“What do you mean, ‘He knows’?” Cyprus nearly shouted. “How could he know? What does he know?”
   “It’s all right, my love,” Serena murmured, trying to explain. “A Fixed Idea was brought into the hospital two months ago. They couldn’t keep it from terminating. Dr. Roberts was the only one to see it happen, and he took the vial. He must had noticed the similarity to it and my blood tests when studying it, and put two and two together.”
   “What is he going to do?” Cyprus looked at her as though their world was going to end. Which she could understand; she’d felt much the same way.
   “He’s going to induce labor when we have a break in our schedule so our baby won’t be connected to us.” She smiled at his look of confusion.
   “But the vial?” He continued, obviously lost.
   “He poured it down the drain after neutralizing it with some base; I saw him do it myself. And if we haven’t figured out how to reproduce it, I doubt he has either.” She hugged him as he stood there in shock. “He’s going to keep our secret. We can trust him.”
   He forced his mind to comprehend this. Then he noticed something that hadn’t seemed important before. “He wants to induce labor?”
   Serena laughed. “Yes. He thinks it would be best to have the baby early, so it’s harder to trace back to us. I agree with him.”
   Cyprus lifted her face up to his, looking at her drawn cheeks and the shadows under her eyes. “So do I. You’ve been pushing yourself far to hard, trying to cover things up while protecting the baby. And I cannot approve of how little Sustenance you’ve been taking; it may be an addiction, but there is no denying that we need it to survive.”
   She signed. He’d been complaining about it since she first told him she was going to cut back even more. “I want our baby to have the chance we never did. It may never need Sustenance the way we do; as long as that is a possibility I will do everything to prevent it from ever becoming addicted. And I haven’t felt too bad…”
   Cyprus shook his head. That’s what she’d been saying all along, and he didn’t believe it any more now than he ever had. “I know. I’m just worried about you. If anything should happen to you…” She could see the honest love in his eyes, and felt her heart swell beneath it.
   “Nothing has happened, and it will almost be over. Then we can start our new lives…as a family.” She smiled at him, and touched his cheek. “A real family.”
   He smiled back. “I know. I almost feel human.”
   Serena chuckled. “We’re all human,” she said in a flash of insight, tilting her head and lecturing like she always imagined the philosophers in the books she’d been reading for the past three months did, “some more, some less; all of us, Tecnos, Monsters, even those born human.” She thought of Von Richter, and how he had once been born of a woman like their baby would be. It was so hard to believe, and yet it was the truth, whatever he was now. “The only difference is what we do with it. Some forsake it. We’ve embraced it.”
   Cyprus laughed with her. “My smart girl. You always know exactly what to say. I hope our baby is as bright as you.”
   Serena smiled. “It will, I’m sure. It will.”

A week later, Serena gave birth to a healthy girl in the presence of her husband, Dr. Roberts, and a trusted nurse. For two days the baby was cared for in secret in the already full preemie ward, and then Dr. Roberts “left” her at the doorway of the hospital. She immediately attracted attention and publicity, and was dubbed “The Hospital Door Baby” as newspapers advertised her pending adoption.
   A long list of people came forward to adopt the child, first and foremost the Troddens. Many people called foul when they were awarded the baby, but they generally came to accept it when they realized they alone of all the couples had been originally planning to adopt, and would be able to care for the child best. On May 28, they finalized the adoption, and held an informal press conference with the swarm of reporters that had come to the event. They reminded all the other couples that there were many other babies waiting to be adopted, every one just as special as their own girl. They also announced their decision to name the child Bethany. Predictably, the names Elizabeth and Beth were popular for newborn girls the rest of the year.
   While in the hospital, Bethany had been colicky, crying almost ceaselessly despite the care of the nurses and notice of the media; in fact, she was often worse when the center of attention. But the night she was finally adopted, she slept in the strange bed peacefully, as she did almost every night thereafter.
   Bethany was home.