Chapter One Hundred and Thirty: Marcus

Daniel couldn't breathe. He was sitting
with Sammy and TJ, waiting to see if his girlfriend and their child
would survive.

“We brought coffee.” Belle and
Charlie walked in. Belle handed Daniel a coffee and sat next to him.

“You gonna sit down?” Sammy asked
Charlie, who shook his head.

“How did arresting Marion go?”
Charlie asked TJ.

“Well, Haiter was definitely enthused
about doing it.” TJ replied. “I don't know if the Troupe still
consider the Mob a threat or not, probably just Haiter being his
usual hateful self.”

“She'll be out by next week, count on
it.” Sammy sighed. “She knows things about Demon and Haiter that
could bring them down.”

“Courtesy of being Judiths sister.”
Belle said.

“Actually, we've been chatting while
Judy's been having tests and stuff. She's actually really nice when
she's not being the leader of the Mob.” Sammy said. “I might have
let a few things slip accidentally.”

The others stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Hey.” Petunia nudged open the door
with her arm. “Just letting you know things are stable for now, but
the baby is coming and coming fast. We can't stop it.”

“Will they live?” Daniel asked.
“Will my baby live?”

“We don't know.” Petunia said,
looking tired and upset.

“For Globs sake, you useless WHOA!”
Daniel had gotten up and was heading towards Petunia, but was stopped
by the Lions Claw Blade.

“So THAT'S why you wouldn't sit
down.” Sammy mused.

“Sit down Dan. You know full well
that the staff here are doing everything they can to keep Judith and
the baby alive. You know they're not miracle workers. I suggest you
get over yourself before I make you.” Charlie said evenly.

“Well that escalated quickly.”
Belle sipped her coffee.

“I don't think it did. I think it's
been escalating since Judith got into hospital.” TJ said, standing
up. He turned to Daniel. “Mate, we've been nothing but supportive,
but you've treated us like we're the reason everything has gone
wrong.”

Aren't you though?
Daniel thought. He thought back to all the times that they could have
outright killed Marion, Revolver, Roger, Daryl, Demon…all of them.
He thought about how easy life would be if they had.

And killing was SO
easy…

“Please,
we're all on the same side here. We want you to be happy, we want
Judith to live and we want your baby to be okay.” TJ continued.
“Please, believe us and stop treating us like we're the enemy.”

“You sure you're
not the enemy? You've got a sword to my face.” Daniel pointed out.

“And you're not
supposed to have it in my hospital.” Petunia frowned.

“Are you going to
stop being a butt or not?” Charlie asked impatiently.

Everyone looked at
Charlie.

“Yes, I know I'm
the butt right now, but Dan has been a butt longer than me.”
Charlie snapped.

“Fine, I'll sit
down and not say a word shall I?” Daniel slumped into a chair
grumpily.

“Better than
being snarky.” Charlie sheathed the Lions Claw Blade.

“Wouldn't it have
been easier to bring your daggers instead of shoving that thing under
your clothes? It's gotta be uncomfortable.” Sammy asked.

“But it wouldn't
have been as classic.” Charlie grinned.

“We're leaving.”
Belle dragged Charlie out by his collar. “REALLY Charles, you
couldn't help yourself could you?”

“I had my
reasons!” Charlie argued back, his voice fading as Belle hauled him
away.

Daniel stiffened.
Charlie couldn't know. There was no way Charlie could know…

Could he?

—

Sure enough, not
even 24 hours later Marion was back at the hospital looking frazzled.

“Hey Marion. You
okay?” Tammy asked, sitting near the water cooler that had been put
near Judiths room.

“I've just been
in gaol overnight and now my sister is giving birth!” Marion
snapped.

“Yeah, I'd be
pretty pissy too. Water?” Tammy offered her a drink. Marion
accepted it wordlessly.

“I'd be careful
going to the waiting room. Dan's not biting our heads off anymore but
he's still being cold.” Tammy warned Marion as the older woman
sipped her drink.

“Oh stuff him.
It's Judy I'm worried about.” Marion sighed. “Do you think
they're going to be okay?”

“Well, 'Tuney is
looking after them, and she says it's 60-40 in favour of them both
surviving.” Tammy said.

“So they'll be
perfectly fine then.” Marion grinned. “Judy's faced worse odds
before and won, easily.”

Tammy couldn't help
but smile. Marion really WAS likeable when you took away the Mob.
“Well, you've made me feel better.” She admitted.

“Good. Now let's
deal with Danny Daddy-o. See if we can't get him to wise up.”
Marion smiled back.

Tammy followed
Marion into the waiting room, wondering which one would be more
dangerous if things went wrong – Daniel or Marion?

—

Thankfully, a few
hours later, it turned out everything was okay.

“IT'S A BOY!”
Daniel came running out of Judith's room, looking rapt and nearly
taking out Sammy.

“And Judith?!”
Marion asked.

“She's tired, but
all okay. They'll have to stay here for a few more weeks, but Marcus
is in surprisingly good health considering how premature he is.”
Daniel's face hurt with all the grinning, but he couldn't turn it
off.

“Marcus?” TJ
asked.

“That's his name.
After her father.” Daniel looked at Marion, who started crying
silently. “She wants to see you Marion. She wants you to meet your
nephew.”

Marion nodded, and
went to see her sister. Daniel sat down, looking exhausted and
excited.

“Congrats mate!”
He wasn't allowed to be exhausted for long, not with TJ and Sammy
mobbing him with hugs and kisses. Tammy cheered and started running
laps around the room in excitement, only stopping to help Petunia sit
down when she finally emerged from the delivery room, also exhausted.

“It's almost like
old times again, isn't it?” Petunia smiled, leaning back into her
chair. “Just the five of us against the world.”

Daniel looked
around. He was surrounded by his old playmates, who had stuck by him
since they were children.

“I guess I owe
you guys a huge apology…and a steak dinner…and ice cream…okay
I'm not made of money!” He laughed at the greedy stares he was
getting.

Inside his
humicrib, Marcus looked around at his new life. His mother and aunt
smiled down on him.

Back at Sunnys
place, Melodys fever finally broke, and she started to sleep
naturally. Outside, Belle was chasing Charlie, who had stolen her
Highly Mega Ultra Super Advanced Dictionary First Class.

All was well in the
world. For now.