"Nothing," Jeane said sweetly. She was still debating if she wanted to get in bed or not.

"What did she do this time?" Robin sounded more resigned than anything.

"What did I do?" Cal asked. No, he was pretty sure he knew what he'd done, but really, it wasn't that bad, was it? Hell, Khalid was worse than that on a good day, why shouldn't anyone dish back?

"Comb," Khalid replied. "Belonged to some merperson that tried to drown Jeane."

"No need to get mouthy with Khalid," Jeane said after a moment, shifting and settling down next to him. But she didn't immediately cuddle into his side.

Robin snorted. "I think you found the one human who gets into more trouble on accident than anyone else." Ishiah hummed his agreement.

"She started it," Cal protested as he settled down on the bed as well. He definitely noticed when she didn't move any closer, though.

"I think so, too," Khalid replied. She glanced at Ishiah when his arm made its way around her waist, but she didn't say anything. She just settled in and got comfortable.

Jeane huffed and settled down, grabbing an extra pillow and curling around it.

Ishiah settled down there as well, his fingers not quite straying to her stomach. He couldn't help it. Much.

Cal sighed in frustration and beat his pillow into submission before settling down. He hadn't done anything really wrong; he was perfectly capable of looking after Jeane, he didn't need Khalid butting in.

Khalid noticed, but didn't say anything. She'd let it slide this time. At the moment, she just wanted to go back to sleep for a bit.

After they'd gotten back home, Jeane dove back into research. She spent most of her time poring over books trying to figure things out. Mostly how to free Khalid.

Khalid had started to show, and Ish was having problems keeping his hands to himself. He kept touching her stomach or her back every time he saw her.

And Khalid had threatened to break his hands more than once. Not that she'd gone through with it, which was probably half of the problem.

"Really, Ishiah," she said, while trying to pull her shirt enough so that it would disguise her stomach a bit. "Stop touching me."

Ishiah sighed but pulled his hands back, keeping them behind the bar obediently. He'd started stocking other drinks for Khalid, too. Since she wasn't drinking alcohol for the moment.

Robin snickered at the air of kicked puppy from the peri.

"You're not exempt either, Robin," Khalid said without looking at him. "You just try when you think I'm asleep." She glanced at them both. "Really, enough with the touching. It's not going to make the baby come any faster."

"Doesn't matter." Robin shrugged. "It's still nice."

Not that he was about to admit he kept touching her in the hopes that he'd feel the baby kick again. He'd felt it once, and he wanted to feel that again.

Cal took that moment to walk into the bar for his shift, a little early. He threw his jacket down behind the bar with a scowl.

Khalid almost opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it. Clearly, Cal wasn't a happy camper at the moment. She ignored the uneasy little kick from the baby as she turned back to the soda she'd been working on.

Robin blinked when Jeane didn't come trailing in after him. Oh. That was probably why Cal was grumpy. He refrained from commenting for once, instead relaxing there.

Jeane didn't show up for another hour, and when she did she was already buried in a book, almost running into Robin before he steered her onto another stool.

"Are you ever going to put that book down?" Cal asked when Jeane sat down at the bar. "You've been reading it for four days, and the others before that too."

Ah, that's why he was unhappy. Now Khalid understood.

"I'm thinking we should try to escape while we can," she muttered to Robin. "Before he really decides to take his frustration out on some unsuspecting Wolf or something."

Jeane looked up at him briefly. "I told you, as soon as I find what I need." She looked at him for a moment longer before she went back to trying to find answers.

Robin nodded. "Good idea." He got up and glanced at Ish. The peri shook his head minutely after a moment. No need to make Cal even more pissed off by making him close up too.

Khalid raised an eyebrow. Ish was going to stay when Cal was in such a mood? Brave man. Khalid considered for a moment, and then went over to him.

"Because you're actually hanging around," she said. Reaching out, she took his wrist and put his hand on her stomach where the baby had been kicking. "If you're closing up tonight, I'll probably be asleep when you get back. So this'll have to do."

Cal grumbled when Jeane went back to her book and glared viciously at some poor Wolf who tried to come up and ask for a beer.

Ishiah smiled and let his hand stay there, quietly delighted when the baby kicked again. He wasn't quite brave enough to murmur to the baby in the middle of his bar, and settled for kissing Khalid briefly. That would have to do for now.

Khalid returned the brief kiss, and then went back to Robin.

"Let's go," she said. "Before Cal eviscerates someone."

Robin nodded and left with her, heading back to his apartment wordlessly. She seemed to be in a mood to hit him if he tried to keep hold of her, so he didn't try.

Khalid noticed how quiet Robin was being.

"Something wrong?" she asked. "It's not like you to be so silent."

Robin shook his head and grinned briefly at her. "Just figuring out how best to tell Niko that he's going to have to bail his little brother out of jail." He opened the door to his apartment and let her in first.

Khalid rolled her eyes.

"Cal picks someone off at least once a week at the bar," she replied as she went into the apartment and settled onto the couch. "One more isn't going to hurt, and it might even make him feel better." There still weren't enough pillows around for her taste, but she figured it was the best she would get short of retreating to her bottle for a while. She stretched out on the couch, one hand resting absently on her stomach.

"Yeah, but he might have to be bailed out if he assaults a human." Robin snorted. "And it looks like he's tempted."

He let her sprawl across the couch, settling on a chair instead. He was far too interested to see how this turned out between Cal and Jeane. Although partially because Jeane could distract Khalid.

"If he does, maybe we can convince Niko to let him sit there for a while," Khalid replied. "He'll have deserved it by then, if he doesn't already."

Robin glanced over at her before he shrugged. "Maybe. You and Cal have a problem I should know about?"