All three of them immediately turned their eyes back toward Lili, each breathing her name with some combination of shock and relief. Lili took another weak breath as she laid beneath the light cover, her eyes moving between them all with her own mix of shock as well as the remaining pain from her last twenty-four hours still evident in those turquoise eyes.

She then attempted to speak up again, though her voice was still nearly a whisper, “I thought I died.” she then moved her eyes back to Kyle for a moment, “I thought you were gonna die.” then she moved them to Jared, “And you, I couldn’t find you, and then…” she just closed her eyes against obvious tears as she tried to gain the strength to continue.

Though, it was Jared who managed to find words first, “I’m sorry, I went to help Kyle, and then,” he took a breath, “that’s when I think it started. I’m so sorry.” he whispered as he moved in to place a tiny kiss upon her forehead, “But how are you? Is there still a lot of pain?”

“Yes, there’s pain, but I’ve had worse.” she answered weakly, then moved on, “But how…how are you all here? How long has it been?” she pressed, despite her own aforementioned pain.

“It all started just last night. But that’s a story for when you’re feeling better. Let me get you something for that pain.” Jared told her softly as the other two moved closer to gently touch her arm, though neither had yet to find any of their own words.

“Last night? But how?” she continued as Jared moved to the side to find a moderately strong painkiller, but one that wouldn’t put her back to sleep again, while still helping with her continued discomfort.

“I think you need to recover before we can even try to explain everything.” Ian whispered gently, giving her hand the gentlest squeeze.

“Everything? Everything like what? If I’ve only been out of it for one day, and you all are still here, somehow…” she couldn’t help repeating that unbelievable fact again.

“Just relax Lili. We’re all ok. You need to stay calm in order to finish recovering. We can explain everything. But first, let’s get you all better.” Jared told her softly as he gave her another tiny injection.

“Well, we can try to explain, anyway.” Kyle had to correct Jared’s former statement, “It’s all pretty…” he just shook his head, only causing Lili to look worriedly over at him after the small flinch caused by the shot.

“Kyle, please.” Jared scolded him, though gently.

“Yes, Kyle, please. I don’t understand any of this. How are you all here? How are you ok? Oh my god how is the…” she added with a moment of panic as she attempted to push herself up to her elbows, and immediately was reminded that she was still in quite a bit of pain.

“Lili, please. You just had surgery, too. You have to be careful when trying to move much.” Jared warned her worriedly.

“And she’s ok.” Ian had to interrupt, answering her unfinished question.

“She?” Lili repeated as her eyes turned quickly back to him, almost seeming to choke on the word as she spoke it.

“Your daughter.” Ian offered a weak smile.

“It’s…a girl?” Lili breathed in response, her eyes immediately dropping.

“Yes.” Jared managed, “She’s very small, but she’s ok, so far.”

“So far?” Lili asked, her eyes turning back.

“She needs to eat more. Just like you. You have been out of it for a whole day.” Jared added softly.

“Do you want me to bring her in here?” Ian asked.

“She is asleep.” Jared reminded.

“Yeah, and so was Lili, until just a minute ago.” Ian returned.

“It’s ok.” Lili interrupted, “We should just let her sleep then, I guess.” she swallowed, her eyes still downwards.

“Are you sure?” Ian asked with a raised brow.

“Yeah, it’s ok.” Lili repeated again, “And I feel too weak to even try and eat anything right now, anyway.” she informed, quickly moving the conversation back to Jared’s previous statement.

“You should at least try. You desperately need to build your strength back up.” Jared prodded, though gently.

“I don’t think I even could eat, right now.” Lili shook her head, “Now please, will someone explain to me how you all were gone, and now you’re all here? Cause right now, I’m still having trouble believing this is reality and I’m not still asleep…or worse.” she added more quietly.

“Reality is pretty subjective anymore.” Kyle couldn’t help inserting.

Jared just sighed slightly as the comment only seemed to worry Lili more, “Remember how you and I were talking about the possibility of someone else being here?” he gave in and began, only causing Lili to narrow her eyes further, “Well, he is. He’s from an e-ship, like us, which means, he has abilities, like us, and one of them is apparently teleportation.” Jared took a deep breath as Lili’s eyes widened, “And that’s how we got here.”

“Wh--what?” she breathed, Ian simply shaking his head at Jared’s point-blank delivery of such unbelievable facts, despite his obvious reason of trying to rush Lili past her confusion so he could get back to looking after her continued physical recovery.

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“That’s how come we never really saw him.” Jared attempted, “He can blink in and out of reality at any moment. It’s insane.” he shook his own head, “But he has been following us, like we suspected, and that’s how he knew Kyle was hurt, and he came and got me to try and help Kyle.”

“Wait, when did we suspect that he was following us?” Ian interrupted more loudly.

Jared then sighed again, “It was a theory, that I had no proof of.”

“Anything else you’re not sharing?” Ian had to ask, “That seems to be the running theme tonight.” he added, which only caused Jared to quickly look down, which in turn, caused both Ian and Kyle to center suspicious looks on him.

“Please guys, can we just get Lili better before we try to dissect every theory I’ve ever had but could never be sure of, hence my not sharing each and every one of them until I knew there was actually a reason to?” he pleaded with a shake of his own head.

“He can teleport?” Lili was the one who interrupted then, her own shocked expression not faltering, despite their interactions.

Jared sighed again, “Yes. And he can take people with him.” another breath, “So he brought me to Kyle to help him when he got bitten. Then he brought us all back here to be with you again after realizing that you had gone into labor.”

“Wait, how did he know that I went into labor?” Lili asked worriedly.

“Apparently he was keeping an eye on Ian and Kyle, as well as me and you.” Jared offered with only a slight shrug, “It only takes him seconds to get from one place to another, so…” another shrug.

“And he helped you save Kyle?”

“Yes, and then he brought me back here to save you. I only wish it had been sooner.”

“But he…he was here before you, with me?” she whispered.

“He is the one who came and got me.” Jared informed.

“But he was here before you?” she asked for that clarification once more.

“Yeah. He was.” Jared replied, his unease obvious when trying to determine what exactly Lili could remember about the birth, as the details their ghost had shared with Jared, himself, were just one of the unbelievable revelations he had made, that Jared still had yet to find a way to share with any of his companions at that point.

Though, Lili was silent for a long moment before continuing, “I’m so confused. I literally thought I had died.” she shook her head, causing them to take a breath, especially when Jared and Kyle were so easily reminded, by her words, of the dire thought that Kyle had stolen from her and shared with Jared all those months ago.

“No, you’re not dead.” Jared assured, then added, “Remember, none of us are going to be dead any time soon. I promised, remember?” he whispered as he gently touched her hair.

That was when Lili swallowed hard again, “Did you tell them then, finally, about your vision?”

That caused Jared to take a deep breath as Ian and Kyle looked quickly back at her, “Which vision?” Ian had to ask slowly.

Lili then took a breath, “He had another vision, it took place in the future. That’s how he knows we’ll all still be alive.” she managed.

“Is this a different vision, than the one we were just talking about?” Ian asked slowly and warily.

“No, it’s the same one.” Jared offered, though quietly.

“And did you also tell Lili when exactly it took place?” Ian continued. That was when Lili looked quickly down again, “I guess that’s a yes?” Ian added, quickly catching her reaction.

“I tried to get him to tell you, back when he first told me.” Lili offered, though with her own touch of guilt.

Ian and Kyle scoffed almost simultaneously as both moved to stand, “Tried? Well, that’s nice.” Ian added coolly.

“Ian…” Lili began.

“Did he tell you about the other part, too? Did you know about that, also?” Ian returned with a shake of his head.

“What other part?” Lili asked shakily as she quickly looked back at Jared.

“No, I didn’t tell anyone about the other part, cause it didn’t make sense, until tonight. And that’s when I did tell you guys: Both of you.” Jared defended, “It was before you woke up though.” he added to Lili more gently.

“Whatever. I’m just so fucking sick of all these secrets and half-truths.” Ian stated with more disappointment than even anger at that point as he left her sleeping area without any more words.

“Yeah, what he said.” Kyle added in his own slight mumble as he followed after Ian.

Jared took a deep breath of his own as he turned back to where Lili’s eyes were still glued to him, and had to make some comment to alleviate the tension, “Still happy we’re all back together again?” he attempted lightness, but Lili was not swayed from her own questioning stare.

Lili then took another shaky breath before she had to speak up, “What other part?”

----------------------------------------

After warily recounting the vision to Lili as well, he was only met with a nearly deafening, shocked silence from her. Jared finally could no longer ignore his own mental exhaustion of the last twenty-four hours and interrupted her continued silence as she now sat propped against several balled up blankets atop her bedding, staring wordlessly at the floor.

“Do you want to try and eat something now?” Jared asked quietly.  Lili just scoffed, her reaction to the story of the vision still obvious, “You really should try and eat. But, if that’s a no…” he attempted to prod her into speaking up before he moved on, “Then will you be ok if I try and get an hour’s sleep or so? I haven’t really done that for a couple days.” he offered more quietly.

“Go ahead.” was her mumbled response as she continued her unwavering appraisal of the wooden floor beneath them.

Jared simply sighed and left her sleeping area quietly, to return to his own, which, like Ian’s and Kyle’s, had remained unused for the last five months of her pregnancy, wherein he had slept at her side, ever vigilant of her condition.

When he moved past the main part of the shack to return to his own previously abandoned sleeping quarters, Ian was stationed at the crib once more, quietly staring down at the sleeping child, only to glance up at last as Jared moved toward the blanket draped over the doorway to his own ‘room’ of sorts.

“She pissed at you now too?” Ian greeted him somberly.

“That seems to be the running theme tonight.” Jared returned, though his own voice was barely above a whisper. He then added, “She did want me to tell you guys about the three year thing, as soon as I finally told her about it. I talked her out of it though. Like I said, I was hoping you would find something out there.” Jared repeated apologetically.

“Whatever.” Ian mumbled, then added, at the same volume, “Not even thinking about that right now.”

Jared allowed his own deep breath before speaking, “You still thinking about the rest of the vision? With the cat?” he added more quietly.

“Not just that.” Ian surprisingly answered.

“Then what?” Jared asked, despite his own increasing need to get some kind of rest.

“She never even wanted to see her. Is that not weird for a brand new mom, honestly?” Ian asked, more than a bit of worry peeking out from behind his tone.

“I don’t know.” Jared attempted, “I mean, she still has a lot of painkillers and everything in her system, and…” he just shook his head, “I don’t know if it’s so much that she didn’t wanna see the baby as it is that she’s just in so much shock right now, after everything, and…” Jared just let his voice trail off as he looked downwards.

Ian sighed heavily as he looked down at the baby once again, seeming to choke back his emotions once more, “I hope like hell that that’s not the real case, cause I…” another shaky breath, “Cause I can’t handle this on my own….whatever ‘this’ even is.”