The first time she gave him head they were playing D&D at Kimmy's.

Langly'd had a couple of beers and Mordo The Wise hadn't been wise enough to keep him from getting his cape-wearing ass kicked and losing his last two hundred bucks on the final roll of the night or morning or whatever 5 a.m. is when a guy had been up since the morning before. Regardless of the time, he lost his money to Langly.

The two conspirators snuck off while everyone else was polishing off the last of the beer and pizza.

They were laying on the floor in between the bed and a pile of coats, kissing, when Thea stuck her hand down the front of his jeans.

He moved back a little and signed, YOU WANNA, UM, YOU THINK YOU MIGHT GO DOWN ON ME?

Her forehead wrinkled. WHAT?

NEVER MIND, JUST NEVER MIND. He was irritated and trying unsuccessfully not to show it.

NO, she signed, not even pretending to be polite, WHAT ARE YOU ASKING ME? I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

Oh. That changed everything. He wracked his brain for a way to say it. He picked his glasses up off the night stand.

A BLOW JOB, he signed. GIVE ME A BLOW JOB?

That apparently wasn't clear enough because she repeated herself again. WHAT IS IT? WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?

His heart was pounding in his chest. The few times he had it - all of four - he'd never had to spell it out. It sounded a lot dirtier if he had to say exactly what he wanted.

He took a deep breath and signed, I WANT TO PUT MY DICK IN YOUR MOUTH. His hands weren't exactly stumbling, but he wasn't signing smoothly, either. YOU DON'T HAVE TO. I JUST THOUGHT I'D ASK.

She slapped herself on the forehead. FELLATIO! YOU WANT FELLATIO. I'VE READ ABOUT THAT.

He nodded; verbally he had shot his wad.

"OKAY, BUT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO HELP ME OUT. I'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. She lifted his shirt up over his head then bent to pop open his jeans.

SOME QUESTIONS, she signed once she was in between his legs with his dick bouncing against her face.

GO AHEAD. Like there was much of a choice on his part.

THE SENSATION? IS IT LOCALIZED IN A PARTICULAR AREA OF THE PENIS OR ARE THE NERVE RECEPTORS DISTRIBUTED EVENLY?

THE HEAD, he answered. It wasn't the world's biggest turn on to have his rod treated like a piece of hardware. SPREAD THROUGHOUT, BUT MORE CONCENTRATED IN THE HEAD.

She was already rubbing her face against it like a cat, only she didn't make him sneeze. HOW SHOULD I START?

He put his thumb on her lower lip and pressed down softly. YOU COULD KISS IT.

So she did. She ducked her head and kissed his cock, top to bottom and back again. Then she...

He couldn't account for it, she lost it and her dry kisses went all over him, testicles to urethra and back again. She stopped and lookup at him.

NOW LICK IT, he signed, trying to keep his breath even.

She nodded and started.

It was good. Real good. So good that after a few seconds he had to close his eyes and just enjoy it. It was the first time he'd ever really relaxed when he was getting head. Hell Thea was the first girl he'd felt comfortable being in the same room with since he was 12.

Mmmmmmmmmm it was even better when she slipped his piece into her mouth. Big, soft lips and slow, wet tongue all around him. And she was slowly taking it deeper and deeper and. . .

Was she trying to deep throat him? Oh fuck.

Oh fuck!

Langly was coming and he was still in her mouth. He tried his best to pull out, but she pushed her face down onto his dick and grabbed his hands like some intense game of mercy. He watched, fairly freaked out, while she swallowed and swallowed.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT, he told her while she wiped her wet face on the Beat Farmers shirt she had taken from him.

She was smiling like he'd done something for her instead of the other way around. WHAT PART DON'T I HAVE TO DO? I THOUGHT IT WAS PRETTY COOL, LIKE A MAGIC TRICK, SURE AS HELL BETTER THAN MAKING FORT KNOX DISAPPEAR. TOO BAD I AM ALL HOT NOW. I GUESS THAT'S WHY MY ARM'S THAT LONG, HUH? WAS I OKAY? DID I DO OKAY?

He had to shake out his hands before he signed to her. YOU WERE EXCELLENT. BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO SWALLOW.

WHAT ELSE WOULD I DO?

SPIT? ALL THE OTHER TIMES, I MEAN, NOBODY EVER SWALLOWED MY, UM,-

EJACULATE?

JUST SAY C-U-M, OKAY? he suggested. WHEN YOU TALK LIKE THAT YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I'M IN THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE.

YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL OUT OF THE LAB BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE THE LAB OUT OF THE GIRL, ME AND POPEYE, WE POTATO WHAT WE POTATO.

Y-A-M. YOU YAM, NOT POTATO. He giggled. IT'S A HEARING JOKE. YAM SOUNDS LIKE...

Still smiling, she cut him off. WHAT IF I LIKE IT? WHAT IF I LIKE TO SWALLOW IT? WHAT IF I THINK IT'S GOOD?

Oh fuck. The way she signed *good,* with her hand on her mouth then back down to her lap, that was real sexy. PLUS IF NO ONE EVER SWALLOWED IT BEFORE THEN- she gave him this look, happy but scary too, like she wanted to suck his dick all over again or something -THEN I'M THE FIRST

Langly just had to gape at her for a minute. Sometimes it felt to him like she was his first everything. Things seemed weird, like he wanted to say something but he wasn't sure what. He shut his mouth.

I SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING BEFORE NOW BUT YOU KNOW, WELL, I THINK YOU'RE PRETTY, THEA.

She frowned at him, pissed off all of the sudden. YEAH, RIGHT. PUT ON YOUR GLASSES, she signed and pressed them into his hand.

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

If asked, she would have said it was the best six weeks of her life up to that point. Her own physical and emotional reactions led her to believe skin-to-skin contact with Ringo Langly induced a state not unlike intoxication. Although she would have been offended by its application, the word 'giddy' would have been appropriate to describe some of their behavior.

Around the third week, she did begin to feel some anxiety when her menses did not arrive. She tried to convince herself her breasts were tender from Langly's daily attention. She had something of her mother's talent for denial.

By the fifth week, she was torn between rosy joy at the idea of carrying Langly's child and utter terror of being rejected by him. Langly, of course, was blissfully unaware.

She made the decision to leave Takoma Park when she was no longer able to button a pair of Ringo's tighter jeans. It still took her eight days to work up the nerve to follow through.

**********

She did not need to be able to hear them to know they were arguing. Byers had followed her into her room as soon as they'd gotten home from Delaware and started jabbering this ridiculous shit at her. How he was shipping her off to live with his aunt in Olympia, wherever that was. How Langly was clearly taking advantage of her. She had been too shocked to argue. If this was what he was telling her, she could only imagine what he was saying to Ringo. It was clearly time to leave.

Then he was in the kitchen shaking his fist at Ringo. She was going, the few things she wanted to take with her crammed into an old surplus military canvas bag. She walked past the room on her way out and saw John's clenched hand connect with Langly's jaw. Ringo swayed for an instant then fell, not unconscious, but hurt and knocked completely off-balance.

She sprinted to him before she could stop and remember that she was leaving. She dropped her bag and cradled Langly's head in her lap while Langly winced and rubbed the side of his face.

ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS, BYERS? she signed, livid. WHAT DID HE EVER DO TO YOU?

THEA, I TOLD YOU BEFORE, HE'S USING YOU, Byers signed back his right hand clearly pained.

"Fro, get me an ice pack, will ya?" Langly croaked.

"Get it yourself, Stud," Fro answered, leaning against the counter.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S WRONG? HOW DO YOU KNOW HE WAS DOING SOMETHING BAD TO ME? WERE YOU THERE IN BED WITH US? Thea signed, squinting. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN HIM MISTREAT ME? HAVE YOU EVER SEEN RINGO HURT ANYONE?

THEA, Byers leaned in ignoring Langly and signed slower, smaller, YOU NEED TIME AWAY TO THINK ABOUT THIS, GET SOME PERSPECTIVE, MEET BOYS YOUR OWN AGE.

"Fuck you - she's mine. She wants to be with me, you hear that? Me! You can't just send her off somewhere," Langly snarled, his usually keen sense of self-preservation utterly abandoned as his inner Neanderthal reared its sleepy head. He was ready to hurl invective at Byers until his associate felt compelled to beat him to death.

I DON'T WANT TO MEET BOYS MY OWN AGE. THEY ARE ALL MORONS. BESIDES, I'M PREGNANT AND THAT USUALLY DOESN'T GET A GIRL A LOT OF DATES, she signed, biting her lip angrily.

WHAT? Byers asked certain he had misunderstood the sign.

I AM GESTATING AN EMBRYO IN MY UTERUS, she signed.

Byers' mouth dropped open.

THERE IS A BABY IN ME. LANGLY'S BABY. CAN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT SIGN? She gestured, frustrated, as the men went still and silent.

"Oh god no," Byers whispered, and slumped down into the couch.

Ringo's feelings were not immediately discernable since Melvin Frohike's instantaneous response had been to grab Langly by the tender top of his ear and pull with a slight twisting motion until their faces were near level.

"Of all the dumbass, bonehead, moron bullshit ," he punctuated each snarled word with a slap to the back of Langly's skull.

Each slap elicited a whined "Shit!" from the recipient.

Thea picked Frohike by the back of his thick neck and he let go.

But Langly didn't stop. "Shit Shit Shit!" he repeated, his breath growing ragged, tears threatening to overflow from his eyes. He shook his head to hold them back but instead they rolled down his face. He couldn't get his brain around the 'why' of any of it - why he was crying, why his chest hurt, why his brain had gotten really slow really fast, why they had to find out, why really cool things couldn't last. Or why she was leaving.

He could tell she was leaving. That he knew, even through his sudden fog, white cotton panties and cash in a bag meant she was dumping him.

But pregnant? Thea couldn't have a baby - she was just a kid. And he couldn't have a baby, either, because he was just, well, just a guy who lived in a warehouse and had made a whole seventy-two dollars and fifteen cents last month. He felt like he was being sucked into a black hole.

Lord Manhammer, undisputed king of the meltdown, who screamed and swore and abused inanimate objects at the slightest provocation and who never had much cool to lose in the first place, was losing what little he had.

With her mother's efficiency, Thea walked to the cabinet, prepped the nebulizer with Prednisone, plugged it into the jack nearest the couch, sat Ringo down beside Byers and placed the breathing mask over his face.

ANY CHANCE WE COULD SEDATE HIM FOR A WHILE? she signed to Frohike.

THAT'S NOT THE WORST IDEA YOU'VE HAD TODAY, he signed before he began riffling through drawers. He tossed a pill bottle her way. WHEN HE WAKES UP FROM ONE OF THESE BABIES, IT WILL BE A BRAND NEW DAY.

She caught it deftly. Read the bottle, she nodded.

RINGO, YOU ARE FREAKING OUT, she signed. TAKE ONE OF THESE.

NO WAY, he signed, his shoulders heaving. SO YOU CAN CUT AND RUN WHILE I'M ZONKED? He pointed to the canvas bag, bleeding cash and underwear, abandoned on the floor.

She seemed desperate herself, suddenly. TAKE THE PILL. YOU'RE ONLY MAKING YOUR SELF WORSE. YOU'RE HAVING A PANIC ATTACK. FUCK. YOU SHOULD BE ON ANTI-ANXIETY MEDICATION. TAKE THE PILL NOW.

SWEAR YOU'LL BE HERE WHEN I WAKE UP.

YES, RINGO, I SWEAR.

"Fro, promise you'll make sure she doesn't go anywhere."

"The level of trust you two have is truly touching. But yeah, I'll keep her here." He walked toward them with a glass of water, eyeing Byers thoughtfully. "You look like you could use one, too."

He shook his head. "It's midnight; I think I'll go to bed now," and he walked, toward the door, shaking his head all the way. But in the doorway he stopped and turned around.

ALTHEA? He was the only one who ever spelled out her whole name. PROMISE ME YOU WON'T RUN AWAY FROM HOME. DON'T ADD TO THE MISTAKES ALREADY MADE, he signed wearily.

Thea nodded, gnawed by guilt, not because of her own actions, but because of Byers' reaction.

Ringo, meanwhile, was fighting to stay awake. Every time his eyes closed, he forced them wide again. Within a few minutes he was gone and Thea stretched out her drugged asthmatic aging prince full length on the couch, the breathing mask still on his face.

SWEETHEART, YOU AND ME NEED TO HAVE A TALK, Frohike signed, sitting down.

I THINK I NEED TO GO, she signed. I HAVE FUCKED UP ROYALLY.

YOU PROMISED THOSE TWO LUNKHEADS YOU WOULD BE HERE WHEN THEY WOKE UP, Frohike signed tersely.

I ALSO SWORE I WOULD TAKE OUT THE TRASH, SO WHAT'S YOUR POINT?

THAT STUPID ASSHOLE LANGLY THINKS YOU LOVE HIM.

Thea raised her chin defiantly. WHO SAYS I DON'T?

LET ME TELL YOU A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT THE MALE ANIMAL, T-BONE. TELL A MAN YOU'RE HAVING HIS BABY THEN DUMP HIM AND IT IS A GOOD BET HE'LL ASSUME THE ROMANCE IS OVER. Frohike rubbed his palms together when he finished signing.

SHORT MAN, she signed impatiently, WERE YOU NOT IN THERE WITH ME WHEN HE LOST IT? HE DOES NOT WANT ME TO HAVE THIS BABY. I KNEW HE WOULDN'T. Her jaw kept clenching and unclenching.

HONEY, THE CHOICE IS YOURS.

RIGHT. IF I STAY MY CHOICES ARE - she pretended to count them off on her fingers - LET'S SEE? SUCTION, RU 486, DILATION AND CURETTAGE, OR, OH YES, RINGO HATING ME AND HIS BABY.

Frohike frowned. I MAY LIVE TO REGRET THIS, THEA, BUT WHAT IF I PROMISE TO BACK YOU UP ALL THE WAY? HAVE YOUR BABY, KEEP YOUR BABY. GIVE BYERS A NIGHT COOL OFF AND HE AIN'T GONNA DISAGREE. AND LANGLY, HONESTLY, I'D SAY THE GUY IS MORE SCARED THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

Thea paused before signing, HE DOESN'T HATE ME?

Frohike shook his head. GIVE HIM A WHILE TO GET OVER THE SHOCK AND HE'LL BE OBNOXIOUSLY PROUD.

Thea looked doubtful.

BUT THIS IS THE EASY PART, SWEETIE. YOU'RE LOOKING AT A LIFETIME COMMITMENT.

She straightened her shoulders. I KNOW THAT, she signed.

YOU KNOW BUPKIS. A BABY IS MORE WORK THAN YOU CAN EVEN IMAGINE AT THIS POINT.

YOU EVER HAD ONE, MELVIN?

I HAD TWO, AND I WAS A LOUSY DAD.

RINGO WILL BE A GOOD DAD?

Frohike nodded. SURE HE WILL. JUST GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO GET USED TO THE IDEA, he signed even as he said, "even if I have to kill him to make him one."

Thea smiled but looked slightly nauseous.

YOU NEED ANYTHING? Fro asked.

She shook her head. Thea walked over to the refrigerator and pulled it open. Melvin Frohike watched as the girl he knew better than either of his own daughters chugged half a gallon of milk straight out of the jug.

I COULD USE A NEW SOLDERING IRON. I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH MINE. AS SOON AS I FIX ONE THING, SOMETHING ELSE CRAPS OUT ON IT.

BABY, THAT THING IS OLDER THAN YOUR BOYFRIEND. I MEAN, ANY SPECIAL FOOD OR ANYTHING YOU GOT A HANKERING FOR?

She appeared to give the matter serious thought. SPINACH, she signed. I COULD EAT MY WEIGHT IN SPINACH.

Frohike nodded. He felt obligation to the girl on more levels than he knew what to do with. She was not only the daughter of Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, but she was a friend who had once carried him, shot in the ass, the length of a football field. She was a good hacker and a better investigator, and hell even the fact that this was Langly's kid she was carrying made him more tangled up in the whole thing. Plus, when she wasn't eating him out of house and home or making some mess and failing, spectacularly, to clean it up, he just plain liked Thea.

I WANT YOU TO SEE SOMEBODY, he signed.

She frowned. He knew she was uncomfortable with the very idea.

NOT A DOCTOR, he signed carefully. A MIDWIFE.

Thea pursed her lips. YOU KNOW, I COULD REALLY DO WITHOUT SOME HIPPY CHICK STARING AT MY TWAT RIGHT NOW.

JESUS, DON'T EVEN TELL ME WHERE YOU LEARNED THAT WORD, he signed. IT'S NOT SOME HIPPY CHICK. IT'S AN OLD FRIEND OF YOUR FOLKS. HIS NAME'S CHUCK BURKES, HE USED TO CONSULT FOR THEM FROM TIME TO TIME.

A MIDWIFE WHO CONSULTS FOR THE GOVERNMENT? She raised an eyebrow.

MIDWIDERY IS SOMETHING HE PICKED UP IN INDIA. MORE OF A SIDELINE. HIS REAL PROFESSION IS A LITTLE MORE ESOTERIC, he signed in explanation.

HE'S NOT A DOCTOR? Thea asked.

HE'S A TECH TYPE GUY. YOU'LL LIKE HIM. I'D LIKE TO GIVE HIM A CALL AND SEE IF HE CAN DROP BY TOMORROW, Frohike tried make it sound low-key.

I'M NOT SICK. She scowled. I'M JUST REPRODUCING.

YOU WANT TO GET THIS BABY OFF TO A GOOD START?

She seemed to consider the question, then nodded.

YOU ARE GOING TO NEED TO HAVE PRENATAL CARE, Frohike signed, feeling sad and old, but vaguely hopeful underneath it all.

She looked dubious.

IF YOU WERE STILL IN THE LAB, WOULDN'T THE DOCTORS FOLLOW THE BABY'S PROGRESS? THERE'S A REASON FOR THAT, HONEY. I KNOW YOU WANT RINGO'S BABY TO BE HEALTHY AND I KNOW YOU'LL LIKE CHUCK. He signed trying to reassure her.

She had run her hands through her short hair so many times it was standing on end. YOU'RE SURE HE'S NOT A DOCTOR?

SCOUT'S HONOR, Melvin signed. Tough as she was Thea was as jumpy as a cat about certain things.

I'M GOING TO PUT LANGLY TO BED. DO I NEED TO PRETEND LIKE I'M GOING TO MY OWN ROOM AFTERWARDS? she signed tiredly.

AT THIS POINT, Melvin grumbled as he signed, THAT WOULD BE AN INSULT TO BOTH OF US.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:

Ringo woke up with his face stuck to the sheet and the profound sensation of being hung-over. His head was ringing but he'd had the sweetest dream about fucking T. She'd been so tender, so gentle. When he thought about it, he knew it wasn't real. That and they'd driven through DC on a clear day with no traffic and hit nothing but green lights. Then his shoe stuck to some bubble gum and he was about to be eaten by an escalator. He couldn't sort it out. He tried to remember if That was before or after the mall full of giant rabbits. Had he watched Night of the Lepus lately?

Shit!

He attempted to open his eyes, only to realize they were crusted shut. He rubbed them carefully, trying to dislodge the seal, bit by bit flaking them clear. As he continued rubbing, he began to remember a less pleasant dream. Everyone started hitting him and T said she was pregnant. And then she was going to leave him. As if he hadn't played that particular scenario out in his head a couple of thousand times over the last six weeks.

He tried to bury his face in his hands and wound up shrieking 'OOOOOOOWWWWWW!' to no one in particular.

So the second one wasn't a dream after all. At least the getting punched part was verifiable. Byers really had hit him.

He laid his pillow over his face trying to remember. He had called Byers a cocksucker; Byers had said, no, That was, in fact, what Langly had turned T into. He recalled accusing Byers of being jealous, of wishing he was the one getting blown.

So Byers had clocked him.

And then Thea was there.

Pregnant? Did she really say she was pregnant?

As much as he wanted to stay in bed and avoid the night before, he had to get up and see if she was still there.

So Ringo pissed, put on his robe, and staggered around, squinting for Thea. He found his glasses on the kitchen table.

Dressed, pressed, and nicely brushed, Byers looked at him. "Well, if it isn't the proud papa," he said, as sarcastic as Ringo had ever heard him.

Ringo answered him, cringing. "Lay off, will ya? I know I screwed up. Is Thea still here?"

Byers nodded. "Chuck Burkes," he enunciated too clearly for Ringo's comfort, "is giving her a pelvic exam."

"Burkes?" Langly repeated dumbly.

"Did you know he was a licensed Nurse Midwife?" Byers had a sip of his coffee.

Ringo shook his head considering the possibility and finding it weird.

"Neither did I, but it seems he is." Byers took another drink.

Langly tested exactly how far he could open his mouth before the dull ache became a roar, and took a minute to think. Since Thea wasn't gone, he lost his urgent desire to see her. In fact he'd like to put off talking to her until he came up with a half an idea of what their next move should be. Next he tried moving his mouth side to side.

"Owwwww! Where's Fro?"

"Translating," Byers answered. "And also, I would imagine, protecting Chuck just in case he manages to irritate the new mother-to-be."

Ringo laid his face on the cool Formica table top. It felt really nice. Maybe he could get a bed made out of the stuff.

"How's your, um, face?" Byers asked, watching Langly closely.

Langly shrugged. "Okay. Think Fro gave me a concussion, though."

"Why did you do it?" Byers asked quietly.

Langly's head was still pressed to the table. "Fu...you mean, sleep with her?"

"Sleep with, impregnate, whatever. All of it." He leaned a little closer to Langly. "What were you thinking?"

Langly whispered something unintelligible to the table.

"Excuse me?"

"Love. I love her," Langly repeated softly. "The pregnant thing was an accident."

Byers looked surprised. "You're certain?"

"About what?"

"That you love her?" Byers cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. "Because if you do, your course is clear."

Langly rubbed his eyes again. "I got about four functioning brain cells this morning. Get to the point, Bruiser."

"Langly, you are living with a, a woman, who is carrying your child, who you also claim to be in love with." Byers folded his hands neatly on the table top. "It seems fairly obvious what you should be doing."

"Me and T - married?" He pictured the awful powder blue tuxedos from his older brother's wedding in '83, then for some reason Fro dressed up as a flower girl. "Oh yeah that'll work "

"Then maybe you don't love, her after all."

"Kiss my ass, Suit."

"Either you love her and you want to spend the rest of you life with her or this is just about you getting your questionable needs met.

Langly said nothing.

"Look Langly, we all get lonely, but your actions are having serious repercussions, for all of us. You realize she was leaving because she wants to have this baby and she was worried what you'd say? She's very young. Too young to be expected to make a rational decision about this. "

If she was too young to make a rational decision, how the hell was she old enough to get married? Langly frowned closing his eyes. He wanted to tell Byers he'd marry her that day, but he couldn't. It was scary. She was the only chick he'd ever been with more than once. And he had strong feelings for her, man, did he ever.

Every time they screwed he'd get choked up and wind up making her swear they'd be 'buds for life.' That was easy. He couldn't imagine not having her with him.

But married? And a baby? It made his head feel light and his stomach rise.

"It's not her, Byers. It's me "

"I'm sure she'll find that very comforting when she's living on the street with your child."

"Fuck off."

"Or perhaps they'll both wind up in a lab somewh-"

Frohike and Burkes wandered in to the room deep in conversation. "-dates she gave me can't be right."

"You're sure?"

"What's the word?" Langly asked from behind his hands.

"Looks like you're off the hook, Blondie. Burkes says there's no way she can be six weeks and she swears up and down that's the first time you two did the deed."

"Chuck's wrong," Langly groaned, his face still hidden.

Burkes looked surprised. "Excuse me?"

"Let me show ya something." Langly stood up, pulling his robe close around him, and gestured to them to follow him to his room.

"If this was medieval Europe," he began, peeling the sheets off his mattress and revealing a dark, bat-shaped stain at its center, "you could put it out on the sidewalk for all the old women of the village to have a look at, too."

"Well, I've seen enough," Byers said to no one in particular, and left the room.

"Six weeks ago, huh?" Frohike leaned closer to the mattress. He touched the blood stain with one finger.

Langly dropped the sheets in a pile at his feet. "If she's pregnant, it's mine."

"Oh, she's definitely pregnant," Chuck said, looking puzzled. "Very pregnant. Look, I'm going to get out my ultrasound out of the car. I'll be right back."

Frohike and Langly eyed each other for several uncomfortable minutes, until Langly couldn't take it anymore. He sat heavily on the edge of the bare mattress and covered his face.

"I love her, Hickey." Langly's his breath was starting to come in gasps. "I, I, I don't know if I can do this."

Frohike sighed heavily. " Pull yourself together, Tough Guy. You freak out on her again and the kid's gonna split. She's 17, she's deaf, she's pregnant, she's got nobody but us and none of her marketable skills are exactly legal."

Langly somehow managed to sniff back tears and snarl at the same time. "Watch it."

"I meant hacking and B & E, Dumbass. She needs you for this. Don't fool yourself into thinking she'll be better off without you."

"Man, I gotta go talk to her."

"Damn straight you do," Frohike agreed. "Just remember-you make her cry - I make you cry - again."

So Langly trudged off to see Thea. Too bad he had no idea what he was going to say.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

end 02