Subj: Collinsport -- 68
Date: 6/15/00 1:15:48 AM Central Daylight Time
From: DSRules

David drove like a madman into Bar Harbor. Once he was among the city lights of downtown, he slowed, feeling safe enough to do so for the first time.

He pulled into the parking lot of a popular family-style restaurant and turned on the dome light of his car, cringing when he saw how much of Quentin's blood had soaked into the baby's blanket. At least, he hoped that
it was all Quentin's blood.

He placed the baby on the passengers' side seat and peeled off the blanket. In a few places, the blood had dried, making the blanket stick to the baby's sensitive skin, but with a little of the liquid hand cleanser he kept in his doctor's bag, he was able to remove the blanket and he could finally see that his infant daughter was unharmed.

Overcome with emotion, he clutched her to his chest. "I thought you were . . . " he had difficulty bringing himself to say the word, so he just skipped it. "Your Mommy's going to be so glad to see you, little one."

Since he wasn't expecting to bring a baby home, he didn't have a car seat with him. He briefly debated stopping at a baby supply store to pick one up, but when he got a good look at his daughter, he decided against taking a
blood-covered baby into a store with him.

As he lowered her back down to the passenger's side seat, he saw a square of paper stuck to her onesie. He carefully peeled it off, but it was too blood-soaked to be read. "Well, I'll take this home, and see if we can figure out what it says later. How's that?" He smiled for the first time in two weeks, watching her sleep peacefully on the seat next to him.

As he prepared to pick her up and hold her all the way back to Collinsport, he was struck by inspiration. He took off his tee-shirt, picked the baby up and wrapped her in the shirt, then, shirtless, he stepped outside with her. He opened his trunk and removed a corrugated cardboard box and a blanket. He put the box on the floor of the back seat and filled the box with the blanket. Then, he created a small 'nest' in the blanket, and put the baby down in the nest.

Somewhat satisfied with his makeshift baby seat, he got back into the car and drove towards home.

* * *

Adam stopped by the lighthouse to see his daughter and step-granddaughter. "How are you doing, Azura?" He asked. "I know it's been difficult with Quentin gone."

"I'm holding up all right." For a moment, Azura was able to quell the doubts that Laura had instilled in her by brushing Zoe's hair as the little girl sat on an ottoman in front of her.

Adam seemed to doubt his daughter's words. "Zoe, why don't you go on up to bed?" He asked. "Your mom and I'll be along in a minute."

"Sure. 'Night, Grandpa." She said as she hugged the giant. "'Night, Mom." She kissed Azura's cheek, gave her a hug, and went upstairs.

"Now," Adam asked his daughter. "What's really going on with you?"

She shook her head. "I can't tell you."

"Nonsense. Of course you can. You can tell me anything. Look at how well I dealt with the news that you and Quentin are sleeping together."

"Daddy! You grabbed Quentin's lapels and shoved him against the wall!" She smiled at her father.

"All right. Bad example." He returned her grin. "But can't you talk to me about it?"

"Do you think that Quentin loves me?"

"I'm sure he does. Why?"

"No reason."

"Azura . . ." His voice took on a warning tone.

"I just don't want to talk about it, all right?"

He gave in with as good grace as he could. "All right. But I'm here if you ever *do* decide that you need to talk."

She smiled at him. "Thanks, Daddy."

* * *

Barnabas dozed in his chair in the den, his book, having fallen closed when he fell asleep, on his lap.

"Barnabas." A hand touched his shoulder gently.

What woke him wasn't the fact that a voice was calling his name. It was that the voice wasn't Julia's. "Hmm? What?" He stared around vaguely, finally finding the speaker. "Neil!"

"You called me, didn't you?"

Barnabas nodded. "Yes, I did. I've been thinking about everything, and it's not fair for Rosario to be punished for helping Julia."

"But that's the deal she struck. Her soul for Julia's health." Barnabas couldn't tell from Neil's tone how he felt about Rosario's deal.

"She shouldn't have had to make that deal." Barnabas clarified. "If anyone should give up their soul for Julia it should be me."

"But who are you really saying that for, Barnabas? For Julia's sake or for Rosario's?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really." Neil finally decided to address the matter at hand. "What can I do for you?"

"I want to know how to look up Nicholas Blair's latest incarnation, so that I can offer my own soul for Rosario's."

Neil seemed surprised by Barnabas' statement. "Really? Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Barnabas nodded grimly. "I'm doing what I need to do."

Neil had never known Barnabas that well, but he recognized a man on a mission when he saw one. He smiled a tight smile at Barnabas. "I don't know how I'll get her to tell me, but I'll convince Rosario to tell me how to look up Nicholas and I'll get the information to you."

Barnabas reached forward, taking the vampire's cold hand in a firm handshake. "Thank you." He said simply.

* * *

Exhausted and half-naked, David finally arrived back at Collinwood.

Javier and Beth ran out to greet him. "David, what happened to your shirt?" Beth asked.

David opened the backseat door. "This did." He picked up his daughter and held her out for the others to see.

"Oh my God!" Sarah had been lurking in the doorway, glad to see her husband, but still distraught over the loss of her baby. "David! Is that -- ?????"

He nodded, tears welling up in his eyes.

Sarah shoved the other two out of her way as she ran to her husband and baby. Her hands shook as she took the baby from him. Then, unable to hold the tears back, she burst out crying. "She's so beautiful!" She kissed the baby's head and then turned to David, about to give him a kiss, as well.

Then she stopped in the middle of that motion, looking down at the tiny bundle in her arms. She reached a hand up to the baby's hair and touched it. "David! Her hair - it's . . . stiff. Like she's been wet." With a distasteful look on her face, she moved into the light spilling through the doorway and out into the driveway. "She's all . . . red. Like she's covered in . . ."

She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, so David did it for her. "Blood. Yes."

Sarah looked up at David again. "Is she - "

"She's fine. Perfect. I checked her out myself. It's not her blood."

Sarah was relieved, but she then became concerned that perhaps it was David's blood. "Then whose is it?"

David closed his eyes, then looked back at his wife. "Quentin's. Quentin died to bring our daughter home to us."

Subj: Collinsport -- 69
Date: 7/14/00 11:25:22 PM Central Daylight Time
From: DSRules

Sarah clutched the baby more tightly to her chest. "What do you mean, Quentin's dead?" She asked in a stunned tone.

"While he was passing the baby to me through the fence the security guards shot him."

"But he could still be alive . . ." Her voice was filled with false hope.

David shook his head. "I'm a doctor. I've seen fatal gunshot wounds before. And even if the shot hadn't been through the heart, there's no way he could have lost the amount of blood he did and survived." He resisted the urge to tell her that their baby's clothes and blanket had been saturated with blood. She'd understand soon enough, once they got into the house and she saw how discolored her skin was.

~ ~ ~

Laura watched through the drawing room windows as David handed the baby to Sarah. {My grandchild.} She thought with longing.

She had never really remained in any one place long enough to know her grandchildren. When she let her children grow to adulthood, which was seldom. Her mind went back to the day the Priest of Serapis raised her to her status as a Phoenix.

"You shall live forever, yet you shall always be alone," he intoned, and her heart nearly broke upon finding out what she'd be giving up in exchange for eternal life. However, her spirits were lifted by his next statement. "If you find him, one shall be your destined mate. He shall be of your line."

"How will I know him?" She had asked.

The priest shared a simple smile with her and said in the vernacular, "You will know him because he will live forever, just as you will."

So, she had tested nearly every member of her bloodline, in hopes that one of them would survive and turn out to be her mate. Many times throughout the years, she had thought that she had found him. In fact, once she'd thought that Quentin had been her foretold mate. But he had never loved her as she had yearned to be loved.

{Maybe,} Laura thought, {I've been looking for the wrong kind of love?}

And with that theory foremost in her mind, she stepped to the foyer and then outside to meet her granddaughter.

~ ~ ~

"He's dead? You're certain?" Sarah hadn't known her cousin Quentin for long, but she was saddened by the news that David had brought. She clutched the baby closer to her breast.

David nodded.

"Who's dead?" Laura stopped in her tracks in the doorway of the house.

"My cousin Quentin." Sarah responded. "He came to Reginald Strong's cult with us to help us get Roger out."

"Quentin's dead?" Laura mouthed the words silently. Fortunately for her, no one noticed.

Laura could see Sarah trying to regain her composure. "Would you like to see your niece?" Sarah asked.

It took Laura a moment to realize that Sarah was speaking to her. {Of course, she is. She doesn't realize that the baby's your granddaughter. She thinks that you're David's sister, remember?} She reminded herself.

"Why, yes. I would." Laura smiled tentatively at Sarah. "What's her name?"

"Naomi Claire." David answered.

But Sarah interrupted him. "We haven't decided yet." When David looked at her askance, she said, "I don't know. I just think that we should, you know, do something for Quentin."

"Like name her after him? Quentina Collins?" He shuddered a little. "Quentinette? Ick."

"No. I don't know. Something. It'll come to me."

"Come on." David put his arm around his wife. "Let's get her inside and get her cleaned up."

And with that, David, Sarah, Laura and the baby went indoors.

"I'm new at this mom stuff," Sarah said to David after Laura had gone upstairs. "Where do I start?"

David smiled at her. "Her umbilical cord has fallen off, so just fill the kitchen sink with lukewarm water and take a soft cloth to sponge her off."

"Really? I can just put her in water?"

"Yep. Just like a regular person." He smiled. "Actually, there's a whole cartload of things we need - baby shampoo, baby wash, clean diapers . . ."

Javier was walking through the foyer and overheard this. "Hey, I can do that for you."

"I don't want to impose," David began, but Javier interrupted him.

"You're not imposing. Look, I live in this fabulous mansion with a family that dates back to, like, the dawn of time. The least I can do for you is pick up a few things. Make a list and I'll run into town to get it."

"Thank you, Javier." Sarah smiled at her housemate.

"You're welcome. I'd do anything for you," he said with a smile, then he amended hastily. "For your family, I mean."

David walked into the drawing room, where he picked up a pen and scribbled out a short list. "Here." He handed the list and a small stack of bills to Javier. He noticed that Sarah was walking towards the kitchen with the baby. He left Javier standing alone in his haste to get to Sarah before she turned on the light.

He was too late. "AAAUUUGGGHHH!!! David!" She shouted.

"I'm right here." He put his hands on her shoulders.

"What's wrong with her? She's all - red. Oh, my God . . ." Sarah realized what she was looking at. "This is Quentin's blood isn't it? How much . . . . I don't want to know. Are you sure she's all right?"

"Yes. She's fine. I *am* a doctor, remember. I examined her thoroughly once I got away with her. Look, we need a birth certificate for her anyhow. Why don't I call Letty and ask her to come and check her out?"

"Would you?"

"Of course I would." David gathered his wife and daughter to him and held them close for a moment. "Now, let's see about getting all of this blood cleaned off."

"Are you all right?" It was Carolyn. "I was coming over to see the baby and I heard you yell."

"Everything's fine." David interposed himself between his wife and cousin. "We just need a moment to bathe her before you can see her is all."

Carolyn smiled at him. "Is it all right if I call Barnabas and Julia?"

David heard Sarah begin filling the sink with water. "Yes. It's more than all right. Thank you for suggesting it. We'll be with you as soon as the baby's cleaned up."

"Why did you call her 'the baby'?" Carolyn asked. "Didn't you decide to call her Naomi?"

David shrugged. "Sarah's got this strange idea about naming her after Quentin or something."

"Why Quentin?"

David looked at the floor. "Quentin died to bring her back to us."

"Oh, my God!" Carolyn breathed. It was obvious that her shock wasn't due to the revelation of Quentin's death.

"What?!?" Sarah and David chorused together.

"It's . . . your baby. She looks so familiar. But I can't place her."

"It's probably just the old family genes, Carolyn. After all, she is Collins on both sides." David assured her.

"Yeah. You're probably right," but Carolyn said in an uncertain voice.

"Is this the right temperature?" Sarah called out.

David and Carolyn both moved to check the water. "Why don't you go help her?" David indicated. "I have to make a phone call. I'll be back in a minute."

"Thanks, David." Carolyn gave her cousin a hug. "She's beautiful."

"Thank you." And with that, David left the room.

Carolyn moved forward to help Sarah bathe the baby. "Wait. Do you have any diapers?" Carolyn asked.

Sarah shook her head. "I think that he sent Javier into town to get some stuff. I'm sure he included diapers on the list."

After they'd successfully soaked most of the dried blood from the baby, Carolyn pulled out a dishtowel. "Not the best thing for drying off a baby, but it'll do," she said with a shrug.

The pair carefully patted the baby dry and then Carolyn used another towel to create a makeshift diaper, saying "we do what we can with what we have."

David returned to the room. "Letty'll be here soon. Now, we just need a name for her, before Letty can fill out the birth certificate."

Carolyn looked at Sarah, "Letty?"

Sarah said, "She's a pediatrician friend of David's. Lives over on Oak Street?"

"Oh, in the old MacLeod place."

David nodded. "That's her."

Sarah sighed. "I guess we'll have to go with 'Quentina.'"

"No you won't." The other three turned to find Beth standing in the doorway. "Dad just found the perfect name on the Internet."