her hand moving up behind him so she seemed to be resting her hand against the small of his back.

"Guess not," Rita murmured.

Clay made a noise between a snort and a laugh. Rita's photographer waved to her.

"Gotta run," she said. "About that other lead, the missing man? I'll follow up on that, and give you a call."

When they got within ten feet of Jeremy and Jaime, Dawn said, "Better wait here. They're arguing about something."

Jaime's face was taut, her eyes flashing as she spoke. Jeremy leaned back with his arms crossed.

"Doesn't seem like much of a fight," Clay said.

Buffy and Dawn stared at him.

"Yeah," he said. "For Jeremy, I guess that's a fight."

They tried not to eavesdrop, but that's tough for werewolves.

"I can sense her," Jaime was saying. "She hasn't crossed over—"

"Which doesn't mean you need to speak to her."

"Doesn't it? If I can get a firsthand account—"

"From a victim, firsthand accounts are often unreliable. That's particularly true with the ghost of someone who's just been murdered. You've told me that yourself. You've also told me how difficult it is to contact them, and how traumatic—"

Jaime crossed her arms as Jeremy uncrossed his. "I never said traumatic."

People moved between them, and Jeremy stepped away to avoid being overheard. A few minutes later, Jaime wheeled on him and strode off. Jeremy hesitated, and then walked over to the sisters and Clay.

"That's the problem dealing with non-werewolves," Buffy said. "They lack that critical 'you are Alpha, you are right' gene. Even I at times had that problem if you remember. I think the only reason Savannah doesn't is because she loves you, Uncle Jeremy."

Jeremy laughed and nodded. "You are probably right, Buffy." He turned and watched Jaime pace along the far sidewalk and, for a second, Buffy and Dawn thought they saw something more than friendly concern flicker behind his eyes.

"You know, she's right," Dawn said softly. "You can offer your opinion and advice, but it's her choice."

Jeremy nodded, but he didn't make a move in her direction.

"If she's going to do it anyway, at least we can be grateful," Buffy said.

Jeremy exhaled, brushed back his hair, and then nodded. "I'll go tell her she's allowed to do it," he said.

As he turned to go, Dawn touched his arm. "Jeremy?"

"Hmmm?"

"'Allowed' is probably not the best word choice. The whole 'not a werewolf' thing?" Dawn said.

A small smile, then he headed over to her. They spoke for a minute, and then Jaime headed for the alley. When Jeremy started to follow, she hesitated, glancing back at him. He caught up and, without a word exchanged, they headed into the alley.

"She's letting him help her set up?" Clay said.

"Looks like it," Buffy said.

"Huh."

About ten minutes later, Jaime popped her head out from the alley and motioned them over as Jeremy left, presumably to round up Savannah, Antonio and Nick.

"We only get one shot at this, so the more brains we have, the better questions we can ask." Jaime stopped halfway down the alley. "Her spirit's still here, so what I need to do is coax her over—kind of like what I did at the portal site. Then I'll be doing something a little different. I want you to hear her answers directly, so I'm going to channel her. That means she can speak through me, but can't hear or see you guys, okay?"

"Got it."

Jeremy approached. Dawn and Buffy looked behind him and saw that Savannah, Antonio and Nick had taken up position at the end of the alley.

"I was just telling them how this'll work," she said to Jeremy. "I'm not going to introduce you guys—no need to make this more complicated. As far as she'll know, it's just me and her."

"This…" Dawn began, and then faltered.

Jaime nodded for Dawn to go on.

"Is she going to remember this?" Dawn asked. "Any of it? If she's seen the crime scene, seen what happened to her…"

"Wiped clean when she crosses over. Post death amnesia, which is why we need to get to her now. She'll forget what happened, and this conversation."

"Okay," she said finally, taking a deep breath, like a child steeling herself to do her best. I wondered how old she was…then realized I probably didn't want to know.

Jeremy started the interview, keeping it slow, easing her into it by asking what she'd done earlier that evening, who she'd spoken to, the sort of police-type questions that wouldn't help them, but were more humane than jumping straight to "so, how'd you die?"

They did get to that question, although, of course, Jeremy didn't word it quite that way.

"It was a guy," Kara said, then gave a squeaky giggle. "Guess I don't need to say that, huh?"

"He approached you on the street?" Jeremy asked.

Jaime relayed the question.

"Yeah, only I was kinda off near the alley. I had to, uh, go, you know, and the bit—old bat in the store on the corner won't let us use her bathroom unless we buy something. I was coming out of the alley, and this guy stopped me, wanted a blow."

"Did you get a look at him?" Jeremy said.

"Uh, kinda … but not really. It's dark right there. I know he was a guy. Dark hair. Kinda skinny. Looked okay. That's all I really noticed—that he wasn't, you know, gross." She paused, then hurried on. "If he'd wanted me to get into a car or something, I'd have made him get out into the light. I'm pretty careful, but it was only a blow, and he didn't want to go anywhere, just the alley, so I figured it was safe…"

Her voice trailed off. Jeremy stopped the questioning for a few minutes, giving Jaime time to talk to Kara, make sure she was ready to continue. When she was, Jeremy skipped the "what happened next" part and instead asked whether the man had said anything or done anything that might help us find him.

"Uh-uh. It happened pretty fast, I guess. He took me in there and I thought everything was okay. I heard someone else, down the alley, in the dark. A woman. I thought it was another girl, with a guy, but then she seemed to be talking to my guy. I was gonna tell him it'd cost him extra for that—doing it in front of his girlfriend or whatever. Then I smelled something. Something awful."

Through Jaime, Buffy asked her to describe the smell, if she could.

"It was like when this cat died at a place I was staying at and everyone thought it ran away and we were gone for a week and came back and—" She made a gagging noise. "It was real rude. Never smelled anything like that before … until tonight. Then I saw a shape move at the end of the alley and then—" She shook her head. "That's it. He must have…done it then."

Jaime let her go after that, with an herbal mixture she hoped would send her to the other side. According to Jeremy and Clay, Patrick Shanahan could never be mistaken for "kinda thin," meaning someone else had been with the zombies. Their true master, the one they'd been killed to serve.

"He's out," Buffy said.

Jeremy paused, as if struggling to find another explanation. Then he gave a slow nod.

"I hope you don't mean—" Clay looked at them. "Ah, shit."

They decided to try tracking the zombies from the crime scene, hoping "Jack" was still with them. Even if he wasn't, this might be their chance to try the "kill a zombie and follow him to the controller" ploy.

Great plan…except that this block had been so heavily trodden in the past few hours that even when Buffy and Dawn looped around to the other end of the alley, Rose's stink was almost covered.

"We have to Change," Clay murmured as he, Nick, Buffy and Dawn walked the crime scene perimeter.

"We know," Dawn said.

"Jeremy isn't going to like that," Nick said.

"We know." Buffy said as she and Dawn glanced back to where the others were waiting with Hull. "Let me talk to him."

Jeremy agreed with surprisingly little resistance. Maybe it was because it came from Buffy instead of Dawn. He had long since decided that Buffy would be his successor as Alpha even if she didn't want the job. And he knew if Buffy thought it was a good idea despite the risk, and then it likely was.

"Circle wide around—" he began.

"Where are they going?" a voice to their left asked. Hull.

"They're going to scout the perimeter," Jeremy said. "In case the killer stayed nearby."

"Is that—" Hull hesitated, clearly uncomfortable. "Is it safe? It would appear, as you've said, that she"—a nod Dawn's way—"is this madman's target…"

"No, we believed she was the zombie's primary target—and only because she must have seemed the easiest of us to capture. Yet they seem to have abandoned that plan."

"Probably because they have a more important goal now," Buffy said. "Fulfilling Jack's contract."

"Fulfilling…?" Hull's brows knitted.

Jeremy surreptitiously motioned for Clay, Nick, Buffy and Dawn me to slip off, while he dealt with Hull.

"Mom?" Savannah asked.

"Stay with Jeremy," Buffy said. "If we can't find "Jack" we might find one of the zombies and if we dispatch them you will need to get Antonio and Jeremy to the portal quick."

"Okay, mom," Savannah said.

As they turned to go, Dawn caught a glimpse of a familiar silver braid through the crowd.

"Jer?" Dawn whispered, directing his gaze to Anita.

"What the hell's she doing here?" Clay said.

"Who?" Hull rose onto his tiptoes, trying to see over the crowd. "Is it the zombie woman? Dear God, I hope they aren't—"

"They aren't." Buffy turned to Jeremy. "Her bookstore's barely a block away, and her apartment's over it. She probably heard the commotion and came down. One look at this and she'll know—"

Anita turned, surveying the crowd. Her eyes met Dawn's.

"Shit," Clay muttered. "Still time to get away?"

"Better to cut her off at the pass," Jeremy murmured. "Matthew, Savannah, come with me, please. Buffy, Dawn—"

"Got it," Buffy and Dawn said.

While Jeremy hustled Hull and Savannah out of the way, Clay, Buffy and Dawn headed toward Anita. A mob of newcomers, jostling to get close to the crime, cut between them and her. When one knocked hard against Dawn's stomach, Clay shouldered him back with a glare.

"Hey—" the young man said, letting out a stream of alcohol fumes strong enough to knock any Breathalyzer well over the limit.

"Hey, yourself," Clay growled. "Watch who you're mowing down."

He gestured at Dawn's stomach. The young man scowled down at it.

"Yeah? Well, if you're really worried about your baby, pal, you'd get your wife out of the city. Haven't you heard the bulletins? Pregnant women are advised to leave the city—"

"Thanks," Buffy said, as she nudged her sister and Clay forward. "We didn't hear that."

By the time they made it through the crowd, Anita was nowhere to be seen. Nick and Antonio met them on the other side, having seen the confrontation and hurried to help. They gave them a description of Anita and set out, weaving through the crowd. Dawn and Buffy was circling a police cruiser when Dawn almost bumped into another familiar body—Jeremy.

"We lost her," Dawn said as Savannah walked up beside Jeremy.

"And Savannah and I have lost Hull," he murmured.

"Oh, shit," Dawn said.

Panicked searching ensued, and Jeremy was about to take Antonio and Savannah and head over to Anita's bookstore when Hull came flying along the sidewalk, face white.

"Oh, thank God," he said, panting as he drew up beside us. "They're here. The zombies. I smelled that awful stench, and I turned to tell Mr. Danvers and Ms. Summers, but they were gone and—"

"Where are they?" Jeremy asked.

Hull gestured wildly, taking in half the surrounding block.

"Did you see them?"

"No, I only smelled them. But they were close. I think they were coming for me. I ran into a crowd and that seemed to scare them off."

Hull led them to where he'd smelled the zombies. They had indeed been there—both of them—along a side road. Jeremy, Savannah and Jaime took Hull aside then, luring him with the promise of a drink to calm his nerves. Before they left, though, Jeremy changed his mind about their search—they'd do it as humans.

They found the zombie trails easily enough. As for Jack, it was impossible to lift a decent suspect trail. As they had no idea what he smelled like. They followed the zombies for an hour, but kept losing the trail as it crossed roads.

When they checked in with Jeremy, he decided that was enough. What he'd hoped for was a scent signature for the killer, and if they weren't going to get that, they'd be better off getting some sleep.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Much to Buffy's objections, her Slayer senses continued to go off around Hull, Jeremy decided to take Hull back to the hotel with them. Hull obviously wanted that—the poor guy was convinced Jack the Ripper and killer zombies were on his tail. While some of them wanted to discuss the night's events before turning in, Jeremy refused, feigning exhaustion, with Antonio backing him up, as if they hoped a few yawns would convince the others they were tired too.

Buffy and Nick weren't but they headed into their room anyways. Savannah would once again sleep with Dawn and Clay.

Nick made a phone call as Buffy tuned him out, just staring at him. When he was done they walked out onto the balcony. Nick leaned on the balcony as Buffy rested her head on his shoulder. She was glad Nick wasn't terribly tall or that would have been hard to do.

"Do you think we did it?" Buffy asked.

"Did what?"

"Let him out. With Jaime's séance," Buffy said.

"And you, Clay and Dawn didn't notice him strolling out of that portal?"

Buffy nodded. "You're right."

"Timing's off too. Even if he jumped out the moment Jaime started doing her thing, there's no way he got over to that corner, met up with his zombies, picked out a girl and killed her, all before you all finished. Yours and Dawn's friend said the 911 call came in almost an hour before she got the news—while you were still in Cabbagetown."

"You're right," Buffy said as she sighed. "You know I've gone two hundred years without an apocalypse. I could have gone another two hundred without another."

Nick laughed and kissed Buffy's forehead.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next morning Nick woke to find Buffy missing from the bed. He could hear her in the bathroom. "Buffy?" he called out as he heard her retch. "Are you okay?"

"Get Jeremy," Buffy managed.

Nick was out the door and bumped into Savannah coming out of Dawn and Clay's room.

"Hey, Savannah," Nick said. "Careful."

"Sorry, Uncle Nick. Aunt Dawn sent me to get Uncle Jeremy," Savannah said.

"Why what's wrong?" Nick asked.

"Uncle Clay is getting worse," Savannah said. "Where you going?"

"The same," Nick said.

Savannah knocked on Jeremy's door and waited for him to open it. "Yes?" he said.

"Aunt Dawn sent me to get you. Uncle Clay is getting worse," Savannah said.

"Buffy said for me to come get you. She was in the bathroom throwing up," Nick said.

"Okay," Jeremy said. "Nick go stay with Buffy. I will check on her after I have checked Clay."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn was mopping icy water onto Clay's forehead when Jeremy entered the room, his feet bare and his shirt undone. Clay started to sit up, but she pushed him back down, and he settled for rolling his eyes at Jeremy.

"She's overreacting," he said. "I have a fever. Just let me pop some Tylenol—"

Jeremy popped something else in his mouth—a thermometer. Clay grunted and sank back onto his pillow with a martyred "I'm surrounded" look.

"How high is it?" Dawn asked when Jeremy checked.

"High."

Clay started to reach for the Tylenol, but Jeremy shook his head. He dumped the capsules into his own hand, and held them to Clay's lips. Clay rolled his fever-bright eyes at Dawn, then opened up and let Jeremy tend to him.

Savannah returned with a fresh bucket of ice, and Dawn wrapped some in her wet towel.

"Enough," Clay growled. "Give the pills a chance to kick in."

Jeremy was checking Clay's arm.

"How bad—?" Dawn began.

"Do you have the number for that doctor?" Jeremy asked quietly. "The sorcerer you met the other day?"

"I don't need—" Clay began.

"It's your right arm, so we aren't taking any chances." He glanced at Dawn. "Get the number, Dawn."

Dawn called Zoe. The phone rang five times. When the machine answered, she hung up and hit redial. This time, Zoe grabbed it on the second ring.

"Hello, Slayer," she said before Dawn could say anything. "About time you called. I was beginning to feel—"

"This isn't Buffy; this is her sister, Dawn. We need Randall Tolliver's number," Dawn said quickly.

A pause. "Are you both okay?"

"It's my husband, Clay. His arm. One of the zombie's bit him and he's running a fever."

"We'll be right there. Tell me where you are."

While they waited on Tolliver to show up, Jeremy checked on Buffy who had, according to Nick, emptied the contents of her stomach.

Jeremy checked Buffy over but found nothing wrong that he could find. He half joked that maybe she was pregnant. But he knew the likely hood of that being slim. How often did a woman get pregnant the first or even the second time she had sex? It was just rare and he knew it. He'd have Tolliver check her as well.

When Tolliver arrived, Jeremy showed him to Clay and Dawn's room. He cleared Antonio and Savannah out of the room, and only let Jeremy stay when it was clear he wasn't leaving. "It's infected," he said, after a quick examination.

"How badly?" Dawn asked.

A nervous glance Dawn's way, as if she might pounce if she didn't like his answer. "It's…progressing."

"Gangrene?" Clay said, pushing himself up.

A look crossed Jeremy's face, and I knew he'd been wondering the same thing.

"Gangrene?" Dawn said. "No, it can't be, not from a scratch. That's all it was. A scratch."

"From a decomposing corpse raised by supernatural means," Jeremy said.

"Which likely explains the acceleration and the refusal to respond to cleaning," Tolliver said. "But it isn't gangrenous. Not…" A glance at Dawn, and he shut his mouth.

"Yet," Clay finished for him.

A slow nod from Tolliver. "We should still be able to get it under control. Stronger antibiotics is one way to go. Or we can remove some of the infected tissue. The latter would be more likely to work, but would cause scarring—"

"I don't care about looks," Clay cut in. "Just function."

Tolliver hesitated. "It's…in a bad spot. If I needed to go deep, it might damage the muscle. It shouldn't have any lasting effect on fine motor skills, like writing."

"It's larger motor skills I'm worried about," Clay said.

Tolliver nodded, as if this didn't surprise him.

"If it would stop the spread of infection—" Jeremy began.

"Last resort," Clay said.

He met Jeremy's glance with a look that said he'd give in if pushed, but begged Jeremy not to push. Dawn knew what Clay was thinking. If a mutt found out Clay was no longer in peak fighting form, there'd be trouble.

Clay met Dawn's eyes. "I know Buffy can protect you. But I'd rather not take that risk." His gaze dropped to her stomach. "Not now. Antibiotics will be fine."

"Do you know what can happen if gangrene sets in?" Jeremy asked.

Clay nodded. "It'll have to come off."

"Off—?" Dawn sputtered. "What will have to come off?" She knew the answer, but her brain refused to process it. She had seen enough people who had last a limb to gangrene to know what would happen if gangrene set in Clay's arm.

"And even that might not work," Jeremy said, his gaze locked with Clay's.

"Are we talking about—?" Dawn voice squeaked and she couldn't finish the sentence. "From a scratch? It's just a scratch!"

Clay reached for Dawn, but she backed away.

"That is what we're talking about, right?" Dawn said. "Losing his arm? Losing his—his life?"

"No, no," Jeremy said, coming toward Dawn, face stricken. "I didn't mean—"

Dawn turned to face Tolliver. "That is what they mean, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Clay said, pushing himself up. "That's what we mean, darling. Jeremy's talking worst-case scenario, just so I know what could happen. It's me he's trying to spook, not you."

Jeremy waved Dawn over to sit down. He realized he had been right not to say anything to Dawn about Buffy. If her reaction to the possibility of Clay losing his arm was any indication. Her reaction to Buffy possibly being sick when she shouldn't be would send Dawn over the edge into depression. "I didn't mean to scare you. You don't need that, not now. I'm sorry. I only wanted—"

"It's okay," Dawn cut in, cheeks heating. "Of course, I know that could happen with a bad infection. Amputation, I mean. But I didn't think—everything seemed fine—"

"It will be fine," Clay said. "If antibiotics can still fix this, then I want to let it play out a bit longer. Keep an eye on it. If things get worse? I'll take the surgery. I lose some function? I'll compensate. But unless we're at a critical stage already, I don't want to jump into that."

He glanced at Jeremy, waiting for his verdict, but Tolliver beat him to it.

"It's not critical yet. I'll dress it and give you some antibiotics. If that doesn't clear it up in twenty-four hours, we'll move to debridement—removing the damaged tissue."

They looked over at Jeremy. He hesitated, then nodded.

"Good," Clay said. "Let's get me cleaned up, dosed up and ready to go."

When Tolliver finished, he checked Clay's temperature. "The Tylenol seems to have knocked the fever," he said. "At the very least, the antibiotics should slow the infection." He glanced at Jeremy. "Is that normal? For your kind? Susceptibility to infection or swift progression once it sets in? I know accelerated healing is a hallmark—" He cut himself off. Jeremy stayed stone-faced.

Tolliver started repacking his bag. Without looking up, he continued. "I should probably keep my mouth shut and pretend I haven't figured out what you are. But as a doctor, it would help to know what I'm dealing with." Before anyone could answer, he shook his head. "No, I do know what I'm dealing with, so I'm going to take the chance and admit it. After I saw you with Zoe the other day, I had my suspicions. I've…heard things. I made some inquiries, more to confirm the council connection than to confirm who—or what—you were."

"Accelerated infection isn't normal for us," Jeremy said.

"It's connected to the zombie then. I don't have any experience with their kind, and my experience with werewolves isn't much broader. I ran into one of you a few years back, in Europe, and helped him recover from an injury…though it wasn't help freely given."

"I hope you know it's not like that this time," Jeremy said. "If Zoe gave that impression—"

"She didn't."

"I fully intend to pay you for your time, as much as you'd charge for any emergency call, and whatever extra is appropriate for asking you to be available, on call, should the problem worsen."

Tolliver shook his head and hefted his bag onto the bed. "That's not necessary. I know you're trying to fix this portal mess, so consider this my contribution to the cause."

He fingered the straps on his bag. "I may be able to do more. I would have called later today. I have an idea where Patrick is hiding."

"Where?"

"I'd prefer to check it out myself. Patrick and I may not be close these days, but I still consider him a friend. If he's going to be brought in for questioning, I'd like to do it myself."

They looked at each other.

"That may not be the best idea," Jeremy said slowly. "We think he might have a larger role in all this than simply owning the letter."

"If you knew Patrick—Well, it's unlikely he has any involvement in this. But, as I've admitted, we're no longer close, so I have to also admit that I may be mistaken. What I'm asking is that you allow me to bring him to a location I deem safe, with myself present at all times—including during questioning—to ensure that he has a representative there, and everything proceeds as it should."

Dawn bristled. "Proceeds as it should? If you're suggesting we're going to work this guy over—"

Jeremy cut her short. "If we saw clear evidence that Patrick Shanahan is responsible for this portal, and refused to help us close it, then we would indeed exercise methods of persuasion. No one's arguing that. People have disappeared, one person has died and more are at risk. We'll do what we need to, within reason, to close this portal." He stared hard at Tolliver, who finally dropped his eyes and nodded.

"Understood. If I can find Patrick, he's yours—so long as I'm present for the questioning."

Before Tolliver could leave, Jeremy said, "There's two other things I'd like you to do. A brief examination." He nodded toward Dawn and then toward the door connecting them to Buffy's room.

"I'm fine. The baby's kicking and—"

"Let him take a look," Jeremy said, then lowered his voice so Tolliver couldn't overhear. "You'll feel better with a second opinion."

Tolliver checked Dawn out, and then asked, "How far along are you?"

"About twenty-three weeks," Jeremy answered.

Tolliver blinked, and then nodded. "Yes, I suppose that wouldn't be unexpected. What's a wolf's gestation period?"

"Nine weeks," Jeremy said.

Tolliver took a tape from his bag, did a few measurements, asked some questions, and then leaned back on his heels. "Everything looks fine. This is the time, though, when you really need to be careful. I know, under the circumstances, easier said than done, but you're well into your third trimester, or the equivalent of it."

"Th-third trimester?"

"It's impossible to tell for certain, but I've handled prenatal obstetrics at a few shelters, often with women who aren't quite sure how far along they should be. I'd estimate you only have a few weeks left to go, but you're healthy, and they're doing fine—"

"Th-they?"

"The babies."

Dawn swung an accusing glare at Jeremy. "Babies?"

Jeremy rubbed at a small smile. "I thought I detected more than one heartbeat, but I didn't want to say anything until I was sure. All things considered; a multiple birth wouldn't be unexpected…"

"Multiple? How … multiple?"

"Two," Jeremy said quickly. He looked anxiously at Tolliver. "It is just two, isn't it?"

Tolliver nodded.

"So, I'm having … twins. We're having—" Dawn looked around for Clay. He was out of bed and standing at her shoulder, grinning. "News to you too?"

He only nodded, still grinning, and then pulled her into a hug. She stopped and thought about it. How was that possible? Then she had a thought. For all intents and purposes, she was Faith and Buffy's fraternal twin, or daughter depending on how you looked at it, since she had been created from sisters. So, if you looked at it from the fraternal twin angle it was possible.

Clay noticed when Dawn didn't respond and mistook her pause for shock. "That's okay, isn't it? It'll be extra work, but—"

"It's okay," Dawn said. "Just … I think I need to sit down."

Clay sat Dawn on the bed while Jeremy grabbed juice from the minifridge. Tolliver probably thought they were all mad, but had the grace to just wait without comment.

Finally, Jeremy asked, "But everything is all right, isn't it? With the pregnancy? No obvious problems?"

"Nothing I can see. My only concern would be the timing. The less stress she has now, and the sooner you can get her home—" He stopped. "But I'm sure you know that already, which is why you're so anxious to end this business. With twins, the possibility of early labor increases." He looked at me. "Do you know the signs of labor?"

"We do," Jeremy and Clay said, almost in unison.

"Dawn's sister, Buffy, was pregnant a few years ago," Jeremy said. "She's been close by helping Dawn though it. Now for your last patient of the day."

Dawn wondered who he meant and then watched as Jeremy led Tolliver to the door connecting to Buffy's room. "Is something wrong with Buffy?"

Jeremy stopped and motioned the doctor into the room. "I'll be right there." He turned back to Dawn. "It's probably nothing Dawn. Nick woke this morning to find Buffy was vomiting."

"But that's impossible," Dawn said. "We don't get sick. You know that Jeremy."

"I know," Jeremy said. "And she was bit by several rats. Remember? She could have caught the disease they were carrying. And if those rats were related to the portal. Well they could have the same effect on Buffy that Rose had on Clay. I'm just having her checked out to be on the safe side. I didn't want to worry you, especially when you were already worrying about Clay."

Dawn nodded in understanding. She looked at Clay who nodded helping her up and into Buffy's room as they followed Jeremy.

"I can find nothing wrong," Tolliver said as they entered. "She isn't exhibiting signs of anything."

"She was bit by several of the rats," Jeremy said.

"Jeremy, you know Dawn and I can't catch a disease of any kind," Buffy said as Tolliver looked at Buffy quizzically. "Dawn and I are immortal. We drank from the Fountain of Youth around the time it was destroyed by Spanish soldiers, over two hundred years ago."

Tolliver nodded and thought for a moment, "If I may ask when your last period was?"

"Over two hundred years ago," Dawn said. "It's why my pregnancy was a shock. Buffy and I have no way of telling when we're late. For a long time, we both thought we were infertile till Buffy had Savannah."

Tolliver nodded and thought over that for a moment. "I'm going to cast a small spell. Consider it like a magical blood test if you want. I will be able to detect what's going on."

"Is that safe," Nick said.

"Very safe," Tolliver said and cast the spell and then he looked at Nick. "You are her husband?"

"I wish, but Buffy is married to another woman," Nick said. "That said we kind of have an arrangement. We've been trying so she can have a little brother or sister for Savannah and I can give my father a grandchild."

Tolliver nodded as he looked at Jeremy. "She's pregnant. If I had to estimate. She's not quite a week along, but definitely more than two days."

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other their eyes widening and then Dawn bounded across the room pulling Buffy into an embrace or as much as one as Dawn's stomach would allow.

"Welcome to fatherhood," Clay said as he slapped Nick on the back.

Author's Note: You will notice Buffy having a second child has not been mentioned in a Rei of Light. There is two reasons for that. One is that her pregnancy in this story is holdover from before A Rei of Light was added to the Dawn of the Caribbean series. When there had been a Buffy/Nick pairing as well as the marriage thing. The other is that after I added A Rei of Light (replacing the original story A Green Witch as the third in the series) I simply forgot what I had done here. I will try and rectify that when I finally return to A Rei of Light.