"What do you mean 'early menopause'?" Jack Hodgins sat in the doctor's office, frowning heavily, his wife Angela sniffling by his side as they stared at her doctor across from them.

"I'm sorry Dr. Hodgins, but it looks like your wife is suffering from premature ovarian failure, like an early menopause as we call it. I'm really sorry." The doctor murmured sympathetically.

"Well…" Hodgins looked at Angela worriedly before looking back. "What does that entail exactly?"

"Well, it basically means that your wife's ovaries are starting to shut down. They can't or won't produce the normal amounts of estrogen needed to keep going and/or the ovaries start to not release eggs regularly. It's a uncommon condition, only affecting 1% of women here entirely."

"So...what does that mean for us? Can we still…?" Angela spoke this time, voice trailing off and throat tight as the doctor seemed to know what she was about to say.

"Unfortunately, infertility is the most common result we see from this. It's a very spontaneous action by the body that no one, not even medical science, can figure out and patients often need a bit of time to process everything..."

But Jack had long stopped listening to the doctor as his thoughts ran around in his head. Infertility. Infertile. No eggs. No estrogen. No more kids.

"No more kids…" He murmured out loud, causing Angela and the doctor to both turn to him. "No more kids?"

"As I was saying to your wife, Dr. Hodgins, there is plenty of help available if you wish to still have more children." The doctor nodded hastily.

"Since we picked up her condition early, there should still be viable eggs in her ovaries which we can harvest to give us the best chance down the line. Most likely, you may have to consider using a surrogate, as IVF may make the POI worsen and that could lead to a lot of complications for Angela."

Hodgins couldn't help but nod slowly, trying to process everything. "Uh...okay, egg harvesting. Sounds good. When would we most likely do that?"

"The sooner, the better. It'll give us a better chance than we have at a later date of finding viable eggs."

Hodgins nodded again, before turning to Angela. "What do you think about that, Angie?"

Angela looked apprehensive, but then nodded, tears in her eyes. "I want to have more children with you. I don't want Michael Vincent to be alone, though he's the sweetest boy anyone could ask for." It was decided then.

Jack turned back to the doctor, face stone. "Let's do it. Whenever you can fit us in."

Shaking hands with the doctor before walking out, Jack didn't know how to feel. He hated the fact that Angela was dso upset, even if she didn't show it. He knew his wife well and he knew this was tearing her apart on the inside.

Despite all the drama they had been though over the past few years. Angela had loved carrying Michael Vincent, he knew it must be devastating to her not to be able to carry another child.

A surrogate wasn't bad, not at all, he knew plenty of people in his 'old money' world who had done the same (mostly for their figure, not really out of love) and they were all successful.

He just...didn't feel right about it, he knew Angela felt the same.

That's why they were married. They just...clicked.

By the time they were back in the lab doing both their respective jobs, the feeling earlier hadn't left Hodgins's mind not body. In fact, if he was being honest, it had only intensified.

He couldn't stop thinking about the fact that in order to have another child, they would have to give someone else, may be even a complete stranger, their DNA.

It wasn't a bad thing. He was sure there would be plenty of people willing to help. Booth and Brennan might even try to help too, which was nice, but it just wasn't the same as being there. Even their good friends would know that, having had two of their own.

Sighing, he tried to go back to his work and distract himself, easing himself up on his still broken leg as he hobbled around his workspace, before catching sight of himself in a full length mirror and stopping.

He stared at himself for a long time, unsure of why he had stopped, before an idea came to him. An inconceivable, terrible, inhuman idea that messed with all the laws of science, could not be any remote way possible and the very fabric of morality and yet…

He quietly laid a hand over his lab coated flat stomach, breathing heavily before swallowing hard, a small nervous smile rippling across his features. What would it be like to...do the impossible?

Moving swiftly, despite his aliment, he quickly found one of the Jeffersonian's interns and good friend of his, Wendell Bray. "Hey Wendell."

"Hey, Hodgins, man, what's up?" "Wendell, are you busy right now, man?"

"No, why? Something going on?" "I need to talk to you, in private, now."

"Okay, I'll just send these test results to Dr. Saroyan…" "No, now Wendell."

'Because you are the only one that will most likely believe in me at this point.'