Legionaries
Ch. 1: New Beginnings
Summary: The events of Watchman are over. Friends have died or simply disappeared. Dan and Laurie start a family. Will their sons be anything like them? Third generation Watchman fic. Post GN.
A/n: I don't know why, but I just HAD to write this! While Dan and Laurie's first names have not changed here, I will keep the last name they took in the end of the book: Hollis. Advice and criticism goes to DogWithHeadSplitOpen on the WMC fourms.
November 2, 1987
"Daniel, honey, would you calm down?" said Sally Jupiter. She understood why her son-in-law had reason to be nervous. What she would have given to have Eddie by her side when Laurie had been born! "If you're so worried, go see her!"
Dan shook his head, pacing back and forth in the maternity ward waiting room. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep them from shaking.
"No, I can't bear to see her in pain," he said. Dan wished some of his old friends were still around. Jon "Dr. Manhattan" Osterman had disappeared, literally, from the face of the Earth. Walter "Rorschach" Kovacs was dead, the only remains found being his fedora and mask, neither of which Dan had had the heart to bury in the grave he'd purchased for his fallen friend.
"Mr. Hollis?" inquired a nurse. Dan jumped and turned to face the woman. "Your wife is fine. She delivered two healthy boys. Congratulations."
"Twins…" gasped Dan, dazed by his own happiness. "Can I see them?"
The nurse nodded, smiling. Dan and Sally walked to Laurie's room. Laurie looked tired but happy. She was glowing with pride, holding her newborn sons in each arm.
"The doctors said that they're fraternal twins," she said as Dan gave her a kiss on the forehead. Sally smiled as Laurie put one of the boys in her arms.
"Do you have names picked out?" she asked, looking down at her brown-haired grandson. "Aw, hello little one."
"He's the eldest," said Laurie, brushing a lock of sweat-soaked hair from her face, "we decided to name him Eddie Morgan."
Sally felt tears sting her eyes as she looked at her grandson, then to her daughter and back again.
"Your father would be proud, Laurie," she said. "And what about his brother?" she asked, nodding her head at the baby in Dan's arms.
"I let Dan decide that one. He hasn't told me," Laurie replied.
Dan looked at baby in his arms. The child, unlike his brother, had inherited Sally's red hair. It wasn't much now, just an light 'owl tuft' as Laurie had teasing dubbed Dan's own hair style. He smiled and spoke.
"Walter," he said. "Walter Joseph."
"Dan!" said Laurie, looking surprised. "I will not name my baby after Rorschach!"
"And I don't mean Rorschach, honey," Dan replied. "I mean Walter, the man behind the mask. Rorschach's name is still spoken in whispers, even though he's been dead for two years. It's Walter who's been forgotten."
"That shouldn't happen to anyone," said Sally as Dan walked over to her. "And he looks like a Walter."
Laurie sighed as Dan placed little Walter Joseph back into her arms to hand Eddie to Sally. She watched her mother coo at the baby.
"Hello, Eddie. You gonna grow up to be a young buck like your grandpa was?"
"Mother…" Laurie muttered. She looked down at the baby in her arms, kissing him lightly on the head. "Welcome to the world, Walter," she said. "I'm your Mama."