"What was that?" Sandy asked.

"Huh."  Professor walked over to the table and picked up the before mentioned box which had stopped beeping. "It's a little device I was working on some time ago.  It is capable of detecting concentrated fields of Chemical X energy.  I was thinking that should one of the Powerpuff Girls get lost, this device would prove useful and with it I could track her anywhere. That is, when my girls were alive then...." he blinked back the sudden tears that welled up in his eyes and looked at the small radar screen on the detector.  "That's odd. I did not see anything that sets it off. Why did it beep then?"

"You still have the vital of Chemical X somewhere in here, right?"  Sandy said.

"Yes, but I have it stashed away in a special box I built especially for it and hid it in a way that it cannot be detected by even the most sophisticated technology. That way, it will not fall into wrong hands.  So," he turned around so he was facing Sandy, "there's no way even the large vital of Chemical X would set it off..."

The box beeped again.  Professor glanced down, and his jaw dropped open when he saw three tiny blips flashing on the small radar screen. "What the blazes?!"

"What is it?" Sandy asked, suddenly concerned.

Professor was staring strangely at the teacher.  "Sandy, will you allow me to scan you?  Just to make sure my detector is not malfunctioning or something

Sandy was confused. "But..." But Professor was already scanning her with the detector from head to feet.  The detector did not beep until it came in close proximity to Sandy's abdomen. Then it beeped, loudly and clearly.  Now Sandy was a little frightened. "What's it all about?  Tell me, John, what's going on?!"

Professor has the oddest expression on his face as he checked the radar screen. There was no mistake about it. Three blinking blips.  "I'm still not sure. It indicted that you have something that carried some kind of Chemical X inside you - three of them, actually.  Sandy...Sandy!"  He began to get excited, "I don't know why, but if I guessed correctly, it would appear that you are expecting triplets.  Triplets, imbued with a substance similar to Chemical X!" 

"Triplets!" Sandy shouted.  "You can't be serious!  Triplets? Chemical X? You must be kidding... then it dawned on her and she gasped.  One look at Professors face and she knew right away that Professor was thinking the same thing as well.  "Wait a minute. Surely you're not thinking who they are... oh, no, John, that's impossible!"

"Maybe I'm crazy. But why else would the device beeped for? Come on!"  Professor grabbed Sandy's hands and dragged the reluctant teacher over to one corner where the large gray box stood upright with a medium-sized flat screen sitting atop it. "This is something that I developed solely for a local hospital, and the patent is still pending. It's much like a highly-sensitive ultrasound Doppler device, only more advanced.  With it, you can actually see 3-D color images on this screen of the embryo or gestational sac as early as four to six weeks after conception! And what's more, you can actually hear their heartbeats too!"  Professor turned toward her. "Sandy, you're six weeks pregnant, right?  Would you mind if I scan you with this?"

Sandy took one look at the piece of technology and stepped back, putting up her hands. "Whoa, John! I just don't know about that...it's all too much for me!"

Professor was taken aback. He blushed a little and said sheepishly, I'm sorry, Sandy. Please forgive me, it's just that I...I thought for a moment it could be, um, *them* coming back to us...but I could be wrong, he took deep breath and ran his hand through his hair again.  "Just the same, before you decide to take any drastic action, whatever it might be, I'd like to take a look at them. That is, if it's okay with you."

Sandy just looked at him. She felt a bit overwhelmed. It was all too fast for her to take it in. On one hand, she was quite apprehensive about having babies, especially if they turned out to be smaller version of red-faced aliens. But on another hand, she was beginning to get a little excited. As Professor had implied, what if the triplets turned out to be to be who they think they are...? "Well, maybe, maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a look then, John..."  She said at last.

Professor smiled, nodded once, and picked up a smaller round object with a long cord attaching it to the large gray device. He pushed the button on it and a quiet whirring sound was heard. "Okay, then, what I'll do is pass this over your abdomen, and it will transmit the images to the monitor. We'll be able to see something in a minute."

Sandy stood still as Professor, without touching her at all, moved the small object forth and back in front of her. At once the monitor turned from black to dark pink, and soon they could see a faint image of small forms coming into view. Gradually it became more 3-D and for the first time they could see three small embryos floating, each curled up in its own sac.  Although Sandy and Professor had seen pictures of a human embryo in various developments before when they were in college some time ago, they immediately noticed right away that they are no ordinary human ones.

Even though they were still very, very tiny and completely hairless with puny arms and legs and "tails", their heads were unusually big and more rounder than normal.  Moreover, their eyes, although still dark as yet, were extraordinarily large even for a normal human embryo.  And much to Sandy's sheer relief, they were not red at all. She stared at them with a mixture of wonderment, amazement, and even joy while listening to their steady heartbeats.  They're not aliens, she thought giddily, Oh, thank god they're not aliens! Overjoyed, she grabbed Professor and held on to him, laughing and crying at same time. Professor was grinning too, with tears of happiness glistening in his eyes.

There was no question who they were. That she knew it for sure now.  How, and why they ended up inside her, Sandy have no idea. But she didn't care.  The Powerpuff Girls have come back. That's all it mattered now.