Hm...so right off the bat I probably should have said "I don't own Falling Skies or anything to do with it" etc. So this is my disclaimer because I'll probably forget on the rest of the chapters but if you're reading this, I'm sure you know it applies for everything I write about. I am almost positive they haven't commented either way, but if anyone hears about the producers, writers, etc. saying they don't want FanFiction based on Falling Skies out there, somebody please let me know!
Thanks to Tori LMX for the review! I really appreciate that you took the time to comment. To answer your question (What's up with Ben and this girl? I just kinda wanna know if there will be something between these two)...Ben will definitely have some kind of relationship with the girl. But so will Hal, Maggie, and Lourdes. I don't want to give too much away or risk sounding cliché (which I probably already am) but every relationship is a bit different and she's had a traumatic past. She's not going to wake up and immediately fall in love with Hal or Ben. I love romances as much as the next person and I'm not saying it won't happen in the future of the story, but I also love the friendships and trust that develop between characters (the scenes with the Masons on the show are always my favorites and I love the dynamic between Hal and Maggie because you can tell that first and foremost, before being lovers, they are resistance fighters who will always have their partner's back).
This chapter should clue you in a little bit more about what is going on with Ben in relation to the girl, but remember: not everything is exactly as it seems and there is always more explaining that inevitably needs to be done in the world of Falling Skies.
"What do you mean, 'her pulse spiked'?" asked Tom, confused.
"I mean, it was racing. A human being can't have blood flowing that fast, it just isn't possible."
"Maybe she's not human," said Weaver ominously.
There was silence. Hal, Lourdes, Maggie, Tom, and Weaver all looked at the unconscious girl lying in the middle of the circle they had formed around the table. Ben, however, was looking at the floor.
"Ben," said Anne, looking at the boy. "I need to know what's going on. You may be the only chance I have at saving her."
"Nothing's going on. I don't know what you're talking about," said Ben, still avoiding all eye contact.
"Wait a moment," said Tom. "Why do you think Ben knows anything?"
Anne looked at Lourdes. Hal, Maggie, and Weaver all looked at her in turn. Hal immediately looked defensive, ready to open his mouth and defend his little brother. Maggie was curious but she was also on guard and she looked warily at Ben. Weaver's face was emotionless, waiting to hear what Lourdes was going to say. Ben looked on edge, his eyes flickering up to Lourdes's face. Lourdes herself looked extremely uncomfortable, her eyes shifting from one person to the other.
"I-" she stammered. "I, um." She took a breath and looked directly at Ben. "You just looked different when you saw her. You went into a trance or something. I was just worried about you. But I'm sure it wasn't anything," she finished, looking at the three adults.
"Ben?" asked Tom. "Do you have anything to add?" He looked searchingly at Ben, though not with accusation.
"No," replied Ben in a tight voice. "I was just tired. I must have zoned out or something but nothing happened."
"Well until we figure out what triggered that girl's response, I don't feel comfortable with you and Ms. Delgado being alone with her," said Weaver to Anne.
"Captain, we'll be fine," Anne protested. "She's not going to wake up anytime soon anyways."
"You also said there would be no change in the next few days," reminded Weaver. "I don't blame you, but you clearly don't know what is going on here!"
Anne pursed her lips. "Captain, this is not a place for weapons-" she tried again.
"Neither you or Ms. Delgado have training in any sort of combat or defense. The two of you are invaluable to this regiment. There will be no discussion on this matter," said Weaver firmly.
Anne looked extremely frustrated but she nodded her assent grudgingly. Lourdes kept her eyes averted from Hal, who she could feel staring at her. She also avoided looking at Ben. She had done so once but he had given her such an angry glare that she immediately backed down.
"Hal, I want you to stay with Dr. Glass and Ms. Delgado for today," continued Weaver. "You are in charge of making sure no harm comes to them. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir," replied Hal, anger no doubt directed at Lourdes filling his voice.
"Hal," said Weaver with a warning look. "I'm assigning you to this job because you found the girl and I know you are capable of protecting Dr. Glass and Ms. Delgado. However if you cannot control yourself, I will remove you without a second thought. You're a good soldier but there are many more like you in this camp."
"I understand," said Hal, looking at the floor.
"Captain, that's not fair," began Maggie. "Hal is one of the best soldiers out here. He's just looking out for Ben."
"Margaret, don't argue with me-"
"Hal, I don't need your help!"
"Ben, Hal is just trying to look out for you," said Tom. "All we want is for you to talk to us!"
"Yeah, and what's that going to do?" retorted Ben. "Turn back the clock? Make it so that none of this ever happened?"
"Ben…" said Hal with a helpless gesture.
"Just leave me alone," muttered Ben, moving towards the door.
"Ben, stop," said Anne sharply.
Her unusual tone made Ben stop in his tracks before he could think about it. He turned around but his response was lost as he looked at the scene in front of him.
Hal and Anne were staring at him, but Tom, Weaver, Maggie, and Lourdes had their eyes glued to the girl. Her head was jerking slightly, though her eyes remained closed.
"Ben, what are you doing?" asked Maggie, pulling out her handguns and pointing them at the girl.
"I'm not doing anything!" he protested.
"Leave him alone!" snapped his older brother.
"Not now, Hal!" said Weaver tightly.
He, along with Hal, was pointing his weapon at the girl. She was still moving, but now her whole body had joined in. It wasn't a violent motion but it was unsettling.
"What is causing this?" asked Hal urgently.
"I don't know," said Anne. Her calm composure was beginning to slip as she approached the girl.
"Is she having a seizure?" asked Lourdes. She was panicking inside, but she made herself remain collected for Anne's sake.
"Possibly," replied Anne. "Tom, I need you to come hold her head. Maggie, Weaver, Hal, hold down her body. You don't have to keep her still but I don't want her falling off the table."
"Shouldn't we put the restrains on her?" asked Lourdes.
"I can't work around those," came Anne's brief answer.
Maggie hesitated, realizing she would need both hands to do as Anne had asked. She looked to Lourdes, but she was standing by Anne waiting to be told what to do. "Ben," she finally said. She gave him a look that said don't make me regret this. Cocking the gun, she handed it to Ben who pointed it at the girl uncertainly.
"Ben, you're going to have to come closer," said Maggie, while getting a grip on the girl next to Weaver and across from Hal. "Get to a place where you can't miss."
Hal noticed the look on Ben's face and even in the heat of the moment, he was glad. The doubt meant that maybe the Ben Hal knew was still there. That geeky nerd that secretly Hal missed teasing and being teased by. But he also didn't miss Ben's shaking hand and in an instant he realized if Ben took the shot, he had as much of a chance at hitting the girl as he did Anne or one of the others.
"Ben, come here," he said. "Take my place and give me the gun."
Looking slightly relieved, Ben hurried over to his older brother and gave him the gun. Hal immediately held it at point blank range to ensure that he wouldn't miss.
"Hal, get that gun away from my patient," said Anne.
"Hal, you stay right where you are," commanded Weaver.
Hal shook his head. "Sorry, Anne," he said, tightening his grip.
"Hal, don't," said Ben, his eyes wide.
Further debate was cut off as the girl started thrashing more violently. "Guys!" Anne called out.
"She's stronger than she looks!" grunted Weaver.
"Ben, could you give us a hand?" asked Maggie though gritted teeth, trying to get a grip on the girl's flailing arm.
"Wait!" said Lourdes suddenly. She was staring at Ben thoughtfully. The boy looked overwhelmed as he stared first at his father then at his brother as though looking for reassurance. "Ben, don't touch her," warned Lourdes.
"What in the-"
"Captain, please. I think we're going about this the wrong way. Ben, I need you to calm down." She looked at him seriously and tried to calm herself down as well.
"I am calm," he said, his face clearly saying otherwise.
"No, you don't understand. You really need to calm down."
"Why should I trust you?" asked Ben. "Not ten minutes ago you were blaming me for all of this and throwing me under the bus!"
"I'm sorry, but I think I might have been right. Ben, please-"
"Stop it!" shouted Hal suddenly, abandoning the still moving girl.
"Hal!" shouted Maggie in frustration as the arm Hal had been holding down whipped up and caught her on the side of the face.
"You are just a piece of work!" Hal shouted in Lourdes's face as he drove her up against the wall. "Don't make me say it again," he threatened in a low voice. "Leave. My brother. Alone."
"Hal!" shouted Tom, about to leave his position by the girl's head but Anne held him in place while simultaneously filling a needle, the bottle in the crook of her arm.
"Anne, you don't need to sedate her," begged Lourdes. "Just listen to me!"
She pushed Hal back roughly and, surprised, he let her go. Lourdes ran up to the table and tried to stop Anne by grabbing her hand.
"Lourdes!" said Anne, shocked and just a bit furious.
"It is Ben!" she said desperately. "It's not his fault but he's controlling her emotions. I don't know how, but think about it! He touched her and her pulse skyrocketed. He got upset when Hal tried to defend him earlier and that's when she started convulsing. He saw Hal pointing the gun at her and he panicked. That's when she kicked it up into high gear."
There was a moment of silence when all that could be heard was the girl struggling under the combined efforts of Maggie, Weaver, and Tom.
Ben looked scared. Maggie watched him nervously and Anne held her needle dangerously close to the girl's skin.
"Please, Ben," said Lourdes.
"Why does it matter?" he asked. "Why shouldn't Anne just sedate her."
"We could use the medicine for someone else. But more importantly, we don't know what it could do to her. It could even kill her," said Lourdes. "That doesn't need to be on any of our consciences."
"I can't," he said quietly.
"Yes, Ben, you can," said Lourdes calmly.
"No. No, I mean, I really can't. I can't be calm, or whatever it is. Ever since I woke up here, I'm always angry, I can't control it, I-" his voice began rising again, panic mixed with frustration.
"Ben," said Hal, stepping forward and keeping his eyes locked on his brother. "Do you remember waking up?"
Ben looked up. "Yeah," he whispered.
"What did you feel? Was it really pure anger from the moment you woke up?"
Ben didn't say anything and Maggie felt the girl's struggles weaken slightly.
"Because I know I give you a hard time. And I know I did even before this messed up world came around. But I was so relieved when you woke up because I don't know what I, or Dad, or Matt would do without you. And I don't believe that you weren't just a little bit grateful, just a little bit happy, to be back."
This time when Ben looked up and had tears in his eyes, they weren't from anger. Hal saw his moment and ran with it, going over to Ben and putting his arms around his little brother. He was flooded with relief when Ben not only accepted the hug but reciprocated. The girl stopped thrashing and gradually became still again. The tension in the room lessened noticeably, and Anne gave Lourdes a nod before putting away the syringe. Tom and Weaver let go of the girl and gave each other grateful looks. And Maggie happened to look down just in time to see a tear come out of the corner of the girl's eye and land on the tabletop.
"Hal, I think I'll ask Anthony to come in and take your place," said Weaver, but Hal said immediately:
"No, I want to do it."
Weaver gave him a piercing look. "Are you sure you can handle it? You saw how many of us it took to restrain her. I need to know that if it came to it, you could pull the trigger regardless of whatever her connection to Ben is. And I'm not sure you can get past your, well, obvious bias."
Hal swallowed and looked at Ben. Then he turned to the Captain and said, "I can do it."
Weaver stared at Hal for another moment but finally nodded. "Fine. Maggie can come give you a break later in the day. But for now, Maggie, I want you to take me back to the place you found this girl. Something's not right and I intend to find out what it is. Tom?"
Tom clearly swallowed back something he was going to say to Hal and Ben before following Weaver out the door.
"Be careful," Maggie murmured to Hal before following the two men outside.
"Hal," Ben spoke up. "Can I stay with you guys?"
"Um, are you sure about that? Is that a good idea?" asked Hal tentatively.
"I'm fine," said Ben. "I just want to stay for a while."
"Yeah, if you want to," said Hal, a tad uncertain but mostly glad that Ben actually wanted to spend any time with him. A first since they had gotten him back.
Hal and Ben retreated to the back of the trailer, but it wasn't far enough away to miss hearing Anne say to Lourdes, "Lourdes, you cannot physically fight me like that on a medication again. I could have injected someone else accidentally, which could have had very serious consequences."
They saw Lourdes duck her head and say sheepishly, "I'm sorry. It wasn't my place to do so."
The two women were still before Anne reached out and grasped Lourdes's shoulder. "I'm glad you did because you were right this time. And I'm not saying I'll always have the best solution. But when things are that chaotic and dangerous, sometimes you have to make hard choices."
"I know," said Lourdes quietly.
"I'm not mad at you," said Anne earnestly. "I really appreciate your help because I certainly couldn't do this by myself. And I know you have a good heart. It's one of the hardest things to ignore but sometimes you simply have to."
Anne smiled a little sadly and Lourdes managed a small one in return. "I'm going to run out to get some supplies from the patrols," said Anne. "Will you three be okay?"
"We'll be fine," said Hal from the back.
"I won't be long." The door closed behind Anne, and Hal and Ben looked at Lourdes standing by herself at the front of the trailer.
"Do you think we should restrain her now?" asked Hal.
"That's probably a good idea," said Lourdes.
Ben and Hal got up and began to help Lourdes lay out the straps.
"Hey Lourdes," said Ben.
"Yes?"
"Anne was right. You do have a good heart. Don't ever lose that."
He gave her a brief smile before going back to laying down the straps. It took every ounce of restraint Hal had not to smile and embarrass his brother, but he managed it. Lourdes smiled back at Ben before looking up at Hal nervously after their last conversation.
"I'm sorry I was a little rough. I guess I just got caught up in the moment," she said.
"You're pretty strong," he replied. "Maybe you should try a little bit of combat with me and Maggie sometime."
"Thanks," she said. "But I prefer to stay on the sidelines. Fix things, not tear them apart. Restore peace, not destroy it."
"That's not what we do," said Hal, glancing up at her. "We defend the 2nd Mass so that it can persevere. We only attack so that we can survive."
"I know. That's not what I meant. I just prefer healing people, that's all."
Hal shrugged, not taking offense. "Well if you change your mind, come see me or Maggie. We'd be glad to teach you some moves."
"Thanks. I'll think about it," she said, clasping the last strap across the girl's chest, bounding her securely to the table so that she couldn't move even if she'd tried.
I might do some editing way down the road because it's going in the direction that I want but some things don't feel quite right yet. But I decided to post it anyways, and I'll let you know if I do end up going back and changing anything.
Thank you guys for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. So far, 127 people have read various parts of this story. Wow! Please let me know what you think! If it's to boring, cliché, annoying etc. or if you like it and want to read more. If you think I got some characters wrong (or right on), by all means point it out!
~moviegal101~
