I'm know it's been a while since i last updated and for that I'm sorry. I just haven't had the chance to update. I'd like to thank those who have reviewed it really does make me want to improve my writing and update more often :) ... There's a revelation in this chapter so i hope you enjoy !
Alicia lay stretched out on her couch reading a novel that Maddy Shannon had given her to help pass time. The novel itself was typically Maddy Shannon Alicia thought to herself, however little did people know, she herself was a softy for romantic novels. Maddy Shannon had given her the novel 'A Room with a View' by E. one of Alicia's secret guilty pleasures. It tugged at her heart strings everytime she read it. The novel was about a woman torn between marrying a man and running off with another man whom she knew barely anything about. Of course the story was predictable and that the woman chose the latter and ran off into the sunset. "One day." She said to herself placing the novel on her lap "One day someone will sweep me off my feet." A knock on her door caught her attention and she quickly pushed the novel under the couch, she twinged as she stretched a little too far aggravating the still healing wound that she had been recovering from during the last three days.
"Come in." She called, fidgeting into a comfortable space on the couch. The door opened revealed a wide smiling Mark Reynolds with a still bruised face from the rover incident.
"Good evening Lieutenant." Reynolds said politely, closing the door behind him. Politeness was one of the main qualities that Alicia loved about the young man as it was very rare now. He was always such a gentleman, always showing respect for his girlfriend (hopefully future fiancée she thought to herself) and always being a fine soldier. "Your looking a lot better if you don't mind me saying."
"Of course not Mark thank you and how many times do I have to tell you that when were alone and off duty you may call me Alicia." she grinned at his nervous stance and indicated for him to take a seat opposite her on the armchair. "So what can I do for you Mark?" she asked.
"I err...came to see how your recovery was going." he stated however there was clearly something that he was holding back.
"I'm sure that's not the only reason for your visit." she said snuggling slightly into the pillow that lay underneath her head. "Come on then out with it."
"Well I'd talk to the Commander about this but he's seems to be trying to keep himself busy lately. I'd like some advice about my relationship with Maddy." The last part of the sentence came out a little fast almost as though he wanted to say it and get it over and done with.
"I hope your not asking for sex advice Reynolds because that's just … eww..." her face scrunched up at the images of Mark and …. Stop it she thought to herself, stop before your relationship with Mark is ruined. Mark put his hands out in disbelief.
"No,no, no …. not that, I just want to know what to get her for her birthday and err..." his face went red with embarrassment "I want to be able to give her the perfect kiss on her birthday."
"Well your not practising on me that's for sure" she declared, but seeing the look on Reynolds face she propped herself up a little and gave him a serious look. "Okay birthday... right.. " She looked around her living area for clues as to what would be a good gift for the oldest Shannon daughter. Seeing nothing that would be suitable she thought back to past gifts she had received (which were few in numbers). "Of course." she said aloud with a huge grin on her face. Mile's had given her a the most beautiful necklace when they had first met, a heart made out of pure white gold. She had sold her own so that she could pay to get to the army recruitment centre however there was almost one identical for sale in the Colony's market. "Over there behind that photoframe" She said pointing to the frame "there's a pouch, bring it to me please." Mark did as she asked and placed the pouch in her hands. She opened it carefully pulling out forty Terra's. "Here. Take this to the market and buy her that gorgeous white gold necklace in the shape of a heart, it's the stall next to Miss Lucy's fruit stall. Tell the guy that I was looking at it a few days ago, he'll know which one your talking about." With that she put out her hand offering him the Terra's.
"Lieutenant... I mean Alicia, I cant accept that money." He was well and truly gob-smacked, had she hit her head in the rover incident.
"Mark just take it while I'm feeling generous. Plus I owe you for saving my butt out there so I'm told by Jim." She lifted her hand again encouraging him to take the money. Knowing that she wasn't going to take no for an answer he took the quantity on Terra's from her hand giving her wrist a slight squeeze in appreciation.
"Thank you so much Alicia, you don't know how grateful I am." He placed the Terra's in his jacket pocket and made for the door.
"Ah! No you don't sit back down." He did as she commanded and returned to the seat in which he had been positioned before. "There was another piece of advice that you wanted." He blushed but his gaze never left hers. "First of all girls like Maddy like the good old romanticised kiss under the stars. Make sure that no one is around when you do this, you don't want anyone ruining the moment. You go for a walk, somewhere secluded and lay on the grass looking up at the stars. You complement her on how beautiful she looks and that your lucky to be her man. You place your arm around her and place a gentle kiss on her cheek, she'll turn her head and you'll do the same to her lips, kissing her slowly whilst caressing her cheek with your free hand. You'll part for a second and whisper into her ear that you'll love her forever and always. She'll repeat the kiss and you'll melt into each others arms." She had got carried away with herself narrating her own fairytale.
"Wow! That is absolutely perfect. Fancy writing it down?" He said with a smirk.
"It'll come naturally Mark... trust me."
"Always Lieutenant." He said before darting over to the couch and embraced gently his inspiration and idol. "I'm glad your okay." he said with a wide smile before leaving Lieutenant Alicia Washington's home.
The Commander had been ignoring Alicia for the past week now and she had begun to think that Elizabeth Shannon had been avoiding her too. Her recovery had been progressing in leaps and bounds. Movement such as bending down and rotating had been a huge problem at first, but now that she was regularly taking the medication that the nurse had given her, the movements were becoming a little more bearable. She'd asked one of the nurses who had come to her home to check up on her if Doctor Shannon was ill, but the nurse had replied that Doctor Shannon had been a busy with paperwork and monitoring other patients. Alicia had been sitting at her dinner table twiddling her thumbs thinking of the best action to take in confronting both the Commander and Doctor Shannon when she decided that the best course of action would be to just go speak to them face to face without thinking about it. She marched out of the front door and marched towards the command centre when Jim Shannon approached her.
"Where you headed to in such a rush Wash?" Jim asked.
"Where's Taylor?" she countered.
"Erm..." he paused for a second noticing the angry expression on her face before answering. "Think he headed off to see my wife. Why?" Before he knew it she had turned on her heels and was striding towards the infirmary. Through the double doors she went nearly knocking a leaving visitor over. She apologised quickly and headed to Elizabeth's office. Two figures stood in the room, both of whom she recognised almost immediately. Without asking permission to enter she opened the door and slammed it behind her.
"Err... Wash... what can we do for you?" Taylor asked slightly shocked by her dramatic entrance.
"Well we can start with why you've both been avoiding me?" Both Taylor and Elizabeth shared a worried glance, Elizabeth took a step closer towards Alicia.
"Maybe you should sit down." Elizabeth stated indicating towards a nearby chair.
"Tell me." Alicia demanded a little stronger than what she intended.
"Very well." Elizabeth said taking a deep breath out. "I was updating your medical record a couple of days ago and thought it be interesting to see who else would have been potential blood matches. A couple of names come up that I forget but one in particular caught my attention. This person was almost a direct match to you, so I did a little more digging. Alicia ….." She paused and heard Taylor let out a loud breath that he must have been holding for some time. "This person is directly related to you. He's your son."
"Answer my question!" Alicia demanded whilst pacing back and forth along the floor of the office.
"Alicia, please calm.." she was interrupted by Alicia's sarcastic giggle.
"Do not tell me to calm down. You've just told me that my son is in this colony and you wont tell me who he is!" She'd stopped pacing now and was giving Elizabeth an icy glare, if she didn't know Alicia, she would have run for her life.
"It's not that I wont Alicia, its because I cant tell you. I need to speak to your son first, make sure he wants to know who his mother is and if he wants..." she paused knowing the next few words would deeply hurt her friend "If he even wants to accept that you as his mother. I know this is hard Alicia but you cant just go in all guns blazing and act like mother and son. He's going to have a lot of questions and will perhaps be angry that you didn't want him to know your name and that you didn't find him sooner." Elizabeth looked into Alicia's tearful eyes and crossed the room. Placing a comforting hand on Alicia's shoulder Elizabeth said "I'll go see him now. You stay here and sort your problems out with the Commander."
Elizabeth exited the office leaving a fearful Alicia and a confused Commander behind.
"So" the Commander started crossing the room to stand in front of Alicia "How have you been?"
"Fine and dandy sir" she replied sarcastically "fine and dandy." she repeated placing a hand on her forehead as to shield her worries and emotions from the man she had secretly loved and cared for, for many years.
"What have I done to deserve this?" he asked sorrowfully slowly taking her hand that was on her forehead and placing it in between both of his over sized ones. "Why Alicia?" he asked again moving one of his hands from hers to cup her cheek. The contact made her shiver, never before had the one she'd longed for acted so sensitively, so caring. She'd waited for this day for so long, but, everything was happening so quickly. She was still traumatised by the accident that had occurred not too long ago, she just found out that her son had been living in Terra Nova for god knows how long and now her Commander was giving her possible signals that he cared more for her than just his Lieutenant. She forcefully retracted her hand from his and turned her back to him, not wanting her beloved to see the tears flowing freely down her pale cheeks. She left his presence as he stepped closer to her placing a hand on her shoulder. 'He's so stubborn' she thought to herself.
"I'm not leaving Alicia. The last week or so I've been having these feelings, feelings that a Commander shouldn't allow to be acted on, but..." She felt his nervousness "I can't hide these feelings any longer, I can't not act on them. Alicia..."
"Don't" She stated. "Don't say it unless you mean it." she said turning around. Again the Commander cupped her cheeks with the palm of his hands.
"Alicia, I think I'm in love with you."
Elizabeth entered the Shannon household in search for her two daughters. She placed her plex pad on the kitchen counter and opened the fridge. Malcolm had discovered a plant that created almost a replica taste of orange juice, it contained the same nutritional value but lacked something in the taste, she wasn't sure what but it certainly didn't taste like normal orange juice. Whilst pouring what Malcolm had named Orancolm she heared giggling from what sounded little Maddy from her room.
"Maddy?" Elizabeth called "Do we have company?" she asked. What was only a few seconds both Maddy and her guest exited the room.
"Sorry Mrs Shannon we should have waited for you or Mr Shannon to come home before we proceeded to Maddy's bedroom." the redness and clear embarrassment shown by the male guest almost made a smile form on her face, in any other circumstances it would have, however this male in particular was going to receive some shocking news in which she didn't know how he was going to take it.
"It's fine." she directed to him. "Listen I'd like a word in private if that's okay with you." she indicated to the sofa in the living room and gave a look to Maddy to indicate for her to leave.
"Of course Mrs Shannon." He confirmed making his way over to sit down. "I'll catch you later Maddy." He called after the oldest Shannon daughter as she left the household. Elizabeth sat opposite the solider and placed her hands on her knees.
"There's something very important I need to tell you." She stated. The males face turned from that of confusion to worry and fear. "Something that you may not take very well. Before I tell you promise me you'll let me finish."
"Of course Mrs Shannon. What is it?"
"It's about your mother..." she looked directly into his eyes, she'd never realized how very much they looked like his mothers. "She's her in Terra Nova." she finished.
The look on the soldiers face said it all. Complete and utter shock, he didn't seem to know what to do with himself, he'd risen from the sofa and paced up and down, sat down and twiddled his thumbs and then finally looked Elizabeth in the eyes. His tear filled amber eyes met her dark maroon ones. "Who is she." he asked.
"You sure you want to know?" at his nod of the head she stated what he'd longed to know since he was a young child "Mark your mother is Lieutenant Alicia Washington."
So i know that a lot of you guessed that it was going to be Reynold's but i just wanted to form a bond between the mother and son, suggest that she's always had that maternal instinct for him and that deep down she's always known and vice versa. So the majority of you are probs not shocked by who the son is. Now that we know who the son is the fun starts to begin. In the next few chapters another blast from the past turns up, but who can guess who? Please review as always :)