Last time:
Lois
"You carry my child and in Latislan, that means I have full custody of the child unless I relinquish that custody. You will not be allowed to leave until the child is born and I can retain physical custody."
I was sure the blood had drained from my face. "There is proof that I entered Paris yesterday," I pointed out.
He shook his head. "It wasn't you. It was a friend of yours who looks much like you." He leaned in until he could whisper in my ear. "You could always marry me so our child will not be a bastard."
"Never," I hissed.
I heard cars approaching and saw headlights. They screeched to a stop nearby. Someone got out and called out, "General Navance! That young lady is an American citizen."
He didn't move as he yelled back. "She is carrying my child. She will remain in my custody until I can take physical custody of the child."
"Go to hell," I whispered between clenched teeth as I brought my knee up sharply, connecting with his most sensitive parts.
Hands grabbed me from behind before everything went blessedly dark.
*~*21*~*
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
Pregnant?
Lois said she was pregnant?!
I knew that wasn't possible. Unless...
She had to be saying that just to avoid the quarantine.
I winced as he told her that he believed her to be carrying his baby.
That wasn't good.
And what was that about custody?
I heard cars coming and prayed they'd be fast enough.
I heard whoever it was get out of the car and tell the man – General Navance apparently – to leave her alone.
He reiterated the baby stuff and Lois told him to go to hell and then kneed him.
Even though he was a pig and I was invulnerable, I winced in slight sympathy.
But then Lois collapsed.
"Lois!" I called without thinking as I ran from my hiding spot.
"And who is this?!" thundered the general.
"I'm an American," I told him as two of his goons grabbed my arms. "So is she." I nodded towards Lois who was lying on the ground.
"It does not matter," he said, a gloating look on his face. "Her child is Latislani and that means I retain custody of her."
"It's not your baby," I told him. "We just got here."
The government official was at my side. "Mr. Kent?" he whispered.
I nodded.
"We'll get her out of this, but don't antagonize him. That won't help either one of you." He turned back to Navance. "If you say she's carrying your child, shouldn't you be a bit more worried about her welfare? She needs to get to a hospital immediately. Of course, if you'd rather, I could take her and have one of our corpsmen look at her."
"That is just a trick to get her to the embassy," he thundered. "And I would never see my child!"
Boy, he was really getting into this 'she's having my baby' thing.
She must have really pissed him off about something, but I wasn't entirely certain what it was.
He motioned to someone off to the side. His car pulled up. "We will take her to the closest hospital."
"I'm going with her," I said instantly.
"Someone from the embassy will ride with her in the car," the man next to me said. "And we'll be right behind. Someone will stay with her at all times, understood General Navance?"
Whoever the guy was, he was someone to be reckoned with.
The general gave a quick nod and one of the men climbed in the front seat of the car as Lois was loaded in the back.
"Mr. Kent, please come with me." The hand on my arm was insistent as I stared at the car with Lois in it.
I finally allowed myself to be led away.
I watched Lois through the car using my vision and tried to listen to the conversation I was having.
"I'm Daniel Scardino," the man told me.
"Hi, Dan. How do we get Lois out of here?"
"It's Daniel, but that's not important now. We'll get her out."
"Sorry. Daniel."
"How far along is she?"
I shook my head. "I don't think there's any way she *can* be pregnant. She and her boyfriend don't... you know."
"Ah. Then why did she say it?"
"He was threatening to have her quarantined for bringing a disease in. She probably thought it was a way out."
Something kept niggling at the back of my mind.
"And you're sure she's not pregnant?" he asked again.
I groaned and closed my eyes. "She may have been raped."
"*May* have been?"
I nodded. "Halloween. She was drugged. I found her with some guy but we didn't know if he'd managed to... you know. She refused to go to the hospital. But that would make her... what? Three months pregnant by now. That's a big difference from barely like he's saying. And surely she would have suspected it by now."
He nodded. "Well, I'm sure they'll do tests at the hospital. We'll have to make sure we get the real test results and not the ones Navance wants us to have."
"He'd doctor them?"
Daniel sighed. "He's on a real power trip. Your friend's in a lot of trouble."
"Why?"
"He's essentially a dictator, even though he's nominally elected. He does what he wants. There's a law on the books that says that any child he says is his... Well, as long as he claims the child, it doesn't matter. Of course, it doesn't say 'Navance' in the law – it says the Chairman of the Supreme Council or something like that. And in Latislan, custody always goes to the father, except in extreme cases. And in Latislan, that custody starts before birth." He sighed. "It's all legal and technically legit."
"That's crazy!"
"I know. And even if we got her out of the country, as long as he claims the baby..."
"Is there any way around it?"
"Well, if she's not pregnant, that's a start. And I've got a guy back at the embassy looking into it. Jack," he nodded to the front of the car, "is... security. He's already made some phone calls."
Security. Right. CIA or something was more likely.
We pulled up to a hospital that made me cringe. I wasn't sure it was worthy of the name. Lois was taken out of the car and put on a stretcher.
I hurried after her. She was moaning, but not aware of her surroundings. "Lois." I grabbed for her hand.
I was shoved to the side by someone.
Daniel put his hand on my arm. "We'll wait in the waiting room, but he'll stay with her." He nodded towards Jack.
I trained my eyes and ears on Lois' room as much as I could. I averted my eyes when they undressed her and started an IV but watched everything else. Before long, a doctor came out and asked to speak with me.
One of the men who came with Daniel was acting as an interpreter.
"When was the last time she ate?" the doctor asked through the embassy official.
I shook my head. "We had some water and a protein bar on the plane a few hours ago but she was sick most of the day in Paris. I don't know what she ate yesterday. I wasn't with her."
The doctor turned and conversed with a nurse for a moment and she scurried off. He said something else to the translator and then left.
"He said her blood tests should be back shortly but the baby seems to be fine."
I sank to the chair. "She's pregnant?" I whispered.
He nodded. "That's what he said." He leaned closer and whispered. "I don't think he's fond of Navance but he doesn't dare cross him."
Daniel and I both nodded. "So what do we do?" I asked.
"We wait for the moment," he said grimly. "Do you have any idea who the father might be?"
I shook my head. "No. Why?"
"If we knew who the father was, that might help with the paternity claims that Navance is making."
"Ah."
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
Where was I?
I tried to lick my lips because my whole mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls.
The room was dimly lit and there was someone over to the side.
"Hello?" I whispered.
"Hello, Ms. Lane."
An American by the sound of it. Why was that a good thing?
Everything flooded back to me.
Dad's girlfriend.
The airplane.
The guns.
The airport.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Jack. I work for the embassy."
"Ah. Where's Clark? Is he okay?"
He nodded. "He's fine."
I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. "When can I go home?"
He shook his head. "Not sure yet. Navance is claiming your baby. That throws a wrench in the works."
"What baby?" I was confused. I'd told him I was pregnant but I wasn't.
Was I?
When was my last period?
I wracked my brain but didn't remember. I knew it was after the last semester started but...
"Halloween," I whispered.
He nodded again. "Clark told us about that. Do you have any idea who it was?"
I shook my head. "I don't remember any of it."
How could I not have thought I might be pregnant? I should have thought of that a long time ago – to check to be sure even if I didn't really think anything had happened that night. Joe and I had talked about it and I hadn't felt weird or... sore or anything that might indicate I really had been... I couldn't even think about what must have happened. And what about STDs? As soon as I got home, I'd have to get tested for those and HIV and...
Tears overwhelmed me and I tried unsuccessfully to swipe them off before Jack noticed.
Too late.
He handed me a box of Kleenex.
But they were yucky, generic, hospital-in-a-foreign-country Kleenex and scratched.
"So what now?" I finally asked.
He sighed. "Not sure yet. We've got people looking at Latislani law. You're an American citizen but there's no record of your entry into the country. He says you've been here for weeks and a friend used your passport, and around here what he says goes. We're trying to find a way around it."
"I can't just sneak into the embassy or on a plane or something and get out of here?"
He shook his head. "You could but under Latislani law, he can still claim the baby. No US court would send you or the baby back here, but the PR would be a nightmare for you and the baby and everyone you know. Better to find a way around it that's legal under Latislani law."
"Is that possible?" I whispered.
"We'll figure something out. If nothing else, we'll find a way to get you out of here, but we're exploring that first."
I nodded. It made sense. "He's not the father though. Just a sonogram showing how far along I am should prove that. My fingerprints will be all over my hotel room in France, so it couldn't have been a friend using my passport."
"DNA doesn't matter under Latislani law."
"That's stupid."
"That's the way it is."
"Can I see Clark? Or did he already head back to Paris?"
"I'm right here." The voice from the doorway startled me.
"I'm sorry, Clark." Tears overflowed my eyes again.
He reached into his backpack and pulled a mini-pack of Kleenex out.
"Boy Scout," I mumbled, taking them gratefully.
"That's me." He pulled a chair up next to me and grasped my hand lightly. "How're you feeling?"
"Like an idiot. I'm sorry I ruined your night with Lana and got you stuck here."
"I already talked to her. I hope your dad doesn't mind me using your cell phone."
"He won't."
"Hopefully, we'll be out of here soon and we can get back to our European tour."
I stared at our clasped hands. "I'm pregnant," I finally whispered. "I didn't know when I said it..."
"I didn't figure you did," he answered quietly. "You were just trying to keep him from quarantining you, weren't you?"
I nodded. "Halloween."
"Yeah. The doc talked to me about when the last time you ate and stuff like that. Said you're about ten weeks along, I think."
"That'd be about right."
The tears flowed even more freely and Clark moved to sit on the bed next to me and pulled me to him.
"Oh, Clark. What am I going to do?" I whispered between tears.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
"We'll figure something out," I whispered back as she sobbed in my arms.
I could always fly her home as soon as the docs said she was stable enough to be moved. If that was the only way, I'd do it. As soon as I could get her away from everyone else, we'd just vanish.
The door thudded open again.
"Get away from her," the silhouette thundered.
I moved away from her, as requested, but only placed myself between her and the nearly-murderous looking general. Jack was standing next to me.
"Move," he ordered.
"No," I said quietly.
If looks could kill...
He was obviously not a man used to having people stand up to him.
"You will move or I will have you arrested," he threatened.
"You'll do no such thing," came a mildly amused voice from behind him.
Daniel.
I breathed a small sigh of relief. Somehow he knew how to handle this guy.
"Only I can say who visits my child," he said, his voice menacing.
Why was this guy so enamored or obsessed or whatever with Lois?
"The mother is an American and entitled to visits from her embassy regardless of what you think the status of the fetus is."
"Are you standing in my way, Scardino? I *will* revoke your diplomatic status."
"You'll do no such thing. You don't want to anger the Americans after all," he said, brushing by the angry man. "How're you feeling, Lois?"
"Better. Thanks."
"I'm Daniel Scardino. I work for the State Department and we're going to get you home."
"Thank you, Dan."
He smiled at Lois. "Please call me Daniel."
"Thanks, Daniel," Lois said and smiled weakly at him.
I watched Mr. Latislani – whatever his name was – out of the corner of my eye. He was furious.
"Mr. Scardino," he hissed in his heavily accented English. "You know very well that the father retains custody of the child, even prior to birth, while the mother is in Latislan."
"Still haven't proven it's your baby, General," Daniel called back, smiling at Lois.
"Don't have to. My word is enough."
"Even if we can prove she was in Paris as recently as several hours ago?"
"Yes." He moved a step closer to Lois and I tensed. "She's in Latislan illegally at the moment, who's to say how long she's been here? The imperialist American government? Who has the French officials wrapped around their little fingers?"
"Which has," Daniel corrected calmly.
"Excuse me?"
"You said 'who has'. The American government isn't a 'who'. It's an 'it'. So the correct thing to say would be 'which has the French officials wrapped around their little fingers', except the American government doesn't have fingers, so I'm not entirely certain who, or what, you're talking about."
General Navance growled. "I do not need an English lesson!"
"Apparently, you do," Daniel replied as calm as ever.
"What I *need* is for all of you to get away from my child!" he roared.
Lois glared at him. "I am not pregnant with your child," she announced. I could hear her heart racing, belying the quiet tone of voice.
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are," he somehow managed to thunder between clenched teeth as he advanced towards the bed. "I say you are and that is all that matters."
"I'm not pregnant with your baby. I'm an American, pregnant with an American baby and DNA tests will prove that and you and your slimy little country can fall off the face of the Earth for all I care," she practically spat at him.
"You will not leave this country until I say you can." He moved closer to her.
"Stay away from her," I told him, moving directly between him and the bed.
"Or what? You can't keep me from my child," he reminded me.
He sounded like a broken record. Or a scratched CD.
"It's not your child," I reiterated quietly.
"How would you know?" he sneered.
I hoped I could project a sincerity and calm I didn't feel with my next statement. I didn't know what was coming over me, except that I had to protect Lois. I took a deep breath and jumped into the deep end without checking the water.
"How would you know?" he demanded again.
"Because it's my baby."
*****
TBC
