Dolores POV

-8 Months Later-

Bali, Indonesia

'Annie, honey, be careful, or you're going to get absolutely knocked out.', I screamed out, sitting on a chair under a palm tree, watching as she frolicked in the ocean water.

'I am an unbreakable wall of steel!', she shouted back, throwing her arms out. And then, a huge wave came and swept her off her feet, plunging her under.

'Klaus, she's under the water again.', I said, tapping Klaus' shoulder. He looked up from his cross stitch as he drank a pina colada from a coconut shell.

'She's fine. She once drank three cups worth of pool water and didn't die. She's good.' , he responded. I nodded, and we laughed. Five, walking out to the water, motioned for Annie to come towards him. He sat down with her in the sand, and pointed out a seashell, which she flipped out about.

I laid back in my chair, taking it all in. The sun was bright, the weather warm and dry, and a breeze blew across the sand and through the trees. I placed a hand down on my stomach, and the kid moved around. Whenever it moved, it felt like fire burning inside of me. Five thinks it got my powers, but I tell him it's probably just heartburn.

'Klaus, it was really awesome of you to let us all come to your beach house.', I said, closing my eyes. 'Pretty sure we all needed a vacation desperately.'

'Oh, sure.', he said, slurping the last bit of the pina colada through the straw. 'But you really have Diego to thank for it. He insisted. Something about wanting you and Allison to be off the grid?'

I popped my head up, lowering my sunglasses and looking at him. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'No idea on earth. But he was super pushy about it.'

I looked over at Diego, who stood with his arms crossed in the wake of the tide, looking off to the horizon. He'd been acting super sketchy lately, and I couldn't figure out why. I'd asked Five about it, but he'd avoided the subject entirely.

Luther approached Klaus and I in our chairs, holding his phone.

'Klaus, radar says that tropical storm is projected to be moving into the area tonight.', he said, worried, as always. 'Do you have a storm shelter?'

'Nah, Luther, relax. The jungle protects the house from the wind gusts. I lived here during three different tropical storms. Not a scratch.'

'Are you sure?'

'Oh, quite so. Untwist your panties.'

Luther cringed. 'Hate that word.' He walked away, still looking at the radar.

'Hey Luther?', I yelled out as he walked away.

He turned back to me. 'Yeah?'

'PANTIES.', I shouted, with a straight face. He turned around and put his fingers in his ears, walking away quicker. Klaus laughed, and I gave him a high five, then laid back down.

Five and Annie approached me, Annie holding out her hand.

'I found you a shell, Aunt Dory.'

'Seaweed, it's a seaweed, Annie.', Five corrected.

'I found you a seaweed.', she said, holding it up to my face. 'It's fuzzy like uncle Luther.'

I nearly spit out my drink when she said that.

'Very, very cool. You should go and find some more, and then get a big bunch of them.'

'And then I can make a wig out of them for Diego.'

'S.. sure, I guess that works.'

'Yeah, but I already did that before.'

'Did you? What did you make it out of?'

'The armpit hairs I cut off of them while they slept.', she said, with a completely straight face.

'That's where my armpit hair has been going?!', Five said, his eyes growing wide, as he lifted his arm to assess the situation.

'I thought I was just armpit balding!', Klaus said, staring in amazement as his child. 'So creative, Annie.'

'Hey Diego, Luther, can you guys lift up your arms for me for a sec?', I shouted, still shocked.

'Why?', they asked, both raising their arms. I bust out laughing to see that both of their armpits were completely bald, and when they noticed, their faces were priceless.

'Yeah, it's fluffy.', Annie said, straightening her sparkly sunglasses. I nodded slowly, smiling at her in shock.

'That's….. that's great sweetie.'

I looked up at Five, and we both widened our eyes. I looked over at Klaus, who shrugged and smiled.

'She's such a cool kid, isn't she?', he said, grinning.

'That's one way of putting it….'

'Come here, Luthy!', Annie yelled, taking off after him down the beach.

Luther immediately turned and ran.

'No!', he said, running away.

Five, Klaus and I all broke out laughing, and then sat back down to enjoy the last day of our vacation.

'You know the only thing that would make this better?', I asked, soaking up the sun.

'What's that?'

'Ben being here with us.'

We'd sent Ben off six months ago, two months after he was miraculously reincarnated. He wanted to travel the world, to see everything he'd missed. We sent him off with our blessing, and with our only request for him to stay in contact. He'd backpacked through Europe first, then took a boat trip to Hawaii, where he met a Hawaiian beauty, and in turn, the love of his life. They were engaged now, and we were all bummed that we couldn't make the wedding. It was going to be a small, tribal affair, no outsiders allowed.

'He's probably off frolicking up a volcano with his island girl.', Klaus said back, smiling. The thought of that made me smile as well, I couldn't help it. He spent so many years dead, and now he was able to go and truly live. It was perfect.

Five POV

We all gathered around the TV inside the beach house, the room lit up by the screen. We had it on the weather channel, watching the weatherman report about the tropical storm, his arm motioning over a swirling red and purple circle about to move right over our area.

'The national weather service asks all residents and tourists in the area to please evacuate your homes immediately, and move towards the mainland and seek shelter in large, solid buildings.', he said, in a very serious tone.

'What do we need to do?', Allison asked, concerned.

'Guess we have to pack up and get out of here.', Diego said.

Luther, he stood at the window looking out, turned around as a loud crack of thunder rang through the house. 'Yeah. Doesn't look like we're getting out of here anytime soon.'

'Could we go by boat?, Dolores asked, sounding shaken up as Allison had.

He gazed back out the window at the water.

'Yeah, no.', he said, pulling back the blind to reveal huge, deadly looking waves crashing against the sand.

'So we're just stuck here?', Allison asked, growing more worried. Vanya reached down and grabbed her hand, reassuring her.

'It's okay, we're going to wait it out, and everything will be fine.', I commented, confidently. I sat down with Dolores, and grabbed her hand, rubbing my thumb over it. She was dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie, as the air conditioning was cranked up high inside the house.

The wind picked up, so hard and strong that it sounded like the house was being ripped apart. Dolores gripped my hand super tightly, she was worried. I kissed her on the forehead.

'I'm going to go make some popcorn. I'm feeling munchy.', Allison said, standing up and walking off to the kitchen.

'I'll help. I could use the distraction.' Dolores said, getting up and following. They walked off, and we heard the microwave running for a few minutes, along with popping.

'I smell that butter, my gosh.', Vanya said, smiling.

'Yeah? It's about done.'

Allison closed the microwave, and then a deathly sounding crack of thunder ripped and rumbled through the entire house, shaking the walls and knocking a lamp off a side table, causing the electricity to shut off and the place to go pitch dark.

I heard Dolores gasp.

'It's okay, girls, just stay where you are.', I said as I rummaged through a side table drawer blindly trying to find a flashlight. It was black as tar, and we couldn't see two feet in front of our faces.

I heard another gasp, and then another.

'Um, guys, we might have an issue.', Dolores said, her voice shaking.

'Are you guys good?', Diego questioned.

'Um, Allison's water just broke.', Dolores said.

Another gasp.

'And there goes Dolores'.', Allison exclaimed.

Frick. Frick, frick, frick.

'What do we do?', Dolores asked, sounding scared.

'Stay where you are, and see if you can get sat down somewhere in the floor.', I said, groping around in the darkness, trying to find them by the sound of their voices.

'Aha!', Klaus said, flicking on a flashlight. 'Here it is.' He threw it to me, and I made my way to them. I shone the light on them, and then my heart dropped.

In front of Allison, there was a puddle of water. But in front of Dolores, it was pink water mixed through with red swirls, blood. Not good.

'Hey Dory, stay calm, but you're bleeding just a bit.', I said, crouching down next to her. She gasped, and her face looked terrified.

'Klaus, are there any midwives locally?', I yelled across the room.

'Sun Hai had training in midwifery.', he answered.

'Think you can go and get her?', I asked, stress building in my voice, but I tried to hide it.

'In the storm?'

'ASAP, Klaus.', I said, as he approached us, covering his mouth as he saw the blood. I looked up at him with a desperate face. I didn't know how to help her, and neither did any of the rest of us. I was stressing. 'Dory needs you.'

'I'm…. I'm on it. You can count on me.', he said, picking up his keys and heading out the door.

He left, and Allison's breath hitched in and she let out a cry of pain.

'Allison, hold on, I'm coming over there.', Luther said, and I tossed him the flashlight. As the beam of light moved, it passed Dory's legs, which I saw were now covered in bright red blood. My heart rate picked up.

'Gosh Dory, just….. just try and stay calm.', I said, holding her hand and kissing it.

Vanya ran off and got some towels, walking carefully through the dark. I stepped up, moving to the sink to run some hot water.

'Dangit!', I said, turning the knob, and seeing nothing come out. The pipes were malfunctioning in all this mess. Great.

'Hurry Klaus, please hurry, hurry.', I whispered under my breath, grabbing a towel and placing it over Dory's legs. I spatial jumped outside, to see if he was coming down the jungle road yet, but all I saw was whipping rain and wind so hard it bent the palms over backwards. I jumped back into the house.

I heard feet coming down the hall.

'Daddy, this storm is scary.' It was Annie, woken up by the storm. Vanya grabbed her and picked her up.

'Come on, Annie, let's go over here and sit on the couch.', she said, carrying her away. Dolores took in a deep breath and grit her teeth, trying not to yell.

'I found some candles.', Diego said, crouching down and setting them down around us. He lifted up each one to Dolores, who lit them with her finger. I stared in awe.

Dolores gripped my hand tightly, mumbled something I couldn't decipher, and then went limp. She had passed out.

'Dangit, Klaus, get back here!', I yelled out in frustration. 'Dolores went unconscious.', I said, notifying the others. Thunder shook the house, and Allison cried, in terror and misery.

No epidural, no medicine, no electricity, no water. Absolutely perfect conditions for a baby to be born in, right? So much better than a hospital. And in the middle of a hurricane! Perfect.

I shook Dolores' body, yet she didn't come to. She was unresponsive, and more blood flowed from her legs. I lifted my hand up from the ground, and in the candle light, I found it covered in red. I bit my lip, and groaned in distress as I spatial jumped outside again. This time, Klaus was riding a tandem bicycle with a little Asian woman, wearing a bright purple raincoat and peddling like mad.

'Finally!', I yelled out through the rain and wind. 'Thought I was going to have to pop the things out myself!' They ran in, and I opened the door for them.

'Where?', Sun Hai asked, and I pointed to them. We followed her as she walked briskly, carrying a woven backpack. She examined all the blood, and their condition. She nodded, calmly. Turning to the rest of us, she spoke firmly.

'Leave us.'

Heck no, I'm not le-'

Klaus cut me off, patting me firmly on the back. 'Listen to her, Five.'

'Come on.', Diego said, pushing me along. The rest of us walked down the hall down to a room, Vanya carrying Annie, who now was bawling. My head felt like it might explode from the stress of it all.

We stood in that room for what felt like hours, hearing screams which made me want to full on massacre anything in sight, listening to the howling wind and Annie's sobs. Klaus held her now, and tried to get her to just go to sleep, which she refused.

A knock came at the door. I rushed to open it. Sun Hai stood there, her arms drenched in blood, still looking calm as ever.

'Fathers.', she spoke firmly, and Luther and I sped out to follow her down the hall.

She led us into the kitchen, and I rushed down to Dolores' side, and Luther to Allison's. And what I saw next, I could have never imagined.

She held a baby in her arms, fire red hair glinting in the candle light, her skin glowing abnormally orange like a hot ember. I reached out to touch the baby's skin, and reached my hand back immediately, my fingers burned.

'What was-'

'You were right.', Dolores said, looking at me and smiling. 'She's just like me.'

'She?', I asked, looking down at the baby, then up at her.

'Like you thought.'

I shook my head, and kissed Dolores on the forehead.

Sun Hai crouched down beside of us, looking at the baby. She took one of Dolores' hands, then one of mine, uncomfortably. She stared down at the baby, then back at us.

'Magic.', she said, nodding at her. Dolores smiled. We looked over to Allison and Luther, who cooed over two babies, one in each of Allison's arms. The others then came running in, impatient.

'Oh thank God.', Klaus said, rushing down to Dolores' side. I saw how fond he was of her, and was thankful for their friendship. He was good to her.

We all gathered around the two of them, and everything was just perfect. For a minute.

And then, another crack of thunder. But also, a bright flash of blue light inside the room.

Crap. Commission.

'Ah, crap.', Diego said, like he'd been expecting this.

And there stood Lila Pitts, grinning from ear to ear.

'Miss me?', she asked, smiling with a hand on her hip.

None of us knew what to say.

'You can leave now, Lila, you don't have to do this.', Diego said.

'Do what?', Allison asked, and Luther seconded it. I looked down at Dolores in fear, both of us remembering the deal we had made. I stood up, placing myself in front of them protectively, staring Lila down.

'Oh, I'm so scared.', she said sarcastically, looking at me. 'We had an agreement, Five.'

'I no longer agree to the terms.', I said, defensively.

'That's not exactly how it works.'

Diego came up behind her, fists formed. Luther stood up, following suit. Even Klaus joined in, taking a protective stance.

'I'm afraid a verbal agreement is a binding contract, Five.', she said, moving her gaze to Allison, who stared back at her from behind Luther with rage in her eyes. 'And you knew what I would have to do, Diego. Did you think your abandoning me would really stop me?'

She waltzed over to Allison.

'May I?', she asked, reaching her arms out to the baby.

'Heck no!', Allison said, scowling.

'Yeah, I don't really care.', she said, quickly ripping the baby away from her arms and spatial jumping across the room. I jumped to her side.

'Give it back, Lila, or so help me-'

'You'll do what? Kill me? And then have me drop the poor thing, and it die?'

Luther bounded over the counter, getting behind her too quickly for her to jump away, and putting her in a chokehold.

'Ah, so this is how we play.', Lila said, struggling to get her voice out. 'I can do that too.', she said, jumping, getting herself behind Allison, wrapping her arm around her neck. Allison struggled. Dolores tried to move away, but her lower body was too weak.

'Get away from her, Lila.'

'This has to happen, Diego, you know it does.'

'You know what Lila?', he said, growing angry. 'I'd rather you die. And right now, I'd kinda enjoy seeing a bullet through your head.'

'Ooooh, ouch. That cuts deep, Diego. You know, I might actually fear you doing something, ya know, if I wasn't pregnant with your child.'

And we all stood around, wide eyed, as Diego lost his ability to speak and Lila smirked like a Cheshire cat.

To be continued…..