You Live, You Learn - Part 1, S4 Follow-On, can be found here: /s/4520733/1/YouLiveYouLearnTrilogyPart1S4FollowOn

Life Goes On

Part 2 of the You Live, You Learn Series

Chapter 1

She looked across at her husband, asleep in the bed next to her. Every morning she reminded herself how lucky she was to have him here, alive. When they had married, barely two days after they had met, he had been lying in a hospital bed close to death after having lost too much blood. There were others in that hospital then who had not survived. Cloe had lost her boyfriend to some strange illness that still held his brother in a coma. Some of the 'players' of the dreaded game had done themselves and each other so much injury that they had also slipped away.

She got up and dressed, kissed her husband tenderly on his forehead, where once there had been the T that marked him as a Techno, and went out of their bedroom and into the kitchen of the farmhouse where Alice was attempting to cook herself some breakfast and look after her baby single handedly. Aeryn picked up the child, his shock of unruly red hair covered by a small cap Trudy had sewn for him. He was six months old now and his mother still hadn't decided what to call him.

"Need a hand?" Aeryn asked Alice.

"Yes, please!" Alice sounded exhausted, "This little one's had me up since dawn. He always seems to be hungry; when he's awake that is."

"Who's coming up to help out today then?"

"Ryan, as always; Lex and Paul too probably; I think Tai San wants to talk to you about you're herbs so you'll have some help there however, that rules Siva out; and probably some others from the city. For pity's sake tell your man I don't need any more help with the farm work. I don't want to be the cause of that wound reopening and causing him more problems and he's managed to do that twice already since he got it!"

"I know, he just wants to try to make amends, but at least it's nearly all healed now."

"He'll be going down to the city later, I suppose?"

"Yeah, he's got to go and see Patch about his side and he wants to know if there's been any change with Jay."

"It wasn't his fault," Alice laid a comforting hand on Aeryn's shoulder as she sat down with some breakfast for them both.

"I know, but try telling him that, or Cloe or Ebony for that matter."

"Are they still not talking to him then?" Alice took her baby back once she had finished her tea and continued to pick at the rest of her breakfast with her fork.

"I don't think Ebony's quite so bad, but then Jay is still alive; I don't think Cloe will ever forgive him, Ved was so much weaker when he went in, she still believes he didn't stand a chance and blames Mega for giving him the headset."

"Why shouldn't she?" Mega called from the other end of the kitchen. He wandered round to where his wife was seated, put his arms around her and kissed her neck softly, "Good morning, my love."

"Will you take those bottles I prepared down to Patch when you go?" Aeryn asked him.

"If the lady of the manor will let me have the small cart for the day," her husband replied, with a jovial smile in Alice's direction.

"I think I can just about manage that," said Alice, rising to leave the two alone, "When will you be leaving?"

"I'll have an early lunch then head down afterwards. Do you need any help on the farm this morning?"

"No, no!" Alice said, quickly, "There should be plenty of helpers today."

"Ryan's coming up again," said Aeryn, slyly.

"He comes up here to help out, see this little chap and get away from Salene and Pride, that's all. It's really hard for him: he still loves her. He wouldn't look twice at me; he's far too good for me."

"Don't be silly! After all you've been through, you deserve someone like Ryan!"

"We'll see."

With that, Alice left the room and headed out into the sunshine. She had got much closer to Ryan since he had delivered her son, but she was still sure that his reasons for turning up at the farm every morning were just those she had told Aeryn and Mega, nothing more. She was surprised he hadn't asked to stay there, it would save a lot of his time and he could be near the baby and away from Salene and her new life all the time. Perhaps she should mention it to him: he was quite shy and probably just didn't want to ask.

--

Trudy now ran a sort of crèche at the mall. Ever since everyone had decided to leave her holding all the babies when the Technos had been taken over, it had seemed to be a given that whenever children needed looking after, Trudy was the one to do it. Most of the time she had Mouse and Sammy to help her and a few other volunteers. Most often, these would include Hawk from the Ecos tribe: he seemed to have a way with children. Today she was, yet again, looking after baby Bray who, since his father's return had been renamed Zachary, or Zac for short.

Amber was over at the hospital helping Dee and trying to get Bray to talk to her. Trudy shook her head, she knew they would get through it, they always did, but she couldn't see why Bray was refusing to speak to her. He'd postponed the wedding until they could get everything sorted out between them and, so far, that was all he had said to Amber apart from telling her that he didn't want to talk about it until Jay was either there too or dead. It seemed very harsh to Trudy, knowing the truth of the matter as she did, but Amber had told her what she had overheard in the conversation between Bray and Ebony six months ago. Trudy supposed Bray had his reasons for acting as he did and stayed out of the argument. Hearing a noise behind her, she turned to see Hawk arrive.

"You know, you don't always have to come down here and help me out," she told him, "There are only Zac and Brady today anyway, although Mouse and Sammy could do with someone keeping an eye on them!"

"They'll be fine," he laughed, "I just thought you could do with some company, but if you want me to go..."

"No, I never said that!" Trudy said, hurriedly, "I mean, now you're here, I could do with someone to talk to."

"When are you going to come back to the forest?"

"I don't know," her brow wrinkled, "After the Technos raided it and took Brady, they destroyed the place, I haven't been back since and most of our tribe are still in the hospital anyway. Besides, I'm needed here now."

"True," he said, placing his hand, softly, on her cheek, "but, I need you too, you know."

--

Amber's eyes followed Bray around while she helped Dee with her rounds. Things had quieted down a lot since the 'players' had either recovered or, in some cases, died. All those left in the hospital now were people who had been used for other test programs like the ones Alice and Ryan had been hooked up to. Tally, Andy and KC had all been found together, but they were still unconscious and nobody knew what program they had been linked up to. They still hadn't found the prison camp Jack and Ellie had been taken to, and Paul had never found his sister, but they still held out hope. There were so many search parties that had been sent out from the city that surely one of them had to be able to find them. Surely. Dee's voice brought Amber out of her thoughts.

"Amber, did you hear me?" Dee asked, "The next room we have to check is Jay's. Are you sure you want to go in there? I don't think Ebony is there just now, but if Bray sees..."

"No, I'll go in," she said, "It'll give me an excuse to see how he's doing for myself. If Bray asks, I can say it's part of your rounds can't I?"

"Of course."

The two girls left the ward leaving Bray and another helper making beds in a corner. Bray never even noticed them go. When they went into the single room where Jay was lying, Amber was shocked to see how pale and haggard his face looked. She went over to the other side of the bed and brushed the hair away from his forehead. His skin was cold and clammy and his breathing was shallow.

"Oh, Jay," Amber said softly, taking his hand as Dee went about her usual routine, "Why did we have to land ourselves in this mess."

To her amazement she felt his hand close around hers, briefly, then relax again. He opened his eyes slowly and stared at her for a minute.

"Amber?" Dee asked, then, seeing the look on her face and following her gaze, "Jay!"

"Amber, is that you?" Jay asked.

"It's me, I'm here Jay."

"I'm sorry! Tell them I'm sorry!"

"You can tell them yourself, you're gonna be okay now."

He nodded and fell asleep again.