Disclaimer: The characters of Gene Rodenberry's Earth: Final Conflict do not belong to me (my loss of course). No copyright infringements are intended.
Summary: Ronald Sandoval's daily run with Lili Marquette is anything but routine today. Will Sandoval's humanity return in an instant, as quickly as it had been taken away? Will sympathies for the resistance come to call on him?
Author's note: Ok, well here we go. I'm a big fan of the Sandoval character, but I desperately want him not to be evil. Also a big fan of Lili, who appears in this fic as well... set before her departure (a departure which will never happen in this particular AU). Season two-ish. Ideally, this will be the first of a few chapters.
*** When Stars Collide ***
(Sandoval's POV):
Ronald Sandoval glanced across the cafe out the doors to the table where she was sitting. He sighed to himself and wondered if anywhere in time she would ever glance at him the way he could only do from a distance, where she sat reading the paper and drinking coffee. He wondered what she would do if he were to speak to her... not as a superior to his crew, but as a friend. He nearly wanted to cry, because as he very well knew, he was not her friend. She would never accept him as a friend. Not even if he moved heaven and Earth for her... or more. not even then.
He turned back to the counter and grabbed his coffee, turned around and headed out to the sun deck where Lili was waiting for him. //She isn't waiting for you by choice//, he mentally noted... he gazed out of the open cafe again towards her, and noticed she was staring back. Their eyes connected for a split second, and an electric feeling went through his body. He quickly broke the gaze and stared into his coffee, as he walked back to their table.
(Lili's POV):
Lili Marquette stirred her coffee and stared off over the wooden rail of the sundeck of the cafe. She looked from her paper, to the coffee, and then into the open cafe. Sandoval was getting his usual. She noticed him start to look in her direction, and quickly turned back to reading the paper. She wondered if he knew how obvious it was when he stared... the same thing for awhile now. When she would sit and wait for him on the sundeck, to come and brief her -- order her rather -- on what she would be doing for the day. Possibly the next week. Her face twisted slightly in annoyance, but relaxed shortly after.
She wished she could connect with the protector on some level. Find some common interest. Bring him back into the realm of Humanity. He had lost his humanity so long ago. Along with it his wife, his life -- his freedom. She felt sympathy for him.
She looked up once more and saw him looking towards her. Their eyes connected for a split second, and an electric feeling shot through her mind. She noticed how quicly he broke the gaze, and started to walk back, eyes towards the ground. She wondered why he looked at her like he did. She wished he would talk to her. Tell her what he was really thinking. It was more than he let on in her presence, but not subtle at all when he was at a distance. //Maybe there is some humanity left in the man afterall,// she thought, as he approached.
(Everyone's point of view):
"Look out!" someone yelped. Lili's attention snapped upward to see Sandoval on the ground, covered in coffee. She supressed a smile -- in his effort to keep his eyes downward, he ran right into a passwerby. She jumped up and walked quickly to his side to offer a hand.
"Sandoval, are you alright?" she asked, with genuine concern though she knew all that was bruised would be his ego. She offered a hand.
Sandoval waived her hand away sharply and got up, trying to bring back some of his dignity. "I'm fine," he said in a cold tone. He took a napkin she offered him and tried to clean off some of the coffee, but it was useless. He looked up from his efforts to see a hurt look on Lili's face, and he realized he had done it again. For the umpteenth-million time. Why did he have to act that way.
Lili sighed gently and turned around to retreat to her table. She would sit silently once again while Sandoval read her the day's events. But to her surprised, a hand came to rest gently on her shoulder.
"Lili," he said softly. Lili stopped in her tracks... What was that? It didn't even sound like his voice. It was... compationate. There was something in his tone that she had never heard before... it almost sounded like regret. And was that her first name he used? But why? Sandoval had rarely, if ever, seen fit to call her by her first name. She was positive he must have seen it as unprofessional... posibily even a weak thing to do.
Sandoval's hand squeezed lightly on her shoulder, and she turned to face him.
"I'm sorry," he continued, "I'm fine, thank you for coming to check." He didn't change his usual look on his face, it remained so very still, so much like it usually did. But the look in his eyes was something she had never seen before. Not with him. It almost melted her to see that something was left in him that was Human. She wanted to cry. All she did do was nodd, and return to the table, trailed by Sandoval after having reconciled as best he could with the passerby whom he had crashed into.
He sighed as he tried to sop more of the coffee out of his jacket. While he did, Lili was trying to supress a burst of laughter. Companion Protector Ronald Sandoval reduced to trying to clean the massive amount of coffee out of his jacket with a napkin -- which must have been like trying to sop up a lake with a sponge. A low giggle escaped her mouth, but she quickly went stone-faced when she was that Sandoval had heard, and was now staring.
His glare was like ice for a moment. His "We are not amused" look as she reconigzed it as... she could be in trouble for this one. She quickly looked down at her cup, but for some reason the situation only got funnier. What was so funny? There was nothing funny here, the situation was over with. But it just got blown out of proportion in her mind... and she broke down -- she put her head on her arms as she tried to hide her face, contorted in laughter, tears coming from her eyes. //Why won't it stop, it was not *that* funny!//
But suddenly she wasn't alone. The previous silence of the sundeck, now being broken by Marquette's laughter, was joined by another laugh -- //Now who else things this is funny,// she thought smiling into her arms, //Its only going to get *me* in more trouble later.// But as she drew her eyes up carefully, she noticed Sandoval's mouth drawn up into a broad smile. He shook his head smiling and shrugged his shoulders. Lili almost fell out of her chair.
Realizing that she was staring at him like an idiot, she dropped her eyes for another time to the table.
//She is such a brave person,// thought Sandoval to himself, //but I'm positive she is afraid of me.// He sighed less than audibly, //Is this what I have reduced my life to?// -- He always thought that people fearing him was the best thing. It was perfect. But now, looking at Lili's downcast eyes, knowing how rediculously out of character he was acting, almost as if in an insanity moment, he knew that she was probably wondering what was going to happen. Was she going to get lectured, yelled at, sent on some gruling assignment...
This wasn't how he wanted it to be. And something snapped in the back of his mind, like a damn breaking, as he watched Marquette stir her coffee in silence once more. He reached out with his hand carefully and put it ontop of her free han, next to her mug.
Lili looked up slowly to meet his eyes. They were compationate, as she saw before. Warm. They were Human.
"Thank you," Sandoval said, his voice very low, and a slight smile on his face. Just then his global went off. He jumped slightly at the break in the moment, and reached for it, turning around for a moment. He turned back a few minutes later with an almost sad look in his eyes, but a serious one. "We've got to head back to the mothership." He sighed audibly this time, in exasperation, "Zo'or wishes to see us." Lili couldn't help but smile at his exasperation -- she wondered if he was finally beginning to tire of being ordered around by Zo'or.
--- Later On ---
Ron walked through the park slowly. The sun was on the horizon about to set, and the light fell upon everything like the way he remembered in. He remembered everything so clearly -- not because of his CVI. No, the CVI could record everything with crystal clarity... everything except the moment. The moment was beyond recording... that point where you look around, and you know you've been here before, and felt this way before. when the hairs stand up on the back of your neck as your thoughts dwell on one thing or another.
He remembered bringing DeeDee here. He sighed as he stopped to look around him for a moment. Everything was different now. DeeDee was gone. But similar feelings remained -- not for DeeDee. No, he had come to terms with that. To a point, at least.
"Nice place you got here," came a voice from behind him. Ron whirled around, ready to bring his skrill up, when he realized who it was.
"Captain Marquette," he said in a sigh of relief. He lowered his half-raised arm. "You startled me."
She wondered if everything from before had disappeared, just as the sun was doing now, and just as quickly as it would disappear from the horizon. She noticed it was back to Captain Marquette... she had an odd feeling in the back of her mind that told her she was disappointed about this. But the look in Sandoval's eyes hadn't left from before... although it disapated and was practically beaten down during one of those awful meetings with Zo'or, she wondered if his humanity was finally winning once again; Not to be beaten down by anyway. Especially Zo'or.
She waved a hand around, and returned her glance to him, "You come here often?"
He smiled slightly, causing Lili to draw in a light breath. His face was beautiful, she had never noticed it before. With a smile crossing his lips and the warm glow of the sunset settling on him, she wanted to reach out and grasp his hand; she knew he felt confused about something -- about everything. She wanted to help somehow.
"I don't know why I'm here," he said very softly, turning slightly away from her to stare into the distance. "I just don't know."
Lili approached him and stood by his side a small distance away, taking in the surroundings for a moment. She didn't notice Sandoval's movement to close the space between them a bit, to stand side by side to her right. "I used to take DeeDee here," he said in a surprisingly strong but soft voice. She knew that thoughts of DeeDee pained him terribly, no matter how he tried to hide it. He continued, "But I don't know why I'm here again."
Lili nodded almost knowingly, and smiled. She stepped around to face him, "We often come back to the places which we have the most comfort in." She motioned her hand to indicate the surroundings, "You may not come here often, but you know this place. Its unchanging." She sighed, "In this world where everything is changing so fast; in our lives when everything is revolving so quickly." His eyes came to meet hers, as she finished, "But here, you know it remains the same."
His eyes were so sad, so empty. He looked drained. "I don't know this place anymore," he stated sadly, "Anything I knew, I don't know any longer. Its all been..." he paused for a moment, "clouded. I can't see straight any more." He gazed at her, as the look in her eyes struck him: She was so attentive. So caring. She cared what happened to him for some reason, even when no one else did. She was there, and he ignored her. She was always reaching out, but he always pushed her away.
Sandoval's hand almost instinctively wrapped around Lili's back. He had never been so scared as he was now, that she would pull away. But when she didn't, and as she kept her eyes trained on his own, he put his other hand behind her head, and gently pulled her forward, brushing her lips with his.
The kiss was so soft, Lili had to think if it even happened at all. But Ron's arms around her told her that it did happen. Several moments passed, where their eyes remained trained on each other. In a sudden moment of awkward clarity, a slight embarassment took him over. What was he doing? His hands started to drop, but he was stopped. By Lili's hands. Replacing his hands where they were just moments ago, she slid her own arms up on his shoulders around his neck, and kissed him gently as he had done. Their embrace slowly became more solid. Not sure what was next, Ron could only smile in the purest moment of happiness he had experiences in a long time. She was so beautiful. How could he have ignored this for so long.
(more to come... )
Summary: Ronald Sandoval's daily run with Lili Marquette is anything but routine today. Will Sandoval's humanity return in an instant, as quickly as it had been taken away? Will sympathies for the resistance come to call on him?
Author's note: Ok, well here we go. I'm a big fan of the Sandoval character, but I desperately want him not to be evil. Also a big fan of Lili, who appears in this fic as well... set before her departure (a departure which will never happen in this particular AU). Season two-ish. Ideally, this will be the first of a few chapters.
*** When Stars Collide ***
(Sandoval's POV):
Ronald Sandoval glanced across the cafe out the doors to the table where she was sitting. He sighed to himself and wondered if anywhere in time she would ever glance at him the way he could only do from a distance, where she sat reading the paper and drinking coffee. He wondered what she would do if he were to speak to her... not as a superior to his crew, but as a friend. He nearly wanted to cry, because as he very well knew, he was not her friend. She would never accept him as a friend. Not even if he moved heaven and Earth for her... or more. not even then.
He turned back to the counter and grabbed his coffee, turned around and headed out to the sun deck where Lili was waiting for him. //She isn't waiting for you by choice//, he mentally noted... he gazed out of the open cafe again towards her, and noticed she was staring back. Their eyes connected for a split second, and an electric feeling went through his body. He quickly broke the gaze and stared into his coffee, as he walked back to their table.
(Lili's POV):
Lili Marquette stirred her coffee and stared off over the wooden rail of the sundeck of the cafe. She looked from her paper, to the coffee, and then into the open cafe. Sandoval was getting his usual. She noticed him start to look in her direction, and quickly turned back to reading the paper. She wondered if he knew how obvious it was when he stared... the same thing for awhile now. When she would sit and wait for him on the sundeck, to come and brief her -- order her rather -- on what she would be doing for the day. Possibly the next week. Her face twisted slightly in annoyance, but relaxed shortly after.
She wished she could connect with the protector on some level. Find some common interest. Bring him back into the realm of Humanity. He had lost his humanity so long ago. Along with it his wife, his life -- his freedom. She felt sympathy for him.
She looked up once more and saw him looking towards her. Their eyes connected for a split second, and an electric feeling shot through her mind. She noticed how quicly he broke the gaze, and started to walk back, eyes towards the ground. She wondered why he looked at her like he did. She wished he would talk to her. Tell her what he was really thinking. It was more than he let on in her presence, but not subtle at all when he was at a distance. //Maybe there is some humanity left in the man afterall,// she thought, as he approached.
(Everyone's point of view):
"Look out!" someone yelped. Lili's attention snapped upward to see Sandoval on the ground, covered in coffee. She supressed a smile -- in his effort to keep his eyes downward, he ran right into a passwerby. She jumped up and walked quickly to his side to offer a hand.
"Sandoval, are you alright?" she asked, with genuine concern though she knew all that was bruised would be his ego. She offered a hand.
Sandoval waived her hand away sharply and got up, trying to bring back some of his dignity. "I'm fine," he said in a cold tone. He took a napkin she offered him and tried to clean off some of the coffee, but it was useless. He looked up from his efforts to see a hurt look on Lili's face, and he realized he had done it again. For the umpteenth-million time. Why did he have to act that way.
Lili sighed gently and turned around to retreat to her table. She would sit silently once again while Sandoval read her the day's events. But to her surprised, a hand came to rest gently on her shoulder.
"Lili," he said softly. Lili stopped in her tracks... What was that? It didn't even sound like his voice. It was... compationate. There was something in his tone that she had never heard before... it almost sounded like regret. And was that her first name he used? But why? Sandoval had rarely, if ever, seen fit to call her by her first name. She was positive he must have seen it as unprofessional... posibily even a weak thing to do.
Sandoval's hand squeezed lightly on her shoulder, and she turned to face him.
"I'm sorry," he continued, "I'm fine, thank you for coming to check." He didn't change his usual look on his face, it remained so very still, so much like it usually did. But the look in his eyes was something she had never seen before. Not with him. It almost melted her to see that something was left in him that was Human. She wanted to cry. All she did do was nodd, and return to the table, trailed by Sandoval after having reconciled as best he could with the passerby whom he had crashed into.
He sighed as he tried to sop more of the coffee out of his jacket. While he did, Lili was trying to supress a burst of laughter. Companion Protector Ronald Sandoval reduced to trying to clean the massive amount of coffee out of his jacket with a napkin -- which must have been like trying to sop up a lake with a sponge. A low giggle escaped her mouth, but she quickly went stone-faced when she was that Sandoval had heard, and was now staring.
His glare was like ice for a moment. His "We are not amused" look as she reconigzed it as... she could be in trouble for this one. She quickly looked down at her cup, but for some reason the situation only got funnier. What was so funny? There was nothing funny here, the situation was over with. But it just got blown out of proportion in her mind... and she broke down -- she put her head on her arms as she tried to hide her face, contorted in laughter, tears coming from her eyes. //Why won't it stop, it was not *that* funny!//
But suddenly she wasn't alone. The previous silence of the sundeck, now being broken by Marquette's laughter, was joined by another laugh -- //Now who else things this is funny,// she thought smiling into her arms, //Its only going to get *me* in more trouble later.// But as she drew her eyes up carefully, she noticed Sandoval's mouth drawn up into a broad smile. He shook his head smiling and shrugged his shoulders. Lili almost fell out of her chair.
Realizing that she was staring at him like an idiot, she dropped her eyes for another time to the table.
//She is such a brave person,// thought Sandoval to himself, //but I'm positive she is afraid of me.// He sighed less than audibly, //Is this what I have reduced my life to?// -- He always thought that people fearing him was the best thing. It was perfect. But now, looking at Lili's downcast eyes, knowing how rediculously out of character he was acting, almost as if in an insanity moment, he knew that she was probably wondering what was going to happen. Was she going to get lectured, yelled at, sent on some gruling assignment...
This wasn't how he wanted it to be. And something snapped in the back of his mind, like a damn breaking, as he watched Marquette stir her coffee in silence once more. He reached out with his hand carefully and put it ontop of her free han, next to her mug.
Lili looked up slowly to meet his eyes. They were compationate, as she saw before. Warm. They were Human.
"Thank you," Sandoval said, his voice very low, and a slight smile on his face. Just then his global went off. He jumped slightly at the break in the moment, and reached for it, turning around for a moment. He turned back a few minutes later with an almost sad look in his eyes, but a serious one. "We've got to head back to the mothership." He sighed audibly this time, in exasperation, "Zo'or wishes to see us." Lili couldn't help but smile at his exasperation -- she wondered if he was finally beginning to tire of being ordered around by Zo'or.
--- Later On ---
Ron walked through the park slowly. The sun was on the horizon about to set, and the light fell upon everything like the way he remembered in. He remembered everything so clearly -- not because of his CVI. No, the CVI could record everything with crystal clarity... everything except the moment. The moment was beyond recording... that point where you look around, and you know you've been here before, and felt this way before. when the hairs stand up on the back of your neck as your thoughts dwell on one thing or another.
He remembered bringing DeeDee here. He sighed as he stopped to look around him for a moment. Everything was different now. DeeDee was gone. But similar feelings remained -- not for DeeDee. No, he had come to terms with that. To a point, at least.
"Nice place you got here," came a voice from behind him. Ron whirled around, ready to bring his skrill up, when he realized who it was.
"Captain Marquette," he said in a sigh of relief. He lowered his half-raised arm. "You startled me."
She wondered if everything from before had disappeared, just as the sun was doing now, and just as quickly as it would disappear from the horizon. She noticed it was back to Captain Marquette... she had an odd feeling in the back of her mind that told her she was disappointed about this. But the look in Sandoval's eyes hadn't left from before... although it disapated and was practically beaten down during one of those awful meetings with Zo'or, she wondered if his humanity was finally winning once again; Not to be beaten down by anyway. Especially Zo'or.
She waved a hand around, and returned her glance to him, "You come here often?"
He smiled slightly, causing Lili to draw in a light breath. His face was beautiful, she had never noticed it before. With a smile crossing his lips and the warm glow of the sunset settling on him, she wanted to reach out and grasp his hand; she knew he felt confused about something -- about everything. She wanted to help somehow.
"I don't know why I'm here," he said very softly, turning slightly away from her to stare into the distance. "I just don't know."
Lili approached him and stood by his side a small distance away, taking in the surroundings for a moment. She didn't notice Sandoval's movement to close the space between them a bit, to stand side by side to her right. "I used to take DeeDee here," he said in a surprisingly strong but soft voice. She knew that thoughts of DeeDee pained him terribly, no matter how he tried to hide it. He continued, "But I don't know why I'm here again."
Lili nodded almost knowingly, and smiled. She stepped around to face him, "We often come back to the places which we have the most comfort in." She motioned her hand to indicate the surroundings, "You may not come here often, but you know this place. Its unchanging." She sighed, "In this world where everything is changing so fast; in our lives when everything is revolving so quickly." His eyes came to meet hers, as she finished, "But here, you know it remains the same."
His eyes were so sad, so empty. He looked drained. "I don't know this place anymore," he stated sadly, "Anything I knew, I don't know any longer. Its all been..." he paused for a moment, "clouded. I can't see straight any more." He gazed at her, as the look in her eyes struck him: She was so attentive. So caring. She cared what happened to him for some reason, even when no one else did. She was there, and he ignored her. She was always reaching out, but he always pushed her away.
Sandoval's hand almost instinctively wrapped around Lili's back. He had never been so scared as he was now, that she would pull away. But when she didn't, and as she kept her eyes trained on his own, he put his other hand behind her head, and gently pulled her forward, brushing her lips with his.
The kiss was so soft, Lili had to think if it even happened at all. But Ron's arms around her told her that it did happen. Several moments passed, where their eyes remained trained on each other. In a sudden moment of awkward clarity, a slight embarassment took him over. What was he doing? His hands started to drop, but he was stopped. By Lili's hands. Replacing his hands where they were just moments ago, she slid her own arms up on his shoulders around his neck, and kissed him gently as he had done. Their embrace slowly became more solid. Not sure what was next, Ron could only smile in the purest moment of happiness he had experiences in a long time. She was so beautiful. How could he have ignored this for so long.
(more to come... )