Dysfunctional -- Chapter 42

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Alec, Biggs, Renfro, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (X5-121, etc.).

Notes:  Spoiler-ish stuff for “Designate This.” This chapter takes place two days after the previous chapter of this fic and one day after chapter 9 of Together.

121 pretended to be caring about what the trainer was lecturing her and the other women in the room on. Blah, blah, blah. I think that we all have a pretty good idea as to what is going on with Outside politics these days and how it could affect us and what we could be potentially be called upon to do to deal with it…come on! Talk about something interesting for once in your life.

“What do you think?” 849 asked from where she sat next to 121. “Could he put somebody to sleep faster than Trainer Dickinson when he taught the classroom portions of Advanced Close Quarters Combat or not?”

“It’s a toss up,” 121 replied. They fell into an uncomfortable silence. “Do you have a definite ETA for 228 yet?”

“Yeah, I got it today,” 849 said. “She’s scheduled to arrive back here at approximately 1100 hours tomorrow morning. It’s about time.”

121 nodded. “I bet.” They were quiet again as they listened to the trainer talk. “So, how has everybody else in your unit been?”

“The usual,” 849 informed 121. “All of the females in my unit that are currently present are now…” She trailed off and looked down uncomfortably. “Sorry.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry about,” 121 assured her friend. “There are plenty of people who should be sorry about our current situation and you’re not one of them.” Director Renfro, whoever else it was that paired us up for the breeding program, 591 just for the hell of it… “I wish that there was something that either one of us could do about it. That’s the part that annoys me the most about the whole thing.”

“You and me both,” 849 agreed. She managed a smile. “You should have been at our table at meals to listen to 142 complain about her breeding partner a few weeks ago.” She put on a slightly whiny voice. “‘Have I ever told you guys about how 375 likes to make the most disgusting grunt when we were in the middle of copulating? It turns me off! And did I mention how he makes the dumbest face when he gets into my cell? Who does this guy think he is, a caveman?’” She and 121 giggled softly. “You would have loved it. I can imagine you verbally cutting 142 down to size.”

“I bet I would have,” 121 concurred. “Not to mention 494. He’s got a talent for doing that without the other person realizing that they’re being made to look even more like an idiot. The best is when he and 511…” She saw the discomfort in 849’s eyes and trailed off, the good mood that had finally developed gone. “Well, you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I know,” 849 acknowledged.

“X5-121? You may be excused for your checkup now,” the trainer spoke up.

“Yes, sir,” 121 said. She saluted the trainer and stood up. “I’ll see you around, 849.”

849 nodded. “See you later, 121.”

121 left the room and walked off towards the infirmary. I fucking hate this! 849 is my friend and our friendship is a mess. Will it ever be back to normal? I know that they haven’t slept with each other since… She sighed and mentally shook her head. Damn, since they had to pair up 511 and myself with other X5s, why couldn’t they have done what they did with me and put him together with somebody random? I would even have felt better if he’d been placed with 786 or 714! I hate the two of them already so it wouldn’t have been too much of a stretch or an excuse to hate them even more for that. No, it has to be one of the few friends that I have that’s going to be the one that’s pregnant with the child of the man that I’m all but mated with. She reached the infirmary and went inside. She walked through until she reached another door and knocked. “X5-121 reporting for my checkup as ordered, sir.”

“Come on in.” 121 opened the door and entered an examination room. The doctor that had spoken to her looked up from the folder that he was holding. “Right on time.” He gestured to the hospital gown that was folded up on a nearby chair. “Please change into that and then lay down on the table. We’ll begin as soon as you are ready.”

“Yes, sir,” 121 said. She quickly changed and lay down on the examination table. The doctor picked something off of the counter and approached her.

“Please lift up your gown and stare straight up,” he instructed the X5. 121 did as he asked, but looked out of the corners of her eyes while he strapped something around her abdomen and then he hooked a set of headphones to a machine. He flipped a switch on it and sat back.

I wonder what he’s listening to, 121 thought. He’s never done this before at any of the previous checkups. She saw the doctor reach for a clipboard when the headphones were accidentally yanked out of the jack and an unmistakable sound reached 121’s ears. The doctor quickly flipped the machine’s switch again.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. He turned to 121. “I’m sorry, 121, but we’re having technical difficulties with the equipment. Please wait while I correct them.”

121 kept her face blank and her voice neutral. “Yes, sir.”

“Thank you,” the doctor said.

121 just continued to stare at the ceiling of the room, stunned. That was a heartbeat. It was much too rapid to have been mine…oh my God, that was the baby’s heartbeat! She briefly closed her eyes and willed them not to tear up. This is real. This is actually happening. I’m honestly going to have a… She paused in her thoughts as she recalled the brief sound of the heartbeat before the doctor had shut the machine off. It was rapid, but there was almost something kind of…overlapping… She barely managed to restrain a gasp as realization sank in. There wasn’t one heartbeat, there were two! There are two babies. I’m having twins! She heard a faint click and the sound of something being written down.

“Thank you, 121,” the doctor said as he unstrapped the device from her abdomen. “Please roll up your gown eyes facing the ceiling and don’t move.”

“Yes, sir,” 121 replied. She did as she was told as the doctor squirted a cold gel onto her stomach and spread it around. She heard another machine being turned on and something else touch her abdomen. It wasn’t anything completely new to her, this particular procedure had been done at her last three checkups, but this time she had a hard time keeping her eyes focused on the ceiling above her. Don’t turn and look. Whatever you do, don’t try to see what is going on! Curiosity, however, got the better of 121 and when she was certain that the doctor’s attention was somewhere else, she quickly glanced over and saw an ultrasound machine and sure enough, two fetuses were on the screen, each of whom had a strong heartbeat. She quickly turned away before the doctor could notice and glued her eyes at a point ahead of her. The doctor continued to examine 121 and after several minutes, he told her to get dressed. He made a few more notes on the chart before he once again faced 121, who was fully dressed and standing at attention. He scrutinized her apparently blank expression before a relieved one came across his own face and 121 relaxed the slightest bit. Phew. He bought it.

“Your nine-week checkup is a success,” the doctor told her. “Everything is progressing normally, though I have discovered that you are apparently carrying two fetuses instead of only one. That at least partially explains the intensity of the symptoms that you have been experiencing over the past several weeks. Both fetuses are healthy. Continue as you have been and I will see you again at the same time in one week for your next checkup.” He looked at the clock in the examination room. “You only have five minutes left in your last activity, so you may return directly to your cell. Dismissed.”

“Yes, sir.” 121 saluted him and turned around and marched out of the room and then out of the infirmary. Her mind was light years away. Twins. I’m going to be having two babies. I wonder what they’re going to be. Boys, girls, a boy and a girl? I can’t wait to find out! A horrifying truth hit her as she reached her cell. I won’t find out. They wouldn’t tell me what the sex or sexes of the babies are. Get fucking real here, 121, they aren’t going to let you keep either of them! They are going to take the babies—my babies—and you will barely be able to see them and that’s if you’re lucky! She opened her cell door and sat down on her bunk, feeling almost numb. I can’t do this! I can’t give up my children. There’s no way in hell that I’ll ever be able to give up my babies! She broke down and started to cry, only stopping when she heard a knock on her cell door. She quickly wiped her eyes. “Who is it?”

“It’s just me and 494,” 511 said. The door opened and the two young men entered the cell, both of them stopping short when they saw the bleak expression on 121’s face. “Sweetheart, what happened? Is something wrong?”

“I’m having twins,” 121 managed to say before she broke down in tears again. She heard 511 sit down next to her on the bunk and felt him put his arms around her and she buried her head in his shoulder, missing the pained, almost grim looks on the faces of her boyfriend and best friend.