Disclaimer – I own nothing. There is a scene between Anne and Hal that is very much based on a scene in the 1994 film Lassie. Enjoy the last chapter.
Chapter 18
We're Gonna be Alright Tonight
Hal woke up to a bright sun shining down on his face, making him smile, until he realized he was alone in the bed. He sat up, looking around, seeing Maggie's shoes still by the bed, but Maggie was no where in sight.
It was then that Hal heard water running in the adjoining bathroom. Then, the door opened and Maggie came out, obviously not expecting him to be awake.
"Oh, you're up. Did I wake you?" Maggie asked, coming over to the bed.
"No, you didn't. How long was I out?" Hal wondered.
"About 12 hours, I think." Maggie answered, sitting down beside him, "Did you have a good sleep?"
"I did, actually." Hal answered, lifting his hand to rub Maggie's arm.
"I have to go for a check up." Maggie told him.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, Anne just wants to make sure that my old injury and my spine is fine now that the spikes are gone. I'll see you soon." Maggie said, giving him a light kiss, before she stood up and headed to the door.
Just as she opened it she found Ben on the other side, his fist in the air, about to knock. Ben moved a little to the side, allowing Maggie enough room to slid past him, and she headed down the hallway.
"Hey Ben, what's up?" Hal asked as the middle Mason entered the room.
"Nothing, just wanted to see how you were doing." Ben answered, looking very awkward as his glance bounced everywhere but at Hal.
"I'm doing good. Ben, come here." Hal told his younger brother, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. After a moment of hesitation, Ben came over and sat down on the bed beside Hal.
"You know I don't blame for anything, right?" Hal inquired, trying to meet Ben's eyes. Ben however, was looking straight ahead.
"If I didn't go after that stupid skitter…" Ben started, but Hal interrupted.
"Ben, you did what any one of us would've done, and I don't regret getting stabbed if it meant you were going to be okay."
"I never ever wanted to hurt you," Ben whispered, looking down at his lap, "and I'm not just talking about you getting stabbed."
"I know. But like I said before, you are my pain-in-the-butt little brother. And nothing, will ever change that." Hal told him, putting his arm around Ben's shoulders. Ben turned around and wrapped his arms around Hal's waist, being mindful about his injury. Hal didn't hesitate to return the hug.
"I love you Math Geek." Hal whispered in Ben's ear.
"I love you too, Dumb Jock." Ben replied.
FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS
A few hours later, Matt sat in one of the chairs by Hal's bed, talking excitedly about the battle that the 2nd Mass was getting ready for. They were getting ready to move out to attack the Espheni Queen, who, according to Cochise, was the head of the army. The Volm were planning on using the weapon to destroy the place she was hiding, while the rest of the soldiers took care of the Overlords and Skitters.
"Sucks that you can't come." Matt said.
"I would if I could, but Anne and Dad decided I'm not up for a fight yet." Hal answered, shooting a mock glare at Anne who was in the room, looking over the results of some tests that she had ran on him earlier.
"You were stabbed, almost died, suffered from severe blood loss, a punctured lung, and practically the minute you woke up, you were basically put in a coma to fix brain damage that you had been suffering from for almost three weeks. You're lucky I'm letting you walk around the room." Anne replied, not even glancing up at the two brothers.
"You just be careful out there." Hal told Matt, who nodded.
"And you, don't do anything stupid, like almost die again." Matt ordered.
"I think the only way I could die in here, is if Anne mixes up any medication she keeps giving me." They turned to see that Anne finally looked up from the test results to glare at Hal.
"I gotta go." Matt realized, looking at his watch. He got off the chair, but turned to Hal to give him a hug, which Hal returned.
"I love you." Matt said.
"I love you too. Be safe." Hal responded. He felt Matt nod against his chest, before he pulled away and left the room, leaving Anne and Hal alone.
"So, how am I doing Doc?" Hal asked.
"Considering everything that happened, pretty good actually. Not good enough to fight this upcoming battle though, so don't ask." Anne answered as she came over to the bed, pulled the chair over and sat down so she was sitting directly in front of him.
"Pull up your shirt, I want to check to see how the wound is healing." Anne told him, so Hal lifted the bottom of his shirt up, just enough to reveal the bandages that were covering the injury, and Anne started to pull them away so she could get a look at the still healing injury.
"This is a little weird." Hal said.
"I'm almost done." Anne replied, but Hal was not talking about her looking at his injury.
"I meant, I just don't really know what to call you." Hal told her.
"What do you mean?" Anne asked as she started to put the bandages back into place.
"I mean, I can't call you 'Mom' and 'stepmom', well, stepmoms have a bad rep thanks to Disney." Hal explained.
"Well, what's wrong with 'Anne'?" She asked.
"Because, you're more than just 'Anne' too, you know?" Hal confessed. Anne didn't say anything, she just lowered her gaze to the floor. Hal at first thought she was angry at him, when he heard a sniffle.
"Hey, are you crying?" Anne looked up at Hal, allowing him to see tears slowly run down her cheeks, and also to see a large smile spread across her face.
Without saying a word, she stood up, wrapped her arms around Hal's shoulders and pulled him close. Hal put his arms around her waist in return, both of them unaware that Tom stood in the doorway, watching with a smile on his face.
When Tom had first told Hal that he and Anne were expecting a baby, he wasn't sure how Hal would respond. He knew that he and Anne had started a relationship, but a baby made it more, permanent.
Hal however, was happy about the idea of having another sibling, and he did like Anne, and said he was happy that Tom had found someone else, but Tom always wondered, especially after the couple had gotten married, if Hal was actually secretly upset that his Dad had moved on from his Mom so quickly.
Hearing Hal talk to Anne though, showed him that Hal had indeed accepted Anne, not as his mother, which nobody had expected. Neither Tom nor Anne had any illusions that Anne could replace Rebecca in the boys' hearts and eyes, but they did accept her as part of their family, as a friend, and a mother figure.
Not wanting to disturb the two, Tom slowly stepped out of the doorway and closed the door.
FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS
It had been hours since the soldiers of the 2nd Mass left the hospital. They had left early in the afternoon, now the sun had set and the moon was starting to rise. Only Maggie was in the hospital room with Hal. Since Maggie had her surgery the day before, Anne decided that Maggie should stay out of the fight too, much to her annoyance. But once Hal and Maggie realized that they were alone, with very little chance of Anne checking on them due to other patients she would no doubt be receiving, Maggie warmed up to the idea of missing the fight.
While Hal and Maggie both enjoyed to finally get some alone time, after a few hours, Hal's worry for his family started to increase greatly, especially since they had received no news about what was happening.
"I'm sure they're fine." Maggie told him. She was currently tucked into his side, head on his chest, arms around his waist while his arm wrapped around her shoulders, rubbing her arm gently.
"How do you know I was thinking them?" Hal asked, still looking straight ahead.
"Because you are predictable, and you've been staring into space for last ten minutes. Plus, your eyebrows get all scrunched up when you're worried. It's kind of cute actually." Hal looked down at her when she said that. She smiled at him and he smiled back, lowering his lips to hers.
The kiss quickly deepened. Hal moved to somewhat be above Maggie, his hands now down at her waist, while Maggie brought her hands up to the back of his head and neck. After a minute, Maggie suddenly pulled away.
"Wait, you're still healing. I don't want to cause you any pain." Maggie said, trying to catch her breath.
"Pain's a part of life, Mags." Hal responded with a smile.
"Maybe, but I don't want to hurt you." Maggie told him. Hal sighed, and sat up on his knees.
"What's that?" Hal asked, looking at the window. Maggie sat up and saw what looked like fire and smoke on the other side of the city.
"Guess they finally started kicking some alien a**." Maggie commented. They both stood up and headed to the window, watching as more fires apparently were started.
As they watched, they saw what looked like fireballs start to fall from the air in the distance.
"Espheni spaceships?" Maggie suggested.
"Probably." Hal agreed, remembering being told that the Overlord that kidnapped him had held him hostage on a spaceship, and with enough power, they could still fly.
"It kinda looks like the sky is falling." Hal told her.
"Yeah, it kinda does." It was at that point that Hal's injury started to throb painfully, and he lifted his arm to wrap it around his waist. Maggie noticed, went back to the bed, and dragged the chair that was sitting beside it back to the window so Hal could sit down, but still watch the fight.
Hal sat down, but instead of looking back out the window, he looked over at Maggie. The moonlight shining on her face, and made her blonde hair look like it was glowing. Hal reached for her hand, holding it gently in both of his, causing her to turn around to look at him.
"Maggie, would you do something for me?" Hal asked.
"Anything." Maggie replied.
"Would you marry me?"
FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS
1 year later…
Hal surveyed his surroundings, Maggie by his side. The one-year anniversary celebration of the alien's defeat was taking place at Lincoln Memorial. It seemed that everyone in the world was present, which, considering how few people survived the war was a very big possibility. Spying Anne through the crowd, holding something in her arms, the married couple headed over to her.
"Hello baby bro number four." Hal said as the small head full of black hair turned to look at him over Anne's shoulder. Anne, hearing Hal's voice turned around.
"You're late." Anne teased, readjusting her hold on the baby, who was now holding his little arms out to Hal and Maggie.
"Blame Maggie." Hal said, his gaze staying on the newest member of the Mason family.
"Yeah, sure. Look can you guys," Anne didn't need to finish her request as Maggie took the baby in her arms and held him tight, while Anne went to find where Tom disappeared to.
Hal smiled at the sight of his wife holding a child, then glanced down at her stomach. They had only found out a few days ago, but Maggie wanted to wait until she was farther along before they told anybody.
"Not going to be secret if you keep looking at my stomach Hal." Maggie pointed out when she saw him staring at her.
Still smiling, Hal turned his eyes back to the crowd. He found Matt talking with Weaver and Cochise. Matt had grown up a lot in the last year, he was almost as tall as the Colonel now. Anne and Tom were making their way over to them, his arm around her shoulder, and her arm around his back. Then Hal found Ben talking with Deni, just as he had earlier predicted. It didn't take long for the two friends to become interested in each other, and it really wasn't a surprise when they started dating.
If one were to him before the invasion that he and Ben would actually get along as well as they know did, Hal would've called them insane, but Hal was sure they had never been closer. The war may have ended many lives, but it also brought the people who survived closer than they ever thought possible.
"Hey Hal, wanna hold your brother?" Maggie asked holding the baby out for him, and he took him from her with no complaint and she added, "After all, you're going to need all the practice you can get."
"Come on, Dad's starting his speech." And together, Hal and Maggie joined the crowd to the makeshift stage to celebrate the start of a new year of freedom.
The End
AN – Not going to lie, a big part of me wants to cry. I've had this story, and other versions of it stuck in my head for quite some time, and now it's finally finished. I hope you all enjoyed reading it, I know I enjoyed writing it. This will not be my last Falling Skies story though, A Guardian Angel has a few more chapters yet before it's finished, and there are at least two more Falling Skies stories that I want to write, so I'll see you guys soon! Bye, for now.
