Pregnant With His Liger Baby

Micah stopped dead in his tracks, staring back at the closed gate. Soon, it swung open a second time, and Sylvie came running out with the duffle, still in her human form. He transformed as well, so that all the gatekeepers could see were a human couple running away. Of course, they still would call the authorities, and they had a good description of Sylvie, too. This had really bad written all over it.

“We should head towards the waterway,” Sylvie suggested. “We could cross to the other side. They’ll be looking on this side first, it would buy us some time.” She stopped to sniff the air. “That way,” she added, and started to walk without waiting for an answer.

Micah simply followed her. He was tired, and hurting, and he just wanted to rest, but he kept his legs moving until they’d finally reached the small dock a few blocks away. Sylvie helped him into the little boat while he still held Ilana, and then she got into it after him.

“They’ve left the key in,” Micah said. “Should I turn it on?”

“No, we need to paddle out a bit, the sound could alert the people to our presence,” she said.

“Where did you learn all this stuff, anyway?” Micah asked her.

“Human books, silly,” she said, tapping the side of her head with a finger.

“Oh yeah,” he said, smirking. It made his head hurt. Last time his head hurt was when Damon had punched him, he thought with a bit of sadness. He’d far rather endure that pain again than go through all of this.

“There’s got to be some way we can discover my brother’s location,” Sylvie continued as she began to row them steadily away from the dock. “If only we could contact Dr. O’Dell.”

“We need to find a phone book and phone somehow,” he agreed. “Maybe in a library?”

“Not at midnight, though,” Sylvie said. “First, we need to find someplace to rest.”

“Have I ever told you how much I admire you, kitten?” Micah asked softly, and he realized the world was spinning. “I think I’m going to—”

He slumped backward in his seat, and Sylvie quickly took Ilana out of his arms and laid her on the floor so she could continue to row. She took time only to make sure he still had a pulse, then decided they’d gone far enough to turn the key. She did, and the boat sprang to life. She swept up the waterway at top speed, putting a few miles behind them before stopping at a dock on the far side.

Micah had opened his eyes again by then. He was watching her with a bemused look on his face. “Where are we?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but I spotted an old shack a bit further in, over there,” she said, pointing to it. “With any luck, it may be empty.”

“Let’s hope so,” said Micah. “I could really use some of that pain killer, and probably the antibiotic as well.”

“Once I figure out how to put the IV in. Also, I’m sure these doses are for cats, so you’ll have to shift for it. I’ll take Ilana and the duffle. You just get yourself over to the shack, okay?”

“Sure,” he said, his words slurred.

“If you’re not there by the time I get there, I’ll set both down and come help you,” she added tiredly.

“I’ll get there if it kills me,” Micah replied.

Sylvie hurried over to the shack and knocked on the door. Thankfully, there was no answer. She set Ilana and the duffle bag down inside, and quickly returned for Micah. He was still determinedly dragging himself there, but he hadn’t even gotten halfway. With her shoulder and some sheer willpower, the two of them quickly got to the shack and went inside, closing the door behind them.

“Micah, I need you to turn, do you think you can do that?” she asked, trying to make sure he could still hear her. He seemed pretty out of it. He didn’t respond, and he didn’t turn either. “Come on, Micah, I can’t help you if you don’t help yourself. I might do more harm than good.”

Sylvie waited about ten minutes before she realized he wasn’t waking up. He needed some medicine in him, and he needed it right then. With no better idea what to do, she managed to insert the rather large IV into his arm and started to drip smaller doses than it said on the bottle into him just to get things started. Eventually, she brought Ilana with her on the blanket and dozed off, and when she woke later she found that he was awake and seemed more lucid.

“I must have passed out?” he inquired.

“You did,” she smiled. “I was a bit scared for a few minutes there.”

“I think the pain meds helped, but we really need to get the full dose of antibiotic going,” he replied. “Are you up for doing it the right way?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.

Finally situated for the night, the three dozed off yet again, intending to move on once they’d rested so that no one would discover them there. After all, the stolen boat was parked right off the shore here. Once they figured out they’d crossed the water it would be easy enough to look for them here.

It was almost dawn when Sylvie shook Micah awake. “Time to go,” she told him. “It’s too dangerous to remain here any longer.”

Nodding his agreement, Micah winced as Sylvie pulled out the IV and buried the needle in a plant pot. It wouldn’t do to leave it in plain sight, and hopefully no one would think to look for it in there. She didn’t want to bring it along.

“Ready?” Micah asked. He picked up Ilana and the pair of them began to walk. Micah had found an old hat in the shack, and he was now using it to cover his face a bit, hiding the stitches from casual view. They walked out onto the open road and made their way to a small restaurant up the way. Looking inside, they found it had a phone book, so they used it to look up the number of the preserve.

Since they didn’t have any money, they wouldn’t be able to call directly, so the call had to be made some other way. They spotted a man with a cell phone and asked if they could borrow it, and got the operator for the preserve on the third ring.

“This had better be important,” she grumbled.

“Meredith, it’s Micah,” he said. “We need to talk to Dr. O’Dell right away.”

“Micah? I thought you were dead!”