He pushed through waves of blackness, his consciousness swimming towards a distant prick of light.

"Nick? Nick? Can you hear me?"

The heavily accented words reached him through echoing nothingness. He had to find his way back.

"Nick, come out of it!"

Someone was slapping him, first lightly, then with more force. His skin stung from the contact.

He sat up suddenly, pushing at the darkness, his lungs bursting with the need to breathe. They seemed to forgotten how.

"Breathe, Nick!" More slaps. And then he was through, air filling his lungs again.

"A..lex...where....?" he asked blindly. Then his eyes settled on Derek's face, so near, so worried that it was distorted. Nick fought an urge to laugh. He was here, home. Alex!

"I have to go to Alex. She needs me." He pushed Derek away and stood up from the bed too quickly. The sudden lassitude caused him to topple into the older man.

"You're not going anywhere just yet," Derek said with authority, pushing against the desperate strength of the younger man who was still weak from his experience. In the end, Derek was stronger and Nick collapsed back on the bed.

Derek stood up and spoke, his voice reasoning. "Rachel's on her way to the hospital now. We received the call only moments before you began to come out of it."

Nick shook his head in confusion. "Call? Is it Alex? Is she...."

Derek hurried to assure his young colleague. "Nick, she's awake. She's all right. And from what the doctor told us, she's going to be fine."

Nick settled back against the pillow, and surprisingly tears began to well up. He turned his face away in embarrassment.

Derek stepped back and took the seat that had been his place for nearly a week. He understood the tears. There was much that Nick would probably tell him in the coming days. But not now - not now.

Derek looked towards the early morning sun streaming through the windows. God, it was a beautiful day!

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

"Nick...I betrayed him...." Alex whispered to herself, her voice full of regret and sorrow.

Rachel tenderly held her friend's hand. It was cold and she was trying to rub some warmth back into it.

"What did you say, honey?" Rachel asked soothingly, tears running down her face. Alex, too, was crying.

"I had to come back...."

"I know, I know, Alex. And we're all glad that you're home again. We've missed you so very much."

Alex squeezed Rachel's hand. It had taken her a few minutes to remember her friend after she had entered the room. The doctors had left them alone.

Another thought caused her to suddenly panic and she bolted up from the pillow. "Nick?!" "Where's Nick?"

Rachel held down Alex's shoulders. "It's all right, Alex. Nick's at home. He was coming out of the coma even before I left. I'm sure everything's fine."

The words seemed to settle Alex's fears. But then she looked at Rachel's face in confusion. "Coma? Nick?"

Rachel took a seat next to the bed. "Yeah. It's a long story...." and she began to fill in a tale that still seemed fantastical to her ears. But it was hardly stranger than probably what both Alex and Nick would later tell.

Outside the room, both Drs. Kramer and Jensen looked over the last test result given to them. It wasn't a neurological test, but one of the first tests that Kramer had ordered. It was always standard procedure when a woman entered the hospital.

Kramer shook his head. "I don't understand anything about this case. First, there was no obvious reason for the coma and no real answer why it suddenly ended. But this, this is almost negligence! This test should have been in my hands almost immediately," he said angrily.

The more petite Dr. Jensen also shook her head. "Well, tests will have to be done to make sure it's all right. But I really don't think there's anything to worry about. I'm sure the baby's fine."

Later that night, after Rachel had gone with assurances that everyone would return the next day, Alex sat resting against the pillows and thought about what the doctor had just told her. A baby. She found it hard to sleep now.

Against the shadows along the wall, she thought she saw a large snake uncoil itself. She jumped and stared until it disappeared. But she remembered a voice, a snake bracelet...."Aaah, Quetzalcoatl, god of life and fertility...." The voice faded away. And she tried hard not to remember the pain in his face, his voice. Nor think of the disappointment probably felt by Tenan and Teuc; she had liked them both.

Nick was coming tomorrow. Her heart jumped at the thought of seeing him again. Circumstances were still keeping them apart today, but they would be together tomorrow. And tomorrow they were going to have a lot to discuss.

She settled down into the bed and, for the first time that day, allowed herself to smile, just a little. It was so good to be home. Her hand unconsciously moved down to settle on her stomach, a protective, maternal gesture.

Yes, she was home.

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

Teuc sat in his room, etching the figures into the stones. It had been almost three days since they buried her, and yet he still could see her smile in his mind, hear her voice. He had not realized that it was possible for him to love anyone other than the gods, but he had learned to with her.

He laid the needle down at last. The name of Ometeohl was finally written. He read the whole line: cualtzin tlilticchuatl den sitlali maca Ometeotl- "beautful black woman from star given to Ometeotl"

The gods would know her. She had fallen from the sky - and at her death, the name of Ometeotl had been invoked. He had seen to that. With subtle comments and passive encouragement, he had persuaded the head priests to dedicate the deaths to the god of time. Even at the sacrifice, Teuc had known what he was going to do.

He etched the spell into the other stone; all of the stones were to be read together. Then time would begin again as all time was destined to repeat itself. What was before would be again. She would come again.

His dexterous fingers worked for the rest of the night as he sat oblivious to the need for sleep. There was no time for sleep.

Miles away, in the room of the first wife of Moctezuma, the Great Speaker of Mexica lay next to the sleeping woman in the dark, looking blindingly up at the ceiling. For the past three nights, he had tried to lose himself in the succor of his various wives. But each night, he did not succeed in erasing her from his mind or his heart. Much trouble had come since she had departed this world.

Reports had come early yesterday. Strange boats had been seen along the horizon of the big river. And others had already reported seeing white men disembarking along the shores. According to trustworthy accounts, strange white men speaking a foreign tongue had already reached Chapultepec; further reports had them traveling towards Tenochtitlan...towards him. Quetzalcoatl had returned.

And yet, given this cold terrifying knowledge that his empire was about to crumble, his thoughts were not on that.

He listened to the quiet breathing of the woman lying next to him. When he closed his eyes, he could pretend that it was her lying next to him, ready to take him in her arms. He turned away, his back to the sleeping woman, for the illusion was too tempting and he could not afford to lose himself. He had to stay strong.

Before he settled into his nightmares, he whispered the name that he had forbade anyone within his presence to ever utter again: "Cihuatl".

The name melted into the night.