Liam watched through the observation window as Dr. Park worked within, fiddling with IV lines and monitors. After a few minutes she emerged and smiled reassuringly at him.

"He seems to be responding well to the treatment." She brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. "He should make a full recovery, thanks to you."

"Too bad he doesn't feel the same way."

Park yawned. "Oh, I think he does. I know he can be a little cold at times, but he's a good man underneath."

"I know," said Liam. He tilted his head, examining the doctor more closely. Dark circles marked her eyes, and her skin seemed pale beneath the harsh florescent lights. "Were you up all night with him?"

"Not quite all night." She sighed. "It shows, doesn't it? It never fails. A few hours of lost sleep and I turn into a raccoon."

"Minus the striped tail."

She smiled at that. "Fortunately. How about you, Liam? Did you get any sleep?"

"Some."

"You shouldn't worry so much. The treatment worked in your world; there's no reason to think it won't work here."

"That's not it."

"What, then?"

"Just…some odd dreams." An alien world…endless expanses of shifting white sand flowing towards the horizon beneath a hot, burning sun. Gnarled, twisting plants with deep-reaching roots, blossoming in the brief rain with a swirl of colours no human eye could detect. Lazy hours spent lying on sun-warmed rocks, watching small lizards hop rhythmically to and fro. And threaded through it all, a pulsing stream of urgency, pushing…

She touched his arm sympathetically. "If the problem persists, let me know. You need more than 'some' sleep. You've given a lot of blood over the past few weeks; your body needs a chance to recover. In fact, if I'd had a choice, I wouldn't have used you at all for this."

"Don't worry. My Kimera heritage does afford me a few advantages."

"So you've said. I'm curious about that. I'd really like to run a few tests on you. Establish a baseline, in case something happens to you while you're here."

Liam laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Some things stay the same no matter what universe I'm in."

"Ah. I suppose you have gone through this before."

"A few times. But if you want to take yet more blood, go ahead."

"I think it can wait." She jerked her chin towards the door. "You can go in if you want to. He won't wake up until at least this afternoon. I'm going catch a couple of hours of sleep."

"Thanks, Melissa."

He turned back to the window, listening to the brisk clicking of Dr. Park's footsteps as she retreated down the corridor. The room beyond was a sterile, relentless white broken only by the silver bed and the blinking, beeping equipment that surrounded it. In the bed lay the room's sole occupant, motionless save for the regular rise and fall of his chest. Liam noted with satisfaction that Sandoval was breathing easily, apparently free of the pain that had afflicted him earlier.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of soft, shuffling footsteps approaching from behind. He turned, expecting to see one of Park's aides. Instead, he found a small figure dressed in pale blue pajamas and oversized slippers.

"Ryan. Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"

The boy froze, dark eyes wide and startled. Slowly, so as not to frighten him further, Liam knelt down so that he was face-to-face with the child.

"Are you here to see your dad?" he asked gently.

The boy nodded solemnly. "He's sick."

"I know," said Liam. "But Dr. Park is going to make him better. Do you know Dr. Park?"

"She was here when I woke up." Ryan studied him with all the fierce concentration a six-year-old could muster. "You were on the ship with my dad," he announced.

"That's right. My name's Liam. I'm a friend of your dad's. He and I went up together to get you."

"You flew the shuttle."

"I did," agreed Liam. "I didn't think you would remember that. Do you like flying?"

"Sometimes." The boy's eyes flitted to the door. "Is my dad in there?"

"Yes, he is. Do you want to go inside?"

The boy nodded again. Liam stood and walked over to the door.

"Dr. Park gave him some medicine to make him sleep. He won't wake up when we go in, okay?"

"Why?"

"Because he needs to sleep so that he can get better. Just like you slept when you first came here."

"He'll wake up when he's better?"

"That's right."

"Okay," said Ryan. Liam pushed the door open, gently ushering the child inside and over to the bed. Ryan stared at his father for a long soundless minute, then reached out slowly to finger the crisp white sheets. Liam touched his shoulder comfortingly.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He had a problem with his blood," said Liam. "But Dr. Park fixed it."

"Did he get sick from being on the ship?"

"No. That had nothing to do with it. He was already a little sick before we went up to the ship." Liam smiled encouragingly. "He'll be okay." Ryan returned the smile shyly, shivering in his thin pajamas. "I think it's time you went back to your room, kiddo."

Ryan looked up at him pleadingly. "Can't I stay here?"

Liam frowned, taking in the boy's still-ashen skin and sunken eyes. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Ryan."

"Please, Liam?" The appeal showed clearly on his face.

He's not at all like his father... "All right," he said reluctantly. "Just for a little while." He pulled up the room's lone chair—also white—and sat down, lifting Ryan into his lap. Ryan sat stiffly, eyes fixed on the bed in front of them. Hesitantly, Liam brought up his hand and began lightly stroking the child's head. After a moment, he felt the boy relax and nestle against him. Quietly, the two settled in for their long vigil.

* * *

Dr. Park found herself yawning again as she wandered through the hall towards the barracks. Her mind drifted back to the patient who had kept her up during the night. When we first made that diagnosis, I really thought we were going to lose him. If Liam hadn't been here…Liam's right, though. Ron's not going to be happy about owing his life to someone else. Especially someone's he's already indebted to. He's gotten harder this past year, hiding beneath his shell…

"Melissa!"

Park stopped mid-step and turned in the direction of the voice, waiting for the speaker to catch up to her. "Jonathan."

"How is he?"

"Better. He responded well to the treatment. He should be completely out of danger in a couple of days." She thought she caught a flash of relief beneath the habitually grim expression, but Doors was a past master at hiding his feelings. Along with nearly every other person here. she thought. There's not a lot of room for healthy emotional outlets in an underground resistance movement.

"So Kincaid really is Sandoval's son," Doors muttered dourly.

"On a genetic level, yes."

"And the fact that he's from another dimension had no effect on the treatment?"

"None that I could find. All the tests came back normal."

Doors paused as an operative squeezed past them and headed into a nearby room, then asked in a quieter tone, "Did you run the other tests I requested?"

"Yes, I did a full DNA work-up on Liam. His DNA has a triple helix with two human strands and one alien strand. Just as he described."

"Alien," said Doors thoughtfully. "Is there any chance that the third strand is Taelon?"

"No. There are a few similarities, but Liam's DNA contains elements not present in Taelon DNA. It's much more densely packed than either human or Taelon DNA. Possibly because of the need to encode so many memories."

And what I wouldn't give to have access to some of those memories …the level of knowledge needed to produce a hybrid like Liam must have been astounding. The things we could do with that…

Doors glowered. "I thought that the Taelons had genetic knowledge as well."

"They do. But from what Liam told me, the Kimera are—or were—a much older species than the Taelons. They would have had more time to accumulate a stock of racial knowledge."

Doors grunted in acknowledgement. "Could the Taelons have modified their own DNA somehow, and then combined it with his?"

"That still wouldn't explain Liam's relationship to Sandoval."

"Sandoval works for the Taelons in their world. If they have a hybrid program…"

"No," she said confidently, shaking her head. "What we know of Taelon-human hybrids indicates that they mature faster than humans, but not that fast."

"Could the Taelons have faked the relationship?"

"I really don't think so, Jonathan. There's a limit to how much genetic restructuring you perform on an adult Minor changes are sometimes possible, but replacing an entire strand of DNA? There's just no way."

"So you're saying he might actually be telling the truth."

And that bugs the hell out of you, Jonathan. Why?

"Based on the evidence we have, I'd say that's likely. He's not Taelon and he's not human. What else is left?"

"The Jaridians."

"Do you really think he's Jaridian?" she asked dryly, crossing her arms.

"The Taelons have withheld most of their information about the Jaridians from us," said Doors deliberatively. "We have no way of knowing what they're capable of."

"We know they don't have ID technology," she pointed out.

"And that they've sent probes to Earth which have analyzed our DNA and constructed human-looking replicants."

"And after Rayna, we screen everyone who comes here for the genetic abnormalities that would indicate the use of replicant technology."

"I didn't say that he was a replicant," said Doors impatiently. "Only that the Jaridians are capable of advanced bioengineering. I'm sure there are other things they can do with it."

"I did comparison of Liam's DNA with the sample of Jaridian DNA Julianne sent me. I got the same results as when I ran the comparison with Taelon DNA: there are some similarities, but Liam's DNA is a lot more complex and includes elements not found in either species."

"Hmm." Doors stared into space with a scowl.

"Jonathan…"

"Have you identified the mother?" he interrupted.

She sighed. "Not yet. I'm running it through the medical database, as you asked. If she exists in this universe, we'll find her." She rubbed her eyes tiredly and cast a yearning thought towards the soft, warm bed only a few meters away. "What are you going to do with him?"

"Send him back to his own universe as fast as possible."

"Are you sure? He could be useful."

Doors shook his head. "It's too dangerous. He's too dangerous. He's still hiding things from us; none of us know what he can do or where his loyalties lie." His frown deepened. "Has he been to see Beckett yet?"

"Not today, but he was in there yesterday. Do you think he'll actually manage to win her over?"

"It doesn't matter," said Doors flatly. "Even if he does, we have no way of verifying it. We can't afford the risk."

"Then why…?"

"Because right now, she's the only leverage I've got over him. What about what we discussed?"

She nodded. "It can be done. But if that's what we're going to do, we'd better do it soon. The longer we hold her here, the more suspicious the Taelons will become and the more thoroughly they'll investigate her disappearance."

"One more reason we need to get rid of Augur and Kincaid as soon as possible."

"If that's what you want, then yes."

"And you're sure they won't figure it out."

"I can guarantee it."

"Good. Keep me updated. And Melissa." He offered a quick, unexpected smile. "Get some rest."

* * *

"What happened? Did you lose a fight with a traffic light?" asked Lili, eyeing Augur's loud, red-and-amber patterned shirt dubiously.

"Please, no insults. It's not like there's a huge selection down here, you know. Coveralls aren't really my style."

"So where'd you find that thing?"

"In a box of extra clothing in a storage room." Augur entered a few commands into the panel in front of him. "Lucky for me, there were a few things that fit. I don't think Jonathan would be too happy if I started having my purchases delivered to the Liberation hideout."

Lili bent down and examined the shirt more closely. "I don't think it was luck."

"What do you mean?" He caught her expression and looked down at the newfound clothes. "Oh," he said with sudden comprehension. He swallowed hard.

"Yeah." She looked away from him, towards the elaborate computer system he had rigged. "What are you working on?"

"Uh, fixing a few security bugs the Resistance has let slide, and monitoring the Taelon channels for any more news on the ship Boone showed us."

She stepped around him and leaned back casually against the table, arms crossed. "And?"

"Nada on the ship, but security's looking up. You people really shouldn't neglect these things. Next thing you know, people will be cracking Resistance files as easily as, oh, the Taelon archives."

"Well, I'm sure your genius will keep us all safe, Augur," she said teasingly.

"Count on it." He sniffed the air appreciatively. "Nice perfume. Is it new? I don't remember you…" He trailed off and looked down. "Sorry. Old patterns…"

"Right." She shifted uncomfortably. "So, uh, in your universe, before, were we…?"

"No, no," he said quickly. "Not that I didn't…but you weren't…let's just say it didn't work out."

"How about Liam and I? Was I—my counterpart—involved with him?"

"Liam? Nah, the two of you were just friends. You were sort of like a big sister to him. I mean, you were there when he was born."

"Yeah, I suppose that would be kind of weird. Not to mention illegal…sort of…" She frowned.

"I'm not sure you can really apply human standards to Liam. At least not consent laws. Wouldn't exactly be fair to him. Not that he has time to go out much anyway." He changed tracks abruptly. "So why all the questions? Were you thinking of trying to start something with Liam here?"

"No. I think it's probably a bad idea to get involved with a guy from another universe."

He smiled broadly and twisted his chair to face her directly. "Lili, Lili, Lili. Just because an idea's bad doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue it."

"There's a limit to how far I'm willing to travel for a date, and breaking dimensional barriers definitely exceeds that limit." She gave him an odd look. "Why are you encouraging this?"

"I'm not," he protested. "I'm just saying, Liam's an attractive man, and it would be…natural if you wanted to pursue something." He shrugged expressively.

"And you don't think it might traumatize Liam a little to have his 'big sister' make a pass at him?"

"Liam's a big boy now. I'm sure he'll recover. He might even enjoy it."

"I don't think so."

"Why not? You don't find him attractive?"

"It's not that…" She shook her head in exasperation. "No. I am not going to discuss my personal life with you, and I am not going to pursue a relationship with a year-old alien hybrid from another dimension. God, just saying that makes it sound like a bad science fiction film."

"Lili, I'm disappointed. I never expected that kind of bias from you."

"Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I'm done with the security. Now it's just a matter of waiting on more information from the Taelons.

"Like that?" She pointed to a flashing light on one of the screens.

Augur spun around quickly. "That's it! We've got a hit." He pulled up the message and read it, concern growing on his face. "Lili? I think you'd better call everyone together. Now."

* * *