Truth Unravelled
By Consy Coffee
Dedication: Charlene and her wonderful family, who again, made this piece of work possible. Thanks for the many suggestions.
Consy looked at the man on the bed through the clear hospital window. She did not know him. Had absolutely no idea who he was, yet this dying man's last wish was to see her. The message she had received shortly before her planned shoreleave, when aboard Pretoria said very little, only that she needed to hurry to Earth if she was to see him before he died. She glanced nervously around her, what did this man represent? She ran his image through her mind, trying to place him in her youth. She was unable too.
"You must be Consy." A voice behind her asked.
She turned but was not surprised to be greeted by a nurse. "Indeed."
"Your father, he's been asking when you would get here." She replied. "If I were you I wouldn't keep him waiting for much longer." She said with pain in her eyes.
Consy paled slightly, father? No, she didn't have father. The nurse was obviously mistaking her for a relative. "Is he coherent?" She wasn't sure if he was senile. She also suddenly wondered why she had chosen to come here alone. Chase was at the homestead and the Captain would be arrived their today. Why hadn't she come with Kathryn, Chase or even Stryker? But deep down, she knew the answer. She knew that this man wanted to see only her. That whatever he wanted to tell her, he would do so only if she came alone.
"He's not senile or amnesic. He's all there" She answered. "He's as stubborn as ever, refusing pain killers because he wants to be clear headed. He's suffering incredibly."
"Has he asked to see anyone else?" Consy asked still staring through the window at the frail man. Why her? She thought.
The nurse nodded. "He sometimes asks for Leliana in his sleep. But he refuses to speak about her when asked. He says he must see you Consy."
Consy paled again waves of possible truths running through her mind.
"Are you feeling quite alright Miss?"
Consy took a deep breath and regained her composure, "I'm fine - he speaks of lost ghosts." She took a few more controlled breathes, "I think I'm ready to see him now." Was she ready? No she would never be ready. She had a foul taste in her mouth and an upset stomach, neither was a good sign.
She finally entered the small pristine white room and gently shut the door behind her. She held her breathe as she approached the bed of the stranger, his name was Tarn Baylor, at least that's what the transmission she had received said.
"Tarn..." She said softly as she pulled a chair next to his bed.
"Leliana!" He said with such care and affection that it was frightening. His hands lifting up to take up her face in his hands.
"Tarn" She said, pulling back from his embrace. "I go by Consy now." She did not want to insult him, she felt some unexplained connection.
His gaze softened, "I know." He said with such force that Consy felt the words hit her hard.
She felt like fidgeting under his gaze but remained calmed, "The nurse says you're refusing painkillers." She didn't know what else to say.
"Yes... because I need you to believe me."
"Believe what?" She asked.
"That everything you know – is a lie."
"Everything?" Consy raised a brow.
"I made you... trained you... prepared you." He said. "I was also forced to abandon you. And for that I am sorry."
"That's hardly everything and it's nothing new." Consy said. He wasn't saying anything that she didn't know already. Other than that now she had the name for her creator. She pretended to not care about what he was saying.
"Consy listen to me. You're not a human-Vulcan hybrid as everyone has led you to believe. I made you completely human. I was later forced into engineering some Vulcan DNA into you which altered your blood, your physical attributes and unfortunately affected your growth. It highly increased your mentally abilities and more particularly your memory. They fed you information. You progressed rapidly up the educational ladder at frightening speeds. You could perfectly recite Earth's history by 3. By 6 you knew more about Starfleet, quantum physics and engineering than I did. You could crack just about anything we handed to you. You knew everything about survival in extreme conditions." He coughed a few times but restarted just as intensely. "They boosted your learning abilities with some kind of injections and cortical stimulators. The next step would have been to train your personality, quarks and traits. They would have turned you into a monster. Some kind of killing machine made to infiltrate with amazing amounts of knowledge. They were brainwashing you to suit their needs. I couldn't let them do that to you." He glanced at her, "I had to set you free from their evil plans... So I erased parts of your memory so that you wouldn't remember us. I then faked your death in a transporter accident. "He said, barely blinking, barely stopping for breath.
"So you're telling me that abandoning me outside was you're idea of setting me free?" Consy asked after a few moments. She wasn't sure how much of what he was saying was true. She didn't know what she should believe. She felt numb all over, however flashbacks and memories flooded through her.
"Concentrate." The 6 year old child looked up into a shrouded face and then back to the stimulating environment around her. Images flashed from the console and the voice resumed the oral instruction. The voice had first taught her how to read, how to write. It had also shown her math, geography and history. It was currently showing her complex science: temporal mechanics. She heard and saw, and saw and heard over again. Her small memory a sponge; it retained everything and remembered everything.
"You are doing much better than anticipated. Your photogenic memory is functioning well." She nodded as the sensory images ended.
"Enough for today little one..." She bowed her head. Another hooded figured, this time fully clothed in white, approached and guided her to another chamber.
The figure of white lifted her up onto the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Ok." She answered.
He ran a medical tricorder over her and removed a neural simulator from her cortex. He then injected her with something. She woke some time later to the sounds of two people whispering.
"She's brilliant, and learning very rapidly."
"The DNA programming has enhanced what was already present. She's some of our best work."
"Agreed. Seems like such a shame to send her away. She could be very useful for us."
"They do not tell us everything. My latest information suggests the previous mission is a failure... They will try to eliminate her, they've tried already..."
"Why?"
"She's a symbol of their failure... a possible threat. She knows too much..."
"We could erase her memory."
"Starfleet intelligence and the section won't accept that. It's not standard procedure."
"Is it standard procedure to kill children?"
Silence, then "We'll have to erase her memory and fake her death."
"I can arrange that, but then what?"
"I know a place - someone who will take her in." She clamped her tiny eyes shut as she felt arms pick her up. They carried her somewhere, injected her numerous times, and did some kind of medical procedure before lowering her gently back down on the ground.
"Everything's in motion?"
"She will be safe. Trust me..."
A lone tear slid from one of the figures. "I'll be watching... I'm sorry it came to this."
The other spoke, "Come now, Leave her! Her high intellect will make her survive. "
"You were supposed to be taken in right away." He said painfully. "I misjudged you. You ran away from outside the home we planned to put you in. You went back to the only place you felt was familiar. That is Starfleet academy.
"Misjudged?" Consy stood up; she had heard enough she turned. "Why should I believe you Tarn? I've never seen you until today."
"Because I've watched you ever since Consy... I know everything about you. I know you're deepest worries, your dirty secrets. Most of all, I know your most profound question."
"Really... try me? " Consy said, intrigued, returning to face him.
"Do you honestly think it was a coincidence that Janeway adopted you?"
Consy's arms crossed. "Leave Kathryn out of this." Consy said furiously. She had stopped wondering that question a long time ago. Some questions were better left unanswered.
"Touched a nerve have I?" He said smugly. "And Boothby?" He said.
"You're telling me I'm traveling a path you planned?" She wanted to throw something at him, she wanted to stomp out of the room, but found herself glued in place, unable to do anything. He pierced into her soul.
"Not at all. I helped orchestrate a betterment of your life conditions."
"How?"
"After seeing you struggle on your own, and 'used'" He paused, letting the last word sink in. Letting her know that he knew the horrors of her youth in the way he said the word used. "I decided to take action, and placed the right people along your path. I placed the opportunities in your path, you grasped them by yourself."
"Are you saying you placed Boothby and Janeway in my path?"
"Boothby with the intention of getting you to Kathryn... She was your first intended adoptive mother."
"What?" She asked. Not sure she had understood correctly.
"Kathryn was supposed to take you under her wing when we first hid you from the section."
"Does she know?" Consy wanted to give Kathryn the benefit of doubt.
"Not until recently. You gave her the information."
"How?"
"When you told her your birth name was Leliana and showed her the folded document I had the section give to you.
Consy pulled the very document from her pocket, "You mean this one?" Consy said. Showing to him the paper she had received when within the section. She had traded her services for that information.
"That exact one."
"I see..." She put it away. "Why are you telling me all of this now?"
"Because I am dying and because I can no longer protect you from the section."
"I've got asylum within the section, they've vouched for my safety and for the safety of those I select. It was part of my trade deal. "
His eyes sparkled. "How did you manage that?"
"I insured my usefulness for one thing and negotiated with them every inch of the way. I..." she stopped as he rasped a few times.
He tried to take difficult breathes but was unable to. The monitors around Consy came to life, beeping like crazy. Nurses and doctors came rushing into the room. They tried to reanimate Tarn but were unable to bring him back. There was no air going to his lungs or to his brain. His heart had completely stopped. He was dead. Silenced as were the other secrets he could have shared.
Consy suddenly realised she was crying and having difficulty breathing. Conscious thoughts were impossible. Waves of bottled up frustration, pain and sadness seeped through. Tears wept down her face rapidly, blinding her sight. Nothing felt right with the world, nothing felt right within herself. She quickly wiped her eyes, determined to not let the dying man's words get to her. She glanced at the white haired frail man on his deathbed. Why had he chosen to tell her the truth now? To what end? Consy left the room, ignoring the different voices of the people around her. She quickly left the hospital and walked. Her feet carrying her mindlessly on as numbness seeped in.
Consy's memories floated to the day Kathryn told her she was bringing her home so many years ago.
"Let's go home." Kathryn said and looked gently at 10 year old Consy. It had been one thing to tell Consy that she would be under her care. The news had hurt, and confused Consy. After a few hours of confusion and discussion, she had accepted it. However accepting something was completely different than taking her to that new home. She offered a caring hand towards Consy, waiting.
Consy looked into the face of her new mentor with confusion and then at the outstretched hand. She knew she should take it, but hesitated. Kathryn seemed to always want to touch – it was not a bad kind of touch however, it was filled with care and affection, something Consy's was not familiar with. Home... human contact... percolated through her mind and it was making Consy dizzy.
The continued human contact was proving difficult. Socializing and talking felt like such a waste of time, she had never had to interact with people for such long periods before... it was such a strain and for what? For a home? She wondered.
Only until this morning, she had been living with a holographic Boothby, tending to Starfleet gardens and sleeping in a tool shed. Interacting only briefly with Boothby when required. That had been a good and easy life. It had been satisfying and it had felt like home. Now she was to be under Kathryn's care. She had to talk with people, have a normal life... Oh how she regretted having brought the rose to Janeway's office. Who was this woman truly? Consy didn't know her. At least not yet, although she knew that her pose radiated of severeness but kindness at the same time. There was a resolute confidence in her posture and stride. She was optimist and didn't seem to take no for an answer. But what did she see in Consy? And for what reason was she choosing to adopt her? Why would someone famous want anything to do with her? Why would she want to invest in her? Why? She thought. Why? She wanted to shout.
"Why?" She somehow succeeded to ask calmly, placing her tiny hand in Janeway's. Their day at the office was over, they were to go home. Consy was a bit fearful.
"Why not?' Janeway replied, firmly taking Consy's hand in her own. She clasped both her hands over the single hand and stared into Consy's eyes.
Consy gulped back the many answers she could think of; the stare silencing her completely. She stared resolutely back. She did not understand what she was seeing in Kathryn's eyes – warmth, kindness, care, genuine interest and finally compassion - all unfamiliar.
It was all these emotions that Consy saw that made her look down. She was uncomfortable, confused and fearful. She somehow managed to slide her hand out of Janeway's grip and take a step back. She took several in fact before her body hit the wall.
Kathryn waited, saying nothing. She had seen the confusion, and now felt Consy's fear. "I won't hurt you." She said very softly. She sensed that she had pushed Consy too far and that trust would not come so easily. "I'm here for you Consy, whenever you're ready. " She said. "However, I think you should know that you will get mad at me because I am going to continually push you. I care for you and believe in you..." She paused. "And whatever happens, I promise not to take any of your frustration personally." Kathryn said gently.
Consy was brought back from her thoughts as cold rain started to fall. She heard the thunder clap overhead and the wind stir up. A stormed stirred up, the rain came slowly. Oddly enough it matched her mood and it suited her. Consy opened her arms up and lifted her face to the rain, letting it soak her through. She stood lost in thought for a long time.
Kathryn had held her promise. She had constantly strained and pushed her. Pushed her to the brink of the breaking point and had never taken any of her rash outbursts personally.
But what of Tarn Baylor? He was the mastermind and they the puppets. He might have had control of her before and pushed the puzzle pieces together. But it didn't change who she was nor Kathryn. Kathryn had been played but she was everything a mother should be.
What Consy now knew wouldn't change who Kathryn was. The words Tarn Baylor had said did not change who Consy was either. They simply clarified and elucidated something that had been mucky before. Consy turned in a circle on herself still lost in thought but she was brought back to reality when a tiny a clunk of ice hit her. She shivered from the cold northerly winds that whistled around her, pushing against her tiny shape. The sky was of a frighten black and thunder clapped overhead. Consy sought cover. She had been walking for hours and was now far away from the city... nothing but pastures surrounded her. She could not wait out the storm safely.
Consy tapped her combadge. "Commander Consy to Admiral Janeway." She said, waiting. She had no idea if her badge was close enough to a communications tower to be rerouted to Starfleet Headquarters. She'd find out soon enough. She was pleased when a few seconds later a chirp of her badge indicated she wasn't out of reach. The storm was getting much worse, the hail was getting bigger. Consy lifted her arms over her head to protect it from the ice.
"Consy is that thunder I hear?" She asked in that motherly voice of hers.
"Yes... Do you think you can get a lock on my badge and get me out of here? It looks like it's getting really bad."
"Certainly." Nearly five minutes later Consy felt the beam engulf her as she was transported back to Starfleet Headquarters.
"Thanks." Consy said as she stepped off the transporter padd. She was dripping all over the floor. Kathryn had somehow managed to get a towel which she immediately wrapped Consy in as they walked back towards Janeway's office.
"You're welcome." She asked. "Should I ask what you were doing in Toronto?"
"Investigating something, that turned out to be a false lead."
Kathryn smiled she knew it was Consy's polite way of saying not now. "Let's get you a change of uniform and cup of coffee."
They entered Janeway's office. Kathryn moved towards the replicator, she ordered a replacement uniform for Consy and then gave it to her.
Consy moved towards the washroom and changed into it. When she exited, she placed her drenched uniform in the recycler and moved towards the small living room. Kathryn was waiting with two hot coffee cups. Consy took one and sat down next to her mother. They sat in comfortable silence for numerous minutes. Kathryn waiting until Consy was ready.
"Do you know anything about Tarn Baylor?" Consy finally asked, after she had recollected her thoughts and controlled her emotions.
Kathryn shook her head.
"He's a master puppeteer. He revealed some information to me about my past. Things which are confusing. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to believe him or not."
Kathryn looked at Consy gently, "Who is he?"
"I got an urgent transmission from his doctor requesting I go visit Tarn. It stated he was dying and that he desired to see me before he passed on. The message was sent per his demand, as a last request. The doctor urged me to come, saying he would see no one else and that he was asking for me. I never heard of him before today. He claims to be my creator."
"In what sense?"
"A controlled experiment that he was monitoring and controlling"
"You're much more than an experiment Consy."
Consy raised her now cold coffee and finished it. "Did you ever wonder how I could be part Vulcan when I have auburn hair?" Consy didn't give Kathryn the chance to answer. "Everyone knows that Vulcan's are dark haired and usually emotionless. I'm neither because I'm fully human... The Vulcan DNA I have was implanted. Tarns engineered me... created me. He modified my genetic code for an obscure purpose. Something the section requested of Tarns Baylor." Consy said the last sentences with such spite and emotion that her cheeks reddened, her blood seemed to be boiling in her veins.
Kathryn was about to speak but was silenced by Consy's waving hand. "Tarns died shortly after, he did not have the chance to tell me everything he wanted. He spoke truth in his mysteries... and he knew very specific things." Consy said having calmed down somewhat.
"What kind of truths?" Kathryn finally asked.
"He knew at what age I first landed on Starfleet academy grounds. About my horrors before living with Boothby. My birth name..." Consy said through clenched teeth "He knew about this piece of paper and what it represented." Consy flung it out of a pocket rapidly, shaking it in her fist as she said it. "About my life, about the section.... even you..." Consy said slowly, not sure she really wanted to cross that terrain just yet. "He seemed to know so much..."
"About me?"
Consy nodded and swallowed. She had hoped Kathryn would select the other topics to discuss. "Something about how I was supposed to be placed in your care from the start but that the original plan failed." Consy said mildly, choosing to omit some of the details. "He said he orchestrated the betterment of my life... purposefully arranged for our paths to cross a second time since the first time was botched."
"I cannot deny Consy that before I adopted you I was contacted four years prior to adopt a 6 year girl but something happened and I never got that child..." Kathryn said tear eyed.
Consy looked at Kathryn through her own set of tears. Kathryn soon pulled her into her embrace, holding her close. "I want to know the truth..." Consy said through sobs that ran through her entire body.
Kathryn lifted her left hand and placed it thoughtfully under her chin, her right arm hugged Consy close as she glanced out the window.
"I had just finished debriefing Starfleet Command about Voyager's 7 year mission. Everyone was cleared, given recommendations and promotions. With that out of the way, Voyager's senior crew was asked to attend a press conference. During the celebration, I answered a lot of questions regarding Voyager past. A number of people asked me if I'd take the time to settle down and make a family now that I was home. I answered that life was full of adventures worth doing. When they insisted, I informed them that I'd accepted a promotion which meant I'd be staying on Earth. That seemed to satisfy most people's curiosity. However, at the very end a woman who presented herself as Elizabeth took me aside. She wanted to know more about my future plans. She asked if a little Janeway was part of the many adventures I'd partake in." Kathryn paused. "I answered that my numerous responsibilities made it difficult. Elizabeth then asked me how I felt about adoption...One thing lead to another. In the end, she told me I was part of a rare few who'd been selected as a possible parent for very special child."
"Wait a minute..." Consy said, "Rare few? So they had more than you in mind?"
"It's what they told me, but we cannot know for certain." Kathryn said, "I doubt it because, she worked very hard to convince me to take you in. She called me a number of times to see if I'd made my decision. When I agreed, she said she'd see to all the paperwork being completed. She even promised to bring you herself." Kathryn paused, tears slid out of her eyes as the memories surfaced. "Somehow things went dreadfully wrong. I was waiting in transporter room 3. Elizabeth was supposed to bring you at 09 hundred. An incoming transmission announced that you were beaming in. However the transporter failed and you and Elizabeth never rematerialized. When they tried to scan for your patterns in the transporter banks they found nothing. The engineering team couldn't explain the failure or where you went. They attempted and tried everything but after more than a month of research and failed attempts the team announced that there was nothing they could do... that you'd both died. Consy believe me when I say I never realised you were that very same child until you showed me that paper."
"Tarns said as much..." Consy said carefully, she was surprised by what Kathryn had just unveiled. Unfortunately, it left just as many questions unanswered. . "With what he knew, and what you've said I'm forced to make the logical conclusion that it's all true."
"You seem to be taking all of this rather calmly." Kathryn said.
"Am I? I guess nothing really surprises me anymore." Consy paused and she looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "There was a time when all of this would have shattered my world and when I was passionate to discover the entire truth. I used to think that it would explain who I am and that it would help me orient my life... give it a sense. "Consy half frowned, "But now, I know better, I realise that my past does not shape me. I control my life, and only I can give it a direction."
Tears slid from Consy's eyes. "Does the truth hurt? Yes. But doesn't it almost always?" Consy paused, but Kathryn was looking at her intently, waiting for her to continue. "Do I wish I hadn't found out? It would be a lie to say I didn't. After all, there is a certain amount of pleasure hidden in the unknown – a kind of ecstasy only found in mystery. The brain thrives on the unexplained. Would you believe me if I told you I never read this document? I've opened it and folded it many times. I've glanced at the first two lines but have never had the heart to go further. I've feigned reading it many times... imagined what it contains, what it maybe said - all of which disappoint. I had made my peace with my unknown past. But now... what do I know about who I am and what I've been shaped into? " Consy asked as she pointed to the folded parchment. "I believe you are the sole person that has read it in its entirety. Has it changed how you treat me? No. Has it changed how you feel about me? No. And will what Barn Taylors has done and said change that? "Consy half asked. "No. So why let if effect me or us? Why let him change us?" She questioned.
"Because too feign it doesn't touch you... is a lie." Kathryn said weighing carefully her words. "I know you better than that. Even what you say contradicts itself..." Kathryn said with emotion. "You are strong intellectually but not emotionally. So your mind has rationalised the events and the information but not your heart. You've tried to emotionally detach yourself from the situation. However, Consy you cannot lie to me. I know how hard you've searched for this truth. Why would you trade all of your dreams for a piece of paper that you didn't read?" She let the question flow through Consy's brain before she answered it, "Because you're afraid. Scared of how it will affect you. Truly frightened by what you might find out." She said very gently. "I know how important the search is for you. And right now, you may have convinced yourself you didn't want to know it or that it won't change who you are, but not me."
Consy's eyes overflowed with tears again and the now empty cup she was holding went flying across the room. It made a satisfying crash as it hit the wall. "That's how I feel..." Consy finally admitted. "Shattered, broken and manipulated."
Kathryn hugged Consy, "Naturally. " She remained silent for a few minutes, "Did I ever tell you the story about the time a non-corporeal being slipped into my mind and tried to convince me I was dead?"
Consy shook her head, Kathryn often told her stories about Voyager. Janeway had started to do that when she had noticed Consy reading through the ships logs, trying to find out more about it. Kathryn had answered most of Consy's questions by telling her different stories.
"Chakotay and I were returning to Voyager when our shuttle was hit by electrical interference. We were forced to land on a nearby planet but with navigational controls out, we crashed. I suffered from a concussion and was knocked out, my heart stopping. I was pulled out of my body and could see Chakotay trying to reanimate me." She paused for effect before continuing.
"I saw him straining to bring life back to me and crying as he realized there was nothing he could do. Somehow, some of Voyager's crew arrived and transported my body straight to sickbay. As a "spirit" I followed. I could see how my crew was mourning and struggling with the thought that I had died. Even, I had trouble with the thought." She explained.
"So you were like a ghost?" Consy asked.
Kathryn nodded and continued, "It's at this time that my father's ghost appeared. He said he was there to help me make the crossover. He requested that I go with him and follow the bright light. I was tempted to but I wanted to know more about what would happen to my ship and to my crew. I wanted to be certain they would be alright."
"But then suddenly, I got an image of Chakotay and the Doctor looking at me. The flash was gone just as rapidly as it had occurred. I told my father about the vision. He said it was my mind reviewing the last seconds of my life and not to worry." She paused. "Everything was so confusing. There I was talking with my dead father who I trusted yet something didn't feel right. My scientific mind didn't accept what was going on. And when I got a few more visions of being on the planet, I realized that what I was seeing was false. I confronted the vision of my father. The non-corporeal being changed forms, acknowledging that it was a ruse to get to my body. The being manipulated me by entering into my mind. It's very frightening to think how close the entity was to convincing me. Had it not been for the flashbacks..."
Consy shuttered at the thought, "The being used your own thoughts and memories against you."
"Yes. It reached into my inner most thoughts and emotions and used them against me. Did it ever occur to you that this might be what Tarn was trying to do?" Kathryn said gently.
"Not really... why would a dying man want to do that?" Consy challenged.
"Good question...Why would they want to fake your death and lie to me?" Kathryn rechallenged.
"The even better question is why did they tell you they lied?" Consy said after a few quiet thoughts.
"They didn't tell me... "Kathryn looked at her, "You did."
"True... however they must have known that I would tell you. So... everything falls back to their controlled greater plan." Consy said, looking carefully at Kathryn and then suddenly she had a thought and a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Did it occur to you that maybe you're the test subject?"
Kathryn let out slow breathe as the intent of what Consy had just said was digested. "It is possible, but highly unlikely."
The computer on Kathryn's desk beeped. "Incoming recorded transmission." Kathryn stood and moved towards her desk. She activated the message with a touch of a button.
A frail looking man, with white hair appeared on the screen. "Admiral Kathryn Janeway and Commander Consy Coffee" It started, but Consy stood and rapidly moved to the screen as she heard the voice. She recognized it as Tarn's. "My name is Tarns Baylor. I've programmed this message so that you would receive it a few hours after I died. You, Kathryn, have never seen me before today but I'm sure Leliana or rather Consy has told you who I am by now. I am the man behind her creation. When the section threatened to end her life, I choose to hide her. You were the sole candidate for her adoption; however someone interfered with the process. They faked a transporter accident and relocated her. Consy was left to feign on her own her, without care. Once I found her, right under our noses, on Starfleet grounds, I helped rearrange what was preordained. I played with Boothby's programming, so that he'd convince you to take her. I'm sorry Kathryn and Consy, (yes Leliana, I'm sure you're still in the office) that you've been lied too. I'm sorry you were manipulated. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth before. Believe me when I say I wanted only to protect you. Both of you are certainly wondering why I am telling you this now. Out of fear for Consy's life but mostly out of guilt." The old man started to cough and wheeze. As the message ended, words ran across the screen.
Everybody's looking for a happy ending
Before the real story even begins
It's so easy to pretend you're not pretending
Till the naked truth comes walking on in
But we ain't running when the truth gets hot
That's how you find out just how much you've really got
Let's make a long story longer
Let's make that strong bond a little bit stronger
Your star is gonna shine, shine even brighter
Believe what you feel, keep it real
Make a long story longer
The seed of love is so deeply planted
Inside the heart is where it lives and grows
Keep it safe 'cause we don't take it for granted
Let the hard rains fall, let the cold winds blow
Every storm is just a lesson to learn
It just makes you stronger with every page you turn
You gotta stand the test of time
If you wanna keep the treasure you find
Some can only dream about forever
Let's make a long story longer
Let's make this strong bond a little bit stronger
Baby, live what you feel, keep it real
Make a long story longer
Let's make a long story longer
And you my dear are a beautiful treasure!
(Modified Lyrics to Let's Make a Long Story Longer sung by Michael Bolton."
"I think I need to see that again." Consy said her arms crossed over her chest. Kathryn nodded as she played back the message again.
.