Disclaimer: I own everything... *sigh* Ok, no I don't *cries* I own nothing, NOTHING! *sighs sadly*
Note: Did I take long enough getting this one up? ;) Very sorry...
Summary: What can I say? Parts of this story are spinning off into different aeras of the show, so I'm not going to try and classify it anymore, its just an AU story now, and thats that, lol. Ok, what do we have here... no I would *never* kill of Sandoval, lol. And what's this, a possible father/son moment between Liam and Sandy? (come on, I couldn't resist ;) Hey if, Lili and Sandy hook up, that makes Lili Liam's mother doesn't it? :) I also don't know if I spelled "Siobhan" right. As for the rest, read the other stories ;)
Author's note: see last author's note :)
*** When Stars Collide -- Chapter 5 ***
Sandoval made an attempt to open his eyes. They felt like they had led weights attached to them, and once he was able to open them just a bit, the lights nearly blinded his currently over-sensitive eyes. He closed them again and took a deep breath, which he immediately realized as a mistake, as it hurt more than the lights did.
Lili Marquette heard a noice from behind her, and turned to check on Sandoval. "You're awake," she said with a smile, "that's good, it was touch and go there for awhile. You took a pretty bad hit."
Sandoval opened his eyes again. The lights weren't as bad the second time, but his vision was a little blurry and he couldn't tell where he was.
"Where am I?" he managed to croak out the words, but only barely. His throat was extremely dry and sore.
She smiled, "Don't worry about that right now."
The figure moved around, and Sandoval tried to focus in. He didn't have to try hard this time as his vision started to return. "Lili?"
Lili gave a saddened smile. She hated seeing him like this. Sandoval, despite his previous personality and actions, was always a very strong person. To see him like this now... it hurt, because she knew that he had done this to protect her. "Hey there," she smiled and moved next to him. She rubbed his arm with her hand as she sat down in the chair next to where he was lying, "how do you feel?"
Sandoval relaxed a bit and sighed, "I feel like I've been hit by a freight train."
Lili laughed gently, "Oh no, that would have hurt a lot less I think."
Sandoval smiled weakly. She was right... he knew the weapon he was hit with, and he was lucky it didn't kill him. It just went to show how much Zo'or wanted to take out the Resistance... shoot to kill first, ask questions later. What an approach...
Which suddenly made him think, as he made an attempt to sit up, "The resistance leaders?" He nearly cried out as a serious wave of pain swept through his body at his attempt to move to an upright position.
Lili grabbed his arm and lowered him back down, "They're all ok, they all made it out..."
Sandoval looked up at her, his vision coming more into focus, "Are you alright?"
Lili nodded, "Not a scratch on me," she smiled.
"Thanks to you," came the voice from behind Lili, someone who just entered the scene. Sandoval at least knew *that* voice by heart.
"Liam," he said, in a rare first-name-basis moment with the other protector.
Liam Kincaid pulled up a second chair and sat beside Lili. "You took quite a hit. We weren't sure if you were going to pull out of it," he gave an I-can't-believe-it type of smile and sighed, "and I can't thank you for risking your life to try and help us out." He hesitated and then continued, "I never..."
Sandoval interjected, cutting him off in a low voice, "You don't have to try and drum up a thank-you." Liam was a proud person... Sandoval assumed that trying to thank the person he abhored for the longest time now was probably difficult for him. Until he was able to see the look on his face.
"No," Liam said. He leaned over and put a hand on Sandoval's shoulder, "You deserve it."
Sandoval shut his eyes for a moment and sighed, "I don't deserve anything. This whole thing should have been avoided. I was..."
"... the one monitoring Lili," Liam interjected this time. He nodded in a sympathetic way, "We know what happened." He chuckled gently, "But the thing is, a situation where a lot of people would end up being killed *was* avoided. And it was *because* you were monitoring Lili. And what happened out there, it would have happened if you had or had not been at your station..." Sandoval affected a look of confusion, and Liam continued with his explanation, "Zo'or had assumed that you were becoming disloyal to him, either towards your own agenda or not, it didn't matter to him... at any rate, he might have put you in charge of monitoring us... but in reality, you weren't in charge at all."
Sandoval sighed and closed his eyes, "Zo'or was monitoring the same thing I was." He shook his head gently, "And he *let* me get off that ship."
Lili nodded and spoke next, "It isn't your fault that this happened." Lili put her hand ontop of his.
Sandoval turned his hand over and gave hers a squeeze, "Maybe this wasn't totally my fault," he sighed, "But a lot of other things were." Before either Liam or Lili could respond to that, he took a better look around the room where he was. "Where am I, exactly? This doesn't look like the hospital..."
"It isn't," Liam answered, "There was no way we could take you to a regular medical facility."
Sandoval understood, "Zo'or isn't exactly happy, is he."
Liam laughed, "That's an understatement." He sighed, "Trust me that both of our protector days are over..."
"Then, where *is* this place?"
Lili had to take care of something out of Sandoval's line of sight. She smiled down at him and said she would be right back, and left for a few moments. Liam moved into the chair Lili vaccated, and gave a look around the place himself.
"Welcome to the Resistance," he said. "You're underground right now, and protected. We can't be detected here by anything Taelon or Human."
Sandoval slowly shook his head, and tried to sit up. Liam helped him to an upright position, "I can't stay here," he said grogily, "Zo'or is not the type to let someone like me escape without a massive man hunt, you know that as well as I do."
Lili called from across the room, "He's right, we're getting reports in now, there is one huge manhunt on, not only for Resistance leaders and members, but for Sandoval."
Sandoval sighed, "This may be sheltered and unknown *now*, but I don't think Zo'or is going to give up until he finds me, which means I'm putting this place in danger. He's quite.." he paused and made a disgusted face, ".. resourceful."
"No," Liam shook his head, "Because I get the feeling Zo'or is also going to want to get his hands on me as well. And I certainly am not abandoning this place. None of us are." He smiled slightly, "And I hope that you *are* one of us."
Sandoval laughed, "Well, I'm not one of *them* anymore at anyrate, so I guess that makes me on your side."
Liam got up and helped him to stand up. He was a bit unstable, but was able to walk alright. Lili took Liam's place as he crossed to another area of the underground hideout. She smiled slightly at him... she'd forgotten how incredible his eyes were when he looked at her. It took her a moment to return to reality and notice that he was smiling back at her. He closed to short distance between them and further surprised her slipping his arm around her back and gently pulling her towards him.
Lili sighed a content sigh and leaned against Sandoval for a moment, happy to just let everything else slip away for a moment. Just one moment...
Which never lasts for long...
"Oh no..." came an all too familiar voice to Lili. And again.. "Oh no!"
Lili opened her partially-closed eyes to get a full view of the new addition to the party. She wanted to laugh, the look on his face betrayed a combination of pure disgust and confusion. "Augur," she said in a sort-of-sleepy voice. She wasn't finished giving up her moment yet. "Glad you could join the party."
"I don't know if you're blind, Lili," Augur hissed, "But that is Ronald Sandoval you're groping onto there!" He was furious, confused... and hurt. Lili could definately see the hurt in his eyes.
Sandoval suddenly felt really uncomfortable. Up until this point, he wasn't feeling too bad about this whole situation. Well, to a point at least... confusion was sure the term of the day. And who was this Augur anyway... he seemed familiar... his CVI must have been more damaged than he originally thought if he was having trouble remembering things. The CVI was a permanent database of every single nuance of his life.
Lili pulled away from Sandoval for a moment and walked over to Augur. She started, "Augur..."
Augur furrowed his forhead and grumbled in a stern voice, "I already got the message from Liam that he was here." He turned around towards one of his computer terminals, and cast a cold stare out of the corner of his eye to Liam, who didn't notice. "Mind you, Mr. Kincaid over there certainly seems to have left some things out," he muttered under his breath.
Sandoval came up behind Lili and placed a nervous hand on her waist. Lili turned and nodded an "its ok" towards him. He nodded back. She smiled gently again. Sandoval's grim stern face seemed to have been replaced long ago and permanently with... with such a human looking face. Etched with confusion and concern right now, and before, she saw the kindness and caring she recalled clearly from the other night at the park. His eyes were so sad right now as she looked into them, and he kept looking towards the floor. He had no idea what to do, where to go, how to help, or how to stay out of the way if that was the desired embience... an outcast among two places now, Humanity and with the Taelons. These people here seemed to try and accept him... or at least put up a good show. But it was going to take time. Possibly more time than was available. He sighed deeply...
What he couldn't seem to comprehend though was the looks he gained from Major Kincaid. Sandoval winced slightly at the thought... *those* memories seemed to be crystal clear. His plots to take Liam Kincaid down permanently surfaced into his mind, and he shuddered. He had hated this man. Plotted against him. And he knew Liam wasn't a stupid person... Liam knew. And yet, the look in his eyes, one of pure compassion. Something he never expected. Something that shocked him. After he had put the young protector through so much...
Liam turned from his terminal and returned to the small party of people. 'God his eyes,' he thought to himself, 'They look so much like...' he paused in his thoughts, 'Siobhan?' But his thoughts were interupted then by a sudden wave of pain, dull at first, sharper as moments passed.
Suddenly images started flashing into his mind. Sandoval squeezed his eyes shut, which went unnoticed to the others who were chatting amonst themselves deciding on plans of action. A sharp pain raced through Sandoval's head as the images started to come into focus. A multitude of images started coming before him, of Siobhan... then of Liam... he shook his head slightly to try and clear his mind. His CVI really must be severely damaged. But the images kept coming.
"Sandoval?" Lili questioned with concern. He looked like he was having some sort of severe migraine. He didn't respond, however, he could only gasp to try and regain his breath, he was having a difficult time concentrating, breathing, standing... his legs began to buckle.
Liam moved quickly up beside him and grabbed his arm... but the touch created havoc with the images in Sandoval's mind. What seemed like a jolt of energy passed between them. Sandoval's eyes were tightly shut, and he didn't notice the young protector's hands begin to emmit light upon contact with him.
Liam gasped himself, he was being dragged into this connection and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't control his shaqaravah quickly enough before the connection was established and he was sucked into it, like matter into a black hole. He couldn't stop. His mind started spinning out of control. And memories started to emerge... 'No!' he mentally screamed, 'this wasn't the way it should happen. Why was it happening like this now. Sandoval... he couldn't know this yet.' He wasn't ready. This wasn't right.
But he couldn't stop it.
Lili grabbed Ron by the other arm and Augur steadied Liam, but before they could do anything to try and help, Liam's shaqaravah deactivated as mysteriously as they activated, and he was able to break away. Sandoval gasped, finally able to take in a full breath of air, but quickly collapsed as Lili helped lower him to the floor. She rubbed her hand on his back. Panic crossed her face as she still was unsure what had just transpired.
But Liam, who recovered much more quickly, started backing away. He rubbed his face with his hands, and shook his head... "It wasn't meant to be this way..." he mumbled in a shakey voice, as he turned and headed for the door."
"You can't go out there, Liam!" Augur yelled and followed him.
Lili was torn on what to do. But as Sandoval regained a sense of balance and a grip back on reality, she knew that this wasn't her place to interfere.
Sandoval tried desperately to sort out the images. His mind was reeling with the new information as his CVI stored it all, and he could access it. But the images didn't make any sense. And the memories... weren't his own. They were Liam's. They were Siobhan's. They were mixed up parts of a puzzle, but as the mist started to clear in his mind, many of them started to fit together...
Liam was already disengaging the security lockdown on the door when a hand on his shoulder tried to gently pull him back. Liam was near tears. He never thought it would be like this. It shouldn't have happened this way. This wasn't the time. Not now. Why did it happen. His mind raced through a million things, he couldn't concentrate, he fumbled with the computer controls. The hand tugged on his shoulder again.
"Augur," Liam said in a shakey voice, "Augur it shouldn't have happened like this."
"Maybe not," returned the voice behind him, "but it did."
Liam held his breath for a moment as he turned to see Sandoval, not Augur, pulling him back from the computer. Liam turned his head away. He could only repeat over and over: "It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't. It wasn't supposed to be like this..."
Sandoval felt like his head was on fire. HARdly anything was making sense, and yet it all fit together. He placed both hands on the young protector's shoulders and gently pulled again. This time, Liam stepped back from the computer.
"Liam," he said softly. The younger man turned his head finally towards him, his face wet with tears, and a look of despair on his face. Sandoval could oddly enough only smile. He was so innocent... like a child. 'He *is* a child,' Sandoval reminded himself as he searched through his new memories. 'Not just any child... He's *your* child.' He started again. "Liam, you have memories of Siobhan," he gently shook his shoulders as Liam tried to look away at the mention of her name, "You have memories of her. You knew what she was like." He smiled sadly, "What she believed."
The young protector nodded blankly.
Sandoval turned Liam all the way around to face him, "I know you do. Now tell me," he looked into his eyes. Those piercing eyes, so much like Siobhan... so much like her in many ways, "If you had told her 'It wasn't supposed to be like this', what would she have said to you?"
Liam thought about the question for a moment. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. After a moment of waiting, he tried once more to breathe out the answer... "She would have said," he paused for a moment, and then continued, "That everything happens for a reason. And things are as they should be." He looked briefly around the room... to a frozen Augur and Lili who dared not move from their places in fear of disturbing the delicate balance in the room. And then, he looked up to this man standing infront of him... who was he?
'Your father,' came a voice in the back of his mind... not his own. A soft voice, that brought a flood of emotions back to him. And then he collapsed... too weak to do anything more than just fall out of his own mind, fall to the floor.
Sandoval caught him and helped him into a chair. He pushed his own confusion out of his mind. Liam was the one who needed the focus here. He looked over at Lili, his eyes pleading for answers. He didn't know what to do. But Lili was terrified, she had never seen Liam like this before. She had no idea what to do, and her look betrayed that. He looked back at this man sitting in the chair, his head down. who was he?
'Your son,' came a voice in the back of his mind... not his own. A gentle voice, that he recalled so many other times.
"My son..." he murmured outloud. For the first time. And he leaned his forhead against Liam's downcast head and sighed.
(possibly to be continued? I suppose I could end it here... we'll see)
Note: Did I take long enough getting this one up? ;) Very sorry...
Summary: What can I say? Parts of this story are spinning off into different aeras of the show, so I'm not going to try and classify it anymore, its just an AU story now, and thats that, lol. Ok, what do we have here... no I would *never* kill of Sandoval, lol. And what's this, a possible father/son moment between Liam and Sandy? (come on, I couldn't resist ;) Hey if, Lili and Sandy hook up, that makes Lili Liam's mother doesn't it? :) I also don't know if I spelled "Siobhan" right. As for the rest, read the other stories ;)
Author's note: see last author's note :)
*** When Stars Collide -- Chapter 5 ***
Sandoval made an attempt to open his eyes. They felt like they had led weights attached to them, and once he was able to open them just a bit, the lights nearly blinded his currently over-sensitive eyes. He closed them again and took a deep breath, which he immediately realized as a mistake, as it hurt more than the lights did.
Lili Marquette heard a noice from behind her, and turned to check on Sandoval. "You're awake," she said with a smile, "that's good, it was touch and go there for awhile. You took a pretty bad hit."
Sandoval opened his eyes again. The lights weren't as bad the second time, but his vision was a little blurry and he couldn't tell where he was.
"Where am I?" he managed to croak out the words, but only barely. His throat was extremely dry and sore.
She smiled, "Don't worry about that right now."
The figure moved around, and Sandoval tried to focus in. He didn't have to try hard this time as his vision started to return. "Lili?"
Lili gave a saddened smile. She hated seeing him like this. Sandoval, despite his previous personality and actions, was always a very strong person. To see him like this now... it hurt, because she knew that he had done this to protect her. "Hey there," she smiled and moved next to him. She rubbed his arm with her hand as she sat down in the chair next to where he was lying, "how do you feel?"
Sandoval relaxed a bit and sighed, "I feel like I've been hit by a freight train."
Lili laughed gently, "Oh no, that would have hurt a lot less I think."
Sandoval smiled weakly. She was right... he knew the weapon he was hit with, and he was lucky it didn't kill him. It just went to show how much Zo'or wanted to take out the Resistance... shoot to kill first, ask questions later. What an approach...
Which suddenly made him think, as he made an attempt to sit up, "The resistance leaders?" He nearly cried out as a serious wave of pain swept through his body at his attempt to move to an upright position.
Lili grabbed his arm and lowered him back down, "They're all ok, they all made it out..."
Sandoval looked up at her, his vision coming more into focus, "Are you alright?"
Lili nodded, "Not a scratch on me," she smiled.
"Thanks to you," came the voice from behind Lili, someone who just entered the scene. Sandoval at least knew *that* voice by heart.
"Liam," he said, in a rare first-name-basis moment with the other protector.
Liam Kincaid pulled up a second chair and sat beside Lili. "You took quite a hit. We weren't sure if you were going to pull out of it," he gave an I-can't-believe-it type of smile and sighed, "and I can't thank you for risking your life to try and help us out." He hesitated and then continued, "I never..."
Sandoval interjected, cutting him off in a low voice, "You don't have to try and drum up a thank-you." Liam was a proud person... Sandoval assumed that trying to thank the person he abhored for the longest time now was probably difficult for him. Until he was able to see the look on his face.
"No," Liam said. He leaned over and put a hand on Sandoval's shoulder, "You deserve it."
Sandoval shut his eyes for a moment and sighed, "I don't deserve anything. This whole thing should have been avoided. I was..."
"... the one monitoring Lili," Liam interjected this time. He nodded in a sympathetic way, "We know what happened." He chuckled gently, "But the thing is, a situation where a lot of people would end up being killed *was* avoided. And it was *because* you were monitoring Lili. And what happened out there, it would have happened if you had or had not been at your station..." Sandoval affected a look of confusion, and Liam continued with his explanation, "Zo'or had assumed that you were becoming disloyal to him, either towards your own agenda or not, it didn't matter to him... at any rate, he might have put you in charge of monitoring us... but in reality, you weren't in charge at all."
Sandoval sighed and closed his eyes, "Zo'or was monitoring the same thing I was." He shook his head gently, "And he *let* me get off that ship."
Lili nodded and spoke next, "It isn't your fault that this happened." Lili put her hand ontop of his.
Sandoval turned his hand over and gave hers a squeeze, "Maybe this wasn't totally my fault," he sighed, "But a lot of other things were." Before either Liam or Lili could respond to that, he took a better look around the room where he was. "Where am I, exactly? This doesn't look like the hospital..."
"It isn't," Liam answered, "There was no way we could take you to a regular medical facility."
Sandoval understood, "Zo'or isn't exactly happy, is he."
Liam laughed, "That's an understatement." He sighed, "Trust me that both of our protector days are over..."
"Then, where *is* this place?"
Lili had to take care of something out of Sandoval's line of sight. She smiled down at him and said she would be right back, and left for a few moments. Liam moved into the chair Lili vaccated, and gave a look around the place himself.
"Welcome to the Resistance," he said. "You're underground right now, and protected. We can't be detected here by anything Taelon or Human."
Sandoval slowly shook his head, and tried to sit up. Liam helped him to an upright position, "I can't stay here," he said grogily, "Zo'or is not the type to let someone like me escape without a massive man hunt, you know that as well as I do."
Lili called from across the room, "He's right, we're getting reports in now, there is one huge manhunt on, not only for Resistance leaders and members, but for Sandoval."
Sandoval sighed, "This may be sheltered and unknown *now*, but I don't think Zo'or is going to give up until he finds me, which means I'm putting this place in danger. He's quite.." he paused and made a disgusted face, ".. resourceful."
"No," Liam shook his head, "Because I get the feeling Zo'or is also going to want to get his hands on me as well. And I certainly am not abandoning this place. None of us are." He smiled slightly, "And I hope that you *are* one of us."
Sandoval laughed, "Well, I'm not one of *them* anymore at anyrate, so I guess that makes me on your side."
Liam got up and helped him to stand up. He was a bit unstable, but was able to walk alright. Lili took Liam's place as he crossed to another area of the underground hideout. She smiled slightly at him... she'd forgotten how incredible his eyes were when he looked at her. It took her a moment to return to reality and notice that he was smiling back at her. He closed to short distance between them and further surprised her slipping his arm around her back and gently pulling her towards him.
Lili sighed a content sigh and leaned against Sandoval for a moment, happy to just let everything else slip away for a moment. Just one moment...
Which never lasts for long...
"Oh no..." came an all too familiar voice to Lili. And again.. "Oh no!"
Lili opened her partially-closed eyes to get a full view of the new addition to the party. She wanted to laugh, the look on his face betrayed a combination of pure disgust and confusion. "Augur," she said in a sort-of-sleepy voice. She wasn't finished giving up her moment yet. "Glad you could join the party."
"I don't know if you're blind, Lili," Augur hissed, "But that is Ronald Sandoval you're groping onto there!" He was furious, confused... and hurt. Lili could definately see the hurt in his eyes.
Sandoval suddenly felt really uncomfortable. Up until this point, he wasn't feeling too bad about this whole situation. Well, to a point at least... confusion was sure the term of the day. And who was this Augur anyway... he seemed familiar... his CVI must have been more damaged than he originally thought if he was having trouble remembering things. The CVI was a permanent database of every single nuance of his life.
Lili pulled away from Sandoval for a moment and walked over to Augur. She started, "Augur..."
Augur furrowed his forhead and grumbled in a stern voice, "I already got the message from Liam that he was here." He turned around towards one of his computer terminals, and cast a cold stare out of the corner of his eye to Liam, who didn't notice. "Mind you, Mr. Kincaid over there certainly seems to have left some things out," he muttered under his breath.
Sandoval came up behind Lili and placed a nervous hand on her waist. Lili turned and nodded an "its ok" towards him. He nodded back. She smiled gently again. Sandoval's grim stern face seemed to have been replaced long ago and permanently with... with such a human looking face. Etched with confusion and concern right now, and before, she saw the kindness and caring she recalled clearly from the other night at the park. His eyes were so sad right now as she looked into them, and he kept looking towards the floor. He had no idea what to do, where to go, how to help, or how to stay out of the way if that was the desired embience... an outcast among two places now, Humanity and with the Taelons. These people here seemed to try and accept him... or at least put up a good show. But it was going to take time. Possibly more time than was available. He sighed deeply...
What he couldn't seem to comprehend though was the looks he gained from Major Kincaid. Sandoval winced slightly at the thought... *those* memories seemed to be crystal clear. His plots to take Liam Kincaid down permanently surfaced into his mind, and he shuddered. He had hated this man. Plotted against him. And he knew Liam wasn't a stupid person... Liam knew. And yet, the look in his eyes, one of pure compassion. Something he never expected. Something that shocked him. After he had put the young protector through so much...
Liam turned from his terminal and returned to the small party of people. 'God his eyes,' he thought to himself, 'They look so much like...' he paused in his thoughts, 'Siobhan?' But his thoughts were interupted then by a sudden wave of pain, dull at first, sharper as moments passed.
Suddenly images started flashing into his mind. Sandoval squeezed his eyes shut, which went unnoticed to the others who were chatting amonst themselves deciding on plans of action. A sharp pain raced through Sandoval's head as the images started to come into focus. A multitude of images started coming before him, of Siobhan... then of Liam... he shook his head slightly to try and clear his mind. His CVI really must be severely damaged. But the images kept coming.
"Sandoval?" Lili questioned with concern. He looked like he was having some sort of severe migraine. He didn't respond, however, he could only gasp to try and regain his breath, he was having a difficult time concentrating, breathing, standing... his legs began to buckle.
Liam moved quickly up beside him and grabbed his arm... but the touch created havoc with the images in Sandoval's mind. What seemed like a jolt of energy passed between them. Sandoval's eyes were tightly shut, and he didn't notice the young protector's hands begin to emmit light upon contact with him.
Liam gasped himself, he was being dragged into this connection and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't control his shaqaravah quickly enough before the connection was established and he was sucked into it, like matter into a black hole. He couldn't stop. His mind started spinning out of control. And memories started to emerge... 'No!' he mentally screamed, 'this wasn't the way it should happen. Why was it happening like this now. Sandoval... he couldn't know this yet.' He wasn't ready. This wasn't right.
But he couldn't stop it.
Lili grabbed Ron by the other arm and Augur steadied Liam, but before they could do anything to try and help, Liam's shaqaravah deactivated as mysteriously as they activated, and he was able to break away. Sandoval gasped, finally able to take in a full breath of air, but quickly collapsed as Lili helped lower him to the floor. She rubbed her hand on his back. Panic crossed her face as she still was unsure what had just transpired.
But Liam, who recovered much more quickly, started backing away. He rubbed his face with his hands, and shook his head... "It wasn't meant to be this way..." he mumbled in a shakey voice, as he turned and headed for the door."
"You can't go out there, Liam!" Augur yelled and followed him.
Lili was torn on what to do. But as Sandoval regained a sense of balance and a grip back on reality, she knew that this wasn't her place to interfere.
Sandoval tried desperately to sort out the images. His mind was reeling with the new information as his CVI stored it all, and he could access it. But the images didn't make any sense. And the memories... weren't his own. They were Liam's. They were Siobhan's. They were mixed up parts of a puzzle, but as the mist started to clear in his mind, many of them started to fit together...
Liam was already disengaging the security lockdown on the door when a hand on his shoulder tried to gently pull him back. Liam was near tears. He never thought it would be like this. It shouldn't have happened this way. This wasn't the time. Not now. Why did it happen. His mind raced through a million things, he couldn't concentrate, he fumbled with the computer controls. The hand tugged on his shoulder again.
"Augur," Liam said in a shakey voice, "Augur it shouldn't have happened like this."
"Maybe not," returned the voice behind him, "but it did."
Liam held his breath for a moment as he turned to see Sandoval, not Augur, pulling him back from the computer. Liam turned his head away. He could only repeat over and over: "It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't. It wasn't supposed to be like this..."
Sandoval felt like his head was on fire. HARdly anything was making sense, and yet it all fit together. He placed both hands on the young protector's shoulders and gently pulled again. This time, Liam stepped back from the computer.
"Liam," he said softly. The younger man turned his head finally towards him, his face wet with tears, and a look of despair on his face. Sandoval could oddly enough only smile. He was so innocent... like a child. 'He *is* a child,' Sandoval reminded himself as he searched through his new memories. 'Not just any child... He's *your* child.' He started again. "Liam, you have memories of Siobhan," he gently shook his shoulders as Liam tried to look away at the mention of her name, "You have memories of her. You knew what she was like." He smiled sadly, "What she believed."
The young protector nodded blankly.
Sandoval turned Liam all the way around to face him, "I know you do. Now tell me," he looked into his eyes. Those piercing eyes, so much like Siobhan... so much like her in many ways, "If you had told her 'It wasn't supposed to be like this', what would she have said to you?"
Liam thought about the question for a moment. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. After a moment of waiting, he tried once more to breathe out the answer... "She would have said," he paused for a moment, and then continued, "That everything happens for a reason. And things are as they should be." He looked briefly around the room... to a frozen Augur and Lili who dared not move from their places in fear of disturbing the delicate balance in the room. And then, he looked up to this man standing infront of him... who was he?
'Your father,' came a voice in the back of his mind... not his own. A soft voice, that brought a flood of emotions back to him. And then he collapsed... too weak to do anything more than just fall out of his own mind, fall to the floor.
Sandoval caught him and helped him into a chair. He pushed his own confusion out of his mind. Liam was the one who needed the focus here. He looked over at Lili, his eyes pleading for answers. He didn't know what to do. But Lili was terrified, she had never seen Liam like this before. She had no idea what to do, and her look betrayed that. He looked back at this man sitting in the chair, his head down. who was he?
'Your son,' came a voice in the back of his mind... not his own. A gentle voice, that he recalled so many other times.
"My son..." he murmured outloud. For the first time. And he leaned his forhead against Liam's downcast head and sighed.
(possibly to be continued? I suppose I could end it here... we'll see)