Chapter Three
Alex just stared at the wall in disbelief. With everything going on right now in Division, this was the worst possible thing that could happen. How could she tell Sean? What about the others? She leaned her head back on the wall behind her as she just continued to stare at the wall in front of her in complete disbelief. It was impossible- completely impossible.
The knock on the door brought Alex back to reality. She knew who it was. "Come in Sean." She called.
Alex was surprised when Sean came in carrying Aviana. "Hey Alex." He gave her a soft kiss. "What's going on?"
Taking a deep breath and cracking her fingers nervously in front of her, Alex finally replied, "Sean, you had better sit down."
Furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, Sean sat down on her bed beside her. "What's going on Alex? Is everything okay?"
Pulling the small item out from under her legs, she handed it to Sean. She could not bear to bring herself to say the words- at least not yet. She watched as Sean's mind slowly processed the information, he turned to Alex in shock. "What?" he asked, "Are you kidding me?"
Alex shook her head. As much as she wished she was, there was no humor in what she had told him. "No." she quietly replied.
"You're pregnant?" Sean was still in shock.
Alex just nodded. "I'm going to have to see someone in medical, but I took three tests and they were all positive."
Sean looked at Aviana in his arms, then at Alex. Besides her being pregnant, Aviana could still be one of theirs too. "Oh wow." Sean wasn't quite sure how he felt, but he knew Alex must be horribly conflicted. "How did this happen?"
Shrugging, Alex replied, "There are a few times we weren't quite careful enough. Apparently that wasn't enough."
"What do we tell the others?" Sean was trying to work through everything in his head.
"I say we go to medical and find out if there is anything to tell. If there is, then we tell them after they find out about Aviana."
"Why after?" Sean didn't quite follow her logic.
"I dunno, give them all the shock at one time." Alex replied.
"Alright. Head to medical, I'll meet you there. I'm going to drop Aviana off with Owen or something."
Nodding in understanding, Alex slowly stood up and headed towards medical. By the time Sean made it after dropping Avi off with Owen, Alex had already got her confirmation. The tech was cleaning off Alex's stomach when he arrived in medical. "Congratulations." The tech was telling her, "By baby size I would say you were about eight weeks pregnant. I would say your due date is going to be Christmas."
"Nice Christmas gift." Sean commented to alert Alex to his presence.
"Yeah." Alex replied dejectedly.
"I'll leave you two to talk." The tech left to give them some privacy.
"Are you okay?" Sean asked her, sensing something was wrong.
"Shocked." Alex replied, "Not to mention a child is not exactly an ideal situation here."
"Well," Sean replied, "With Avi it is beginning to become the norm. He or she will have two loving parents and all kinds of loving friends. We slow our role with the fights. That's all."
Alex rubbed her forehead in distress. "I just don't know if I can handle being a mother."
"We'll learn on the fly. We have Avi's parent to learn from and Avi to practice with."
"What if she is one of ours?" Alex brought up her biggest worry.
"We'll deal." Sean replied, "We have people around to help us and that's the biggest thing."
On one hand Alex was glad Sean was so confident on the other shouldn't understand how he wasn't terrified. Now even if Aviana wasn't one of theirs they would still be parents in seven months. Alex also couldn't imagine how she would do this without being able to tell her one live family member, her mother. Overall she took some relief in what Sean had said- whoever Avi's parent was they would all help and they would do the same for their baby.
"Hey! There you guys are!" Ryan greeted Alex and Sean. "I've been looking all over for you. IS everything okay"
Sean and Alex looked at each other and Alex responded. "Fine. Just fell and twisted my ankle." Alex lied, "Wanted to make sure I didn't break it."
Looking like he wanted to call her out on a lie, instead he ignored it, knowing there was probably good reason. "Well, Birkhoff has been looking for everyone." Ryan reported.
Both Sean and Alex knew exactly what that meant. "He knows what the baby's father or mother is." Sean asked.
Ryan just nodded. "He and the medical tech Ella just finished al the samples and have one match."
"well," Sean suggested, "I guess we head upstairs."
When Sean, Alex and Ryan arrived in Ryan's office, Nikita looked completely nervous, Michael excited and Owen was rocking Aviana back and forth. For a cleaner he had some kind of weird knack with the baby and he was good with her. Surprisingly enough Birkhoff looked even more terrified than Nikita and he also looked exhausted from spending the nights up working. Ella looked tired too but in far better overall condition than Birkhoff since she didn't have to worry about if Aviana was her daughter.
Birkhoff and Ella had arranged seats in a circle and everyone sat down. It was oddly silent, probably since they all knew this was something that would completely change one of their lives forever. Once Ella had practically ripped the baby from Owen's arms, she stood in the middle of them. "So I know who the parent is." She started, "but only me. What I decided would be the best option was to have you all close your eyes and when you are ready, I'll place Avi in her basket behind her parent. Then you will all find out at once."
No one wanted to play games, but no one exactly wanted to argue either. They all just silently nodded their agreement, then one-by-one closed their eyes. Ella instructed them to give a thumbs up once they were ready and slowly but surely they all did. "Okay, I'm going to put Avi down." Ella announced, placing Aviana in her basket, "I'll let you know when you can open 'em."
Slowly Ella made her way behind the group Part of her was disappointed that Avi's parent wasn't exactly thrilled about being a parent and had very few parental skills, but she knew everyone would help, she would help and they would get it all figured out. Slowly she walked towards the person who both sets of DNA tests-hers and Birkhoff's, had identified the sample as a parent. As she placed Avi down behind the chair she was worried about their reaction. Taking a few quiet steps back, she took one more look around the group that would never be the same. "Okay, open." She directed, thumbing the smelling salts in her pocket just in case.
Michael's eyes immediately grew large as he could see the baby across from him before he ever checked behind him. He had happened to be sitting across from Avi's parent. One-by-one as everyone checked behind themselves then looked around for the baby, they came to see who the parent was. He was still turned backwards from them in total shock. Obviously he had known it was a possibility but every time he had worked it out in his head he'd never thought the baby would be his. It was finally Nikita who broke the silence calling out, "Awe, little Nerd."
Birkhoff still hadn't moved. Ever since he had turned around to see the baby behind him he had been frozen in place. Aviana was his, Aviana was his daughter, Aviana Birkhoff. His mind was swimming with thoughts but he could not move. "Seymour?" Ella had taken to calling by first name since they had been working so closely together. "Are you okay?"
Birkhoff looked up at Ella wide-eyed and still in shock. "She's mine?" he questioned in disbelief.
Ella nodded. "Both of us got the same result Seymour. Your sample."
Looking down at the baby, Birkhoff picked her up slowly, staring the whole time. He studied the baby's tiny features, trying to rationalize how she looked like him. "Hi Avi." He softly said to her, garnering a happy gurgle from her in reply, "I'm your daddy."
Alex was relieved with the news but smiled at Birkhoff using the word 'daddy.' It just seemed so strange- but it always was with Division. She was even more surprised when Sean suddenly announced, "Hey Birkhoff," causing Birkhoff to look up at him instead of Avi. "Alex and I just wanted to let you know that in seven months Avi is going to have a playmate." He put his arm around a stunned Alex.
The room got even more shocked- if that was even possible. Michael looked happy- he was all for kids, but Nikita looked in shock and like she could be sick at any moment with Alex's news. Ryan and Owen looked surprised- but very happy for the couple. "Alex?" Nikita asked to get confirmation.
"I was just in medical." She replied, "I'm due around Christmas."
Division was about to get a whole lot different. Birkhoff rocked the baby in his arms, still in surprise. He didn't know why Amanda would do this to him. Nikita had always been her target, it didn't make sense why she would target him instead. It was more likely that she targeted Birkhoff because if the baby caused Birkhoff to fall apart- which it very well could, it would cause Nikita more heartbreak. It honestly didn't matter anymore, now he just had to worry about Aviana. He glanced down at his tiny daughter. Her big blue eyes stared up at him, a gentle smile crossing her face. Being his daughter he was surprised at the tiny one's temperament and how happy she was. Sure there was a side of Birkhoff that had been that way when he was little, but it had been a really long time.
His chest was tight in a knot in complete fear. He knew that everyone would back him up and that they would help him care for Avi, but it didn't make him any less afraid. Birkhoff had been an only child and had never been around children at any time during his life. This caused a panic- how could he care for a baby when he had no idea what to do? Avi was beautiful, but he did not want to screw her up. Division- and more specifically him and his life, were not set up to care for a baby or to raise a baby.
Giving Avi his pinky finger, she wrapped her tiny fingers around it. Even though he was terrified about this, looking into her eyes, all Birkhoff felt was love. He couldn't explain it, but for the first time in his life he felt completely attached to someone. It terrified the hell out of him, but he figured this is what being a parent was. "So, how do you feel?" Michael came over and looked at Avi over Birkhoff's shoulder as he stood behind her.
"Strange." Birkhoff replied, "I have no idea what to do, but I know that I love her."
Michael was surprised to hear that confession from Birkhoff, but he understood it. He barely knew Max, but he would do anything for him. It was just something that happened. It was strange to see Birkhoff that way, but he supposed it could happen to anyone. "Well, let me know if you need any help. I have done it before." Michael replied, giving Birkhoff's shoulder a supportive squeeze.
