Chapter 41

Confronting the Facts

At the pounding on the door, Lucas hurriedly gulped down the rest of his milk - at least, it was what the Terra Novans called milk. In reality, it was a plant-based mixture of crushed seeds and herbs - sort of on the savoury side. It was an odd flavour when compared to typical milk, but if you went into the experience with no expectations, you usually found it tasted alright. There was, however, the question of how exactly green and brown plants were squashed to create white milk. Lucas threw the cup into the sink and frowned. How did that work anyway? The mystery, such as it was, was swept aside for the moment as the banging on the door grew more insistent.

"Alright, I'm coming, I'm coming!" He muttered in annoyance. It was 7:00 am! What could possibly be so important?! A few seconds later, he reached the door with his last biscuit still clamped between his teeth. The passionate "What?!" he had prepared died on his tongue as he swung the door open and recognised the intruder.

"Skye-"

The word came out sounding rather like "Thkye", thanks to the intervention of the biscuit, but Skye didn't seem to notice. She stormed in, pausing for a minute before turning to face him. The look on her face turned his stomach cold. She was more upset than he'd ever seen her .. and he'd given her just cause to be angry with him in the past. What could he possibly have done to warrant this? Lucas shut the door slowly and took his biscuit out of his mouth.

"Come in .."

"Don't!" Skye was shaking furiously. Lucas approached her as though he was attempting to calm a wild animal, his biscuit still grasped firmly in his hand.

"What-"

"You knew."

"Knew .." Lucas repeated slowly, trying to look as though he still had no idea what she was talking about, though his mind was rapidly putting the pieces together.

"You-" Skye swallowed in frustration as her voice broke. "You knew she was sick, and you deliberately kept it from me."

Lucas studied her for a moment and then nodded slowly.

"Skye, sit down." When she still hadn't moved an inch a few seconds later, he took a deep breath. "Okay, don't."

The look she was giving him sent a stab of guilt through his chest, making him feel as though he had injected Deborah with the disease himself. The accusation in her eyes made something inside of him shrink back. He remembered wondering whether he even had a conscience in the past. Why then was it so easy to feel guilty for things that weren't his fault, things that were completely out of his control?

"How could you?" Skye's voice exploded into his thoughts. "She's my MOTHER."

"I know. She didn't want you to worry."

"It's my job to worry about her, not yours. She's not your mother, she's mine."

"I know that."

Lucas' flinch was so slight, Skye decided she'd imagined it.

"Of all the times you've betrayed me, this is the worst."

"Bucket, come on-"

Skye was shaking her head.

"I never want to see you again."

"Skye-"

She pushed past him and headed for the door, but her raging momentum seemed to be evaporating with every step. She pulled up short a few feet from it, her hand outstretched toward the handle. After a few seconds, her fingers curled into a fist and she allowed her arm to drop lifelessly by her side. Her voice came out in little more than a whisper as she addressed the wooden panels.

"I'm so worried about her."

"I know." Lucas murmured. When Skye finally turned back to him, several conspicuous drops had appeared on the front of her clean security uniform.

"What am I going to do?" She choked. "I can't .. I can't go through this. Not again."

"Yes, you can. You have to. She needs you."

The steady voice seemed to calm her somewhat. Skye shook her head in defeat. The seething monster gone, she now appeared very small and tired. He stepped forward and patted her shoulder awkwardly, waiting for her to shrug him off and pull herself together like she usually did. When she didn't move, he found the fact oddly worrying. She didn't even seem to have the heart to reject his dismal attempts to comfort her. Skye looked up at the ceiling and shook her head again, attempting to blink the tears away. Lucas watched in silence as she failed miserably. The tears came rolling down her cheeks like a waterfall. She closed her eyes against them stubbornly, as though she was trying to block any more from escaping. Unluckily for her, they managed to leak out anyway, as tears are wont to do. Her shoulders slumped as she put her hands over her face in defeat. Lucas watched helplessly for the space of several sobs. She wasn't regaining control this time. His mind's eye watched as she straightened her shoulders and raised her chin, her injured dignity and pride taking over once again. The watery mess in front of him was a far cry from that Skye, who still didn't seem to have noticed his hand resting on her shoulder. It was his move then .. but what?! A flicker of panic shot through him as he mentally evaluated his options, watching as Skye pressed a fist to her forehead in an attempt to calm herself. It didn't seem to be working very well. He hesitated a few moments longer and then cautiously put an arm around her. When she still didn't shake him off, he lifted his other arm and gently pulled her into a tight hug.

As Skye pulled away and folded her arms, the hidden observer narrowed his eyes. He couldn't hear much from where he watched - the security system wasn't known for its terribly good audio quality - but he could see enough to pick up the pieces. Taylor shook his head, mirroring Skye's last action on the screen in front of him. As Lucas walked her to the door, he turned to the animal at his feet with a scowl of displeasure.

"Not good. Not good at all."

He looked back up at the screen to see his son hesitate at the door for a moment and then walk to the window. Taylor watched him stare out thoughtfully for a few minutes before he turned and slipped away out the side entrance.

"I still don't understand how you're comfortable with this. These are giant plants with teeth. They're TERRIFYING. And I know how you feel about dinosaurs .."

"But man-eating plants don't chase you." Maddy pointed out as another shout of laughter broke from Tasha.

Josh grinned wickedly.

"Not yet."

Tasha and Mark both shivered in unison.

"Welp." Josh chomped enthusiastically on his meat-laden chopsticks. "Almost the big day. You guys are running out of time to back out."

Tasha threw a few words of rebuke at him as Maddy snorted.

"Don't listen to him, he's just looking for an excuse not to get dressed up." She folded her hands on the table and leaned across to look her brother in the eye. "But he better be careful what he says from now on. Revenge is fast approaching .. and you're not supposed to eat the wood, by the way."

Josh scowled and placed his battered chopsticks down deliberately.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that it'll be your turn soon enough .." His sister replied gleefully, as Tasha began to change colour. ".. if you ever get around to asking."

Josh glanced hurriedly at Tasha, but leaned back on the bench calmly, deciding to feign ignorance. He addressed his sister in the laziest voice he could muster.

"What are you babbling about, Maddy?"

Maddy grinned darkly, but a hand on her arm kept her from continuing. At Mark's gentle look of warning, Maddy subsided, throwing a last grin at her brother before resuming her meal. Josh released a small sigh under his breath and nodded gratefully at Mark, who smiled back. A few moments later, Maddy's voice spoke up again.

"Hey, it's Skye! Skye!" She waved an arm and called out. The others followed her gaze across the marketplace, but as Skye came into better view, Maddy's excited shouts died away.

"Wow .. she looks mad."

"Yeah, I'd be mad too." Josh chuckled sympathetically, nodding back across the markets as his sister frowned in confusion. "Look who's right behind her."

"Skye. Hey, wait up a minute."

At the sound of Taylor's voice, Skye's insides twisted, but she glanced back at him.

"Sorry, I'm in kind of a hurry."

"Uh-oh." The former commander pulled alongside her, smiling wryly. "I know that look. What's up with you?"

"It's nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"I don't want to talk about it." Skye responded flatly. Especially not with you.

".. okey." Taylor appeared to be considering his next words more carefully. "Look, I just wanted to-"

"I really don't want to talk right now." Skye interrupted. There was a hint of desperation in her voice. "Please, can we just-"

"Then let me talk. You don't have to say anything."

Skye ran a hand over her hair impatiently, but turned to face him, folding her arms against her chest.

"Fine. What is it?"

Now that he had her full attention, Taylor seemed to be caught slightly off-guard, but he proceeded, measuring his words with a degree of caution.

"I was angry with you for betraying my trust and for betraying this colony .. but I've betrayed you as well, I know it, and in some ways, my betrayal was far greater."

Skye stared at him tight-lipped, wondering vaguely how many times a person could fit the word "betray" into one sentence. Taylor hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"Skye, I had no right to go after your mother like that all those months ago. I thought I was acting in the best interests of the colony. I know now that I was wrong and I'm sorry."

His words were met with less warmth than he'd hoped for. Skye shook her head and stared expressionlessly at a nearby stall.

"What do you want me to say? I forgive you?" She chuckled humourlessly. "I know you were sick, but you tried to kill my .. mother .." she seemed to stumble a little on the word ".. and then you refused to get help."

She shrugged, turning back to him.

"I mean, where do we go from there?"

"And yet you can forgive my son after he took out half the colony?" Taylor met her stony gaze for a moment and then shook his head. "Alright, that was a petty shot, but the point stands."

Skye sighed deeply, sounding rather tired.

"Lucas has changed. He's managed to turn his life around."

No thanks to you.

The words echoed over and over again in Taylor's head. This situation wasn't all his fault, he reasoned with himself .. but he couldn't place the blame completely on his son's shoulders either. After all, as the man who raised Lucas, a large portion of the blame still rested with him. He felt somewhat injured that the colony had accepted his delinquent son and thrown him out, replacing their faithful commander with the man who had tried to destroy them, but if he was ever going to have a chance with Skye again, he would need to take the high ground. He met her eyes and nodded resolutely.

"You're right. What can I do to try and make things up to you? There must be something."

Skye watched him for a moment, apparently trying to decide how far he was willing to go to make amends.

"Actually, there is."

"What?" Taylor jumped eagerly at the thread of hope. "Anything."

"Go and see Monica." Skye responded without hesitation. "Not once. Regularly. Then I'll consider your apology."

Taylor groaned loudly.

"The counsellor? That woman .. I won't do it. Ask me something else, anything else."

Skye shook her head firmly.

"Those are my terms."

The former commander narrowed his eyes at her, sizing her up for a few moments.

".. you won't budge?"

Skye shook her head resolutely again.

"Nope."

Taylor bit his lip and ran a hand through his silver hair.

"You're asking a heck of a lot, you know."

"I know."

Taylor narrowed his eyes at her once more, but huffed loudly as he finally relented under Skye's accusatory stare.

"Fine. Fine. I'll do it. For you."

"Good." Skye didn't seem incredibly pleased at having her terms accepted, but, he thought, it was still early days yet. Perhaps in time, she would come around. At least he hoped she would. "I'll be watching to make sure you do."

"Yes, ma'am." They both fell silent then, each occupied with their own thoughts, but it wasn't overly unpleasant. In fact, Skye thought with relief, it was rather a comfortable sort of silence. She looked up to see Taylor staring down at her with what could only be described as an impish grin on his face. She raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

".. what."

"Oh nothin'." He waved her concerns away airily. "Just glad to be home. Say .. !" he exclaimed, as though the thought had just struck him anew ".. what is that young Josh Shannon doing with himself these days?"

Skye narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why the sudden interest?"

"Oh, no reason." He shrugged. "I just seem to remember you two were pretty good friends, is all."

"We were-are .. I guess." Skye flushed a little as she tripped over her words. "He's training to be a doctor at the Infirmary. Still. I don't know if you knew that."

Taylor nodded sagely.

"Good for him. And you two are still close, I take it?"

The colour on Skye's cheeks deepened as she hesitated.

"We're still friends."

"Ah, I getcha." Taylor nodded again, like a wise old owl. "Shame. I sorta liked him."

Skye looked a little startled.

"What are you saying?!"

"You gotta try harder, Skye." He put a fatherly hand on her shoulder and pretended not to notice when it was immediately removed. "Don't let anyone get in your way. If you want him .. go get him."

Skye snorted and shook her head.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

"You do that." Taylor laughed then, and Skye found it surprisingly easy to join in. When quiet descended again, she smiled up at him.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you're safe. I was worried about you out there."

Taylor smiled back warmly.

"I appreciate that."

"Are you back for good?"

"For the foreseeable future."

Skye nodded slowly, but said nothing. Eventually, the former commander broke the silence.

"So .. you and Lucas are .. friends now? I have to say, of all the things I was expecting coming back, that was the biggest shock."

"I guess you could say that, yeah. Yeah, we are." Skye repeated, sounding more sure of the fact the second time. Taylor blinked as if he was still coming to terms with the information.

"Well, how about that."

"Guess we had something in common."

Taylor snorted.

"An affection for blatantly disregarding my wishes and repeatedly breaking the rules of this colony?"

Skye grinned guiltily.

"Okay, maybe a few things."

"Hmph." Taylor shook his head in disapproval, but his eyes were twinkling.

"Anyway, I'm in security now." Skye pointed out. "My job's to enforce the rules."

"I can see that." Taylor nodded to her uniform. "Looks good on you .. but isn't it going to be difficult to enforce the law if you can't set an example of following it yourself?"

Skye was silent for a moment, her stomach flipping unexpectedly. Taylor fixed her with a knowing expression.

"I was in the woods with Carter yesterday. I saw you."

".. oh."

"'Oh'."

Silence again. This time, Skye was thoroughly uncomfortable. She fidgeted awkwardly and glanced up at the dropping sun.

"Oh wow, is it that late? I've got some stuff I should .. do."

"Uhuh." The former commander's mouth twisted dryly, but he took pity on her and inclined his head a little. "Alright, go on then. A soldier's work is never done."

Skye took the offered get-out-of-jail-free card and nodded.

"You're right about that anyway." She gave a short laugh, throwing a brief wave in his direction. "Bye."

"Bye, Skye." Taylor watched her walk away with an affectionate smile. She'd grown so much. She was so .. authoritative. The army had been good for her.

"I'm proud of you, kiddo." He muttered to himself as she wandered out of sight. He turned back just in time to catch the look of disgust on his son's face as he melted away into the mess of stalls.