A/N: See! I promised I wouldn't make you wait too long. I hope you guys like. :-D

LSLSLS

That shocked him speechless, he simply couldn't have heard her right. It was impossible, she said…she had promised him…that she hadn't been…

"You're pregnant?"

"Yes."

"Just like Alisha?"

"Yes."

"But…how!? You swore you weren't..."

"And I told you the truth." She maintained stalwartly.

He assimilated that information. All of it. She was pregnant. She was pregnant. Rachel was pregnant…as well! He couldn't help the natural response to cast his gaze towards the midsection of her thin…probably far too thin…body. There was certainly no sign of the condition she claimed, not that he had truly expected to see visual evidence of it at this point.

Even the notion of her apparent condition was unbelievable to him. He tried to focus on the facts, the few of them she had provided him with. And they quite simply didn't make any sense. If her…condition…was not the result of the same despicable act that Alisha's was…did that mean it was entirely separate from it? The timing seemed to cast heavy doubt on that possibly…but what was the alternative? She either was outright lying to him or…what?

"Rachel, are you telling me the truth? Really?!" He stressed his question with desolate resolve.

"Yes. I promise." Again, she was firm in her response, if also rather subdued.

"Then how are you pregnant, Rachel?! Am I wrong about the timing of this seeming to rule out more normal methods of conception? Did this happen naturally, and more importantly, consentingly? And not in Baltimore? I would very much like it if you could tell me that, Rachel." It was true, he would very much like to rule out Granderson and Baltimore as having any involvement in her alleged condition, as unlikely as it seemed. In fact clutching at straws was probably the best description for what he was doing right now.

However, it was a obviously a vastly preferable option if she could tell him that her baby…she was having a baby…was conceived because she had chosen to make love with a man…but it also would mean that the man she had chosen wasn't him. That was the thought that struck him like a lightning bolt, and as self-centered and disloyal as he knew it was, especially at this particular moment, he couldn't help but think it. Couldn't prevent the stab of jealousy that bit into his chest.

"Umm…I'm afraid I can't." She admitted quietly, eyes lowered with embarrassment.

Yeah, he didn't think so. Damn.

"Then how, Rachel….just…how?" He was pretty sure that question had come out as more of an anguished and frustrated moan than anything else. Waiting for her reply he took interest in her small hands that he still held in his…they were so small and delicate, the difference seemed particularly marked when held in contrast to his. Everything about her was smaller…she seemed so fragile right now and in recent weeks…previously to this horrible time her bravado had been enough to make him easily forget her smaller physical statue… But he was reminded of it undeniably now…and she was carrying a baby… Which brought him right back to his question of how… He looked up at her, his eyes searching, pleading…

Rachel took pity on him, the look on his handsome face was so anguished, and she was the cause. She had never wanted to be the cause of his pain…yet now she knew she was. She barely held back a sob as she answered his plea.

"Tom, I didn't lie to you when I said I didn't think anything like that had happened back then… It was what I believed until this morning for crying out loud! But the test I ran three times doesn't lie…clearly something happened…and Baltimore is the only explanation."

Her words were softly spoken and in a tone that made his heart break. But still he fought against their apparent truth.

"You really don't know more than that? About how this could have happened? There are really no other options that you remember that could explain this?!" He sounded skeptical. She could understand that. She'd be skeptical herself if she hadn't lived it…or rather not lived it…consciously at least.

"I told you, I don't consciously remember anything happening that came remotely close to getting me in this condition. Which it why I'm left with assuming it happened when I was unconscious…which I was…for unexplained reasons. Well, I guess they are explained now…"

"You think you were…while you were out?" He still couldn't say it. He was disgusted. Absolutely and wretchedly disgusted. He held her delicate hands tighter in his strong grasp. Leaning toward her and down, eyes squeezed shut and features set, he brought her hands up to just touch his forehead in a gesture that spoke of both despair and longing…longing to give support, to make this hostile reality go away through sheer force of will alone.

A tear escaped Rachel's left eye and traversed a path down her cheek as she watched and experienced the gesture. For herself she could hold it together, but her heart wrenched and her soul pained like it was tearing in two when she saw that level of grief and despair in him. Pain she had been the one to lay squarely at his feet…her heart clenched.

Rachel deliberately pulled herself together as much as she was able, and continued on. She hoped she could provide him with some small measure of consolation with her next words.

"The only explanation is that it happened then yes, especially since I had been given the drug at the same time as Alisha and whatever happened to me would have happened at the same time as her assault—."

"You say that like you don't think you were assaulted too!" Which made no sense!

"Well, not in the same way I wasn't, I couldn't have been! Come one! I can barely believe that I didn't feel any difference after I had clearly, at the very least, had a gynecological procedure preformed on me. The idea that anything more happened and that I couldn't tell is just too preposterous for words."

He was silent for several moments, considering both her and her words. There joined hands once again rested between them, his full attention on her.

"You're sure about that?" Even if she was telling the truth now, and was right, it was at best only partial comfort. Regardless of what she said, she could not have gotten pregnant without being assaulted in some way. This was done without her consent…however it was done.

"Absolutely." She nodded her head in an emphatic manner, hoping to convince him of this one truth.

"So what the hell did they do?"

Still his tone was laced with fervor of the worrisome kind, but otherwise he seemed to be making a concerted effort to appear as relaxed as possible, for her sake she imagined.

"Artificial insemination…it had to have been. That or IVF, and then maybe the egg they implanted wasn't even mine! But IVF has an even lower chance of taking hold after a procedure, and considering what happened to Alicia… I don't think that's likely. What I'm thinking is that what they did were two different methods of achieving the same end."

"And that end was to get you both pregnant?" He needed to say it out loud in order to process it properly…it just seemed too absurd…too crazy. But then crazy is exactly what Amy Granderson was…plus a few other choice words.

"Evidently. She sure went to some lengths to accomplish the goal…and fast."

"Do you have a theory as to why?" All the options just seemed too bizarre ...not to mention morally horrific.

"Well as I said, I imagine her goal's were different for each of us. With me she wanted my cooperation for making the vaccine. It's still a common phenomenon amongst modern day slave traders to make woman bear children and then bargain their safety for their mother's cooperation. Admittedly, that's a pretty long-term plan…in some ways it's hard to believe she went straight to that in such a short amount of time, but considering her complete lack of ethics, and my resolute stubbornness on the matter, it's probably not such a stretch."

Tom considered her words. The theory did make some sense. A detestable amount of sense. Before he could even get his internal roiling anger to subside enough to respond to that, she went on.

"Of course while that could easily have been part of her plan, and part of the reason for her rush, there could be other just as detestable reasons."

"Like?" He couldn't even begin too…

"Well, she was trying to save the best and brightest, right? While obviously she translated that aim into basically culling a large percentage of the population, even she couldn't have been obtuse to the fact that her contingency didn't leave her with very many people left…" She left the sentence hanging. He was smart, she would bet he would guess exactly where she was going with this.

"You don't think it was just you and Alisha she did this to…" He spoke as he made the realization.

"No, I don't. Not only does it again make sense based on the facts we do know, it makes sense that she would need to! Her plan was entirely unviable…but a breeding program would buy her time. Fast forward a couple of generations and I bet her select braniac genes would probably have produced the biggest generation of idiots there ever was…genetic diversity is the first and foremost key to well developed offspring, both physically and intellectually…something she was categorically doing away with. But the point is she believed in her crazy plan…and given what else she did, is it such a stretch to think she did this?"

He thought about that, he didn't need long.

"No, it's not…unfortunately."

"It also makes sense combined with what I remember my attackers saying, like I said it made little to no sense at the time…I didn't have context…but the pieces are coming much more fully together now. Mainly since this morning…the confirmation that I am in this condition too made it abundantly clear that, not only was I…messed with… as well, it was also clearly done with exactly this result in mind. The odds of both of us getting pregnant in these circumstances…minus this drug to deliberately make it happen….are just to remote for words. Coming to that realization and having it proved, made most everything else, at least come close, to falling into place.

"What did they say?" He had caught that and he wasn't letting go of it this time.

"Sorry?"

"The…men…who attacked you, what did they say?" 'Men' was not the right word for such cowardly and morally decrepit individuals.

"Oh, that." She didn't look like she wanted to repeat or go back to that incident at all, but she proceeded to…for him.

"One of them said that 'He wished he had been chosen for…' Well, let's just say he referred to Alicia in a derogatory fashion. That gels with what Alicia told me her attacker said… Of course what we didn't know then was the true purpose of what her mother had arranged…what we do know now is that she went out of her way to be cruel about it…instead of simply implementing the same methods she did on me. The woman's hate and madness must have run deep…"

He couldn't deny her words, they made sense given the horrible things that they knew to be facts…but they still made him sick.

"They must have said more than that." There must be more she was basing this on…

"Yes, one of the guards who…assaulted me…while he was assaulting me, he said that 'he wished they'd done me the old fashioned way, then he would have thrown his hat in the ring.' Like I said, I didn't get it at the time, even when I thought about it along those lines… I figured they might have had those plans for me as well, based on what he said and what happened to Alicia… But I thought we had gotten out before anything else could happen to either of us. I just didn't put it together until I was forced to accept the possibility that I could be…as well… Knowing that, having it confirmed, it makes those few words make a whole lot of utterly disgusting sense. Don't you agree?"

He looked at her and after a moment, more grunted than actually agreed. She was discussing this too calmly for his liking. When she was talking about Alicia she was all serious and sad. When she was talking about her own horrific treatment and violations, she was treating it like another day at the office...albeit a rather depressing one. But they had had a lot of those in recent times, so basically same ole same ole. And he didn't like it at all. But Tom decided to move off that thought for now, he would certainly be returning to it, if she continued to treat her own welfare so lightly.

"What about Alicia? What do you think Granderson's end game in regards to her was? You already said why you think that particular method was chosen…and it's sickening…but why do you think she put her through it at all?" He did have a fairly good…and sickening…idea, but he wanted to know if Rachel was on the same page as him first.

"Quite simply to continue her genetic line, that's the most logical explanation, if you discount all ethical quandaries with the plan, which of course you have to with that woman, given her complete lack of adherence to them. Alicia is an only child. Amy Granderson was long past a time when she could have had children herself. And she was trying to save the best right? I hardly think she discounted herself from that category. Quite the contrary, she may have gone to these obscene lengths just to assure her obviously eminently superior genetics survived. Course, we never got to see her true and complete end game…obviously not a great loss there...but that's my theory."

It had been his too, they unfortunately agreed and this harsh viewpoint was the most likely truth. "Then she accomplished her goal…her daughter is pregnant."

Rachel's expression showed clear concern and skepticism at that.

"Well, I don't know, Tom. There's a potentially a very large difference between getting pregnant and having a baby. A pretty significant difference in Alicia's case. Tom, I'm not exaggerating, she is absolutely desolate at this prospect…you saw her… And I'm telling you, she was holding back in front of you. This marks even more control yanked from her grasp, another evil that the woman that should have been the one to protect her has laid upon her…from the grave this time! But personally I'd prefer to give Alicia some more time and talk to her some more before we get into the wills or won't, and more importantly the 'how's' of that likelihood. At the moment she is just inconsolable about this…and she never actually made any real progress in dealing with everything else that happened in Baltimore to start with. So to say this discovery has rubbed salt in the wound would be putting it mildly."

Tom took everything she said onboard solemnly, and he also remembered something then.

"What were you arguing about? When I first walked in, you were arguing…or at least it looked like you were having a pretty heated conversation. I think I now have a pretty good idea of the what the basics would have been about, but what specifically had her so upset?"

"Exactly what I already told you. She wants me to 'fix' this right now, yesterday even…I was trying to explain it wasn't that simple…"

"You won't do it?" That surprised him, given the circumstances…

"I wasn't pulling a moral argument on a rape victim, Captain! Especially in this extreme situation! I can't believe you would even think that…" She was clearly upset with him now, once again it was for Alisha's situation and defense that she showed deep emotions, not her own. Before he could move to placate and reassure her, she continued to explain her position.

"Firstly, it is Alisha's wellbeing that is my primary concern at all times in this and Secondly, I literally can't do it! I have no means available to me here that will…provide the desired effect… without seriously endangering her life. And that is what I was refusing to do."

"Ok, ok, your right I'm sorry." He was genuinely contrite, he hadn't meant it accuse or insinuate anything negative about her handling of this, but he could freely admit that he hadn't handled the subject very well either.

"Tom, even if that wasn't the case, I would still like her to wait more then a minute to think about things, this was what she demanded the very moment she found out. And as you can see, she hasn't wavered in that request."

"You expect her to?" He was skeptical.

"No, no…not at all." She was resigned.

Tom considered her carefully. There was no doubt that they were left in an extremely difficult situation in regards to Alisha. But he couldn't prevent his minds focus from attaching to the woman he was truly worried for…on a far more personal level. He was nervous as to how she would react to his next query, for reasons too numerous to count, but chief amongst them was probably the fact that he didn't even know what he wanted her answer to be. All possibilities seemed fraught with emotional peril. Just like Alisha…

"What about you?"

"What about me?" She crossed her arms across her chest in a gesture of protectiveness…and rebelliousness.

"You know what. What are you planning on doing about your condition, Rachel?"

She quite noticeably regarded him then, and for several long moments. He would swear that something heavily meaningful definitely passed over her eyes before being hidden from him again. When she did reply to his question, her expression and tone conveyed that she thought she was explaining the obvious to a very small child. "I'm pregnant. I will be having a baby I guess."

"That's your decision?" He disregarded her tone and moved on to his surprise. He would have expected her to rail against this, maybe not as much as Alicia, but still a lot.

"Weren't you listening? I don't have a decision in this, not any realistic one."

"Rachel, I don't want you doing this only because you were forced! Either of you..."

"Well it's a bit late, Tom, that ship had sailed." For the first time, Tom heard her speak with a clear bitterness in her tone. A bitterness, which must be a lot closer to her true, if buried, feelings about her captivity and subsequent assault…assaults, he internally corrected himself with disquiet. She had let her true feelings slip out just a little…but he needed her to let them be unearthed completely. He couldn't let her keep bottling this up. He was responsible for her welfare…and he had been the one to fail her so completely. The least that was his responsibility now was to do everything in his power to see these events did not haunt her the rest of her life.

And all of this was without even getting into how he felt about this. How he felt about it on a personal level. He had finally realized that the feelings he had for her were far more than could be ignored, as evidence by how hard he had been trying to ignore them, both before his wife's loss and after, and how completely he had failed at the task. He was ashamed at his soul's betrayal. It was too soon. But in many ways it also felt so long. He had not touched a woman in so very long and he yearned to…the woman sitting in front of him actually.

That caused another rushed of guilt to course through him. It should be his wife's touch he was missing…and he was…but something had changed and while one woman he desired was fading in his memory…another was burning bright and brilliant…and hurting. It made him want to hold her all the tighter and never let go.

TBC

A/N: Ok, I'm actually really excited! We're going to start moving on in this story to other people finding out and their reactions. Next up, Tom and Mike talk… Let me know what you think of this chapter. It's great to hear from you guys. :-D