What If:

Lewis Had Held Sloan for More Than A Few Hours?

Part 3

Things start as usual the next morning. Tom makes coffee for her and tea for himself and goes to get her up for breakfast. They are halfway to the breakfast table when it happens the entire contents of Sloan's stomach comes up all over her, the floor and Tom. Tom picks her up and takes her to the bathroom, thankful that she missed his feet.

He puts her in the tub and strips both her and himself he turns the water on and helps her to shower the warm water seeming to help control her retching. When it seems her stomach is empty he gives her warm water to drink knowing if she must vomit it is better if something is it her stomach. Eventually the retching slows then stops. He dries her off and lays her down, bringing another towel in case her stomach rebels again.

"Sloan, lie down and rest. I'll clean up. There's something I need to talk to you about."

He cleans up the mess and realizes that he must call Ed over, today. Everything will have to be cleaned and Ed can do it. He will have to have everything ready tonight when he gets here.

He returns to Sloan in the bed, she seems to be better. The retching has stopped and she is breathing easier. "Sloan, how do you feel?"

"Sick, stomach hurts."

"No, Sloan, you're not sick. You're pregnant. You're going to have a baby." He thought a moment and gauged her reaction to what he had said. Fear and anxiety, there was some pleasure there, too, but faint. "Our baby." The pleasure flared. He had been correct.

He went to the table and brought her his tea. He hoped it would help calm her stomach and let her rest. He helped her to drink and was pleased she could keep it down. "Sloan, you need to eat. Something light. How about some broth, for now? We'll get you something else later."

He brought her a cup of broth. He didn't like the canned stuff but he always kept a little on hand. He stayed to see if she could keep it down. He let her rest. She didn't feel like getting up and he didn't blame her.

He cleans up the kitchen such as it was. It was more make-work so he could think. He hated being idle. Even when you waited you weren't idle; you kept your mind occupied. His was occupied with what to tell Sloan. If he told her too much she would overload, too little and she would be frightened.

He finds himself walking to the bedroom because she wants him there. She wants him, but how? Not sexually but something. He notices he still hasn't dressed. "Sloan, what do you want?"

"I want you."

"No, you don't, I can detect no desire. Sloan, what's wrong? What do you want?"

"Tom, make me want you."

"Sloan, that's what he did. I don't want to use you. Think about what it is you are trying to say. Please."

Her voice falls to a bare whisper. "You don't want me any more."

He understood. She thought that her pregnancy would make him leave. He knew that many human males would leave but he was not human, he would stay.

"No, Sloan, I want you, but you do not feel well now. Will you try to eat something? A few crackers, perhaps. Something plain. If you wish, when you feel better I will show you how much I want you. I do not want to make you feel worse."

"Yes, Tom, show me."

He slips into bed, hoping the skin to skin to contact will be enough. He pulls her close and wraps his arms around her. She snuggles close. He puts his fingers in her damp hair, still tangled from her bathing. He knows he'll have to fix it later but now he buries his nose into it, letting her know she is accepted and wanted. He runs his hands over her caressing her, letting her know there is no part of her he doesn't want. "Sloan, when you feel better we have to talk. You know don't you?"

She holds him tight and calms. "Tom, do you want the baby?"

"Yes, Sloan, yes"

He holds her until she sleeps. The rest of the day she sleeps intermittently. He knows she sleeps to avoid what is happening to her. Every time she wakes he makes her eat something. He calls Ed to have pick some things up from the store and ask him if he could either watch Sloan or do laundry. She wakes up in the mid-afternoon and he persuades her to get up and dressed.

He sits her on the love seat and slowly combs out her hair. "Sloan, you're going to have a child. You understand that, don't you? I want you to concentrate on getting better, can you do that?" He is very careful. He doesn't want to hurt her.

"I understand, Tom."

"Sloan, I want you to talk to me more." He says in a firm voice, without the tone of command. "It's important we discuss things. I know he wanted you to be silent. I need you to try harder to talk to me. Can you do that? Can you talk to me more?"

She is silent for a few minutes. "I'll try, Tom." She retreats into silence again. "I want to get better. Tom, are you going to stay? I don't want you to go."

"Sloan, I told you I'm not going any where. I'll stay with you regardless of what happens. I think you can get better. You will be a wonderful mother and have a beautiful baby."

"I'm going to get better, Tom, I promise. I know you will help me."

"Ed and I are going to get you a doctor. Do you want to go to see Dr. Jamison? Ed says she is your regular doctor. I'm going to try to get her to come here to see you rather than go to her office. Would you like that?"

"Yes, I like Dr. Jamison. Yes, I don't want to go to her office. Maybe later, but not now." Tom could feel her struggling to talk to him. She was trying very hard.

"Sloan, Ed is going to come over tonight. Do you think you can talk to him and shake his hand? He is your best friend."

"I'll try. Are you my friend, Tom?"

He looks at her strangely. He can see she is confused like last night. "No, I'm your partner. We live together and we sleep together. I'm your partner, I hope we will be together a long time."

"Sloan, try to tell me what you did before he took you?"

She was thinking so hard he could almost feel it. "I worked. I worked in a lab. I worked with monkeys. I discovered something. I …I…. I discovered you."

Tom hugs her and turns her around to kiss her. She was remembering who she was. The Sloan he remembered was in there somewhere. Now he had to find a way to get her out.

Ed came with groceries that evening and agreed to do laundry. He didn't want to be alone with her after last night. He listens to the instructions about the laundry and leaves.

He puts Sloan to work chopping vegetables. He was going to make soup again, he figures her stomach could take that. He had Ed get juices and fruit, mild vegetables and chicken. All things her stomach should be able to tolerate. She had talked so much today he was unconcerned about her silence.

When Ed gets back dinner is ready and Tom asks him to join them. He thinks she can take that. He watches Sloan closely. She looks at Ed and says "Hello, Ed, I'm glad to see you." Ed puts his hand out for her to shake. She looks at Tom and he feels her steel herself. She puts her hand in his and lets him shake it. It was almost too much for her. She retreats to stand behind Tom.

Ed smiles at her. Tom hugs her and says, "You did well. Are you ready to eat? If your stomach is upset let me know. I put a trash can by your seat just in case."

While they eat they discuss the future. "Tom, I talked to Dr. Jamison today. She was at the university hospital and I ran into her on campus. We had lunch together. She read in the papers about Sloan being kidnapped and agreed to treat her here. She wants an ultrasound in the third trimester to help with delivery. She suggested that Sloan deliver at the lab. We have all the medical equipment there she would need there. I told her about the possibility of the 1.6 differential. She wants an amniocentesis at about 5 months. I told her that would be up to you. I told her you are the father. Is that all right, Tom?"

Sloan's hand reaches out and grabs Tom's and she smiles at him when Ed says that, Tom smiles back at her. "That's just fine, Ed, that's fine. No amnio though. Too much a possibility of miscarriage. I will, however, leave that up to Sloan when the time comes. If she can make the decision she may."

"I talked to her. She has some free time next week, she said call her on her private line and she'll come over. I think she want's to evaluate you, too. Since I told her about the differential, she knows what you are."

"Tom, I better be going. Do you want some help cleaning up? I don't think I'll be by for a few days. You two need to talk and get some things straightened out."

"No, Ed, I'll clean up. I'll call if we need anything. Did Attwood say anything about the security system?

"Mine goes in tomorrow. I guess yours goes in after that. Has he called?"

"Not yet. I'll see you soon, Ed." Tom follows him to the door and locks it behind him.

He cleans up and preps for tomorrow. Sloan sits and watches him. He feels her pleasure at watching him work and move about. He has come to feel for her all the time. He shields against others feelings and to prevent others from feeling him but never from her. He wonders if when she is better he will still be able to. It's almost as if she is truly part of him.

The days fly past and soon he will see Dr. Jamison. She insisted upon talking to him before she saw Sloan. Ed was right. She wanted to evaluate him. He thought about putting on one of his personas he had used as a chameleon but decided against it. Sloan would know and it may frighten her. He would be himself.

Sloan is in the bedroom resting. She's getting better and making more choices. Their lovemaking has become deep and passionate; he lets her know with each touch how much he wants her. It's not purely sex anymore; he doesn't merely service her. He wants her to know that. She has become too important to him for that. He worries about what he will tell the doctor. She may want more information than he is willing to give, maybe more than he can give.

He's at the door before she knocks, he was waiting for her. She's not a tall woman with mousy brown hair well shot through with gray. She is not by any means fat but could be called well padded. "Dr. Jamison?" He says.

"Mr. Daniels?" Tom nods at her. He invites her in and closes and locks the door. He asks her to sit at the dining room table.

"Mr. Daniels, what are you to Sloan? I've known her for many years. I don't want her to be hurt." He could feel the suspicion and mistrust roll off of her. "Dr. Ed Tate told me she was pregnant and you are the father. How could you get her pregnant after the trauma that she must have been through? "

"Dr. Jamison, I am her friend and partner. I found her there with," he steeled himself and swallowed; it had become harder and harder to say his name in the past weeks. "With my former mentor. I took her from him. The child she bears may be his. It matters not. I am trying to heal her from what he did. She may never be the same. What matters is that she is well cared for throughout her pregnancy. I will be here. I have no intention of leaving."

She nods at him. "Well, the fact you are here says something. Too many men would have all ready bolted. Dr. Tate tells me you are a member of this new species. What changes could it cause in the pregnancy? Do you know what changes I should expect?

Tom shakes his head. "I was never around any pregnant females. I have no idea."

"Nothing, not even as a child?"

"Dr., I have no memory of my childhood. I was an… operative, trained to walk among humans. There is much about my people I don't know. This does not mean I care any less for her, but you are asking questions I have no answer for.

"I'll need to examine her and do some blood tests, general health things. At 4 months I want an ultrasound to date the pregnancy. That's the time for an AFP screening. She'll need to take vitamins as a precaution. I'll give you a suggested diet for her. Has she even been out of here since she was brought back?"

"No, I haven't been able to get her out of the building. I'd like to be able to take her to the park or for a walk but she isn't up to it yet. What is an AFP screening?"

It's an alpha-fetoprotein test. A blood test that checks for substances from the pregnancy that are also present in her blood. It can detect possible serious illness and poses no risk to the baby or the mother. Try to get her out and walking. A little exercise is good for her."

"Excuse me, doctor, Sloan is stirring. We'll be out in a minute."

"How do you know?"

"It's what I do."

He went to get her. She didn't want this and she clung to him. He encouraged her to come to see the doctor. When Dr. Jamison saw her she knew why Ed had told her to talk to Tom. Sloan depended upon him. She went up to Sloan gently and explained what was going to happen to her. Tom stayed with her during the examination. She saw how he helped calm her and was very considerate of her. When she leaves she says "Call me in a month. I'll give her monthly exams until after the ultrasound, then we'll see."

The days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months. It had taken him a couple of months to get her to go to the Lab. He wants to make sure she was comfortable there before the ultrasound. She will go and watch. Soon Ed gives her work to do. Little things at first, then more. The work seems to help her.

He needed to be sure she was safe here and got permission to interrogate the guards. He made sure Sloan was busy while he did so. He was ruthless; he tore them apart. Not even Ray had ever seen such an interrogation. He knew that this was one thing he could do well. Tom knew he wasn't as good as HIM, but he was good enough. He never had to raise his voice. He used his eyes and voice to open them up. Not even one of his own people could stand up to his questioning for long. Now they knew what Sloan had been through. One guard had an unsuspected gambling problem, he was dismissed; another was not what he appeared to be, he was turned over to the NSA and disappeared. They respected and feared him.

When Walter saw the results of the questioning, he faltered. "Tom, I should have put you in charge of questioning Lisa, when we had her. You might have been able to break her. This never would have happened."

"No, Walter, she was trained by him. I probably would have needed to use drugs on her. Sloan wouldn't have wanted that."

He was hired as a security consultant with the NSA; he could legally wear his gun, not that it mattered to him. It did give him authority, which mattered. It was a blind hiring, no one knew who he was. He could safely leave her there while he supervised the installation of the bulletproof glass and other things. She was always nervous when he came back.

When she got the ultrasound it appears the pregnancy was more advanced than was thought. "Mr. Daniels, are you sure she wasn't pregnant when she was kidnapped? The pregnancy is at least 5 months along." Asks Dr. Jamison, suspicion in her voice and mind.

"No, doctor, she was not. I was not intimate with her at that time and I would have known if she had been with another man. I would have smelled him on her skin. Perhaps a pregnancy of one of my people is shorter than that of a normal human. I have no other explanation."

He agrees with her that she will have to have frequent ultrasounds, monthly until the end of the pregnancy. Sloan defers to him about the amniocentesis, and they do without.

**********

Sloan was asleep. He took the time to go out into the hall and relax a little. He leans back and rests his head against the wall. It had been the longest night in Tom's life. He'd been there every minute of the labor. He didn't know how human men took it. He supposed labor was easier on them without empathy. "She has the 1.6 differential." Ed says as he comes up to him and shows him the printout "Tom, you knew didn't you? You've known all along. Ever since you brought Sloan back."

Tom looks them over and nods to him. "Now burn it, and all the backups, and wipe the drives you kept the data on. I don't want a trace of this information to be left. This information is not necessary, Ed. If you look at her, you know. I said she was our child, and she is."

"He accomplished what he wanted. Sloan was unable to work effectively for months. I'm out of the running as a chameleon. He knew I wouldn't be able to abandon her. Now if she wants to go off and chase a lead or look for evidence, it's the three of us, and neither one of us will risk the life of our daughter. So, we are much less effective. He has won this round. He has not, however, won the game. We will work that much harder because of this. He has made us stronger in some respects. Sloan will never loose that edge of fear he gave her. She will also never lose me, that makes her stronger. Remember Ed, there are trade-offs for everything."

Ed takes back the readouts. "Your call, Tom. I'll destroy everything. This can't be kept secret forever. Someone will find out. But it won't come from me." Ed turns and leaves the way he came.

Every lab in the world was racing for a cure and it had come from here. The council had come to them and he had learned of his rights and responsibilities as a chosen. They had wanted him on the council as well. He refused. Sloan and the child were far more important, and he wanted nothing to do with the judging. He could not judge what had been done.

She worked on the cure, Tom wouldn't let her put in the hours the others had, but the work she had done was brilliant. Millions had died and more millions were ill. The only good thing to come of it was that both sides put bio-weapons aside, never to be used again. Also some form of co-existence was being worked out. There were still rogues to be hunted, rogues on both sides.

Tom comes back to himself as the man appears before him. "You can't see her." Tom says.

"I can't see either of them. My punishment, I suppose, for what I did. The council has decreed that until my dying day I can never see her. I came to see if she is healthy and well. You can give me that, nephew, can't you?"

"She is both. She is beautiful as well, but I'm sure you expected that. It goes no further. I've had all the evidence destroyed. I don't want Sloan to know."

"Do you think Sloan doesn't know? I'm sure she does."

"Perhaps, but I will never speak of it unless she asks, and I don't think she will. What does the council want of me, now?"

"Nothing, I came to see you and ask. May I see a photograph of her occasionally, know she is well?"

Tom nods slowly, knowing how much it has taken him to ask. Many of their differences had been put aside in the past month, but there were some things that would always be between them. Tom looks at him. "They're awake. I've got to go." As he moves to leave, the man grabs his arm. Tom stares at him.

"Nephew, I never meant for it to end like this. I did not mean to hurt you like this. I didn't know she meant that much to you. None of our people has ever stayed with a human before. How was I to know you would be the first?"

Tom stares at him, steadily. He removes his arm. "That was another time, another world. I know you did what you thought was necessary, but it does not mean I can forget. I can forgive what you did, but I cannot forget. I must go. I will not mention your name. You were never here." Even with all that has happened in the past month, he still cannot bring himself to say his name, he can barely think it.

Tom looks at Sloan. She is so beautiful with the baby at her breast. Tom had been able to break every strand of control that HE had installed except one. The one that bound her to Tom. He could not bring himself to do that, for that would mean he must leave her and that he could never do.

He goes in the room and she looks up. He sees fear in her eyes and feels it in her. He looks at the baby with green eyes and curly hair. Tom runs his fingers through the tight blond curls and says, "Sloan, may I hold my daughter?" Her fears melt away.