Lena was back at her post, nervously awaiting her first meeting with her mother-in-law. She felt foolish that this was so nerve-wracking for her, but Nick wasn't going to be conscious to smooth the awkwardness of the meeting.

Ria approached, bringing with her a tray. "Lena?"

She looked up, somewhat blearily. "Yes?"

"Janet said you should eat something."

Lena nodded, accepting the tray. "Thank you."

As she numbly began eating the tuna fish sandwich, she realized that Janet had been in the infirmary every time that she, herself, had been there. And Lena had been pulling nearly 24-hour shifts at Nick's side.

Just then, Janet walked by, chart in hand to check on Nick's vital signs.

"Janet, are you getting any sleep?" Lena asked, genuinely concerned for her friend's welfare.

She smiled, her exhaustion evident. "Don't worry about me, Lena."

"And yet, you worry about me." Lena said, raising the half-eaten sandwich for Janet to see.

"I'm a doctor, that's my prerogative."

"Janet..." Lena warned.

Janet looked at the sick man. "I can't sleep when I can't do anything for my patients, Lena...so I might as well be here to care for them..."

Lena opened her mouth to say something, but just then, she heard footsteps hurry into the room. She turned to find Daniel escorting Raddeus and Marie inside.

Both gasped at the sight of the ill Nick, and Lena hurried over. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

Raddeus pulled his sister-in-law into a hug. "No need to thank us."

She nodded as she pulled away, looking at the older woman to his left. "Mrs. Kosovich." She said, formally as she extended her hand in greeting.

"It's Marie." The woman corrected. "And you must be Elena."

Lena nodded. "You can call me Lena…"

Raddeus gave a half-hearted chuckle. "She's not big into nicknames…so I have a feeling that it will get a little confusing with all of the kids named after all the adults…"

Lena looked at him, questioningly.

"Sorry…Sariah and the boys will be coming in a few days."

She nodded. "Then I hope there will be four Nicholases at that time…"

"Four?" He asked, surprised.

She nodded. "There's Nick, and then his three name-sakes: your son, the O'Neills' son, and another family friend's son."

Raddeus nodded before he noticed her weariness. "Why don't I sit with Nick while you and Mum get a cup of coffee…"

Lena was so numb at this point that she nodded. "Just a moment…" She said, returning to Nick.

As she quietly explained that she would be right back, Marie turned to her eldest son. "She's saying good-bye now so that if she doesn't get the chance she doesn't have any regrets."

Her knowing tone was not lost on Raddeus. "Mum?"

She swallowed her emotion. "He looks so much like your father…" She said, simply.

Raddeus didn't react, realizing that this was a moment for his mother to deal with three tragedies in her life: the death of her husband, the death of her youngest son, and the estrangement of her middle son. He only hoped that the third would be reconciled before she had to deal with a fourth: the death of that estranged son.

Lena returned. "I'm ready to go."

"I'll take good care of him." Raddeus said with a supportive smile.

"You always have." Lena responded, acknowledging Raddeus's role as the bridge between Nick and his mother.

The Australian swallowed down his emotion. No one, not even his mother and brother, had ever realized the burden that they had placed upon him with their rift. And to have someone acknowledge that fact lifted a measure of that burden that he had patiently borne for these twenty years.

Lena and Marie walked to the commissary where both got a cup of coffee. They sat at a table, and Lena numbly stirred some sugar into the bitter liquid as it cooled.

"How're you holding up, dear?"

Lena shrugged. "I'm all right…"

"But you haven't slept since Nicholas fell ill, have you?"

Lena shook her head, somewhat surprised that the older woman could read her so easily.

"I know…it's hard to be a mother to your boys at the same time that you're trying to care for your husband."

Lena looked up from her coffee, wordlessly.

"My husband, Evan, died when Nicholas was eleven years old."

Lena nodded, having heard this much from Nick.

"He was very ill, and for the longest time, none of the doctors could tell me what was going on…at any rate, for nearly a month, I divided my time between my three sons and my ailing husband."

"That story sounds familiar." Lena breathed as she took a sip of her coffee.

"At any rate, it seemed as though Evan was starting to return to his previous vitality, but just as I started to take a breath of relief, he suffered a heart attack. He died that day."

Lena allowed her eyes to close as she absorbed the story. "And less than a year later, you lost Thomas."

Marie nodded. "Our family really started to fall apart when Evan passed away. Nicholas had been a very outgoing child, but after Evan's death, he became more reserved, and after Thomas's accident…" Marie took a deep breath to help to control her emotions. "I would only get a word or two a day if I was fortunate. In fact, I think the one time that he said more than that to me was when he returned home past curfew when he was sixteen…"

Marie smiled wistfully. "We had quite the blue…and that's the last time that I spoke to him…with him…"

Lena thought back to the many rows they'd had with one another…he'd always gotten painfully quiet and pulled away from her. Obviously, that had been something that had been second-nature to him, and in the sorrow of grief, it had created an almost irreparable rift between Nick and his mother.

Suddenly, Lena had an idea. She reached into her pocket…she'd come prepared with photos for this occasion. "Do you want to see some pictures of the boys?"

Marie nodded. "I would love to."

Lena showed her the latest family picture, and Marie was taken aback by how much like his father and grandfather, young Daniel Evan looked. "This is Daniel?"

Lena nodded, surprised that she knew the names of the boys.

"Raddeus has shown me a few photographs and described them fairly well for me…" She explained.

"Ah."

Before she could show the next photograph, Kinsah and his son, Nik'las, approached the table.

"Kinsah!" Lena greeted, warmly, though with some reservation. "Nik'las!"

"Lena, do you mind if we sit with you and…" He finally caught a glimpse of the visitor and he paled. "Mum…"

The term had rolled off his tongue as naturally as if Nick had said it, and he heard Marie gasp in surprise. He turned back to Lena and bowed almost submissively. "I'll see you around the base, I'm sure…" He said, before dragging Nik'las toward the exit of the cafeteria.

Marie was so stunned that she just looked at Lena wordlessly.

"Let me see if I can't get you a decent explanation." Lena said, standing.

--

He stood on the edge of a precipice, the salt air of the ocean rolling over him. How he missed that smell! It triggered images of seaside picnics from before his father's death, Raddeus, Thomas and himself frolicking in the sea, before Mum stopped them and told them to get back to land if they wanted their cut lunches. They would protest and go back to eat their vegemite sandwiches and wait for nearly an hour after eating, for their lunch to settle before they could go back to the ocean to play.

He watched his prematurely ended childhood for a few moments. Half of the people who had been there were already dead…so…no one would really miss him if he casually slipped off the wet rock of the ledge…

The fledgling thought took root as he imagined falling off the cliff…as a kid, he'd always wanted fly…

He spread his arms as though they were wings and closed his eyes…

"Nick…"

His eyes opened as he heard his brother's voice. "Raddeus?"

"Nick, I don't know if you can hear me…"

"What?"

"I…Nick, I've never been any good at this…"

Nick didn't turn; just listened to his brother's pleadings.

"Lena…she needs you…I mean, she's been staying by your side for weeks…she's hardly slept, she's wearing herself out…"

Nick swallowed down tears for his grieving wife.

"But…I guess on a more self-interested level…I have my own motives for wanting you to stick around…"

He detected a tiny chuckle in his brother's voice, didn't he?

"Nick, please don't leave me as an only child." He whispered, vulnerably.

This rocked Nick. Raddeus hadn't been chuckling, he had been choking on his unshed tears…Raddeus didn't cry…he hadn't cried when their father died or when Thomas died…there had been no emotion from the soldier. But…now, Raddeus was crying?

He looked at the jagged rocks below again. Somehow, they looked less and less inviting. He had let down his mother and his younger brother. He would never let down his older brother…especially since the older man had sacrificed so much to protect him in various ways. No…he wouldn't hurt his brother like this…

He turned to find a withering plant in the distance, surrounded by all of the people he cared for most: his wife, his sons, Kinsah, little Nik'las, Alan, Rihana, Tony, Ria, Jesse, Janet, Daniel and Michael, the O'Neills, Cassandra, Liam, Raddeus and his family, his mother, his father and Thomas. He took a deep breath and began his pilgrimage to save his own life. "Hold on, Raddy…I'm coming…"