CODE BLUE

ONE

It started with the headaches.

Blossom noticed that Bubbles was occasionally rubbing her temples or her forehead. She didn't do it all the time, just a few times in school or when they were home watching TV. It was never when Bubbles was doing something, only when she was sitting down and concentrating, so Blossom thought maybe her sister was having trouble with her eyes again. But whatever it was, Bubbles didn't seem to be aware of it.

One Thursday morning, while their kindergarten teacher, Ms. Keane, was standing at the blackboard, Blossom heard Buttercup whisper "Hey, Bubbles, you OK?"

When she turned to look, Bubbles was rubbing the side of her head. "Huh? Oh, sure!"

"You got a headache?" Buttercup asked quietly.

"Not really. It just hurts a little, but it always goes away."

"So, she IS aware of it!" Blossom thought. "Bubbles, are your eyes bothering you again? Maybe you should sit near the front."

"Time to get out the specs!" Buttercup grinned.

"Nuh, uh! I'm not wearing those stupid glasses again!"

"Girls!"

They whipped their heads to see their teacher and most of the class watching them.

"Something you'd like to share with the rest of us?" Ms. Keane asked, raising an eyebrow, hands on her hips.

"Bubbles has a headache, Ms. Keane. I think it's her eyes again." Blossom said.

"It is not!" Bubbles insisted, not realizing she was starting to rub her forehead again.

"Bubbles, I think you should go to the school nurse for an aspirin."

"Make sure it's baby aspirin!" Buttercup laughed. Mitch Mitchellson and some of the other kids joined in. Blossom frowned at her green-eyed sister.

"I'm FINE!" Bubbles shouted, her face turning red. Suddenly, she winced with pain and grabbed her head with both hands. Blossom and Buttercup both stood up, looking very worried.

"No, you're not fine." Ms. Keane said, rushing over and taking Bubbles by an arm. "Blossom, take her down to the nurse's office."

"I think I should take her home and let the Professor look at her."

"Yes, Blossom, that's a good idea."

Whatever it was had passed, and Bubbles took her hands away.

"But, I'm okay, really!" she protested. "I don' wanna go home!"

Protesting did no good. Soon, Blossom had one arm around Bubbles' shoulders and they were headed out the door. A perturbed Buttercup watched them leave.

"Ms. Keane, I think I should go with them!"

"Why, Buttercup? Are you getting a headache too?"

"Maybe a little." she lied.

"Then go ask the nurse for some baby aspirin." her teacher smirked. She crossed her arms and scowled at everyone who laughed at her, but soon, Ms. Keane got everyone's attention back on the next lesson.

TWO

Buttercup grew concerned as the day went on. She expected the Professor to send Blossom back, but her sister never returned. When the bell finally rang, she sped home through her bedroom window. She was shocked to see Blossom lying on their bed, looking very worried.

"She's sick, Buttercup. She got another real bad one on the way home and I got her into the bathroom just in time."

"Eeewwwwww!"

"Yeah. Professor's still looking at her. It sounds like the flu."

" I think that's all it is, Blossom."

Professor Utonium walked in, carrying a pale-looking Bubbles, curled up in his arms.

"I'm outta here!" Buttercup made a beeline for the door, but Professor held up his hand.

"Whatever it is, Buttercup, you've already been exposed to it. There's no harm in sleeping in the same room."

"There is if she pukes on me!"

"Buttercup, that's MEAN!" Blossom exclaimed.

Bubbles' look of sadness just got sadder and she whimpered.

"Now, Buttercup!" Professor admonished her sternly. "I expect you to help care for your sister, just as she would for you if you were sick!"

THREE

But she never got sick, nor did Blossom or the Professor come down with what Bubbles had. Bubbles' headaches became more frequent and more severe, and what little she did eat she didn't keep for very long. She was kept out of school and the Professor would not let her do any crime or monster fighting until she was over it. He spoke to her pediatrician on the phone twice, and each time he was assured that simple bed rest and fluids was the proper course. But on the fourth day, Monday, when she seemed no better, he made an appointment for the next day.

That morning, she woke up feeling great. Her head felt fine and she was so hungry that the Professor had to constantly remind her to eat slowly. He knew how anxious she was to get back to school with her sisters and get back to protecting Townsville, but there was nothing good to be gained by rushing things.

The doctor gave her a clean bill of health.

"Just a five-day bug, Bubbles. You're as good as new!"

She was so happy she kissed the startled doctor. It made the man's day, but the moment would be totally forgotten when she was back in his office the next day.

FOUR

Everyone was happy to have Bubbles back at school. She was so full of energy that it rubbed off, and everyone was in a happy mood. Perhaps too happy, Ms. Keane thought. By recess, she had become slightly annoyed at the disruptions. On three different occasions, Bubbles had suddenly gone into a giggling fit over something the teacher never learned the cause of. Her sisters were no help, Buttercup especially, but the third time it happened, Keane caught Blossom giving Bubbles the eye. She called recess and sent the kids out into the schoolyard to play.

Bubbles raced outside, laughing. Buttercup chased her. Suddenly, Bubbles tripped on something and fell in a heap. Keane gasped, but Blossom, standing next to her, said "Relax, Ms. Keane, it's only Bubbles!"

"Oh, that's right. You girls can't hurt yourselves by..."

"Bubbles!" Blossom shouted, leaving a pink trail behind her as she flew to her sister, who sat bawling on the ground. When she got there, Buttercup was looking down in disgust at Bubbles, who was holding a dandelion by its broken stem. Tears flowed from her eyes as she cried out loud. All the other kids began to crowd around in a circle to watch, and Keane pushed her way through.

"Bubbles, it's only a stupid weed!" Buttercup growled.

Bubbles stopped crying and blinked. "Hee. Yeah, I guess that is kinda silly. Hee hee!"

She started another giggling fit and threw the stem to the ground. She stood up and stomped on it. "Stupid weed!" She continued giggling, her voice rising in pitch as she looked around on the ground for more dandelions to stomp. "Stupid weeds!" Her face got all red and her laughter turned to angry screaming as she squashed every one of the offending yellow flowers she could see. Keane and the kids stood stunned. Blossom and Buttercup grabbed onto their out-of-control sister.

"Whoa, Bubbles, calm down!" Buttercup yelled.

Bubbles' face went pure white and she sagged. Blossom helped her to her knees and knelt beside her, frightened out of her wits. "Bubbles, what's the matter?!"

Bubbles grabbed her head with both hands. "Oooohh, it hurts, it hurts worse than ever, make it stop.!" She threw up.

"Everyone, back inside, now!" Keane commanded. "Move it!" Without waiting to see if the children moved, she turned to the girls. "Go, girls, now!"

They didn't have to be told. With both her sisters carrying her, Bubbles looked blankly past them. "Girls? I'm scared!"

"Take it easy, Bubbles, you?re gonna be fine." Buttercup told her.

"Yeah, Bubbles, you just weren't over the flu yet, that's all." Blossom said, exchanging looks with Buttercup. They were scared, too.

"No." Bubbles said. "Blossom? Buttercup? I can't see!"

FIVE

The sudden wild mood swings and the return of the headaches told Bubbles' pediatrician one thing: he was out of his league on this case.

On Thursday afternoon, Professor Utonium sat in stunned disbelief in the small office of Townsville General Hospital's chief pediatric oncologist. Being a scientist, he had a pretty good understanding of what he'd just seen and had explained to him of the two sets of CAT scans hanging, backlit, on the wall before him. The difference was obvious between the one on the left and the other, to its right. The small, irregular shaped masses were scattered throughout his daughter's brain, appearing as a deep red in their centers and spreading through the oranges into the yellows the further out they went. The healthy brain tissue showed up as a mottled pinkish color. In the scan on the right, the masses were noticeably larger. It was obvious, and ominous. A biopsy had been done, but though the results weren't back yet, they, too, were obvious.

What he couldn't believe, what had yet to register, was that only a week earlier his beautiful little girl had gone to school like always, bursting with life. Now he had just been told she was going to die. There was no hope, none. The doctor had been no less shocked and couldn't believe he was saying the words.

"Professor, I have seen every form of juvenile brain cancer there is, and I have never seen anything like this. Some are localized and grow slowly, others are invasive and can spread rapidly. Most affect only one portion of the brain. This at least gives us some options: Surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, sometimes a combination of two or all three. In Bubbles' case, every key part of her brain is affected, except for the speech center, for some unknown reason. Intracranial pressure has leveled out but it is still extremely high, the tumors are cytotoxic and infiltrating..."

The Professor heard the words and understood them, but he asked anyway the questions that were asked by every family member who had just learned their loved one was doomed.

"What course of treatment are you planning, doctor?"

"Palliative, Professor. We help her to go with as little pain as possible."

"I see." He didn't, not yet. She couldn't be dying, not his little angel...she couldn't...

"How long, Doctor?"

Oh, how he hated this part of the job...playing God with someone's life. He'd seen cases where he'd given someone three months, and two years later they were cancer-free and healthy as a horse. The fighters. Others, once they got the bad news they just gave up and were gone in weeks when medically, they had much longer. Bubbles was a fighter, but he had to go with what he knew.

"These scans are twelve hours apart. The pronounced cell growth in that short period tells me days, Professor...not weeks, days. Perhaps less. I am very, very sorry."

The Professor wasn't prepared to accept that. "That's not possible. How could that be?" he mumbled.

The doctor wanted to be objective. "I can't explain it other than that she's not like anyone else. None of the girls are."

The Professor blinked hard several times. "Of course! They're NOT like anyone else! Why did I think normal medical techniques would help her?"

His voice lost its soft, disconnected tone, and he stood up. "Thank you, Dr. Waldman. If there's nothing more that can be done, I'll take her home. She'll be happier there than here in the hospital."

The two men shook hands. "I'll sign the releases." the doctor said. "And I'll pray for a miracle."

A voice came over the hospital PA system. "Dr. Waldman, Code Blue, room 225, Dr. Waldman..."

Bubbles' room.

SIX

They had been sitting watching Bubbles, peacefully asleep at the moment, in her bed; hooked up to monitors and IV drip bags. Neither wanted to speak aloud their fears because they were afraid their sister might still understand them through the morphine. So they sat holding each others' hands, fighting the tears, each alone with her own thoughts.

The Mayor's assistant and their good friend, Sara Bellum, had come to stay with them at the Professor's request. She couldn't believe what was happening, either. The girls were so...so... indestructible. This couldn't really be happening. But she had seen it before. She and the Professor had spoken about it briefly, out of Buttercup's and Blossom's hearing, of just what this could possibly be. From what she could see, that's what it probably was, and she was preparing herself for what to tell Bubbles' sisters. That's why he'd asked her to come, because he couldn't tell them himself.

She had been standing behind the two girls, her hands resting lightly on their shoulders. She watched the tube that ran from Bubbles' body into the bag at the side of the bed, partially hidden by the bedsheet; and saw that it hadn't filled any more in over an hour. Bubbles' kidneys weren't doing their job, and she knew what that meant.

Both Blossom and Buttercup had gotten used to the rhythym of the machines that their sister was connected to. They would emit a series of beeps occasionally, and a nurse would come in to hit a reset button, make an adjustment or replace an empty drip bag. But suddenly, a number of different beeps sounded simultaneously, and lights began flashing all over. They jumped up, and Sara was shocked, too. The next thing they knew, they were being shoved out of the room by two nurses and an intern, and the door shut behind them. They heard the words 'Code Blue' and the number that matched the one on the door they were staring at.

"She's gonna die." Buttercup said, matter-of-factly. Then she flew down the hallway, punching and kicking the walls, leaving several holes. "Nooooooooo!" she screamed, and Blossom flew to her, got her in a bear hug and pinned her arms to her sides. Tears ran down their cheeks. Sara hurried over to them, knelt and pulled them in close, wrapping her arms around them.

"Girls, you have to think positive. They're doing everything they can for Bubbles and you have to believe she's going to get better."

"But she's not!" Buttercup wailed.

Around the corner from the opposite direction and toward them ran the Professor and a doctor. The doctor stopped the Professor from going inside the room with his hand and a look, then went inside and shut the door. The flashing red light over the door stayed on. The Professor looked angrily at the closed door. Sara stood up.

"Girls, wait right here."

She walked over to the Professor and they talked quietly for several moments, occasionally looking or gesturing toward the girls. Once, he looked over and smiled at them reassuringly, but Blossom thought that he looked more angry than afraid. It didn't make sense. Then, the door to the room opened, the doctor poked his head out and nodded, and the Professor went inside. Sara came over to them.

"Girls, I need you to be strong."

"She IS going to die, isn't she." Blossom said. She gripped Buttercup even tighter.

"Blossom, we can't lose hope. Professor hasn't given up. He thinks there's something he can do..." Her words trailed off.

"But the doctors don't, do they?" Buttercup asked.

"Boy, are they perceptive. I think it's best to just tell them the truth." She knelt in front of them again.

"Girls, it does look very bad, but there's ALWAYS hope."

"Just tell us, Ms. Bellum. It's cancer, isn't it?"

Sara's shoulders sagged. "Yes, Blossom. They can't stop it."

"I hate that word." Buttercup said. "We can be strong, Ms. Bellum. Our friend Carrie Blueberry ¹ taught us how."

"Yes, I remember." Sara whispered.

"Yes, Ms. Bellum." Blossom agreed. "Bubbles must be scared but I know she'll be brave."

SEVEN

Bubbles lay peacefully silent while the nurses and the intern went about checking, adjusting, and writing down findings on a chart. Dr. Waldman and the Professor stood next to the bed on the door side.

"Professor, things are going much faster than we expected. Her kidneys have shut down. Her other major organs are in the process. Her heart and respiration are strong yet, but they are slowing. We are looking at hours, now."

The Professor maintained his silence, staring stonily at the doctor, who continued, glancing momentarily toward a monitor, while the other three people in the room did their work.

"Her brain activity is dropping rapidly. If you plan on speaking with her, now would be the time. We're bringing her out now." Out of her sleep.

"Doctor, there is still something I can do for her."

The man couldn't imagine what, but at this point there was no harm in trying.

"I see no point in moving her. Whatever you intend to do may be done here."

"Thank you. I'll have to go home for some things..."

"I wouldn't leave the hospital if it were me, but whatever you have to do..."

EIGHT

Sara went in first, and came out after a few minutes biting her lower lip, trying to be strong herself.

The Professor in the meantime had explained to Blossom and Buttercup that there was still hope, but if there was anything they wanted their sister to know, they'd better say it now. They went in holding hands and came out the same way, ten minutes later. They were sobbing, but Blossom surprised the Professor with the news that Bubbles could see again. He hurried inside.

"She has her vision back temporarily. Not unusual. As the healthy cells die, there is less pressure on the optic nerve." the doctor told him.

Bubbles looked over to him and smiled weakly. He smiled back and walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Hi, Professor. I can see again and it don't hurt as much now!"

He stroked her blonde hair. "That's good, honey. You should rest so you can get better quicker."

"It's ok, Professor, I know what's happenin' to me. Professor? Will Grandma and Grandpa Utonium know me when I get to heaven? They never saw me before."

"Of course they will, Bubbles. They know you now, but you won't get to see them for a long, long time."

"Do you think they'll like me?"

"Honey, they love you just as much as I do...I-"

"Professor?" she interrupted. She was fighting to stay awake.

"I always tried to be a good little girl. Was I good?"

He fought to keep control of himself as he leaned in and pulled her to his chest. "Oh, sweetie, you're the best little girl anyone could want!"

He lay her back down, and he could see she was fading fast. "Now, you get some more sleep and we'll have you out of here in no time."

She closed her eyes, with a small smile on her face. "S'okay, Professor, I'm not scared no more. S'okay. G'bye, Professor...I love you..."

He let go of her hands, composed himself and stood. There was an embarrassed silence in the room. These people were professionals and dealt with death on a daily basis. They had witnessed countless scenes like this, but this one was too much for even them. They averted their eyes as he gave them a challenging glare.

"I'll be back."

NINE

"C'mon, girls, we're going home!"

"But, what about Bubbles?" Blossom asked, wondering why he was so angry.

"I'm not giving up just yet, and I can't do anything sitting around here! Now, let's go!"

"I'll be right here, girls." Sara said. "I'll call if anything changes."

"If anything changes? I don't wanna be somewhere else when she dies! I wanna be with her!" Blossom thought. It was stupid to leave. But Buttercup was as jumpy as Professor was.

"Yeah, let's go!"

"Thank you, Ms. Bellum." Professor told Sara. "Girls, we'll get the car later. There's no time."

That meant they were flying. Blossom didn't want to leave. She looked back at Sara, who smiled reassuringly at her, and they left.

TEN

"Professor, why are you mad at us?" Blossom asked as she and Buttercup lifted him off the ground.

"Oh, honey, I'm not angry with you!"

"Who are you mad at?"

"Nobody. Everybody. Myself, mostly. I feel so helpless! I just can't accept that there's nothing that can be done."

"Yeah, Professor, there's GOTTA be something we can do!" Buttercup agreed. "But what?"

"I think I know, Buttercup, and it's going to be up to you girls to save your sister."

"Huh?" Blossom was startled. "How?"

"The sooner we get home the sooner we can get started!"

ELEVEN

He gave them a short explanation of what brain tumors did, showing them pictures from some web sites devoted to the subject.

"Bubbles just has too many of them in too many places for traditional means of treatment to work. But I have an idea. You see these little things that look like rivers leading into the tumors? Those are the blood vessels that feed the growing tumors. They have to be cut and sealed off. That will starve the tumors. They'll die out. Radiation will shrink them down and eventually they'll just disappear. Her healthy cells will be able to take over again."

"Cut 'em off and cauterize 'em?" Buttercup asked.

"Yes, Buttercup, that's the word, cauterize."

"But how, Professor? Why can't the doctors do that?"

"They could, Blossom, if there weren't so many. They have no room to work. But you can do it with your lasers. I'm sending you in."

"What?" Blossom shrieked. She was horrified. Buttercup leaped up, full of excitement.

"You mean you're gonna SHRINK us? COOL!"

"Exactly, Buttercup. Do you remember that weapon used on you by that colony of evil fleas? ² I still have it."

"YAY! Then, we go in there, find those rotten tumors and cut off their food supply, an' Bubbles'll be good as new!"

"You're crazy." Blossom said quietly.

Buttercup and Professor both looked at her like she was. "What?"

"I said, you're crazy. I won't do it."

Buttercup snarled, "You don't want to save Bubbles? YOU'RE the one that's crazy!"

"Buttercup, we're not doctors! What if we go in there and do something wrong and she ends up paralyzed or permanently blind or worse? She wouldn't wanna live like that!"

"But Blossom, if we don't do something, then she isn't gonna live AT ALL!"

"Blossom," Professor said quietly. "I'm surprised that you've given up, too."

"I haven't given up, Professor. I hope she'll get better. But what if doing nothing is exactly what we're supposed to do?"

"What do you mean, Blossom?"

"Professor, you always said we're not like everybody else. What if diseases that other people get are different for us?"

"They are, Blossom. They're worse!" Buttercup said, frustrated.

"What if it's not really a disease at all? Professor, did the doctor actually SAY it was cancer?"

"Well, no, not officially. The biopsy results weren't back yet-" He stiffened. "What are you saying, Blossom?"

"What if this is part of our natural development? What if it's gonna happen to all of us and it just happened to Bubbles first?"

"For what?" Buttercup asked. "Now I know you HAVE gone crazy!"

"Wait, Buttercup," Professor said. "It's not any crazier than my idea, and if she's right, those results will tell us!"

He reached for the phone and called the hospital.

"Yes. This is Professor Utonium. I need to speak with Dr. Waldman immediately."

The girls watched anxiously as he waited. They could tell by his reaction when the doctor came on the line.

"Hello, Doctor. Did you get the results from the biopsy-"

He lowered the phone and looked at them.

"We have to get back there right away!"

TWELVE

They raced across the sky, Professor hanging on for dear life. Their hearts pounded, fearing the worst. When they neared the hospital, they saw the TV crews setting up out in front, and a crowd was gathering around and growing larger by the minute. They ignored the shouts and flew inside. When they passed by the waiting area, they saw that Ms. Keane had joined Sara and they were sitting there comforting each other, wiping their red eyes with tissues.

"We're too late!" Blossom cried.

The door of the room was open. It was quiet. The bed was empty. All the machines had been turned off.

"Noooooooo!" Buttercup wailed. Professor held them both tight as they cried into his shoulder. At that moment, Dr. Waldman came out of a room across the hall.

"Professor, I just don't know what to say-"

The toilet in the bathroom of Bubbles' room flushed and the door opened, and there she floated.

"Bubbles!" came three shouts.

"Professor! Girls!" In a second, they were mobbing one another.

"Ahem. Back in bed, young lady!" said the doctor, after he'd let them have a brief joyous reunion. Bubbles needed her rest, yet.

"Okay, sorry!" She zipped into the bed and got under the sheet.

"What happened?" "Bubbles, are you okay?" "Doctor, what...how?"

They were all speaking at once. He held up his hands. "Let's go in and sit down."

Blossom disappeared. She raced back to the waiting area.

"Ms. Keane! Ms. Bellum! Bubbles is OK! She's OK!"

They both stood, smiling yet still red-eyed. "We know, Blossom, we were there." Keane said.

"Well, don't just stand there, come on!"

She flew back to the room. Buttercup sat cross-legged on the bed right next to Bubbles and was messing up her sister's hair while she giggled. Blossom joined them. Professor sat on the edge of the bed on the window side, and the doctor stood. The two women took the two available chairs when they came in.

"Doctor, how do you explain this?" Professor asked.

"I don't know how to, Professor. Bubbles vitals were dropping rapidly and we were about to call you when you called. At that point, all of her other major organs had shut down. Her heart rate and respiration were so slow as to be almost not there. But she wasn't fighting for breath. She wasn't in any distress. I've never seen anything like it. Finally, her brain activity flatlined. As I said, we were just about to call you when you called. I didn't think you'd get back here in time. But then when you mentioned the biopsy, I wondered about it. I had the results sent up here, and I couldn't believe what I was looking at."

"No cancer, right, Doctor?" Blossom asked. Bubbles stared at her. "How'd you know?"

He blinked. "Yes, Blossom. How did you know?"

"Blossom, let him finish." Professor told her.

The doctor went on. "Yes, the biopsy showed that the brain cells collected were completely normal. No different from a baseline done shortly after you girls were born. All of a sudden, one of the monitors went off. Her kidneys started functioning again."

"Eeep!" Bubbles flew out of the bed and into the bathroom.

"I'll say!" Buttercup giggled, and everyone laughed. A minute later, an embarrassed Bubbles floated out and got back into bed.

"And all of her other organs started functioning again, one by one, is that what happened, Doctor?" Professor inquired.

"Pretty much, yes. Within minutes, everything was back to normal except her brain activity. Then, as soon as that monitor..." He indicated it with a gesture. "...showed a resumption of that activity, Bubbles opened her eyes and began talking."

"Whoa...creepy..." Buttercup said. "You were right, Blossom."

"Yes, Blossom." Professor said. Keane and Bellum and her sisters stared at her, and she noticed.

"But-but-but-I don't understand it!" she cried.

"Doctor," Professor continued. "Blossom had the thought that because the girls aren't like anyone else, maybe Bubbles wasn't really sick at all but that this is something that is part of their development."

"Don't ask me how that's possible," Waldman said, "but that is almost what it seems like...like her body doing maintenance on itself."

"Yes, Doctor. As her developing new brain took over, it shut her organs down and used what little energy it needed to keep her alive. When your brain was ready, Bubbles, it began to test each part of your body one by one to make sure everything was right, before it returned them to normal. Incredible!"

Buttercup was wide-eyed with wonder. "Professor, are you sayin' that Bubbles grew a whole new brain an' that it ATE her old one? AWESOME!" Bubbles looked horrified to hear it put that way, but Professor and the doctor both smiled.

"In a way, Buttercup, that's exactly what happened." said Professor.

"The reason it appeared to be tumors was the new brain growth acted exactly the way tumors do. They were very active and produced heat, which is what causes the images on a CAT scan to look the way they do."

"Won't Bubbles have memory lapses?" Keane asked, still worried about her pupil.

"If this is something built into the girls, it shouldn't, Ms. Keane." Professor answered. "Think of her brain like a CD burner. It just copied everything over."

"But Professor, " Blossom said, "I didn't know any of this stuff! I was just guessing!"

"It was a very good one, too, honey. Look what might've happened if you didn't bring it up and I had tried my idea."

Buttercup shivered. "Yeah, good thing. But the main thing, Blossom, is that you didn't give up on Bubbles, like I was sayin'. I'm sorry."

They hugged, and then they hugged Bubbles. She looked over at Professor.

"You didn't give up, neither, Professor. You told me I'd get to go home again."

"Bubbles," said the doctor, "I'm afraid we did, and I'm sorry."

"That's okay. When can I go home?"

"I'm going to order another CAT scan and some other tests, and if they all look good, you can go home tomorrow. Professor," he said, holding out his hand, "it looks like we got our miracle."

Professor shook it. "No Doctor," he said, putting his arm around his girls, "we've got three."

THIRTEEN

After the doctor excused himself, Keane and Bellum stayed only a few more minutes themselves before leaving. They knew Bubbles needed her rest, and the family needed to be alone to share their private thoughts with one another.

Professor sat in a chair, watching his daughters huddled together on the bed. Blossom and Buttercup were looking drowsy and he'd have to get them home and into bed soon. The staff would be along to give Bubbles those tests and she was already worn out. But they had a few more questions for him.

"Professor? Do you really think this'll happen to us, too?" Blossom asked, sounding a bit frightened of the prospect. Who could blame her, after what she'd witnessed?

"I don't know, honey, but if it does, we'll be ready. We know what to watch for now, and we'll probably put you in here just to be safe; but it'll be bed rest and painkillers pretty much."

"Why did it happen to only one of us?" Buttercup wanted to know.

"Well, Buttercup, if this is all part of a plan for you girls, it would make sense for it not to happen all at once. It's like a built in defense system. Not only your bodies taking care of themselves, but making sure the other two of you are healthy and ready to protect not only Townsville, but each other."

"Yeah. Good answer!" she replied, and they smiled at each other.

"But Professor," Bubbles asked, "how come I got a new brain first?"

"Maybe you needed it more!" Buttercup laughed. Blossom whacked her in the back of the head with one of Bubbles' pillows.

"Hey, I was only kidding!"

"I know!" Blossom giggled, and the two started wrestling for control of the pillow. Bubbles giggled along and grabbed her second pillow and clobbered Buttercup with it.

"Hey, no fair!"

"Girls!" Professor said sharply, but he was grinning. They settled down. "That's better. Now, to answer your question, Bubbles, I think-"

"I know why, Professor," Blossom broke in. "It was to teach us something. We learned just how much you mean to us, Bubbles."

"Did you guys really mean all that stuff you said when you came in to see me before?"

"Yeah, Bubbles," Buttercup said, dabbing at one of her eyes, "that and a whole lot of other stuff I didn't say." She touched her forehead to Bubbles'. "Sometimes me an' Blossom say mean things to you that we really don't mean. Maybe this'll make us stop doing that." She sat back. "But I'll prob'ly forget, like always."

"Girls, is there something you can take from this experience, some little thing you can remember, so that when you start to pick on her sister, you'll think of today?"

They sat and thought, and after a minute, Blossom's eyes went wide. She leaned over to Buttercup and whispered something.

"Blossom, that's great! Bubbles, if me an' Blossom start picking on you and call you dummy and stuff, just say 'Code Blue!'

Bubbles didn't know what it meant, but she smiled. "Code Blue. I like it! 'Cause I wear blue! But I don't have a cold."

"No, Bubbles, not cold, code! C-O-D-E- CODE!" Blossom said loudly, annoyed.

Buttercup griped, "Yeah, dummy!"

"CODE BLUE!" Bubbles shouted, pointing at them and laughing. "Gotcha!"

They blinked at each other. Realizing they'd been caught, and so easily, too; they knew it would work. They burst into laughter and the group hug started one more time.

Professor sat back and smiled, knowing just how lucky a man he was.

"Them's my girls!"

THE END