<USS Avalon> "To Converge and Convince"

To Converge and Convince

 Joshua Garrity, JD Garrity, PJ, Joshie, Moria, James and Victoria McEntire, 
Li Nalas Zachary Kabuki and Andy Maluhia

 JD all but ran into ME, looking around wildly for James. Spotting him, he 
hurried to him quickly. "Jaimo, get the others, quick, I need your help. 
Please." he blurted, looking nearly as desperate as he sounded.

Zachan moved up the corridor as quickly as he could which was pretty fast. 
That ship? Prophets...I'm on there .

Moria stood at a port hole in the hall way. She hadn't believed her sister 
when she'd called and said it was the Avalon, but there it was clear as day.

Zachan was looking for the nearest view port and found Moira at it. "Is that 
not something else?" he asked her.

JoshieMac did a double take, then a triple as he read the day's reports. 
Always a big fan of history, he knew what he was reading, even if the others 
didn't. No wonder he never returned, he thought. We stole him! He gathered 
up the reports and hurried to find his siblings, wondering if any of them 
had figured it out as well.

"We're on there, Z," Moria replied in awe. "Well, some of us more so than 
others. Happy Birthday by the way."

Zachan laughed. "Thanks. I don't think my parents ever told me the part 
about being born in the midst of an invasion. You would think it would come 
up over the course of 40 years."

JD watched as James continued working for less than a moment before 
snatching the tools from his hands. "Jaimo, this is serious!"

Moria laughed. "Yeah that would count as a hell of a story." She paused a 
moment and then turned to look at him. "You know come to think of it, Mum 
never said anything about delivering you in the midst of an invasion 
either."

"Huh?" James blinked at JD. "What's the matter with you? What's got your 
knickers in a twist little man?"

"Do you know who's shuttle that is we grabbed today, Jaimo? Think about the 
date and take a guess," JD prompted excitedly.

"Something isn't right with all this, Moira. My dad's very truthful. He 
wouldn't not tell me," Zachan stated, his blue eyes reflecting off the 
window. 

James huffed and rolled his eyes. "Go on, little man, what's the date? I 
don't do guessing games, you know that."

"I'll give you another hint. Exactly forty years ago today, someone very 
important to my mom and your parents disappeared. Someone two of us onboard 
are named for. Get it? Only he's not gone. He's here, on this ship right 
now." JD looked at him earnestly. He couldn't possibly not get it now. Could 
he?

Sucking in a breath, James shook his head, his eyes glinting in mock 
ignorance. "Nope... still not getting ya." Josh Garrity? Aka Bean? One of 
the greatest engineers ever was on the ship? Holy fuck.

"Of course this isn't right, Z, we're standing here looking at the ship we 
were all born on." Moria sighed.

"They told me my godfather was lost the day I was born..." Zachan said.

"My Mum and Dad are over there, you and your folks are over there, Aunt 
Belle and Uncle Jos..." Moria blinked. "Do you think *he's* over there?"

"Jaimo, my father is on this ship...that shuttle in the bay....it's his...I 
saw him with my own eyes, but I didn't get to talk to him. Jaimo...I have to 
talk to him. Please. You've got to help me."

"They never told me the story other than that," Zachan said with a shrug. 
"It upsets my mother."

"Mine too." Moria nodded. "Let's not even go into Aunt Belle."

Zachan shook his head. He'd stopped asking his mother about his godfather 
when he was very young. His father, though, would smile sadly and tell him 
and his siblings anything they wanted to know.

"Hey, whoa there, little man, of course I'll help, just don't get so wound 
up, okay?" James stood and stretched, his lean form at least 2 inches 
shorter than JD's. "Okay, we need to talk to the others. Rally the troops as 
it were."

"Wait until you see that shuttle, Jaimo. I never saw anything so magnificent 
before. He modified the hell out of that thing, and 
it's...just...amazing..." JD beamed

"You mean there's an engineer out there who's better than mine? Damn, I want 
him hunted down and shot." Laughing loudly, James dragged the young man 
along. "Either that or he can join the ship and work for me," he beamed.

JD laughed as he followed where James led. "So that's why he never came 
home, eh? I knew it. It was YOU!"

"Yup," James chuckled. "I abducted him and used him to make my career look 
better." Swinging into Sick Bay, James called out for Victoria. "Hey Vixon, 
guess who our guest is."

Victoria rolled her eyes as she slipped out of her office and offered James 
and JD a tiny smile. "Enlighten me."

JoshieMac spotted MoMo and Z and rushed to them. "You guys are never going 
to believe who my detail is monitoring this very moment in one of the 
lo-tech guest quarters."

"The Emissary's favorite baseball player?" Zachan asked. "Buck Bokai?"

Moria turned to look at her brother and smiled. "Surperman?" she asked in a 
teasing voice.

He showed her the reports he'd carried, pointing out first the date, then 
the shuttle information, then the name of the ship from which it came. 
"Close, but not quite. Want to guess again?"

"Blimey." Monia's eyes flew open and her jaw dropped. Then she looked at her 
brother and smacked his arm. "That's not funny, Joshua!"

Zachan, taller than her, peered over her shoulder and let out a low whistle. 
"Prophets..."

"He's not joking," Victoria said as she approached the small group near the 
view port, James and JD trailing behind. 

"No, I'm not," Joshie confirmed. "He's here onboard right now."

Moria blinked. "But Mum and Dad said he was lost, he's listed MIA." 

"Yeah," James said, "He's MIA because he's here."

JD nodded. "That's right. He never came home to my mom because we dragged 
him aboard."

"I'm getting a headache." Moria sighed as she rubbed her temples. "But why 
would Gracie do that?" 

"Fuck knows," James said.

"James McEntire, wash your mouth out," Victoria hissed.

JoshieMac shook his head. "I'm thinking she didn't realize who and what that 
was when she did it. She couldn't have, could she?"

Again James responded with his standard, "Fuck knows." He laughed loudly 
when Victoria stamped her foot at him. "Hey, I don't know, how else d'you 
want me to say it?"

"Knock it off, you two," Moria said sounding way too much like their Mum. 
"This isn't the time."

Zachan, in a habit he learned from his mother, tapped his lips as he 
thought. "You know, Captain Maluhia came by to tell me the ship was here and 
he looked like he had a head ache too, Moira. What I wouldn't give to be 
able to scan that shuttle for chroniton particles. Or our guest, too," He 
offered the others an apologetic shrug. "Ah, sorry, I don't mean that it's 
just a science thing."

Something slowly dawned on Moria as she looked at three of her siblings, 
their cousin, and one of their best friends. Turning to look at JD she 
watched his eyes for a moment and shook her head. "Oh no.. No, no, no." She 
said as she put her hands on her hips. "You can't! That's Temporal 
Corruption!"

"Err..." James looked sheepishly at JD and then grinned. "Too late, Mo. JD's 
kinda already covered that one. And anyway," he said cheerfully, "the second 
he was beamed over, the timeline was corrupted." 

 "Well, if that's the case, are we stuck here or are they stuck here? If 
we're the ones stuck, I would think the captain would send him back," Zachan 
began. "I'd have to really scan those particles..."

JD grinned. "So let's go scan him right now."

"That's not a good idea, JD," Moria replied. Being the middle of five had 
given her the job of being the voice of reason, not that she was listened to 
at all. "We don't know what Gracie's planning. What if she sends him back? 
He'd know about you before you were even born. I mean, what if Aunt Belle 
doesn't know yet?"

"To hell with that!" JD glared angrily. "Better he knows about me early than 
not at all, Mo. He didn't come home, remember? He was lost, and I was put in 
stasis 15 years while my mother debated even bothering to have me, or have 
you forgotten? It's easy for you to say no, it's not your dad in there. It's 
mine. You know yours. You're not the one risking never EVER knowing him if 
you don't do this, are you?"

"But if Gracie sends him back then you will get to know him, JD," Moria 
replied softly. 

"Wait, just a minute, folks," Zachan began, holding up his hands in a 
gesture of peace. He'd always played peace maker in their odd set. "Can't we 
compromise somehow?"

"How?" Moria asked. "Do you know how much shite we could all be in if we're 
caught? Aren't we all a little old for this anyway?"

"No, actually, I'm not. But I guess maybe you all are. So you go on. You do 
that. Compromise and be safe and stay out of the shite, God forbid you 
should get into any on my account. In fact, you all do whatever you want. 
I'm sorry I even bothered you. You guys work out whatever it is you want to 
do. I'm going to go meet my dad." JD turned and headed toward the low-tech 
guests quarters, away from everyone else.


"We're never too old for an adventure, Mo!" James chimed. He flashed her a 
bright grin before laughing loudly. "Come on, you know you want to!" 

Zachan looked at the others, a frown making his nose wrinkle all the more. 
"Gracie'll probably take my head off but I kind of agree with him. It's just 
that we can't charge in on the man. We need to be subtle."

Moria sighed. "Why do I bother? I'm always out numbered."

"I hate to be logical but the time line is already messed up by our being 
here. A little more isn't going to cause any lasting effects," Zachan 
stated. I think.

JoshieMac looked at Mo and frowned. "That's because you always go with the 
boring safe choice, Mo. Come on. Live a little." Grinning, he lit out after 
JD.

PJ shrugged and winked. "Come on, Mo-mo. Are you really gonna pass up a 
chance to meet our infamous Uncle Bean?" 

"Who's going to stop us?" Zachan asked.

Vix looked from face to face, her eyes mild but her curiosity raging. 
"Sorry, Mo, I've got to side with the lads. I want to meet him."

Moria sighed. "Well at least we're too old to get punished." With a bit of a 
shrug she followed the others. 

PJ laughed at that. "Are you kidding? Have you forgotten our mum? She 
spanked Jaimo and JoshieMac both just last visit, remember?"

Zachan, in one of his keyed up moods, fairly ran up the hall after JD and 
JoshieMac. "Hey, guys, wait up."

Moria laughed. "Well I would have too if they'd used my good table cloth as 
a plasma filter."

PJ laughed brightly. "Well, what choice did they have? She specifically 
forbade them use the lace curtains, after all." 

"I'm just glad she never found out what really happened to her best dress." 
A light flush colored Moria's cheeks. "Come on guys! Wait up!" 

Zachan caught up to JD and laid a firm but gentle hand on his shoulder. 
"Come on, JD, listen to your elders will you?" he began. "We're all in this 
together."

"He's right, little man," James said as he bounded up. "I wanna meet the 
supergenius."

"He's right, JD," Moria said softly as she came up along side him. "Just 
like it always has been." She smiled at him and messed up his hair. 

JD looked at the hand on his shoulder, then at Zachan. "You were named for 
his brother. JoshieMac was named for him. So was I. We've all heard stories 
about him all our lives and watched him mourned as long as we've lived. We 
can't miss this chance. We owe everyone who ever loved him at least that 
much, don't we?"

"That we do but let's not overwhelm the man," Zachan said. He chuckled 
slightly. That was funny coming from him. 

JoshieMac laughed too. "Oh, yeah, because he just loves visitors, if the 
stories are true, no matter how many of us go in, right?"

"Mum said he was more than just a little shy." Moria said as she thought 
about everything they'd be told. "We're going to give the man a mental 
breakdown." She sighed.

Victoria looked at them all. "The only person who needs to see him is JD."

PJ shook her head. "You don't really believe all that stuff, do you? 
Nobody's that shy, and if he was really that OCD and nervous and all they'd 
have barred him from service. Come on...."

JoshieMac nodded his agreement. "I'm pretty sure they had to be 
exaggerating, and I'm not passing up a chance to meet him based on tall 
tales, so lets go."

Zachan shook his head, making the earring jingle. "They let me in, didn't 
they?" 

Moria nodded a little. "Yeah, that's a good point. I mean most OCD cases 
that I've studyed, if they are bad as they said he was, he'd have never had 
sex and then we wouldn't have our little couisn." 

"PJ, I think you're outnumbered," Zachan said carefully. "Even my dad said 
he was like that ."

As they approached the cabin where their uncle was, Moria pushed JoshieMac 
ahead of them. "Ok, big brother, get us in." 

JoshieMac approached the other security officers, looking stern. "Report." 
He demanded, keeping his eyes fixed on the PADD in front of him. 

"All quiet, sir," the shorter, rounder security officer answered. 

JoshieMac nodded. "When was the last time you made rounds to the shuttle?"

"Rounds, sir? To the shuttle?" the other officer asked, sounding confused. 
Joshie showed him the PADD in his hands and the slightly altered orders it 
contained. "Um, we were going to do that right now, sir." 

The first officer nodded his agreement. "Yes, sir, we were just..waiting for 
relief at the door..."

"Well, then, consider yourselves relieved," JoshieMac replied without 
smiling.

"Aye, sir," The second officer nodded as they both made haste to the TL to 
inspect the shuttle.

"Easy as pie, eh, Joshie?" James beamed as he strutted up, Victoria and 
company in tow. 

JoshieMac grinned. "Just like that, Jaimo."

"Smooth, JM, very smooth," Zachan added with a grin.

JD wasted no time commenting, instead going straight to work overriding the 
lock on the room.

Zachan looked at Victoria. "Was there something wrong with knocking?"

"Apparently," Vix said with a wink. "Do you need a hand, JD?"

Moria watched everyone and just shook her head. "We're really going to give 
the man a mental breakdown and maybe even a sodding heart attack." 

JD stepped aside as the door slid open to reveal a young man sitting 
cross-legged in the middle of the floor, surrounded by conventional paper 
and charcoal pencils, having been relieved of his PADDs before being 
escorted there.

"Well?" Moria asked from the hallway. "What's he look like?" She asked one 
of her taller brothers. 

James stared open-mouthed. "Like JD."

"Fuck....me...."JoshieMac muttered quietly, staring at JD's double before 
stepping aside so Mo could see him too. 

"Joshie, keep a civil tongue," Victoria warned as she peered in, her eyes 
flying wide. 

"Ah, guys, maybe somebody ought to say something instead of staring at the 
man like an exhibit?" Zachan suggested from his place at the back. 

JD walked in silently and sat down on the floor across from their guest. 
"Excuse me...Lieutenant Garrity?" he began nervously. The stranger turned 
the most startling blue eyes toward him and raised a brow as his gaze 
shifted to take in the others as well.

"Yo, Uncle Bean, whazzup?" JoshieMac called out, winking at James behind 
Zachan's back. "Like that?" he asked Z more quietly then, his expression a 
mask of innocence.

Moria groaned. "I think he meant more like: Hello you don't know us yet we 
haven't been born but we're the McEntire Five-Pac." 

Joshua Garrity looked at them one at a time, his face near expressionless, 
though his eyes held immeasurable amusement as he took them all in.

"Ever hear my dad say 'put a sock in it, kid'? Put a sock in it, JM," Zachan 
said wryly.

JoshieMac reached down for Zachan's feet, still grinning, having forgotten, 
once again, to put on any of his own.

"Joshua! Leave Z's socks alone, you clown," Moria scolded.

The visitor nearly smiled as he turned attention back to the papers he'd 
been writing on.

"For the love of Christ," Victoria muttered as she slipped in to sit beside 
JD. Reaching out, she brushed a few curls away from Josh's face. "Do you 
need medical attention, Lieutenant?"

Josh drew away from her touch without thought, shaking his head slightly 
without looking up again. He was fine.

Following her sister inside Moria blinked. He really did look like JD. "Well 
this explains why everyone in grade school asked if you were adopted."

"I got mom's eyes," he answered quietly, staring hard at the young man in 
front of him, the father he never knew. "Do you know who we are, sir?" he 
asked nervously.

"Sir?" Moria whispered. "Man we don't even call Dad Sir." She giggled a 
little. 

"That's because we have Dad wrapped around our little fingers," Victoria 
observed as she looked over the painfully thin man before her. "You're 
thinner than I am," she said quietly.

"Yeah, well...you got everything else from dear old dad, here," JoshieMac 
grinned, sticking out his hand. "How you doing? I'm Joshua McEntire. Named 
after you. We've decided to further fuck up the timeline and we're not 
taking no for an answer, so you might as well plan on visiting awhile. After 
all, we're family."

"And then we're sending ya back, coz our little man's gonna know his father 
from day one," James said loudly. 

Zachan edged in with the rest of them, uncharacteristically quiet for once, 
but he rolled his eyes at JM's language. "My dad's going to have a fit if 
hears that out of you. He doesn't care how old you are," he said.

Josh looked at Victoria a moment, moved by her concern. Finding his voice at 
last he answered quietly, "I'm fine," before turning his gaze to James 
curiously.

JoshieMac grinned at Z but didn't answer him, instead turning his attention 
back to his uncle. "He speaks!" he quipped, grinning more broadly.

Moria reached over and smacked Joshie. "Don't be rude! He's our uncle, show 
some respect, you pinhead." 

Zachan, taking a cue from Victoria, sat on the floor and offered Josh an 
easy smile, one that he definitely got from his father. "Vix, maybe 
introductions all around?"

Josh looked up at them curiously, his eyes lingering on the young man who 
looked to be his double before returning to Zachan. 

A tiny flicker of annoyance flashed through her eyes but Victoria nodded. 
"I'm Victoria McEntire, these are my sisters PJ and Mo, that's Jimmie and 
Joshie and this is Zachan." Placing a small hand on JD's shoulder, she 
added, "And this is Joshua Garrity."

Josh's eyes widened even as he nodded. "Annabelle?" he asked softly, a 
lifetime of concern resonating in her name. 

Zachan smiled again. "He's her son. The quintuple threat are Uncle Mac's and 
Aunt Anna's."

"You've been gone a long time," Victoria said to Josh. 

"I have?" he asked, his slightly accented voice only just audible.

"Forty years," James added.

"The day I was born," Zachan added, "was the day you were...lost."

Josh looked surprised, his gaze shifting for the briefest moment toward JD, 
who was very obviously not as old as the others. 

"Stasis," Zachan explained in answer to the unasked question. "Not that my 
mother would tell me that.." 

"Why?" he asked softly, looking from one to the next. Why would Annabelle do 
that?

"When you left," Vix explained, "when they lost you, Aunt Belle couldn't 
bear the thought of bringing up a child without you." 

"But then she couldn't live without having at least part of you," Moria 
added. 

"So even though all of us are spiritually a part of you, JD here really is a 
part of you," Zachan added. 

Josh looked at them blankly. Spiritually?

"His Dad's Uncle Ming," Moria explained as if that answered any and all 
questions about Z. 

Zachan nodded. "You've always been uncle or, in my case, godfather in name."

Ah, Josh mouthed, nodding. That actually did explain quite alot.

JoshieMac grinned at the others and cleared his throat. He had to do it. He 
had to. His dad had told them about doing it to him enough times, he had to 
see if it was true. "Okay, pop quiz time. Power's reduced, emt 
nonfunctional, replicators spewing Gak and nothing else. What do you do?"

Josh almost laughed before answered in his typical, painfully quiet tones. 
"Take the chipsets out of your father's pocket and put them back where they 
belong."

PJ laughed uproariously, remembering the story their father had told them 
about 'fixing' the diplomat's replicators.

"Wait," JD laughed. "The way I heard it the Gak thing was your doing." He 
laughed even harder when Josh blushed but didn't deny it.

"You're just as bad, JD. You are still banned from my labs," Zachan chimed, 
mischief in his bright blue eyes.

Josh looked at him, his expression both amused and curious as JD blushed 
furiously. "It wasn't my fault, Z...I swear it was the nanites!"

"Hasperat does NOT look like haggis," Zachan said firmly.

"And the time you programmed our replicator at home to only make cat food?" 
Moria asked. "Nanites too?" 

"Your cats looked hungry," JD answered seriously.

"Yeah but I notice you never try that stuff on Captain Andy," Zachan said 
with a snort.

At that comment, Vix flushed red and grinned. She tried to hide beneath her 
long red curls but she saw James's look of interest. 

"Proof the boy does NOT have a death wish," JoshieMac grinned, not adding 
that he had actually pulled more than his fair share of pranks on the 
marine.

"Sir," Zachan began carefully, "the day you were lost, it took a huge chunk 
out of all our folks. It's still gone. We want to send you home." 

"Make them whole again," Victoria added.

Josh shook his head sadly, looking away, knowing they couldn't do that. "You 
can't."

"Like fuck we can't, you just watch us!" James yelled.

Moria frowned. "You have to! If Mum was here she'd tell you how Aunt Belle 
was.. You can't do that to her." 

"Other than the fact that Grace is going to keelhaul all of us, why can't 
we, sir?" Zachan asked.

"You'd....destroy...your memories...your lives....your timeline would...it 
would change....you would all....change..." he tried to explain sadly, 
wishing it could be otherwise.

Reaching over, Victoria said quietly, "I know, I'm going to lose something 
precious, something I should have had the courage to get a long time ago 
but... but you need to go home."

"I thought you loved my mother," JD demanded. "Don't you want to go back to 
her?" The wounded look in the young man's blue eyes answered that even 
though he didn't. Of course he wanted to. More than anything. 

"Just sitting here...talking to you....it's wrong...but if we...changed 
things...changed time...the ripples..the damage...." he tried to explain.

"And only God and the Prophets know if we're not all off somewhere else 
right now anyway," Zachan added.

"I don't think we'll change that much." Moria said. "Mum says we all have 
too much of Dad in us to change too much. Things will be different, but 
we'll have you.. JD and Aunt Belle will have you." 

JoshieMac looked uncharacteristically serious. "Besides, how do you know 
that this wasn't what was supposed to happen. Maybe the MIA thing was the 
mistake and this is how it was supposed to happen? How can we be sure?"

PJ nodded her agreement. "Maybe we're here, with this opportunity because 
we're supposed to be, Uncle Joshua. Maybe you're supposed to go home this 
time."

"We would be righting a wrong. You know how my dad is about those things," 
Zachan said. "And I am too." 

"Not that we're actually giving you a choice, you understand," James added, 
folding his arms across his chest stubbornly. "You ARE going home."

JD nodded, daring him to argue. "I spent twenty five years...longer than 
you've been alive, even without taking into account Starfleet's mistakes, 
wishing you'd been there every day. This time you're going to be."

"Go home," Victoria said softly. "Tell your wife that you love her, hold her 
close and never think on this again." 

"Go home and hold the godson you never held as he is presented to the 
Prophets and to God," Zachan said softly, no trace of his wired attitude 
present now.

Josh looked at her curiously. "Do you believe you're that easily forgotten?"

"Please, Uncle Bean." PJ added seriously, looking near tears. "Go home and 
watch us grow up."

Moria looked over at Zachan, giving him a soft smile. Then she turned to 
Josh. "And keep JD's grandmother Jo from forcing us to read Klingon Lit."

Victoria merely looked at him and nodded. "I am. Go home."

"See!" Moria huffed as she pointed to her sister. "She turned my sister into 
a drama queen."

Josh placed a gentle hand on Victoria's shoulder. "You are not..." He looked 
at Moira, confused. "Grandmother Jo?" 

Moria tilted her head to the side. "Well yeah. I mean she might only be your 
step-mother but she's been a really good grandma.. Well except the Klingon 
reading thing."

Josh shook his head, confused. "I don't have..." he began before JD 
interrupted. 

"Her and grandpa Darius were always taking me for a week here, a weekend 
there. They helped raise me."

"And they were really nice to the rest of us too," Moria added. "So were the 
Hales." 

Josh looked stricken, his already pale countenance going deadly white. 
"Darius Murgo?" he asked, an odd edge to his voice. 

No word from the Captain yet so Andy allowed the Marines to settle to a more 
moderate level. They could return to barracks rather than sleep in the 
assembly room but they would be ready at a second's notice. He was going to 
bed though. His path took him by guest quarters that evening. Now why is 
there an open door..? Slowly, he approached , hearing familiar voices where 
they didn't belong. "What are you guys doing now?" he asked.

Victoria's face instantly flushed and she grinned again. "Hey Andy," she 
said shyly.

JoshieMac stepped in front of their visitor as if to conceal him from view 
as he answered, "Med check on the visitor," he called out, hoping Andy'd 
fall for it even as he knew he wouldn't. 

"Uh huh. Sure. Hey there, Victoria," Andy said with a easy smile before 
favoring Joshie with a more steady gaze. "Try again, McEntire."

"Oh it's 'Victoria' now is it?" James asked with a raised eyebrow as he 
stepped in front of his sister. "Since when?" 

Moria bopped James in the back of the head. "Leave her alone. Don't pick or 
I'll tell Mum you blew up her new tricorder trying to get it to play 
Q-Bert." 

"Hey, if he's playing around with my little sis, I wanna know!" James glared 
up at Andy, his arms crossed.

"Look at him, man. Hella pale, doesn't look well, right? Makes sense we'd 
call Vixie, don't it?" JoshieMac pressed his point. "And, well, I got to 
make sure it's secure....and the rest...well...we got legit reasons. Why're 
you here?"

"Since I'm a gentleman, friend. She said to call her that," Andy said mildly 
to James. He made note of the pale skinny young man on the floor next to 
Zachan but kept his eyes on the others.

"You screwing her?" James asked loudly, making Victoria flinch and hide her 
head in her hands. 

"I beg your pardon?" Andy asked wide eyed, no trace of humor.

PJ smacked James hard on the back of the head. "That's enough, Jaimo!" she 
demanded, her glare threatening. 

"Ouch and no, it's not. She's our little sis, weak and vulnerable. I'm not 
letting him play around with her, okay?" James continued to glare. 

"Oh do shut up, you prat," Moria moaned. "You're just pissed 'cause the 
redhead in Science won't screw you." 

Andy bit back a sigh. "Have some respect for your sister then, man. I 
certainly do."

Victoria looked Josh in the eyes, her own full of deep embarrassment. "It 
was lovely meeting you," she whispered so that no one else would hear and 
then she got to her feet and walked out, looking at no one, her face red and 
tears already starting.

Moria bit her lip as she watched her sister leave. Then she punched her 
brother really hard in the arm before looking down at their uncle. 
"Hopefully we'll see you soon and all the time, Uncle. I have to go now. 
James is a prat and I need to make sure Vix is ok." 

James looked at her retreating form but resisted the urge to follow. He 
still glared at Andy, his arms firmly crossed. "Just don't muck her about, 
okay?"

Andy shot daggers at James but kept his mouth shut. "Seriously, guys, what's 
going on? Or do I not want to know? Z-Man? Somebody? Please don't make me 
ask the Captain."

"It's my fault, Andy," JD spoke up, trying hard to come up with valid 
excuses for the others' presences . "I snuck in here on my own here, 
then...well, Joshie had to come to 'cause I got past his security, and Vix 
had to check on the prisoner to make sure he was physically okay and Mo Mo 
had to be sure he wasn't being psychologically messed up by my being here, 
so she came, then he got my PADD, see, and we had to make sure he hadn't 
tampered with anything since we've all heard the stories of what he could 
do, we figured we'd better get someone from science and engineering should 
be here, and maybe someone from the bridge who'd been monitoring things and 
could maybe tell us if they noted any changes, so we called Jaimo, PJ and Z. 
See?"

"A simple 'we were just visiting' might have been easier," Andy said with a 
wry grin. He looked at Zachan, who was about to open his mouth, and shook 
his head. "That wasn't meant literally, Z, so stow it." Nodding towards 
Josh, he asked, "You alright, sir?"

Zachan gave Josh a shrug and a grin that made his nose wrinkled all the 
more. "He thinks he can be a smart mouth because he's known me all my life."

Josh very nearly smiled at the byplay. Mac teased him the same way 
constantly.

Andy shook his head, trying not to laugh. "It's the hair, you overgrown 
brat. You and Netha are the only ones who don't have black hair," he said 
dryly but he turned his eyes back to Josh. Only one person knew he'd spoken 
to the quints' mother. He really wanted to go after Victoria but this had to 
be dealt with first. Ignoring his irritation with James, His dark eyes were 
as kind as usual as he actually lowered himself to the floor near Josh. "You 
heard them: my name is Andy. I don't know if it's possible but you ought to 
go home. I'm sure there's people who want you."

Josh sighed, glancing from JD to Andy as if to indicate that he knew why 
that wasn't possible. JD was the single most important reason why he 
couldn't. His entire existence would change. He understood their reasons for 
insisting he should return, and wished more than anything that he really 
could, but they didn't understand. They, the people here before him now as 
products of their lifetimes of experience, would cease to exist as their 
life experiences changed. 

Quietly, very quietly, he asked. "Do....do any of you 
have...spouses...children...lives outside the fleet?"

Andy shook his head and looked up around for Moria. She knew they had to 
convince him. 

"I don't," James admitted, "but Moria and PJ do."

"MoMo's got a husband and kids. PJ, too. And JM's got what? Three?" JD 
glanced questioningly at JM who held up 5 fingers," Five kids."

Josh sighed and shook his head. That settled it, for him at least. He turned 
his attention back to the paper and charcoal pencils before him, not willing 
to discuss the matter any longer. 

"Zachan, say something that makes sense, will you?" Andy asked.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Zachan stuck his tongue out at Andy 
before looking back to Josh. "Sir, by us being here, we've created a 
different timeline for you. You're the one who has to go back. It's that 
theory of diverging futures."

Josh shook his head. "We don't know that. This...could have happened before, 
too...this debate...we don't know. But we do know...you know...I didn't go 
home. Nevermind divergency...think autonomy. Think Grandfather paradox." He 
looked pointedly at JM and PJ before adding, "Think of your 
children....ceasing to exist."

"Think of us not existing because you don't go back," Zachan told him. 
"Well, except for me and Andy anyway but even me. Who's to say you should 
have been there to do something for me and you weren't. You're my godfather 
after all."

Josh shook his head again. Switching to a more comfortable language, knowing 
their UT's would translate it for him, he explained, "Your existence now, 
and the history you described, proves that you do. I'm listed MIA on this 
date in Avalon history. Meaning, I don't return. You are all born, though 
some later than conception would have indicated. You grow. You join the 
fleet. You are here now as you are based in part on my failure to return."

"How do you know our lives wouldn't be better? Maybe we'd be 
better...happier...did you think of that? Mamma never got over it, you know. 
She still cries at night over you..." JD plead. 
"Joshua....Dad....please...."

JoshieMac sighed, seeing Josh's _expression darken before he lowered his 
head, his face concealed all at once behind a mass of dark curls, seeming to 
retreat into himself. Suddenly he seemed less the engineering genius they'd 
heard of throughout their time in the academy and more the painfully 
tortured and frightened young man their parents had spoken of with so much 
love so often. "How do you know they wouldn't be totally destroyed? That's 
the problem, isn't it?" He countered at last for the terribly young seeming 
Lieutenant , hoping the others would hear. "You think somehow that you're 
presence in our lives could do more harm than good? Is that it?"

"It doesn't matter," Josh answered so quietly only those closest to him had 
any hope of hearing him. Standing, he stepped away from them all. 
"I'm....very tired now...I'm sorry..." he murmured as he stepped into the 
sleeping area and closed the door between himself and the suddenly 
oppressive crowd. 

"I think we've been dismissed," Zachan observed, not at all sarcastically, 
as he got to his feet. He looked at the McEntires. "'Doesn't matter'? Of 
course it does."

JD shook his head angrily. "Apparently not to him." he blurted, glaring 
daggers at the closed door through which Joshua had just retreated. Turning 
abruptly on his heel, he hurried out of the room and back to work, away from 
the pain that tore through him with the knowledge that knowing him, watching 
him grow up, wasn't even worth considering in his father's eyes.

"Somebody ought to go after him," Andy said quietly.
 In silence, James dashed out of the door after JD. Suddenly the thought of 
getting Josh back to the Avalon was about getting him the hell off the 
Banshee and nothing to do with getting him home.

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