AN: Just got finished reading Chaotic-Theoretician's update on "The Traitor and the Pariah"...whew. That was some intense and amazing stuff. (If you aren't reading the story, do it NOW!) I can't wait until I get to some steamy makeout sessions with these two. ;)
One other thing: I really don't like Josh. He is annoying and immature most of the time, but I am trying to write him how Skye would see him. I just want you all to know that I do not-I repeat, do not-think these two should end up as a couple. Okay, rant over.
Now I want to thank some of my reviewers!
geranium08-Yes, I definitely plan on them getting together eventually. It is going to take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but they will discover that they should at least give a good try.
ujemaima- Lucas is extremely unpredictable and naughty, which is why we all love him. I foresee some more surprises in his future. :D Thanks for the comment on the pace; I am glad to hear that it isn't going too slow. I just really want to take some time to develop the characters more.
fanficaddict100-Thank you! I really appreciate the encouragement!
Dinner with the Shannon family was nice, despite Skye being completely exhausted and distracted. They talked about the rebuilding of the colony and what could be out in the Badlands. Skye wanted to put her hands over her ears so that she couldn't hear any information that could be passed to Lucas if he asked.
After dinner Josh invited her to take a walk around the colony and she was glad to join him. He had been quiet during dinner, but no one had pressed him to talk. It was chilly outside and Skye involuntarily wondered how Lucas was staying warm without a jacket or blankets. She shook her head to clear it of the thought. It made her furious that he wormed his way into her thoughts even when he wasn't around.
"Is everything alright?"
"Huh?" Skye remembered that she was with another human being. "Oh, yeah, sorry. Just thinking."
He nodded his head but didn't say anything. Skye could tell he desperately needed to talk about Kara. She led him to a bench away from the main road so they wouldn't be interrupted by anyone.
"How are you doing, Josh?" she asked in a quiet voice as they sat down.
He put his head in his hands and leaned forward on his knees. He looked so vulnerable and helpless Skye immediately felt guilty for not having talked to him sooner.
"I just try so hard not to think about it," he mumbled through his hands. "If I forget that it happened, I can pretend that she is still back in 2149…"
Skye put her arm around him comfortingly, "But you can't live in a pretend world. It happened, Josh, and the only way you'll ever be able to get over it is to deal with it first."
He looked up at her, "I just can't imagine ever being able to move on. I don't know if I can deal with it."
Skye grabbed her chin with a hand and looked him directly in the eye.
"I know you, Josh Shannon, and you are strong enough. I may not have known Kara, but I know that if she loved you, she wouldn't want you to mourn her forever. You have to deal with the pain and someday you'll feel happiness again."
Josh leaned in to her and sobbed against her chest. She stroked his hair and his back and whispered that he would be okay again someday. She knew that it didn't mean much to him right then, but he would be able to move on someday.
She and Josh talked through most of the night, until the sun was beginning to light the sky. She walked him home when it seemed he had cried and talked out a great deal of his bottled up pain.
He gave her a long hug before going inside, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Skye. I love you."
Skye knew he meant it just as friends, and said it only because he had just lost his girlfriend, but she appreciated it all the same.
"I love you too, Josh."
She could barely keep her eyes open as she walked back to her house. And when she finally collapsed on her bed, the sun nearly up, thoughts of Josh weren't the last thing on her mind. No, it was the memory of Lucas' eyes as he held her hand against his face. So wistful and forlorn, like he wanted her to never leave him.
Skye didn't hear from Lucas for at least a week. She had returned to her normal schedule for the most part, though she was a little more paranoid than usual. Josh was smiling more and more and she was happy to see a little less pain on his face each day. The colony was making great strides in its rebuilding and she didn't hear any new updates about whatever was in the Badlands, to her relief.
She had resumed her relationship with Commander Taylor, who needed comfort after the loss of Lieutenant Washington. Though the man would never admit it, Skye suspected he was sweet on her. The colony had held a funeral for the great woman shortly after Lucas' crew left Terra Nova, and it was one of the saddest funerals Skye had ever attended. Wash had left a big mark on the colony, and no one would ever forget her.
Commander Taylor mentioned Lucas to her for the first time a day after Skye's last meeting with the crazy man.
"Shannon told me Lucas acted different around you."
Skye didn't know what to say. They had been playing chess and he brought it up out of the blue.
"I guess so—he said we were like brother and sister."
The Commander looked at her sideways; they both knew that that wasn't how Lucas had treated her.
"I'm sorry you had to be the one to shoot him," Taylor said gruffly.
Skye took his hand tightly, surprising both of them, "I'd do it again, Commander. For you."
As she spoke the words she knew they were true. As terrified as she had been thinking she had killed Lucas Taylor, she would have been devastated if she had lost the Commander.
But a week after her last encounter with Lucas she discovered a note taped to her bedroom window. She scrambled outside in her night clothes to rip it down before anyone noticed it.
It said only one word: Today.
She bit her lip. She didn't want to deal with the maniac again so soon. He was up and down and just plain volatile. Though, if she were telling the truth, she was surprised that it had taken him so long to contact her again.
"Hunter," she told her roommate who was eating breakfast in the kitchen. "I'm going to go check on the moonshine today. Want to come?"
She was absolutely positive he wouldn't want to go with her, making it a perfect excuse. He grimaced and muttered something incoherent but still rude. She forced a laugh and went to change into some clothes.
Lucas looked elated to see her.
"How is my bucket doing?" he asked with a wide smile.
She looked at him apprehensively, "Would've been better if I didn't have to cancel all my plans to come out here."
Lucas' grin turned sour, "Plans with the Shannon boy?"
She shrugged, "Why does it matter?"
"I'm just watching out for my sweet little sister," Lucas said, caressing her cheek like he loved to do. "And I don't like that boy."
"Too bad," Skye said angrily. "Because I do."
Lucas glared at her.
"And as my brother," she continued sweetly. "You just have to trust my judgment."
"My moles told me you have been spending a lot of time with him," he said in an accusatory voice.
"Yeah, I have. He just lost his girlfriend because of you."
Lucas didn't look concerned, "She made a sacrifice for a cause bigger than her."
"Because you're mad at your daddy?" Skye snarled.
Lucas grabbed her shoulder hard and yanked her closer to him.
"Don't you ever talk to me that way," he breathed, clearly restraining himself from screaming or hitting her.
"You've done so much wrong," Skye told him fearlessly. "And you don't even care. You disgust me."
Lucas stepped back and spread his arms out, laughing.
"I've done so much right," he yelled to the jungle around them. "And you helped me."
"And that is the reason you treat me differently," Skye realized aloud. "Because you associate your success with me, because I helped you."
Lucas was on her in a second, pressing his forehead against hers tenderly, "Don't think that, bucket. Don't think that."
Skye couldn't breathe with him so close to her. His face was rough against hers, since he hadn't shaved for weeks, but his touch was so gentle and sweet, like how she had always imagined Josh would hold her right before kissing her.
"Don't do that," Skye said, trying to push him away.
He stepped back reluctantly and went to a tree to sit down next to it.
"Sit," he ordered her, motion to a tree next to his. "We have lots to talk about."
Skye went over to the tree, watching him the entire time. She wasn't sure where the gun he now had was, but she assumed it was on his somewhere. She sat down on the ground, pushing away a few bugs.
"Tell me about my father," Lucas said. Skye was surprised he didn't reference the man as their father, but she didn't bring it up.
"What about him?" Skye asked hesitantly.
"Has he said anything about me?"
Skye could see the little boy desperate for the attention of his father; she wondered how things could have been different if Commander Taylor and Lucas had just had a better relationship. Would the Sixers even still exist?
"Only once," Skye said uncomfortably. "He asked me why you treated me…differently."
"And what did you tell him?" Lucas asked with a roguish grin.
"I said that you thought of me as a sister, since Commander Taylor and I are so close," Skye answered, looking down at her fingernails.
"And did you tell him about how you saved little Josh Shannon? About how you offered yourself to your brother?"
Skye could feel his hot gaze on her and she blushed.
"Of course not," she said quietly, feeling ashamed.
"What else did he say?" Lucas asked eagerly.
"Just that he was sorry I had to shoot you," Skye said louder.
"Old man, he probably wished he had been able to do it himself," Lucas said bitterly.
Lucas truly believed that his father hated him, but Skye knew better. She could hear them talking when she was running to reach them; she heard the Commander forgive his son, despite all the evil the boy had inflicted on the colony, on the world. And Lucas had stabbed him for his mercy.
"And I told him I wasn't sorry," Skye said defiantly, watching as Lucas' expression turned from shock to hurt to fury.