A pregnant Tess sets a bomb to take care of Jared and Natalie once and for all, but goes into premature labor and flees to Nash and Jessica's abandoned vineyard cottage. Alone and afraid, Tess conjures up a hallucination of Niki Smith — the only "mother" Tess has ever known. Niki chastises Tess for her evil deeds and urges her to repent, telling Tess that she is simply transferring her rage at Niki's own negligence during Jessica's childhood onto Jared and Natalie, and pushes her to make things right and save the people at Llanfair. Tess agrees to go back and deactivate the bomb, but is struck by another wave of contractions before she can. With Niki's help, Tess delivers a severely premature baby girl on November 6, 2008; the baby is stillborn.