Sorry it took a little longer to post than I would have liked. I had finals this past week so I had to study.

I own Rebecca Miles

Chapter 6

Rebecca closed her eyes as her lips neared Taylor's. Moments slipped by and suddenly everything froze. A scream echoed out from the base of the mountain, followed by a terrible roar. Rebecca's eyes flew open and met Taylor's, filled with dread. She whispered,

"Skye." His face became blank and they staggered back away from each other. Taylor started towards the pack he had dropped earlier. Rebecca dashed over to hers and they both started quickly down the mountain, drawing their guns at the same time. The roar echoed out again and Taylor shouted,

"It's a Carnotaurus!" They rushed down the mountainside in silence until they reached Skye. She was perched halfway up a tree and paralyzed in fear, just out of the Carno's reach. Taylor and Rebecca opened fire on the enormous dinosaur. Its head swiveled towards them, roared, and started to back away from the tree. It moved its head from Taylor to Rebecca and finally settled its gaze upon Rebecca. Taylor started to move sideways towards her when he saw the Carno's choice. Still staring down the Carno, he spoke to her in an even voice,

"Rebecca, get behind me. Now."

"I've got this Taylor!" Rebecca yelled back.

"That's an order!" He yelled.

She was staring down the Carno with her gun at the ready. It dipped its head down three times and pawed at the ground once before it started its charge towards Rebecca. She held her ground and started shooting concussion blasts at its head. Taylor ran full speed at Rebecca and slammed into her. The Carno ran right through the spot where she had been standing moments before.

Rebecca lurched off of the ground with dirt smearing her face and glared at Taylor for a moment before turning back to the Carno. It roared at them again and they opened fire. The Carno shook its head with aggravation and started to paw at the ground again. Somewhere in the woods behind it, another dinosaur started to roar and the Carno cocked its head towards the sound. It let out a small grunt, turned its bulk away from Rebecca and Taylor, and galloped back into the forest.

Rebecca stood in a stunned silence taking deep breaths. Taylor took a few quick strides up to her, grabbed the front of her shirt, and pushed her into a nearby tree. He spoke in a strained voice as he said,

"You disobeyed a direct order, Miles." Rebecca remained silent, because when she looked into Taylor's eyes, they weren't angry, they were filled with fear. Taylor softened his stare and let go of Rebecca's shirt, but he didn't back away from her. Sadness crept into her heart because Taylor stopped calling her by her first name. Rebecca slipped out from in between Taylor and the tree and left him standing there, with his hand still raised and his eyes following her. She walked over to the tree that Skye had managed to climb up and addressed the odd look of both fear and confusion that was playing across her face,

"Come on down Skye, the Carno's gone. There's nothing to see here." Skye's head swiveled from Rebecca to Taylor before glancing into the forest and she slowly started to make her way down the tree. By the time Skye made it to the bottom of the tree, Taylor had walked back over to them. He said tersely,

"My rover is nearby, come on."

Taylor lead the way and Rebecca walked behind him with her hand on Skye's back, leading her along. The ride back to Terra Nova was extremely tense and the only words spoken were by Taylor, inquiring on Skye's condition. He didn't even let Rebecca drive. When they arrived back at Terra Nova, Taylor pulled Skye aside to talk to her about what had just occurred. Rebecca tried to take responsibility for Skye's decision to follow her into the forest, but Taylor quickly dismissed her. Rebecca went back to her house to sort through what had just happened between herself and Commander Taylor. She had to attend his class later in the day, and she knew that nothing could interfere with her performance. The thought that ran in circles through her mind was the thought of what might have been . . . if they had actually kissed before the Carnotaurus ruined their chance.

Commander Taylor sat behind his desk in thought, trying to figure out what was happening between Rebecca and himself. When he was with Rebecca, she made him act on impulses and feel emotions that he had locked away years ago when Ayanni died. He rubbed his brow as the pain that thinking of Ayanni always brought rushed into him. A great deal about being with Rebecca seemed wrong to him morally, but Taylor wanted to be with her regardless. He sighed and quickly ran a hand through his hair before getting up to prepare for his lesson. He groaned inwardly at the thought of having to see Rebecca in front of him again so soon. And for the sake of both of their reputations, he knew that no one could ever know what happened on that mountain.

A few hours later, Taylor stood before his private class of soldiers and started to teach his lesson. Every student held their full attention on him, even Rebecca, and Taylor had to be careful not to let his gaze linger upon Rebecca's for too long. Half way through his lesson, Wash slipped into the back of the room. She made no motion to talk to Taylor so he assumed she was just observing. Near the end of his lesson, while Taylor was describing some defensive maneuvers and blocks, one soldier blurted out,

"Let Wash and Miles demonstrate sir! We have yet to see them fight." A few other soldiers mumbled in agreement. Wash started to inch her way out of the room but Taylor beckoned with one hand and addressed her directly,

"That sounds like a good idea Wash. Why don't you and your sister demonstrate proper fighting techniques for the class?" He spoke with a faint sarcasm that few picked up on. Rebecca was the first to move over to the sparring mat and start to stretch. Wash walked stiffly over to the mat and waited for Rebecca to finish. When she finally straightened back up, they both raised their fists and waited for the other to throw the first punch.

Wash was the first to lash out. She threw a punch towards Rebecca's head and Rebecca batted it to the side. This happened a second time, making Wash scowl in aggravation. She would not let herself be humiliated by her sister. She started throwing punches left and right and even tried landing a few kicks, but Rebecca blocked every single one. Suddenly, Rebecca let the anger that she held towards her sister out and started a barrage of punches at Wash. One punch clipped Wash's shoulder and she hissed in pain. Rebecca kept pushing Wash back until she reached the edge of the mat. In a moment of panic, Wash darted out to the side of Rebecca and rounded on her. Rebecca turned without breaking her momentum and swung her arm out, slamming across Wash's chest, making her fall flat onto the mat. Rebecca hesitated, but she walked over to Wash and offered a hand up. Wash shoved it aside and lurched off of the ground by herself. She didn't even bother to brush herself off before storming out of sight. Rebecca visibly sighed and quickly followed her sister.

"Alicia, wait!" Rebecca called out to her sister's receding figure. Rebecca ran to catch up to her. As she neared her, Wash whipped around making Rebecca skid to a halt. Wash shouted at her sister,

"Are you happy now Becca? You beat me in a fight, so what!"

"Alicia, that's not what's really bothering you is it?" Rebecca said calmly.

"That's right Becca. And to think you're the one who should be mad at me. You're the one ruining my reputation!"

"Damn right I should be mad at you. Fifteen years ago you ran away with my fiancé and our money and left me with nothing. Remember that?" Rebecca smirked at the stunned look on Alicia's face and continued, "You're the reason I joined the marines in the first place, and why I started racing. Those were the only options I had left. You ruined my life, and then you expect me to just forgive you, because you 'saved me' by dragging me to Terra Nova." Rebecca kept her voice so calm throughout her speech that Wash continued to stand in a stunned silence. Rebecca continued to ask,

"Where is he now?"

"He's dead." Wash looked uncomfortable and said slowly, "After we left, he went outside without his re-breather." Rebecca closed her eyes and took a slow breath. She opened her eyes and said,

"I have nothing more to say to you." She turned and walked away, leaving Wash once more in silence. Rebecca stopped about halfway back to her house and leaned against a building, trying to hold back the emotions she had locked away. She hadn't expected to reopen them after so long, and the pain she now felt was just as strong as it was fifteen years before. She stumbled her way into her house and managed to close the front door behind her before falling to her knees. Wave after wave of sadness crashed into her over and over again. For a few moments Rebecca mourned her long lost lover but she knew there was no more reason to. It was the fact that he had killed himself that bothered her the most. She staggered up off of the floor and fell into a nearby chair. A few tears rolled down her cheeks before she could push away most of the pain.

Rebecca sat in the chair for a long time trying to shut away what she was feeling. Just as she was starting to feel better a knock on the door dragged her out of her thoughts. When Rebecca opened the door, she was surprised to see Taylor standing there. He glanced up and down Rebecca taking in the state she was in and asked,

"Can I come in?"

Rebecca nodded and walked back to the chair, but didn't sit down. Taylor pulled the door closed behind him and walked up to Rebecca with his hands clasped in front of him.

"Rebecca, we need to talk." He hesitated and asked, "Are you o.k. to talk right now?"

"I'm fine," Rebecca said sharply. Taylor nodded slowly and said,

"You are one of the best soldiers that I have, and I'm not going to ruin your reputation, or mine. Any instability could bring this colony crumbling down. What happened up there . . . "

"So you don't feel anything?" Rebecca interrupted. Taylor held up his hand,

"What I'm trying to say is that we can't afford to be together. There are too many risks involved. Rebecca, I'm old enough to be your father."

Rebecca took a step towards Taylor and said,

"That's it then. I mean, I never figured you as a person to avoid taking risks."
"Rebecca," Taylor said as a warning. Rebecca surprised both Taylor and herself by saying in a mocking voice,

"Nathaniel." Taylor stared at Rebecca, amazed at how bold she was being. He had to admit to himself that he liked that she was.

Wash walked towards her sister's house thinking over what she was going to say. After they finally confronted their issues, she had some crazy urge to at least try to apologize for real. When she reached Becca's house, Wash was surprised to see that the front door was cracked slightly open. Wash peered through the crack and slowly pushed the door open. She heard muffled voices coming from another room. As she crept towards them, a spark of anger grew in her chest when she recognized the voice talking to her sister, it was Commander Taylor's.

Silently, Wash took cover behind a nearby wall and quickly peered into the room before moving carefully back out of sight. What she saw made that spark grow. Taylor was standing close to Rebecca and Rebecca had her typical poker face on. Wash stayed perfectly still and listened.

" . . . I mean, I never figured you as a person to avoid taking risks."

"Rebecca." Wash smiled, Taylor sounded annoyed. But as she heard Rebecca's response, her jaw dropped.

"Nathaniel."

She couldn't believe the nerve of her sister, calling Taylor by his first name and sounding rather sarcastic when she did. Silence stretched out longer than was comfortable, so Wash quickly looked around the corner and watched in horror as Taylor roughly grabbed Rebecca and kissed her. Wash was frozen, peering around the corner watching them kiss. Suddenly she jerked out of her trance and moved back around the corner. Silently, she walked back outside and closed the door quietly behind herself. She briskly walked away from the house and kept walking until she found a small alley between two buildings. Wash leaned her back against the wall and leaned her head back against the wall as well. She looked up at the darkening sky and tears began to stream down her face.

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