[Dadeland Memorial Hospital, Dade County, Florida]

Lousy.... that's what Maria had been feeling for the past couple of weeks. It had come upon her all of a sudden, without warning. The nausea, suppressed appetite, vomiting. She hoped that it wasn't a bout of that new strain of stomach flu that seemed to be going around the Miami area. She heard that it was quite nasty. Maria's mind drifted to the various medical charts hanging on the examination room wall when Dr. Janice Quinones came in.

"Is it the stomach flu?" Maria asked, half-hoping that the doctor would be able to at least prescribe something for it. By the puzzled look on her doctor's face, she realized that whatever it was, it wasn't a simple answer with a simple cure.

Dr. Quinones shook her head, almost in disbelief. "Well, to answer your question, No, it's not the stomach flu that's been going around. I'm not sure how to tell you this, but.... you're pregnant."

"Pregnant????" Maria almost screamed. "How could that be? I haven't been with anyone ever since.... ever since..." her voice drifted off, memories of that night threatening to invade her mind once again.

"The rape, I know." Dr. Quinones said, putting a hand on Maria's shoulders. "That's what puzzles me. When we did the examination, there was absolutely no trace of sperm in the ejaculate. Your pregnancy is as much a surprise to me as it is to yourself. Your symptoms are all signs of morning sickness...."

Fifteen minutes later, after calming Maria down and seeing her off, Janice sat down at her desk and started calling her colleagues.

- * - * - * - * -

Paul Moran looked at the file that landed on his desk. As he thumbed through the file containing the fifteen cases of this unusual rape, he smiled. This was a case for that X-files division, not him. But then again, since he was tapped as the Special Agent in Charge, maybe he could request some assistance from Delta, putting Kate back under his thumb once again. Who knows what might happen then?

*****

[Training Director’s office, 3:04PM]

When Josh heard the office door open and then a strange voice talking to Suzanne, it caught his attention for several reasons. He wasn’t supposed to have any more appointments that day, for one thing, and he’d left word that if anything did come up, unless it was absolutely vital, it would just have to wait until tomorrow. Also, he had promised to meet Kate at three o’clock sharp outside the building and he was already running late since he wanted to stop by his apartment before meeting her.

Whoever was out there, though, was giving Suzanne a hard time, so Josh got up from his desk and went to the door. The man standing next to Suzanne’s desk was of medium height, with dark hair and a pallid complexion. There was nothing particularly remarkable about him, but it did seem to Josh that he was vaguely familiar in some way, although he was sure he’d never met the man before.

"Is there something I can do for you," Josh asked.

"Ah, Director Peters." The man stepped forward with his hand extended in greeting, and Josh was immediately wary of him, although if asked he couldn’t have said why. "I don’t believe we’ve met. Paul Moran. A minute of your time is all I ask."

Josh was taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovered. At least the man’s identity had answered one question - as much as Justin looked like Kate, Dillon looked like his father, which in itself was a concept Josh didn’t particularly want to dwell on. On the other hand, finding out who he was didn’t improve Josh’s impression of his visitor. The little Kate had told him about her ex-husband painted a less than pleasant picture, and even if she had been slightly less than objective in her opinion of him, Josh still trusted her instincts.

"A minute is just about all I have, but please come in," Josh said.

Josh stepped aside and Moran made his way into the office and sat down. He pulled a file from his briefcase and put it on Josh’s desk. When Josh sat down, Moran stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

"I see that you know who I am," he said. "Good. That makes this much easier."

"It makes what easier?"

"Asking the favor of your intervention on my behalf," Moran said, with an overly ingratiating smile. He pushed the file across the desktop. "This case came across my desk this morning. OPR was tagged on it because one of the victims was a civilian employee of the Miami field office. However, the facts of the case suggest that the X-Files division would be more useful in conducting the actual investigation - under OPR supervision, of course. I understand that Unit Delta is presently available."

Josh envisioned the plans for the afternoon going down the drain. "You would have to take that up with Agent Calloway," he said.

The look on Moran’s face in response to that statement suddenly made Josh very uncomfortable. "I was under the impression that you know her .. quite well," he said. "So you know how stubborn she can be.. sometimes to the point of irrationality. All I’m asking is that you give her this file."

*****

[In the car, 4:00PM]

They had turned off the main highway a good ten minutes earlier, and since then had been rumbling down a dirt and gravel trail that passed for a road only by the most charitable of definitions. Kate stared out the window at the slowly passing countryside, too furious to do anything else. She wasn’t angry with Josh - although she knew that he thought she was - but she knew that if she opened her mouth to tell him that, she would only make matters worse. So for the moment, she just watched the endless line of trees as they drove to wherever the hell it was he was taking her.

She thought she knew all of Paul’s little tricks and the mind games he so loved to play. And when Josh had recounted in detail his meeting with him, she’d recognized a couple of the old stand-bys. She wasn’t surprised that Paul hadn’t lost his expertise at manipulation, putting people on guard and then pushing just the right buttons so that they’re too stunned by his sheer nerve to do anything about it. This, however, was a new low. And why was he trying to cause problems right now?

The road came to an abrupt end. Josh stopped the car, sat for a moment in silence, then put tentative hand on Kate’s shoulder.

"Are you all right," he asked.

Kate took a deep breath and nodded. "I can’t work with him," she muttered through clenched teeth. She got out of the car, shut the door and stood for a moment looking around, really noticing her surrounding for the first time. Just beyond the tree line, there was a narrow beach leading down to Chesapeake Bay. Across the water, barely visible in the distance, the opposite shore was a medley of autumn golds and oranges dotted here and there with small clusters of houses.

"So cite conflict of interest and turn the case down," Josh suggested. He’d pulled a picnic basket out of the back seat of the car and come up beside her. Taking her hand, he led her toward the beach.

Kate laughed softly and went along willingly. The surroundings were too perfect to stay angry in. "I think you know me better than that," she said, sighing. "So does he, and *that’s* the problem." She started to say something else, but stopped, shook her head, and smiled at Josh. "Isn’t it a little chilly for a picnic on the beach," she asked.

"That’s what these are for," Josh answered with a grin, holding up a handful of twigs he’d been gathering as they walked.

Kate had been too lost in reflection to notice, but now she stopped and began to lend a hand in gathering wood for a fire. Adding the idea of a campfire to the image of the afternoon forming in her mind, she had to smile at the perfection of the scene. Now if only..

"You don’t know what it was like," she said, quietly and tentatively.

"Then tell me. If you want to talk about."

"You’ve met him. I’m sure you can imagine. You.. uh.. didn’t bring that file along, did you?"

Josh shook his head. "I left it at home."

"Good," Kate said, obviously relieved. "Then we’ll talk about it when we get back there. Let’s just forget about it for now. Okay?"

Josh gave her a skeptical look, but nodded.


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