Chapter 2: Advice
Mark Reynolds sighed, resting the back of his head against the chair as he stared blankly at the screens in front of him. He lifted a hand, scrubbing his face before leaning forward, tapping the ear piece.
"Morrison, check out sector 4," he ordered. "I saw movements."
"Roger," the tinny reply came and he watched as the soldier slowly edge his way over to the sector. His gun was held out in front of him, his finger on barrel above the trigger so if it was a friendly, there wouldn't be any unnecessary shooting.
Mark watched as Morrison kicked at the grass, taking a step back when something moved out of the grass and disappeared off the screen. Mark sighed.
"It just a bug," Morrison reported.
"Okay," Mark replied. "Head back to your station."
"Are you okay?" a female voice spoke up and he turned his head to see his partner sitting on the chair next to him.
"I'm fine, Reilly," he assured her, turning back to his screens.
"It just…since you saw Shannon on the screen and ran off, you seems more…down." Mark nodded.
"She's upset. I…I don't like seeing her upset" he admitted. Reilly stared at him for a moment longer before she shook her head, a small smile curving her lips. "What?"
"You, I never thought I'd see the day you'd be attracted to anyone," she admitted before she laughed. "Don't tell anyone but we actually thought you were gay."
"What?" he sat up in his chair, incredulously. Reilly nodded.
"You showed zero interest in female to the point the only female we've seen you in the company with was Lt. Washington. There were rumours going around."
"Thanks," he groaned, sinking back into his chair. Reilly shook her head.
"Don't worry, that rumour disappeared the moment you met Shannon. Trust me when I say everyone was stunned," she assured him before giving him a one-shoulder shrug. "I guess you were just waiting for the right one to come along." He gave her a small smile as he thought about Maddy.
"I guess I was," he softly admitted. Reilly nodded just as her radio squawked and Alicia's voice came over the radio asking for a status update. "Check their tags to see if they are close to the outpost," Mark ordered her and she nodded, bringing up the locator trackers. She quickly spotted Commander Taylor's, Lieutenant Washington's and the handful of Soldiers they ordered to come with them.
"They are two klicks away," she informed him and Mark nodded.
"They are close, bring up the camera for Outpost 4, they want reports of any dinosaurs in sight," Mark told her and she nodded, bringing up the cameras and reporting to Lt. Washington through the earpiece.
Mark turned back to his own cameras, directing a few more soldiers when he saw movements. Reilly switched out of close up view and frowned when she spotted a flashing dot near the beach. She pressed it and it brought up Mark's picture. Mark noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see his image up on the screens.
"Is that…your tags?" Reilly asked as she stared at the red dot. Mark nodded. "Okay, explain that to me considering you are sitting right next to me." Mark sighed.
"I gave them to Maddy," he admitted. She frowned.
"Reynolds, you know…" she started and Mark nodded.
"I know, I know I'm not allowed to take them off but…she needed to get away from her home and I didn't want her out there without knowing she's safe," Mark explained as he gazed at the flashing dot.
"Her parents?" she asked and Mark nodded.
"Her parents and other things," he admitted softly, his heart hurting for the young woman he had come to care for. He hated seeing her sad and not being able to help her. Reilly bit her lower lip before she sighed.
"I won't tell anyone," she promised him. He gave her a short nod of thanks. They turned back to their jobs, relieved when they got news half an hour later telling them that the Shannon parents were safe and unharmed.
Thankfully the group had made it back to the base without any problems. Jim and Elisabeth had gone straight to their house to see their children while Taylor and Wash had dropped off the hurt scientists at the medical bay before heading over to the tower, where Mark got his next requests.
"Reynolds, can you come over to the Commander Tower?" he heard Alicia asked.
"I'm on my way," he told her, leaving the cameras in Reilly's capable hands. With quick feet, he had made his way over to the tower, climbing the stairs and knocking on the door.
"Permission granted," he heard Taylor say and he opened the door, walking in.
"You wanted to see me," he told them. Taylor nodded as he gestured for the young man to enter the room. Mark did, closing the door behind before standing in front of the desk.
"I assume everything went smoothly without us being here," Taylor told Mark, who nodded.
"Yes Sir, no Sixers or Dinosaurs came near Terra Nova," he reported and Taylor gave him a pleased smile.
"Good job, Soldier," he commended. Mark just gave him a short nod, his hands behind his back. Alicia was about to say something when Taylor's retriever went off. He picked it up. "Taylor here," he stepped away from the two of them before frowning. "Are you sure?" he waited for a few moments and nodded. "Ok, I'll get my men on it." He stared at the retriever for a few moments. "Hm," Taylor placed the retriever down.
"Sir, is there a problem?" Alicia asked as she looked at the Commander.
"Jim just told me that his daughter is missing, apparently she hasn't come home yet," Taylor told Alicia, who frowned and turned to look at Mark.
"Do you know where she is?" Alicia asked. Mark looked at her and she arched an eyebrow. "You've been on camera watch and you're not freaking out. That implies you know where she is." Mark bit his bottom lip.
"Son, if you know where she is, then you need to tell us. It's dangerous to be out there alone."
"She's not OTG, she promised me," Mark quickly assured them.
"That's good but that doesn't tell us where she is," Taylor pointed out. Mark sighed.
"She's at the beach," Mark told them.
"How do you know that?" Alicia asked, her brown eyes narrowing in suspicion as she stared at the young man. "There are no cameras at the beach." Mark hesitated.
"Reynolds?" Taylor asked.
"I gave her my tags, sir," Mark explained. Taylor arched an eyebrow before he looked at Alicia, whose expression didn't change.
"You do realise the trouble you can get into for not having your tags on you, right?" Taylor asked.
"Yes, Sir," Mark nodded.
"And you still gave them to Shannon, a civilian?" Alicia asked, stepping forward as she crossed her arms.
"I…I couldn't let her go out without me knowing where she was," Mark softly admitted. "I know that I shouldn't have taken them off or that I should have ordered her to go back to her home but…"
"But what?" prompted Taylor as he stepped forward, his arms crossing over his chest as he stared at his soldier.
"She said she needed to get away," Mark told them. "She told me she was tired of pretending that everything was alright when she didn't know if it was alright." His voice was hoarse with emotions as he remembered the despair in her brown eyes. "I couldn't make her go back home knowing she was close to losing her grip on her emotions."
"Why not take her to your place?" Alicia asked and Mark flushed.
"She said she needed to get away from the colony, that she felt she was being suffocated," he explained and Alicia sighed as she looked at Taylor, who nodded and looked at Mark.
"You'd best come with us to let her parents know." Mark nodded.
"And you best hope Shannon doesn't have his gun on him," Alicia warned him. Mark winced as he followed them out of the base.
They reached the Shannon's house in no-time, Taylor knocking on the door. Jim Shannon answered it with a hopeful expression before it dimmed when he saw who was at the door.
"Come in," he stood back, granting them access.
"Do you know where Maddy is?" Elisabeth asked the moment they entered the house. Her brown eyes were a mixture of fatigue and fear.
"Miss Shannon has gone for a walk," Taylor started, looking as Josh stood next to his mother. He noticed that the youngest member of the Shannon family was missing and assumed she was in her bed; it was quite late after all.
"Is she…?" Josh trailed off and Alicia shook her head.
"Reynolds assures us that Maddy had promised him that she wouldn't go OTG, she's still within the Colony," she spoke up. Mark noticed the family eyes shifting to him.
"It looks Reynolds was the last one to see her," Taylor told them, holding his hands up, trying to stop the flood of questions that would undoubtedly come.
"Where is she?" Jim asked, stepping closer to Mark.
"She's safe," Mark replied. Jim's blue eyes harden as he took a step closer to the soldier.
"She's my daughter," Jim gritted out, his jaw clenching when he saw Mark stare right back. "I demand that you tell me where she is."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, sir," Mark respectfully declined. "Maddy said she needed the break."
"Break from what?" Josh asked as he stood next to his father, glaring at Mark. "She's my sister, our family. Who are you to tell us what she wants?"
"Someone she confides in," Mark told them angrily. Alicia placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him. "I'm sorry." He stepped back from Jim and Josh.
"Are you telling me that my daughter prefers to confide in you than talk to us?" Jim asked.
"We are here for her, why won't she come to us?" Josh asked.
"Probably because you're never there?" asked Mark, stepping forward, ignoring the grip that tightened on his shoulder.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Josh snipped.
"How about helping her out with Zoe every now and then?" Mark shot back, his fears and frustration for Maddy taking over.
"Reynolds," Taylor cautiously warned. Mark tightened his lips, taking a step back once more and lowering his eyes to the ground.
"What did you mean?" Elisabeth asked as she stepped closer to the man who had captured her daughter's heart. Mark just stared stubbornly at the ground. She placed a hand on his arm and he looked up to see those dark eyes, ones that Maddy had inherited, pleading with him and he sighed.
"Maddy…Maddy is tired. She once told me that she sometimes felt like she was Zoe's mother," Mark softly admitted. "She told me that she was usually the one to look after her when Mr Shannon was taken away to jail and you were working. That Josh preferred to hang out with his friends."
The parents and Josh shared a look before they looked at Mark once more. "She…she said she needed to get away because she didn't think she could face you when you came home, if you came home," he told them. Jim swallowed; stumbling back slightly like Mark had physically punched him.
"She didn't think we would come home?" Elisabeth asked and Mark sighed, his eyes going to the ceiling, trying to arrange his thoughts before he looked at Elisabeth.
"She's scared that one day, you're not going to come home. She still holds fears that one of you will be taken away from her again, just like Mr Shannon was when you were in 2149. She knows that it is a possibility but she's just doesn't want it to be too soon, not now that she has all of you back. Terra Nova was supposed to be a fresh start," he explained, almost pleading with Elisabeth to understand her daughter.
"But…Zoe…" Josh started and Mark looked at him with sad eyes.
"She doesn't think it's fair that she is the only one who looks after Zoe. Zoe needs all of you, it just seems like you're too busy with work to acknowledge that," he whispered.
"Oh Maddy," Elisabeth moaned, sitting down on the couch. Josh placed a hand on his mother's shoulder while Jim clenched his hands into fists, wishing his baby girl was nearby so he could comfort her.
"I knew," Zoe whispered from her spot at the bedroom door and they turned to face her. "I knew that Maddy tried to keep me from being scared." She was dressed in a pair of pyjamas with a stuffed dinosaur clutched to her chest.
"Zoe," Elisabeth whispered, her heart breaking in her voice.
"I tried my hardest to cheer her up whenever someone was missing," she whispered sadly, looking toward her feet. Mark moved toward Zoe, kneeling down in front of the girl. He placed the curve of his index finger under her chin, lifting her face so their eyes could meet.
"Zoe, Maddy loves you," Mark assured her. "Sometimes…she just…"
"Need to cry?" Zoe asked and Mark's lips curled up in a sad smile.
"Yeah, sometimes she just needs to cry," he agreed. "But that doesn't stop her from loving you, alright? She likes being here to play with you, to look after you. Don't ever think that she doesn't, okay?"
"Okay," Zoe whispered before she flung her arms around Mark's neck, pressing her small body against his chest. "Do you think she'll like it if I made her a picture?" Mark chuckled, hugging the girl back.
"I think she'd love it if you did," Mark assured her. Zoe pulled away and looked straight into Mark's blue eyes.
"Are you going to get her?" she asked. Mark bit his bottom lip.
"I'll get her," Alicia spoke up and everyone looked at her. "I'll get her," she repeated before she looked at Mark. "And we're going to have a talk." He nodded, understanding.
~_A_~
Alicia sighed with relief when she spotted Maddy Shannon sitting on the edge of the cliff, her head buried into her knees. She watched her for a moment before taking a step forward.
"Maddy," she gently called out. Maddy lifted her head and turned to see Alicia heading toward her.
"Lt. Washington," she greeted softly, confusion lining her face. Alicia smiled as she sat down next to Maddy. "How...?"
"I took a guess. The others think you are at the beach because that's where the locator indicates you are." Alicia told the younger woman as she turned her head to look at the tear-stained face. "I come out here sometimes when I need a break…or to scream."
"…Scream?" Maddy whispered as she turned to look at the ocean and Alicia nodded, doing the same.
"No-one from the colony can hear you here which make this place perfect to scream your frustration or your anger or your fear out," she explained.
"Speaking from experience?" Maddy whispered and Alicia nodded.
"I get scared whenever Taylor goes OTG, or even when Mark does. When they come home and I know they are safe and alive, I come out here and just scream. It's better to let it out than it is to keep in. It eventually eats away at you if you keep it in."
"How do you deal with knowing that they are in danger and there is nothing you can do?" Maddy asked. "How do you keep your cool, stay calm?"
"You assure yourself that they will come home. That they can take care of themselves and that they have a reason to make it back alive, no matter what." Maddy sighed. "Your parents are home," Alicia told her and Maddy nodded.
"I know," surprise flashed over the older woman's face. "Mark gave me his radio before I left. He told me that he would let me know what happened to my parents."
Alicia gave an amused chuckle, shaking her head.
"Boy thought of everything," she murmured mostly to herself, impressed before she looked at Maddy. "That boy willingly faced your father down when he demanded Mark to tell him where you were. All he said that you were safe." Maddy bit her lip.
"And I get the feeling that didn't go down well with dad," Maddy said, feeling guilty that she had caused her father to be even more annoyed with Mark, especially after she had tried so hard to get her dad to accept Mark as a part of her life.
"No, it didn't. Your brother jumped in and he kinda lost his temper with Josh," Alicia admitted. "Your mother pleaded him to know what he meant and he told her," she held up her hands to stop Maddy from talking. "That you felt tired and that you were worried because Zoe needed your parents and your brother, not just you."
Maddy stared at her for a moment before she sighed, turning back to look at the ocean once more.
"Am I selfish?" Maddy whispered. "I know my father loves his job and I could never ask my mother to stop being a doctor, especially when she's so good but am I selfish for wishing that maybe they just wouldn't be in danger for once?" Alicia sighed, slipping an arm over the younger woman's shoulders.
"No, you're not," she shifted closer so their sides were pressed up, pulling the girl into a sideway hug. "It's natural to want to keep your family safe."
"I don't know how to tell them" she admitted. "Ever since we got Dad back, after Josh stopped being an idiot over dad going to jail, they all just acted like we could go back to normal but I can't do that. We lost him for two years; I spent those years thinking I would never get to see him again."
"Maddy," Alicia felt her heart hurt for the young woman.
"And now we have a chance to be a family, for Zoe to be free, not hidden like she used to be, it feels like we're going back to how it used to be. I'm the one who has to look after Zoe while everyone else get put in danger. It…it feels like they are not thinking of us when they are in danger. What would happen to us if something were to happen to them?" Tears came out faster. "I can't lose them, any of them. As much as I want to lock them up in a room so they would be safe, I can't do that to them because it means taking part of who they are, what makes them my parents." She hiccupped, trying to stop her tears.
"I do the same with Mark," Alicia confessed, tightening her grip on Maddy, comforting her. "I know Mark wants to move up the rank, to get more experience but the thought of sending him out there where he can get killed…it terrifies me and it takes everything within me not to sabotage his requests because I know it's not fair to him."
"How do you deal with that? Knowing that if you were to let him go, he could be killed?" Maddy asked.
"Because I need to have faith in him," Alicia told her with a soft smile. "I need to believe that he will not give up so easily, that he will fight to come back to us." Maddy nodded before she sighed.
"He told me that he suspects you wanting to sabotage his requests. That sometimes it takes longer to process but in the end, it gets process and he knows that's because you allowed yourself to trust and believe in him to come back alive," Maddy told her with a smile. "It makes him respect you more than you know and he understands; he hates it whenever you go OTG without him because he wants to be there to protect you even though he knows you can protect yourself better."
Alicia laughed, tears filling her own eyes at the thought of Mark wanting to protect her. She had always been proud that she could take care of herself but knowing that Mark wanted to protect her sent warm feelings through her. At least she wasn't alone in wanting to protect him.
"Just to let you know, Mark will be in trouble for giving you his tags," Alicia told her. Maddy looked at her, worry clear in her brown eyes. "We gave strict orders that they are not allowed to remove their tags in-case they are disfigured when they are dead. This allows us to know which one is who. Or if one of them has an allergy attack or going into surgery, the doctors needs those tags for medical purpose. For Mark to give you his tags…well…"
"He gave them to me because he didn't want me to be alone. He said that by having the tags, he would be able to keep an eye on me," Maddy explained, trying to lessen Mark's punishment. "It's my fault, I should have just gone home." She looked down at her knees. Alicia sighed.
"Check his tags," Alicia suggested. Maddy frowned, picking up the tags. She switched it on only to see a picture of her and Zoe. She stared at it, unsure where Mark had gotten the picture. It was of her and Zoe planting the flowers in their back garden, both of them were smiling brightly. She looked up at Alicia, who smiled. "He asked your mother for the photo. He said that it reminded him that no matter how bad a day got, all he had to do was look at this picture and he would feel better, if you two were happy, then there was still joy left in the day."
Maddy felt tears of happiness fill up her eyes as she looked back at the picture. Alicia leaned over; swiping at the picture to reveal another one and this time it was just Maddy by herself. She was sitting on the couch curled up with a data-pad in her hands, intently reading with a small smile on her face.
"And he got this from your father. He says that this reminds him that he's got you to come home to. It doesn't matter how long he is gone or how tough the mission is. As long as you're here for him, he would do everything in his power to come back to you alive."
"He did?" she whispered, a wobbly smile coming to her face and Alicia nodded.
"He told me that you felt tired long before this happened. We had a talk after Foster's funeral and he told me that you looked so tired, that it felt like you were talking more than the problems of murder," she explained before she shrugged. "He didn't know what it was…until tonight."
"…It scares me that he knows me better than most people," Maddy admitted. "We've only known each other for a short time yet he gets me better than anyone else, even my own parents."
"And you get him," Alicia gently said. "He feels that you know him better than anyone else. You're not alone when it comes to being scared by those feelings but it's natural." She tightened her grip on Maddy, giving her a comforting hug. "You can direct the blame to yourself but Mark willingly gave his tags to you because he knew that you needed the space. By having his tags, it was your way of accepting him looking out for you even when he was working." Maddy nodded at the knowing look on Alicia's face. "And it's my turn to bring you home to him," she told her before she held up a finger. "But first…you need to do something."
"What?" Maddy asked, curious and Alicia gestured to the air in front of them.
"Go ahead, scream. There are no-one else but me, you and dinosaurs around," Alicia encouraged. Maddy took a deep breath, looking toward the ocean before she screamed.
Soon she was laughing as tears fell free, trailing down her cheeks once more as she looked at Alicia, who was grinning broadly. "Feel better?" Alicia asked and Maddy nodded, smiling as she used her sleeves to wipe away her tears.
"Loads," she admitted. Alicia chuckled.
"Come on, let's go home," Alicia tightened her grip on Maddy's shoulders. "Preferably before Mark gets an idea into his head to steal a rover and come after us." Maddy let out a soft laugh, agreeing as both women stood up.
Alicia headed toward the rover with Maddy following her before she stopped, needing to say this before she lost her nerves.
"Alicia…" she turned to look at the younger woman. "Thank you, I'm glad you're the one who came to find me." Alicia just gave her a short nod, waiting for Maddy to catch up before they made their way over to the rover.
It was time to go home.
TBC