February, 2262
[indicates thoughts]
*emphasis*
(Two months later . . . )
Zack Allan was in his office, and had just dismissed the two telepath volunteers for the new spying mission. [Cheerful, aren't they. Oh get over it, Zack, it's just as dangerous a job as yours is, they have a right to be somewhat less than enthusiastic. They won't be allowed to carry weapons for defense, for starters.] With a sigh, Zack turned his attention back to the omnipresent pile of paperwork. [I swear, these reports are secretly breeding every time my back is turned.] Micheal Garibaldi, having already made the required smart-alecky comment, was just walking out when the commsystem chirped.
Garibaldi, who knew full well it wasn't any of his business, returned to his seat to listen, tucked just out of sight of the communit's camera. He received a fast glare for his troubles before Zack poked the control that turned on his end of the line.
Both men were a little surprised at the person on the other end. The address was listed as the same mars hospital that Lyta was sheltered at, but instead of the usual doctor who'd give them the (basically unchanging) news of her condition, it was a man neither one recognised by name or by face. His type, however, was obvious. The clothes, the attitude, the office seen in the background, the somewhat-dead expression. A beaurocrat. Not a healer.
"You're Mr. Allan? Good," the man did not pause his bored monotone, "company policy requires us to contact you at this time. Before you start to become excessively emotional, I will tell you there has been no change in your wife's condition since the last weekly update."
Zack untensed slightly, and remembered to not be visibly startled at the mention of marriage. It had been his decision to maintain the charade accidentally begun by Dr. Franklin: Lyta wasn't about to object, and earthforce paid for basic medical expenses on immediate family members. The decided 'wedding date' was during the blockade, which had conveniently prevented a record from being sent to earth archives at the time, and the report sent in afterwards omitted her then-status as a telepath, thereby avoiding notice by Psi Corps. Zack only wished it was true, however. He missed Lyta a lot more than he was willing to let on to the others.
"However," the man droned on, "we have become aware of a pre-existing condition that you might not be aware of, of you would have mentioned it. Do you know offhand when Mrs. Allan last menstruated?"
"What?" Zack asked, visibly confused. "Not offhand, no. . . why?"
"Your spouse hadn't menstruated yet during her entire stay. The staff did not think too much of it at first, since is it apparently not uncommon to skip a cycle after a trauma, but yesterday, according to procedure, they ran a pregnancy test. She came up positive."
Zack's face rapidly drained of all color.
The beaurocrat continued on. "Additional tests were run, to see how far along it was, and if there were any signs of fetal damage. She would have been about a month into term when the power transfer box she was repairing blew out, sending her into the coma."
Zack's hand had risen to cover his mouth [" . . . I wasn't expecting anyone . . ."] as intense nausea churned up in his belly.
"There isn't any noted damage to the fetus, don't worry, but you should be informed. Since your wife will likely never recover consciousness, and she has no other surviving kin, it is your decision as to whether or not to continue to pregnancy or have it transferred away for adoption. A military station usually won't allow underage civilians, but I understand there is a civilian population where you are stationed?"
Zack nodded mutely, his face still ashen.
"You'll have to either send someone to take care of the paperwork - this must be done in person, Mr. Allan - or come yourself. Preferably within the next 10 days, to enter records that the pregnancy was continued intentionally and that custody of the fetus will be taken upon delivery, whether natural or induced. Or to sign for transferal. Since she no longer needs life support equipment, only the IV and traditional care, it will make the case easier for continuation." The lack of expression in his voice made it clear that he didn't care either way, it was just another part of his job.
After a few false starts where the words died in his throat, Zack managed to ask how her condition was otherwise.
The man blinked, then dug up her file to look. "She's fine, physically. The burns have healed, treatments have preventing scarring, and a few inches of hair have grown over the patches that were lost. Mentally - well, since you have refused to allow a representative of the Psi Corps scan her, there's no way to tell how intact she may be, but there hadn't been a single monitored brain wave from her yet. That's odd. The reports also state that she has company every day, someone sitting with her, talking, for the entire length of visiting hours. Oh yes. The physio ordered is continuing. She was quite insistent on it," the man sniffed at a memory.
" 'She' would be who?"
"An Earthforce Captain was here in January. Raised a hell of a ruckus when she learned there wasn't any physio. I should know, I had to deal with that witch. Since we know she will not recover, Earthforce medical would not pay for such expensive long-term care. Ivanova, that was her name. She insisted that your wife *will* recover in time, that her joints were to be kept mobile, and that tissue maintenance measures also be taken. She paid for it herself, apparently inherited a large bit of insurance money recently, some mining company that was destroyed a while ago, out . . . . there-" a dismissive wave of his hand "-someplace."
"Cole mining, of Arisia Colony." Zack heard his own voice speaking, and was a little surprised at the sound of it.
"Yes, that was it's name. So, we will care for what is essentially a breathing corpse. Nevertheless, you or someone you appoint must be here, soon, to complete the legalities for either removal or continuation of the fetus." The man cut the connection.
Zack was still stunned, unable to quite grasp it all. He was glad that Ivanova stepped in to defend Lyta - but - but - [Pregnant?!?! Zack, you big, ugly, FOOL! Didn't even consider using a fragging means of birth control! You got her - oh god. She's . . . pregnant?]
Always a master of good timing, Lochley walked into his office, about to speak, but she stopped short when she saw his vacant expression and pale skin. Garibaldi was similarly quiet and pale. Also a little slow on the uptake, she asked if something was wrong.
(well, duh!)
Zack started to speak but he couldn't force any more words out, instead managed to turn to face her. Lochley visibly jumped to see his eyes damp, but he wasn't actually crying. Zack tapped a few buttons on his console, and the message from mars replayed itself. Lochley sat slowly down in the opposite chair during the replay, then sat very quietly for a few minutes afterwards, deep in thought.
There was only one detail that the chief of security didn't fill her in on - *She didn't know Lyta *wasn't* really Zack's wife*.
After a repressed sigh, she asked, "I'm guessing the record of her going to Minbar late in the same day as the others leaving was a cover, then, to protect the fact she was involved, because if the Psi Corps was accused of being part of the coup in any way . . ."
"Yes," Zack said softly.
Lochley let her breath out heavily. "Can you transfer her to here, or to Minbar, now?"
Garibaldi finally spoke up, reviving himself from his thoughts. "No, unconscious patients need to have all sorts of authorization that we can't get for her to move her off-world, especially to an alien planet. And we have enough Psi Cops coming back soon, they'd probably take her back with the rest, anyway, even though she's not a rogue, and you'd never see either one again. We might be able to get her moved to a different hospital, or to private homecare, but we can't just keep shuffling her around, because sooner or later she'll be caught. The corps can't do anything to her mind after what happened to her, but they're always willing to get another healthy breeder in-"
Zack very loudly snarled, "there's no way in *HELL* I'd *ever* let them-"
Garibaldi interrupted with a "Hey!"
Zack shut up, extremely furious at the suggestion.
"I don't know - I'll check with Lise, she'd be able to pull strings if she wanted to - but in case you've forgotten, Edgars Industries is the biggest pharmaceutical company on Mars. It has multiple hospitals. All of which are under private control."
Lochley wasn't totally sure. "Edgars Hospital is only one hospital. It might be huge, but-"
"Yeah, and where do you think that nut would be doing all his experimentation on humans? Where do you think he perfected that teep virus the universe isn't supposed to know about? Not in the *Official* hospital. There's a half-dozen of them, scattered around, one right on the private estate. They have fronts to pretend to be other businesses, of course, but I know what I saw. I'll check with Lise tonight. Are you planning on going yourself, Zack?"
"If I can get leave, yes." Zack seemed a tiny bit hopeful again.
They both looked at Lochley. "Granted. A couple of days to prep your second is all you should need, right? There won't be a problem, your records say you haven't have a vacation since you first got here anyway."
"By tomorrow, if I push, I can be ready to go."
Lochley paused. "Mr. Allan . . . you didn't know before, did you. About her being a mother."
Zack shook his head. "They couldn't communicate with us after leaving . . . the only time was during the battle, so she couldn't tell me. But she must have known by then, or at least suspected . . . If I *had* known, I'd have forbidden her to go!"
After Lochley had left, Garibaldi managed to speak again. "Oh god, Zack, I'm sorry. . . I mean, I'd thought maybe her new name was faked for some reason, but - wow. I know I was out of the loop last year, what with - well - everything - but I hadn't known you two were really together. I thought - uh - it doesn't matter what I thought. I mean, it wasn't exactly broadcast on ISN, but - well I knew how much of an eye you had for the ladies, and when it just dried up - you'd only look at her. How come I didn't notice? 20/20 hindsight, I guess. I'm sorry."
"We had to avoid attention, because of the Corps," Zack said softly. It was a line he'd had to come up with a while ago. "To try to keep her from being a target again."
"What will you do with the . . . the fetus?"
Zack stopped, unsure for only a second. "I'm not giving it up. It may be all I have left of her." The pain was evident in his voice.
~~~~
"The one who saved your life when the underground caught you? The one who stuck her neck out for you, as a friend, even after you fired her on Bill's orders? That Lyta?" the face on the other side of the screen said.
Garibaldi nodded, a little uncertain as to whether or not Lise would agree, then stopped. "How did you know about the firing?" he asked carefully.
"I was around the corner, listening. I heard what he wanted to do to all those people who are . . . like her. Yes. Oh god, Micheal, of *course* I'll protect her. I'll see the papers get started tomorrow - well - it's tomorrow already - that they get started as soon as the business day begins. Don't worry, Micheal. I got to meet her, remember? A thin little redhead, right? We saw each other for a few seconds before you could return me home. She said something about a double-check later to ensure the Corps' programming was gone, and something else about whoever had put in the asimov would be in for a rude surprise. Whatever that meant. I guess she didn't get a chance to explain, huh."
"No. But she did the check. I came out clean."
"Well. It was a while ago, any - way . . . Micheal . . . how far did you say she was . . . oh."
"What?"
"Why she seemed so distracted . . . she must have suspected by then about the baby." Lise paused, lost in thought for a few seconds. "I know what it's like to not be sure about the fate of a child. The - the search for Franz hasn't turned up anything yet. But there are leads. I will get my daughter back. She'll like you, you know. The big teddy bear type, and your silly cartoons."
Garibaldi smiled. "I am hoping you find her so much, my love. I want what makes you happy. Even if it is a sappy line, it's true."
Lise smiled at him and cut the connection.
From the doorway, Lochley spoke up. "If you keep this up, I might actually like you after a while."
"I'm always likable. Good news at last - I'll tell go Zack right away. But first . . . you going to tell me why Sheridan was in such an odd mood the other day yet or not? All I know is that you and Delenn were alone, talking, he walks in the room to sudden silence, you look at each other, then at him, then back to each other. Delenn says yes, and you both are on the floor laughing. I saw, remember? So when are you going to explain?"
"Never. My friendship with the Ambassador is not your concern. Neither is how I knew Sheridan enough for him to pick me to run this tin can, before you ask THAT question again."
"You served together for under 4 months right out of the Academy. Big deal. That should provide enough stories to let at least a few out in my direction, riiiight?"
"Nope." Lochley smiled. "Here's the files you needed," and she left.
Garibaldi sighed, wondering if it was worth continued digging . . . he hadn't found anything wrong or unusual about her . . . he just had this feeling . . .
~~~~
Interim notes: expand into story parts:
Lyta was moved by private ambulance the next morning to the small hospital on the Edgars estate. Zack arrived (no need by then to make sure the last hospital won't get rid of baby) to visit three days later. A kiss didn't wake her up like in the old fairy tales, but he knew he had to try anyway. Lise was quite sympathetic. Zack stayed for 2 days, mostly just sitting with Lyta and saying he's sorry. When she could find time Lise pried some details out of him on Garibaldi before Zack had to go again, having promised to return at the end of Lyta's time to try to be there for the birth. He knew she'd get better care here than at the last hospital, anyway, but he's still upset by it all. Out loud, he wished she was on B5 with him, then remembered the rogues there and decides maybe she's better to be safe. But he'd prefer her to be safe on Minbar, or anywhere, as long as she could be awake and healthy.