Disclaimer – Still own nothing. Sorry for the wait, got busy this week. Here is chapter 8, please review and
Enjoy!
As Maggie finished tying up the laces on her boots, she sat back up from her hunched over position. She was sitting on the edge of the foot of the bed. She looked over her shoulder, and smiled when she saw that Hal was still fast asleep under the covers.
He was lying on his side in the middle of the bed, his arms outstretched, lying exactly where they fell when Maggie slipped out of them after she woke up. She was debating on whether or not she should wake Hal for breakfast when there was a knock on the door.
Maggie grabbed her gun that she had laid on the floor by her feet while she was getting ready, before making her way to the door. She doubted that whoever was on the other side was intending to harm Hal, but with all the tension that was still going on with the people of Charleston, she wasn't taking any chances.
Once she reached she the door, she opened it slowly, and saw Tom Mason standing on the other side. He opened his mouth to say something when Maggie brought her finger to her mouth in a shushing motion. She tilted her head, showing Tom the man still asleep on the bed.
Tom closed his mouth and took a few feet away from the door to allow Maggie enough room to get out of the doorway. He waited until the door was closed before he spoke.
"What on earth were you thinking? There were reasons that Hal was still in the infirmary." Tom told her in a hushed yell.
"Really? What reasons were there?" Maggie wondered. She knew that the odds were she'd be having this discussion with her boyfriend's father. He had not made any attempt to hide how overprotective he was feeling over his oldest son. Honestly, she was surprised that he waited until morning to confront her.
"That Anne still wanted to run some more tests. Don't you remember what Karen did to him almost a year ago?" Tom asked.
"Of course I remember. But I also remember that the entire time he was paralyzed, Anne had run numerous tests on him, but didn't find anything, even though he did have a bug. What are the odds those tests would work this time if there is something wrong? Not to mention, Anne already checked for bugs using the Volm device, he's clean." Maggie pointed out.
"She had him for five months, who knows what she could've done to him? And those tests might help us figure out what she did, if she did anything." Tom reminded her.
"Again, we don't know if they'd work, and Anne said they weren't really necessary." Maggie repeated.
"What made you think that Anne shouldn't run them just to be on the safe side?" Tom interrogated.
"Because they probably wouldn't work, Hal didn't want to, and he told me he felt like he had gone from one prison to another." That stopped the father short, and Maggie instantly regretted telling him the last part. Tom's face paled considerably, and a look of shock mixed with horror covered his face, he looked completely lost. He turned and pressed his back against the wall.
"I just want him where someone can keep an eye on him." Tom told her after a few moments, and suddenly, everything fell into place. While Anne may have wanted to keep him in the infirmary, Maggie should have realized that Tom probably had a say in that too.
"You wanted him in the infirmary so you always knew where he was, cause you're scared you're going to lose him again." Maggie realized. Tom ran his hand over his face an nodded.
"I just want to keep him safe. Guess I thought keeping him in the infirmary would make it easier." Tom said.
"Easier? Yeah, maybe, but it's not right. I'm worried about him too, and yes, I feel the need to keep him in my sights at all time, but we can't. The sooner we try to go back to normal, the sooner he'll bounce back, and the sooner everyone stops all the rumors." Maggie explained.
"I know, you're right. But he is not fighting on missions or anything like that, at all, not yet." Tom drew the line at sending Hal out into danger. There was no way that was happening, not until they were sure he could handle it, and they found out what happened during the last five months.
"Agreed. So, we'll see you in the cafeteria in a few minutes?" Maggie asked.
"Do you think he'll be okay with being in such a public place?" Tom wondered. He knew that there was a very high chance that Hal would've talked more about what was going with Maggie. Whenever he tried, Hal just kept saying he was fine even though he could see Hal jump whenever something or someone startled him and a crowded cafeteria would not make him comfortable.
"He'll have to get used to it sooner or later. Sooner is better if you ask me." Maggie replied. Tom nodded and he headed down the hall while Maggie made her way back to her room.
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Hal walked down a dark hallway. He knew he was on an Espheni spaceship, as it was very similar to the one he was on when he went with Karen, but it was not the same. This one was much darker, and larger.
As he continued walking, Hal saw that there was a door at the end of the hallway, and he made his way towards it. When he was standing in front of it, he lifted his hand to open it, but then everything went dark.
Hal opened his eyes, expecting to be still trapped in the warehouse where Karen was holding him. Instead he found himself in his room, and the events of the last week, and especially the night before came back.
He pulled himself up into a sitting position, and looked around the room, but found he was alone. Wondering where Maggie was, and if he should go looking for her or wait to see if she would be coming back, Hal swung his legs over so they were hanging off the edge of the bed when the door opened, and Maggie made her way into the room. The surprised look on her face made it clear that she thought he was still asleep.
"Hey, thought you were still sleeping. Sorry I left, had to go deal with your Dad." Maggie explained as she came to stand in front of him and looked down at his face, as she put her hands on his shoulders.
"Don't worry about it, I wasn't up long. What did my Dad want?" Hal asked as he looked up at her.
"Nothing important, he's just worried about you." Maggie told him and asked, "Did you sleep okay?"
"Oh, best sleep I've had in a long time." Hal told her with a smirk on his face as he placed his hands on her waist. Maggie smiled and lowered her head, and started kissing him, which he returned.
All too soon, Maggie pulled away, and lifted one of her hands and laid it against his cheek. Instinctively, he leaned into it.
"You up for coming to breakfast with me? Your Dad, and your brothers should be there by now too." She wondered. Hal immediately tensed up, and a conflicted expression appeared on his face. While he wanted to go with her and see his family too, he was worried about all the people that would also be down there.
"Hey, don't worry, you'll be with me, and your family. Everything will be fine." Maggie told him.
"Okay." Hal agreed, and got off the bed to get dressed.
As he finished put on his boots, he looked up to see Maggie hold something out to him. He grabbed it, and saw that it was his camo jacket.
"I kept it safe for you. Figured you'd want it back." She told him. Hal smiled as he slid it on.
"Come on, let's go." Maggie said. She grabbed his hand and together they made their way to the cafeteria.
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This time, Hal didn't hide his face, though kept from looking into anyone's eyes. He couldn't help but be on guard, waiting for someone to attack him. Keeping a hold of Maggie's hand, he continued following her down to the cafeteria while everyone stopped to watch.
Once they got there, the entire room went silent for a minute, then the hushed whispers started. Tom, looked up from his plate to see what was going on, when he saw Hal and Maggie coming down the stairs. He got up and made his way over to his son. Anne, Matt, Ben, and Lexi also looked up, but only Lexi got up to follow Tom.
"Hey, good to see you up." Tom told Hal, and gave wrapped him a quick hug which Hal returned. Lexi was suddenly at Hal's side and wrapped her arms around him. Hal smiled and threw an arm around her shoulders.
"Good to be up." Hal replied.
"Come on, let's get you something to eat." Maggie said to Hal, and went to get in line. Lexi let go of her older brother, but followed him and Maggie to the food line.
"Guess she finally found someone else to bug." Matt smirked as Tom sat back down at the table.
"Matt." Tom chastised. Matt just shrugged his shoulders and went back to eating his food.
When Anne and Lexi returned to the 2nd Mass, and after all the confusion and horror over what happened passed, Matt quickly found out that he now had a shadow. He loved having a little sibling to hang out with and was no longer considered the 'baby' of the family, but it quickly got annoying when she was constantly following him around.
After Tom had sat down, and Maggie and Hal got in line with Lexi now clinging to his side, the cafeteria went back to normal, the room filling with noise once again. For Hal though, while it was nice for everyone to stop staring at him, he still felt uneasy about how crowded it was, and not being able to tell how many people were around him or if they going to try anything was keeping him very tense.
He didn't even notice Lexi had followed them until he felt he grab his hand. He looked down at the girl, and she gave him a big smile, which he returned. He hadn't really seen her since that night when she had come alone into his room.
While he remembered what happened, he tried to forget about it. Odds were, it was just that there was still a little bit of the drug in his system, or he was just tired. Maybe it was because of her alien DNA. Either way, he didn't push it because honestly, he was a little scared of what the answer was.
After they had filled their trays, Hal, Maggie, and Lexi headed to the table where the rest of the Mason family were sitting. Maggie sat down first by Ben, and Hal sat on her other side. The minute Hal sat down, Lexi squeezed in beside him. Apparently, she decided that her newfound oldest brother was now her best friend.
Once everyone was seated, the conversation went back to normal. Hal tried to keep up, but over half the time, he had no idea what they were talking about. Maggie tried to include him, but she soon ended up dragged into it. Hal didn't mind though, he was just glad to be a part of something normal and soon found himself laughing at something stupid that Matt had done the day before.
The moment of peace, and normalcy quickly ended when Hal felt the world start to fade away once again.
Hal opened his eyes and saw that he was outside. The wind was blowing against him, cooling him down against the hot sun. Then he heard noises, skitters. He turned around and found he was standing on a hill, and below him in the valley, were thousands of skitters and Mechs. This time though, there was an Overlord with them.
The young man was shaken out of his reverie when he heard a voice calling his name, and felt someone grab his hand. Hal looked around to see that everyone at the table was staring at him.
"You okay?" Anne asked.
"Yeah, I'm good." Hal was quick to reassure her. The last thing he needed was the doctor deciding he should head back to the hospital. He looked down when the grip someone had on his hand tightened, and saw it was Maggie's. He saw the concerned look on her face and squeezed it back.
Before the everything could return to normal however, Hal felt someone behind him put their hand on his shoulder, and he instantly tensed up, grabbing his fork tightly, ready to use it as a weapon if necessary. Then, the person spoke.
"See you finally came out to see us." Hal relaxed slightly at the sound of Tector's voice. He turned his head to see his friend standing behind him.
"What can I say, the hospital room gets boring very quickly." Hal replied, a grin spreading on his face.
"Good to see you man. Love to stay and chat, but duty calls. See you later, okay?" Tector told him.
"You bet." Hal replied, and watched as Tector headed out of the room. When Hal looked back at his family sitting at the table, they were all grinning at him.
"See, everything will be back to normal before you know it." Maggie promised. Hal smiled at her and went back to eating his food, keeping her hand in his own.
"Oh Dad, look at the time. The rebel skitter leader should be here by now." Ben stated, looking at the clock that hung in the room. Tom glanced down at his watch while Ben stood up.
"Right, sorry guys, but we need to get going." Tom responded, getting up off his chair.
"What's going on with the rebel skitters?" Maggie asked. Hal was about to ask the same question, but knew they probably wouldn't give him an answer. He knew that many people were still concerned about him being an Espheni spy, especially since what happened the eyebug, so he was glad Maggie asked.
"Don't know. All he told us was that he had info on an attack it looks like they're going to mount against us, again." Ben answered.
"Alright, try not to get in any trouble today you three." Tom told them, giving a pointed look at Hal, Matt, and Lexi.
"Hey, I haven't gotten into any trouble in almost two weeks." Matt protested, remembering how he and his friends pranked their teacher a few days before Hal was found.
"I know, which greatly concerns me." Tom replied, a smile on his face, then followed Ben up the stairs towards the exit.
"I got to go too. Lexi, I'm going to drop you off with the other kids today, alright. And Matt, get to school, and please, listen to your father. I do not want to get called away from work today." Anne somewhat pleaded with the Mason family troublemaker, as she got up from her chair. Lexi and Matt followed in suit, waved goodbye to Hal and Maggie, and headed out of the cafeteria.
"So, what do you want to do today?" Maggie asked him as she finished her breakfast.
"You don't have any work you need to do?" Hal inquired.
"Nope, I'm completely free." She answered. Hal knew that his Dad had to be involved with that. Before he left, all the soldiers were working full time shifts, and at most, had one day completely off. Maggie though, had been with him pretty much everyday for the last week. There was no way that would've happened unless his Dad or Weaver had a part to play in that, but Hal wasn't going to complain.
"I want to go outside." Hal decided. He hadn't even seen what the outside world looked like for months, except when he was escaping, and even then, he barely remembered what it was like. He was pretty sure he was starting to get cabin fever.
"Come with me then." Maggie said, with a smirk on her face.
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"Where are we going?" Hal asked as he followed Maggie up yet another flight of stairs. Once they had left the cafeteria, Maggie took him to the other end of the building where there was a huge staircase leading up.
"Don't worry, we're almost there." Was the only response Maggie gave.
Finally, they reached the top. There wasn't much space, and only one door. Maggie opened it, and went through to the other side. Hal followed, and saw that they were on the roof. He went over to the edge and looked around.
"Wow, Charleston's sure gotten a lot bigger." Hal commented, looking back at Maggie. She smiled as she walked over to him, grabbing his hand in hers.
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how many people we have now. Ever since the rest of the Volm arrived, they've been a big help in getting other groups over here. Your Dad's thinking that we might have to make another base." Maggie told him as she sat down, her back against the railing. Hal sat down beside her.
"That's good."
"Hal, what happened earlier?" Maggie inquired.
"What do you mean?" Hal questioned, thought he was pretty sure he knew what she was talking about.
"At breakfast, it was like you completely blacked out. What happened? And don't say it was nothing, I need you to be honest with me." Maggie told him.
"Honestly, I don't really know. One minute, I was listening to what you guys were saying, then I wasn't there. I was standing on a hill, and when I looked down at the bottom, I saw skitters, a lot of them, Mechs too. Next thing I knew, I heard someone call my name, and I was back in the cafeteria." Hal explained.
"Has this happened before?" Maggie questioned.
"Yeah. But it's not always the same thing that I see." Hal answered.
"We should go tell Anne, we promised we would tell her if anything happened." Maggie decided.
"No. If we tell her, she'll make me go back to the hospital, I just got out yesterday. Besides, it's probably nothing. It might just be flashbacks." Hal tried assure her.
"Do you remember seeing those things while you were gone?"
"No, but I don't remember a lot of what happened. Look, I'm sure it's nothing, but if it keeps happening, then I'll tell Anne, okay?" Hal tried to compromise. He wasn't ready to go back in the hospital, or to have the doctor try to persuade him to let her run more tests.
"Okay, but you have to promise, that if it does keep happening, you tell me." Maggie told him. Hal nodded, and squeezed her hand.
"I promise."
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As the days continued to pass, slowly, everything went back to normal. Hal still felt like he was on a leash, as he wasn't allowed to really do anything, or go anywhere unless someone was with him. Apparently, though everyone stopped staring at him whenever he entered a room, they still weren't trusting him with a gun, or with any information about what they were doing. He didn't blame them for that, but he felt very uneasy about going around unarmed.
Finally, two weeks after Hal moved back into his old room with Maggie, his Dad decided that he was well enough to go out on a patrol. It was only to the edge of the city, and he was only allowed to have a gun for as long as the patrol lasted, but it was progress.
Ben was the only one with him, which Hal was grateful for, yet nervous about. Grateful that he didn't have to deal with any of the other soldiers who made it clear they didn't trust him besides Tector and Anthony, and the look Pope gave him was enough to make him want to have a weapon on him at all times, just in case. Nervous, because he was positive that Ben was going to try and get him to talk about what happened. Sure enough, he was right.
"So, how are you holding up?" Ben asked casually once they were far enough away that no one would overhear them.
"Holding up just fine little brother." Hal responded, looking over everything he could see expect Ben's face.
"You sure? It's only been three weeks." Ben pointed out, completely aware that Hal was trying to avoid the subject.
"I'm fine, little annoyed about how slow you guys are to believe me though." Hal told him.
"Well, considering what happened with the eyebug, the fact that you were gone five months, and you tend to try and hide whatever you're feeling or going through for you knows what reason, do you really blame us?" Ben asked, stopping to look at his brother. When Hal heard Ben stop, he did too, and finally looked at him.
"I'm fine, alright? Though I could do without some of the glares people still give me." Hal revealed, Pope's face coming to his mind. Then he started walking again, and Ben followed in suit.
As though he was reading his older brother's mind, Ben said, "Don't worry about Pope, or anybody else. They won't try anything, and Pope has mellowed out a lot lately, ever since he met Sara."
"Who's Sara?" Hal wondered.
"She's Pope's girlfriend. They met about two months ago, after she knocked him with her gun." Ben informed him.
"Pope found a girl, and she actually likes him? The world really has ended." Hal joked, and they both started laughing. Then suddenly, Hal stopped and looked around. Ben also turned his head to get a look at their surroundings, but didn't see anything.
"What is it?" Ben asked, but Hal didn't answer. Hal didn't even hear Ben.
His vision had suddenly changed. He could see himself and Ben from a block away, straight ahead, but it was a though he was peaking out from behind a wall. Then he could see himself point a gun at whoever's eyes he was seeing through, heard a shot ring out, then nothing.
The next thing Hal knew, was that someone was shaking his shoulder, and calling his name. Hal blinked, and he was standing on the street beside Ben, who had his hand on his shoulder, almost as though nothing happened.
"What happened?" Hal asked, looking around, his eyes falling on a dead skitter, over a block away, half hidden behind a building. Even from this distance, Hal could see the blood running from its head.
"You just killed a skitter. I didn't even see or hear it, yet you somehow did. Hal, what is going on?" Hal ignored Ben's question, he just stared at the lifeless aliens. It was a few minutes before he finally broke the silence.
"Ben, don't tell anyone what happened." Hal told his younger brother, finally turning to look at him.
"But Hal,"
"Ben, please. I'm asking you to please, keep this to yourself." Hal begged. Ben looked like he was going to protest, but didn't. Instead, he nodded and said, "Okay."
"Thank you." Hal then turned around and started walking back home. After a few seconds, he heard Ben's footsteps behind him.
AN - And that is the end of chapter 8. Chapter 9 should be uploaded within the week.