Ten chapters! Never thought I could I achieve this. This is my first story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Terra Nova, or any of it's characters.
Something was different that morning. It was just like a normal morning, wake up at the crack of dawn, roll out of bed, take a shower, get dressed, all while the sky was still dark. Nothing was unusual except for Natalie's confession last night and what led to a semi-apology. It had been a long night filled with heartfelt moments and after Natalie snoozed, Alicia was left to figure out where do they go from there.
She tied her hair back in a ponytail, and walked over to Natalie's room. She had to leave for patrol any minute now, Taylor was supposed to be meeting her in a couple of minutes outside her house. First, she just wanted to verify her daughter was still there, alive and breathing. It became habit after she came back, she always wanted to be sure she hadn't left again.
When she opened the door, she fully expected her to be sound asleep, curled up in her bed, not to be bothered, having not a care in the world. Instead, she was on the ground sitting up, her plex on and resting in between her knees.
Her presence startled Natalie; she jumped on the floor and took a moment to collect herself, attempting to pretend like she wasn't vigilant. Alicia knew better, and she took a seat on her bedside, looking down at the girl on the floor.
"What are you doing up?"
"Drawing." Her hand continued to flow seamlessly across the pad with much acquired skill, it was hardly noticed she had been in a cast mere weeks ago.
Wash quirked her eyebrow, "At four in the morning on the ground?"
"I was bored." She shrugged.
"When you were sleeping?" Her arms folded over her chest.
Natalie nodded her head quickly, almost too quickly, "Uh-huh."
In moments like these, Alicia learned it was best not to question her daughter. Truth, that's what she did last time and she was blind to her daughter's secrets, but she trusted her. And she hoped, putting her faith in her wasn't a total bad judgement call.
|~Brother or Mother~|
"Shannon!"
He knew he was in trouble before he even turned around to confront the voice. A very angry voice. He shouldn't be that terrified of her, it was irrational, but he knew he was in deep shit, and a livid Wash was someone you didn't want to mess with. The logical thing would've to run, but there wasn't anywhere he could run where she couldn't find him. Staying there wasn't better since poking the bear would be the stupidest idea he could do, but he'd done stupider things.
He whirled around to face her, a grin present on his face, "Hey, Wash, what's up?"
"What the hell were you thinking, digging up Taylor's past and bringing my daughter into the mix?" She demanded an answer.
He already knew she was fiercely defendant of Taylor, this just confirmed it, and he had suspected she was just as, if not more, protective of Natalie. He had never had the chance to witness it, but now he had.
There wasn't an out, he had no way of escaping her wrath. He was screwed. He had only one option. He was walking a fine line, and he really shouldn't push her. An infuriated Wash was like a lioness protecting its cubs, he would be dead before he could blink, but he, of course, never listened to that siren going off, telling him to shut the hell up before he screwed up even more than he already had.
"She was already involved, I was just trying to get to the bottom of-"
"Keep my daughter out of your investigations."
Shut up, his instincts screamed, run, get out of there while you're still alive. He didn't, he should've, his mouth should've remained closed, it didn't, "You could've told me what happened."
"Could've, I didn't want to."
"Or did you not trust me?"
He didn't get a reply, a beeping grabbed Wash's attention and her eyes turned down to her watch. Natalie, Alicia left Shannon where he stood, completely confused at what just happened, and she pulled out her comm., running off in the direction of her unit.
|~Brother or Mother?~|
"What brings Miss. Washington to my establishment?"
The bar was empty, it was early in the morning, the sun hadn't fully risen yet. Boylan was there like expected, it was his bar after all. He was behind the bar, and Natalie crossed the floor.
She halted at the bar, and jumped on a stool, propping her elbows up on the counter, "You told the sheriff about me."
"Straight down to business, I see," Boylan commented.
"How much did you tell him?"
"I just pointed him the right direction, that's all."
She didn't turn away, she just narrowed her eyes in a manner that could've only been learned from one person, "Does he know about Mira?"
"Love, if he does know, it's on you."
"Me?" She huffed, placing her hands on her hips, "I went a year without being caught. I'm not stupid, I can take care of myself, I always have and I always will."
She then leaned over the counter, "You knew about me this whole time, you knew where I was, what I was doing, if mom and Uncle Taylor find out, you'll be in so much trouble." Her arms laid flat over each other, as she stared down the bartender.
|~Brother or Mother~|
He found her sneaking across the colony. She couldn't look more dubious if she tried. She was skipping through back roads, trees and bushes, anything keep her covered and hidden away from prying eyes. She was good, but not good enough.
Taylor stopped in front of her, grabbing a hold of her wrist to stop her from continuing onto her desired location. Natalie skidded to a halt and yanked her hand away from him. He looked angry, and disappointed. So much for making amends.
"What are you doing out?"
Honesty wasn't always the best policy, and in this case the truth wouldn't help anyone. But that didn't mean she should've got sassy with Taylor, "I wasn't aware I was on house arrest and you had to know where I was every minute of every day."
"Where were you?"
"I wanted some air."
"Air?" He was incredulous.
"The house gets very boxy."
Her lie just angered him more. He ordered her to the Command Centre, apparently her mother would meet her there.
Natalie hated his office, despised his desk, she was against the keeping of trophies. She certainly hadn't in her lifetime and she never intended to.
She got situated in a seat in front of his desk. It was intimidating having him stare down at her like she was a criminal, not that she wasn't, she just hadn't done anything treacherous in the past day, or so. She shrunk in her seat, and anxiously tapped on the floor, doing everything possible to avoid his gaze. He made no attempt to recall what happened yesterday, he simply folded his hands and intensified his gaze.
She never thought she would want her mother to arrive as much as she did right now.
When she finally did, it was by no means a happy greeting. The new, friendly, fragile, she might add, the relationship they'd reconciled seemed to evaporate into thin air. It lasted a good twelve hours.
"Why did you leave?"
"What's wrong with me leaving the house?" She was quick to jump on the defensive. "Am I a prisoner again and not being told? Because if I am, lock me in the brig. I don't want that hope." She didn't want to give her all for no return, and the sadness shown in her eyes. It wasn't a lie, but true emotion.
"No, but you said you weren't ever leaving the house." Alicia crossed her arms over her chest, as Natalie dawned realization, mentally hitting herself for mentioning such a thing.
"Change of heart." It was useless to try, but she couldn't speak the truth.
"Why were you gone?"
"Air." It was a stupid reply, but she stuck with it.
"Air? You left for air?" Of all things she could've thought of, air?
"Yes." She was hopeless to lie now, her only chance was to change topics. "How'd you find out I left?"
Alicia turned to Nathaniel, they shared a look, silently debating to tell her or not. In this situation, in this moment honesty wasn't the best option, "I came back to see if you wanted to meet me for lunch."
Wash then narrowed her eyes, "Now, don't change the topic and stop lying."
|~Brother or Mother~|
"Hey, Wash," Shannon greeted, climbing the stairs, catching up. He hadn't seen her since she sought him out in a terrifying manner, scaring him to death – he had been avoiding her like plague, but now it was time to confront the frightening women.
"Shannon," Her tone told him everything he hoped it wouldn't.
She was still mad, it was doubtful he would get off easy like he had managed last time.
But that didn't mean he couldn't butter her up to soften the blow; he raced over to the coffee machine, and started brewing some, "Want some coffee?"
She quirked an eyebrow at his antics.
"I'll get you some. So... anything new?"
The fact she didn't bring up what happened a couple days ago, meant something bigger happened. Something that angered her, or was of more concern. "Natalie's hiding something."
"I thought you two worked things out. You know, restoring your relationship."
"Yes, until she started lying again."
That explained her change of mood. That kid really screwed with Wash, and brought out a different side of her. And not a maternal side he had expected, not that he could expect anything with her. She was full of surprises, hell she brought a daughter out of thin air.
|~Brother or Mother~|
The high-pitched scream had her eyes flashing open, her hand reaching for her gun and her body jumping out of bed. She knew that scream, she hadn't heard it in a terrified tone in a while, but it was her daughters. Alicia was out of her room and into Natalie's quicker than a Nykorapter.
Once again, Natalie was on the floor. This time, she had her legs stretched out, laying flat on the floor; her hands laid flat in her hands, fingers outstretched and completely steady; her eyes fixated on them, she was unmoving, it was like she was in a trance.
Alicia crouched down beside her, careful not to startle her, and Natalie made no reaction at all. Not even an acknowledgement of her presence, it was doubtful she had even noticed someone had entered the room.
"Natalie," Alicia whispered, "Are you alright?"
She didn't respond, just stared at her hands, continuing to breath heavily. The fear evident and shock evident.
"Natalie, talk to me. What happened?"
"I had to do it." She pressed her face in her hands, trying to rid her mind of the memory. The picture of the nightmare was still fresh in her mind.
Alicia frowned, "Tallie, what did you do?" Her body was already drifting back a few inches and she could feel her hand unconsciously creeping down to her gun.
|~•~|
Cliffhanger! What do think Natalie did? What secret is between her and Boylan? And why was she up at four in the morning?
Not so much a Wash/Taylor chapter, but has a lot of Wash and Shannonfriendship.
If you want, check out my Wash tribute on YouTube (just uploaded it). /X7N7qrJNP0o
Please review!