This chapter is going to be important for the conclusion of the story, so if some things seem confusing, please grin and bear it, it´ll make sense in time- umm, hopefully… ;)
So there will be spoilers for VS. and Now you see me and since I just love Mira and Wash together, there´ll be another scene with them both, there´s also going to be bonding time for Wash and Jim, she´ll be full of remorse for having treated him so bad and he´ll be his usual forgiving self- oh and some emotional difficulties for our golden couples- enjoy :D
MissCallaLily: Aw, how sweet are you- thanks so much- don´t worry, will do, bloody and disgusting ;)
metube: Ok, that´s one of those occasions when it´s actually more complicated to reply to a review than to write the next chapter- let´s see: First things first, never worry to tell me how you feel about things I write, I´m perfectly fine with that and enjoy constructive criticism.
In my opinion Taylor isn´t a nice guy- I love him and I understand where he´s coming from most of the times but he also has some sides to him that are slightly disturbing, he´s manipulative, a control freak and he uses people to archive what he wants.
He claims he only does it to protect the people he´s responsible for but especially when he talks to Jim in the brig and tells him that he will fight alone if it means to let Terra Nova´s citizens believe that they are working for a good thing and a future, it´s plain that he also can´t accept that his ´baby´ might not prosper the way he wants and he´s basically making his people believe that they are living in paradise when in fact they are short of being pulled into war.
Also he in fact DID kill his commanding officer because he didn´t want give up his command, he has a torture chamber where he holds people without a real reason, he doesn't play by his own rules, he runs Terra Nova like his own personal playground, no lawyers, no judges, no jury, what Taylor wants, Taylor gets.
Also he does plant the transmitter in Jim´s house and arrests him under that pretense, there´s no way to ignore all that, so when I decided to have Wash stand truly by his side and be aware of all his doings, I had to make her his ally, which of course doesn´t mean that she takes accepts it all without protest, she will apologize to Jim and she will deny Taylor his wish for a child but given the way I´ve portrayed them here, she mostly agrees with Taylor´s hard line.
Good question- I suppose I´ll finish the story around the timeline the season was over, too, not quite sure yet.
"They are communicating with a dragonfly?"
They walking along the fence, just having started on noon patrol, Wash looking inquiringly at Taylor who nodded.
"I know, sounds crazy. At least the damn thing can´t fly anymore, so they´ll have to train a fresh bug now."
"Shame there´s no way to find out who did it, Mira will already know she can´t use it anymore, so even without the broken wings it would probably be useless."
"You mean the spy has turned the signal down by now."
"Yeah, at least that´s what I would have done."
The commander nodded gloomily, hands in his pockets as he walked next to his second.
"Commander."
They both turned around to see Malcolm hurrying towards them.
"I need you in the infirmary, there´s an body we can´t identify, Dr. Shannon didn´t know that she was to call you straight away."
Not giving away that he knew that Malcolm was covering for his friend, Taylor ordered his lieutenant to complete the patrol alone and followed the other man towards the infirmary.
Wash had just arrived back at the gate when Taylor radioed her and asked her to meet him at her house ASAP.
"What´s so urgent?"
"Think you can break into Shannon´s house without anybody noticing?"
"Sure, why?"
"Malcolm managed to repair that dragonfly´s wings and he told me what frequency it´s responding to."
"Interesting- you think he´ll confront you just like that?"
"It´s Shannon, Wash, he can´t keep quiet for one moment, he´ll start messing with me as soon as I have him in the brig."
"Let´s hope you´re right, what time are we setting the bug free?"
She hoped her apprehension wasn´t audible in her voice, she wasn´t exactly afraid of dragonflies but the one in question was really big and really disgusting and she would have to follow it for an unknown amount of time.
"Soon as the festival starts- you´re not afraid of the thing, are you, Wash?"
He sounded amused and she huffed, her hands on her hips.
"Of course not."
Taylor chuckled, his hands closing around her upper arms as he pulled her in for a kiss, his fingers combing through her ponytail before he released her again.
"All right then, let´s get started.
Wash was looking at the dragonfly, hoping it wouldn´t come any closer, now that she was so near to it, the thing seemed even more disgusting than previously.
She felt Taylor´s amused glance on her and focussed on Malcolm instead of the insect, the science officer had activated a transmitter and when the dragonfly disappeared through the window, they followed, ignoring people´s irritated looks as they did their best to catch up with the bug.
The Commander ordered Mark Reynolds to come with them and finally, after a wild chase through the housing units, the insect crawled through a window and into the Shannon´s house.
Both Malcolm and Mark expressed their surprise and horror at the implication while Taylor threw Wash a proud glance before motioning for the other´s to follow him back towards the market place.
They met Jim and Elisabeth Shannon sooner than they had expected and Wash kept her eyes trained on Shannon´s face while Taylor accused him of conspiracy against the colony, trying to suppress a twinge of guilt at the look on the other man´s face.
Even though she´d never dream of doubting her CO in any way, she knew that Shannon was a good guy, a man who believed in people, who took risks to make sure he did the right thing and they were playing him to ensure their own agendas wouldn´t be endangered.
But then they needed Shannon to trust Taylor unconditionally and the only way to guarantee it, was to get through to him how dangerous Lucas actually was to Terra Nova, show him that in fact they all wanted the same thing, to protect their people whatever the price might be.
A tiny voice in the back of her mind told Wash that Taylor might also hope to impress on the other man once and for all who was calling the shots in the colony but it was firmly ignored.
Mark took Shannon away and Alicia made to follow Taylor when she felt Elisabeth´s hand on her arm, the older woman looking at her pleadingly.
"You can´t really believe this, this is just wrong, he´s innocent."
Wash kept her expression blank, hands clasped behind her back as she looked back at the other woman.
"I´m sorry, Dr. Shannon, it´s not my place to question the Commander´s decisions."
"Alicia" Elisabeth pleaded, "I know you trust Taylor but don´t you trust Jim, too? You know him, he would never-"
"Lieutenant."
Taylor´s voice sounded impatient and Wash nodded curtly at Elisabeth before striding over towards her CO who was waiting for her to catch up.
"What took you so long, you can comfort her later, right now I need you at the steps, don´t let anyone up there."
"Yes, Sir."
He briefly clasped her shoulder, then climbed the steps up to the commander center while Wash joined Malcolm and Mark beneath the balcony.
"Go and take care of her, will you?"
Wash asked Malcolm, nodding over at Elisabeth who was hovering near by, looking devastated.
"Ok."
The man walked off towards his friend while Wash turned to Mark, the young man looked tense and she asked herself for the up tenth time why it had had to be Reynolds of all people who they had happened across while following the dragon fly.
"Do you really think he´s guilty?"
Mark asked, sounding hopeless and Wash felt herself soften, she put her hand on her Corporal´s arm and smiled soothingly up at him.
"We´ll see, it might just be a mistake."
"Hopefully, I really don´t want to be the one explaining this to Maddy."
They stood in silence, watching the sun set and it was already dark when Shannon and Taylor came outside again, Shannon smiling at his frazzled looking wife, Taylor´s face open and friendly again as he addressed them.
"Mr. Shannon is free to go."
Wash arranged her face into a mildly puzzled expression and turned to her CO.
"I thought you said he was a Sixer spy, Sir."
"I was mistaken."
He explained how the dragonfly had followed the frequency of Shannon´s pistol charger, then dismissed Wash and Reynolds, the young man hesitating, still looking at Shannon.
Wash slapped her soldier´s chest, getting him out of his trance and he followed her over into the crowd.
"Go on, get changed and find your girl."
She watched him hurry towards the barracks, wondering if she should go home and get out of her uniform as well, then a smile graced her face when she felt her CO step up behind her, close enough for her to feel his body heat against her back.
"You´re looking tense, everything all right?"
His voice was low, meant only for her to hear and she briefly allowed herself to lean back against him before turning around and looking up into his face.
"What did he say?"
"He´ll help us fight."
Wash nodded, now she felt even worse and Taylor´s eyes narrowed.
"Talk to me, Wash, what´s wrong?"
"I should have trusted him more, I´ve been working with him for months."
"Better be safe than sorry, Wash, if it makes you feel better, go and talk to him."
"Are you serious?"
He shrugged.
"Sure, I didn´t tell him that you know anything about it all, it´s not for me to say, I feel bad enough about that as it is. If you want to trust him, it´s your own decision."
They met again later at the gate, both relieved to get away from the noise and the crowd.
"Evening, Lieutenant" Taylor teased gently, leaning back against the wooden fence next to her.
"Sir."
She nodded at him, then looked back over towards the dancing people in front of the stage.
"Your speech was nice."
"You wrote it."
She chuckled, amusement audible in her voice.
"Wouldn´t want to concern you with such trivial matters, Sir. They named their son after you."
He nodded, smiling warmly at the thought of the tiny baby boy.
"Yeah, poor kid will be teased something awful."
"He won´t, they´ll all look up to him, you´ll see."
"You ever thought about it, Wash?"
She turned towards him, feeling confused.
"Thought about what?"
"Kids."
It took her a moment to comprehend what he was asking and she stared back at him, her eyes wide.
"Having them?"
His smile widened, adapting a teasing quality.
"Sure, Wash, having them, now have you?"
Not having the slightest idea what he was playing at, Wash shook her head.
"Can´t say that I have, Sir."
"Drop the title, Wash, that´s no conversation for being formal."
She narrowed her eyes at him, feeling slightly suspicious.
"You are being serious?"
"Why shouldn´t I be?"
"You said it yourself, I´m not the maternal type, I´m a soldier."
"It´s not unheard of" Taylor offered, looking utterly relaxed while Wash felt herself tense up even more.
"Why are we having this conversation, do you want another kid?"
He couldn´t be serious, his son was out there, threatening them and everything they had worked for, the son they both had ruined, even though Wash hadn´t been aware of the part she had played in the drama that was Lucas Taylor´s life.
She was being maneuvered into the shadow of one of the towers, her back against the fence, Taylor´s arms trapping her as his gaze burned into her´s.
"This isn´t about Lucas, this is about you, about us. I love you, Alicia and I want a family with you, is that really so hard to understand?"
She sighed, leaning her forehead against his shoulder, unable to hold his gaze any longer, she couldn´t even say that she had been afraid of this particular conversation, she´d never have dreamed it possible that Nathaniel would ask this of her.
It was an insane idea, impossible, Taylor had already lost his wife and son to a war, how could he even consider risking that again?
Realizing that he was still waiting for an answer she looked up again, the fire in his eyes had given way for a closed expression, he had understood her silence perfectly and Alicia realized that there wasn´t anything left to say.
"I´m sorry" she whispered and when he stepped away from her she instantly missed his warmth.
He ran his hand through his hair, nodding resignedly.
"Me, too- I didn´t know you feel so strongly about this, had I known, I wouldn´t have mentioned it."
There was a long moment of silence and Wash didn't like the way he was looking at her, as thought he was seeing her in a whole new light.
Finally she couldn´t take his disappointment anymore.
"I´m scheduled to go to Outpost Nine with the survey team tomorrow."
The fact that he didn´t react told her all she needed to know and she felt tears dwell in her eyes but resolutely forced them not to fall and instead stood up straight, her face void of all emotion.
"Permission to take my leave, Sir."
"Granted, Lieutenant" he replied quietly, sounding so lost all Wash could do was to keep herself from throwing herself back into his arms and promising him whatever he wanted to hear.
Instead she walked past him and back towards the crowd, she was determined to avoid everyone and simply hide away into her house but of course she didn´t get so lucky, instead she ran into Jim Shannon who was standing in the shadows near the stage, watching people dance.
"Hey, Wash, you ok? You look-" he hesitated, then settled on "upset."
"It´s nothing, Shannon, I´m just tired."
"Nonsense, come on, talk to me."
She made to walk past him but a gently hand on her arm stopped her and she turned towards him, briefly closing her eyes.
"I owe you an apology."
Shannon was looking back at her expectantly, not willing to make it any easier for her and she found that she found it uncharacteristically hard to look into his honest blue eyes.
"I know Taylor told you he did it all alone but that´s not true."
Comprehension dawned on Jim´s face.
"Of course, why doesn´t that even shock me? You´d do anything for him, wouldn´t you?"
His question instantly brought back her conversation with Nathaniel and to her own surprise and horror the tears she had forced down so hard finally spilled over as she drew a deep shuddering breath.
"Ah, come on."
The embrace was comforting but Alicia couldn´t bring herself to accept it, not from Jim of all people, she didn´t deserve his sympathy.
She struggled halfheartedly but he would´t let go of her, instead he pulled her even closer, his breath warm against her cheek.
"I´m so sorry" she sobbed, "you´re such a good guy and I just- I´m sorry, I really am."
She felt him pull away slightly, one of his arms remaining firmly around her waist as he pulled her with him towards the housing units.
"Let´s talk somewhere else, here isn´t a good place."
She allowed him to lead her over to the housing units and Jim held the door for her before nudging her to go and sit on the couch.
"You want a drink?"
"Sure."
She managed to compose herself again as she watched Shannon pour two glasses of Bourbon and when he sat down next to her she accepted her glass from him and drained it.
"Another one?"
"Please."
"Here you go- now talk to me, Wash."
She studied him for a moment, then threw back the second glass and put it down onto the table.
"I´ll tell you what I did this week and then you get to decide wether you want to leave or stay."
Looking slightly weary Jim nodded.
"All right then."
"I suggested to Taylor to test your loyalty, I told him to leave you alone with Boylan, got him out of the brig under a pretense, then I watched you dig up the body and told Boylan to tell you all he knew about it to keep you interested."
She was watching Shannon´s reaction carefully but he seemed determined to be there for her, no matter what she might tell him and that made Wash feel even worse.
"I hid the transmitter in your house, the whole arrest, all that happened afterwards, it was all staged, every word between Taylor and me was for show."
She avoided his gaze, only looking up again when his fingers closed around her chin, gently lifting her face to his.
"We all do stupid things for the ones we love, me too, remember?"
"That was different, they had your kid, there wasn´t really a choice."
"I´d done the same for Elisabeth- I´m not blind, Wash, I know that you´re in love with him."
She sighed, suddenly exhausted.
"Am I really that transparent?"
Jim chuckled, letting go of her and leaning forward to pour her another glass of Bourbon.
"I´m a cop, Wash, a good one, you guys could just have talked to me, would have been less complicated."
"I know that now, I won´t doubt you again."
"Can I quote you on that?"
He winced when she playfully punched his arm.
"Don´t be such a baby, that can't have hurt."
"Did hurt, too" he mumbled, rubbing his arm, before asking "so after we´ve established that I´m brilliant and irreplaceable, what happened with you and Taylor tonight?"
Wash pondered the question for a moment, wondering if she could really trust him but then she decided to simply give in to the desire to open up to someone for once.
"He wants kids."
Shannon seemed speechless for a moment, he gaped at her, then visibly pulled himself together.
"Ok- and you don´t."
It wasn´t a question.
"It´s not that easy, I simply never thought about it, I´ve been in love with him so long, I never pictured myself in a relationship with anyone else, no matter how hopeless it seemed and I never thought- after what happened with Lucas, after what probably will happen soon- how can he even think of bringing a child into all this?"
"Have you told him that?"
"We haven´t really talked about it and I´m not sure we well, it´s not who we are."
"It might help."
She shrugged halfheartedly, he was right and it might have helped but she wouldn´t even have known how to start such a conversation and judging from how easily Nathaniel had let her go earlier, he wasn´t keen on discussing the topic further, either.
The sound of Wash´s comm made her pull away and press the reply button.
"Washington."
"Evening, Lieutenant."
"Boylan, what do you want and why do you even have a comm?"
"I don´t only have a comm, I can also hack into your frequencies. Where are you, Taylor is looking for you, he doesn´t look happy."
"I told him I was leaving."
"Says he´s looked at your house and you aren´t there."
"Why didn´t he call himself?"
"He´s pretending not to be worried."
"All right, I´ll take care of it."
She switched the radio off and got up from the sofa, smiling apologetically at Jim.
"Taylor´s looking for me."
"I´ll come back with you, it´s high time to get Zoe into bed and I want to check on Reynolds and Maddy, who knows what they are doing right now."
Wash couldn´t help but smile.
"Don´t worry, I beat a lot of discipline into that boy, he´ll do all right by Maddy."
"He will if he knows what´s good for him."
They made their way back over to the market in silence, Wash feeling tired and a little light headed from too much alcohol in a too short amount of time, all she wanted was to crawl into bed and sleep for a few hours, she´d have to get up for her trip OTG before dawn.
She bid Jim goodbye and began looking for her CO, finally locating him in front of the command center, talking to Corporal Reilly.
The younger woman smiled at Wash, then excused herself, leaving her superiors alone.
"Where´ve you been?"
Taylor looked her upside down, his eyes narrowing slightly when he took in her red rimmed eyes and tousled hair tumbling down her back.
"I was talking to Shannon."
She didn´t offer any further explanation and he didn't ask for any, instead he said "have you been crying?"
He reached for her chin, tipping it up as he studied her face.
"Damn, you really have been crying, Wash, why do you talk to Shannon about it, why don't you talk to me?"
Looking at him was hard, his blue eyes too intense, too demanding and she was exhausted.
"I didn´t have the feeling you wanted to talk about it."
This was getting ridiculous, they had known each other for the better part of two decades, when had talking become complicated between them?
"Look" she began, desperately in need to sort this out quickly, before it could settle and fester and ruin them, "I don't want things to be awkward between us, I simply can´t understand why you would bring up such a topic now, with Lucas out there making plans to destroy everything, to destroy you."
"Is it really that? Or are you afraid I´d mess up another child as much as I messed up Lucas?"
The edge in his voice told Wash that he was actually considering this, however ridiculous it might be and she didn´t quite know how to react, Taylor was usually so sure of himself, never openly admitting to any self doubts and it felt strange, even scary that she had so much power over him.
"Of course not, you´ve been a good father, I was there."
"You still think what happened is my fault."
"I said you should have gone after them, I didn't say you were responsible for him going completely crazy on us."
Taylor bit his lip, then nodded heavily.
"All right, we´ll talk about this again after we´ve solved the situation with Lucas and Mira, can we both live with that?"
"Why aren´t you worried that I´ll mess up our child, I have no experiences with kids and I can´t say I´m especially fond of them, either."
"That´ll all change when you have your own."
She rolled her eyes exasperatedly.
"Now we´re talking cliches? I think it´s high time for bed."
"Want me to tug you in?"
"Does that mean I´m forgiven?"
"Nothing to forgive, Wash, like always you´re my voice of reason."
"You go ahead, I´ll be with you in a few."
Ignoring Guzman´s worried look, Wash began to climb down the rocks towards the river, she needed to see for herself if Lucas had drawn any new equitations, it would keep Nathaniel from coming out here to do it herself.
Guzman and the rest of the team were just up on the clearing, if she got into trouble, he´d be there within minutes to help her out.
A movement to her right made her tense and duck, then her heart began to beat faster when she realized that it was Mira and that she was all alone, an opportunity too good to miss.
Wash drew her pistol and took aim, seeing the other woman tense at the familiar sound.
"Stop walking, lift your hands over your head and turn around."
Mira did as she was told and Wash slowly advanced on her, weapon still trained on the other woman´s head.
She reached out and pulled the knife out of Mira´s shed, throwing it into the water behind them, then she pulled a pair of cuffs out and tied the Sixer´s hands behind her back.
"Washington, how nice to see you, have you met Taylor?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Just parted with him, we spend a nice, cozy night beside a roaring campfire."
Wash´s lingers clenched around the trigger of her pistol, she almost wished Mira had had given her a reason to shoot her but now that she had the other woman tied up, she couldn´t use her as a let out for her frustration anymore.
"Keep talking, Mira and I might turn you loose and hunt you down."
"I don´t think Taylor would like that much, you see, he let me go."
"You´re lying, he never would do that."
"Maybe you don´t know him that well after all."
Alicia´s comm unit sounded and she pulled it out and pressed the reply button without letting Mira out of her sight.
"Copy."
"Wash, I just ran into the Commander."
Realizing that Mira´s story was true after all, at least to some extent, Wash drew a deep, calming breath, then said "let me talk to him."
"Hey, Wash- you´re ok down there?"
"I got company, Sir- perhaps you´d better come down here and run your newest protocol by me."
Catching on instantly Taylor turned the radio off and Wash kept her weapon pointed at Mira´s head while waiting for her CO.
Taylor joined them minutes later, his expression unreadable as he looked from Wash to Mira and back again.
"Good to see you, Lieutenant."
"Likewise, Sir."
She could feel Mira´s curiosity but neither she nor Taylor gave the slightest indication that their greeting was more than the reunion of the Commander and his second.
"Taylor, call your rabid little lapdog off and let me go."
Mira sounded impatient.
"Not my call to make, Mira, I´m not the one who caught you."
"You´re her CO, you can make her, come on, is this some little stunt so you don´t have to break the truce, did you know she was here?"
The Sixer sounded frustrated now and Wash was burning to know what had happened between the two of them.
"I didn´t, Lieutenant Washington wasn´t scheduled to return to the colony until tomorrow."
"It didn't take as long as we thought it would" Wash answered the question hanging in the air and Taylor nodded, then turned back to Mira.
"I´m sorry but after what happened last time you two ran into each other I can hardly order her to just let you go."
"We had an agreement, Taylor, you can´t just break that."
Wash was rapidly reaching the end of her patience with their little game, she was tired and hungry and she wanted to go home.
"Sir, are we going to take her back to Terra Nova or not?"
Taylor looked thoughtful for a moment, then he turned to Mira again.
"There´s something I have to do and soon, you know what I mean- I want you to promise that if it comes to the worst, you will do it for me."
Mira seemed to be as confused as Wash for a moment, then her eyes widened.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah- if I can´t do it, you do it for me, do we have a deal?"
"All right, Taylor, I´ll do it."
"Good- Wash, let her go."
"Yes, Sir."
Wash reluctantly unlocked the cuffs around Mira´s hands and put them back into her pocket, keeping the gun trained on the other woman until she was out of sight before turning to Taylor.
"So you spent the night with her, hm?"
"That´s what she said?"
"She did."
"How come she´s still in one piece?"
"I already had her tied down, couldn´t do anything about it."
Wash growled, putting her gun back into it´s holster and starting to climb back up towards the clearing.
"This isn´t over, is it?"
Taylor asked, sounding far too amused for Wash´s taste.
"Far from it, Sir."
"Hey, Wash, good to have you back."
"Shannon- did anything happen while I was gone?"
"Well, we´ve narrowed down the number of possible spies to forty seven and we know it´s a woman."
"Great, we´re making progress" Wash replied, trying to keep her sarcasm in check, she had been gone for four days and all he managed was to narrow down to forty seven?
"I know, it´s not much-" Shannon´s voice trailed away when she spotted the Commander getting out of one of the rhinos.
"Guess you found him."
"Sure did- so how are you going to further narrow down your list?"
"Not sure yet, I´ll think about it and let you know tomorrow."
"That´ll work, see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah, Night, Wash."
Shannon waited for Taylor to catch up with him and the two men walked up to the command center while Wash stayed at the gate, overlooking the unloading of the rhinos.
Finally she made her way up to the office, finding it empty except for Taylor who was sitting behind his desk, looking thoughtful.
"Shannon says he narrowed down the list to forty seven."
"Yeah, I know- that´s still a long list."
"Sure is- I told him to hurry up and find out, I´m getting tired of this, according to Mira Lucas is almost finished with his calculations and then it´ll get ugly."
"Is that why you let her go? Because she told you about Lucas?"
"Partly- we ended up fighting some Slashers together, she´s a good fighter, Mira, pity she´s on the wrong side."
Wash crossed her arms over her chest, feeling more annoyed by the moment.
"How nice, so you two bonded over family history and old war stories?"
"Kind of did, Mira has a daughter in ´48, kid´s sick, she needs the money to help her."
"How noble."
"No need to sound so sarcastic, Wash, it´s her kid."
"Yeah, I know and that´s a justification for everything, isn´t it."
Taylor got up from his chair and rounded the desk, ignoring her struggles as he pulled her to him and enclosed her in his arms.
"No, it isn´t but it´s hard to be reasonable for a parent when their child is concerned."
Alicia finally gave up and relaxed into his arms, she had missed him and she as tired of fighting about things they´d never see eye to eye about.
True, she didn´t have any kids and couldn´t really pretend to know what it was like to be a parent but she was fairly sure that there was a limit and Lucas Taylor had long since crossed that line.
She could understand Nathaniel in a way, he was feeling guilty, felt that he let his son down and that the change in him was his fault and after the recent developments Wash felt the weight of her CO´s decision rest heavily upon her own shoulders as well.