"Daddy, where's mommy? She always helps put us to bed." Jessica asks her father when he comes in to help put them to bed. He hadn't wanted to leave Jewel's side but his children also need him.

"Jessica, children, listen, your mother is very sick. Your fathers are going to be doing everything we can to get her better, but we need you all to be good so that we don't have to take our focus off of getting mommy better. Can you all do that?" Adam looks first to his daughter then to the other children.

"Is mommy going to be alright?" One of the girls asks.

"We're doing everything we can Sandra, but she's not in good shape." At their fearful look he softens. As some of them start crying he almost breaks.

"Her being sick isn't your fault. None of you are to blame, I just want you all to know that. Now get to sleep and hopefully mommy will be better in the morning."

"Promise, daddy?" Jessica demands of her father.

"When it comes to life and death there are no promises. You're mother is strong and has managed to evade death when she should have died many times. So hopefully she'll be able to once more."

Jessica looks at her father wide eyed, "She did? Will you tell us how? Please daddy?" Jessica isn't above begging and uses her puppy dog eye look. Like always, Adam can't resist that look. 

"Very well, but just one story.

"Before your mother got pregnant with you and your siblings, she was kidnapped by some rogue werewolves. They wanted to show that they weren't afraid of their ruler and that they could do what they wanted without consequences.

"Uncle Mike saw her being kidnapped but wasn't able to stop it since he was too far away. They got her into a vehicle before he could get to them. He was surrounded by humans so he couldn't turn and follow them as a wolf. But he did manage to send me photos of the vehicle and the person responsible for taking her.

"Because of that I was able to track down a possible location for where they took her.

"I grabbed all your fathers and we headed out. We killed the rogues that had taken her, but your mother was very ill. Her heart had stopped already once and was about to stop again any moment. She was too unstable to even move. She was running a fever that was dangerously high.

"I tried to heal her, but it didn't work. It took everything I and Aaron had to get her heart to work properly, but she was still running a really bad fever."

"What happened, daddy? How did mommy get so sick?" Jessica demands to know.

"It was a bad reaction to the drug they used to kidnap her.

"Even after we got her home I had a hard time getting her fever down.

"It took three days before she was healthy enough to get out of bed. During that time her heart stopped again and threatened to do so several times. Like now, Aaron or myself had to stay with her all the time to make sure that her heart would keep going."

"After that was everything all right though?"

"Eventually, I made some mistakes and she was very angry with me. When we finally worked things out she was expecting you and your brothers. She was so excited. Excited but scared." Adam explains getting ready to turn off the light.

"Why was she scared, daddy?" Sandra another one of the girls asks.

"Her parents didn't treat her right and hurt her growing up. She didn't want to hurt you kids and she didn't have a good example of how to be a mother. She was scared that she would do a bad job and you kids would hate her." Adam explained before turning off the light.

"But we love her. Daddy, can we please see her tomorrow?" It is Jessica that asks that question but all the kids start begging for the same thing.

Adam hesitates. He's not sure that it would be a good thing for the children to see their mother so sick, but it might be what she needs. "If you are good and get to sleep tonight, no sneaking out for forbidden snacks, I'll let you have some time with her tomorrow."

Immediately the children became silent and settled down.

Adam closes the door after telling them goodnight one last time. He just hopes that when the children see their mother it won't be for the last time.

He also hopes that it won't be a traumatic experience for them seeing her in such bad shape.

The continuous blood supply has helped a bit, but her aura is still almost completely gray. If something doesn't happen soon he's afraid that she'll fade away.

Not accepting those thoughts he returns to Julie's side. Finding a hand free he takes it and silently starts to cry.

"Adam, the children are here, they said that you gave them permission to come." Aaron says waking Adam up.

Adam sees that Aaron is fixing the transfusion with their blood in it. "I did, but tell them they will have to wait half an hour. You need to finish getting this transfusion ready for her first." Aaron nods and goes to the door telling them what Adam said.

Returning to the bed Aaron takes Adam's arm and withdraws the blood. "Take more Aaron."

"I can't, you haven't eaten enough. If I take more it will put you in the same state as Jules. I won't do that to the children. If you want me to take more you'll need to start eating more." Aaron says even as he changes over the blood bag to the one with their blood in it.

"Aaron, you know she prefers my blood-" Adam starts out.

"Then go eat you fucking fool. Now get out of here and eat while the kids spend time with their mother." Aaron tells him nearing the end of his patience. He can't handle Adam behaving like this while Julie is so close to death. "Go on, you look like shit. I'm sure the children are scared that you are going to get sick as well. Just think of how hysterical they'd be then?"

Adam doesn't want to leave but he can't deny the possibility of that happening. The children need to be reassured not scared even further.

"Let me know if there is any change."

"You know I will. Now go, and send in the munchkins." Aaron orders and Adam nods.

Adam opens the door and finds all twenty of the children waiting there patiently.

"Dad?" Jessica asks.

"You can go in now, but you need to be careful of the bloodline. It'll be alright to give her a hug and a kiss, but you'll need to keep your voices down if you talk, okay?"

The children all nod their understanding and go in silently to the room. Adam watches just as silent as the children and once more hopes that he's not making a mistake with this decision. He's made so many when it comes to Jewel. He doesn't know how many she'll take before she leaves him forever.

He hopes it will be at least one more.