A/N: Well here's another one! I have two more in the works that I know will be posted in the next couple of months and I'm kind of working on a few chapter stories, but who knows if those will actually go anywhere. I have a whole collection of sticky-notes with ideas on my wall though, so let's hope the inspiration keeps flowing!
He says he's your son. This man that came from nowhere. Your son that you could not save despite your title of genius. Your son that you ripped the fabric of the universe for and yet failed for a second time. He says God did not punish you for your selfish and hubristic actions by taking everything from you. That you saved his life as a child and loved him so well that you could not replace him from whence he came. And God allowed you to keep him. He still took your sanity and your wife as payment, but he did not take your son. You don't know how this could be the case. What you did...you deserved everything you got. This could be yet another step in the gambit of torture God has created for you.
He says he's your son. By looking at him, perhaps it could be true. He has your eyes, the softness of your face, the same crease in the center of his forehead. His hair reminds you of Elizabeth's, like milk chocolate with a slight curl. He is intelligent, you'll give him that. Extremely so. He has a swagger about him that you recognize as something you prided yourself in as a younger man. You hate it. That confidence is what made you do unspeakable things. Could God be taunting you with what you once were? But he is so sincere. All he wants is to go home. All he wants is to be with the people he loves. But that's all you'd wanted too, when you did the unthinkable and defied the very laws of reality.
Elizabeth, the other one, the one who did not take her own life because of the mess you created, says you should see him as your son. Even if you do not believe he is the very boy you took from her all those years ago, he is a version of your son. You were ready to love her son as your own, so why dismiss another version of that same boy when all he wants from you is your help? Her forgiveness is nearly as painful as your own grief, but it is a clean cut over a jagged wound. It will heal and perhaps it will make your mangled heart a little less ugly. You don't deserve it, though. How could God allow you to have something so precious? The next time you see him, you allow your heart to feel, but you cannot name the emotion. You can't. You will help him, which will take him away from you again.
Olivia says he is your son. The very boy you let drown in an icy lake. She says he is the truth and everything they remember is a lie. You have never been more afraid of your sanity then when she tells you this. Is this real? Can you have your son back? Has your sanity been lying to you the same as your insanity? You hate him again. Perhaps not as much, but he needs to go. You said you would help him get back to his people and now that is more necessary than ever. Because now you are losing Olivia too. He is taking her from you. This woman that forgave you for all the things you put her through when she was only a young girl. This woman who you see as your own daughter. She does not remember things as you do anymore and it scares you. She and Aster are the little that ground you to what's real. If her real is different from your real, how can you possibly separate fact from insanity? You need her. He can't have her.
But you can't hate him. Because he doesn't want to take her away from you. He had everything he wanted being handed to him...and he walked away. Because you told him it was the right thing to do. He was stronger than you had ever been. He was not repeating your mistakes. He was a better man. Na einai kalitero anthropo apo ton patera tou. You'd heard Elizabeth say that to your son once as she was putting him to bed. It had shamed you then, but now, to know that this adult version of your son had taken it to heart, makes you proud. What really convinces you though, was seeing him and Olivia together. The way he acts towards her. The way he loves her.
He'd learned to love from his mother. Everything else you could explain away or dismiss. You are not the only person with a superior intellect he could inherit. You are not the only one with eyes that shade of blue, or with a worry crease in the middle of your forehead. You are not the only one with arrogance. But when you see him with Olivia, loving her without the restraint of uncertainty...there is no doubt in your mind that he is Elizabeth's son. He is gentle, and patient, and supportive. When he looks at her it is obvious that there is no one else on earth he would rather be near. You see her in his smile and in the way he cups her cheek with his hand. You see her in the way he knows a touch of the forehead can be just as intimate as a passionate kiss. In the way he is completely content to just be in her presence. Because he loves her.
These were the things you fell in love with when you'd yet to ask Elizabeth to marry you. These were the things you did not appreciate enough when were consumed by your work and took her for granted. You could see now the blending of the two of you in him. Your temper with her patience, your passion with her gentility, your mind with her understanding of what was really important in life. It's beautiful. And you love it. And you allow yourself to love him. Because Olivia is getting something she truly deserves, and this boy who was erased from the timeline is getting a second chance, and if a side effect of those righting of wrongs is that you get your son back then maybe, just maybe, God really can forgive you at least a little bit. And who are you to refuse a divine gift? Especially if it is not primarily for you?
A/N: I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with the way it ends. I might end up editing it a little bit, but nothing that major. Hope you enjoyed!