Yay for another chapter! I want to say a special thanks to casey21791 for the review! I tweaked the couples around a little due to a suggestions I liked from a reader! This one is a little longer than the other chapters.

Let me know what you guys think!

~!DDM!~

"What?"

"I thought I knew who the enemy was, what they looked like." He sighed heavily, rubbing one large hand over his buzzed hair. "I look at you and your partner, I talk to you, and I don't know what to think anymore. I can see it in your face, you truly believe what you are saying. I've taken a huge risk with your partner, and I am about to do it again with you. I am just hoping against hope that I haven't shot myself in the foot with either decision."

"What exactly do you want me to do?" I asked cautiously. He shifted in his crouched position, putting one knee on the ground, leaning his crossed arms on the other, leaning further toward me.

"We constantly have injured people that need medical attention. We have one, main doctor but she is reaching the end of her second trimester and getting overwhelmed even though she won't admit it." He shook his head. "None of our other med techs are really qualified enough to preform anything more than general first aid. Can I trust you enough to let you out of here, with supervision of course, can't have you wondering around on your own."

"You want me to fix people up with a babysitter looking over my shoulder the whole time?" another curt nod. "Okay."

I didn't even have to think about that one, anything to get out of this horrible little room.

He straightened up to his considerable height and I used my restraints as leverage to help me to my feet. The light ache in my thigh that had mostly gone away while I was sitting still, came back with a vengeance the moment I stood up. I whimpered, pathetic I know but I couldn't help it. I swayed, bumping my arm against the wall and winced as my bullet graze reminded me of its presence.

"Do you think that I could patch myself up before I work on anyone else? I look a little gruesome." I looked down at my leg. "Okay, really gruesome."

My wrists were released and I rubbed them softly. I had never been bound like that before, it was not an experience I was willing to repeat anytime soon. The man, who had taken up his position standing silently at the door, watched me suspiciously as I followed John past him and into the dimly lit hallway. I stayed as close to my escort as I could without holding onto him as we walked past people, all armed, all glaring at me like I was the worst thing to ever walk to earth. Some of them whispered nasty things as I passed but I did my best to ignore them. I felt like I was in high school all over again and it wasn't a nice feeling at all.

I was so happy when we entered the room that they were using as an infirmary. It was cleaner than anyplace I had seen so far, medical tools and supplied were displayed neatly off to one side, several raised cots were in a row off to the other side. I instantly felt more comfortable, surrounded by things I knew. I didn't hesitate to head straight over to the gauze and bandage tape that was on the counter but was stopped from touching anything when a pale hand latched tightly onto my wrist.

I looked up in surprise, and hesitated when I was faced with the angry glare on the face of a pretty, and very pregnant, red haired woman. Her eyes trailed down my arm to the red stained cloth, the sign of the Resistance, and further still to my bullet nick shown through a rip in the coat and right down to my thigh, wires and metal visible to everyone. The look of disgust on her face while she stared at my leg was more painful than the grip she had on my arm. She shoved me away from the medical equipment and back toward John who had stopped just inside the doorway.

"What is that thing doing in here?" she sneered at me.

"She is going to be helping you during her stay here." he said firmly.

"She most certainly is not. She doesn't belong in here." She turned her back to us. "Get that machine out of my infirmary."

"Actually, I really could be of some help." I flinched when she returned her glare to me. "I...I have a medical degree, I studied to be a trauma surgeon." she scoffed, a skeptical expression on her pretty face.

"So when did you graduate, machine."

"My name is Odessa and I graduated the same year I died, 2004." Her whole body froze.

"She is going to help you out in here Kate, and that is final." John looked down at me. "Go wrap yourself up, then assist her in any way she needs you." he turned and left before either of us could say anything else.

"How far along are you?" I asked after a few minutes of tense, awkward silence.

"Its none of your business, a machine wouldn't truly understand anyway." she snapped, obviously not pleased that she was forced to share my company.

I sighed, grabbed the bandage tape, gauze, some anti-bacterial ointment and hoisted myself up onto one of the raised cots. I could see Kate watching me out of the corner of my eye. I slathered on a thin layer of the ointment onto my thigh, I am not completely sure that metal can get infected but better safe than sorry. I was tempted to use a bit more but I wasn't sure how much a place like this would have access to and I didn't want to use their limited supply frivolously. I placed the gauze over the exposed area then carefully wrapped the tape around it to hold it in place. I was very happy with my results when I finished, pleased that the gruesome inner workings of my leg were now hidden. I examined the wound in my arm through the tear in my sleeve before deeming bandaging it unnecessary. I would have to do something about the growing hole in my arm.

Kate looked surprised but didn't say anything when I hopped off the cot and put everything I didn't use back in its proper place. I waited for her to say something but she seemed determined to ignore me. John had said that there were people who needed to be tended to but no one was in the room but us. At least I wasn't in my little dungeon anymore. Did he tell me I could be useful just to give me a reason to leave that horrible little room? That would have been almost nice of him. I went back over to the cot and sat on it, not having anything else to do. I crossed my legs, restlessly, even in an unwelcoming atmosphere silence defeated me.

"Do you know if its a boy or a girl yet?" I asked softly. I didn't expect an answer.

"I don't know, we don't have the equipment to check that kind of thing." I nodded in understanding.

"When are you due?"

"A couple of months. We don't know the exact date."

"Do you have any names picked out?"

"Barns and I are still discussing our options." Barns...the man who Blair tricked into thinking John needed him in order to help Marcus escape.

"Is that his last name?" I was talking just for the sake of keeping the silence at bay.

"Yes."

"Why do you call him by his last name?"

"Habit I suppose. Everyone calls him Barns." she suddenly spun her chair around and glared at me. "Why do you want to know all of this? What use could it possibly be to you?"

"It isn't really of any use at all." I hesitated. "I really don't like quiet, I need to fill it with something. I can't even sleep when its too quiet. I used to have a white noise machine in my room at school but lately I've been using Marcus as my white noise.

"Listening to his gears turning?" she asked snidely.

"No, I listen to his heart, and his breathing when he sleeps." I shrugged.

"His heart? Machines don't have hearts." I checked my pulse and offered my wrist out to her.

"Do you want to check?"

She looked curious but still suspicious of any ulterior motive that I may have. She stood, grabbed her stethoscope and slowly approached me. Taking my outstretched arm and pressed her fingers against my pulse point, I could see her counting the beats in her mind before she moved up to check the side of my neck. She quickly put on her stethoscope and hesitated for a second, obviously wondering how she could get to my skin without being rude, at least she was a polite doctor. I unzipped the borrowed jacket I was still wearing and gave her a clear path to my heart without flashing her.

She breathed on the end of the stethoscope, heating it up, most likely out of habit, before she pressed it against my skin. The longer she held it there the more confused she looked. She kept glancing between my chest and my thigh, and I knew that they probably contradicted everything she though she knew about who and what I was.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly when she didn't speak for several moments.

"You have a heart. I saw the one in the other machine's chest but I never thought..." she whispered, bringing the stethoscope back up to my chest again. "A real...human...heart..."

She looked completely shocked, her breathing was escalating rapidly and she had a hand on her swollen stomach. I hopped off the bed and helped her back to her chair, bending over her with my hands gently kneading her shoulders.

"Breath," I said gently. "Slow, deep breaths. In through your nose," she inhaled. "And out through your mouth." she exhaled slowly.

"Good, again." She did as she was told. "That's it, just breath. Are you lightheaded at all?" she nodded, still doing the breathing exercise. "Keep breathing, do you need to lie down?" She shook her head negatively and continued to breath.

I wanted to run some tests on her blood pressure for the sake of the baby but before I could put those plans into action two people came bursting through the door. I looked at the two new visitors, one angry, one stern and serious. I recognized both of them, Barns and John.

"What the hell are you doing? Get the hell away from her, disgusting machine, get your hands off of her!" he had his weapon drawn so I quickly did as I was told, backing away with my hands raised in surrender as he surged forward. We moved around one another in a circle until we had taken each others previous positions.

"What is going on in here?" John demanded, never just asks, always demands, we are going to have to work on that.

"She has a heart." Kate whispered. "She has a heart Barns."

He looked over his shoulder at her, standing between us and still pointing his gun at me. He obviously wasn't willing to turn his back to me.

"What are you talking about? It's a machine Kate. Machines don't have hearts, they are all wires and metal, they are programmed, they don't feel! They don't have emotions, and they sure as hell don't have hearts!"

"Are you sure?" John asked. "The other one had a heart, we could see it with all the damage done to him."

"The 'other one' has a name." I said, annoyed and worried about the condition Marcus might be in, but I never lowered my hands, they remained raised and clearly visible. They ignored me.

"I checked, wrist, neck, chest, her pulse is strong. Just like the other..."

"Marcus." I interjected.

"Just like, the other one." she talked over me.

"Barns, lower your gun." John said firmly.

"No way in hell. That thing was touching my wife, my baby. What were you doing with your hands on her machine?" I gave up trying to get them to use my name, or Marcus' for the moment.

"She was starting to have the beginnings of a panic attack after she listened to my heart. I was just helping her calm her breathing and relax again before she upset the baby. I wasn't trying to hurt anyone, I was trying to help."

"I don't believe you." Barns spat angrily.