Author's Notes: I don't own Terra Nova, the characters or Vs., only my OC: Natalie. A quicker update, not as quick as I hoped, but hopefully the length will make up for that. I'm thinking about rewriting the first couple of chapters, please tell me if I should. I probably will regardless, I want to clear the air on some matters, it seems to be getting more confusing instead of clearer since the first chapters weren't clear. Anyway, enjoy!

"You may not be a Sixer spy, but don't pretend you don't know a little about everything that goes on in this place," Jim said, his finger in the air and his body blocking Boylan's way.

"I strong-armed Taylor into deeding me my bar in trade for keeping his secret," He acknowledged, "I'm not about to risk that by playing at guessing. You should ask Natalie; I hear she's back in town. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go sleep for about a month."

Natalie? As in Wash's Natalie? What would she know about the body? And why would Boylan suspect she knew anything?

He caught Boylan before he turned in. Jim turned around and stared at the bartender quizzically, "What makes you think she has anything to do with this?"

"She's a curious one," Was all he said.

|~Brother or Mother? ~|

Taylor had left the infirmary after speaking with Elisabeth, Jim and Malcolm about the body found. It wasn't difficult to figure out Jim suspected him, and he pointed that out as he filled Wash in about Jim's finding.

"Shannon's suspicious; he's not going to stop till he gets the truth."

Wash considered what he said, there weren't many options to cover this up, and even if they could, they couldn't stop Jim from sniffing around. He wasn't good at keeping his nose out of other people's business.

"Maybe you should give it to him."

Taylor assessed her, trying to figure out if she was serious or joking, because she couldn't possibly be serious, "You're serious?"

But she was. She shrugged, "What's the worst that can happen?"

He shot her a look reminding her of what happened with Natalie.

"Sir, you said it yourself he won't stop till he gets the truth. Who is it best he gets the truth from?"

|~Brother or Mother? ~|

After making the large mess the other day, she was required to clean up and put away every item of clothing that still fit. That items she had tried on and didn't work, were stacked in a pile on her dresser. A lot of her favorite clothes were in that pile, much to her dismay.

Luckily, she was able to find a dress for the Harvest Festival that still fit. Expect the straps were too thin and they didn't cover the fading scar she hoped to conceal. She wasn't ashamed of it, but she couldn't face the humiliation of them knowing how she got it. They would just think she was stupid if they knew what happened, even more than they already thought.

Natalie was thinking of options of what to do when she heard the door open, her mom was home. Natalie went to the closet and grabbed one of her jackets off the hanger. Alicia called her name, letting her know she was home and Natalie hurried to get it on while calling out, "one moment."

She was waiting for her upon her exit, she still had her gun strapped to her thigh and she made no move to put it away.

"What's wrong?" It was clear from the fact she was still in her work clothes, something was.

"I'm going to meet you at the festival, I have to do something with Taylor first."

"Which is?" Alicia didn't answer. "You can't tell me, figures. It has to do with Lucas, doesn't it? Or Mira?"

Alicia really did not want to fight with her, "Natalie, do not start." It was a silent cry to prevent another argument.

Natalie ignored it, just like she did with every warning, "Do you even know why I left? Did you even care?" Her voice dropped an octave.

"Yes, I did."

"But I was a prisoner. That's what it was like, that's why I left. Every day I was trapped in my room, in this house, I never could leave! You were barely here, you never talked to me, and Uncle Taylor never bothered to come by."

Alicia steeled herself, "I did what I had to do." She didn't add anymore, one day she would explain her choices, but now it would just fuel the argument.

"And what was that? I was alone. Even after I left, Lucas was hardly there, he was always working. It like I was invisible, just like I was here. Only difference, I wasn't trapped, I was finally free. That's why I never came back, because out there I wasn't trapped by house arrest. I was finally at peace, I was free. There were no limits. I could climb, swim, run – do everything I ever wanted and no one told me I couldn't. No one was there to stop me. I wasn't a sick kid, I wasn't the lieutenant's daughter, I wasn't a traitor, I wasn't anything. No one expected me to be anything."

Her face turned into an unreadable mask, "Why haven't you left then?" She finally asked.

"What?"

"Why haven't you left?"

"You're not on house arrest and you're out of the Infirmary. And you know how to escape the colony undetected, so why haven't you left yet?"

She didn't have an answer, she was perplexed. Why was she still here? She had no reason to be here, but there wasn't a reason to draw her back to the lonely nights with Lucas.

|~Brother or Mother?~|

Jim found her alone, away from the crowd just as the festival was beginning. She was pressed up agasint a pillar, arms crossed across her chest and dress cutting at her knees. He'd never met her before, and he didn't know much about her – Wash wasn't too talkative when it came to matters regarding her. He knew there was something between them, he knew something had happened, but he couldn't figure out what.

Natalie saw the cop approach; her eyes were off to the side, focused in on the scene playing out in front of her people were socializing, smiling and laughing. They all seemed to be having a ball, she just wasn't one of them. She wasn't purposely ignoring everyone, she just felt awkward around the people she once considered her peers. They weren't her friends anymore, they weren't her neighbors, they were strangers.

Natalie looked up at Shannon, "Hi."

"Hello. You're Natalie, right? Wash's daughter?"

"I am. Who are you?"

"Jim Shannon, I am the sherif. I have a couple of questions if you don't mind?" He knew he was playing with fire, If Wash found out...no one, not even him, could predict her reaction.

"About what exactly?"

No one was around to overhear his question; "A body buried under Pilgrims Tree. Boylan said you might know something about it."

Natalie frowned, she only knew what everyone knew about Pilgrims Tree, "I don't know anything about a body, but...wait, Boylan?" The pieces to the puzzle she'd been trying to connect for the past few years started to come together, "No, it can't be."

"You know something?" Jim had his doubts, but if she did, he could finally figure out the truth.

Little did he know she had spent a year searching for the truth, "Yes, if it is the body I think it is."

Natalie recalled what Lucas told her, "It happened after the second pilgrimage. Lucas had left the colony, Taylor followed. Lucas was smart, he worked on his calculations often, and he was good at it. He brought someone back – I never got a name, but Taylor killed him."

"Why?"

Natalie shook her head, "Lucas never gave me a reason." She had assumed there was none.

"He told you this?" Jim guessed and Natalie nodded, confirming his thought. "So you've seen him since he went missing," Jim assumed, his thoughts racing.

"Yes and he did not go missing. Taylor pulled a gun on him then banished him."

The sherif absorbed the information and frowned in return. The story wasn't adding up. He doubted she was lying, but that didn't mean her story was valid.

|~Brother or Mother?~|

There was only one question that remained on Jim's mind. Taylor had answered any question he had about the general's death and explained Lucas' absence. There was no incertitude he was telling the truth, Jim knew he was being honest about what happened that night.

"How does Natalie fit into all this? What does she have to do with Lucas?"

Taylor paused, his feet remained flat on the floor, unmoving, "You'll have to ask Wash," He decided.

Shannon didn't give up, "Lucas told Natalie you killed General Philbrik in cold-blood." It wasn't word for word, but it was what he took from their little chat.

"She told you that?" If she did, it would make sense, not so much on his son's part, but it would explain her actions.

"Not in so many words, but yes."

Nathaniel nodded, "Natalie looked up to Lucas, thought of him as a big brother, of sorts. When she came through the portal, and learned Lucas wasn't there, she refused to accept he was missing. She started searching for him, sneaking OTG when we weren't looking, skipping school."

"What happened? She found him and decided to stay with him?"

"If only it was that simple, Shannon."

|~Brother or Mother?~|

Nathaniel had a few minutes to spare before he had to give his speech, but first be had to clear the air with someone. If Lucas told Natalie one lie, he surely told her more. He could've easily influenced her decision, she was just a child – still is – when she started sneaking out to see Lucas. She was easy prey to turn and then manipulate into his own weapon against the colony.

"Big festival going on, lots of people celebrating, dancing – why aren't you one of them?"

Natalie turned to him, startled by his sudden drop in. She took in a breath to relax her alarmed nerves, "Because I'm not a member of the colony, and that's never going to change. I'm an outsider, I'll never fit in."

He could give her a lecture on what she did wrong, could say she deserved what she got, but he wouldn't. The only thing she deserved right now, was the truth.

He started from the beginning and told her everything he knew. He wasn't trying to convince her to be on their side, but she needed to know the truth, and figure out for herself what Lucas was doing. That she was merely a pawn in his bigger plan. A plan even he didn't know the actual endgame.

Natalie was silent the entire time, even after Nathaniel finished telling her the story. A deafening silence lapped over them and filled the air.

She blinked her eyes, bit her lip and felt her chest rumble ever so slightly as it became clear what Taylor was insinuating.

"He tricked me. He used me to keep him alive. I helped him...I was an idiot. I was stupid enough to believe someone actually cared."

"Your mother cares for you, you just need to give her a chance."

|~Brother or Mother?~|

It was the first night in months she let go. Alicia needed a break, desperately, particularly after her most recent debate with Natalie, and the festival more than provided one. After having Malcolm talk her ear off, and watching the fireworks go off, she struck up a conversation with Jim. Taylor popped in and pulled her aside for a much needed break. There's only so much annoying cop you can handle. He insisted on a dance, she insisted it was a bad idea.

But he was persistent, "One dance?"

She finally gave in. She didn't have to look to see the pairs of eyes on them and she didn't have to look to know Jim was smirking at them or to know that he had he snapped a picture. She would have a chat with him about that, but in that moment, she didn't have a care in the world.

The carefree nature was short lived as the dance ended. They had a short conversation before Guzman dropped in and he ducked away. She found him at the top of Command, on the balcony watching over Command, sipping a glass of scotch. She stood a foot away from him and leant against the railing.

"How'd it go?" She'd been meaning to ask him that, but couldn't find the right moment, till now.

"He'll fight," Taylor answered. "He asked about Natalie."

"What you'd say?"

"What he needed to know. Lucas was manipulating her."

"You tell her?"

"I did."

|~Brother or Mother?~|

Walking into a pitch black, dead silent, empty-feeling house was an all too familiar feeling. The day she walked home and found it empty she had an argument with Natalie earlier that day, just like today. Only difference, she basically told Natalie she could leave. Alicia flipped on the lights and put her gun away. The house was indeed empty, at least the living room and dining room were, and that's where she expected Natalie to be. She hated being in her room, it held many memories and she tried to do as many activities outside the bedroom as possible.

But that was the last place to check – there was no way she would be in Alicia's room. Alicia slid open the door and to her surprise, hidden under the sheets, nearly missed was Natalie. Alicia took strides over to her bedside.

"Natalie, about Lucas..." Alicia began, but she was cut off as warm arms reached around her neck and clung to her tightly. She was shocked by the sudden contact and there was a delay before Alicia put her arms around her daughter. It was their first hug in years, and she had no idea what caused the sudden change, Natalie certainly wouldn't decide out of the blue. She needed to be guided, needed someone to point out the facts she was oblivious to.

"I care-I care about you. I care," Natalie whispered as she nestled her face into her mother's neck.

|~Brother or Mother?~|

Lucas watched the fireworks go off. Somewhere in Terra Nova, Natalie was watching them, like they used to. It marked another year gone by. It wasn't a celebratory event, it just meant he had to get to work on his calculations; he was on deadline.

But knowing Natalie was off in Terra Nova was with his father and her mother, being fed whatever lies they tell people these days. He would set her straight and make sure she remembered why she hated them.

He was coming for them, for her.

|~Brother or Mother?~|

I know, I know. Lucas does NOT have a sick obsession with her, his relationship with her is really, really complex. You'll understand when the occupation chapter comes out.