I'mma work it harder, make it bett-
Do it faster, makes us
More than ever hou-hour after
Ou-our work is never over

Work it harder, make it better
Do it faster, makes us stronger
More than ever hour after
Our work is never over

Rori woke to the feeling of a finger tracing her skin from her wrist to her shoulder and back. She knew it was Hank without even opening her eyes. "Good morning, sleepyhead," Hank said softly into her ear.

"Morning," she said. The weight of what she'd learned the evening before was too heavy for it to be a good morning. Dr. Jennifer Keller had come to check the baby in place of Dr. Beckett, who had apparently been called away to an emergency in Pegasus. Rori liked Jennifer, though. The woman was straight forward and didn't sugar coat anything. She had drawn blood and taken samples for DNA testing to ensure the baby was clear of Eratis DNA. But, she'd also done an ultrasound with some pretty impressive imaging technology that had revealed the baby had a tumor growing close to it's heart. It hadn't been there in the scan two weeks before in Atlantis.

"Danny is making breakfast," Hank reported.

Rori could smell the bacon and coffee. Oh dear Lord, coffee! For the baby's sake, she should give up coffee, but she had already given up whiskey and cigarettes. She needed coffee to stay sane, especially if she, they, were going to lose the baby anyway.

"I smell that," she replied as she rolled over to face him. "It smells like heaven."

"This is heaven," he said. He brushed her messy hair away from her face and regarded her fondly.

"Breakfast is ready!" Danny called from downstairs.

"Come on," Hank rolled out of bed and pulled her with him. They hurried downstairs into the kitchen where John and Steve were seated at the table, each of them reading a piece of the morning paper. Danny was busy over by the stove.

"Sit," he ordered and she was inclined to obey, especially as a wave of nausea washed over her. She did her best to hide it and she didn't think any of them noticed. Danny sat a plate in front of her with bacon, eggs, and toast along with a cup of perfectly brewed coffee.

The guys each dug right into their breakfasts. Steve and John were both still entranced by whatever articles they were reading. Hank leaned over John's shoulder to read the article and Danny was so focused on his breakfast she was sure a love child would be the result.

"How did your check-up with Keller go?" John asked without looking up from his article.

"It went well, she was pretty thorough. We're waiting for the final blood tests, but it looks like I'm okay," Rori said. Okay herself. The baby was a different story. "I'm going to meet up with her later today or tomorrow to just go over the results."

"A second appointment, you sure everything is okay?" John asked, his attention drawn from the paper.

They were all staring at her now. It made her feel like she was on the spot. Maybe this was the moment she'd been waiting for to tell them about the baby. She had tried to force it with date night the week before and they're lives got in the way. Maybe a nice family breakfast was the best time to –

As if on queue, her phone rang. Of course it did and of course it was the governor. She slid the call accept bar and raised the phone to her ear. "Rivera," she said in her standard greeting. She tried not to let her annoyance at the timing for the call come through in her voice tone.

"Rorianna, I have a favor to ask," the Governor said. "A friend of mine has a son who is bipolar. He escaped from his treatment facility this morning and is currently holding a bank hostage. I'd like you to get him out of there."

"We're on it," Rori said.

"Thank you, and one more thing," the Governor said. "He doesn't trust men."

"Thanks for the heads up," Rori said.

"Good luck," the line went dead and Rori sighed.

"Hostage situation," Rori said in response to the guys' quizzical stares. "I'm going to get dressed. Danny, you're with me. Steve, John, I need you to handle that DA meeting this morning." She grabbed the toast off her plate and ran up the stairs to get dressed. She pulled on a pair of her tighter skinny jeans and couldn't fasten the button. "Damnit," she said as she switched them for a pair of John's cargo pants.

Rori and Danny were in her Mustang in less than five minutes. She thought about the baby. Jennifer had said the tumor was pretty extensive and she wouldn't expect the baby to live for more than a couple hours after birth, if the little one made it that far. She was going to meet with a friend of hers that was a fetal surgeon for an expert opinion, but the outlook wasn't very optimistic. The only thing the baby had going for it is that it had Rori's blood combined with that of one of four very strong men.

"You're quiet this morning," Danny observed.

"Sorry," she replied.

"No, it's okay, it's a nice break from the norm, Steve is never quiet." Danny said. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Nah, just still waking up I guess," she said as they pulled up to the bank. Chavez met them as they stopped next to his car. Rori had never expected the kid to stick with it. Especially after Danny's shooting. But, he had and he had a lot of potential, with the right mentor.

"Director Rivera, thank God you're here!" he said. "SWAT is already weapons hot with this kid."

"Kid? How old is he?" Rori asked. She stepped out of the car and tried to get a look at the bank, but she couldn't really see inside from the angle she had.

"Sixteen," Chavez said.

"Damnit, do we have his parents?" Rori asked. She pulled her tack vest from the trunk and slipped it on.

"Not yet, I'm working on it. She's a single mom with no car and no phone," Chavez reported. "Trying to get a free officer to go pick her up from the hotel where she works."

"Danny, take care of that, please," Rori said. "I want her onsite in case we need her."

"Right away," Danny replied and caught the keys she tossed him. He slid behind the steering wheel of the Mustang and drove off.

"Does he listen that well at home?" Chavez asked.

"Chavez," Rori said in a warning tone. "What happens in my home is none of your business, kid."

"Yes ma'am," Chavez replied.

"What's our mode of communication with our HT?" she asked.

"Throw phone, but he said he'll only talk to a woman," Chavez said.

Rori understood it. Kid raised by a single mother and doesn't trust men only wants to talk to a woman. Rori figured it indicated that he felt men had failed him, or treated him unfairly. Rori took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road, then," Rori said. Chavez led her over where Cameron, the SWAT Commander, was waiting.

"Director, it's good to see you," he said. She just nodded. "I've got snipers with clear shots."

"Snipers, for a child?" she asked.

"He's sixteen with an automatic rifle and ten hostages, that hardly qualifies him as an innocent child," Cameron replied. "And to top it off, he's bipolar."

"That hardly qualifies him as a lethal threat," she replied.

"Ma'am, I've talked to this kid. He has no respect for authority and he's unstable," Cameron replied.

"Just give me the damn phone," Rori said. "And no one shoots unless I say so."

"Yes, ma'am," Cameron replied. He handed her a phone and she turned her full attention on the bank.

Cameron had set up his base at the perfect angle to see inside the bank. She could she kid. He had a handgun held on a bank official, probably the manager. Automatic rifle her ass. Damn trigger happy SWAT guys… Sure it was hard to make out many details through the windows, but even she could tell this was a scared kid doing something crazy. The phone only had one number it could call. It was directly connected to the throw phone that had been tossed inside the bank before her arrival. She waited while the phone rang and the kid bent down to pick it up, all the while he kept his gun pointed at the bank manager.

"This better be a woman," the kid screamed.

"The last time I checked," Rori replied calmly. "My name is Rorianna Rivera, you can call me Rori. What's you're name?"

"Marty," the kid said. He sounded relieved.

"Marty, I want to help you through this, that's why I'm here," she said. "So, let's talk."

"All I want is for them to let my mom keep her house! They're taking it away and we have to move!" Marty shouted. "We can't move." He waved the gun closer to the bank manager.

"Whoa, whoa," Rori said. "Slow down Marty. You're upset, I understand that, but you need to take a deep breath and calm down."

Danny walked up with a woman. She was wearing a maids uniform for one of the local hotels and had the air of an extremely tired, hard worked mother. Danny motioned to the mother to stay quiet.

"It's going to take some time for me to get all that figured out. I'm going to do everything in my power to help you, okay. In the meantime, are you guys doing okay in there?" she asked.

"Just makes sure my mom can keep the house!" Marty said.

"Okay, I'm going to hang up now so that I can work on that. You hang in there and keep calm, okay," she said. She ended the call and turned to Danny and the mother.

"This is Denea Guerra, Marty's mother. Denea, this is Director Rorianna Rivera of the Five-O task force," Danny introduced.

"The Governor really did call you, then," Denea said.

"She did. What can you tell me about your son?" Rori asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him in two years," Denea said. "He's not well and I couldn't anymore, I have other children I have to care for."

"He wants to keep the bank from foreclosing your home, I'm guessing that's not an option," Rori said. Denea shook her head. "Damnit!" Rori slammed her hand down on the hood of the radio car.

"The doctor's at the facility said he hasn't been taking his meds and he's been writing very violent journals," Danny said. "Called them on the way."

"Thanks," Rori said.

"Rivera, the longer this goes on, the worse it's going to get," Cameron said. "You can't give him what he wants and it's too risky to tell him that. My team is ready and standing by."

"And you're going to stay that way," Rori snapped. She caught Steve's truck out of the corner of her eye as he pulled into the parking lot.

"Called Steve too, thought the support would be helpful," Danny said. John and Hank were getting out of the truck with Steve. "Steve thought having Hank on hand might be helpful given the bipolar issue."

She nodded in agreement and picked up the phone again. Marty answered pretty quickly but didn't say anything. "Marty, I'm here with your mom."

"She's here?!" Marty asked.

"She's here and she wants you to put the gun down and come on out of there," Rori said. She didn't think it would work, but she had to try. "She told me it's too late, she said they took the house years ago. That you've been staying with some people who have been helping you."

"She's wrong! That's not my mom! She's one of them! The aliens must have her!" he threw the phone away and steadied his gun on the bank manager.