Here's the next part. I'm not sure a lot of people are reading this, so for those who are, thank you! I'm going to try to finish it, even though I think it might be a bit too odd for most people. :(
Doing It For You
part 4
Ziggy woke up in a white room, in a hospital-style bed. The room was fairly featureless, with a pair of doors, one opposite his bed and one to the right. There was an open doorway to his left, cabinets off to one side.
Sitting up, he twisted around to check out the instrumentation. Yep, it was a hospital bed. Which meant that they expected to need it. Which meant that he'd been kidnapped for the baby. There were no doubt restraints for him too. They were obviously going to keep him there for the entire pregnancy.
"Patient G616, you are awake." The statement was matter-of-fact, emotionless as Kay had never been, even when she'd been pretending to be a computer voice. The voice was obviously female, but he bet that this time, it really was a computer. "Remain silent, as important information will be conveyed to you.
"You are situated in Medical Facility 2. You have been given a thorough medical exam prior to your return to consciousness. You have been brought here because your situation is of importance and it has been deemed a medical necessity to keep you here. You are advised to follow all medical advice and participate in all required medical procedures. Failure to do so may result in loss of privileges.
"You have been granted access to a suite of rooms. You may leave your bed and explore those now. You are not permitted outside of them without escort. Your daily schedule will be available on the built-in monitors in the walls. If you are in need of medical assistance, you can alert a medical team by the blue button on your headboard or similar buttons in your rooms. That is all."
Ziggy had listened to the whole thing, mostly because he'd found that captors liked the sound of their own voices and that interrupting them just annoyed them. Plus, sometimes they said useful things. He now knew that he was being held because of Kay's baby, and with the tech, it was likely that they were somewhere in or near Corinth, because of the level of technology involved.
Which meant that he could be found and rescued. He had no doubt that Kay would notice he was missing soon, which meant that someone would be looking for him. He couldn't see Scott or Flynn ignoring the fact that one of their teammates was kidnapped, and the same for Dillon and Summer had they been in town.
There was one thing to be said about being married to one of the most important people in Corinth: people noticed when you went missing. Especially when you were carrying said person's child.
And if he suspected right, they wanted this child very badly. Badly enough to hold him for nine months. He'd probably want to try to escape once or twice, just to keep them on their toes, but otherwise, he was sure the others would rescue him.
"Y'know," he said to the room, knowing the people monitoring him would hear, "The kid'll probably take after her dumb ol' dad."
He grinned to himself and started to explore the rooms. The open doorway lead to a bathroom with a shower. One door was locked, but the other one let him into a living room-dining room area. Two more doors off of that led him to a small gym and what was clearly meant to be some kind of garden, though it wasn't really because half the plants were trying to die.
Ziggy hoped that they'd take better care of him. Or at least took good care of him while they had him; he didn't plan to be there very long.
/8/8/8/8
Of course, rescue was taking longer than expected, or so it felt to Ziggy after a few days. At least his captors had let him alone, for the most part. They served him meals through a hatch system in the dining room. After being admonished once for not eating everything, he held off provoking them, though if they continued to serve what they were serving, he might have to. Just so that someone would come in.
And it wasn't the world's most terrible experience, he had to admit. Sure, he couldn't leave, but his captors had, strangely enough, seen to a bit of comfort. The furniture in the small living room was obviously meant to be relaxed in, including a reclining chair. There were books in the bookcases, and a video player. At times, soft music was pumped into the suite, especially during mealtimes.
It was like they didn't want him to stress in captivity. Which was a far cry from all the time he spent in prison.
The screen in the living area beeped. "Sample collection period," the voice said. "Return to your sleeping area for sample collection."
"I'm in the middle of a book," he complained, though it was really because he could.
"Return to your sleeping area within three minutes," the voice said, as if in response. "Failure to comply will result in consequences, including loss of access to non-sleeping areas."
Ziggy let out a large, theatrical sigh and headed into the bedroom. He was curious himself how it would be handled, since he kind of had to wonder if there were live humans in the installation. Probably were.
He headed off into his bedroom, and was somewhat surprised to see a woman in scrubs, mask, and goggles waiting there with medical instruments on a tray. "So, sample collection," he said. Sharp needles made him vaguely anxious.
"Yes," she said. He hadn't expected her to speak. "Please sit down." She motioned at his bed. "I need to collect blood samples on a regular basis to ensure that you don't have any problems that we need to be aware of. This is a high-risk pregnancy, after all."
She was comfortingly human, with a soft, gentle voice with none of the computer voice's angry authority. He suspected that it was part of the whole "don't stress the expectant father" deal.
"I didn't think I was that important," he said. If he read her right and the caring was not a facade, that would make it easier to worm himself into her heart.
"You're carrying the most important baby in the world right now," she said. "Your health is of the utmost importance to us. We want her to be born safely, after all."
So, the baby was important, not him. He figured as much. "You know, the baby has as much chance of taking after me as Kay."
"You underestimate yourself and your genes," the woman said simply. "Hold out your arm, and feel free to look away."
He did, and he felt the coolness of an alcohol-laden swab across the inside of his elbow before the needle penetrated his skin, and tried to breathe deeply as the needle remained.
Then it was gone, and there was cotton being pressed to the wound. "There, done."
"Oh." He dared look again. It wasn't too bad. "But I could have taken care of myself."
"Others think otherwise," she said, putting her equipment back on the tray. "There are good reasons for keeping you here. Just relax and let us take care of you for a while, m'kay?"
He didn't mention the fact that he was likely to be rescued long before then. "Okay." Persuasion had always been his strong point. Conning people. "Do I get to see you again?"
There was a smile under her mask. "Of course you will."
"Oh, good." More chances to charm her. Kay could kill him later for charming his way out of there. "Do you have a name?"
She was silent for a moment. "Call me Dr. Park. Melissa Park."
"That isn't your real name at all." he observed. He could tell from her slight hesitance that she wasn't used to lying about it. Good.
Shaking her head, she said, "No, but I like it anyway."
If he seemed to be cooperative, she'd let things slip. She wasn't the type to be a good liar. "Okay."
She patted him gently on the arm. "I'm going to put some educational materials on the video system for you, so you know what's going on with your body, okay? But in the meantime, I need you to go to the living room."
"Right." They were too tense about him trying to escape at the moment. He would have to lull them and charm Melissa before he could do a decent escape attempt.
At least he was the captive one, not Kay. Probably they wouldn't need to hold her like they did him, but he couldn't imagine Kay taking at all well to being there. It would probably break her, and she'd suffered enough. Ziggy would do anything for her to save her from being hurt again, and it wasn't like he wouldn't be rescued soon anyway from this involuntary hospitalization.
Keeping that in mind, he slipped into the living room, waiting for his captors to make a mistake.