..oOOo..


3:46pm Tuesday

Langly fidgeted uncomfortably with his unflattering hospital gown as
he tried to settle into the bed.  "Why do I have to stay here?  I feel
fine..." he grumbled as he pulled the thin sheet and blanket up around
his waist and crossed his arms over his abdomen.  

"You felt fine the last two afternoons, too.  They need to keep an
eye on you mostly to see if you get sick in the morning again."  Byers
leaned back in the chair he’d pulled up next to Langly’s bed.

The younger man snorted derisively.  "Yeah, right...the morning 
sickness," he shook his head in disbelief, then suddenly grew serious.
"John, what if this thing is real?" he asked quietly, looking at his lover
expectantly.

"If what is real?  They don’t even know what wrong with you yet,"
he answered.

"Well, there is one pretty convincing theory..." Langly reminded him
abruptly.

"Ree,"  Byers sighed, leaning forward to lean his elbows on the bed
and look up at the other man.  "You know as well as the doctors do
that it’s not physically possible for you to be pregnant.  There *is*
something wrong, but we just need to give them time to find out what
that is."

Langly sighed, leaning back against the raised bed into the pillows.
He brought his hand up to gently rub his lower stomach in thought.
"Yeah...but I just...I have this feeling, John," he insisted in a shaky
voice.  He looked up to meet Byers’ eyes.  "What if this *is* real?
I mean, if I’m this sick in the first few days, what happens later--"
he rattled on nervously.

"Ree, Ree--stop,"  Byers put a hand up to quiet him, then placed
the hand over the one Langly had rubbing over his abdomen.  
"It won’t do any good to get worked up over something that can’t
even be possible.  We just...need to give the doctor some time, okay?"

The younger man gave him a slow nod, swallowing hard.  All of 
a sudden, his eyes widened in realization.  "That--John, I just 
remembered something.  You remember when we went to that 
bookstore a few days ago, the day before this started?"

Byers nodded, trying to keep up with the hurried thinking-out-loud
Langly was doing.  The younger man continued before he could
say anything.  "That old woman;  she touched my stomach and said
something...I was trying to figure out what it was and it just occurred
to me.  The women there were Chinese, right?"

The older man nodded silently and let Langly keep going.  "Listen, 
there are sects of Buddhism that are devoted to the worship of 
reproduction...fertility, or something.  What she said, I thought
I recognized one of the words...she said ‘Shiva’."

"’Shiva’?  What’s that?"  Byers asked, interested in where this 
insane train of thought was going.

"Shiva is one of the religious figures, a fertility god.  He represents
the joining of two people, the two opposites, male and female.  What
if the woman at the shop did something to me?  Like, a prayer or
something, that is making my body think I’m supposed to have a
baby?"

"Ringo, this is nuts!"  Byers finally cut in, unable to believe the 
conclusions his lover was jumping to with absolutely no evidence.
"You *can’t* get pregnant!  And someone touching you won’t 
cause this kind of imbalance!"

Langly stared at him, hurt.  "John, what else do we have to go on?
The timing is too perfect, and the situation is beyond coincidental.
Please," he took Byers’ hand and squeezed in desperation.  "Can
you go back there and ask the woman’s daughter what she did?
I need to know.  Please."  

Byers had never seen Langly so sure, so completely focused on
such an absurd idea.  But he found himself nodding.  He didn’t 
believe he would learn anything useful, but he saw how much 
Langly needed this.  "Yeah, okay," he said finally, standing up.
Picking up his jacket, he looked down at the other man.  "Just...
stay out of trouble, okay?  Call my cell if you need anything."

"I will.  Thanks, John."  Langly settled back down into the bed.

The older man reached down and stroked his hair.  "I love you,
you know that?"

"Yeah, I know.  I love you too,"  Langly answered with a sweet
smile, tilting his head to kiss Byers’ wrist before the older man
left the room.


..oOOo..


Byers shivered involuntarily as he entered the bookstore, then pushed
the unsettled feeling aside.  He glanced around, finally spotting the
short, younger woman from the last visit.

She gave him a warm, friendly smile, which abruptly changed to
a nervous one as she recognized him.  "Hello, back so soon?" she
said lightly.

"Yes, but I’d actually like to talk to you.  It’s about my friend, who
was with me a few days ago here."  He stepped up and leaned on his
arms against the counter facing her.

"Oh, yes.  The blonde man...he is your lover, yes?"

Byers straightened quickly, stunned at her knowledge.  "Um, yes, 
we are together.  How did you know that?"

She ducked her head shyly, not hiding her knowing smile.  "I see
how you acted together, how he looked at you, and how you
were protective of him."

"Oh.  Um, I guess that makes this easier, then," he stated, leaning
on the counter again.  "My friend is sick;  he started getting sick
the day after we were here, and he asked me to come talk to you.  
He thinks that your mother may have something to do with his 
illness."

"My mother..." she repeated softly, closing her eyes as if in regret.
"I’m sorry, she misunderstood.  She was just trying to help..."

"Whoa, hold on.  First, I need to know what happened.  What did
she say to him, and why did she touch him like that?"

The young Chinese woman sighed.  "Mother is faithful to the Shiva
Linga religion, related to Buddhism.  They are strong believers in
the power of blessing to aid fertility.  She...she meant no harm.  She
saw how he was watching you with my little boy, how he longed
to be able to give you a child."

"She...she saw this?  She knew we were lovers?"  he asked, dumb-
founded.

"Yes, she knows of same-sex relationships.  Your friend, he wanted
so badly to give you a child, Mother believed she could give him the
blessing, so he could be capable of having a child."

Byers took a step back, shaking his head in disbelief.  "No...no, it’s
not physically possible!  He can’t..." he choked, running his hand 
through his hair in frustration.  

"According to the Shiva beliefs, anyone who has been blessed with
this gift will be given a child with the next joining."

"Next joining?"  the shell-shocked Byers repeated, trying to stay
with her but his mind was reeling uncontrollably.

"Yes.  And you say he is sick now...may I assume that you have
joined with him since the touch?"  she narrowed her eyes at him,
curiously.

"Um...yes, we have..." he answered without thinking.  "Does this
mean...I mean, how can...?"

"It means his body was given the ability to conceive a child."


..oOOo..


Langly stared at Byers as the older man recounted his conversation
with the store owner, growing so pale Byers wondered if he should
get a nurse.

"No, it’s okay,"  the younger man assured him.  "I’m just...oh, god,
John!"

"Ree, let’s not jump to any conclusion yet, please,"  Byers stood and
paced the room in deep thought.  "Everything she said was based
only on a religious belief, a myth.  Whatever is wrong with you, it
has to just be a coincidence.  It’s not physiologically possible for
you to be pregnant!"

Langly leaned to rest his elbows on his knees, his legs crossed 
under the blanket in front of him.  He buried his face in his hands
and took a deep breath.  "John, would you please at least consider
the possibility?"

Byers stopped, turning back to face his lover.  "Ree, I just can’t...." 
he spread his arms helplessly.

The younger man sighed, exasperated.  "Okay.  Will you...at least
tell Dr. Larson about this?"

"Why?"  

"Just...because I think it’s important.  Please.  I can’t ask you to 
accept this as absolutely true;  all I ask is that you trust me, trust
my own instincts.  It just...feels right."  Langly looked at him, pleading
for understanding.  

The older man held his gaze for a long moment, then nodded slowly.
He walked back over to the other man and sat down on the bed
in front of him, taking his hand.  "Okay, I’ll talk to her.  Don’t worry,"
he said softly, reaching his other hand up to brush the loose strands
of hair back and tuck them behind Langly’s ear.  "We’ll figure this 
out."

Langly nodded, sitting back against the pillow.  Without thinking, 
he placed his hand on his abdomen again, rubbing it gently in thought.
When he realized he was doing it, he looked up and smiled weakly
at the other man.  "I can’t help but wonder..." he muttered so softly,
Byers barely heard him.

Byers scooted closer and bend down, pressing his ear to Langly’s
midsection.  The younger man smiled, knowing that his lover was
at least trying to believe him.  

Silently, Langly laid back, stroking at Byers’ short, silky hair and
watching as the older man did his best to listen.


..oOOo..