"Has anyone ever told you both that you're shit liars?" Kathryn questioned, crossing her arms as she stared at them.

"I think I preferred when you sweared less," Brady admitted with a frown.

"And I preferred it when you didn't hover."

"We're just trying to help," DeMarco murmured.

Kathryn blinked once, then twice—looking between the two men who had somehow decided to not hate her after all of this. To not blame her for what had happened. Who had her back. It was a strange feeling at this point. They were standing here when her brother and Buck hadn't even dared to approach her.

"I do appreciate that," Kathryn murmured quietly. "So thank you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It wasn't until later in the week that things were even addressed. "So...not to be that guy," Crank started, glancing around the room. "But we are going to have to eventually address it."

"We don't find out until tomorrow anyway," Kathryn stated simply.

"No, Crank's got a point." This was the calmest she had heard her brother's voice in a long time and Kathryn glanced over at him—he was sitting there quietly, staring at the table. "What will they do if they find out about it?" Bucky questioned in a heavy tone.

Annie just leaned back, shaking her head. "Well it depends. If one of us is...or some of us..." The words felt heavy as she stated them. "They're likely to kill us. Nothing like that survives long in a place like this."

"It's a fucking death sentence," Kathryn said the words without even really thinking about it—and the looks that everyone was giving her and the other nurses was just pity. Buck just stared at her—eyes never leaving her figure.

"I'm not gonna let that happen." Bucky's voice cut through that pity and Kathryn couldn't help but be slightly surprised.

"I don't think you'll get a choice," Kathryn stated dryly.

"If you have a God," Tina murmured. "I suggest you pray to it."

"Well if we are—" Inez said with a slight wince. "Isn't there something you and Annie could do about it?"

Both Annie and Kathryn visibly paled—but the men were lost. "What do you mean?" DeMarco questioned.

"She's talking about killing it." Kathryn stated with a heavy sigh.

"You can do that?" Came the response from one of the men—who just earned himself an elbow from one of the others.

Annie just looked irritated. "Well of course—women throughout history haven't wanted children. We've always found ways. But..." She trailed off.

"This is different. We don't have that kind of medical equipment. Or experience. Trying to do that would be just as likely to kill one of us," Kathryn insisted.

"Why do you know about this—" Bucky started.

"I'm a woman. This is our reality." Kathryn rolled her eyes and turned back to Inez. "We're not doing that. We can't."

"But if we don't, then we'll die. So either way, we're dead if one of us is," Maggie murmured.

There was a somber feeling over the group.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bucky Egan was just getting back from his turn on the machine—working on building up strength in the event that they needed to run and make a break for it—when his eyes landed on the bunkhouse up ahead.

And there sat his sister in the hall, sobbing on the ground like she was just a kid again. And something changed in him—and all of the anger and the rage and the feelings just came crashing down on John Egan. He stumbled forward—because surely if Kathryn was crying and today of all days—then she had found out that she was pregnant and it was all over—

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