See Part 1 for Disclaimer and Author's Notes.

Chapter 11 – The Vorlon Catalyst

John returned to the Minbari medical facility with a sinking feeling in his heart and a look of resignation in his eyes. He looked through the glass – Delenn was awake. She would be expecting good news; at the very least, she would be hoping for it. He had nothing of the sort.

Garibaldi entered through another door while John was still composing his thoughts, trying to decide what to tell his wife.

"I'm… I'm so sorry, John." Michael rarely came to tears, but they threatened now. "But look. They won't – they won't hold him. You said yourself, President Luchenko and the Mars Provisional Government will send in troops to Syria Planum. They'll storm PsiCorps Headquarters. They'll –"

"They'll start a war." The reply was gruff. "I won't have that. Besides… with the evidence gone, they've got no probable cause, just our word. And as good as our word might be, it won't hold up in court." John allowed a single tear to fall as he looked up to meet Michael's eyes. "God, Michael. What am I going to tell her?"

"The truth?" The other man suggested. Together they looked in on Delenn. She was propped up in bed. By all accounts, she appeared to be meditating. "No one has more faith in the universe than Delenn. Hell, she held out hope of your survival when even your own crew thought you were dead at Z'ha'dum. If there is anything left… you'll find it in her."

John nodded. "I need to be alone with her for a moment. Can you, um –"

"I need to call home." Michael put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezed ever so slightly. "I'll be in soon, but if you need me sooner, just ask."

"Thank you."

Michael waited just a moment before departing. Alone, John entered Delenn's room.

There was no need for words, in the end. She knew. She always knew. Silent tears spilled over as he lay down on the bed beside her and took her gently into his arms. "Did you find… anything?" she asked, not able to say the word, not able to ask about a body.

"No." He kissed her forehead, her cheek, her lips… trying to kiss away her tears, to kiss away her pain. "But I'm not giving up. I've got some other ideas. And if I have to go all the way to Mars myself, Delenn, I swear to you. We'll get him back."

"I do not understand," her voice wavered and cracked, "why your people do such things."

He bit back an instinctive reply. It was the first time in a very long time that she had used the term your people.

"But I will not allow this to start another war," she went on. "If our son is the price for peace…" Her voice trailed off and she looked away from him. When she spoke again, it was with the quiet determination he'd heard her use so many times over the years – the voice she used when they were against the wall, when it seemed all hope was lost, and yet, she could see reason in insanity. "We all have a destiny when we are born. Yours was to be a nexus in the Shadow War. Mine… was to understand what it is to be human, so that we could unite with the other half of our souls. I don't know if it was destiny or fate that brought the two of us together, John, but I think… when we fell in love, and when we created life, we gave our child a destiny bigger and better than either of us could imagine. The seer said he would walk through darkness but be drawn to the light. Perhaps this was what he meant."

"Maybe." John shifted slightly and held her a bit closer. He let a few moments pass as he absorbed her monologue. Finally he swallowed it as the truth. She was Minbari, after all. She always spoke the truth. And now he would, as well.

"I don't know if they knew this when they came for him, but… Delenn. David… is a telepath." The admission was quiet, subdued. Her face gave the reply that her words could not. "As far as I can figure, when… when Kosh and I… when we were joined… he gave us David. I don't think we could have conceived him otherwise. Dr. Franklin was right, the odds were…" His voice trailed off, and he shook his head. "I… don't really understand it all. But I do know… Kosh felt it was so important that we have a child, this child, that he modified… something in me… to make it possible."

She pulled back from him, eyes glistening and a shocked expression evident in all her other features. "It was Kosh…" Her eyes widened as she spoke, and John watched her face intently. "All along… he… must have known. He told me to enter the chrysalis. He mentored you, taught you how to fight the Shadows. He told you what to do at Z'ha'dum, told you to jump. He must have known… all along, he was driving us to this, for this. And when he died at the hands of the Shadows, he did the only thing he could for us, for the future – he merged with you not so he could cling to life but so that we could create it."

Again, John was silent as he processed all that she had said. As the pieces slowly clicked, he held her face in his hands, and in spite of all the hopelessness that enclosed them, in spite of the bomb that had just been dropped, in spite of the disappearance of their son… he smiled.

She touched his face, fingers brushing his lips with love and reverence. "We have to let him go, if that is what is necessary. As much as it may hurt… where he is now… if he is not to be returned to us, he is destined for another path. Perhaps… one we could not guide him down."

He ran his thumb down the side of her face, wiping away a stray tear. "I love you, Delenn. No matter what. We'll get through this. We'll be OK."

"I know." She pulled him close then, crying against his chest, letting go a little more of the child she was certain she would never see again.