David's Aunt
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Author's note: Thank you to Bud for your extremely helpful review. Some of the questions you have were answered in the story, others I will try to address in later chapters.
The three of them traveled by civilian liner. All of them wore cloaks with long hoods to keep from being recognized. They had three seats together, with their bags at their feet. Father was in the aisle seat, David at the window with Aunt Susan in the middle. Father was grumbling about having to wear the hood and about the pilot's flying, wanting to be flying himself. Aunt Susan gave a rare smile at his child like behavior. She too wanted a smoother ride, for different reasons. Each bump jostled her, paining her back horribly. The arm rest between Father and Aunt Susan had been raised and she was resting against him as he rubbed her back a bit, trying to help her control her breathing.
After the long journey, they were all exhausted. When they arrived, David looked around amazed. Father had rented a shuttle at the Io and taken them in it straight to his parents home. They landed between the barn and the house. By the time father opened the door, everyone had rushed out. His grandparents, his uncles, his aunt Liz, their spouses and children. He was hugged warmly and led inside. Father was like a child, his face red and smiling. One of his uncles grabbed the bags and took them inside.
After dinner he went up to Aunt Susan's and Father's room. It was fathers old room. His two uncles and their wives were in their old room, with a curtain between the two beds. Aunt Liz and her husband were in her old room, and the grandparents in theirs. The girl cousins were in the living room and he and the boys were in the basement. To an only child it was a dream come true. But he had noticed some tension.
Aunt Susan was lying in bed. She had a handkerchief in her hand and was wearing a black nightgown. She looked exhausted, but smiled as he came in, sitting up in concern when she saw the worried look on his face.
" What's wrong, child?" she said reaching forth to brush his hair from his face.
He hesitated, not knowing how to put his uneasy feeling into words, " What is wrong with grandmother and Aunt Liz? Why don't they like us?"
" You noticed," she frowned slightly, " You have to understand that Patricia and Liz were very close to Anna. They are trying to honor her memory and think we are trying to usurp her place. "
" Did they like mother?" he asked.
" They didn't know Delenn."
" What about you, did you like her?" David held his breath as he asked. It was a topic that was not discussed between them.
" Delenn was not the person we thought she was."
" What do you mean?"
" She was less human and more mimbari then we thought." They both knew she was referring to how strict and un-understanding Delenn had become during her marriage. She had refused to allow her husband to see un married women at all, including Susan and had made his home life miserable. David knew not to press further. Aunt Susan would say no more.
She lay back after another coughing fit. David poured her a glass of water and she thanked him as she took a sip. He looked around the room. It was John's old room. Posters of fighters and fighter pilots that were fifty years old hung around the room, carefully preserved.
" I am not sure how much I will like it here." he admitted. She hushed him and ran a hand through his hair. " Something doesn't feel right" He continued. She didn't say anything, but he knew she felt the same.
What she did say was, " for your father's sake, try to enjoy it." They both did as she asked, attempting to feign interest as John spoke excitedly about the farm and the work there.
David and Susan were spending an afternoon in the small town. John had taken to working the farm with his father, brothers and nephews. He had wanted David to help and had been disappointed when his son had proven little help. Susan, sensing the child's hurt, had coldly told John she was taking him out. He, wrapped up in his work, had not noticed his wife's obvious remoteness.
David complained to his aunt. " It is not like grandfather is any help, he is so old. And father thinks he is in charge because he is the oldest, he doesn't even notice that his brothers and nephews laugh behind his back at him. They think he is a city man now, that he has lost touch with the farm and has no right to tell them what to do. They don't respect him at all. And he was yelling at me, when I couldn't milk the cow." John had woken early the day before, as he had been every day since he had arrived, and become angry that his son was the only one of the boys who did not rise to help, had woken him. He had then dragged the half asleep boy to teach him to milk the cow. The child failed miserably. Since then, John and David had been avoiding each other. Susan, a light sleeper, had woken when John left, had just come downstairs when David burst in the door, barely holding back tears. Since then, his cousins, already aloof as they saw his stately manners, necessary for him to learn because he often joined his parents at diplomatic dinners. Besides, Susan had been raised in a more formal home and that was the way she raised David. Susan herself knew nothing about farming. She had been raised in a business family. Besides, her illness had made such work for her so difficult. She needed to rest now. She helped with the housework. John's sister and sisters- in - law, saw her as an uppity woman, when they compared the silk gowns she wore to their own rough clothing, and the Sabbath and evening gowns she had brought. Susan wore all black. She had since Marcus had died. Since becoming Entil'Zha, she had taken to wearing Mimbari gowns, black Mimbari gowns. Knowing how hot it could get, John had warned her to take the lightest possible gowns, or the thinnest silk which she had. As always, she looked like a 19th century widow, except that she wore alien gowns. Both factors insulted her husbands family. She was too tired to really care.
So the two of them were out. They had had a light lunch at a cafe and Susan was looking through the crafts stalls to find something to take back to Michael and Stephen. She held up a handmade pottery vase with hand painted figures on it. She turned to show it to David. He was three stalls down, looking worriedly at two rough men who looked as if they were holding him. Upset with David for leaving when she had told him not to, and with the men for threatening her stepson, she went up to him, firmly putting her hand on his shoulder and began to pull him away. One of the men grabbed David's other arm and pulled back. Anger rose in her eyes as her hands fell on the gun held to David's back. A wicked smile came over the man's face as he saw her attention diverted. " We've been waiting for you Madame Vice President." He sneered her title and pointed a gun to her back and began to forcibly lead them from the main road.
" Leave the child be. What is it you want?" she asked, trying to remember the diplomacy her husband had taught her on Babylon 5. The men laughed and forced them both into a back alley. She lay her hand on David's shoulder, telling him to do as the men said, before they slapped her hand away.
They walked for an hour, out of the town, into a wooded area between farms. Susan was able to determine they were moving north. The area they were in was filled with caves. They entered the largest one and followed the caverns to the last chamber, a small lightless, gated cavern, where the two were left with a single candle and locked inside. David whimpered as the door closed, " I'm sorry, I know I wasn't supposed to leave, I didn't mean it."
" Shhh, It's okay, we all make mistakes." She rocked him a bit until he calmed before looking around. The cavern was round, but no more then 10ft in any direction. Except the candle and them, there was nothing there, not even a blanket. While it was in the 90's outside, in the cavern it was near freezing and she shook involuntarily. She knew that her cough would worsen if she stayed here long. She stood and checked the premises for anything that could be used to escape as well as anything that could be used against them, just as cameras, microphones and anything that could leak gas, just like a good solder. The routine calmed her and she pulled David into a corner, letting him lay his head on her lap she spoke to him, telling him he must do nothing to endanger himself, and if the chance presented itself, he must escape. She ran a hand through his hair and began to speak softly in a language he recognized as Hebrew. He knew she was praying for him, and it soothed him as they waited for something to happen.
Hours passed and David was becoming hungry. The door opened. He sat up as Aunt Susan straightened herself and held up the candle, bracing herself. A blond man entered and Aunt Susan jumped slightly, " Malcolm." she said lowering her candle and standing, slipping her hand in her sleeve for the Mimbari pike in the holder she had there, the weapon she had been afraid to pull out when they were captured because of the gun pointed to David's back.
The man smiled, " Hello Susan."