<USS Avalon> "Reunion"

Reunion
Skyler, Elissabeth Marksbury, 
Melanie Redgrave, and Georgia Lewis


It was indeed a sleepless night for Elissabeth as she sat on the sofa staring 
into the endless reaches of space, mulling over the events of previous days. 
She still wasn't sure what to do, but as the beginning of Alpha shift 
approached, she new she had to decide something. 

A shower and change of clothes to start with. It was an odd day off and 
Elissabeth intended to take it. She decided to get the unpleasantness of the 
situation with Skyler out of the way, though she had no clue how to go about 
it. Elissabeth went to sickbay anyway to see what she'd find.

Skyler lay in sickbay staring blankly at the ceiling, while next to her Georgia 
was laying with her head down on the side of the bed and her hand wrapped 
around Skyler's. She felt Skyler stir briefly and looked up at her. The 
doctor's had taken care of the internal injuries and such, yet there was still 
some faint bruising on her face. "Ms. Skyler, whys you has to go off an do 
this...this thing yous do again? You hasn't dun it for goin on nearly 20 yrs or 
so. Whys you gotta start it up again?" 

Skyler didn't look at Georgia for fear of realizing she had hurt someone else 
close to her. "You know me old woman, never could do the right thing." ~~How do 
I explain it to you, when I can't even really explain it to myself?~~

Melanie had had a hard time getting up that morning which had thrown her whole 
day off. She didn't mind though, since the reason she'd over slept had just 
made it to his shift on time. 

After checking in at the office, Melanie headed down to sickbay to check on her 
sister. She was more than a little surprised to see that Skyler was awake. 
"Good morning you two," she said as she walked over to Skyler's bed. 

"Good Morning, Ms. Melanie. Ain't it good to see Ms. Skyler awake?" Skyler on 
the other hand continued to just stare at the ceiling. 

"Yes, it is good to see her awake," Melanie replied as she walked over to the 
other side of the bed. She looked down at her sister, noting the blank stare, 
and sighed. "So are you going to just lay there and sulk?" 

"At the moment it seems the most sensible thing to do. Besides I am not 
sulking, they won't let me out of here so what would you have me look at?" 
Skyler continued to stare at the ceiling, she didn't know what to say to anyone 
anymore. "Georgia says you found me and me brought here so I suppose I should 
thank you for that." Georgia looked at Skyler and was ready to smack her a good 
one.

"Now Ms. Skyler, you should be more kinder to your sister. I didn't raise you 
to act so impolite. Ms. Melanie, she really didn't mean anything by what she 
said. She's jest bein plain foolish."

Melanie crossed her arms. "I figured that out last night when we found her." 

"So, you going to start yelling at me as well, tell me how stupid and 
incompetant I am or what? If so you can put a lid on it." 

Elissabeth walked in the door and heard Skyler's last statement and nearly 
walked back out, hoping no one had noticed her. 

Melanie noticed Elissabeth come in and then start to walk out. Without a word 
to the others she followed her friend out the door. "Hey."

Elissabeth turned around. "I'm not ready for this. I can't take her stubborn 
attitude on top of everything else." 

"It's ok. You don't have to come in. I just wanted to see how you were doing 
this morning," Melanie told her as she closed the space between them. "You look 
tired, Elissabeth. Did you sleep at all last night?"

She shook her head no, not trusting her voice at that moment.

~~Melanie, take Georgia and just go. I am nothing but a problem to everyone 
that enters my life. You don't need me messing up yours. I've done enough of 
that already and it's too late to change it.~~

"You should go relax a while, get some sleep, I'm sure covert ops can make it 
through a day without you." Melanie smiled warmly at her friend. "I can let 
Skyler know you stopped by or not..." 

Elissabeth sighed, berating herself for her cowardice. "No, I'll tell her 
myself." She turned and walked back into the room before she lost the nerve. 
"Hello, Skyler," she said softly. 

Melanie groaned out loud at the voice in her head, and rolled her eyes as 
Elissabeth walked past her. ~~Skyler, be nice and drop the pity party, 
dammit.~~ 

Skyler gingerly turned her neck and looked at Elissabeth. She didn't know what 
to say without starting another yelling match. "Hello Cmdr." ~~It is not a damn 
pity party. When will you people listen to me?~~

"Can I say 'I told you so'?" Elissabeth smiled very lightly, trying to ease 
herself into the situation. 

Melanie stood behind Elissabeth and glared at her sister. ~~Once you start 
saying something that doesn't tear yourself to bits.~~ 

Skyler looked back at the ceiling before responding. She had to maintain some 
kind of control, at least of herself. "If you are referring to my needing 
medical attention, then I suppose you can." ~~I am not tearing myself to bits 
and quit glaring at me.~~ 

Melanie rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her sister from the safety 
of standing behind Elissabeth. 

"Well... I hope you feel better soon," Elissabeth told her lamely as she turned 
to leave. Don't know what I thought I was going to accomplish. 

Georgia looked at the three women and fiqured it was best that she leave, but 
before she did she pulled Elissabeth to the side. "Now, Cmdr, I's surely dun't 
know what Ms. Skyler has dun, but I can say that she is hurting as much as you 
is. Alls I kin ask is give her a chance. After all these many long years, I's 
come to know that Ms. Skyler don't take to people easily, and when she does, 
sum times she goes a pinch too far. She only means to hep that's the onlyiest 
reason she mighta dun whats ever she has dun to you. You cain't have a better 
person on your side Ma'am. Thats alls I's gonna say, the rest is up to yous 
all." Having said her mouthful Georgia left sickbay hoping somebody would give 
in and quit being so damnable stubborn. 

~~Melanie, don't let her leave please?~~

"She's a grown woman Skyler with every right to be mad at you," Melanie said 
out loud. Turning to Elissabeth she asked, "You ok?" 

Elissabeth turned around, "Did I miss something?"

Melanie nodded and then tapped her head. "She'd like you to stay and I'm 
supposed to ask." 

Skyler took a deep breath before speaking. "Yes, you did. What she said." 

Wrapping her arms around herself, Elissabeth moved back over to Skyler's bed, 
Georgia's words still bouncing around in her head. "Okay. I'm here," she said 
softly. 

"Elissabeth, I...I...I'm sorry."

"For?" She was still too stubborn to just let everything go. 

Melanie stood near them both and just listened. She wanted to be there for them 
both, which wouldn't be easy. 

Skyler knew that Elissabeth wasn't going to make this easy and she had every 
right, yet she was afraid that if she started letting everything out she would 
fall to pieces. ~~God this is so hard, no matter what I say, I could still lose 
her.~~ "I'm sorry for everything." 

~~You should have thought of that before you did what you did, Skyler. You're 
old enough to know to THINK before you act.~~ 

~~Sometimes I don't always act with my head okay.~~

"I... accept your apology." Elissabeth looked at her and then looked away. "But 
don't expect me to be all trusting again anytime soon." 

~~Elissabeth, look at me.~~

"Don't push, Skyler." Melanie warned. 

"Ow," Lissi gasped, with Skyler's invasion into her mind. 

~~I never meant to betray or hurt you. You know how I feel about you and that 
is the last thing I would want to do.~~

Elissabeth placed her palm to her forehead. "Skyler, stop, please. You know how 
that hurts." She turned away and looked at Melanie, pleading with her eyes for 
Skyler to stop as her nose started bleeding. 

"Skyler knock it off!" Melanie scolded as she reached over and held Elissabeth 
by the shoulders. "You ok?" 

"Yeah, I don't think she understands..." 

After handing Elissabeth a tissue, Melanie looked over at Skyler. "She's human, 
Skyler, you can't use telepathy with her like you can me. I don't have any 
training, but I have enough of Celeste in me that it doesn't effect me. Say it 
out loud or not at all. Ok?" 

Skyler looked at Melanie for a few moments and then back at Elissabeth. "I'm 
sorry, it was an accident. I just don't know how to say what I am feeling or 
what I want to say, so that either one of you will understand. Elissabeth, 
outside of Melanie and Georgia, you are the closest thing to family I have. You 
are also the only person I have let myself get as close to as I have or had. I 
know I fucked up and should've just kept my mouth shut, unfortunately I don't 
always think with my head. I also know that I have probably lost something very 
valuable to me and I can't replace that, nor would I want to. If you don't want 
to be a part of my life then I will respect your wishes and we will have a 
working relationship only. I have no right to ask for anything else from you or 
from anyone else." Skyler turned away from both Melanie and Elissabeth so that 
they couldn't see the tears falling down her face. She knew she had lost 
something she could never replace. 

~~Sunni, what have I done?~~

Elissabeth felt the tears falling down her face as she said, "Skyler, I want to 
be friends with you... but don't you ever, ever meddle in my life against my 
direct wishes again. Okay?" she asked pitifully. 

Still looking away from them both she quietly replied, "I won't." 

Leaning down, Elissabeth kissed Skyler's forehead gently. "You rest and I'll be 
back afterwhile," she said quietly, turning to leave. 

"I told you, you didn't know what you were able to do," Melanie told Elissabeth 
with a smile. "Go get some sleep you ice queen." 

"That?s heartless harpy to you," Lissi smiled at her. "Don't make me pin you to 
the wall until you behave." 

Melanie laughed as she gave Elissabeth a quick hug. "No offence, but I'd rather 
leave that little move up to Eli next time." 

"Ice Queen, Heartless Harpy? Did I miss something?"

Chuckling lightly, Lissi said, "Ask Mel, she'll tell you all about it. Rest 
well, Skyler." And with that, she left. 

"Something I should know little sister?"

"I'll explain later," Melanie told her sister as she walked over and sat on the 
edge of the bed. "Right now you need to rest. How about I come back later and 
we'll share your jello cup?" 

Skyler looked at her sister, wishing she had a teddy bear handy. "You can come 
back anytime, but feel free to take the jello cup now." 

Melanie laughed and then scrunched her nose. "No thanks. I was only joking. I 
like jello about as much as I like milk. Yuck!." Melanie laughed again and the 
stood. "Now go to sleep. I'll be back later." 

Skyler closed her eyes and finally let her body and senses relax. It finally 
felt good to feel without the physical pain. There was still hope for her yet.


                
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