"We're just trying to understand the situation, that's all." Nikita said. Her Michael and Birkhoff were all gathered around Ops. The place was more or less deserted as they had no active missions and it was nearly midnight.
"What's there to understand? She's pregnant." Birkhoff said, not understanding Nikita's concern.
"But how do we know…"Michael started.
"Because that's what Alex told us and what a doctor told her. Why are you two all up in arms about this all the sudden? The time for concerned parents has passed." Birkhoff turned back to his computer.
"I just think we should…"
"Sean and I finally agree on the perfect…." Alex came bursting in to the room with Sean following close behind. She was smiling brightly, an emotion that hadn't been on her face for months, but once she saw the faces of her friends she stopped. "What's wrong?" She asked, concerned at their expressions.
"These two seem to think that you're supposed to be infertile. That somehow your pregnancy isn't real. I have to tell you princess, I don't get what all the huff is about. Sonya's told me how much you've been worshipping the porcelain gods lately." Birkhoff said, not noticing the effect his words had on Alex.
"Who…who told you I was infertile?" Her voice wavered a little.
No one knew about that. When Alex had first thought she might have been pregnant she brushed it aside thinking it was impossible. She remembered what Vlad had said. She knew what he had done; or she thought she knew. The signs kept piling up and soon enough she just didn't feel like herself anymore so she bought the test. She thought it was a fluke but the joy she felt wouldn't let her keep it to herself. The one thing she thought she could never have was happening, and more importantly it was happening with a man she loved.
"You're little Russian friend Irina let it slip. Said something about some really strong birth control you all were given back in the day." Birkhoff answered.
"My pregnancy was confirmed. I took a home test and a doctor confirmed it with a blood test. They can't both be wrong." Alex said trying to sound as confident as possible, but her voice still shook slightly.
"See guys? Nothing to worry about, now let's just put this craziness to bed and you all can leave me in peace." Birkhoff said. He was four digits away from cracking into China's main bank, just for fun of course.
"Well it wasn't a real doctor." Sean supplemented getting a little concerned with this conversation's path.
"Sean!" Alex yelled, the betrayal she felt at his comment was reflected in her eyes.
"What do you mean not a real doctor?" Michael said. Sean's comment peaked everyone's interest; even Birkhoff looked up from his screen.
"What? It was just one of Division's medical staff. Where do they even get their certification?" Sean said.
"Same way other agent's get their license to kill, we give it to them." Birkhoff said turning around in his chair suddenly a little more interested in this conversation.
Alex's face was filled with disbelief. Everyone seemed to think that she didn't know what was happening in her own body. But she did know. She could feel the life growing inside her. She knew in her gut that it was a perfectly healthy baby. Her and Sean's baby. Sean's doubt hurt her in a way she thought he had promised never to do again.
"No! I know that I'm pregnant. How can you guys not trust me? Fine if you don't trust me just look at my file. The doctor added my results to it right after she did the blood test." Alex said hoping that would convince the others.
"OK." Birkhoff sand and turned back to his screen. "Huh."
"What?" Alex said walking toward the computer.
"It looks like the last entry to the file was when you got your BP down to acceptable. There is no mention of any pregnancy test or results." Birkhoff said.
"That's impossible. Sean was there too. He heard her say I was pregnant.""
"Yeah, she ran the test and was done in like ten minutes." Sean said crossing his arms.
"Ten minutes? You can't get results about blood samples in ten minutes." Michael said.
"She said it was some new high tech test that Division had access to." Alex defended.
"I've never heard of anything like that and I know Percy sure as hell wouldn't go for it. He was always looking for ways to cut funding." Birkhoff said.
"Just stop! This is crazy. Amanda didn't experiment on me! Why can't just be happy for me?" Alex shouted.
"We have no idea what Amanda is capable of Alex. We have to be prepared for every scenario, even the most unlikely." Nikita tried to reason with her. She saw the pain on Alex's face, but that pain would be nothing in compared to what she would feel once she found out she wasn't pregnant at all. Nikita was just trying to lessen the blow.
"Hey everyone relax! I'll just pull up the medical staff manifest and Alex can pick out the doctor she saw and we can just talk to her to get this all straightened out." Birkhoff said.
"Fine." Alex said, glad that at least one person still seemed to have her back. She walked over to the screen and scrolled through the images. She kept scrolling each row of faces that she didn't recognize making her more and more nervous.
"Alex?" Nikita asked, wondering why finding one doctor was taking so long.
No.
"That's impossible." Alex said under her breath. She scrolled back to the top of the page and began reexamining the names and faces.
"Alex's what's wrong?" Sean asked noticing her growing distress.
"She's not here." Alex said looking up at Sean in worry. Maybe she wasn't…..No it had to some kind of sick joke…..She had to be….
Alex walked away from the computer covering her mouth.
"Maybe she's new. What's her name?" Birkhoff said looking at the computer trying to help out.
"She never said." Sean murmured, watching Alex intently. His heart hurt with this revelation. He had just gotten used to the idea of becoming a father. He was looking forward to it, even. Now, he didn't know what to think, to feel, to do. It was as if his whole world had finally been right side up since his mother died and now this. Once again Amanda managed ruin his life in just a matter of seconds.
But he couldn't dwell on his pain. He had to be strong, for Alex.
"Listen, it's okay Alex. It wasn't the best time anyway. We'll get through this." He went to put a comforting arm on her shoulder but she quickly shook him off and turned to look at him, her eyes were boiling with rage.
"No! I am pregnant! I don't need this. I don't need any of you!" Alex yelled and stalked off. She turned away too quickly for anyone to see the tears streaming down her face.
The others just stood there and stared at Sean with empathy.
Irina shrunk back into the shadows as Alex rushed by. She had been on her way to the training level but had stopped in her tracks when she heard her name mentioned. The path of the conversation shook her. She never expected her offhand comment to bring about this.
She ran to the training level once Alex was down the hall. She had to talk to Owen; well talk was one way you could put what she had planned.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Irina screamed as she shoved Owen away from the dummy he was beating on and into the wall.
"Hey if you wanted to spar all you had to do was ask." Owen said and smirked at the girl pinning his to the glass.
"How could you tell them? You have no idea what you have done!" Irina screamed.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Owen said shoving her off him. Her shrill voice was starting to get on his nerves.
"Alex! You told them that she shouldn't be pregnant and now …..It's all falling apart!"
"Hey! That's not my fault. They had a right to know that something wasn't right." Owen defended himself.
"You didn't …you didn't see her face. They all doubt her now. All her friends…her family…this is what she wanted all along." Irina whispered the last part to herself, but Owen still heard her.
"What who wanted?" Owen asked. Irina looked up, shocked, as if she hadn't realized she had said that out loud.
"I.. I didn't…no one said.." Irina scrambled for the right words. Her eyes told Owen more than enough though.
He jumped on her pulling out a knife from only god knows where and held it tightly to her throat.
"Amanda? You're working for her aren't you!" Owen seethed as he held her tightly the tip of the blade digging into her skin.
"Like….I have …a choice!" She managed to get out.
"You always have a choice!" He growled back, more angry at himself for letting his guard down near another one of Amanda's pawns.
"Not with her." Irina said her face getting paler by the second. Owen finally let go of her throat but still kept her pinned to the ground.
"What makes you think you had to betray us? Betray Alex? She's the only reason you're still alive and you do something like this to repay her?"
"I didn't know I was doing anything. That's how Amanda works. She gets in your head, muddles everything up." Irina grasped at her throat trying to stop the burning feeling.
"What do you mean you didn't know?"
"I thought I got rid of her, when I came here, but she found me. I was in the grocery store just before you two got when she found me. She saw me getting the pregnancy book for Alex and mentioned how she had though all of Vlad's girls were infertile. I was so shocked at seeing her that I couldn't move. The next thing I know she's gone. I figured it was all in my head….but now….One comment and everything falls apart. She had to have known what would happen." Irina explained.
Owen sighed and got off of her and instead took a seat next to her.
"I know now that it wasn't in my head. She must have been planning it all along. It's so sad though." Irina whispered.
"What is?"
"How one little thing can completely drive you all apart. None of you trust each other, not fully, and that will be your downfall. If it's always so easy to get to you, she will always win." Irina said.
"We have to tell the others, before this gets way out of hand." Owen said as he stood and then turned to offer Irina a hand up.
She took it cautiously, her eyes never leaving the knife still held loosely in his other hand.
"Guys listen, about what I said earlier, I take it back." Owen said rushing into Ops.
"No Owen you were right. Something isn't right about this situation." Nikita said.
"Not to mention Amanda somehow manage to get another mole in here too." Michael said.
"What?" Owen stopped, unconsciously moving to block Irina from the group.
"Yeah, turns out the doctor that told Alex she was pregnant doesn't actually work her. I've been going over the schedule to figure out who was supposed to be working then an scheduling interviews. We seriously need to set up cameras down here." Birkhoff sighed and went back to work.
"You guys got it all wrong. Alex is fine, it's all part of Amanda's plan to get us to turn on each other." Owen said.
"Owen what are you-"
"Alex is gone!" Sean yelled as he ran into Ops.
"What?" asked Nikita.
"A bunch of her stuff is missing from our room and I can't find her anywhere." Sean said breathing heavily his face etched with worry.
"This was what I was talking about! Now that Amanda has Alex believing no one believes in her, who knows what's going on in her head." Owen said.
"Birkhoff you have to track her." Sean said getting over to the computer terminal.
"She doesn't have a tracker in her anymore. If she doesn't want to be found, she won't be." Birkhoff said.
Everyone just stared at each other, no one with any idea what to do. It was possible that they had lost Alex forever.
Amanda finally won.