This is part 1 of the season 6 finale. Happy New Year everyone!
S6E10: Part 1
10K POV
He got to the infirmary helping cart in medicine just as Red was done with Addy. Luckily, she had a clean bill of health and was all set to go. He knew Bailey would be relieved when she heard that news. Red was happy too as she directed them on where to leave the medicine they were bringing in. He started putting boxes on the counter she'd pointed to while Brendan, the other few guards, and Ray went to get what was left in the truck.
"This was a great idea Tommy." Red said as she came over and started pulling medicine out of the boxes and putting it in its proper cabinets and drawers. "I'm not sure what we would have done if a few more people had gotten sick before you got here."
"Is it bad?" he asked opening another box.
"Just the common cold and a half a dozen people with the flu but this stuff spreads quick, especially when people are all staying cramped inside to stay warm."
"Any riots?"
"No but if this medicine was still a few days away I think we would have had at least one. You guys came just in time."
"We had some bumps along the way but nothing too bad. Just glad it was worth the risk."
"How was Bailey? I know she was still having pretty bad morning sickness when you guys left." Red asked looking genuinely concerned and he was reminded again of everything the two girls went through together.
"She's been getting better. I think the sickness is calming down. She's going to start really showing soon." He said as a smile crept up on his face at the idea of her having a tiny belly. Red came over and grabbed more medicine from the box and noticed the look on his face.
"Excited?" she asked smiling. He turned to her, bit his lip, then nodded.
"Yeah. I wasn't sure if I'd be, or if I'd be nervous or worried, and I am but the excitement is just kind of. . . more than that."
"So. . .are you hoping for anything?" she asked.
"Hoping for anything?" he asked confused.
"Yeah, like a boy or a girl?" she clarified as she took the medicine to the cabinet behind him.
He shrugged, "I don't really care. I just want Bailey and the baby to be healthy. I know a lot can go wrong during the pregnancy. . . and the delivery."
It got quiet as his worry started to move to the forefront of his mind knowing that before modern technology just having a baby could kill the mother and he tried to shake thoughts like that away. Red must have noticed the sudden change in his demeanor because she changed the subject.
"My mom used to have an old surefire way to tell if it was a boy or girl." She said getting his attention.
"Really?" he asked turning to her, "What was it?"
"It was based on three things. Like what side she woke up on after the baby was conceived. Was the conception in a moment of happiness or sadness. And what was the first thing she ate afterward, salty or sweet?"
He thought back to when he'd first come to Altura and found out Bailey was alive and the first time he saw her again. It was definitely a happy moment. But then there was that time after the funeral at the Memorial Wall after Sarge had died and he'd lost his hand. That moment was out of pure grief and mourning. He didn't remember what side she'd woken up on after their first time, and he had no clue what she'd eaten.
"So which is which?" he asked and Red paused with her hand still in the box and her face scrunched up.
"I forgot." She said before they both started laughing.
Then there was a knock and they turned to see Bailey leaning against the doorframe.
"Hey." Red said smiling at her, "Tommy was just saying how you've been feeling a little better, less morning sickness?"
"Yeah but when can my bathroom breaks go back to normal?" she asked crossing her arms and chuckling.
"About six and a half months, maybe a week or so less than that, from now." Red said leaning against the counter. Bailey gave a groan but it was followed by a small laugh as she looked at him.
"You ready to head back home? I can start dinner." She offered and he looked at Red.
"Go on, I'm all set here."
"You're sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, I got it, go." She smiled before getting back to work unpacking as he left with Bailey.
Bailey POV
When they got back home she started heating up some pasta in the small kitchenette, she had a few packs of powdered cheese and figured she'd make some instant mac and cheese as 10K fell back onto the bed. She kept thinking back to her conversation with Doc and was arguing with herself over if she should tell Tommy her theory or not. Beck wasn't as common a last name as Smith or Jones but it still couldn't be the only Beck family in the world. She could be wrong.
"Hey, have you thought of any baby names yet?" he asked and she turned from the stove to glance at him.
"Some things have been bouncing around in my mind." She replied and he smiled at her from where he was leaning on his elbow looking at her from the bed. Bailey couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate the way his long sleeved shirt hugged his body showing off his muscles better when he didn't have a jacket on. Then she turned back to dinner, stirring the pasta as it softened.
"Did you have any ideas?" she asked.
"Only one." He admitted, "I'm not sure if I'd call it my favorite, but I like the name Jeff."
She turned and smiled at him remembering how he'd said that back when they'd first met and Doc was asking him about the name Ten Thousand.
"I remember you mentioning that when Doc asked if you'd change your name to Twenty Thousand when you reached your goal." She chuckled and he laughed too.
"Did I ever tell you why I liked the name?" he asked and she shook her head taking a jar from the mini fridge that ran on Altura's solar power and added what was in it to her empty bowl.
"My Pa's name was Jeff." He said, his voice low and she turned and saw him looking down at the comforter. She turned back around before he could look up and see her wide eyes. "So what baby name did you like?" he asked oblivious to what was going through her mind.
"I don't have any favorites yet and I did want something that would go well with the baby's last name." she said looking over her shoulder at him, "And I guess it'd be my last name soon too right?" she asked and he smiled at her. She blushed and turned back to dinner, draining the pasta before putting it into bowls and mixing in the cheese.
"Which would be what? Speaking of it. . . " she trailed off.
"I never told you my last name?" he asked and she shook her head grabbing utensils for them. "Beck."
There was a clatter as she dropped the fork in her hand and it hit the floor. She bent down and picked it up but Tommy had already gotten up and was making his way over to her.
"You okay?" he asked as she stood and got a new fork giving him a small smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said trying to save her slip up, "It just slipped."
10K still came up beside her and got his bowl while she took hers and took a large bite hoping they could eat in silence while she figured out how to tell him what she knew. For once, no matter how good she was at reading people and no matter how well she knew him, she still had no idea how he was going to react.
"Are those slices of pickle in your pasta?" he asked and she stopped mid chew.
"Yeah." She replied covering her mouth with her hand.
"Cravings?" he guessed hitting the nail on the head.
"Mm-hmm." She nodded as she kept chewing with her hand covering her mouth, "Too weird?"
Tommy smiled and gave a chuckle, "No. You're forgetting I once ate dog food."
She giggled before she took another bite, the mix of flavors hitting the spot.
"Baby happy?" 10K asked eating from his own bowl and leaning back against the counter.
"Very happy." She nodded then turned away and went to sit on the bed, crossing one leg under her as she ate and avoided his gaze keeping her eyes on her food.
"What's wrong?" he asked coming over and joining her on the bed holding his bowl in his hand and resting his wrist – now without the antler and covered by his navy bandana – on his thigh. "You're unusually quiet tonight."
"I'm just tired." She said playing it off, "We had a long trip, maybe you were right, I shouldn't have gone."
"Are you feeling okay?" he asked getting worried.
"I just think I underestimated how much energy my body is actually using being pregnant."
"Yeah, the baby's only the size of a raspberry and you're making over a million new cells a minute." He said taking another bite of food.
"Okay how do you know all these random facts all of a sudden?" she asked remembering when he'd mentioned her getting a baby bump. He blushed and looked away before he put his bowl aside and went to his backpack. He came back with a book in his hand and passed it to her. She was surprised when she read the title, 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'.
"I got it from the library back in Pacifica." He explained sitting back down on the bed with her and finishing the last few bites of his dinner.
"How much have you read?" she asked flipping through the pages and finding a lot that he'd dog-eared, some places things were circled with pencil or underlined.
He shrugged, "Up to month four." He said before he swallowed the bite in his mouth. "Right now our baby looks like two little raisins smushed together, it's kinda cute."
She started flipping through the pages looking at everything Tommy had marked. She got to one section about sperm he'd circled and she turned the book to him, he started to blush as she lifted an eyebrow.
"I can explain." He said sheepishly.
"Really?"
"It's not what you think." He said, "I just. . . wanted to be sure. . . if we did, I wouldn't hurt the baby."
She put the book down and smiled at him then she leaned across the bed and gave him a short kiss. He blushed again as she opened the book and started skimming through it, paying the most attention to the parts he'd marked as important. She picked at her dinner as she read and when she was finished eating Tommy took their bowls and went to the sink to wash them. Then he told her he was going to take a shower and she nodded keeping her nose in the book as she laid down against the pillows.
10K POV
When he'd gotten out of the shower he put on only a pair of sweatpants before heading back into the main room of the trailer. He found Bailey asleep on the edge of the bed, her cheek was against her pillow but her arm was dangling off the side with the book on the floor. He smiled, rubbing his towel through his wet hair before he threw it in the hamper and went over to her. There was a blanket folded on the foot of the bed and he grabbed it with his one hand and draped it over her. She snuggled up underneath it but didn't wake as he picked the book up from the floor and sat down where it had been laying, using the side of the bed to support his back. He opened it up and decided to re-read the section about the third month since that was where Bailey was in her pregnancy.
He was a good few chapters in when he felt Bailey stirring in her sleep, a moment later he felt her hand run through his damp hair and he craned his head back to look at her.
"Have a nice nap?" he asked as her free hand rubbed her eye and she nodded.
"Is that the smushed raisins you were talking about?" she asked seeing the picture he was looking at and he chuckled and nodded.
"At this stage of development the baby already has a brain and a heartbeat." He read the caption under the picture. Something about that stuck in his mind and he repeated it under his breath, "a heartbeat. . . " he muttered thinking about it. Talkers and zombies don't even have that, he thought as he turned his head and looked at Bailey's stomach. In the shirt she was wearing she didn't even look pregnant, her stomach wasn't big enough to show through her clothes yet. He couldn't believe that even as small as their baby was now, only a little bunch of cells, their Little K was already so alive. He turned back to the book and as he was flipping through the pages he felt Bailey run her fingers through his hair again and start playing with it. After a moment he leaned his head back against the bed and looked up at her as she rested on her elbow.
"Do you think Little K can feel things right now?" he asked softly as she kept playing with his hair.
"I'm not sure. A lot of people don't think so because the baby's so small, that's why they use words like fetus and embryo." She explained not sure if when he was being homeschooled Tommy had had a health or sex-ed class. Probably not.
She giggled when he cringed unintentionally, he'd just always thought of it as a baby, "I don't think size really matters. I mean look at Talkers and zombies. They're fully grown people but they don't have a heartbeat – our baby does. Talkers can't feel pain – maybe our baby can."
He felt her hand pause in his hair before she started running her fingers through it again. "I don't want to think about our baby feeling pain."
He looked at her stomach again after she spoke, "Who could harm something so small and innocent?"
"Only someone as selfish as Murphy." She replied, "Or as unnecessarily cruel as Zona."
He adjusted himself, getting up from the ground and moving to one knee. He brought his only hand to her cheek as she folded her arms propping her up on the bed.
"I'm not going to let anyone hurt our baby. Ever. I promise." He said using his thumb to run along her cheek as it lifted into a small smile.
"I know." She said quietly before she leaned in and kissed him sweetly. When she pulled away their noses brushed before she pulled back further and sighed looking down at the comforter. When she looked back up there was something in her eyes he couldn't describe.
"Tommy, I have to tell you something." She said and he thought she almost sounded. . . scared? "And I don't know how you're going to take it."
"Are you okay?" he asked, his worry spiking.
"No, no, it's not about me or the baby." She reassured him, "It's about you."
His eyebrows pulled together, what could she know about him that he didn't know about himself that would have her this anxious?
"Tommy, I – I think Doc might be your grandfather."
He felt his heart stop.
Third Person POV
One person stayed crouched while they moved around the perimeter of the tall fence around Altura. When they came to the spot they cut through to get out they found another figure who quickly opened the fence again to let them back inside. Jesse had known shit had hit the fan when George and Lieutenant Warren had taken Deric and Jacob into custody. Even in the apocalypse rumors spread like wildfire and when she heard Forrest had gotten away she knew she had to go look for him. But all she'd found had been their friend lying dead in the snow with a gear imbedded into his skull.
When she and Justin had put the fence back together and she told him what she had found she could see the anger building inside him from the way he clenched his jaw. Five years ago when they'd first heard Citizen Z on the air calling his new Delta X-Ray Delta team who'd been roped into the suicide mission that was Operation Bitemark he and Jesse had found it comical that some other suckers had been stuck with that prick Murphy. But as they'd heard more and more transmissions as the team made it further and further across the country they'd started getting angry. She, Jacob and Deric hadn't seen the point, it wasn't their problem anymore so why should they care? But to Forrest and Justin they had been replaced by people who weren't even military and we're being made fools of. When they'd heard of Newmerica five years later and how it was a safe haven it had taken them months to convince Forrest and Justin to go with them. That's when they'd become part of that group in New York and had seen that almighty Lieutenant Warren and her crew for the first time. Now that sniper – the only one they knew who could kill with gears – had killed their friend, Jesse knew Justin would be on the warpath. And he'd be gunning for the one-handed sniper.
Bailey POV
"No." Tommy had replied after a moment of silence had passed after she'd told him about Doc.
"Tommy –"
"No!" he said again, his voice now deeper and sharper as he stood up and walked away, pacing the room.
"10K, Doc told me he had a son named Jeffrey Beck." She explained sitting up on the bed and kneeling to rest on her heels, "He said he had him at nineteen. And you just said before, that –"
"Doc is not the guy who walked out on my Pa!" Tommy shouted turning to her but he didn't look angry he looked. . .hurt. Then he turned away from her again and kept pacing.
"He was only nineteen Tommy." She said gently, staying where she was, "He was scared. He thought he'd only mess up your dad's life, he didn't think he could be a father."
"I get scared too." He admitted turning to her, his voice still harsh, "I get nervous and worried that I won't be good enough, or that I won't be a good father. But that doesn't mean I think about abandoning you and the baby. I'd never do that to you."
She shifted and sat on the edge of the bed. "Because you have a good heart, you always try to do the right thing, you're a good person –"
"And where do you think I get that from?" he asked and she could tell he was calming down, but without the anger, he was starting to crumble. "I grew up hearing my Pa talk about how he was always going to be better than his father. How he would be there for me and my mom and I always looked up to him for that. I wanted to be just like that. Doc can't be that bad guy who walked out on my dad, he's too good a guy to have made his own kid hurt like that. It's a coincidence, that's all it is."
She could hear the desperation in his voice, how badly he wanted to believe that, how badly he wanted that to be the truth. She could hear him trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince her and her heart broke a little seeing him so torn. He stopped pacing and went to the dresser opening a drawer and digging around for a shirt. Then in his frustration he slammed it shut and sat on the couch putting his head in his hand, covering his face. She pushed herself off the bed and walked over to him and rubbed his shoulder a little before he took his right arm and wrapped it around her waist pulling her into his lap and burying his head into her shoulder. She rested one hand on his chest and the other one at the nape of his neck as she played with his hair, knowing it would soothe him.
"I know you look up to Doc." She said softly. "And he isn't that same guy who ran from his problems. And he regrets never getting in touch with your dad and smoothing things over. And he's going to be hurting too when we tell him." She said and he looked up at her, "Because it's going to confirm his son is dead."
10K got a new look in his eyes like he hadn't thought of that, he hadn't thought about Doc's perspective. He rested his head on her shoulder again as she played with his hair knowing it was helping.
"But it also means he'll gain a grandson." She said, "And a great- grandchild." She felt him smile against her shoulder and she leaned down and kissed his temple as she continued to play with his hair, "Do you know how rare that is? For a child nowadays to have a great grandfather? To have any real blood relatives at all?"
10K rested his hand against her stomach and rubbed her skin softly with his thumb. She could feel him regaining his composure. After all he couldn't change the past, what was done was done and the only thing they could do was make the most of things and move forward. Then there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." Bailey said.
"Go away." 10K called at the same time. Bailey chuckled and shook her head before calling again.
"Come in."
The door opened and Warren and George stepped inside, they each wore looks of various degrees of seriousness and Bailey sat up straighter as she climbed off 10K while he sat up the same way and took his head off her shoulder.
"Hey, we've been looking for you guys." Warren said sounding tired and Bailey wondered how much sleep she'd been getting while they'd been away.
"Well you found us." 10K said clearly picking up on the same thing Bailey was as she sat next to him on the couch. "What's up?"
"We heard you found our guy Forrest." George began as she closed the door behind her, "Kaya said he crossed paths with you guys on your way back to Altura."
"Yeah." 10K said his voice changing as he remembered the guy who'd attacked Bailey and she reached over and took his hand hoping to keep him calm. "He was shooting at Murphy and we returned fire until he fled. Bailey ran into him on her way back to the truck to check on Addy and I killed him."
"That's where the problem is." George said and now both of them were confused.
"He wasn't alone." Warren began to explain and now they understood why they both looked so serious, "He was one of five people who had gone AWOL on the original Operation Bitemark."
"You mean the guys Hammond had been traveling with?" Bailey asked and Warren nodded, "I thought he said they were all dead?"
"They were all assumed dead." Warren clarified, "Citizen Z looked back through his NSA files and a handful of those Delta X-ray Delta members were marked as MIA: missing in action. Given it was the height of the apocalypse they assumed they'd been killed in a horde of zombies."
"And they weren't?" 10K asked.
"Nope." George said, "They just decided they weren't going to risk their lives for Murphy on a suicide mission."
"Well we've all been there." Bailey muttered remembering how she'd had those same thoughts herself whenever they lost someone. Even she'd thought of leaving on more than one occasion, like when La Reina had made her an offer. And again when they'd only been a few days from Auntie's she'd asked 10K to leave with her that night and head north. It was only by his dedication to their group that she hadn't taken off herself.
"We've got two of the others in custody now." Warren continued, "But the other two took off before George could detain them and we have no clues as to where they went."
"They could have left to go find their friend, they could still be hiding in Altura, or they could have just booked it out of here altogether." George listed the possibilities.
"Well if they find their friend they won't be happy." Bailey spoke up, now playing with 10K's fingers nervously and it was his turn to squeeze her hand to calm her down. But all she could think about was how they'd left that man's body in the blood splattered snow.
"Well we'll have to double our guards on duty." 10K said his mind going straight to how they'd defend themselves. "I can take on more overtime –"
"Warren come in. Come in. George. Anyone?" Warren's radio went off on her belt as she grabbed it and hit the button on the side.
"This is Warren, I've got George with me, over."
"I'm at gate three and we've got shots fired. Requesting backup." Came Dave's voice and 10K shot up off the couch and went for his antler prosthetic that was resting on the dresser.
"I'll go cover gate three." George said taking her gun from her belt and heading for the door. "10K meet me there when you can, Warren secure the men we're holding, make sure they don't go anywhere."
"Got it." Warren said grabbing her gun and leaving too as 10K quickly set the metal cuff with the antler on it against his wrist. Bailey went over to help him with it, he could do it himself but not when he was rushing like this. He held the antler in place as Bailey took the leather straps attached to it and pulled them up his forearm, they held together two leather circles, one in the middle of his arm and another right around his elbow. The buckles on each circle were simple enough that all she had to do was slide his forearm into it and pull on the loose ends of the leather circles that went around his arm to tighten the straps securely. When it was on tight 10K threw his shirt and jacket on and grabbed his rifle, then he stopped in the doorway making Bailey almost crash into his back.
"Where are you going?" he asked turning to her.
"Warren and George need help, I'm –"
"I'm not letting you walk into a shootout."
"You don't know that it's a shootout."
"If someone's got a gun and is firing I'm keeping you as far away from them as I can."
"Tommy –"
"No, don't 'Tommy' me, you're not going, you're staying here."
"You can't lock me in here like some kid in time out." She replied now starting to get angry. Then she took a deep breath. Looking into his green eyes she could see he wasn't going to change his mind no matter what she said and she didn't want to let her anger get out of control and say something that would hurt him. So she tried for a compromise.
"Can I at least go to the infirmary and help Red and Addy?" she said. "I can't stay here and feel useless but if someone's shooting then there might be injured and Red could need my help."
She could see he was considering it in the way his eyes looked away from her and he licked his lip, "Fine. But only the infirmary, you go straight there, you don't take any detours, you don't stop for anything or anyone, you go right to the infirmary and you stay there."
"Deal." She said nodding then they both leaned in and gave the other a quick kiss before they went their separate ways.
