Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel so don't sue me. Thanks. :-)

A/N: Thank you so very much for taking a look at this story! Thank you very much to TwilightEclps, Winchester girl, Kay, peculiarxemma (double that, lol ^_~), Deanna, and nattylovesu for reviewing the last chapter! You're all amazing, and I hope you enjoy this update!

Ex Multus Familia: Part 2

Chapter 13

Robin smeared paint over the walls, the roller spreading the pretty mossy green color wherever it went. She had the windows open, letting the paint fumes dissipate into the dirty, Seattle air. In this small room in the back of Alec and Sidda's apartment, she was busy decorating. Syl was babysitting Taylor, mainly because Robin didn't want to expose her to all the paint smells. Some of the necessary furniture for the room was already acquired and stashed in one of the buildings in T.C. that was still abandoned, but she needed to do was finish the painting and let it dry before setting it up. No one would be able to say that Alec and Sidda's baby had a bad baby room; this kid was going to be spoiled by its self-appointed aunt, no matter what.

She hadn't heard from either Alec or Sidda for about a week now, so she was guessing that Alec had found her and was convincing her to come home. Sidda could be terribly stubborn when she felt like it, but hopefully Alec had proved whatever Sidda wanted him to prove. Robin was of the opinion that the whole situation was ridiculous; of course Alec would want the baby and would still want Sidda. Sidda was just being moronic this time. Alec would bring her home, and all would be right with the world again.

Turning around, she dipped the roller back into the paint. She really hoped Sidda and Alec liked this baby room. She knew that Sidda would probably need time to get used to it, but she had a good number of months to get comfortable with it.

She was about to start painting again when a noise at the door made her look up. Seth was standing in the doorway, leaning against it, while he gave the room an appraising look. Robin nearly dropped the roller into the paint pan. What was he doing here?! He was supposed to be at work or something.

"Uh, hey, Seth." As far as Robin knew, Seth had no idea about Sidda's baby or her own new project. Now he was probably going to be somewhat suspicious.

He looked around the room one more time and stepped inside, motioning to the walls. "Get tired of the color?" The look on his face was guarded, and it made Robin worried.

She nodded and smiled as she gestured at the green paint. "Yeah, it was pretty drab in here. I thought I'd fix it up, give Sidda and Alec a nice sitting room or guest bedroom, whatever they feel like." Sure, that was it, Seth, go with that.

He walked around the perimeter of the room, coming closer to her with each step. "It's sort of small for both of those rooms, isn't it?"

Robin turned back around and started painting the wall again. "No, not really. It could make a really nice guest room." Green striped across the walls. "You're distracting me on purpose, Seth."

"It's still a small guest room," Seth said, stepping so close to her that he was only about a foot away. He reached out and grabbed the roller handle, stilling her hand. "For a really small guest, I'm guessing?"

Robin whirled around to face him. "I didn't tell you! If Sidda ever asks—"

"I found out for myself."

How would he…This morning, he had mentioned something about logging hours at the infirmary. Sneaky devil. "You looked up her medical files, didn't you?"

A half-smile ran across his face. "I'm a T.C. doctor, we can do those sorts of things. I've been refraining for a long time." Seth sighed and released the roller. "Robin. How long have you known?" He wiped his face with his hand and turned toward her, his eyes dark. She watched his facial expression carefully, reading it. Something was wrong. He wasn't just mad at her, there was something else.

"Ever since Sidda left," she answered, giving a sheepish smile. "But it's all okay, because Alec's going to bring her back soon. Or at least I think so, don't you?"

"Do you know where she is?" He asked the question slowly and carefully, like he was uncertain of how to approach the topic. Okay, Seth was acting sort of weird.

"If I did, I would've already told Alec," Robin said. She put the roller back down into the paint pan. "Is there something wrong?"

He was too quick to shake his head. "No, it's just, it would probably be best if Sidda came home soon." His eyes drifted over to the window, as if he didn't want to meet her gaze. Avoidance was not usually what Seth did, except when he really wanted to skirt around telling Robin something.

"Why?" Robin asked. She put her hands on her hips and frowned at him. "Am I missing something?"

Seth turned toward her with a serious expression. "It'll be fine, Robin, don't worry. Sidda would just be better off here."

She was very suspicious now. Robin wasn't sure how to convince Seth to give up whatever information he was holding back; when the man made his mind up about something, it was usually pretty hard to change it. She turned back to the paint roller and picked it up, slowly putting more paint on the walls. She knew her nonchalance was going to bother Seth.

"Aren't you going to call her?" Seth asked uneasily.

"Can't," Robin said with a shrug. "I told you, she won't give me a reliable phone number. " She glanced at Seth out of the corner of her eyes. "I mean, I'm sure I could get a hold of someone who could get her for me if I had a good reason for bothering her, but since you won't tell me anything…" Robin shrugged again and dipped her roller back into the paint before going to add some more of the lovely green color to the walls.

Seth stared at Robin for a moment then crossed his arms. "I'm not telling you anything," he said firmly. Of course he'd seen through her ruse. Robin sighed and gave up with the painting. She set the roller down and turned around to face him again.

"Seth, this is my best friend we're talking about. What's wrong with her? It's obviously not something good that you found; you wouldn't worry about her being here if it had been."

"It's just… stuff that, well, it would be best to keep an eye on her. Be sure that she was somewhere with doctors in case anything goes wrong."

Robin growled under her breath; every now and then Seth could be extremely frustrating. "You are unbelievable," she said, striding for the door.

Seth moved to intercept her. "Robin, look, I'm just trying…I shouldn't have looked at her files in the first place, and I'm trying not to create an even worse breach of doctor-patient confidentiality."

"Well, you're not her doctor, so you already did!" Robin bit her lip; worry for her friend had been building for several weeks now and was starting to overwhelm her. She could feel tears threatening, so she looked away to try and hide them from Seth. It only made it worse that she was taking her worry out on Seth. He didn't deserve it, but he happened to be the bearer of bad news. Painting wouldn't suffice to calm her anymore, not right now.

Seth's arms wrapped around Robin, and she immediately pressed herself against his shoulder, letting his scent and the soothing movement of his hand on her back calm her down.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "Look, I…"

"No, no, don't tell me," she said. "If Sidda didn't tell me whatever it is, she probably wouldn't want me to know." Robin took a deep breath and looked up, attempting a smile. "And if I'm right and she's coming back soon, I don't want her to be angry at me for finding out."

Seth chuckled and kissed Robin's forehead. "She would find out, too."

"I know," Robin said crossly. "I'm horrible at keeping secrets from the two of you." She shook her head, "If Alec ever joins that small list, I'm doomed…" She started towards the living room of Alec and Sidda's apartment, and Seth followed her.

"You aren't going to finish painting?" he asked.

"I'm going to try and call Sidda," Robin said. "She gave me a contact number to someone who sees her every now and then. I only got it after swearing not to give it to anyone else, not to look up its location, and to only use it in an emergency." She paused after flipping open her cell phone and looked at Seth. "This is an emergency, right?"

"Well, not an emergency right now, but we won't know when it will be an emergency until something happens," Seth said. "Better that she get here sooner than later."

Robin nodded, the phone already pressed to her ear. Seth could hear the dial tone, and he frowned as a man's answering machine came on. Robin clicked the phone shut. "Wonderful," she said. "No idea what's wrong with Sidda and whoever the contact point is supposed to be won't answer their phone."

"We could try again later," Seth started, but the sound of the doorknob turning caught his hearing, and he cocked an eyebrow at Robin. Maybe someone else was planning on crashing the apartment?

They both turned as the door opened, and Robin practically threw herself across the room as Sidda stuck her head in the doorway.

"Sidda!" Robin wrapped her arms around her friend. "Oh my gosh, I was so worried…" Robin glanced at Seth then quickly moved away from Sidda. "Oops, sorry, forgot about the…" She stopped and looked at Alec for a moment, then back at Sidda, trying to silently ask if Sidda had told him yet.

Sidda laughed and leaned against Alec. "It's ok, I told him about the baby," she assured her friend. She glanced over at Seth and grinned. "By the way, Seth, I'm pregnant."

"Really now…" Seth managed to look properly surprised, but it might not have been enough to fool the escape-artist who had been trained to read subtle expressions.

"Why were you worried about her?" Alec asked, looking at Robin with a quizzical expression. He glanced at Sidda. "I thought you guys were keeping in touch."

"Not as much as I would have liked," Robin said, giving Sidda accusing look. "Especially considering your point of contact wouldn't even answer."

Sidda rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop being ridiculous. " She frowned for a second and then looked at Robin. "You called Collins?" she asked. "Why the heck did you do that?"

"Collins?" Alec asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"The nice older man on the ship that you didn't punch," Sidda said, moving more into the apartment so that she could set her bag down, and Alec could close the door behind her.

"Alec punched someone?" Robin asked, her eyes lighting up. "Do tell!"

"So, um, hey, Seth," Alec said, clapping Seth on the shoulder and obviously trying to avoid the subject.

Seth chuckled. "Got a little bit of a temper with someone?"

Alec frowned and shot Sidda an annoyed look. "He was being rude to Sidda."

"It was sort of awesome," Sidda admitted, "Just when I was wishing bad things on him, there he goes, into the water."

"And then I was there," Alec added.

Sidda rolled her eyes. "Yes, the highlight of the day. Alec was there."

"Of course it was," Alec said, going to grab a beer from the fridge, "I'm your freakin' knight in genetically-modified armor, remember?" He straightened up and looked at Robin over the refrigerator door. "So, before I forget, why were you worrying about Sidda?"

Robin glanced at Seth, than Sidda. Sidda was frowning, but she didn't look extremely concerned. So maybe it was okay to mention it? "Well, I didn't know exactly," Robin said, glancing at Seth again. "Seth wouldn't tell me. But he looked at your medical files, and…"

"Oh, hey, I'm starving, is there any food left in the fridge?" Sidda said, suddenly moving away from the table that she'd been half-sitting on and moving toward Alec.

"Nothing that would interest you," Alec said, firmly closing the refrigerator door. "What's going on, Sidda?" he asked, setting his beer down on the counter.

"Nothing." Sidda's eyes darted back and forth frantically, and that was when she caught sight of the partially painted room though the open door. "What is that?" she asked. Robin moved to intercept her, but Sidda was too quick for her. She had the door open all the way in a few seconds, and she turned and looked at Robin. "You're redecorating our apartment?"

Robin nodded vigorously, hoping Sidda would just accept that Robin had felt the need to redecorate something. "It was just so bland…"

"Hey, we're still having a discussion," Alec said to Sidda, following the rest of them to the room.

Sidda gave him an anxious look, then turned back to frown at the room. "Yeah, sure, of course," she muttered quickly. "As soon as I scold Robin for randomly redecorating our apartment."

Alec glanced into the room, and a one-sided smile crept across his face. "Hey, are you making a baby room already?" he asked, giving Robin a suspicious but amused look. He had jumped way too quickly to the correct conclusion.

Sidda froze at the suggestion, and her eyes widened. Of course she'd been suspecting that was what it was about, but hearing Alec actually say it… And they had been going through her files. And now there was a baby room. And everything was happening much too fast. She was feeling tired already from all the driving, and now light-headed, disconnected...cold…

"Umm…maybe?" Robin said, answering Alec's question. She looked at Sidda worriedly, waiting for her to flip out about the room. But she was silent, just staring at the room with wide eyes.

"Sidda?" Alec asked nervously, moving to stand in front of her. "Hey…"

"I can paint the room back if you don't want it that way," Robin said quickly. "Please don't get upset Sidda, I can paint it back, it's okay."

Sidda collapsed. Her eyes rolled back, and her knees buckled. Luckily, Alec was standing in front of her and caught her. "Sidda," he half-choked, pulling her limp body close to him. She didn't open her eyes. "Sidda!" He looked up at Seth, his eyes full of wordless panic.

---------------------------

"I'm fine, please stop looking at me like that," Sidda said, frowning at Alec with the same level of intensity as he was staring at her with worry. His hand was wrapped around her right arm, clutching it like if he let go for a moment she was going to hit the floor again.

Her cheeks grew hot with remembered shame. She had woken up only moments after she had fainted, but that hadn't seemed to put Alec, Seth or Robin anymore at ease. Seth had insisted that she go straight to the infirmary while Robin fretted, hovering like a helicopter as Alec had scooped Sidda up and headed for the door, snapping at Seth to tell him what had happened.

Sidda had managed to convince Alec that she could walk and that he would be filled in on everything when they got into the infirmary. At the moment, he was standing beside her while Seth went off to find Sibil. Robin was on her other side, a similar unhappy expression on her face. Sidda sighed. This was definitely not the home-coming she had been hoping for.

Alec only replied to her request by tightening his grip on her arm. She was luckily saved from having the circulation cut off by the timely appearance of Sibil and Seth. But Sibil didn't look happy…this just wasn't her day was it?

"After all those warnings, Sidda, you felt the need to take off on a cross-country vacation?" the female doctor scolded as she came closer, her practical sneakers squeaking on super-clean tile floor. Ow…Alec's hand was now much too tight on her arm.

"Hey, babe, that sorta hurts," she said, giving him a smile. His grip loosened, and he turned a scowl on Sibil.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" he demanded, "Someone needs to start talking." He looked down at Sidda, who promptly averted her gaze. "Now."

"More important things to worry about here than you being out of the loop, Alec," Sibil said. She crossed the gap remaining between her and Sidda and took the younger transgenic by the hand. "Someone's far over due for a check-up."

Sidda felt like digging her heels in and refusing just on the principle of the matter. Did everyone just think they could order her around and demand answers because she'd come back? The complete independence of the past few weeks had made her quite obstinate, but she could tell from the look on Alec's face that this wasn't the time to mutiny.

"Robin, want to go home and start dinner?" Seth said, turning to his wife. "We'll probably need it when we get back."

Robin gave Seth a look that was bordering on scathing; being sent back to the kitchen wasn't high on her things to do list, and she didn't seem to appreciate the suggestion.

Sidda put her free hand on her hip and looked back at Seth. "Aren't you going home, too?"

"No, he's staying," Alec replied for Seth before the other transgenic could say anything. Sidda narrowed her eyes at Alec. Okay, this was starting to get annoying…

Robin could tell that Sidda was about to protest, so she gave her friend something that could pass for an encouraging smile. "Hey, Seth's around you a lot more than Sibil. It's best if he knows what's going on too."

"And he won't hide shit from me," Alec said. He now had a glare fixed on Sibil, but Sibil was staring straight back at him, unbending.

"It's doctor-patient confidentiality," Sibil said, raising her chin, "I can't tell you things if she doesn't want you to know."

Sidda had a feeling that that wouldn't be a problem anymore. Keeping Alec away from these appointments was probably going to be impossible in the future, and if Seth was going to become her second doctor… This was all much more trouble than she had ever expected.

"Look, I'll fix your favorites," Robin said, breaking up any potential fights for the moment even though she felt like having one with Seth. She nodded her head toward Sibil and the back hallways that led to the exam rooms. "Now go get it over with so we can all go home and catch up."

"Yes, let's," Sibil said. Without saying more, she walked back toward the halls, expecting the others to follow.

When they were in the exam room, Sidda leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest, reluctant to take a seat on the exam table. Alec stood next to her, giving off guard dog vibes as he glanced down at her, while Seth wandered over to linger near the cabinets on the far wall. Sibil, however, was in command. She pointed to Sidda and then to the paper-covered exam table while she put on a pair of latex gloves.

"How many times did you faint while you were gone?" she asked as she walked over and pulled a blood pressure cuff off of the wall near the bed.

Sidda sighed as she sat down on the exam table. "I don't know, two or three." At the way Alec's nostrils flared, she quickly added, "And it was in the house, where I wasn't in any danger."

"Sidda," Alec growled under his breath as he massaged the bridge of his nose.

"I don't think right now is the best time to berate her for her stupidity," Sibil scolded as she approached Sidda and wrapped the blood pressure cuff around her left arm. While she took Sidda's blood pressure, she tossed a look over at Seth. "You read her file?"

"Yes," he replied. He shook his head when Alec looked at him. "I read it today, so I didn't know about all this until now."

"I don't think anyone really gets how much I would like to know what all this is," Alec said, his face tense.

"BP's only 79 over 50," Sibil said, frowning as she pulled the cuff off Sidda's arm, "I warned you about low blood pressure."

"I know, I've been careful," Sidda said, a warm flush washing over her face.

"And you," Sibil said, turning her attention for a brief moment to Alec, "How much do you know?"

"Nothing," he replied shortly.

"I was going to tell you," Sidda said, half-plaintively and half in her own defense. Her heart was starting its usual oh-god-I'm-in-a-hospital race again, only compounded by Alec's anger with her and her own frustration at the situation. Agitated, she kicked her legs back and forth. She really had meant to tell him, but she had wanted to do it in T.C., where Sibil could explain that it was okay, nothing too awful. Circumstances had made that impossible…

"What, it slipped your mind that you faint often when you're pregnant?" Alec asked. "How much else haven't you told me?"

Sidda scowled at him. "Would you—"

"All right, that's enough," Sibil said. She turned fully toward Alec, her hands on her hips. "Sidda's pregnancy isn't as easy as one would hope."

"Why not?" he asked, moving closer to the exam table so he could loom over his mate, as if that was going to protect her. Sidda sighed and reached out to take his hand, for both of their sakes.

Sibil explained, very slowly but bluntly, about the complications with Sidda's blood pressure and other factors before mentioning the probable C-section at the end of the pregnancy. "It's just best that Sidda is near a medical facility, where she can get help when it's needed."

There was a long silence until Alec broke it. "And you left for the East Coast knowing about this?"

"Did she mention that the pregnancy affects my judgment?" she said, half-smiling at her attempt to joke. Alec did not look any happier.

Sibil moved on to other normal check-up procedures while Alec came and sat next to Sidda on the exam table. Sibil raised an eyebrow as if she was going to object, but then decided to change her mind when Alec gave her one of his death stares.

"Alec," Sidda said quietly as Sibil made a notation on her clipboard after flashing a light in her eyes. It was too bad that the volume of your voice never mattered when there were other transgenics around; someone was going to overhear. But at least Sibil and Seth had the grace to appear absorbed in other things at the moment.

Alec looked at her. "I just can't believe…." Alec sighed and put his head in his hands, and Sidda suddenly felt an overwhelming rush of guilt at making him this unhappy.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder. Alec was still for a moment, and then his arm came around her, and he pulled her close.

"But it'll be fine now, right?" Alec brushed her hair away from her face so that he could look at her eyes. His were anxious and full of worry; despite everything she'd told him, he was still afraid that she didn't want to stay. Perhaps with good reason, Sidda thought wryly. Her first few hours back in Terminal City hadn't exactly been pleasant. But there was no way she was leaving Alec. She needed him; she had figured that out over the past few weeks' adventure.

"It'll be fine," Sidda assured him. She squeezed one of Alec's hands and then looked at Sibil. "Well, as fine as Sibil says it will be." She managed to get a half-smile out of Alec before Sibil looked up.

"Well, at the moment you seem to be doing okay except for the blood pressure," Sibil said. "But how about we do an ultrasound so that we know how the baby's doing?"

"Sounds good to me," Sidda said quickly. She looked at Alec anxiously. "Do you want to stay? You don't have to if you don't want…" She didn't get to finish before Alec jumped in.

"Where the hell would I go?" Alec said. But he didn't sound angry anymore. Instead he sounded happy, and sort of excited, and this was so, so, so much better than upset, unhappy Alec. Alec finally squeezed her hand back, and Sidda relaxed against him. She wanted him to be there, badly, though she was hesitant to admit it. It would have been hard to go to her first ultrasound without him; it just wouldn't have felt right.

"I wish I had been there for Robin's," Seth said quietly. Sidda laughed and shook her head.

"I promise you, it wasn't that exciting, Seth. And trust me, you should be glad that you weren't there for the pregnancy. Talk about fun times."

"Well, still…"

As they got up from the table to follow Sibil to the room where she'd be doing the ultrasound, Sidda patted Seth on the arm. "It's okay, if you ever have another one, I'm sure she'll make sure you experience everything. And I'm sure there will be another one unless you tell her you don't want one."

"I would like that…" Seth said, trailing off thoughtfully. Apparently he didn't mind the implied warning Sidda had given him about being there for everything. It was a good thing Robin was married to a man who loved her so much.

Speaking of loving men…Sidda glanced at Alec again, wondering if he was truly getting over everything now. She knew it was going to take some time…it was just too bad that he'd had to find out about her complications as soon as they'd gotten back. Sidda had managed to only get him okay with the whole running away thing a few days before getting back to Terminal City. She had been planning on enjoying having Alec happy with her, but, well… she was hoping that he wouldn't need as much time to get over this part.

"What exactly happens in an ultrasound?" Alec asked.

Sibil picked up the worried quality and turned and gave Alec a reassuring smile. "It's probably one of the easiest pregnancy exams there is. We simply apply some gel to Sidda's stomach area, then move a wand around on top of the skin so that we can see what's inside. It won't hurt her at all."

"That's good," Alec said, looking at Sidda. Sidda nodded vehemently. She liked it when visits to the doctors didn't involve any pain. It was too bad this one hadn't involved any emotional pain as well.

When they got to the room with the ultrasound equipment, Sidda was forced to lie down again, and this time, she had to lift her shirt up and expose her stomach. "This feels weird," she muttered to Alec as the cold gel was smoothed on.

"It looks kind of weird," Alec agreed, eyeing the gel. Sidda had to suppress a chuckle; Alec had become very suspicious of anything that bothered Sidda ever since he'd found her in North Carolina. It was a little amusing every now and then, when it didn't cause any problems.

"All right, here we go," Sibil said, directing their attention to the TV monitor as she put the wand against Sidda's skin. All of them turned to look, and Alec leaned forward so that he could see better. The baby was barely visible, hard to make out. But it was definitely there.

"It's the size of a bean," Sidda said, laughing. She couldn't believe it was actually there…all the trouble she'd gone through, and she'd still had doubts as to the baby's existence. It just hadn't seemed real. But there the tiny thing was in front of them, almost ready to start showing its presence as Sidda's belly expanded it.

"Now if you could just stay that size instead of making your mom fat…" Sidda gave a theatrical sigh, causing everyone else in the room to laugh. Alec leaned over and kissed Sidda lightly.

"It's a cute bean," he said. "And if you're lucky, it'll have inherited your genes. Then it will be nice and short and won't make you very fat." He winked at her, and Sidda pushed his shoulder.

"Hey, wait a second. Does this mean you won't like me anymore when I get fat?" she said, trying to work up a scowl.

Alec rolled her eyes. "And I just know that with all your crazy hormone levels you'll probably fuss about it all the time."

"Oh, hush." Sidda moved against the pillows for a little more comfort. "Besides, I don't want the baby to have to go through life being a shortie just for my comfort."

"I don't know, I'm sort of fond of shorties," Alec said.

"Well, everyone knows you're weird like that," Sidda said, giving him a smile. Really, he was weird…it was still strange to think that he was actually choosing to settle down with her and have a kid with her. Not that she would ever complain about it, but that's why she had run away in the first place. She just thought that he wouldn't be the settling type and didn't want to force him to be something he wasn't. Sometimes it was nice to be wrong.

"Well, everything looks good," Sibil said as she wiped the gel off of Sidda's stomach. "So, Alec, I think you can put off worrying about Sidda for a little while longer. Just don't let her get too stressed, okay?"

"I can watch myself," Sidda growled. Then she glanced at Alec. "Though it would help if certain people didn't press me…"

"Hey, I didn't know," he protested. "Plus, Robin was the one to paint up a baby room."

Sidda laughed. 'I should've known better than to leave her with keys to the apartment when I knew she'd be stressing out about me being gone."

"Well, if you hadn't left them she would've found a way to break in," Seth said, smiling at the image.

"Very true." Sidda sighed and closed her eyes. "And I bet she'll want to go shopping for that room soon too."

"You don't have to if you don't want to,' Seth said. "I'm sure she'd be happy to do it all herself if you asked her to."

"No, it's okay," Sidda said. "Robin and I will have a lot of catching up to do." She glanced at Alec again. "Though I may put off the shopping for a few days…"

"I would like that," Alec said quietly, rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand, a wry smile on his face.