Let It Be Disclaimer: Andy is mine, as I believe you all know:D Andromeda is Tribune's.

Author's Note: Minor changes to Chapter 11. Continuity issues from this chapter solved. And I make no claims on the credibility of the medical stuff.

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S REQUEST: I'm starting a new project...no, not a new story, this one's got to be finished first! It's called the Make Jen's Writing Better Project (Jen would be me, in case you didn't know:D). But I need help.

When you review, if you review, could you please tell me one thing I'm doing WRONG? Tell me where my writing sucks! Where it needs improvement! Just one thing...for this chapter, or any other chapter.

And if anyone would be willing to do the job full-time, I'd love you forever (and be happy to reciprocate), and my e-mail's nsane1@optonline.net.

So please, what's wrong with this story?

Chapter dedicated to Laura...because of what happened 4th period and because she still went and got me food cause she's the best!

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Chapter Twelve: Only the Good



Beka barely noticed when Harper was gently led to a chair by Trance; she was too busy staring at Andy, still as death. She felt her hands begin to tremble, and she clenched the sides of the chair so hard, her knuckles turned white. Abort the pregnancy. Lose the baby. Her first cousin once removed; more like her niece or nephew. Andy and Harper's child. Beka couldn't even bear to look at Harper, didn't want to see the dead look on his face. Five months. Andy had only been pregnant for five months, but she and Harper had thought up names. Charlotte Rebecca for a girl. Brendan Rafael for a boy. They had planned out how to take care of their child. Who would feed it when. Where it would sleep. The line-up of babysitters. They were completely prepared for everything. Except the reaction of Andy's own body.

"Trance..." Beka was pleased, in an odd, half-conscious sort of way, that her voice didn't tremble. "There must be some way to save the baby."

Trance's voice was choked up. "There isn't, Beka. I almost knew when she slept so much...when she was sick in the mornings for too long...Beka, the fever is too much for her. I can save Andy, but the baby..."

"Isn't there anything...there must be something you can do!" Beka exclaimed desperately.

"Even if I got her fever down...and even if her temperature stayed in a normal range...she still probably wouldn't survive the birth," Trance said with much hesitation.

Beka abruptly stood up and grabbed Trance by the shoulders. "Trance! You said she'd been fine! You said the baby would be fine, you purple said!"

"I don't know everything!" Trance exclaimed, close to tears. "I don't want either of them to die, Beka!"

"Then tell me how we can prevent that from happening! Tell me!" Beka demanded, fighting the urge to shake Trance violently.

Trance suddenly regained her composure, pushed Beka's hands away, and gently applied pressure to her shoulders until Beka gave in and sat down. "Beka, calm down. I'll look in the computer. In the meantime, I want you to breathe, okay? And see if you can get Harper talking."

"What about Andy?"

"Let her be for the moment," Trance said, although she placed a cool cloth on Andy's forehead.

While Trance searched, Beka took Harper's hand and held it tight. "Harper?...Seamus?...Shay?..."

"The baby," he whispered after he was addressed by Andy's nickname.

"Trance is trying to save it, but-"

Harper interrupted her. "But Andy...what if Andy dies?"

"We won't let it come to that, Seamus; Trance will abort the-"

He broke in again. "Beka, Andy can't lose the baby. You know what it will do to her. You know what the baby means to her."

"I know," Beka whispered, and Harper got up to stand by Andy and hold her hand.

"Beka?" Trance's voice came tentatively, and Beka jumped.

Beka didn't want to hope. "Yeah?"

"Can you please come here?"

Beka followed the instruction, almost tiptoing because she couldn't bear to make a sound. She stood behind Trance and waited.

"Beka, do you know exactly which kinds of fever-reducers Andy is allergic to?"

Beka shrugged, even though she could feel that this was important. "Whatever they use in hospitals."

A flicker of hope crossed Trance's face and was gone just as quickly. "I found something-" and it was all Beka could do to stay quiet-"It's an old medicine...very old...so old that it stopped being used and even produced before Dylan's former time...It's very unlikely that Andy could be allergic...does ibuprofen ring any bells?"

Beka shook her head. "Never heard of it."

"Then this may work," Trance said softly. Before Beka could say anything, Trance continued. "But Beka, it's still a huge risk. If the ibuprofen doesn't work, we'll still have to abort the pregnancy. If she has an allergic reaction, with the stress already on her system, both she and the baby with die. If it works, she'll need complete bedrest from now until the birth. And..."

Beka could finally get a word in. "And what?!"

"And we'd have to do a cesarean section prematurely. From what I can see, Andy would not be able to carry the baby full term...she's have to have it at 7, maybe 8 months. Because of that, and because of her illness...there would be a high chance that the baby would be deformed in some way," Trance finished, almost inaudible by the end.

Beka swallowed hard. "I...I...think we should ask Harper...and Andy."

"That's...a good idea," Trance agreed.

Beka walked through a fog to Harper...heard Trance explain the situation to him through a fog...heard him insist that Andy should make the decision through a fog...

She nearly woke up when Trance started to give Andy a stimulant, but Beka decided it was too much of an effort. Those sapphire-emerald eyes that Beka could never forget fluttered open.

"What...what's going on?" Andy asked with some effort. "Hot..."

Trance ran over her face with the wet cloth, while Harper squeezed her hand. Which left Beka to tell her what was happening.

"Andy, sweetie, do you remember the baby?"

Andy looked at her with a bewildered expression. "Of course I do...why, Rebecca?"

"Andy, you're sick...the baby...it's making you sick...you've got a fever..." Beka almost couldn't deal with the stricken look on Andy's face, but she rushed on before she started to cry. "Andy, aborting the pregnancy is one solution, but Trance has a new fever-reducer...one we don't think you're allergic to, but you may be...but she could give it to you and you could have the baby early and there's a chance both of you would be fine but you or the baby or both of you could die, Andy...it's your choice...we can't make it for you, Andy, we can't make it for you..."

Andy looked at Harper, whose expression Beka couldn't read. With a strength in her voice that was rarely heard, Andy said, "I want to have the baby."

In the silence that followed, Trance administered the medicine.

To Be Continued...