Part 3 - Reunion

He was vaguely aware of the activity around him. The children protesting their innocence at having done nothing wrong; their mother reassuring them. Marcus paid little heed as he fought to remain conscious.
Then someone took his hands; human contact that he could focus on to stay anchored. The voice, right in front of him, spoke again.
"Dad?"
Marcus took a deep breath before slowly lifting his head and looking on the face of an attractive woman, her blue eyes filled with concern. His own expression must have been one of bewilderment as she asked once more,
"Dad. Are you all right?"
Why was she calling him that? Had she mistaken him for someone else? The title did not even make sense, as he was no older than her.
In confusion, Marcus cast his gaze around the garden. It stopped on the little girl, still clutching her doll. He had not noticed before, but the blonde curls framed features that were devastatingly familiar to him. It was the face of the small child, barely alive, that he had lifted from the drifting lifepod. The large blue eyes were the same as those that had opened after weeks of an anguished bedside vigil to immediately enslave his heart.
The girl standing before him was the image of his own daughter, and yet…
Marcus turned back to the woman kneeling on the grass by the bench. Now he saw in her face the traits shared by both mother and daughter; the family resemblance that could not be denied. As the younger was a past version, then this had to be…
"Marie." His breathless exclamation was less a question than a statement of disbelief. How could this middle-aged mother be his daughter? Mentally, he peeled back the years from her face, to determine if what he saw was the truth. Had the teenager he had reluctantly left behind, grown and matured into this beautiful woman?
"Is that you Marie?" This time it really was a question.
His answer was a dumb, frantic nodding as Marie desperately fought back tears of relief and joy.
Marcus closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath before asking his next question. One that had to be asked, but whose answer he now suspected, and dreaded.
"How long?"
His eyes remained shut as he waited. He squeezed Marie's hands as he prepared himself. Marie returned the gesture.
"Twenty five years." The whisper reached his ears.
Two and a half decades. A lifetime. The concept was so unlikely that it was incomprehensible. A myriad of questions popped into his head, but Marcus suppressed them all, except one.
"Susan? Is she alive?"
When there was no answer he opened his eyes. Marie was no longer looking at him, but towards the open doors. Standing there was a figure, face hidden within the hood of the cloak worn by Ranger One.
"Delenn.." Marcus began to speak, but was silenced as Marie desperately shook her head at him. Then he realised exactly who was hiding within the darkness of the hood.
"Susan!"
In a moment, he was up and across the small garden in three strides.
Next he was flat on his back, having received a right cross to the jaw.
"You Bastard!" Susan screamed before disappearing with a swirl of brown cloak.
Marcus decided that it was safest to stay on the ground as he gingerly felt his chin. "What did I do to deserve that?" he asked to no one in particular.
"You went and died on her!" Marcus looked up at a new Marie. One that was chillingly similar to the Commander.
"You gave your life to her." The woman continued her rant, "She was ready to die, and you took it away without even asking her. It took Susan years to accept that you were dead and to get her life back together. Now you're back and she has to re-evaluate her life, again. And you ask 'what did you do'?"
Marcus remained where he was, knowing from experience that that was the safest course of action. He wondered if he would escape relatively unscathed.
"Go and find her," he was ordered, "Apologise and work out any issues between you, because I refuse to be an arbitrator."
He didn't move.
"Go." Marie repeated, "She won't face you herself."
Still he didn't move.
"Now!"
Marcus scrambled uncertainly to his feet, the word shocking him to action. He turned and was about to enter the house when he felt arms encircling him from behind.
"Welcome back Dad." Marie spoke into his ear. "Be gentle with Susan; she's terrified." Then with a final hug, he was released.

It was easy to find the room where Susan had retreated; it was the only one with a locked door.
Getting in was another matter. Marcus hammered and shouted until light-headedness warned him to stop. He was leaning against the wall and considering his next move when someone quietly approached. Someone who, although the hair was greyer and the lines around the eyes were deeper, the years had been kind to.
"Marcus, you should not be up yet."
The Ranger immediately straightened and bowed to Delenn. She responded by taking his hand in both of her own; a gesture so intimate and unexpected by Marcus that for a moment he could think of nothing to say.
"You have no need to bow to me old friend" The Minbari appeared unfazed by his state of confusion. "You have met with Susan?"
"After a fashion, but.."
"But now she refuses to see you." Delenn nodded knowingly. "I cannot help you enter here, but what is it you humans say?" The search of her memory for the correct phrase was played out on Delenn's face, "Ah yes. 'Whenever God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.'" She finished with a smile.
Delenn waited for Marcus to work through the meaning of the phrase.
"Susan's room has a window!" he finally realised. "How do I get to it?"
Delenn was grinning now, "It is accessible from the garden."
With a very quick bow, Marcus retraced his steps.
Susan's window opened onto a small balcony, about ten feet away from the garden wall and there was an outcrop of stone that connected the two. Without hesitating, Marcus climbed onto the parapet and began to work his way along the ledge.
A cry came from the garden behind him,
"Dad! What are you doing? Come back!"
"Can't, sorry." Marcus called back to Marie, "You told me to talk to Susan. That's what I'm doing."
"But you'll fall!"
"Only if I let go."
Sidestepping, he inched his way along, fingers gripping a groove in the stonework. Knowing not to look down, Marcus focused on the rock in front of him. A conversation to his left gave him some indication as to how far he had gone and he estimated he was over half way before his head began to swim.
"Not now…" Marcus tightened the grip with his fingers, locking them in place while he concentrated on breathing deeply. He only had a few more feet to go. He couldn't faint now. He couldn't.
He wasn't sure how long he remained there, resting his forehead against the stone. A high pitched shout made him turn his head towards the garden.
"Go on Grandpa!" The boy, Will, yelled encouragement. "You can do it!"
Marcus flashed him a grin then returned to inching towards Susan's room. Will continued shouting, joined almost immediately by his sister and Mother. Spurred on, Marcus soon felt the balcony pressing against his leg. He grasped it with one hand and clambered to safety.
A cheer rose up behind him. Marcus gave them a weak wave before stumbling into the darkness beyond the window.
"Susan?"
It was all he could say, as this time will power was not enough and he blacked out on to the floor.

Susan watched over Marcus; the crazed, insane, lunatic of a Ranger. She shouldn't have been surprised when he disappeared. Actually, thinking back, she hadn't. She had been irritated, angered and worried, but not surprised.
She shouldn't have hit him; that part had surprised her and she groaned now as she remembered the look of distress on his face as he went down. She shouldn't have done it, but she hadn't been prepared to meet him; wasn't ready for him to see her, her grey hair and lined face. She had grown old, and she wanted him to think of her as young and beautiful for just a little longer.
She had panicked and run. It was all her fault. If she had opened the door when Marcus had first banged on it, then he wouldn't be sleeping on her bed now. The idiot could have killed himself climbing to her window. She thought he had when he collapsed and she had panicked again and called Stephen. The doctor assured her that Marcus was just sleeping, a result of leaving his bed too soon, and that he would wake up when he was ready. Together, they had lifted him onto the bed and since then Susan had been waiting.
He had already met Marie, so he must know how long he had been frozen. He can't have been ready for that news. Why hadn't the stupid man stayed in the medical facility until he was stronger?
He wouldn't have been Marcus if he had done that. Susan allowed herself a small smile at that thought. She had forgotten just how determined and reckless he could be; it was the one thing that she both hated and loved about the man.
Did she love him?
She had asked herself that question countless times since he had woken up. It had been easy to say the words to his sleeping form, but now that he was actually back in her life again for real, her flight instinct was kicking in.
She had thought about what Delenn had said about soulmates; how, when you find one, your life becomes perfect in unity. Susan wasn't quite sure what that meant. Certainly, when Marcus had left, her life had not been complete, and since he had returned, her bed had become too large for just her.
She did want Marcus in her life? She could love the man in front of her? Or at least what she remembered of the Ranger. What if she was in love with an ideal, formed and distilled from the long years of memories and regrets? Had she conveniently blocked out all the negative aspects of his personality that might cause her to hate him? The one certainty she had known then and still believed was that she trusted him with her heart more than any other person she had known.
But there was still the twenty-five years to account for. Marcus hadn't changed, but the rest of the world had; she had. She was no longer the young fiery commander he had saved. What if he didn't love her any more? What if he left her?
The choice was not hers; she would have to accept that. They had brought Marcus back, the decision they had all made. He would now know his grandchildren, see what a wonderful woman his daughter had become. He would know that his sacrifice had not been in vain. After that, the choice of what to do with his returned life was his alone.
Susan may have wanted him to remain at her side, but his was a spirit as free as her own. She could never force it to be caged.

To be continued...