Three months before…
"This is not
happening," Alicia said sitting on the couch in the family room, staring at the
little stick. "Oh shit, this is not
happening," she said again. She
compared it to the box a hundred times. Still positive. This was just
not happening.
"Leecee, you knew to
be careful!" Cole raged as he paced the room. "We all have had the little safety first talk. We all know what to do and what not to do." He plopped down next to her.
"I just didn't
think," she said, still stunned. "I
mean, I thought X-5 and X-6 genetics couldn't mix like that. Blood can't. We were told it wouldn't work." She put her head in her hands. "How am I going to tell Dad I'm pregnant with Zack's baby?"
The sound of glass
shattering behind them answered that question. Neither of them had noticed that Lydecker had come home early. He caught her last sentence, and the glass
he'd been drinking from just slipped through nerveless fingers. Alicia and Cole looked at him. In their entire lives they'd never seen him
speechless before. It was something
none of the sixers could even imagine. Well, now they knew what it took.
"You're what?" he
asked with a deceptive calm. She didn't
even know how to begin. He knew that
she'd run into an X-5 while dealing with the Reds. She'd reported that she had to trade herself for the fiver that
immediately left the city. It was the
only way to complete the mission. He'd
been disappointed to miss the X-5, but she'd done what she had to do. Besides, now he knew for sure Zack was still
alive. That alone was worth a great
deal.
I was a little late
to lie now. "I'm pregnant," she
said. Her voice caught for a moment,
but she got control of herself. Suck it
up, she ordered herself. You're still a
solider. She decided some creative
retooling of the facts were in order. "While on Mission Red, I thought that initiating an intimate
relationship with the X-5 would help establish trust. I believe that it did, as he accepted my assistance in the Red
matter." Lydecker was buying it. Good.
"We were told X-5
and X-6 couldn't mix. I never thought
that this biologically could happen," she continued. Well, that was true.
"It still might not
be able to safely mix," Cole said sharply. She looked at him in question. "You don't know if it's healthy Alicia," he continued in a much
gentler tone.
"You're sure this is
the X-5's child?" Lydecker asked, standing. The question angered her, but he wouldn't understand. He was looking oddly at Cole. Well, they had spent almost all of their
time together since Seattle. It was a
reasonable possibility. Either Dad was
taking this well, or he was still in shock. She was willing to bet the former. Dad and shock weren't well acquainted.
"There's no way it
could be anyone else's," she replied firmly.
"You're going to go
to the hospital now," he ordered. "Once
you're checked out, we'll discuss." He
turned and left the room. Neither Cole
nor Alicia saw the glee in his face. If
this baby was healthy, if it was, welcome to the world stage three.
The baby was
fine. The technician, dragged from
home, couldn't see anything special about this kid. It was about twelve weeks according to the mother, and had
everything where it was supposed to have it. The heart rate was strong. "You
want to know the sex?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered
quickly. With the improvement of
medical equipment, she could clearly see the baby's features. It more or less resembled something closer
to a fish than a human, but she could mentally stamp Zack's features on
it.
The tech did some
things, fiddled with a computer, and then declared, "looks like a boy you got
in there."
She couldn't say
anything. A son. It seemed so real now. She was going to have Zack's son, and he
would never know about it. That was
disheartening. She could never let Zack
know. He had enough to do with the
other X-5's. There was no way he could
handle her and a baby too. He would try
though. It would get him caught, but he
would try.
Driving home, she
could vaguely hear Dad on the phone getting a flight arranged. She was still in a daze. She'd sworn she was always going to keep
Zack in her heart, and now she'd have proof of what they'd had together with
her always. Later she realized that she
should have left at that point. Her
mind was so clouded by the fact of the baby, she didn't think of the reality of
the baby. Had she looked at Cole, she
would have been able to tell that he was.
Two weeks passed
while she underwent a thousand tests at a base in Utah. Every one of them confirmed that the baby
was a boy, and developing normally. An
amniocentesis showed no serious problems were on the horizon. It appeared this baby was going to be just
fine.
Alicia had started
to think about her future with this baby. Were they going to try and take it from her? That would make sense. There weren't any other Manticore children. But still, who better to train this kid than
her? It wasn't like she was being
locked up or anything. Dad had asked
her to stay on base and keep either him or Cole with her. That was just a reasonable safety
request.
She finally went to
Lydecker, unable to stand the uncertainty any longer. He was staying with Cole at the VOQ while she was in the medical
facility. She knew Cole was looking
into some things that he didn't want to talk about, and she wanted to talk to
Lydecker alone.
"Dad?" she said,
entering the room. He jumped and spun
around. He'd been sitting at his desk
reading a communiqué from the director. Sometimes he hated the sixers' ability to sneak up on a person.
"What is it?" He sounded a little impatient. He knew nothing bad had been found. The doctors were reporting everything to him
long before Alicia.
"What's going to
happen next?" She sounded so
uncertain. He'd never heard his cool,
confident 608 sound unsure of herself. "I know I'm probably overstepping my boundaries, but I want to have some
input on what's going to happen."
He motioned for her
to sit down. Part of the communiqué
stated that the director was not interested in any hysterical nonsense about
"it's my baby and I want to keep it". 608 was not be released in any way. If required, incarceration would take place.
"Dad, I want to be
the one training him," she blurted. He
didn't respond. "I know how important
he is to Manticore. This is totally new
to all of us. But I don't know anyone
more qualified than me to teach him how to be a solider. Manticore bred, Manticore born, Manticore
taught."
And people wondered
why Lydecker liked this girl so much. She wasn't babbling on that she wanted her son to be raised
differently. She wasn't wailing that
she was secretly in love with Zack and wanted to be with him. She recognized that her plan to trap Zack
had backfired, but wanted to turn it into a triumph for Manticore. She thought of Manticore first. Even when her own child was involved,
Manticore came first. He wished the
director understood his kids better.
"I think that would
be an excellent idea," he said slowly, noting the look of relief on her
face. It was a good idea.
She had to ask. "Are they going to do anything to him? I mean, more engineering?"
"No," he
replied. The director wanted things
done, but it would be better to see what comes out. "The only thing is that in another couple of months we'll have to
make sure he has a barcode. That's not
dangerous at all to him. We want to see
what will happen without any further adjustments."
She smiled. She felt so much better. "Thank you." She stood up, and her eyes fell on the letter from the
director. She could read a page and
memorize it instantly. It was the
blessing and curse of a photographic memory. It took every bit of her training not to show any changes as she
assimilated what that little letter said.
She left quickly to find Cole.