Disclaimer: My name is not Fox, I do not own this show. I am so glad RN I am not Fox actually… otherwise you'd all be at me with flames and angry mob behaviour! lol

Keeping Distance

1 Week Ago…

Elizabeth Shannon and Malcolm Wallace stood at a work desk, either side of it, the plex between them turned sideways so they could both read it. A single pad of paper sat beside it listing the four consistent symptoms their patients were showing. Black rash, high fever, heavy head and a throaty cough. They flicked through their collection of common diseases, brushing one off after the other, determined to go through every condition known to man, from most to least likely, until they found an answer. Elizabeth sipped from a glass of water. "This is a good match," she said as they paused on a skin condition. "Black rash, coughing, fever, disorientation."

Malcolm shook his head. "They aren't disoriented. This morning Mr. Abbott asked me to remind him he needs to water his Lilly of the Valley – it's an endangered species." He read a bit more. "Plus this spreads by contact with a plant that isn't found here in Terra Nova. It could be OTG but I have yet to come across it." He clicked 'next page' on the plex with a sigh. "They're getting worse every moment we stand here. I thought a bad strain of the flu at first but the rash, the severity, it doesn't fit."

"You're right Dr. Wallace," a much younger voice slapped some papers down on the table and both doctors looked up at the young intern. Skye tapped the paper. "It's a strain of influenza, but one we haven't seen in almost 20 years."

Malcolm turned the paper around and flicked through it, a look of realization dawning on his face, and then a small smile. He handed Elizabeth the papers and then hurried off out of the infirmary. Elizabeth watched him go before she read the papers. "Cariatic Flu?" It took her a moment to understand and then she nodded. "It fits. Of course it fits." She beamed at Skye. "Our world was no good for it, no untreated water, but here – the humidity, the rains last week, the dirt." Skye nodded. "How did you work it out?"

Skye bit her lip a little, trying to formulate a good lie while playing up being coy, and just shrugged. "I think I must have read it somewhere. Then I just went to The Eye and threw names at it until this came up." She chuckled. "I thought it was called Carrier Flu at first. The Eye gave me a paper on pigeons." It was disturbing how good she'd become at lying in the last few years.

Elizabeth laughed. "Close enough." At those words Malcolm returned carrying eight vials of greeny-coloured liquid. "Is that all we have?" Her smile slipped a little.

Malcolm nodded. "It should be enough, but just in case, I'd like to administer only half doses. That way w…"

Skye cut him off. "It says on the third page," she practically swiped the pages from Elizabeth's hand but Dr. Shannon didn't protest. "No, sorry, fourth page." She held it out to Dr. Wallace. "If mixed with ground painkiller tablets and given twice a day for two weeks, it works just as effectively, and you could easily make enough for 20 people from those vials."

Malcolm smiled and took Dr. Shannon's keys to the medicine cabinet as she held them out to him. He left in the direction of the painkillers and Elizabeth looked at Skye. "I think it's about time the colony appreciated your flare for research. I'm going to tell the Commander."

Skye's smile fell easily. The Commander… the man who Skye had seen as her father for many years hadn't spoken to her since they'd returned from the forest. She understood she'd done wrong not telling him about Deborah, but she felt sure she'd regained his respect after saving him from Lucas, but it appeared not. They'd barely spoken four words since that day 3 months earlier. "It's my job. You know, intern, does all the silly obvious stuff, like cleaning up. Anyway, I didn't do this for admiration, I did this for Terra Nova." Her head sunk a little. "I feel I owe them that after everything…"

Elizabeth smiled and touched her shoulder. "No one blames you for what you did to save your mother Skye, no one can say they would have done any different, and you deserve to be proud of yourself for this. Your initiative, your drive, doing this all by yourself," another pang of guilt hit Skye. Great – just when she thought she'd got rid of it after dealing with Lucas. "It just assures me I made the right choice giving you this internship." She glanced up as one of the nurses called out to her. "Now, back to work." Skye smiled again. "Once Malcolm's had these tablets made up, will you join my family for dinner? Maddy's cooking to try and impress Mark so this should be elaborate."

Skye nodded. "I'd like that. Thanks." Elizabeth smiled and left as Skye's head hung again. She knew she'd done well, the right thing, and all that Dr. Shannon had said – so why did she still feel wretched inside?

…

3 Months Earlier…

Lucas Taylor's head throbbed when he awoke, and his chest didn't rise as far as it should, his breathing a little constricted. He opened one eye in the late afternoon light and looked down at the thick white bandage wrapped around him now. Another bound his shoulder up, digging in under his armpit, not painful just a little uncomfortable. "What th…"

"Don't move just yet." The tone was bored, but familiar, and Lucas glanced up at the girl leaning against a tree nearby, chewing on an apple and watching his every move. She glanced at her watch. "The stitches have been in for about 40 minutes. I recommend an hour before you try to move, and even then, no fast movements." She tapped her left hand against her knee and Lucas' eyes followed the movement to the gun in her hand, pointing right at him, safety on but her finger resting gently on the trigger. She seemed more than ready to shoot him again if he tried anything.

He may not be able to move, but he still had words, and his classic cold sneer. "Been playing doctors and nurses have we Bucket?"

She scowled. "I am a trained medical practitioner, I spend 4 days a week saving people's lives, what do you spend four days a week doing Lucas? Planning your next cold, heartless, selfish play?" She bit into her apple again. "You hungry?"

"Like you'd give me food anyway."

Skye cast her eyes skyward. "If I wasn't going to give you anything then why would I ask?" She reached into her backpack and fished around inside for a bit. "You know, you creeped me out before, but I think I prefer creepy Lucas to paranoid 'everyone's out to get me' Lucas." She found another apple and rolled it towards him.

As it came to a stop near his arm he picked it up and half-heartedly cleaned it on his shirt. "It's not paranoia if it's true." He glanced sideways at her. "Unless you've forgotten that you shot me, twice, just yesterday." He bit into the fruit and Skye glanced away. He failed to hide a smirk. "Your guilty conscience hurting you dear sister?"

She frowned, a deep hate-filled frown, and shook her head. "I told you before you tried to shoot me t…"

He cut over her. "I never would have shot you." The words were soft, but clear, and every inch of them stung with honesty. Skye didn't even have to question if she believed him or not, she just did.

"Nonetheless, before that incident, I told you – I'm not having your blood on my hands. I'm not having anyones. You may be okay with killing people but I'm not." There was finality in her tone and thankfully Lucas noticed it. He didn't say any more. Finishing her apple she tossed it into the forest beyond and pushed herself to her feet. "Fifteen minutes and you'll be free to go on your way." He kept eating his apple, ignoring her, or pretending he was anyway. "Are you going to the Sixer camp?"

"What do you care?"

"You'll need your wounds redressed, I'm sure you can do that, but you'll also need the stitches replaced at least once a month. I can give you a month's worth of dressings and painkillers now, but that's all. I'll need to be in contact again in 30 days."

He nodded. "Snakehead Falls."

Skye narrowed her eyes. "You live at Snakehead Falls?" He shook his head. "Why there then?"

"Because that's where I'll be okay?" There was a growl in his voice and Skye suddenly remembered – the sketching on the rocks.

"You'll never re-open the rift." She muttered matter-of-factly. He said nothing again. "Fine, I'll see you again in 30 days. When I arrive I'll whistle like this," she gave a loud and obvious whistle. Lucas momentarily wondered if anyone else had just heard it, but figured he didn't care if they had anyway, the worst they could do was hurt Skye or lock him in the Brig and right now neither seemed too bad. "Good luck Lucas." But her tone was emotionless… she didn't wish him luck at all.

"And you too Bucket." He replied just as spitefully as she walked away from him. Tossing his half-eaten apple angrily Lucas moved to stand but the pain was too much and he fell back down, glancing at the bag Skye had left behind, the bag of painkillers and dressings. It was just a plain, blue backpack but Lucas reached out a hand and drew it to him. Then, shoving it under his head, he laid back and stared at the sky.

A big thank you to flimmer, AlexisSalvatore17, miaparker (whose story Affections is brill), Jemmz and EmtheUnicorn (who I am sooo not stalking on Tumblr! Lol) for their reviews. Please, please review if you can, even if it's just 'this is good' or 'this sucks compared to other peoples stories about lucket' (trust me, I know!) I love to hear people are reading this. A quick part 3 as I prepare for a busy weekend. No update until Monday so have a good Lucket-filled weekend all. Cheers guys!