Anna pushed hard against the barrier of the light. For an instant, she was terribly afraid that she would not be able to make it through, that she would be stuck in the past. Then, with one last heave, she was through. She was unprepared for the sudden give, and stumbled into the cave wall. She looked around her, panting. Well, she was in the cave. It remained to be seen just when she was. She pushed herself off the wall and walked on somewhat shaky legs over to the cave entrance.
She squinted in the bright light of morning. It had been morning when she said goodbye to the Roxton of the past. It might mean that she was back, or not. She bit her lip.
A noise to her right startled Anna. She turned her head and waited, hardly aware that she was holding her breath. She had saved her father and destroyed one of Kayle's conduits into the real world. The repercussions that could have…
With the sight of Challenger, Anna let out her breath in a great rush of air. This was not the Challenger of the past. This was her Uncle George! She smiled at him, and he shook his head, exactly as he did when he was exasperated with her. She frowned, but her brow abruptly cleared when she saw the next person. Marguerite! Anna smiled and took a step away from the cave entrance.
Marguerite, her heart pounding, saw her daughter standing in front of her. She let out a breath that was perilously close to a sob. She pulled Anna to her in a desperate hug, knocking Anna's hat off her head in the process.
"Anna!" she said, holding her daughter tightly. She pulled back and looked into Anna's face. The girl was shocked to see tears standing in Marguerite's eyes.
"Mother?" she said in confusion. She looked at Challenger, as well as Veronica and Malone, who had joined them and were holding Arthur's and Abigail's hands. All of them wore expressions of varying degrees of worry and relief. But there was no Roxton. She swallowed and turned her gaze back to Marguerite.
"Mother, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Marguerite almost barked. She took a deep breath and fought to bring herself under control. "What's wrong is that yesterday morning, we were all in the treehouse, and suddenly there was a flash of light surrounding you. It disappeared, and took you with it! Do you have any idea how much I was frightened, even after what had happened was explained to us!"
Anna blinked. That had not happened, but...her mouth dropped open slightly She had changed the past. Everything was different now. She gazed at her mother.
"I went back," she began. "I went back and changed things. But Mother, I had to! I had to-"
"We know, child," Challenger interrupted. "It just scared your mother, seeing you vanish like that."
"You…know?" Anna asked, confused.
"You went back to save your father," Marguerite said gently. "And you did. I am grateful, my darling, more than you could know, but I didn't know what you had done when you disappeared. All I knew was that my daughter was gone, with no warning. It took a long time to calm me down."
Challenger smiled. "And in the end, even with your father's explanation, your mother was still scared and furious. We didn't know if you would be able to come back, you see."
"My father's explanation?"
"Your father's explanation," a new voice interrupted. Anna caught her breath, and slowly, almost not daring to believe her own ears, she turned. Outlined in early morning sunshine, Roxton was making his way towards her. Anna could see that he was older; there were a few more lines on his face, and the hair at his temples contained strands of silver, but it was most definitely Roxton. Her eyes quickly filled with tears as she stood watching him, completely unable to move.
He stopped in front of her. "Hello, sweetheart," he said.
Anna stared up at him, taking in this most precious sight. She reached her hand out to him.
"Daddy?" she whispered. She touched him, and he was real and warm and alive. The tears spilled over onto her flushed cheeks.
"Daddy!"
Her knees gave way and she fell, but before she could hit the ground, Roxton caught her. He knelt on the ground cradling his daughter as she sobbed into his chest.
"Shh, love, shh," he said, as he rocked her and stroked her hair. "Hush now, Anna, it's all right. I'm here, and I'm well. We have you to thank for that. You saved me, sweetheart, you saved us all. It worked, my sweet girl, you changed the future for us."
Anna looked up at him, savoring the familiar and yet new features. "I was so frightened, Daddy," she said softly. "I might have saved you only to lose you later, or to cause someone else to die. I just missed you so much."
"I know, Anna," he said. He smiled at her. "I promised not to tell, and I didn't, not until you disappeared. Then I told everyone, or I fear that your mother would have caused something very bad to happen." He looked over at Marguerite, and she rolled her eyes even as she smiled back at him. Roxton turned back to Anna.
"I knew where you'd come back, if you were able to," he said. "I also thought that you might come back not that day, but the next, exactly the amount of time you were in the past." He kissed her cheek and gently wiped away the remaining tears.
Anna looked at him in consternation. "I don't remember disappearing, Daddy, or you being alive. I'm not the same Anna that has been living here."
Roxton glanced at Challenger and then Marguerite, before looking back at Anna.
"We thought of that, Anna. Your Uncle George believes that since you were the one that orchestrated the change, you had to be the one who would come back. The Anna that disappeared two days earlier had no knowledge of what happened, and what you did. He thinks that you have to be here to keep the change stable, not the other Anna."
Challenger nodded and smiled at Anna. She thought about his theory. It made sense. The Plateau needed her because she knew what it was not to have Roxton there. She knew what it was to miss him, and she knew what it was like to live every day with the pain, grief, sorrow, anger, and loneliness. She was uniquely suited to appreciate her father being alive.
She turned to look at her mother.
"But your Anna…" her voice trailed off, but she took a deep breath and continued. "You had a life with your Anna. You had memories with her, and she with you. I…don't have those. I'm so sorry." She bowed her head and looked down at her hands as her fingers twisted nervously in her lap.
Roxton put a finger under her chin and gently raised her eyes to meet his. The hazel eyes so like his own stared back at him, worry clearly evident in their depths. He smiled gently.
"Do you think Challenger is an intelligent man, Anna?" At her confused and hesitant nod, he continued. "He thinks that the Anna who was here is still around us and that in time you will have her memories. She will be a part of you, and you will have the chance to be with both your mother and I again. You will know what it was to have lived with both of your parents, yet still remember life without the changes. That is the Plateau's gift to you."
She stared at him in surprise, and then turned her head to look at Challenger. He nodded his head and gave Anna a small smile. She turned back to Roxton and gazed searchingly at him. Hesitatingly she spoke.
"Then….do you want…me? Not your Anna?" She included Marguerite in her half-panicked, half-hopeful gaze.
Marguerite glanced at Roxton, and he raised one eyebrow at his wife. She shook her head in bemusement and came closer, dropping to her knees in front of her daughter. She took Anna's shoulders in her hands, noting the tension in the girl's slender body.
"Sweetheart," she said, gently smoothing a lock of hair behind Anna's ear, "you ARE our Anna. You are my child and your father's child in every way that matters. You were willing to try something incredibly dangerous to save our family, and willing to accept the consequences of your actions. That makes you no different from, as you say, 'our' Anna. Your father explained that we might be getting a slightly, different, Anna. But when he told me what you did for us, I knew that no matter who returned, I was getting my daughter back." She smiled and cupped Anna's face. "And I was right, sweet girl, I was right. Who else but my brave daughter would, when given the chance to be with a father she hadn't seen in ten years, worry more about her parents' well-being than her own happiness?"
For a long, silent moment, Anna pondered. Marguerite kept her eyes fixed on her daughter, willing her to believe, letting her love for Anna shine through her eyes. Finally, with a small sigh and a shudder, Anna leaned into her mother. Marguerite gathered her closely and rested her cheek against Anna's silky curls. She looked at her husband and he reached out to twine his fingers with hers. They smiled at each other over their daughter's head.
Behind them, Challenger cleared his throat. Loathe as he was to interrupt the lovely tableau in front of him, there was still one more important thing for Anna to learn. When she turned her head to look at him, he smiled and crouched down to gently wipe the tears away from her cheeks.
"I want you to know something, dear child," he said. She cocked her head and curved her lips upward at the gentle endearment that he'd often used with her as a child. Challenger then looked to Marguerite and Roxton, and when they nodded, he reached out to take Anna's hands in his own. He helped her stand and then placed his hands on her shoulders.
"You did a wonderful thing for your parents and for this whole family. You are without a doubt one of the bravest people I know, and most definitely a true Roxton." She let out a small chuckle at his words. He leaned in a little and whispered, "And you should know who else appreciates your decision."
He then turned Anna to face the direction that Roxton had come from, and gave a little whistle. Assai and Jarl appeared over the rise, along with their son Mocobi. But in addition to the family that Anna knew well, another figure also appeared. He looked to be a boy a year or two younger than Arthur, with short dark hair, wearing a rumpled green shirt and trousers. Anna's brow furrowed. He did not resemble Assai or Jarl, and he was wearing clothes like the explorers, but Malone and Veronica could not have produced this dark-haired child! She gazed at him for a long moment, and he gazed back, holding her eyes with his own. She noticed that his eyes greatly resembled her mother's. At that moment, the truth suddenly struck her. She'd forgotten, in the excitement of seeing her father again, just exactly what else she had saved when she'd gone back. She looked back at her parents with awe in her face.
Smiling, Marguerite and Roxton stepped forward. They beckoned to the boy, and he approached them with no small amount of trepidation, but also with a smile on his face. He stopped by Marguerite, and she reached out to place a hand on his shoulder.
"Anna, this is someone I very much want you to meet. Anna Roxton, meet William Edward Roxton…your brother. Will, this is the Anna we told you about yesterday, the Anna that saved you before you were even born." Marguerite smiled at her son, and he looked at Anna with some nervousness, but mostly joy, in his face.
"Hello, Anna," he said, happiness evident in his tone. "It's very nice to meet you."
Anna dropped to her knees in front of the boy. He resembled their father as much as Anna resembled Marguerite, except for the silvery green eyes he'd inherited from his mother.
"Hi, Will," she said softly. "It's wonderful to meet you. I'm sorry I'm not the Anna you remember."
He held up his hand in an oddly mature gesture that almost made Anna laugh, and she couldn't help smiling at the serious expression on his round face. He then placed his hand on her shoulder.
"But you are," he said, his eyes searching her face. "You said my name just exactly like Anna does, and you're brave just like her, and Mummy and Daddy love you just like they love her. You're my sister. Don't you want to be my sister?" He suddenly looked a little worried. Anna laughed.
"Of course I do," she replied. At that she pulled him into a hug. His little arms wrapped tightly around her neck, and tears filled her eyes at his easy acceptance. She'd never realized what a wonderful thing she'd been missing. She closed her eyes and held her brother closely. Finally, she let him go and stood up, smiling at him. He grinned back and picked up Anna's discarded hat before reaching over to take his mother's hand.
Anna saw that Malone and Veronica were there, and she was pulled into a hug with them as well as Arthur and Abigail. They repeated her parents' comments that it was good to have her there. She laughed suddenly, as her joy spilled out of her, and disentangled herself. She walked over to her father, and he reached out to stroke her hair.
"Ready to go home?" he asked.
Anna pondered for a moment. It would not be an easy road, adjusting to a new life and the new memories that Challenger believed she would be getting. It would be strange to see her father and brother every day, wonderful, but strange. She was sure that in the time to come she would make her share of mistakes about the life she was heading into, but oh, it would be worth it. So absolutely worth it. She looked up at Roxton, and graced him with a joyful and beautiful smile. She slipped her hand into his.
"Yes, Daddy, let's go home. Let's all of us go home."
Roxton pressed a gentle kiss to his daughter's hair, and signaling to Marguerite, he started back to the treehouse. Father and daughter led the way, each of them finally able to bring the other one home.
Every night I fall asleep and this is all I ever dream.
The End
I want to thank everyone who stuck with this story and kept reading it in spite of the lengthy delays, and who encouraged me to write something beyond that one shot I had been aiming for. I hope you enjoyed it. I know I did.