Hunnigan stared at the report on her screen and read the words over again and again but her brain adamantly refused to comprehend what was being stated. It didn't seem possible. The genetic markers in the DNA test taken from Irma Wesker were so similar to one of the agents' that they could only be blood-relatives. There were other anomalies present in Wesker's sample, undoubtedly the result of all the experiments she'd been subjected to, and these anomalies were present in the agent's sample as well.
"On a hunch, I asked Garrett to analyze the sample against Wesker's kids' samples as well and... um... the results indicate that the siblings are the parents."
"Well, considering how fanatic Wesker seems to be about her precious bloodline it doesn't surprise me she would encourage incest among her children," Hunnigan muttered, barely suppressing the need to shudder at the thought.
"Agreed, but it doesn't explain how the kid went from there to here, unless Jenova... or, Jennifer, hadn't actually planned on getting knocked up by her brother it and got rid of the child afterward."
"I can't even begin to speculate their motives for anything, clearly this family's way of operating goes beyond normal and reasonable, but this is-" Hunnigan was saying when a knock from the door interrupted her.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, come in."
"What did I do now?" Lucy sighed as she stepped inside the office space separated from the rest of the room with glass walls and leaned her shoulder to the door frame, crossing her legs at the ankles, her arms folding over her abdomen.
"Nothing, but... we may have found a relative of yours," Hunnigan said, deciding to go straight to the point.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Hunnigan exhaled deeply, not sure how to begin explaining it in detail. Fortunately for her, Olivia took over for her and gave Lucy the details of the investigation into Irma Wesker and their lineage.
"Why are you telling me this?" Lucy interrupted Olivia's speech and the room fell silent for a moment.
"I thought you'd want to know," Hunnigan finally spoke.
"Would you want to know?" Lucy asked back.
Hunnigan had to admit that she wouldn't. She could've done searches and tried to locate her biological parents but she had never wanted to, because biology didn't matter. It didn't make her who she was as a person. On the contrary, had she known more of her background, she might have made the mistake of using it as an excuse for ruining her life like so many seemed to do.
I was born this way, I can't help it, please excuse me for the day, it's just the way my DNA makes me.
That was what her "brother" Liam had done. A child whose father was a junkie and whose mother was an alcoholic clearly had no other direction in his life, so why bother even trying? He'd been given plenty of opportunities to change that, he would've been more than capable of making more of himself if he'd genuinely wanted to, but he never had. It was easier and more comfortable saying "fuck it" and letting himself go.
"Was there anything else, or can I get back to class?" Lucy then asked somewhat impatiently.
"No, that was it. I'm sorry, I didn't think this through," Hunnigan apologized, a fear of having just accidentally given Lucy the perfect way to excuse bad behavior (like homicidal rampages) beginning to brew in the pit of her stomach. Lucy didn't stay long enough to hear the apology, instead leaving the moment she was dismissed.
"Well... that could've gone better," Hunnigan sighed.
"I'll try to have a word with her later if you want."
"Since when have you two been best buddies?"
"Since never but as I like to keep reminding you, I am a mental health professional and getting people to open up is what I do."
"Correction: is what you did until you met Lucy and her way of thinking scared you so badly you never wanted to deal with people like her again."
"She was just the last straw and I quit trying to get into monsters' heads because I realized I was on the verge of beginning to understand them a little too well. That's the thing about chasing monsters, you gotta make damn sure you won't become one in the process."
"Please stop referring to my sister as a monster," Hunnigan interjected in a mumble.
"You know what I mean. So, what are we going to do about this mess with Wesker?"
"I don't know if there's anything we even should be doing. Or am I wrong?" Hunnigan inquired and Olivia sighed a little before pursing her lips as she thought about it.
"Well, considering everything that's happened recently with Simmons and Kosmin, it's become apparent that the D.S.O. has its problems when it comes to making sure everyone working here is working toward the agency's goals. And then there were the allegations Kosmin made against you..." Olivia trailed off awkwardly, obviously not wanting to say out loud what she was thinking, but she didn't need to.
The fact was that when the D.S.O.'s headquarters had been attacked, Jenova had used Hunnigan's ID to infiltrate the building, meaning that when looking at nothing but the evidence left behind in the system's logs, it looked like Hunnigan had been the one doing it. Obviously, no one (not even Kosmin) had bothered trying to blame the incident solely on her because there were witnesses and footage proving she hadn't been the one doing the unlocking, but Hunnigan knew there were people who questioned how exactly Jenova had gotten to be in possession of her ID.
It was a mistake so stupid Hunnigan could barely believe herself. She should've known better, should've realized to change her passwords, to deactivate the missing ID codes Jenova had gotten away with. It didn't matter that Hunnigan'd had all the reason to believe the laptop had been rendered useless in the drone strike, it didn't matter that she'd been distracted by concern for Lucy's condition after the incident, or that she'd ran away to get drunk in a motel room five hundred miles to the West. It was a rookie mistake, and Hunnigan of all people should've done better. Her oversight had not damaged only her personal integrity but also the agency's.
"...so, if it comes out that we have a blood-relative of Irma Wesker studying at the academy, people might start asking questions. We have our enemies and they wouldn't hesitate to use any ammunition they can get their hands on," Olivia said.
"So, what, we expel Lucy just because of her lineage? She's never had anything to do with Wesker or Jenova."
"No," Olivia shook her head, "I'm saying we keep this to ourselves. Get rid of the report and I'll make sure Garrett's paperwork reflects that."
"I suppose you're right."
"Of course I am."
"All right. So... changing the subject somewhat, do you want to fill me in on the mannequin-program? Leon mentioned it had been greenlit, but no one had told me about it."
"In my defense, you were kind of busy with your personal life when it went through and I didn't think it would be a good time to bring it up."
"I know, and I didn't mean what I said as an accusation, I'd just like to hear what is happening with it."
"Okay, so... since it was originally your idea, you know what we're trying to accomplish but the problem was figuring out a safe killswitch, which is what Garrett and I have been working on, and we had an idea regarding it."
"Sounds good," Hunnigan said and got up, heading over to the kitchenette to grab a mug of coffee. Despite her mother's adamant objections to her drinking coffee, she'd done it regardless, justifying it by saying she had very few vices. Now, with the pregnancy, she was even less allowed to indulge, but this was something she refused to give up completely. One or two cups of coffee certainly couldn't be enough to do the baby harm. Especially when considering that the majority of the children born in the decades when it was perfectly acceptable for pregnant women to smoke and drink turned out okay. At least, that was what Hunnigan told herself as she poured herself a cup.
Perhaps not a full cup, I really just need to get a taste to get rid of the craving, she then mused and settled for half.
"Garrett and I were watching Lilo&Stitch, and..."
"Wait, what were you doing with Garrett watching a children's movie?" Hunnigan quirked an eyebrow.
"Don't try to make it sound tawdry, we were working, took a break to eat lunch and watched TV while eating, and the movie was on, that's all there is to that. Just because I'm horny all the time, I do have a type I go for, and he's not it."
"Really? I would've thought you'd like the scruffy genius-type."
"I do but it wasn't like that, the mere thought is laughable because Garrett's asexual and literally gets physically ill if someone even mentions sex, whereas I fall more into the category of... hypersexual bitch," Olivia smirked.
"You tried to seduce him and he called you that, didn't he?" Hunnigan narrowed her eyes suspiciously, a tiny smile on her lips.
"Shut up," Olivia rolled her eyes and Hunnigan laughed. "Now, did you actually want to hear the idea or would you prefer trying to force me into a relationship with Garrett?"
"Now you know how I felt when you said you were 'shipping' me with Helena."
"You didn't even know what shipping means in that context, and secondly, you got married and are having a child together, so it's safe to say I was right about you two," Olivia said smugly.
"Fair enough," Hunnigan surrendered, "tell me the idea."
"Well, spoiler alert, but in the beginning of the movie Stitch gets imprisoned and the guard get a sample of his genetic material and inserts that into a weapon so that it targets only Stitch or his spit or whatever. So, Garrett and I got to thinking if we could tinker with the targeting system of the portable plaga removal machine so that it is coded to target only the plaga rather than zapping the entire room."
"That's a good idea but can it be done?"
"Most likely, yes. Don't ask me how exactly, because Garrett literally ran off with the idea and I don't understand half of what he says on a good day, but he was talking about basing it on like the stuff used for gene targeting or something like that, I really don't know the details. And frankly, I don't need to know if it works like it should. Right?"
"I don't need to know either until I have to write up a report on where our budget was spent exactly," Hunnigan pointed out.
"As if anyone reading it would understand Garrett's technobabble either."
"...well, that's also a valid point, I'll just have him write the report and stun anyone reading it into silence."
"I'm sure he'll love writing it," Olivia drawled sarcastically and Hunnigan chuckled. Garrett's reports were always very detailed and neatly put together, the problem was convincing him to actually write them.
Hunnigan drained her half a cup of coffee greedily and rinsed the mug out when she was done. She then headed back to her desk, Olivia following behind with her own mug.
"Um... you've got a little something..." she said and nodded toward Hunnigan's leg. She frowned and turned to look.
"What is..." she began to ask but left the rest unsaid when she realized it was blood, a thin line of it running along the inside of her leg, dark red soaked into the fabric of her stockings.
"Oh, no. No, no, no..."
"It's okay, it's probably nothing, it's actually very common to bleed a little during the early stages of pregnancy, trust me, I went to med school," Olivia said calmly.
"Okay... all right..." Hunnigan muttered, having to work really hard to banish the worst case scenarios her imagination was quickly conjuring up.
What if I lose the baby? How am I gonna tell Helena? How am I going to bring myself to try again if the worst happens? I know how badly trying in vain hurt my parents, I can't do that. I can't. I can't stand the thought of how disappointed and sad Helena would be. I can't stand the thought of not being able to do this with her. I can't lose our baby! Not after everything that we've been through already, why can't one fucking thing in this fucking world go as I want it to!
"Come on, call your doctor and I'll drive you over to go see her, okay? It'll be fine, I promise," Olivia assured her, and as convincing as she was, Hunnigan wasn't sure if she believed her right now.
Helena was asleep on the couch when Hunnigan got home. She had decided against calling Helena earlier today, she hadn't wanted to worry her. Helena had been working only half days since being cleared by her doctor to do so. She'd argued over it for a while and she still adamantly refused to admit how tired she got just from that, and Hunnigan let it slide as long as Helena got enough rest.
Recovering from the hemorrhage and the invasive brain surgery which had followed was a slow process and no matter how much Helena wanted to claim she was fine, her body constantly reminded her of the facts which manifested as tiredness and the occasional inability to communicate clearly in writing. Hunnigan had noticed Helena's reports contained sentences which were missing words here and there. Her doctors had assured her the problem would go away in time, she'd just need to be patient. The one thing Helena was notoriously bad at.
Hunnigan paused by the door to the living room and just watched her for a moment. Helena's left arm was resting over the top of her head, the right one hanging loosely over the edge of the cushions, her head turned to the side, her lips slightly parted as she breathed heavily in deep sleep. Hunnigan smiled and swallowed hard against the lump forming in her throat as an overwhelming feeling of love toward Helena made the skin on the back of her neck rise to goosebumps and filled her chest with that sweet ache and a sense of... fullness. It was not the perfect word to describe the feeling, but it was the closest she could think of.
I love her so much.
Hunnigan headed upstairs to take a shower and when she returned about fifteen minutes later, Helena was still asleep on the couch, only she'd turned to lay on her side. Hunnigan went to her and climbed in, carefully making her way over to lie down between Helena's back and the backrest of the couch. Her intention had been to be as stealthy and subtle as a cat but reality didn't quite match the way she imagined herself moving.
"What are you doing?" Helena mumbled sleepily after Hunnigan's less than graceful and more than clumsy attempt of moving to spoon her woke her up.
"Cuddling," Hunnigan answered. She rested her leg over Helena's hip and reached her arm around Helena's midsection, holding onto her tightly as she nuzzled the top of Helena's head.
"I fucking love cuddling," Helena said so seriously Hunnigan had to laugh. She tightened her grip on Helena and squeezed her hard. Helena faked a pained grunt and turned around to face Hunnigan.
"Are you all right?" she asked sleepily.
"I will be once you kiss me."
"Always happy to oblige with that," Helena smiled and leaned to press her lips onto Hunnigan's. She wrapped her arm around her and slipped her hand underneath Hunnigan's T-shirt to caress her back, letting out a quiet hum of pleasure into the kiss when Hunnigan deepened it. She would've happily continued, but Helena drew back somewhat abruptly.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, why?"
"You're crying."
"I'm not. At least... I don't think I am?" Hunnigan frowned and to prove her point, Helena reached to gently swipe her thumb over Hunnigan's cheekbone and showed her the tear she'd wiped away.
"Did something happen today?" Helena asked seriously and Hunnigan sighed a little, nodding. She began by explaining what they'd discovered about Lucy's lineage and carried on to explain she'd needed to go see doctor Traynor soon after. Helena inhaled deeply, as if preparing to get hit hard with something unpleasant.
"Don't worry, everything is fine, I'm fine, the baby's fine."
"But you were bleeding!"
"Yeah, and it's normal. Traynor suspected it was because something's made contact with my cervix..."
"I don't... what does that even mean?"
"It means that we need to get shorter dildos," Hunnigan smirked and poked her tongue out at Helena, who burst out laughing.
