A/N: So first Terra Nova fic and first fic on this account! Exciting stuff.
Obviously some of the dialogue is taken from the show as I didn't want to write a new scene, just Washington's take on it.
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Erased
"If I could be anyone at this moment, I'd be her so you'd love me too."
-Unknown
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Lieutenant Alicia Washington let out a sigh as she rotated her stiff neck.
For the past two hours she had been aimlessly flicking through paperwork well aware of the fact that the chance of her getting any work done was small. She was distracted, terribly so.
Commander Taylor was always reminding her "Stay focused Wash, unless you wanna become a dino's next meal" but with Nathaniel gone, her mind was not capable of focus.
He had given her orders that Outpost 3 was to be under quarantine, but it had been two days and there had been no communication to Terra Nova from the Commander or Doctor Shannon, so for Alicia, panic was starting to set in.
Pulling herself out of her reverie, the Lieutenant looked down at the sizable stack of paperwork on the glass table-top in front of her; noise complaints against neighbours, requests for another shade tarp at the market-place and resumes for a position on the Security Team. It felt wrong sitting here, at the dinosaur head desk in Taylor's office, signing papers about petty community problems as he was out there fighting a possible threat to Terra Nova's welfare.
The door to the tree-house like office opened with a barely-audible creak, but Washington's highly trained senses picked up the sound easily and she immediately jumped up at the sight in front of her.
The man she had (For the past half-dozen years or so) had unrequited feelings for stood before Alicia, only the large desk separating them, his uniform and face were dirtied and his eyes had a mad quality about them, a knife was held tightly in his right hand.
"Wash?" Nathaniel said, sounding perplexed.
"Nathaniel? What are you doing here? Where's Shannon?" Alicia was too startled to remember that at the moment she was speaking to her superior, not her friend, confidant or the man she loved.
"But I could have sworn...You were just medi-vacced...Somalia..." He trailed off, leaving his Lieutenant to try and comprehend just what the Commander was talking about.
Something was wrong, that she knew, the battle in Somalia was back in 2138, over ten years ago, and she had long since recovered from her injuries.
"Where are we? Have they captured us?" Taylor said "I just...Why can't I remember!" he all but yelled, causing Washington to reel back in shock.
"Commander..." Alicia started walking slowly around the desk, she reached a hand out to him, wether as a soothing gesture or so she could make sure he didn't do anything rash she wasn't sure.
There was a brisk knock at the door, snapping both Taylor and Washington's attention to a voice outside.
"Lieutenant Washington? It's Maddy Shannon, I'd like to speak to you." Alicia cringed, the voice belonged to the middle Shannon child, and if she was anything like her father she wasn't not going to take no for an answer.
The Commander quickly stepped next to the hinges of the door and as expected, the door flew open revealing a determined looking Madelyn Shannon with the soldier Mark Reynolds in tow.
Maddy charged into the room, Mark walked in behind her, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
Lieutenant Washington-"she started, but Alicia cut her off with a wave of her hand
"Not now Maddy, Reynolds get her out of here, now!"
"Lieutenant" Mark protested "All she wanted-"
"That was an order!" Washington yelled, Nathaniel was not in the right state of mind and she feared that he would become even more confused and hurt them, the only thing protecting Alicia from his madness was that he remembered her, she couldn't let him near civilians.
Before she had time to say anything more, Taylor had emerged from his hiding place behind the open door and put a knife to Reynolds throat.
Maddy let out a scream as Alicia pushed her roughly backwards.
"Your not to good at following orders, are you soldier?" The Commander sneered into Reynolds' ear.
"You're sick Commander, you've been infected with something that's got you confused" Washington tried to convince Taylor with a pleading expression "the war is over, has been for a decade, we won" She inched closer to the puzzled soldier.
"Don't you lie to me Wash, I want answers" he said, his tone becoming agitated, he pressed the knife harder to Mark's throat, Maddy let out a yelp in protest to the brutal manhandling of the boy she seemed to have affections for.
Alicia shook her head, her emotions not permitting her to do much else "You don't want to do that Sir, that's a soldier, he's one of your men, his name is Reynolds, Mark Reynolds, he came out here on the Fifth Pilgrimage, he came here because of you, because seven years ago you lead us to this place" Taylor let go of Reynolds, turning the young man to face him, but keeping the blade level with his eyes "so that we could have a second chance" the Lieutenant finished.
"What is this place?" Taylor said glancing at his second-in-command, anguish clear in his gray eyes.
Alicia's chin trembled and her voice wavered with it "its home" she answered.
"This is home?" he pushed Reynolds back into the grasp of Madelyn "alright then where's my wife?"
Washington felt her heart sink at the mention of Ayani, it was easy to forget about her, when here in Terra Nova, the woman who had stolen the gruff Commanders heart when Alicia could not.
"Show her to me!" Taylor ordered.
"Ayani's gone Nathaniel" Alicia's heart squeezed tightly at the expression that flittered onto his face.
"No..." he protested weakly
"She died" The Lieutenant said, affirming what the deranged Commander had dreaded.
"No, you're lying to me Wash" he shook his head, refusing to believe what he was hearing.
"No, I would never lie to you about anything. This is your place, this is your home and you've forgotten, that's all, we're going to help you find a way to remember" Washington was very aware of the fact that the knife was now pointed at herself, she tried to speak in a soothing tone, as not to anger him.
"Ayani's dead..." it was not a question, but a realization.
"Yeah" Washington whispered unaware of what else to say she carefully moved her hand to the holster on her belt.
"Oh...why would I want to remember that?" Nathaniel asked and with a quick motion he went to slit his throat.
There were screams of protest as the Commander motioned to end his life, his lieutenant would have none of that though, she un-holstered her sonic gun, aiming and shooting at her superior before he had even drawn blood. He flew backwards, landing heavily on his back. Maddy, Mark and Washington leapt forward peering down at the unconscious man.
Recovering from her shock quickly, the Lieutenant turning to the stunned couple,
"Go alert the hospital that Commander Taylor is out cold"
Mark looked at her apprehensively before ushering the middle Shannon child out the door and down the stairs.
Lieutenant Washington knelt down beside the man she loved, sighing as she saw his now peaceful face.
One day, she thought, he would be ready to move on, and until that day came,
She would wait.