Blind Promises

60. After the Storm

The funeral for Lieutenant Steven Paul Childs was held at Arlington National Cemetery per his wishes, he never knew that his uncle was a traitor to the state. He died doing what he'd sworn to do, something he was ill-equipped to handle, Hal had counted on it and it cost the kid his life. Gwen was angry. Not as much as Maggie, the hug and kiss she'd given Gwen were as fierce as the tears in her eyes. "For as much as I teased him, he never deserved to die. I slept beside a man I never knew most of my life, I can't imagine how he could have done something like this."

Gwen wasn't sure what to say, she wanted to know the same thing. "I can't say, Maggie. I'm so sorry. He asked me to stay, if I would have, maybe he wouldn't have died. I'm a better shot than most, I'm full of the what if's right now."

"You did the right thing, Hal's to blame, he took the coward's way out and put a pilot in charge of security. That's akin to murder itself. He holds Steven's death warrant, no one else." Maggie put a hand to her stomach, "Please tell me you'll call when the baby comes. I still love these boys like they're my own, no matter what Hal did. Their failures and successes are as much a part of my life as any."

Gwen patted her hand, "We'll call, I promise, Maggie. First thing." She kissed Maggie's cheek and wished her well. Liam was speaking with Steven's mother and father giving his condolences. She thought back over the past week with so many emotions.

Their arrival back at the base had been a mixed evolution, Alex and the girls were safe, Cooper was safe, but Steven had been killed in the line of duty. William himself was superficially wounded. Hal didn't lie, operatives tried to take their family hostage by force, only swift thinking on the part of Steven and some of the other soldiers kept them safe. One more young man was killed in action, another severely wounded. Both Rich and Liam were left more determined to find out who was behind the curtain.

Alex hadn't shed a tear when she learned John was dead. She had to mourn his death for her children. The small plane crashes along a route he would have taken were nonexistent, commuter deaths at an all time low, nothing at all to explain it. Finally, she decided on an aneurysm, it was the only way she felt kept them from the harsh reality of their father's betrayal. The twins took it the hardest, they took after their dad the most. Gwen and Liam had discussions about experiments on them, took it to Alex who called up some of her more trusted psychology colleagues, she'd been to her mother's bedside where Colleen was suffering from sepsis. It was still unclear if she would make it. Colleen was of little help though she did tell her what keywords to use and what to look for. If they had been indoctrinated, it would be obvious with those signs.

Colleen wouldn't tell Liam what her experiment on him was, not until the very end and it seemed so tame compared to all the things the Army had put him through. It was simply a series of words that would make him listen to her and do as she said, except it didn't work as well as they'd hoped. Inquisitive was not foolproof, it would have been better to have chosen Alexandria. He was too strong-willed. He'd read about these types of experiments in his research for his thesis as he worked on his masters, he was unimpressed then and still so when he learned of the role he was supposed to play in the organization. A desk jockey, a pretty face to woo women into giving up information, some of the lamest shit she'd ever heard. He hoped his mother was just affected by the toxic infection in her blood. They were going to start dialysis soon, it would be time consuming, somewhat uncomfortable, and he enjoyed it very much. He needed to get back into therapy before the baby arrived.

The first thing Liam insisted on was an appointment with an OBGYN to check on the baby. Somehow Alex sweet talked a friend of hers into seeing them after hours. She checked everything, did an ultrasound, showed them some 4D images of the baby. At the end of the ultrasound, she asked if they wanted to know the sex of the baby.

Liam chimed in, "Hell yeah!"

Rich said, "Oh yes we want to know!"

The doctor said, "Oh, are you the surrogate mother?"

Gwen laughed, "No, I'm the mother, he's the father, and this guy back here thinks he's my dad but he's not. But he does a pretty good job stepping up to the plate."

"Okay, well, down here we have a pretty predominant set of male parts as you can see."

"We're having a boy?" Liam asked. The doc shook her head in affirmation. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He kissed Gwen until she couldn't breathe. "We're having a boy!" he whispered into her lips.

"We are," she whispered back.

Rich shouted, "We're havin' a boy!" while doing a little dance around the room. Alex hugged her brother and gave Gwen a hug, "Congratulations, guys. Boys are awesome."

Gwen looked up at Liam sheepishly, "So uh, I have to tell Carly and um, I, well... Do you think we could go home for a little while. Take some time off?"

Liam looked at Rich, "You think you can arrange for that?"

"Consider it done. We have to fly to D.C. soon to meet with Ms. Jimenez anyway. I don't see why we can't layover in the Fort for a week or two." Rich was pumped up on a baby high, he'd say yes to anything.

Dr. Nguyen cleared her throat, "Okay, I'm going to do an internal exam so those of you who aren't inclined to want to be privy to the privates of the patient might want to scoot." Rich and Alex left out of courtesy, she was suspect though, it wasn't her privacy they were after.

"Mrs. Halstadt, as far as I can see, you are carrying a healthy baby boy. Your placenta is high, he's not head down yet but it's still very early in your pregnancy for that, he'll be dancing all over your insides for a while before he runs out of room. If you'd like for me to follow your pregnancy, call tomorrow and get on my schedule, I'll leave a note for the girls at the front desk, I usually don't take patients this far into pregnancy but under the circumstances, I will certainly make an exception. Tell Alex I'll catch up with her later." She stood to leave, "Oh, and here are your prints and DVD to keep."

"I'm good to fly and travel, right?"

The doctor nodded, "Yes, until your ninth month, you're good to go, after that, I ask that you restrict yourself to short trips unless it's an emergency and you have a backup plan in place for labor and delivery."

"Thank you, thanks for seeing us tonight and all that you've done. It means a lot to us!" Liam shook her hand. She returned the gesture, "It was my pleasure, your parents must be freaks of nature to churn out such ridiculously beautiful children. I hope I get to see how pretty this one is."

"Oh great, now I have pressure!" Gwen laughed. Finally they were alone in the room, Liam picked her up and held her, "We're going to have a boy, angel. He's going to be so beautiful."

"I love you so much, Liam. I'm so glad you're excited about your baby. I was afraid you'd be upset." Gwen admitted.

Liam looked at her, "Oh angel, never. Maybe not the best timing but it's our baby and I couldn't be more in love with you if I tried. Maybe it's cheesy, but I don't care."

"We need to get out of here before they lock us in. Let's find Alex and Rich then get out of here. We've got a little girl waiting to hear some news!" Gwen stopped a moment, "Did you hear what she said? About ridiculously pretty children? Liam, have you ever thought... Remember you told me you stopped watching the Discovery Channel after Lacey was born. None of Alex's children are unattractive, they are immaculate to a fault. What if it's genetics?"

"Where does Lacey fit in all of that?" Liam questioned her line of thinking. She looked up at him, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, maybe that's a fluke, but let's keep it between us for now, even from Rich. I know he always has your six, but there is a little guy in here that needs you to have his."