Chapter 8

Over time the sixth pilgrimage came and the Sixers left, and Taylor had Rebecca to console him and conspire with. Appearances were kept up as usual, and no one suspected anything, even Wash started to doubt the relationship that existed between them. This was far from the case, because Rebecca ended up in Taylor's bed more often than her own. Mostly, she was tired of sleeping alone, and Taylor had become accustomed to discussing the issues of the colony with her. Some nights, all they did was talk. The years passed by and Rebecca and Taylor never stopped seeing each other, although they were almost caught once.

Several months after Taylor and Rebecca started sneaking around, the sixers made their move to break away from the colony. Taylor had been restless several nights before the revolt, because he was worrying over their ultimate separation from the colony. He wasn't even sure if he could let Rebecca be with him while that threat loomed over their heads, just in case they came bursting in and saw them together, consequently holding a strong amount of leverage over his head, but Rebecca convinced him otherwise. Neither of them could sleep that night and after that became apparent Rebecca tried to distract Taylor. Just as their lips met, someone began to knock frantically on the door. A voice called out,

"Commander Taylor!" They jerked apart and rushed to put the rest of their clothes back on. Rebecca cursed as she recognized her sister's voice and Taylor rushed to the door opening it halfway after he quickly straightened his jacket. Wash stood outside of the door and instantly began to talk,

"Sir, Mira is leading most of the sixth pilgrimage out of the colony, she's still rounding up supplies. We're trying to hold them without casualties. Guzman is heading the defense." Wash started to glance through the doorway as she made her hastened report. Taylor quickly blocked the doorway with his body and said to Wash's astonished face,

"Let's go!" He turned to grab another gun off of the hallway table and shot a glance at Rebecca, who was standing just out of sight from her sister. She nodded quickly while making a shooing motion with her hand and he ran out, closing the door behind him. Rebecca waited as long as she could bear before rushing out the front door behind them. No one died during the Sixer's separation, only a few minor injuries were reported. Rebecca and Taylor never discussed what could have gone wrong during Wash's visit. They just agreed to take a break from each other. This arrangement didn't even last a week.

Taylor yelled over the racket of the forest, the rover's engine, and the frustrated screeches of the gradually approaching Nycorapter.

"Get rid of him!"

Rebecca weaved the rover between the trees trying to shake it off and yelled back,

"Why is it still chasing us?"

"You almost ran him over Rebecca!"

Rebecca didn't respond, instead she glared at the forest in front of her, not daring to peel her concentration off of the terrain to give Taylor a piece of her mind. Her arms strained with the force she was using to keep the rover in control.

"He's falling back!" Taylor announced, "Now head back to the outpost."

"Yes sir," Rebecca said with a hint of sarcasm. She quickly turned the wheel, without breaking their momentum, and sped off in the direction of the outpost. Finally Rebecca pulled up to the outpost and swiftly jumped out of the rover as she eased it to a stop. She looked over at Taylor, who was staring at her with a strange expression. She swallowed softly and said,

"They're waiting inside sir."

In response, Taylor walked right up to Rebecca, grabbed her by the shoulders, and slammed her into the outer wall of the outpost, under the camera and out of its sight. Taylor said loudly,

"You disobeyed a direct order Miles. That damn good driving of yours is the only thing holding me back."

Rebecca stayed very still trying to figure out exactly what Taylor was trying to accomplish. She settled on her theory that this was just a ruse and played along.

"I'm sorry sir. It won't happen again."

"You're damn right it won't."

Taylor didn't move away from Rebecca after he seemed to finish his fake reprimand, instead he started to slowly move closer to her and he reached over to his belt to turn off his radio. Rebecca couldn't help the small smile that played across her face. When he saw the smile, he quickly closed the distance between them and kissed Rebecca firmly on the lips. She responded instantly and wrapped her arms around him, pulling her body into his. Taylor held her even tighter. The time that they spent apart from each other made this moment even more intense than they could have anticipated. At almost the same time, they pulled apart gasping for breath. Taylor and Rebecca stared at one other as their breathing slowed. Finally, Taylor turned and started walking away. Rebecca gave him a three second head start before following him into the outpost.

The next three years slipped by, and they kept their relationship a complete secret. No one ever suspected then, even Wash gave up on her wild theories. The tenth pilgrimage soon arrived, and Rebecca was with Taylor in his office when Jim Shannon's surprise arrival was brought to the Commander's attention. She was surprised to hear his story, and didn't hide the surprised amusement from her face as Shannon stared her down while he was leaving Taylor's office. That night, a couple of new arrivals who had won spots on the pilgrimage through the lottery were celebrating in Boylan's Bar. Wash and Rebecca were finally getting along and taking small steps in reestablishing their relationship as sisters. They sat in their usual table in the corner, dressed down, and carefully reminiscing about some events from their childhood that were neutral territory. One man, who had a little too much to drink, started to stagger over to the bar, but stopped at the sight of them and slurred,

"Hey there, you must be sisters because you're both so beautiful."

Wash responded coolly,

"You're drunk, just walk away." The man staggered in mid laugh and turned to Rebecca continuing to use his pathetic pickup lines on her. Wash spoke again,

"Just walk away." The man turned back to Wash and sneered,

"You jealous bitch…"

Rebecca quickly stood up and punched him in the face. He staggered back and fell backwards over a table with a loud crash. The bar fell silent as Wash jumped up to hold her sister back,

"Calm down Becca," Wash whispered into her sister's ear. Rebecca slowly forced herself to lower her fists as Boylan made his way over to them. He said wryly,

"You of all people should know Rebecca, Commander Taylor has to be informed of all brawls involving his soldiers. I just alerted him to one, so you better hurry on up to his office. I'll be telling him what happened while you're walking over, and don't you ladies worry," Boylan said with an odd smile, "I'll take care of this drunken idiot."

Rebecca turned on her heel and walked up the stairs and out of the bar with Wash following her closely. She walked right into Taylor's office and stopped in front of his desk, her whole body was radiating fury. Taylor folded his hands in front of himself and said,

"I must admit, I certainly was surprised when Boylan told me what happened. I'm not saying that this man didn't have it coming, but you need to be able to restrain yourself."

Rebecca took a slow breath and became somewhat more visibly relaxed.

"You're right sir. I can show restraint from now on."

Wash stared at her sister in shock, for she never submitted to authority that easily. Even as a marine she had gotten in deep trouble for her inability to calm down. Wash simply observed her sister in silence. Taylor dismissed them and after a backward glance, Wash followed her sister out of his office. Wash never got her sister to tell her why she gave in so easily to Taylor's scolding. Rebecca shrugged her questions off and kept walking.

Rebecca never told Taylor that she loved him. She never dared when Jim Shannon saved his life, or even when he would came back from a mission cut up from a Nyco or a Slasher. She did love him, but she had always made herself swear to never get involved with anyone, because they could always be taken away to leave nothing but heartache. Whenever Taylor and Rebecca could steal themselves away, they would hike back up the mountain trail that Rebecca had discovered years before. It was times like that that made the words, "I love you," so horrifying to her. If she were to utter them, there was no promise of Taylor's acceptance. Those words could ruin the arrangement that they had with each other. A few months later, while they were up on the mountain, Taylor's radio summoned them back down to the colony. They were met by both Shannons. Taylor took Jim to the side and dismissed Rebecca.

Rebecca looked at Elizabeth Shannon and smiled politely. Elizabeth looked at Rebecca with knowing eyes. For the first time in years Rebecca felt a stab of fear that someone could actually figure out what she had with Taylor. Elizabeth said,

"I've heard a lot about you Rebecca. We've only been here for six months, but I've never had to privilege to meet Wash's sister first hand."

"I don't believe that I've had the privilege to meet Jim's wife myself."

Elizabeth smiled and said,

"You like working for Commander Taylor?"

"Of course," Rebecca said firmly, "he's an honorable man. I hope you don't mind me asking, but where are you from? I'm not familiar with your accent." Rebecca hoped that the obvious change of subject would stick.

"I don't mind, but I would ask the same of you. You seem to have a slight twang from the South. And as far as I can tell, Wash does not have the same variation."

Rebecca did not respond right away, but just as she opened her mouth to awkwardly excuse herself Taylor came to her rescue. He called her back over to him as Jim rejoined his wife. Elizabeth glanced back at Taylor and Rebecca as she walked away from them with her husband. She turned to Jim and said,

"Jim, do you think Commander Taylor is involved with one of his soldiers?"

Jim turned to Elizabeth and laughed,

"Commander Taylor would never do that! But who do you think he could be involved with?"

"Rebecca…"

"Rebecca? No way, Rebecca and her sister are two of the most professional soldiers that Taylor has. Either way, he never shows her any favoritism or even looks at her the wrong way. And neither does she in return." Elizabeth sighed,

"I guess you're right Jim. I just had a funny feeling that's all."

They made their way home, and they were surprised to see Maddy waiting for them. She got up from the table and said,

"Mom, Dad, there's something going around the school. Some illness, I think I'm even getting it." She turned from her parents and coughed harshly a few times into her arm. Elizabeth looked at Jim and took her daughter's other arm.

"Come on Maddy, I'll take you to the infirmary and see what's going on."

The infirmary was packed. Elizabeth squeezed through the masses of sick patients and found a nurse,

"Why wasn't I informed of this?"

"I'm sorry Dr. Shannon," the nurse said quickly, "we just sent out a call for you."

Elizabeth nodded and started analyzing samples taken from the patients. She quickly found Malcolm and showed him her results.

"Malcolm, we don't have a vaccine for this. We've been treating the side effects and sending the sick people back to their homes. Now I know that was the wrong thing to do. Malcolm, we have a serious problem."

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