I've been a liar, been a thief
Been a lover, been a cheat
All my sins need holy water, feel it washing over me
A little one, I don't want to admit to something
If all it's gonna cause is pain
Truth in my lies right now are falling like the rain
So let the river run
"Aliens?!" Rori spun on the mom as John, Hank, and Steve joined them by the radio car.
"He believes that all men are aliens," Denea said.
"Would have been nice if you had shared that earlier," Rori snapped. She should have lied to him. They say never to lie, but she should have lied.
"You've lost communication, let me end this," Cameron said.
"Why are you so trigger happy?" Danny asked.
"You want to shoot my son?!" Denea questioned.
"He's not giving us much choice," Cameron replied.
"Please, stop him, whatever it takes, he's going to hurt someone," Denea said. She stared at the bank with sad, defeated eyes.
"Seriously?" Rori asked. Her hand went to her stomach instinctively. "I'm not giving up on him." She checked her gun to be sure the safety was off and it was ready to fire if necessary.
"What are you doing?" Danny asked.
"I'm going in there," Rori said. "Make sure Cameron doesn't take that shot." She gave Danny a stern stare.
"We'll go with you," Steve said as he and John both checked their guns.
"No, it might set him off," Rori said.
"As much as I hate this, Rori is right," Danny said. "Can't have him thinking you two are aliens."
"Rorianna, this is stupid. You're going to get yourself killed," Hank argued. "He's in the middle of a bipolar fugue. You can't predict what he's going to do. He could shoot you."
"That's why you're here," she quipped back.
"He's right," John said. "You can't save them all."
"Guys, that's a kid in there, a sick kid, I'm not giving up on him," Rori said. She headed for the bank before the guys could put up any more of an argument. She couldn't understand how a mother could give up on her own child. She knew damn well she couldn't give up on her baby. She knew that she was putting the baby in danger, but there was another child that needed her in that moment. She couldn't let her pregnancy affect her work. It was, though, and she knew it because she never would have even considered going into the bank, especially if there was another option. She knew how this would end rather she was ready to admit it or not. She pulled the door of the bank open and stepped inside.
"Stop!" Marty shouted and spun his gun on her.
"It's just me, Rori," she said with her hands up in a calm, defensive manner. "I just want to help you, Marty. I know you're scared."
"You don't know! Aliens are real! They're here!" he said.
"I've seen them, Marty," she said in a serious tone. It was definitely true. Not that she could actually share that. "I know they're here."
"They took her house and messed with my head," he said.
"I know," she replied. "Let me help you."
"No one can help me!" he shouted.
He waved the gun around. His hands were shaking around the grip, his finger twitching at the trigger. Her hand dropped to her own gun instinctively and she had it leveled on him in half a second. Things were not going in a good direction at all. He had shut her out. "Don't move!" he warned.
"Marty, I'm here to help, but you have to put the gun down," she said calmly. She regretted her decision to go into the bank in that moment. She knew exactly what she was going to have to do before it was all over.
"I can't, you're one of them!" Marty said.
"You can trust me," she said. "Look, I'll put my gun down too." She started to lower her gun, but the bank manager moved toward the door and Marty swung his gun around towards him. Rori pulled the trigger three times in quick succession and put three in Marty's chest. Marty hit the floor with a thud. She knelt next to him and checked his pulse. He was gone. "Damnit," she whispered. She pulled her phone out and called Danny.
"You okay? We heard shots!" Danny said.
"The suspect is down, send Cameron in to secure the hostages," she said and ended the call.
"You saved my life," the bank manager said.
"I did my job," she said. Cameron came in with his team and she didn't say anything as she brushed passed him. Danny, John, Steve, and Hank met her right outside the door.
"Rori, you okay, babe?" Danny asked again.
"I'm fine," she replied.
"Is he dead?" Denea asked as she ran up to them.
"Yes, I'm so sorry," Rori said.
"Thank you," Denea replied.
"Excuse me?" Rori asked as she spun on her. "I just put bullets in your sixteen year old son because you gave up on him. Do not thank me!"
"Rori, come on, let's go cool down," Hank said as he tugged her arm.
"I need to be by myself for a minute," Rori replied. She headed off down the road a little bit. She dropped down on the curb when she was alone and pulled a cigarette from her tack vest. She didn't light it. Just held it between her fingers as she played the entire negotiation through her head and tried to think if there was anything else she could have done.
She heard footsteps and looked up to see all four of the guys walking up.
"I said I needed to be alone for a minute," she said.
"It's been a minute," Danny replied.
Hank was next to her and reached for her cigarette but stopped when he realized it wasn't lit.
"Is this what it's really like?" she asked. She stared at her cigarette and rolled it between her fingers. "He was just a kid."
"He was a disturbed individual," Danny said. "He came here to die, he knew that, his mom knew it, and you knew it."
"But I have to live with the fact that I put bullets in a kid," she said.
"We all have one that stays with us," John said.
"I think the point Danny was trying to make is that you knew he was going to end up dead and yet you still took the risk even though there was a sniper ready to do what you ended up doing," Steve said. "So, the question is why?"
"She just gave up on him," Rori said of Denea as she continued to roll the cigarette between her fingers. "I couldn't, I can't just give up." It wasn't how she had planned to tell them, but it was time, the burden was too heavy to deal with on her own. She pulled the ultrasound picture out of her tack vest where she had tucked it away. She handed it over to Hank.
"Who is this?" he asked. Steve leaned over his shoulder to look at the picture.
"What is it?" John asked, taking his own peek.
"It's an ultrasound," Danny said. "Rori?"
"I'm pregnant," she said after a moment of silence.
"That's exactly why you don't take unnecessary risks!" Danny exclaimed.
"You're what?!" John asked. His eye twitched and he tilted his head to the side the way he did when he was angry.
"How long have you known?" Steve asked.
"Since Atlantis," Hank said. "Just a guess because that's when she stopped drinking and smoking, isn't that right?"
"Yeah," Rori replied.
"You knew you're pregnant and you put yourself in harm's way anyway?" John asked.
"John, before you getting angry at me, consider my position," she said.
"No, you don't get to make a decision regarding the safety of our child without us," John said.
"I was trying to protect you," she said.
"From what?" Steve asked.
"There's something wrong isn't there?" Hank asked as he examined the ultrasound.
Rori didn't say anything. It wouldn't take him long to see it. Steve fixed her with his confused look, which Danny had fondly dubbed his constipation face. "That's a tumor, isn't it? Not just a glitch on the ultrasound?" Hank pointed to the white spot in the ultrasound next to the baby's heart. Rori nodded.
"Like, cancer?" Danny asked.
"We don't know if it's cancer or not, but it's aggressive. The tumor wasn't there when we took the scans in Atlantis. Dr. Keller took samples, but she said she doesn't think she'll be able to remove it and even if she could, it's already compromised the baby's development," Rori said. "I didn't know how to tell you guys. At first I was excited, but I was scared because the whole bug thing and we couldn't get a heartbeat right away in Atlantis. Dr. Beckett said he didn't know how it would affect the baby."
"Rori, you don't ever keep things from us, ever," Steve said.
"You shouldn't have been in the field at all," John said. "I can't even imagine why you would want to deal with this on your own. You have family! You have us!"
Rori tried to fight back the tears but they spilled over anyway. She'd disappointed them, hurt them, she knew that was wrong. But she also needed them to know why, to understand that she did it out of love.
"John, honey, don't yell at her," Danny said.
"You can't tell me that you're not angry," John snapped.
"Look at her," Steve said. "Do you really think she did this to hurt us?"
"I didn't," she said. "The biggest pain I have ever felt in my life was losing the kids. When Dr. Beckett told me there was no heartbeat I figured it was just not meant to be, you know. Then, we found the heartbeat and I was excited. I wanted to tell you guys together in a way that was special. But then Dr. Keller found the tumor last night and she told me the baby wouldn't make it. I didn't want you guys to feel that pain."
"Rori, you can't lie to us," Steve said. He sank down onto the curb next to her.
"I didn't lie!" she said. "I was protecting you!"
"That's not your job," John said. He spun on his heels and headed back to the truck.
"Are any of you ever going to be able to forgive me?" she asked. Hank and Steve didn't say anything as they headed back to the truck. "Danny?" she asked when they were alone.
"Rachel lied to me about Charlie, now you're lying about this baby, I just, I need time to sit with this," Danny said. "Come on, let's go back to the office." He helped her up from the curb and walked with her back to the Mustang.
"I figured you'd want to ride with the guys," she said.
"Just get in the car," he said as he slid behind the wheel.