A/N: Apologies for the time it has taken to do this update but hopefully the muse juices are rolling again for this story.
Ryan stretched his arms above his head as he tried to work the kink out of his shoulders, it had been a long day and he would be glad to get back to his room above Boylan's bar and have a quick rest before he started his shift tonight behind the bar.
The last few weeks had not been the easiest for Ryan but they had not been as bad as he had at first feared, it had not been long before the reason for why he had been dismissed from the security force had made it way around the colony or at least of the reasons why he was now living at Boylan's and working for the guy in the evenings, during the day he was working at the hydroponics sector of the colony as well as spending the mornings at the school.
When he had been told he had to go to the school for several hours a day he had not been pleased he had tried to argue that he was too old for school but that had not washed with the now Lieutenant Guzman who had told him that attending the school was not a choice, it was part of his sentence and telling him as he had been under age when he had enlisted and therefore should have been in school it had been decided by the Commander that Ryan had to attend the school and finish his education.
Ryan had found the commanders interest so to speak in his education or lack of it, annoying as hell and he had as much as said it to Boylan when he had been speaking to him on the first day after he had been told that he had to attend the school, he had not been pleased about Taylor's apparent interest and as he saw interference in his life, he felt that the commander had no right to interfere in his life as he had made it very clear that he did not trust him after what had happened and thrown him out of a job that the kid loved more than anything.
During his rant, Boylan had listened calmly but there had been a bit of a small on the man's face and though he had to some extent agreed with young Ryan about Taylors interference in the youngsters life being a bit too much he had pointed out to him that although Taylor was his former commanding officer and boss of the whole colony that Ryan also had to remember that the man was also his father and as such that gave him a right to interfere in his life, at least legally until he was 18, after that Ryan could in all honesty tell him to back off but he did not think that would be a good idea or though he did sympathise with the youngster.
Learning that Taylor was his father was one thing which surprisingly had not pleased Ryan, he had always wondered growing up who his parents had been and finding out that they had been two of the most important people in the colony had shocked the lad, he had so far accepted the fact that Lieutenant Washington had been his mother but he could still not accept despite the evidence that Commander Taylor was his father and he had rebelled against the idea a little, the commander had been trying to make it easier for the lad and yet at the same time trying to get to know him with by having a weekly meeting with him, not that many of those meetings had happened of course and that had not been the fault of Taylor but rather Ryan who had been somewhat reluctant to meet with the man who was his 'father'.
"Hey Ryan, get your head out of the clouds will you."
Ryan looked up to see one of his fellow workers in the hydroponics sector giving him a curious look as he seemed to sparing into space and he realised that he had yet to finish this row of vegetables before he could make his way to the bar.
The work in the hydroponics sector was hard but yet enjoyable and he had made a few friends with the people whose job it was to feed the colony, his first few days had been a bit difficult because he had never done work like this before and there had been a bit of distrust from them but that had cleared up when he had fixed on of the machines that had been damaged in the attack on the colony and until he had had a go at fixing it, the man in charge of the sector had despaired that it would ever work again and that they would have to rely totally on the food growing in the fields surrounding the colony.
However with the discovery that Ryan could literally fix any mechanical problem going, the sector had soon started to produce food in the hydroponic vats again and that had made people warm to the lad considerably, that and his respectful and seemingly humble nature towards those he worked with had helped as well.
Ryan quickly finished the row of vegetables that he had been weeding and then made his way towards where the tools were stored his colleague falling onto step with him. The man woring with him today had been one of the few people to take to Ryan straight away and had made his transition into 'civilian' life a lot easier than it would have normally been and Ryan had been grateful for Tom's help there.
"Are you coming to the bar tonight?" he asked Tom as they walked.
Tom scratched the back of his neck before answering, he was a tall man with greying hair and an open looking face, he had been with the sixth expedition to come through and obviously because of the Sixers rebellion as it had become known he had like Ryan been distrusted by the colony for a long while afterwards although he had been one of the few members of the sixth expedition who had not taken part in the revolt and had not joined those Sixers who had left the colony to form their own which had probably been one of the reason why he had accepted the youngster more readily than others within the 'horticultural colony' within the main colony itself.
"Yeah, I'll be there, can't let the military guys or from the night shift beat us at the quiz can we now and of course we got you as the secret weapon, so we are bound to win."
Tom smiled as he bantered with Ryan; he nudged the youngster in the side causing Ryan to stumble a bit, the older man laughing as Ryan up righted himself, scowling in mirth at the antics of his friend. The two deposited their tools in the store cupboard where they were kept and made their way towards their lockers to pick up any personal item they needed before they left and made their way to their respective homes before they met up again later on at the bar, it was quiz night and both knew the bar would be packed, for some reason Boylan's quiz night brought the community together and there would more than a few teams competing tonight from every sector of the colony.