So I may have got carried away in some of this chapter, I hope it isn't to out of character. But it was fun to write.
Chapter Sixteen
She didn't enjoy this arrangement but it was part of the job. She was happy to let her husband handle the business with the Sixers but she had nowhere else to be and had been working at her desk until Mira arrived. The Sixers wanted to trade for supplies, and their most valuable commodity was the quarry.
The ore was valuable but time consuming for the Sixers to mine, the colony needed their own supplies and she knew Nathaniel was not ready for a gesture of good faith. Mira was working it, Nathaniel was listening but she knew he was aware that the Sixers' eyes slid over his shoulder more often than they met his gaze. She didn't like it.
The colony had already set a policy on how they would deal with the outside settlements in regards to trade and support; the Sixers and the Phoenix had a few extra limits. What Mira hoped for wasn't likely to happen until things changed, she knew it, and the Sixer knew it too; trust took time to be rebuilt. "May I have a moment with your wife?"
Alicia felt her jaw tighten, saw her husband's shoulders shift. "That would be up to my wife."
Nathaniel eased back, she saw what most would miss; he remembered. Just like she did, this was the third time Mira had asked for a conversation with her, the first she'd ducked and the second she hadn't been available; she didn't have a handy excuse today.
She gave a slight nod and her husband stood. He wouldn't go far but he would let her handle her own business. "What can I do for you Mira?"
"I need to know if the history between us is in the past." The woman's shoulders shifted. "You know when I took this, it was just a job, a few months; it's been four years. It was never supposed to be like this."
"I took an oath, and when I took the order it was a life time; same warning everyone got before they walked through that portal." Alicia forced herself to keep her hands at her sides, she and Mira would have a hard time walking the same line.
"It was a job, Washington. It was a job and now I'm stuck with it, we all are." The woman surged forward and then pulled back. "Is a job worth what you went through?"
"I took an oath." Alicia repeated, keeping herself together; she didn't want to go back to those memories.
"I remember the first shock he put through you. I remember when the people I ended up leading cowered in a hole we had to dig. I left my daughter behind but some of them have kids. They don't know what we did to you, other than the Phoenix I think its just Carter and I…."
"And me. Why haven't we seen Carter since you've settled?" She cut in, trying to pull the woman onto another topic.
"He left, a group did. As soon as we left the brig. They chose to leave, we won't welcome them back; we want a fresh start. The ones who stayed have kids, they want to live in peace." Mira answered and there was bitterness in her voice, Alicia wasn't surprised; Carter had a nasty streak. "Look the people who have stayed, they only know half of it but with what they do know they are afraid of when Taylor won't deal with us. When you won't. "
"Nathaniel doesn't make decisions based on personal issues, and I wouldn't influence him too. You will receive support based on what is best for the colony." It annoyed her that the woman assumed that. "And if that was the case do you think we would have worked with you this past year?"
"I don't know why you do. Why you risked your life for us after we stood by. Maybe the rkids, I can get it, you believe the good soldier routine but Carter and I? Lucas? You sleep with the father of the man who tried to murder you; who celebrated when he believed he had."
"What, am I supposed to hate you? Would that be easier to swallow?" It would be easier to do too, but she refused. Alicia would not allow herself to go there, and she would not allow herself to hate any of them for what had happened during Terra Nova's first war. "Should I hate Nathaniel too because his son was sick?"
"I'm sorry. I…" Mira started, her face was white as a sheet.
"No, you wanted to dig into the past. Open up something painful and get a reaction. Now you've got one." Fury burned inside her, and Alicia fought the desire to give the woman a taste of her own logic. "I was a teenager when I joined up, when I took an oath. I didn't take a job Mira I took an oath to serve and protect my country with my life. I didn't take a job or chose my own ideas, I followed orders and carried them out within the standards and laws set forth by my country; I followed them here."
"Terra Nova is my country, I uphold our laws and I will protect this colony with my life. I made peace with death a long time ago. I am going to die some day, but until that day I am going to fight, and I have been given the chance to fight for something better. But here's the thing. I knew what I was getting into, I came here knowing that someday people would oppose the colony; Taylor and I both knew. We knew it before you came and before you made trouble. The people who didn't were the colonists, they should not have had to live through what you had a part in bringing here. And maybe I wear physical scars but everyone here has scars from that." She rounded the desk, moving to stand a couple feet from Mira, forcing her too look her in the eye.
"You introduced an enemy into this world that we all have to live with now. It is a little late to be looking around and realizing the colony walls look safe. But we all came here for a second chance, you'll get yours but trust has to be earned."
"So you are over it? Just part of the job?" Mira sighed, and the woman's body slumped down a little.
"We will support the Sixers as long as the trade is for the good of the colony." Alicia hesitated before finishing. "And Mira, do not speculate on my relationship with my husband. I am sorry for what you have lost, but there is no going back; I hope you will find some happiness here."
…
Mira left the Command Center, he nodded to the guards on the door who fell in step to escort her down to the gate. Nathaniel headed back into the office to find his wife, he had listened to the conversation between Alicia and Mira.
The woman had dug into something miserable his wife lived with and because she was tougher than most she had moved past it, even faced a woman complicit in her torture. Alicia could take it but Mira hit a nerve for him, and it took all his control to hold his ground. Alicia didn't need him to fight her battles, something she proved again in handling Mira.
It didn't ease his mind any, and looking at her, already at her desk he needed to hold her. She wasn't fine, but she was trying to hide in her work. Nathaniel went to her desk, moving behind it he slid his hands under her arms and hauled her to her feet.
"Nathaniel?" She protested as he turned her into his chest. He didn't care.
"Shsh." For a moment he needed to step away from the job, and wrapping his arms around his wife he rested his cheek against hers. He anchored an arm around her, his other sliding between them to their child.
She was tough as nails and let few people through her guard, that he was one of them meant a lot. That she had always let him see her, as a soldier, an asset in the field and in command, and then as a woman; something that had taken him entirely too long to do.
"I love you." His wife's hands framed his face, and he pulled back to look into her eyes, she gave him a soft smile.
"I love you too." And sometimes it overwhelmed him. "I just needed a minute."
He let her go, brushing his fingers over her cheeks for a moment before turning back to his desk. He needed to review the Sixers' requests and deal with the supply run for Guzman to outpost four. And he wasn't going to pull his wife into the past to handle his own feelings.
She settled back to her own work and he turned to Guzman's supplies first, the colony was his top priority. This would be the first round of supplies they had run since the occupation shut them down. Each unit had taken their own start up kit but they had been out a few months, and it was past time they put things back to normal.
The out posts and research stations were crucial to Terra Nova's expansion and development. Given the new risks they were more heavily armed than they had ever been before, with a minimum of four security personnel per station. It had been Alicia who had headed the outpost project, and based on her map they would continue to develop the network of outposts throughout the region only Guzman would head it up now.
Continuing the work meant developing supply routes again, and he knew those would be tempting to both their allies and their enemies. The problem was security.
Without the influx of residents from the pilgrimages their numbers were capped and the colony grew at a much slower rate. They felt it more and more as time progressed. Security wasn't the only detail that could do with more bodies; almost all could. And with the increased security on the outposts he didn't have many to spare for supply runs; at least not as many as he'd like.
He figured they would get at least one run through clean, before anybody knew they were shipping supplies out; but after that it was only a question of time. The Sixers were hard up, and those convoys would include food, medicine, munitions and technology that would be hard to pass up. They'd started over this time without the plans they'd made the first time; without the connections.
When the Phoenix would try was anyone's guess but the only ones who had come back here with plans to stay were the ones who built Terra Nova; and now everyone else had had the time to realize that they were well and truly stuck. And the meager supplies they'd brought for their visit had to be gone one way or the other. He wanted to lead the supply run himself.
His security teams had come a long way but his experienced soldiers were already assigned to other operations. There were only a handful of them who had seen war before Terra Nova, and theirs had by his standards been brief, not the wars of the past that dragged on for years until the land was nothing but a waste pit littered with bodies and death. That was where the Phoenix had been, what they had seen; what they thrived in. That destruction had lined their pockets, making their organization rich and the soldiers who fought for duty and country sick.
Alicia couldn't lead it, he wouldn't allow it now. She wouldn't like it if he took it either, but for at least the first one he knew she wouldn't argue. But he needed to set up the protocols, the routes and the team.
He considered the names on his duty roster for a team leader. He'd like to take Reynolds, that boy was a solid soldier and fierce fighter. And due to be married, a newlywed would not appreciate an assignment taking him off colony three days a week even though he doubted the boy would complain. And the kid was a solid point on patrols, the Corporal was a good leader and had a sharp eyes, they needed that on their fences.
Reilly was good, and didn't have the personal responsibilities of some, she was also a decent medic. Though Reilly would leave a hole in his night shift that was hard to fill; the woman was one of very few who enjoyed the night watch. Not to mention she was an expert at handling Malcolm Wallace when the need arose; and periodically it did.
Kane and Brody were both possible but neither had the experience to be team leader; maybe in time. Reilly would work point, he built the team off of that; turning to Alicia for input as she knew the how the soldiers worked together better than he did. And picked up on undercurrents he didn't see, his wife observed a lot in the day to day dispatch of patrols and duty rosters that he didn't see and sometimes didn't notice.
"You don't consider Shannon?" Alicia commented as he lamented taking Reilly out of the night rotation. "He's a good cop, and you trust him, you know he is capable but you still don't see him as part of the military."
She was right, he didn't. Shannon had duties within the colony and some of those required great responsibility but the man wasn't a soldier; and half the time he wouldn't follow an order. "Do you think he is right for this?"
"No, family man, he wouldn't want it. But he might be a good one to have going OTG more if Mira's telling the truth. He might be able to sniff out a bit more about a breakaway group. I just thought I'd point out that anything where you expect direct combat you ignore him, even if you consider him third in command. He has as much experience as any of our soldiers." Alicia smirked at him as she made a valid point.
"And any of our soldiers who argue with an order get a rip; Shannon would end up with a court marshal if I counted him a soldier. The man's a cop, to the bone; cop and soldier are two different breeds." Shannon had to ask questions, poke at things a person might want left alone; it didn't make for a good soldier.
But even the army had a CID unit made up to poke and sniff at things people might want left alone for the wrong reasons. And like the criminal investigative division the army had his security team had Shannon; neither of the posts were assigned active duty except during times of war.
"I'll talk to him about going on a few tours, and see what he can dig up in the mean time. Mira wants favors, maybe she can trade some intel." It was a good idea, and he had no doubt Shannon would take the challenge, coordinating work crews could not be a fascinating assignment for him. "Want to help me map the routes?"
Alicia nodded and came to lean against his desk, they spent the next hour deciding routes. They would alternate, avoid predictability and pinch points. His wife headed to the market at the end of shift while he briefed the soldiers on their new assignments.
…..
She enjoyed the market, the buzz of activity and the people. Wandering from stall to stall she picked up fresh produce, zip steaks and juice. She figured she had about an hour before Nathaniel was done, it was enough time to get supper on and it would be great to get out of her armour.
Alicia roamed down by the design venders, they would have to start getting baby things soon; knowing the gender would help. She browsed a little, they were converting the second room into the nursery. Nathaniel wanted to build a sun room off the living room for their home gym. Her husband had plans for decorating but Alicia had a few of her own. And since he was going away a few days next week she was going to have it done before he was home.
"Commander Taylor." Reflexively Alicia turned to look for her husband, she took his name and shared his rank but she didn't hear it very often. Her last name some but very rarely the rank; mostly people still called her Wash. Maddie Shannon came around the table smiling at her. "Hi."
"Hey Maddie. How are you?"
"Pretty good, I'm looking for a dress, nobody has anything in white; an old style." Maddie near bubbled as she spoke, her fingers working a ring on her left hand; the girl was so excited to be married.
"Ah, you've looked around then?" Alicia's mind flashed to a box in her closet; it had been there since it came through the portal. She had thought she might wear it some day but by the time the day had come for her and the man dress blues had been far more fitting.
"Yes, but there is something I wanted to ask you too." Maddie bounced along beside her as Alicia started to walk, angling towards her unit. "Well Mark wanted to ask but he won't and I guess I kind of wanted to ask you something too, well someone but…"
"Come in." Alicia told her gently, opening the door and letting Maddie walk in first. The girl was famous for babbling, it drove Nathaniel crazy. The girl knew what she was talking about but getting her to the point could be difficult, especially when she got nervous and they both made her nervous. Apparently what ever this was did too.
"I think it would mean a lot to Mark if you stood up at our wedding. See he has four groomsmen, the guys from his unit and Josh. It would have been weird for him to just ask three of them. But I have three bridesmaids and we want it to be traditional; they are all going to wear their uniforms. And you trained him, he is so proud to be in security and he doesn't have any family here." Maddie explained and hovered while Alicia dumped her groceries in the steri bin; whatever this was, it was going to take a few minutes.
"Slow down Maddie." Alicia rubbed her forehead, she knew they were going to end up going to the ceremony; the entire colony would. But she was not keen on standing up at it. "Don't you think you should ask a friend, or a co-worker? That would even out the numbers."
"No, I mean my whole family is there and he's asked my brother to be his groomsman, I want someone he cares about to stand up there too. I know you're his commanding officer, and that he is kind of scared of you but he really respects you. Please?" Brown eyes begged her, and Alicia winced, it wasn't just a matter of whether or not she wanted to do it.
"I want you to try and find another brides maid, but if you can't and you still want me up there I'll be there." Because both Maddie and Reynolds were good kids, and their day should be special; the way they wanted it. But there was a very good chance that even today her dress uniform would not fit, not to mention that she wouldn't be able to hide the pregnancy as the uniform fell in straight, clean lines that her body no longer followed. She could borrow Nathaniel's jacket and leave the shirt partially undone beneath it. "Now come back here, there is something I want to show you."
"But I kind of wanted to talk to you about something. I mean I should talk to my mom but it's too weird. I guess she'll know, I mean we're getting married and we want a family but I kind of want to pretend she doesn't know…" Alicia closed her eyes for a moment; she knew where the kid was heading with that. She was not going there today.
"Let's bank that conversation for another day. Come look at this and I promise some other day I will answer any questions you have." Why did she have to deal with this? But she guessed it came from having friends with kids. She couldn't blame the girl for not wanting to discuss sex with her mother but Alicia didn't want to discuss it with the teenager either. Especially not when she was very much approaching the family part; and most were unaware of that.
Opening the closet she wished for a moment she was alone and could strip off the heavy armour she wore. Instead she reached up for the box on the top shelf, a memento from her past and a dress she had never had the cause to wear, nor ever would as a married woman. Setting it on the bed she lifted off the lid and slid open the seal.
"It will probably need a wash, and some tailoring but it is white. And in wedding rules it could be your something borrowed." Alicia lifted the lacy white gown from the storage box it had spent well over fifty years in and heard Maddie squeak behind her. "I'd be happy for you to have it if you like."
"But don't you…"
"Maddie I'm married and I am not the white dress sort; I followed the wrong family tradition for that. The uniform suited me and my husband just fine. In all likelihood this dress would have sat until someone had to clear it out when I'm gone. This dress belonged to my grandmother."
"Did your mom wear it too?" Maddie reached out to touch the lacy sleeve, her eyes the size of saucers.
"No, my parents never married." Her parents had been soldiers, she had been conceived on the battlefield and had chosen to spend her life standing on it. Her mother had been killed her first tour back when Alicia had been only months old; she had no memory of the woman. But she knew it had disappointed her grandparents. They'd had an old fashioned sense about them, it had grounded them but been hard on her dad.
"It's really pretty." The girl whispered, hardly touching it.
Alicia pulled it up and held it against the girl. It was nearly all white lace, Shannon was going to hate it but as she coaxed Maddie into trying it on Alicia had a feeling others were going to love it.
"Hold still." She ordered as Maddie squirmed while she tried to fix the tiny clasps. She had never worn something this fussy and now she realized why; it was a nightmare to get into.
Three quarter length lace sleeves played peekaboo with tanned skin, the dress revealed most of the girl's back and rested just off the shoulder. A scooped neck line and fitted corset showed the girl's figure beautifully. It was fitted through the hips and flowed to the floor, the angled hem providing a short train. When Alicia got the laces done and stepped back she had to smile; the girl looked beautiful.
She led Maddie to the bathroom, and let her take a look in the full length mirror. The girl had tears in her eyes as Alicia fixed the short veil in her hair, even with her hair tumbling around her shoulders and her bra straps showing the kid looked like a bride; all dolled up on the day she was going to stop a couple hearts.
Alicia heard the front door open and slipped away, leaving the girl to stare at her reflection while she headed off her husband. She made it to the kitchen when quick foot steps behind her made Alicia turn; she heard her husband suck in a breath a moment before Maddie Shannon was wrapped around her. Alicia felt her gut clench.
….
He saw his wife coming down the hall, her armour still on and a slightly pained look on her face. Nathaniel was about to comment when Maddie Shannon came chasing after her and launched; Alicia looked helpless as the girl wrapped around her. Maddie was decked out in white and by the looks of it Alicia had found a way to either kill Shannon or get him outlawed for murder. He saw the exchange that had Alicia wincing and Maddie's cheeks turning red as realization hit. It was a good time to become scarce, he turned for the door he had just stepped through.
By the time he came back from the market Alicia was at the counter cutting vegetables or working out some aggression; it was hard to tell which. "You alright?"
"Great, Maddie knows and has promised not to tell her mother; which means I've got about twenty four hours until that slips." Alicia worked the knife over another vegetable, and gave him a helpless look; he schooled his face quickly. If his wife wasn't so lean it would be easier to hide, her armour worked for now; but a full body hug was noticeable.
Stepping close he began working on her armour, it hadn't done the job this time and while he would never admit it to his wife, as he intended to live to see their child, he was glad this forced her hand. She would have to go to the clinic and get checked out before Maddie accidentally told her mother.
"Did she take the dress?" He asked as he pulled the armour off her and tossed it on the couch.
"Yes, so I figure I'm safe for tonight." She paused with the knife and turned to face him. "She wants to talk to me about sex. And to stand up at her wedding."
Nathaniel fought to keep a straight face, he wouldn't let his amusement show; and he better start relaxing her. He put the veggies back in the steri bin and hung up her armour before guiding his wife to the couch and dropping onto the opposite end.
"What did you do?" She growled as he pulled her feet into his lap and began working the laces on her boots.
"Absolutely nothing." But he was not going to feign innocence, even if he would rub her feet just because he knew they would be sore.
She was relaxing as he rubbed her legs, pleased with himself Nathaniel popped the clasps on her weapon harness and pants. His wife rolled her eyes as he pulled her cargo pants off.
Nathaniel worked his hands from knee to ankle, feeling Alicia arch her back. He grinned when she pulled out her pony tail and shifted down so he could have more access to her. His hands slid higher and then around her hips, he leaned down and kissed her belly. She was in good shape and usually her stomach was flat and toned; now it began to swell with his child. He'd be lying if that didn't give him a little bit of a rush.
He could admit he was scared, after what Lucas had become and had done; had done to Alicia. And yet as his wife had told him, repeatedly, Lucas had been a good kid and a sweet young man until he began using Wicked and his reactions were similar to others addicted to the drug but the boy had been offered too much power. Nathaniel didn't consider that an excuse and perhaps why he was afraid of what he would pass forward to this child. But he would not let fear stand in the way of making a family with his wife, and he would do everything he could to make sure this child was grounded and raised with strong values.
It might be wrong but he hoped Alicia was carrying a baby girl, a sweet little girl that was as beautiful, compassionate and brave as her mother. He hoped it would be a long time before they had to tell their child about Lucas, he didn't know how to explain Lucas to a child.
"Nathaniel, you don't mind about the dress do you?" Alicia shifted in his arms until her head was in his lap, Nathaniel ran his fingers through her hair; pulling back from his thoughts.
"I think you gave Maddie a beautiful gift that she will treasure, Shannon may not agree but he has to live with it." Though he did want to see Shannon's reaction.
"That's not what I mean, the dress; should I have worn it for you?" Brown eyes focused on his intently.
"No, Alicia our blues, they were right. And I am proud that you have served, of how you have served and that we've served together." Nathaniel leaned down to kiss her. "And I enjoyed taking you out of your blues."
Her elbow found his ribs and he smirked, he enjoyed taking her out of most of clothes. That dress was pretty and Maddie Shannon would be a picture in it, and Reynolds would not forget the image any sooner than he would forget his lieutenant striding towards him in full dress uniform with the morning sun around her. Vowing not to be his second in command, but his wife, and now soon to be the mother of his child. Alicia Taylor something that pleased him, was too tough for a delicate little dress like that.