Disclaimer: Babylon5 is not mine, never will be and never has been.
A/N: Big thanks to my beta Stephanie. This is and AU.
Chapter2: Angry talks
When the tired duo arrived back at Babylon5 they were immediately greeted by anxious John Sheridan.
"Stephen, Garibaldi come to my office. We can talk there undisturbed" said the captain of Babylon5. The company walked briskly to the mentioned room. There some friends were already waiting for them.
Delenn was sitting on a armchair and Lennier stood behind her like a silent shadow. Susan was pacing from one corner to the other. The moment Garibaldi and Franklin entered, everyone looked at them and waited.
"Please sit" said John shortly. The silence continued.
Finally Susan couldn't take it any longer and snapped:"So?"
The look she got from the duo was enough to give her the answer she was afraid of.
"So there is no change" she said sadly.
"He looks better, even has a tan, if it is a comfort to know" offered Franklin dejectedly to her.
Susan took a deep breath then she exhaled slowly to calm herself, when it didn't help, she whirled around, glared at Delenn and spat furiously in a rapid stream:"It is all your fault! What did you do to him!? What could you have possibly done to him to make Marcus a shadow, a frigging vegetable!? Tell us, we have the right to know!"
Sheridan interrupted her when it looked like she was about to continue:" Now, now, Susan, calm down. Delenn didn't do do anything."
Delenn smiled to him. "Thank you John," then she turned her head to Ivanova and stated calmly:" Susan I have not done anything."
"Don't patronize me Delenn. We all were there, we all heared Marcus and what he said to you. We have the right to know what he was talking about" sneered Susan, her beautiful face full of pain and fury.
"Susan, calm down. We all know Marcus was delirious when he said that, he did not recognize with whom he was speaking. He was delirious," Sheridan again tried to calm her.
But Susan was not to be calmed. The forlorn situation had gotten to her. She had lost hope ever seeing their sarcastic but goodhearted ranger speaking ever again. So she was determined to know the reason why Babylon5 had lost their mysterious, green-eyed ranger. It was their right to know. And so she did not stop. Her glare went from Delenn onto Sheridan and with mocking voice she continued:" Ohh, I don't think so. Of course you protect her John, you love her. To you she is an angel from the skies. A saint."
And then Susans voice went from mocking to silky and all persons in the room were reminded that they were dealing with a warrior who had fought in the Earth-Minbari war, who had killed and who would do it again in a heartbeat to protect her friends, family and world. Her words were dripping of acid as she said:"Marcus definitely knew with whom he was speaking , do not even try to think otherwise. We all could see it in his eyes. For god's sake, he threw his ranger pin at her feet..."
"Enough!" Sheridan shouted and then added more calmly, "Enough. Susan we all know that Marcus loves the rangers. That they are his life. He had no reason to act so. We all know and have seen for what Marcus is ready to do to save Delenn. He even protected Delenn's life when he decided to fight Den Sha with Neroon and he almost died doing it. The only reason he is alive is because Neroon for some mysterious reason spared him. He was prepared to die for the rangers, he was prepared to die for Delenn. And I can't believe that Marcus would change his mind a year later about Delenn being his mentor. He was not in his right mind when he said those horrible things to Delenn. Heck, who could blame him. We all saw what he looked like at the time."
Yes, they all remembered what Marcus had looked like. His broken and bruised body covered in deep welts, slowly oozing blood. Indeed, they all remembered him limping towards Delenn, face pale and grimaced in pain, eyes full of anger, betrayal, fury and grief.
All of them were too shocked to help him. So they just stood there paralysed and watched the surreal tableau before them. Unreal, unbeliveable, impossible. Marcus, their beloved ranger, sweating from high fever, drops of sweat running down his throat, mixing with his dark dried blood.
They remembered how he stopped before Delenn, his back straight and rigid, head held high despite the pain they all could see it caused. And they definitely remembered his cold words in a blood chilling tone, disgust and disbelief evident in his voice: "How could you? She was just a child, a young child proctecting her home and playing with things she did not fully understand and you... How could you order such a thing to be done to anyone? How?" and then he swallowed. He looked like a man who finally understood a hard truth he hadn't wanted to believe in before, despite the fact that someone had repeated it to him many times. Like when a child first time realises there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny. And the child then remembers all the times when someone older has said the truth to him many times before but Marcus had been too stubborn to believe in them and so he had clung to the lies. He looked like someone who had lost hope. Marcus voice went from disgusted to bitter and cutting: " I can't believe I ever followed you."
Yes, they all remembered how Marcus had held his ranger pin in his hand. How he had squeezed his hand into a fist and how he had cut his palms doing it, how the blood had dripped from the broken skin to the ground. They remembered all too clearly how he threw his pin at Delenn's feet and how the pin glistend from blood in the sourrounding lights. Like a grotesque piece of art, so horrifying to see but impossible to look away.
And then they rembembered how Marcus had collapsed after his poisonous words. How Delenn had screamed at Franklin to do something and help her favourite ranger. Her puzzled and horrified expression.
They remembered the chaos that fallowed, the rush to the medical rooms, the intense fear that Marcus won't make it, the flatline when his heart beat stopped, the relief when Dr Franklin got him back, the wait, the two months lasting coma, the joy at his
awakening only to realise he was catatonic, unresponsive, unmoving. The three months that followed, Marcus a vegetable. Their cutting, deliciously sarcastic friend silent and still like a statue. They remembered the day he came out of his catatonia only to find he deliberately still did not respond to their efforts to communicate with him. Moving by himself, yes, even sometimes fallowing orders when he was nicely asked or when he was in the right mood, but still giving them the silent treatment. Never speaking, ignoring their attempts to involve him in talks, even going so far as to ignore them completely if they pushed too hard in their quest to make him speak again, Marcus was listening but never ever responding.
They remembered all their unsuccessful attempts to bring him out of his silence. Nothing helped.Yes, they remembered but they still didn't know what brought it out and they all wanted to know. And Susan was determined to uncover the truth and she had no intentions to stop now when she had had enough of this mystery.
"I am still saying you are hiding the truth, covering it. You have to know what Marcus was talking about," Ivanova hissed to Delenn. "You are hiding him on Minbar, he should be on Earth where he belongs." That said, Susan turned around and walked out of Sheridan's office. A long silence fallowed.
"Maybe she is right," stated Michael finally when it seemed as if nobody was going to say anything ."Maybe we should bring Marcus to Earth. It has been a year and still no improvement what so ever. He should be among his people, culture..." Garibaldi stopped when Delenn shook her head.
"No," she said, "He is among his people where he belongs, with the rangers," she continued.
Michael sighed but still tried again: "Delenn, if I remeber correctly the last thing Marcus did before the quiet, was throwing his ranger pin at your feet. To me, the message was clear, it was clear to everyone else who saw it. He quit the rangers."
Delenn still shook her head: "No, he did not know what he was doing at the time. And I can't risk the rangers. Psi Corps would love to get their hands on one of them. And bringing him to Earth would be like bringing Marcus at their doorstep," she argued calmly.
But Garibaldy was not ready to give up yet. "Delenn, don't get me wrong, but maybe Marcus hasn't spoken yet because he is on Minbar." At her insulted look Michael continued his explanation hastily: "Delenn, humans are different than minbari, we act differently, we live differently, we think differently, we look at the world differently. All I am saying is that maybe if we took Marcus to Earth, he will feel comfortable enough to speak again. You minbari have ceremonies for everything where we humans just flow by it or just do it. Delenn, don't forget he is still human, even if he respects your customs as it should be, but he is still human. He still thinks like a human, acts like human and feels like human because he is human.
And about the Psi Corps. Marcus has the strongest mental shields we have ever encountered. Whoever put them there knew what they were doing. Even you didn't know they were that strong when we tried to use a telepath to peak into his mind to know what had happened. The telepath couldn't even crack them and only got himself a big headache. So I really doubt Psi-Corps would be more successful than minbars strongest telepaths were."
Delenn bowed her head in acknowledgment and sighed: "Perhaps you are right. But we will not bring Marcus to Earth Instead we will bring him here to Babylon5 . After all he still is the offical ranger of Babylon5." That said she stood up from the chair she was sitting on. She slowly glided to the door, Lennier dragging behind her. At the door she stopped, turned around and said" Marcus will be brought here in two weeks time. Let's hope it works," and then she left the office.
Sheridan watched her leave wistfully, after a moment he asked Garibaldi and Franklin: "Do you think it will help, bringing him here?"
After a toughtful silence Stephen answered: "I honestly don't know..."
"... but I hope it works," finished Michael for him. And then even they left the office.
