Tess and Jess Team Up! (Soaps In Depth 6/6/06)
While it's hard enough to give birth under normal circumstances, try doing
it when you're simultaneously fighting off your own host personality! That's
the dilemma Tess found herself in when she went into labor, and the stress
apparently caused a delay in the baby's delivery. Thankfully, Viki could
sense what was needed, and she urged Tess to work together with Jess to get
through it. When the angry alter protested that Jess wanted to take the baby
away from her, Viki quickly set her straight. "No, she doesn't," began her
mother. "She wants this baby to be born healthy, and she wants you to get
through this healthy, because if it doesn't happen, you're both gone, and
so is the baby." Faced with continued skepticism, Clint's ex asked to speak
to Jessica directly. "I swear to you," Viki implored her, "if you do that,
I will make sure that you are the first person to hold this baby. Please,
Tess, I swear to you I will talk to Jessica, and I will tell her this is
not the time for her to take over; this is your time -- you, Tess, have earned
it." Speaking these words, Viki echoed the thoughts of many of us: While
Jessica should have been there at that moment, Tess had also earned that
right herself.