When the young man disappeared from sight again, to hopefully go and retrieve Ian and Kyle, as Jared had requested, was when Jared found his attention easily drawn back to where Lili still lay unconscious from the effects of the sedatives as well as her blood loss and overall physical exhaustion. He sighed deeply as he looked around at the scene, knowing he should move her inside, while also knowing he had to be very careful doing so, so as to not endanger her any further, as she had just undergone surgery as well, on top of everything else she had just been through.

After several more minutes, Jared had now ever so carefully transferred her back inside, pulled away the remains of her blood drenched clothing and was now gently using a wet piece of cloth to try and wipe away the blood from her already pale skin, which still wore an even more deathly pallor after the massive blood loss. He swallowed hard, biting back his own emotions at seeing her in such a state, but he knew that if and when she woke up, finding herself covered in blood was surely not going to help her recovery in any way.

Meanwhile, outside the shack, their ghostlike friend had now once again appeared, kneeling on the ground beside where Kyle still lay in the same position he had been in inside the tent when their companion had arrived, placed a hand over his shoulder and pulled him through space itself to arrive back at their home once more.

“What the?” Kyle breathed heavily as they reappeared there, his eyes wide as he immediately recognized the surroundings once that moment of nothingness between the beach and the forest gave way, as he returned to reality once again, but now, there, in this other place once more.

Though, as was usual, the other man offered no response, simply relinquished his hold on Kyle’s shoulder and vanished into thin air once more, causing Kyle to gasp slightly at the sight, just like he had when the man had appeared there in his tent moments before. However, Kyle’s shock at the abilities so easily harnessed by the man who was less than four years his senior, soon gave way to a different shock as his eyes moved to the bloodied ground in front of the shack, hoping upon hope that all of that blood was merely from a recent meal, but he somehow doubted it.

Back on the beach, Ian’s anger had returned once more at seeing their ghost reappear and yank another of his companions away with no solid explanation. Never mind the fact that Kyle’s disappearance did now leave Ian alone there on the beach, though that was the very least of his concerns at that point. Ian angrily began ripping down the tents and shoving them into he and Kyle’s bags when, moments later, the man had reappeared there again.

“You.” he complained as his ocean colored eyes met the deep hazel of the other man’s eyes that barely peeked out from behind the long black tangles. The younger of them allowed only a slight sigh as he moved to take a step towards Ian, who immediately stepped back, “No, you do not touch me. Not until you tell me where the hell you took them.”

“Was going to help with bag.” was his only response.

“Yeah you’re just all kinds of fucking helpful, aren’t you?” Ian grumbled, holding his guarded pose as he looked the other man up and down, thankful that at least most of the traces of blood seemed to be gone from the other man’s skin, now, but still having a lot of difficulty trusting him at all.

The younger of them shook his head, “I no understand most things you say. Odd words, always.”

Ian scoffed loudly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you and I had had a lot of conversations before today.”

“Reason.”

“Reason? What the fuck does that even mean?” Ian complained loudly.

“Reason no talk to you. Angry. No trust.”

Ian let out an obviously insincere chuckle at that statement before moving on, “Well you stalk us for a year. Then appear to be helping us. But never bother explaining a fucking thing. Then you show up again, covered in blood and just yank Jared away, for hours. Then you show up again, not to explain yourself, but to drag Kyle away too. So sorry if I seem to have a little trouble trusting you when you never, ever tell us what you really want, why you’re following us around in the shadows, why you act like you want to help, then just yank one of us away with no warning. Not to mention, who knows what the hell else you can do? Yeah, tons of reasons to trust you.”

The other man then shook his head again in seeming frustration, “Still, odd words. Hard to follow. Just hear anger.”

Ian just scoffed again, “Let’s try an easy one: Where did you take them?” he stated, over enunciating each word slowly.

“Back to her. Flame haired girl. Lili?” he asked, always unsure when he tried to call any of them by name.

“They’re back at the shack?” Ian asked, his volume dropping slightly as he looked over the man once again.

“Needed doctor. No time to…explain.” he attempted another answer, trying to repeat one of the words that Ian seemed to have used in his angry statements moments before.

“It was Lili’s blood?” Ian returned, his voice shaking a bit as he asked.

“Baby came. She was alone. Had to help. Then could give no more help. Got doctor then.” the younger of them returned, his own voice quiet as he offered the explanation the other man seemed to want so much.

“The baby?”

“Odd. She’s like you, but not like you.” was the strange statement the younger man offered in response.

“What? Who? Lili?” Ian asked, a little thrown by the seemingly random statement.

“Doctor….Jared…he want me bring you there. Get things. We go.” he replied to Ian, giving no further answers to his questions. Though, at that point, Ian was more concerned with getting back to Lili than he even was with pressing for any more answers right then. He took a shaky breath, simply nodded, then let the other man help him gather the remaining supplies before finally allowing himself to give in to that eerie touch that would hopefully transport him back to Lili’s side once again, after so very long away, trying to find that help that they may never find at all.

The moment after he was transported back to their home, the first thing he noticed, was Kyle trying to force himself to his feet, despite his still weakened state. Ian then immediately noticed the red stained ground in front of the shack as their companion once again disappeared from their sight with no warning, as was becoming painfully familiar to them.

“Kyle…” Ian breathed the name rather than spoke it as he dropped the bag next to where the other had dropped a second before the most recent vanishing act.

“Must he always do that?” Kyle complained, his eyes only moving away from the drying pool of blood for a moment to watch as the other man once again disappeared and Ian moved to help him to his feet.

“It’s getting scary how much we’re agreeing lately.” Ian returned as his only answer to Kyle’s question. Once Kyle was upright again, though supporting his weight against Ian’s body, the older continued, “Speaking of scary…” he began, his eyes moving deliberately back to the ground, “Is that Lili’s?” he finally managed, though the words struggled to escape his lips.

Kyle took his own ragged breath, “I don’t know. I just got here too, remember?”

“So, you don’t even know if she’s…” Ian began in a raspy whisper of his own, though he didn’t have to find the words to finish the thought, as they heard footsteps inside the shack as Jared finally appeared inside the door, obviously responding to their voices.

“He did bring you back.” was Jared’s greeting, though the relief in his words was miniscule, to say the least.

The other two looked at him warily, easily noting the bloody cloth in his hands, before either of them managed any more words, “It is her blood, isn’t it?” Ian forced the words.

“She went into labor, last night, I think. After I…left.” Jared attempted though even he wasn’t sure if his last word was the most accurate in this particular case.

“Is she…” Kyle began, though even his usual ability to separate himself from his own emotions so expertly seemed to be failing him now.

“She’s…” Jared began with a slight pause as he glanced back toward the door he now stood outside of, “She’s still unconscious. I had to put her to sleep, so I could try to…to stop the bleeding.”

“You did though, stop it?” Kyle managed.

“For now. But it’s going to be hard to tell really, as some bleeding is normal, after.” Jared then sighed deeply, his own exhaustion easily showing at that point.

“And the baby?” Ian asked with his own fear showing, no matter how well hidden he seemed to keep it at most times.

“Alive. For now, anyway.”

“For now?” Ian swallowed a bit.

“It’s tiny, and hungry. And right now, Lili can’t provide for it. At least not until she recovers.” Jared admitted, slowly setting aside the cloth in his hands as though just now remembering it was there at all.

“Can we see…either of them?” Ian asked after allowing a moment to process Jared’s words.

Jared let out a slight sigh, “I’m still cleaning Lili up, and I have to keep watching her, just in case.” he swallowed a bit, “Give me a few, I can bring the baby out. But be careful. Like I said, neither of them are completely out of the woods just yet.”

The two nodded somberly as Ian helped Kyle to one of the seats they normally used for meals back when they had all been there together, back when things somehow seemed a lot less bleak than they did now, even though none of them even knew it at the time. Several more minutes passed as both the men waited for their first meeting with the child that could belong to any of them, the whole time, trying in vain to keep from looking back at the ground and imagining what Lili could have possibly been going through that previous night.

Finally, Jared reappeared, the tiny baby wrapped in a fur blanket as he held it close to his chest and moved toward the other men, who both seemed to forget their breath as the child was brought to them. It fussed gently as he leaned down to let them have a look into that tiny face, and those ocean-colored eyes below the tiny sprinkling of red locks on the otherwise bald head.

“God, it is tiny.” Kyle breathed as he gently moved the fur only a fraction of an inch away from those eyes as Jared continued to kneel down in front of them, holding the child gently.

“She.” was Jared’s only response as he looked up at where Ian seemed almost frozen as he looked down into eyes identical to his own. Jared then swallowed a bit as he waited for any more words from either of the two men, but Kyle remained silent as he moved to allow the child to wrap it’s own tiny fingers around his own, and Ian also could seem to find no words for once, and hardly any breath as he continued to stare down at the child with a million different emotions all at once, “Do you want to hold her?” Jared finally asked the eldest of them, jarring him more than a bit from his continued gaze upon that new tiny human.

“Me?” Ian asked hoarsely.

“Remember, I have to get back to keeping an eye on mom.” Jared returned in his own whisper as he gently held the child out to Ian. Ian took a ragged breath as he shakily reached for the child as Jared relinquished his own gentle hold on her, “I have to get back to Lili.” he repeated, then continued as he slowly stood, “But there are things…things we need to talk about, as soon as we can.”

“What sort of things?” Kyle managed as he looked up from where Ian pulled the child close against his own chest, his eyes still not leaving hers.

“Things that…change…things.” was Jared’s only cryptic response as he somberly moved back through the door, leaving the others to ponder his words.

After another moment of watching Ian stare down at the child, rocking it gently in his arms, Kyle finally had to speak up again, “What do you suppose that meant?”

“No idea.” Ian whispered, still not looking up from her tiny face as he spoke.

Kyle just shook his head as he watched Ian’s continued attention seeming to be on nothing but the child in his arms, “You’re usually the first one to be asking for explanations when Jared makes some cryptic comment like that. Aren’t you?” Kyle pointed out, though quietly.

“I guess things have already changed.” Ian offered his own cryptic comment, continuing to cuddle the child against that strong chest of his.

“I’d say that would be right up there with understatement of the year.” Kyle returned with some of his usual smartness returning to his tone.

Ian sighed only slightly, but responded, “I don’t know what he meant. I just know that this, her, she’s what really matters now.”

Kyle let out his own sigh as Ian kept his attention firmly on the child throughout the conversation, “Maybe though, she is what he was talking about.”

“Meaning?” Ian asked, finally looking up from the baby to meet Kyle’s concerned gaze.

“Meaning…what we talked about all those months ago.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that, Kyle.” Ian returned with a slight shake of his head.

“Meaning,” Kyle began again, “Just look at the last, the only, other child who ever grew up here. Maybe he was even born here. But think about it. What could that really mean? Even the children who were born on the ship: We’re worlds different from all of you. Who knows how different our ‘ghost’ really is. Or…” he paused again, “how different this child could be.”