The constant beeping of the heart machine is what finally made Michelle realize that the horror that she experienced wasn't just a nightmare at all. At least not the kind of nightmare that she was familiar with. It was a nightmare that her own mind never would've been able to conjure up, one that would make the Devil cower down with his pointed tail between his legs, one that Michelle knew was not a mere dream, but instead, her reality.

"Hi, Mrs. Russel, can you hear me?"

Michelle listened to the soft, feminine voice that seemed to be coming from just above her. Although she was reluctant to open her eyes, she knew that keeping them tightly shut like she was originally doing still wouldn't alter the reality of the situation.

Her eye lids eased opened before her cocoa irises scanned the room. Medical supplies, bright fluorescent lights, and the lingering scent of cleanliness that seeped into her nose gave her all the clues that she needed. She knew then that she was in the hospital.

Michelle swiftly sat up in her bed, the tubes that were penetrated into her right hand stinging as she did so, but not as much as the intense ache that traveled throughout her entire stomach. She whimpered quietly as she threw her head back against the pillow, her hands tightly gripping the thin sheets while her teeth tore into her bottom lip.

"Try not to move so much. I'm certain that you're in a great deal of pain, but you should be feeling the effects of the morphine soon. I'm Dr. Almanza."

Michelle clenched her teeth and tore her eyes opened as she fought against the pain. Her gaze settled on the Hispanic woman that looked to her with a sad smile. Her sky blue blouse made her lengthy, white lab coat pop. Her dark, curly hair sat on top of her head in a neat bun.

"I'm sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances." Dr. Almanza uttered. "You were attacked, Mrs. Russel. Do you remember what happened?"

The ebony woman knew exactly what happened. How could she ever forget? Despite this truth, her words dissolved into the back of her throat at the mere thoughts of that night's events but she knew that even if they didn't, even if, somehow, she could manage to put into words what she could barely fathom herself, she knew that she could never tell. Not if she wasn't willing to lay down yet another life, Lincoln's life, or even her own.

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything." Dr. Almanza assured. "The police want to talk to you, but first, there's someone here that needs to see you a bit more." She strutted towards the door before turning the handle and pulling it open. "Come on in, she's awake now."

"Michelle." Lincoln whispered. A few petals from the crimson roses that he held tightly in his hand slowly drifted to the floor as he scurried to his wife's bedside. He dropped the small bouquet of flowers onto a nearby table and took Michelle's hands into his own. "What happened?"

"Mr. Russel, your wife was found outside of our doors, just lying there in the cold." The doctor quietly stated. "No one knows what exactly happened or who did this."

"Well, how is she? Physically I mean. Any internal bleeding, broken ribs...what about the ba-?" His words chocked into the back of his throat as fear struck him. He was petrified of the truth that possibly awaited him.

"She did have some internal bleeding due to the level of blunt force trauma that she endured but we caught it immediately and she'll definitely have some tenderness in her stomach area, but she'll be fine. As far as broken ribs go, she lucked out, nothing was broken. But, um, I'm sorry." Dr. Almanza remarked as she looked to Michelle. "Due to you being so early on in your pregnancy as well as how severely you were beaten, there was nothing we could do. It was apparent to us that the fetus had already passed prior to us finding you. I'm so sorry."

Immediately after her declaration, a quiet stillness swept over the entire room. Only the beeping of the monitor, the soft buzzing of the lights, and the low sounds of the ventilated air could be heard. Michelle and Lincoln's gaze didn't remain on the doctor, but instead, through her.

Dr. Almanza slightly shifted on her feet, her black heels clinking against the tile in the process. She breathed softly as she pursed her lips. "I'm gonna step outside to give you two some time to talk." She walked out of the conversationless room and jerked the large door shut behind her.

Lincoln tore his eyes away from the wall ahead of him and turned to his wife. "Michelle...baby." He cleared his throat once his voice came out a lot more broken than he anticipated before grimacing at his own use of the term baby. "Sweetheart, are you..." He paused for a moment as he searched for the right words to say. "I know you're not okay, but are you-?"

"I'm alive." Michelle finished as she forced the corners of her mouth to turn upwards before allowing her expression to drop. "I'm here. But...one of us isn't."

Lincoln squeezed her hand tightly before resting his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry I wasn't there." He whispered, the tears that threatened to spill over escaped his eye lids and rolled down his cheeks.

"Don't apologize, there was nothing you could do."

"What happened?" He begged as he wiped away his tears.

"Honestly, I don't really know." Michelle slammed her eyes shut as the lie slipped past her mouth and scorched her plump lips. "I was at the grocery store and then suddenly...I wasn't."

"Someone attacked you at the grocery store?" Lincoln pondered with a creased brow. "Did they try to take anything?"

"I don't know. I don't think so."

"I'm just...I have no idea why someone would do something like this. This is so heinous and violent, so personal. They took from you, they took from us. This doesn't seem like a random robbery-."

"I don't know, Lincoln. I said I don't know." Michelle swiftly muttered the passive aggressive words. As much as she hated being this way and lying to Lincoln, she knew that if he found out the truth, it'd only mean that he'd suffer the same horrendous fate of their child.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be interrogating you. Come here." He coaxed as he pulled her into his chest and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

The calm moment dispersed almost as quickly as it came once a quick knock sounded on the door.

The couple turned their attention to the two individuals dressed in dark blue police uniforms. Michelle and Lincoln shifted as they stopped at the foot of the brunette's bed.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Russel." A short Indian woman greeted. Her jet black pony tail peaked out from the back her police cap. "I'm officer Sadana." She uttered before then motioning to the robust Caucasian man that stood next to her. "And this is my partner, officer Higgins. We're here to ask you a few questions, Mrs. Russel."

"Okay..." Michelle muttered.

"We were hoping to do this alone, if you don't mind." Officer Higgins said.

"Whatever you're gonna ask, you can ask in front of me. I'm her husband." Lincoln asserted.

"Well, I was hoping to speak to you out in the hall while officer Higgins talked to Michelle." The officer Sadana admitted with a small smile.

"I'm sorry but I'm not leaving my wife." Lincoln promised while looking to the shorter officer.

Michelle squinted her eyes at officer Higgins who fixed his hardened expression on her. He slightly opened his jacket just wide enough for her to see the small, meticulously crafted, handheld sharpshooter that peaked out from his clothes.

The brunette's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the weapon. She knew for a fact that he worked for Versa Vice Sensus. He had to. Which meant that officer Sadana probably did too.

"It's alright, Lincoln. I'll be fine, okay?" Michelle assured with the nod of her head.

Lincoln furrowed his brow at his wife's declaration. "I'm not leaving you."

"Just talk to officer Sadana. You'll be outside in the hallway, nothing's gonna happen to me with you standing right outside. Okay? It's fine." She pleaded in a hushed tone.

"...Okay." Lincoln reluctantly relented before kissing her on the cheek and following officer Sadana into the hallway.

"So..." Officer Higgins began as he pushed the door closed.

"I've dealt with too much bullshit today, alright. Just say why you're here. I know who you really work for so I'm sure that you're you're not here to find the perp. You already know who the hell he is."

"You're damn right about that, Mrs. Russel."

Michelle scoffed before continuing. "Then what are you doing here? You checking up on me to make sure what had to be done got done?"

"You catch on fast." Officer Higgins chuckled as he wiped his hand along the smooth sheets of the hospital bed before taking a sheet and leaning closer to Michelle. "But, that's not all. Mr. Everette wanted to make certain that you understood everything. What he had done to you, you're right, it had to be done, but the upside is...it's over. It was a one time thing. A done deal and now we can move past it. You'll continue your work, business as usual. There will be no retaliation, no blow back, no more innocent people will be murdered. You have Mr. Everette's word...the agency's word. This was about you not doing your job but I have a feeling that you get it now. And just as long as you do that job then you and your husband will remain unharmed. This is the end results of your wrong doings but...this doesn't have to happen again."

He used his large hand to firmly yet softly grip her chin and turn her attention to him.

"We're reasonable people." He continued. "Mr. Everette doesn't expect you to start back up with your retributions immediately but, after you make a full recovery, then yeah, you need to come back. Then again, you're an adult woman and you can make your own decisions. But...I should warn you. If you do decided to ever compromise our agency again, well, let's just say we'll make what you experienced tonight seem like child's play. We'll come for your husband, kill him. Make it bloody...sick. Then we're you're on your knees begging for mercy, we'll put you down too."

Michelle snatched his hand from her face and fixed her unamused expression on the man that sat mere inches away from her.

"You got that, girl?" He growled.

"Yeah, officer Higgins." Michelle muttered as she glanced down to his silver name tag. "...I got that."