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To heather mcdaniels – Thanks for your review! Not going to lie, a part of me does feel glad writing angst lol. Hope you like this chapter!
To scienceficfan24 – Thanks for your review! Glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one too!
Enjoy!
"Is this really necessary?" Hal asked Dr. Glass the next morning as she finished putting his left arm in the sling. After waking up that morning, and eating breakfast with Maggie and Matt, he had made his way back to the infirmary where Anne was waiting for him, as were his Dad and Dr. Kadar. Once in one of the private exam rooms, Anne explained to him what was wrong with his shoulder and what she wanted to do to fix it.
"If you want your shoulder to get better, then yes, it is." Anne replied, taking a step away from her patient. Seeing the annoyed expression on Hal's face, she added, "It's just for a little while. The sling will be gone before you know it."
"Wanna bet?" Hal half-heartedly joke, looking down at the thing that was keeping his arm restrained to his chest.
"So, besides my apparent need for a sling, what else did you find?" Hal then questioned, looking up at the two doctors and his Dad.
"Well, the x-rays showed that you had a lot of injuries that have healed, which you already know." Anne said, looking at the x-rays in her hand while Hal nodded before lowering his head so he wouldn't see the pained expression on his Dad's face.
"The spinal tap and blood tests revealed something else though." Hal's head shot up when heard Kadar say that.
"And that is?" Hal prompted the doctors to continue when they stayed silent for a minute instead of immediately telling him what they found. Anne and Kadar still stayed quiet for a moment, though Anne did put the x-rays down on the counter, then came over to him and sat down on the stool near the exam table Hal was sitting on.
"Hal, we found traces of DNA, one that's not yours, it's not even human actually, but it's bonded to yours." Anne finally revealed.
For a moment, Hal was too shocked to think clearly. Even though he knew Karen and the Overlords had done something to him, he didn't think that they actually messed with his DNA. It made sense to him though. After all, no human could do what he could, so logically, he wasn't human, or at least, not completely anymore. Still, it was hard to hear that there was DNA inside of you that wasn't even human and judging from look on his father's face, it was hard for him to hear it too. Hal wondered if Anne told his Dad before he got to the infirmary. From the older man's lack of shock, he assumed she had.
"Is it Espheni DNA?" Hal then asked, realizing that the doctor never actually said what DNA it was that they found.
Anne however, had more surprises in store for him, "Actually, no, it's not. It's something neither Kadar or I have seen before. It's not even set up the way Karen changed Lexi's. Hers are the human and alien DNA entwined together. With you, it's like the DNA is piggybacking on yours, and is like it's dormant. I think that's why we didn't see it when we ran the tests when you first arrived. If we hadn't run the spinal, we probably would've missed it again. The DNA is a lot more visible in your spinal fluid than your blood."
"So, I have alien DNA in my body and we have no idea what species it belongs to or what it's doing. Good thing we ran those tests to answer those questions." Hal stated with slightly sarcastic tone. Quickly realizing that he had said his thoughts louder and more rudely than he intended, he looked up at the three adults and apologized, "Sorry."
"It's alright Hal. If anyone has the right to be annoyed and frustrated, it's you." Anne replied with a small smile, her voice full of understanding as were her eyes.
"What do we do now? Is there any way to tell what this DNA is doing to him, and where it's from?" Tom inquired, sounding just as worried and desperate for answers as Hal was.
"I'm going to show the results to Cochise next time he comes, see if he knows what it is. Other than that, we can only really monitor him." Anne told Tom, who nodded in agreement though he still looked fairly concerned about his son.
"Well, there is something else we could do. We could try running these those tests again while Hal is using his powers, we might learn more." Kadar spoke up, getting everyone's attention. Though the scientist's suggestion made sense, Hal completely tensed at the idea of using his abilities and being stuck with needles while in that state.
Seeing the way his son had froze and the fearful expression on his face, as well as remembering the promise he made only two days earlier, Tom said, "No, we're not going to do that. If Cochise doesn't know anything, we'll talk about it, but Hal will have the final say on it."
Hal gave his father a grateful smile, the parent quickly returning it. Tom then looked over at Anne, and saw her nod in agreement, but when he looked at Kadar, he could easily tell that the scientist wanted to protest. The former history teacher quickly shot Kadar a look of warning and slightly shook his head, silently telling the man to keep his mouth shut. Kadar quickly saw what Tom was doing and wisely said nothing.
"So, am I good to go then?" Hal wondered, looking over at Anne as he waited for her answer.
"For now, yeah. Sometime today, I want you to come back so Lourdes can start doing the physio I told you about." Anne responded with a short nod. Hal immediately returned the nod before he jumped off the table and strode out of the room without a word, oblivious to the concerned expression his Dad was giving him as he walked away.
Anne however, saw the look and came over to her boyfriend. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she asked, "You alright?"
"Believe it or not, I'm actually more worried about him now than I was before we ran those tests and he told us what happened to him." Tom answered, staring at the door his son just went through.
"I know. But he's tough, he'll be okay, everything will be okay." Anne did her best to assure the 2nd Mass leader. When Tom turned his head to look at her over his shoulder though, she knew she failed.
"Can you guarantee that?" Tom questioned. Seeing his girlfriend's face fall, he quickly said, "Forget I asked that. I better go find Weaver. We're starting to plan another attack on another Espheni base. We want to figure out as much as we can before Cochise gets here."
"Alright. I'll see you tonight?" Anne checked. He nodded, pressed a quick kiss on the corner of Anne's mouth, then headed out of the door.
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Hal made his way through the small crowds of people to his Dad and Weaver's office, hoping that maybe Weaver had something he could do. While he was grateful that he wasn't on the frontlines, there was a part of him that missed it. He was feeling useless and restless and it was getting worse as time passed. And if there was one thing he hated, it was being useless.
Unfortunately, Weaver didn't have anything he could do, and since he was going to be stuck wearing a sling for a while, he wasn't really able to help much anyways. Hal really hoped he wouldn't have to wear it for long. Already he was getting annoyed with having only one free hand, though he was glad it wasn't his dominant hand in the sling. That would be worse. Still, he hated not being able to move his left arm. While the circumstances were a lot different, it reminded him a lot of when he was held captive by Karen.
"Hal! Wait up!" Hal immediately turned around when he heard a familiar voice calling out his name before his gaze found Matt running towards him.
"Hey Matt. What's up?" Hal asked with a smile once his little brother reached him. Matt also had a wide grin on his face, but when he saw that his oldest brother was wearing a sling, the smile left as a worried expression took its place.
"What's wrong with your arm?" Matt wondered, staring at the sling.
"Oh nothing. I hurt it a while ago but it didn't heal right, so Anne wants me to wear the sling for a while to fix it. It's nothing, don't worry about it." Hal assured his baby brother. Matt didn't looked very convinced, but he didn't say anything.
Wanting to erase the worried look on Matt's face, Hal asked, "Want to do something until I have to go meet up with Lourdes?"
Excitement immediately filled the young sibling's eyes and face as he nodded. Hal returned the smile, then wrapped his free arm around Matt's shoulders, and together, they made their way through the crowds.
FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS
After spending over an hour hanging out with Matt before he had to go on sentry duty, Hal started making his way back to the infirmary. He hoped that Lourdes was free so he could get the physio thing done and out of the way. The sooner his shoulder was back to normal, the sooner he could ditch the sling. Apparently, his timing was perfect because as he approached the building, Lourdes came out and looked around. When her eyes caught sight of him, she smiled.
"There you are. I was about to look for you." Lourdes said as Hal came to stand in front of her.
"Well, I have been working on perfecting my timing the last several weeks." Hal responded with a slightly cocky grin.
"That's a good quality to have. Come on, follow me." Lourdes told him, still smiling, then turned around and walked back into the infirmary. Hal followed right behind her.
As they entered one of the exam rooms, the second time that day for Hal, Lourdes stopped suddenly and turned to him, "Hal, I know that a lot of people have been asking you this, but, are you okay? Cause it's alright if you're not."
When Anne told her early that morning that she wanted her to be the one helping Hal with his physio, she learned a little bit of what the young man revealed to his family a few days ago, and got the results from the tests the older doctor had done yesterday. To say she was more than a little worried about her friend and former crush would be an understatement.
Hal did sigh a little, but didn't appear upset at all with her question. Instead, he gave a small, but reassuring half-smile and said, "I'm fine Lourdes."
The young doctor didn't believe the soldier for one moment, but like everyone else who knew Hal, she knew that unless he opened up voluntarily, he wouldn't talk about his feelings at all. Even when his Dad, his whole family really, confronted him, he still kept how everything he went through affected him, how it still was affecting him, to himself. She knew that nothing she said now would change that. However, that didn't mean she couldn't let him know that she was there for him if he needed.
"Well, if you ever want to talk, I'm here." Lourdes offered with a sweet, comforting smile.
"Thanks." Hal replied, smiling in return. While he was definitely starting to feel very smothered, it was nice to know that there were all these people there for him. Sometimes that's all you need, especially if you spend over three months by yourself with no one to help you, except for the person who was trying to manipulate and control you.
"So, let's get to it, shall we?" Lourdes the said after a brief moment of silence. Hal nodded, wanting nothing more than to get this physio done with.
FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS
Ben stood alone on the roof of a building near the gate. He had been up there on sentry duty for nearly two hours and had another three before his shift was over. He didn't mind though, he liked the quiet, the solitude. It gave him time to think without being distracted, and it kept him away from Hal. He knew that sounded bad, but it was the truth.
After Hal had told them what happened while he was in that experimental ghetto place, and what he did, Ben did his best to avoid his big brother, though it wasn't that hard. It seemed that Hal was avoiding people too, but not for the same reasons. He was pretty sure that Hal was avoiding everyone because he didn't want to talk to anyone, and probably because he was embarrassed about how he lost it when he revealed what happened during the months he was gone, and while Ben's reasons for avoiding Hal had to do with that night, it wasn't that.
The knowledge that his big brother killed a harnessed kid by breaking his neck weighed heavily in Ben's mind. In his head, he understood why it happened. Hal had been experimented on, tortured, was being attacked, and most likely scared to death. And if the harnessed kid was indeed about to hurt of kill his brother, which he most likely was, then it was a case of self-defense. Ben's heart on the other hand, didn't agree with his brain at all.
Ben remembered how it felt being harnessed, though he never talked about it. The one time he did was when Matt asked, not long after he was rescued and de-harnessed. While he did have the feeling that the skitters did care about them in a way, and knew exactly what they needed, Ben remembered not feeling anything. He had been completely numb, and nearly mindless. At first, he was completely aware of everything going on around him, though he wasn't in control of anything. Then, as time passed, he slowly became less and less alert, becoming nothing more than a mindless, human, drone.
Ever since he started fighting for the 2nd Mass, and saw how the harnessed kids were treated, how they were basically robots, he knew he had to find a way to save them. They were just kids, innocent kids who had been taken away from their families and were being controlled by the Overlords. It was why he was so excited when the Volm gave them the machine to remove the harnesses. Due to his past experience being harnessed, he felt the need to help them, to stand up for them, to remind the other soldiers that they were innocent kids, and when Hal admitted that he killed one, Ben felt torn between his desire to protect the harnessed kids, and his love and loyalty to his brother.
He knew that Hal understood it wasn't the harnessed kids' fault, or at least, he seemed to, and he knew that his big brother wouldn't have killed the kid if he didn't have too, or at least, Ben hoped he wouldn't. He had been wrestling those thoughts throughout the night Hal told them about what he did. No matter how hard he tried to tell himself that it wasn't his brother's fault, that it was just a bad situation all around, a voice reminded him that the harnessed boy was innocent, which ended up with Ben wondering if that boy's family was still alive, it they were looking for him.
That was why he went to the infirmary yesterday when he heard that Hal was there, having finally agreed to let Anne check him over. Ben had hoped if he could see for himself what all had happened to his older brother, he would know for sure that it wasn't Hal's fault. That he could stop the doubts in his head. However, for some reason Hal got their Dad to get him and Matt out of the room. Ben knew it was because there was something his sibling didn't want them to see, that much was obvious, but he didn't know why.
Ben was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of approaching footsteps on the fire escape. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see his Dad climb onto the rooftop. As the parent walked over to the son, he asked, "How's it going?"
"Good, it's going good. Real quiet." Ben answered.
"Has been for a while. Either that means the Espheni don't have time or the resources to waste attacking us, or they're planning something big." Tom said, coming to stand right beside his middle son.
"Either way, it means we're doing our job." Ben responded, which caused his Dad to grin.
"That it does, that it does." Tom quickly agreed.
For the next few minutes, the two stood in silence, watching the group below and the streets beyond the gate and walls for any sign of skitters or Mechs. Tom broke it though when he asked, "You alright? Haven't seen you around much in the last few days."
"Been busy." The blonde responded, not meeting his Dad's eyes. Tom though wasn't fooled. He knew his son, he could tell something was up.
"Ben, what's wrong?" Tom pushed, not willing to let his middle son push him away like his oldest was.
"Hal." Tom let out a knowing sigh when Ben said that, but stayed quiet and let Ben continue, "I know, that I can only, really, imagine what he went through, and that I wasn't there so I can't judge, but,"
Ben looked down, trying to think of a way to tell his Dad what was on his mind without sounding like a heartless, inconsiderate, jerk. It took a minute, and though he still wasn't sure if it was the right way to say it, he went ahead anyways, "That harnessed kid was innocent Dad, and Hal killed him. I know that the kid was probably going to hurt Hal, but it wasn't his fault. He was being controlled."
"I know that Ben. But it wasn't Hal's fault either. It was just, a terrible situation all around." Tom replied, not really surprised at what was going through the blonde's head.
Since Ben had been harnessed before, he felt a lot of sympathy and compassion to those children who were still under the Espheni's control. Of course he would be hurt and confused by the knowledge of what his brother did, self-defense or not. What worried Tom most though, was that Ben would become mad at Hal for what he did, that he wouldn't understand how complicated the situation actually was, that he wouldn't see how guilty Hal was already feeling and would make it worse. This whole situation was psychological warfare at its best and Tom wasn't about to let his two oldest sons lose.
"I know, or at least, my head know. But everything else," Ben stopped mid-sentence, not sure how to continue as well as not really wanting too.
"I get it. For now though, please don't say anything about this to Hal. He's really struggling with, everything. He feels bad enough and I don't want anything or anyone to make it worse." Honestly, Tom highly doubted that Ben would say or do anything to hurt his big brother, especially not on purpose, neither would Hal. Though his oldest two would fight like cats and dogs, they never, ever, tried to actually hurt each other. But with Ben's mixed feelings, his lack of knowledge of how badly his older brother had been tortured, and with such a sensitive and difficult situation, the father needed to be sure.
Ben's head snapped to the side to look at his Dad when he heard that, a shocked and almost offended expression on his face. On one hand, he couldn't believe his Dad felt the need to say that. There was no way Ben would say anything about this to his older brother. It was one of the reasons he was sort of avoiding Hal, so he wouldn't accidentally say anything.
On the other hand though, he understood where his father was coming from. Even a blind man could see Hal wasn't handling everything that happened to him very well and no one wanted to make it worse. However, there was something in his father's voice that gave Ben the notion that the former history teacher knew something the blonde didn't. It made Ben wonder what happened in the infirmary after he and Matt were kicked out.
The teenager pushed the thought away for now though and said, "Don't worry. I won't say anything."
"Good, thank you." Tom responded, giving him a small but grateful smile.
The two then fell into another period of silence, though it wasn't much of an easy one as the one they were in before, both of their thoughts and worries on Hal. The silence was broken though when Ben asked, "Do you think Hal's going to be okay?"
Tom sighed a little before answering, "I really, really, hope so, but honestly, I don't know. I just don't know.
