Hey everyone, sorry it took me so long to update, I was busy with work and had some problems with my internet connection over the weekend.
The following chapter will contain spoilers for Bylaw and have a little Wash/Boylan interaction because they are just fun to write together.
metube: Thank you very much for reviewing and for liking the sickening sweet parts ;)
Enjoy :)
"Wash."
She looked up from the commander´s desk, taking in the serious expression on Guzman´s face.
"What´s wrong?"
"I´ve lost contact with Foster, he checked in at 0500, haven´t heard from him since."
"You´ve had any communication problems out that way?"
"Not at all and Foster´s a good man, he´d have checked in if he could."
Wash nodded, reaching for her own communication device.
"This is command, come in, please."
"Copying, Wash, what do you need?"
"Guzman lost contact with Foster three hours ago, last time he checked in he was at 19-A, are you anywhere near there?"
"About an hour, we´ll check on him, Taylor out."
Wash looked up at Guzman again, his worried expression mirroring her own.
"I´ll go back to the comm center and try again, I´ll let you know if I hear anything."
"Ok, thanks."
Wash gave up on her paperwork ten minutes after Guzman´s departure and made her way outside, sitting around and waiting had never been her favorite way to spend her time.
After checking on all the watchtowers she finally arrived back at the gate when her radio came to life.
"Wash, you´re there?"
"Copy, Sir."
"Foster is dead."
"What?"
She had seen the young man the day before when she had submitted her unit to an extracurricular training session, had heard him joking around with Reynolds and now he was dead?
"I´m sorry, looks like he´s been attacked by a Nyko, we´ll go have a look around now and then come back ASAP."
"Ok."
She made her way back up command slowly, trying to comprehend what she had just heard, finally taking her radio out and contacting Mark.
"Come up to command, I need to talk to you."
The boy was already waiting for her when she arrived and Wash led him inside, pointing to a chair at the conference table.
"Did I do something?"
"No, you didn´t- Mark, I´m sorry, Foster is dead, apparently a Nyko attack."
The young man didn't say anything for a long time and Alicia didn´t pressure him, the boys had been good friends and she knew from experience how rare it was to find that kind of connection in a community like their´s.
"I offered to go with him" Mark finally said, looking up at his CO with a desperate expression.
"He said I should spend my free evening with Maddy instead."
"Don´t do this, Mark, don´t blame yourself, it´s natural but it isn´t your fault, it was an accident."
Wash put her hand on the young corporal´s shoulder, squeezing it gently before walking over to Taylor´s desk, deciding to give Mark some time alone while she distracted herself with the leftover paperwork.
When the commander came back, Wash had sent Reynolds off to tell the rest of his unit about their comrade´s death and was standing near the gate, waiting.
Taylor got out first, briefly touching Wash´s arm before motioning for her to follow him back up into the office.
"It was a mess, blood everywhere, the body is completely mangled- have you talked to your boys?"
"I talked to Reynolds."
"How´d he take it?"
"Not too well, they were friends, he offered to go out there with him yesterday."
"So now he feels guilty."
Taylor observed, the coping mechanism familiar to him and to Alicia.
"He´ll be ok, I´ll check on him later- is there enough left of Foster to bury?"
"Yeah, we´ll get to that tomorrow- how´s the paperwork coming along?"
"I´m finished, it wasn´t much, so what do we do now?"
"Waiting for Shannon, he´ll be back here with the Doc´s report."
The man in question entered the room at that moment, announcing that Foster´s death had by no means been an accident but murder.
Taylor looked crestfallen and Alicia wished Shannon gone so she could comfort her CO, he was putting on a facade for Shannon but Wash could see right through it.
Wash lead the way out of command with Shannon trailing behind her, catching up when they reached the bottom of the steps.
"So where do you think they are?"
"Boylan´s."
"Hm- are you ok, I mean he was a member of your unit."
"I´ve lost a lot of men, Shannon, I can handle it, I´m more worried about the boys, especially when we tell them that he was murdered."
"You´re taking your job seriously, don´t you, you feel responsible for them."
Wash glanced at the man next to her, shrugging.
"A good CO should always feel responsible for the soldiers and I´ve learned from the best."
"Taylor- how long have you been serving under him?"
"Eighteen years."
"Wow, that´s a long time- you were what, sixteen?"
"Seventeen and yes, it´s been a long time."
"So when you were shot-"
"It´s been eleven years, if that´s what you want to know."
Their conversation was cut short by their arrival at the bar and Wash led the way inside, ignoring Boylan´s sly smile while looking around for her boys, she spotted them at a table at the back and walked over to them, leaving it to Shannon to explain the situation.
Wash could hardly hold back a smile when Reynolds admitted to hacking into his dog tag, they all did it of course but the boy was embarrassed to admit that he was breaking the rules all the same.
They bid the soldiers goodbye and left and as soon as they were outside, Shannon came up with the question Wash had been waiting for.
"So what´s on your tag?"
"That´s for me to know and for you to remain ignorant about" she replied airily, marching towards the infirmary.
"Come on, give me a hint."
"Shannon, let´s just get Foster´s tag and forget about mine."
"Can you go any slower?"
Wash looked over at Shannon impatiently, frowning when the man looked rather amused than intimidated.
"Sorry, Lieutenant, not everyone is as crazy as you and Taylor are- you´re welcome to switch places if you don´t trust me."
"Thanks, I take that as a complement and no, if something attacks us I´d rather try and shoot it than run it over."
"Good point, you are the best shot after all, you can´t have both."
Taylor´s voice interrupted the, asking if they had eyes on the target and a moment later they spotted the animal and began chasing it towards the tree line.
Wash was first into the wood, Taylor and Shannon right behind her as they looked around for their target, Shannon anxiously asking if they were going to kill the Nyko.
Thinking that her CO´d better stop sounding so damn pleased with himself for getting an injury that had required sixty seven stitches, Wash remained indifferent to Taylor´s praises, then the Nyko startled them all, hurled itself past Jim and scrambled up a tree.
"Where´d it go?"
Wash looked up at the tree wearily.
"How long can he stay up there?"
She should have known that Shannon would find something to annoy her with in her question.
"Anywhere you need to be, Lieutenant?"
She felt Taylor´s amused gaze on her and decided to pay Shannon back for his insolence, telling him that she´d rather not be there when the sun set, hiding her smile when he nervously inquired how long the Nyko actually might be able to stay up in the tree.
The Nyko spared them from answering by jumping back down and attempting to disappear into the undergrowth, it was blocked from Wash´s view by the tree but Taylor got a clear shot and hit the animal in the side.
Wash was the first to reach it, throwing herself into danger before her CO had a chance to do so had become a habit she had adapted to perfectly over the years.
Hunting a dinosaur and cutting it open had easily been the most fun Wash had had in weeks, she enjoyed being outside, especially in the company of Taylor, she could hardly remember the last time they had left the colony together.
The whole mission was bloody and dirty and Wash felt finally alive again.
She stitched the animal up and washed off the blood, thinking that Taylor was going rather far to humor Shannon, there wasn´t a chance that the Nyko would wake up before he got attacked and eaten by his own species, anyway.
"Wash, you come with me this time, I wanna talk about that woman."
"Sure, Sir- see you, Shannon, don´t get lost on the way back."
"Cheers, Wash, thanks for the vote of confidence."
"Why is he always so cheery?"
Wash asked, irritation audible in her voice as she followed her CO over to his rover.
"No idea, must be a genetic quirk."
"Probably."
Taylor started the engine and followed Shannon back towards the colony.
"So what about the woman, then?"
"Her name´s Rebecca Millner, I don't know much about her, she´s friendly, pretty, the guys like her- I didn´t know about her and Foster, you know I´d have talked to him about it."
"Yeah, well- you know the husband, too?"
"No, I heard he´s older than her but nothing specific."
Taylor looked thoughtful.
"Might be one of those couples winning the lottery- or just him winning the lottery, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, sure- I´ll make sure to ask her about it."
"You do that, I´ll be up at command planning the funeral, you two report back to me straight after talking to Mrs. Millner."
They had arrived inside the gate and Wash led the way over to the Millner´s house, Jim Shannon following her.
Wash left the talking to Shannon and looked around instead, quickly noticing a picture frame an one of the shelves and reached up to activate it, not at all surprised when it turned out to hold the lottery notification.
She had seen that phenomenon before and probably would see it again, Shannon on the other hand looked irritated and started to question the woman about her marriage while Wash watched, noticing with interest how defensive the other woman was getting.
They were interrupted by the husband who acted as passive aggressive as his wife and within minutes had admitted to killing Foster, his wife staring at him incredulously as Shannon lead him outside.
They walked the man up to the command center where the met Taylor who beckoned Wash to follow him outside while Shannon led Millner towards the conference table.
"The husband?"
Taylor asked, his voice icy.
"Yes, Sir, he confessed killing Foster, you were right, it´s a lottery marriage."
Taylor ran his hand through his hair, then nodded.
"I want to know everything, how he did it, how he knew Foster would be there, how he hacked the pad- make him sweat, Wash."
"Will do, Sir."
She left him outside and went back into the office, joining Shannon in the back.
Millner´s explanation sounded perfectly plausible, if a little emotionless but then of course he had just confessed murdering another man in a most brutal way.
While Shannon took Millner into the brig, Taylor reentered the office and joined his lieutenant at the desk where Wash was powering up the screen, stepping behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his chest.
She leaned her head against his shoulder, her eyes fluttering shut when his lips brushed against her neck.
"I really can´t believe this, when did it all start to fall apart?"
She didn't reply, there wasn´t anything to say.
He pressed a soft kiss to her jaw, then let go of her and Wash brushed past him, leaving the office to wait for Shannon on the balcony outside.
Together they stood in silence unlit the commander joined them, his expression somber.
"You were right. It was murder."
He turned to her and she turned to face him, watching him with her hands behind her back.
"Lieutenant Washington knows, I expect my people to adhere to a strict code of honor. For one of them to get involved with a married Terra Novan, that´s not just frowned upon, I won´t tolerate it. But Foster didn't deserve to die for it."
Wash briefly looked up into his eyes when he walked past her, catching the expression there, she sighed, looking at her shoes before turning to face towards memorial field as well.
Taylor was looking at her when he informed Shannon about the bylaws and the decision he would have to make, stating that he couldn´t recall ever having made a tougher one, then he walked back into the office while Wash tried to fight the feeling of nausea threatening to overwhelm her as she thought back to all the other tough decisions in her CO`s life- his wife, his son, his mentor- and her.
"You´re ok?"
Shannon´s voice got her out of her reverie and she nodded briskly, straightening up.
"I´m fine- I´m sorry, Shannon, I really need to get back in there."
Noticing the dismissal, Shannon nodded and turned to leave while Alicia slipped back into the office, closing the door behind herself.
She found herself pressed up against the door as soon as it closed behind her and she responded to his desperate kiss, he needed reassurance and she would give him whatever he needed from her, just like she had done the last eighteen years.
They broke apart breathlessly and Taylor buried his face against Alicia´s shoulder, his arms still around her waist.
"I´m sorry" he muttered against her neck, his grip on her tightening.
"There´s nothing to be sorry about, you are as much entailed to comfort as anybody else is."
"I shouldn´t burden you with my weaknesses, you have enough to worry about without me adding to it, Wash."
"Worrying about you isn´t a burden, it´s my privilege and I won´t let you take it away from me."
She felt him smile against her neck and a moment later he straightened up and pressed a gentle kiss to her temple before letting go of her.
"If you enjoy it so much, who am I to deprive you of it- let´s go over the protocol for tomorrow and then we´ll call it a night, ok?"
"Sounds like a plan, Sir."
Before she could walk away from him, he reached out and pulled her into him once more, his voice thick with emotion.
"Tell me what to do" he muttered and she sighed, her hands caressing his back in a soothing, comforting manner.
"I can´t, it´s your decision and you´ve already made it, haven´t you."
He straightened up to look at her and after a moment of hesitation he nodded.
"You are right, I have- Terra Nova has no place for people not abiding to our laws."
The hard glitter in his eyes made way for a rarely seen tenderness as he reached up and twirled a strand of black hair around his fingers.
"Sometimes I think you know me better than I know myself."
"We´ve been at this point before, it´s not so hard to know what you are thinking about, I´m thinking about it, too."
His arms wrapped around her once more and she relaxed against him, the sound of his steady heartbeat calming her down effectively.
"I never wanted to think about it anymore, Wash, I really thought we´d get a fresh start."
"We did, we have to focus on all the good things about this place, don´t doubt it all now."
Taylor´s decision to banish Howard Millner had caused several protests and Wash could feel all eyes on her, she knew that people expected her to be able to influence her CO, even though they didn´t know the true nature of Alicia´s and Taylor´s relationship.
In a way, she was being held responsible for Millner´s banishment and so she had taken it upon herself to march the convict towards the gate, accompanied by Tim Curran who had volunteered for the symbolic task alongside her.
They waited until Millner was outside, then Wash glanced up at the tower, signaling for the gate to be closed and when she looked back at the crowd, Wash caught sight of Boylan looking at her with a strangely closed expression on his face, the mocking glitter in his eyes finally making her already fragile control snap.
She briskly walked towards him and he waited for her, his eyes never leaving her´s.
"What?"
She snapped, her eyes narrowing as he smiled at her humorlessly.
"Ah, Lieutenant, you have a problem with me not liking the great Commander´s verdict?"
"You have no right to oppose him openly, Boylan, it wasn´t an easy decision for him to make but he had to make it and you know it."
Boylan snorted, turning to walk away in the direction of his bar but Wash wasn´t about to just let him off that easily and fell into step next to him.
His face got more serious as he looked at her while he walked.
"You know as well as I do that this hasn´t been the first murder in Terra Nova, if Taylor was to judge himself, he´d have to walk out of that gate right now and never come back."
Wash clenched her fists on her side, fighting the urge to simply knock the insufferable man out.
"It wasn´t murder, it was-"
"Self defense, yeah, sure it was, who are you kidding, Wash? Taylor did it because he didn´t want to give up command, plain and simple."
"It wasn´t like that, he knew they would destroy everything he had worked for, how can you even say something like this? You used to be his friend."
"Used to, emphasis on that- murder or not aside, what do you think Taylor would do in that poor devil´s place?"
"I´m not sure I`m following."
"Don´t play dumb, Wash- Taylor´s itching to strangle every man who so much as looks at you, I´m sure if you were so inclined as to encourage one of them, he´d be dead meat, just as Foster is now."
Wash stopped walking abruptly and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Watch what you´re saying, Tom, you might find yourself less useful than you think you are."
"Are you threatening me, Lieutenant? You sure that´s a wise move to make?"
"This isn´t a game, this is-"
"About Taylor, I know and when it comes down to it, you´d do anything, no matter what your own thoughts on the topic are, it´s really rather impressive, sad but impressive."
Wash bit her lip, she couldn't loose her temper with Boylan, even though she hated to admit it, he knew a few things neither Taylor nor herself wanted to become public.
Boylan shook his head, his expression almost wistful now.
"Sometimes I look at you and I remember that girl who joined our unit, you were so young, so beautiful, such a force, all the boys were crazy about you but you only had eyes for Taylor, no matter that he was married, a father, far too old for you and your CO on top of that.
If it came down to a decision between what´s good for you and what´s good for the colony, what do you think he´d do then?"
"He´d pick the colony" she replied without missing a beat and Boylan laughed softly, shaking his head.
"You´re right, he would and you wouldn´t blame him for it, that´s how well he trained you, if you weren´t so eager to strangle me right now, I´d feel sorry for you, Alicia."
"Are you having a point?"
"Not really- now go and comfort him, knowing him, he´ll need it."
She glared at him one last time for good measure, hearing him chuckle as she turned around on her heel and marched off in direction of her CO´s house.
Wash wasn´t sure if she should laugh or cry when Shannon bounced into command around midday, announcing he had brought Howard Millner back to the colony and that the man had evoked his confession.
Taylor looked about ready to shoot Shannon and Wash couldn´t help but think that she might help him bury the body this time, while her CO ordered the other man to conclude the investigation quickly, the Commander then stomped out of the office angrily, leaving his second and Shannon to figure out what had really happened to Foster.
Staring down at the financial records, she forced herself to accept that the whole situation was far worse than she had assumed, it hadn´t been Millner who had killed Foster after all, it had been Tim Curran, one of her boys, one of her soldiers.
When Shannon told her his plan to get a confession out of Curran she shook her head in exasperation, wondering if between her soldiers murdering their comrades for money and Shannon she was slowly loosing it.
"You want to employ Boylan for this? You´ve got to be kidding me" she looked at him pleadingly, as if waiting for him to tell her he had been joking but of course he did no such thing.
"Come on, Wash, the guy can´t be that bad, can he?"
"You have no idea- ok, let´s assume for a moment Taylor agrees with this, how exactly are we going to persuade Boylan to cooperate?"
Shannon smiled at her in a way she had come to associate with trouble.
"I think our good Boylan has a soft spot for you, ain´t that right, Wash?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Funny, Shannon- wait, are you being serious?"
"Sure- we´ll go and run the plan by Taylor now and then you´ll go over there and ask him nicely if he would mind to help us out."
Remembering her conversation with Boylan just that morning, Wash bit her lip.
"Uhm, I´m not sure I´m the right person for this right now, Shannon."
"Why?"
"Never mind, I´ll try" she hastily got up, the last thing she needed was Shannon figuring out that she had good reasons to keep Boylan happy.
She lead the way outside where they found Taylor near the gate, talking to Guzman.
"Sir."
Wash addressed her CO formally and Taylor turned towards her, looking alarmed.
"Report, Lieutenant."
"We went through Foster´s finances and found that Tim Curran owed him a great deal of money, much more than he could have paid back in fact."
Taylor ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes closing briefly.
"Damn" he muttered, then looked up again, his eyes hard.
"What´s the plan?"
Jim Shannon explained his idea and Taylor actually looked amused for a moment.
"Sounds insane but fine, we´ll do it that way- Wash, get yourself down to Boylan´s and charm him."
"Yes, Sir" she said resignedly, then walked away, pulling her hair out of her ponytail as she went.
She ascended the steps into the bar and met Tom Boylan alone, working behind the counter.
"Lieutenant, here to apologize?"
He teased her as Wash leaned onto the bar.
"No- though I suppose I´ll have to after all- I need you."
"Finally came to your senses, uh?"
He winked at her, his eyes sparkling with amusement and Wash shuddered.
"Not in that way- we need you to help us catch the murderer of Foster."
"How´s that? I thought you already banished him out there?"
They looked around at the sound of footsteps and Wash felt relieved when the commander came down the steps and walked up to the bar, coming to stand right next to her.
"Tom" he greeted and Boylan grinned.
"All right, now tell me what´s going on here."
Boylan looked from Taylor to Wash expectantly and they exchanged a quick glance before the commander pulled out his radio, leaving the lieutenant to explain while telling Guzman to make sure there was a rover by the gate.
"We know who killed him" Wash began, the information still unsettling her, "it was Curran."
She avoided Boylan´s gaze, the smug look on his face was more than she could handle right now.
"One of your boys, eh, Lieutenant? Now that´s disappointing, forgot to drill the good commander´s code of honor into them, did you now."
Wash took a deep breath, they needed his help but damn it.
"Let me remind you of your little game shop" she told him as cooly as possible, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest while Boylan´s gleeful expression sobered up a little.
"All right, all right, what do you want from me now?"
"Nothing much" Taylor cut in, "we´d like for you to let yourself get arrested, struggle a bit to make it convincing, answer a few questions with Curran present, then stay up at command a little while I go and turn that bastard loose somewhere."
"When you say I, does that mean the lovely lieutenant will be keeping me company?"
Boylan grinned at her and Wash rolled her eyes.
"You´re disgusting, you know that."
"Yeah, I know but you need my help, don´t you."
Taylor briefly touched his hand to her shoulder in an apologetic way.
"Sure, Tom, someone needs to make sure you won´t get into trouble while I´m gone- Wash, go tell Reynolds to get Shannon and Curran and some more of your guys, you can tell him if you trust him enough."
"Yes, Sir."
She got up, resigning herself to the fact that she would spend the afternoon in the company of Boylan as she looked for Mark.
She found him in the mess hall and motioned for him to follow her outside before turning to him with a somber expression on her face.
"It wasn´t Millner, it was Curran who killed Foster."
The young man stared back at her in horror, then visibly pulled himself together.
"Are you sure, Ma´am?"
"Positive- I´m sorry, Mark."
"Can I do anything to help?"
His voice was determined now and Alicia almost smiled, she might have failed with Curran but she had managed to produce at least one model soldier.
"Yeah, you actually can."
It wasn´t that Wash wasn´t grateful for Boylan´s help but did he have to enjoy it so much?
She put her radio down again, shaking her head at Boylan´s teasing grin and put her head in her hands.
"Come on, Lieutenant, you should make a bit of an effort, be better company."
"Shut it, Boylan, I´m not here for your amusement."
"Aren´t you? I think you are, it´s much more pleasant sitting here with a beautiful woman to keep me company."
She looked up at him, her fingers itching to wrap around his throat.
"I´d so love to hurt you right now" she sighed but it didn't have the desired effect for Boylan didn´t look impressed but rather amused at her words.
"I´ve known you a long time, Lieutenant and I know that you can be quite nice if you want to."
"Not to you."
"Maybe not but I bet you´re much nicer to the commander, aren´t you."
Realizing that there was no way she would manage to make him shut up anytime soon, Wash sat back in her chair, looking at the man expectantly.
"Fine, I´ll humor you- what are you talking about, he´s my CO, of course I´m nicer to him than I am to you, it´s in my job description."
"Not what I meant, you know what the boys talk about when they´ve had a few too many?"
"Art and music?"
Wash shrugged, having no idea what he was aiming for but still unable to keep her sarcasm under control.
"Not so much, actually it´s women- and you´re the number one fantasy of most."
Wash rolled her eyes.
"Naturally, I´m their CO, tends to inspire idiotic fantasies."
"Now you´re talking" Boylan grinned, leaning back in his chair while Wash prayed for patience.
"You know, no one said I couldn´t hurt you if you annoy me" she growled, her fingers toying with the knife strapped to her belt.
They were interrupted by Wash´s radio coming to life again and she picked it up, hoping she´d get an excuse to leave Boylan alone.
"We´re on our way back, Wash- how are things there?"
"No words for it, Sir, can I kill him just a little bit?"
Taylor chuckled.
"Afraid not, Lieutenant but you can get someone to drive him back to his bar or to his house and meet us at the gate in five."
"Will do, Washington out."
She got up, ignoring Boylan´s amusement at her eagerness to get away from him and opened the door.
"Reynolds, I´m really sorry for this but take Boylan and drive him wherever he wants to go, preferably somewhere outside the gate."
Mark had to fight to keep his face straight as he nodded.
"Will do, Ma´am."
Wash hurried down the steps, the rover was already visible in the distance and she called for the gate to be raised before joining Elisabeth Shannon in their usual waiting ritual.