Chapter 64

"Not possible." Laura insisted.

They had come home early from their honeymoon claiming she was ill, vowing to go back later to visit Diana again. They had come home to their aerie apartment, dropped their bags, and then gone right out again to pick up a pregnancy test. Now they were waiting impatiently for the results while Archie and Oliver curled up on the bed, oblivious. "Possible." Spencer replied. "You said you're late."

"That's the stress of the wedding."

"You've been sick the past two mornings."

"Something I ate."

"You're exhausted."

"Stress again."

"And your breasts are warm and sore."

Laura groaned and fell back on the bed, disturbing the cats who promptly moved to sit on her. "This can't be happening. We've been too careful."

"Yes, well, we must have made a mistake somewhere." Spencer stretched out next to her, giving Oliver his own bed warmer. "Why are you fighting this so hard?"

"We were supposed to wait another six weeks!"

"True, but it's not that big of a deal. You'll have a slightly higher risk of osteoporosis when you're older. You'll need to be more careful with your diet and you'll need to be certain to exercise daily, neither of which is all that difficult out here. It's not ideal but it's not that bad, women have had back-to-back pregnancies before and been fine."

Laura groaned. "But what will the midwife say? What will our friends say?"

Spencer smiled even as he winced. Social interaction was always the most difficult aspect of life. The one good thing about their imprisonment had been that the pregnancy had been entirely theirs. They had been able to celebrate and savor it without considering the court of public opinion. Now everything was different. "I hate to say it but in this case I don't care. I'm thrilled about being a father again, and if they think we're rushing it then that's their problem. Besides, we don't even know…"

Laura checked her watch. "It's been five minutes."

Spencer rolled, heedless of the cats and held up the stick, the stick that bore two clear lines. They both started at it for a long moment, and then Spencer watched as his wife's face broke into a smile as radiant as the sun. He laughed and kissed her and slid his hand under her waistband to the still flat place that was holding a miracle. "Hi." He said. "Welcome home."

"The question is." Dave said. "Are you two happy?"

Spencer was downstairs helping Morgan hold a something against another something that would eventually be a window. He had no clue exactly what was involved, he was taking it one direction at a time. Dave was supervising the work while Laura and Penelope were out shopping for something or other for the baby. "Yes, we are. It's a little sooner than we planned, but we're working with it. I just don't see how it happened."

Morgan grinned at him. "You've made two babies and you don't know how it happened."

"Well…no…I…" How did Morgan manage to embarrass him every time like this? "I meant that we've been trying to be very careful."

"Any guy can make a mistake."

Rossi considered this. "You know, I would believe that for anyone else."

"Good point." Morgan conceded. "So one failed. It happens."

"Rarely." Rossi replied. He held up a hand as he looked over at Spencer. "Do not quote me the statistics, just tell me if you went where I told you or did you get them at the gas station or something."

"No, I bought…can I let go now?" Morgan nodded so Spencer sprinted upstairs, coming back with a sample, treating it like evidence without thinking. "I went to that place on U Street the first time but they aren't open on Sundays so I ordered a big box off of Amazon." And how did he get to the point that he needed to buy condoms by the big box, or that he was comfortable admitting that to his friends? Right, marriage.

"I have heard good things about that brand." Morgan nodded. "Very reliable. Not my size though."

Rossi had picked one up and was looking it over. "Very reliable. Do you have a scissors?"

"I have a knife."

Spencer ran upstairs again, coming back with the pair from his desk. "What have you found?"

"Not sure yet," Rossi started carefully opening the little foil packet around the edges. "Remember that intruder you had?"

"Yeah?"

"You said your plumber caught him coming down the stairs?"

"Yeah."

"So he was leaving, he got what he wanted. But nothing was taken."

"That's right. And nothing was left."

"Yes. But it looks like something was altered." Rossi trimmed away three edges and set the condom on a nearby table. Then he opened the packet like a book and held it up to the window.

Spencer stared dumfounded at the light coming through the pin holes in the foil.

Morgan stared himself for a minute, then picked up the condom and took it to the kitchen sink. He held it over the tap and partially filled it with water before holding it up, pinching it closed like a balloon. As they watched water sprayed out the end like a sprinkler.

"I guess someone got impatient." Rossi said.

Spencer sat weakly on the nearest suitable surface. Sabotage. Someone had broken in to their home to sabotage their birth control so Laura would get pregnant. He remembered how she started acting differently during the act, like they were having unprotected sex again. He'd thought she was just getting used to the barrier. "Why? Who?"

"The logical answer to the last question is Kipling Harris." Rossi asked. "He's at large and has the money to pay for someone to do this and has been involved from the beginning. Why is still a mystery, but it might have to do with his wife getting full custody and a restraining order."

"Yeah, but why them again?" Morgan asked.

"They must still fit the profile of the genes he wants in a child."

"But why not take them like last time?"

"Why? Harris isn't the control freak Rudger was, he knows that Laura profiled as a careful and considerate mother, she's not going to do anything that would risk the child. Hell, she'll go out of her way to have a perfect pregnancy. Why go through all the trouble to hide her away and look after her when the police are looking for him?"

"Of course," Morgan agreed. "He doesn't want her, he wants the baby."

Spencer felt the world stop spinning.

"If it's a boy," Rossi agreed. "In the meantime it would be a lot easier for him just to keep an eye on everyone and let these two go through all the trouble of managing the pregnancy for him. We thought the people that keep popping up as watching them were all CIA, his in-laws, but we might have been wrong about that."

"No." Spencer said. He was still back on want the baby. "Not in this lifetime."

"I agree." Rossi replied. "But he's not going to make a move until the baby is viable without medical intervention. We have time to work something out."

"What do I tell Laura?"

"The truth, but gently. And make sure she knows we'll keep her and the baby safe."

Spencer could only hope they could keep that promise.