[USS Renaissance] "Lost and Found and Lost Again"
- From: "Melanie Redgrave" <melanieredgrave@xxxxxxx>
- To: <renaissance@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:05:14 -0400
"Lost and Found and Lost Again"
N'Ellie Coyne, Murgos, and John Hale
The world felt dark and flat to N'Ellie. Her babies were her only light and
the only thing keeping her from going over the edge. Josh was dead, she'd
checked into it and Mac had been right. What he wasn't right about was it
being a random thing, it couldn't have been. As she watched the tress pass
by the car window she hoped with all her will that she was wrong, that he
didn't have anything to do with this, that he didn't have Josh killed.
Joanna peeked out the curtain again, watching for the car that would bring
her girl to her. She'd sounded so very distraught but refused to discuss
what had gone wrong any way but face to face. She could only assume it was
something to do with the boy she'd fallen for. John's boy. If he'd hurt her
somehow, God help him, she thought.
Gabe seemed to calm as they got closer to the house and Angel began to coo
and kick her tiny legs. The sight made N'Ellie smile, though she looked
tired and ragged. "They know they're about to see their grandmother."
Jo nodded and smiled. "The known they're home."
When the car came to a stop in the drive, N'Ellie got out then ducked back
inside to get Angel while Jo retrieved Gabe.
Joanna saw the car pull up and dashed out the door. One look at her girl
froze her in her tracks. "N'Ellie, darling. What's happened? What's wrong?"
N'Ellie handed her daughter over to the nanny after kissing her tiny head.
"Take them inside please. They'll need a nap before lunch."
"Of course." Jo replied before heading inside.
Once the nanny and her babies were out of sight, and she was sure she was
well shielded, she turned back to look at Joanna. "Josh is dead."
It took Joanna a moment to realize what she'd said. "John's boy?" she asked.
Surely not, her mind insisted even as she asked, "How?"
"Disruptor in an empty hall." N'Ellie replied as she shook a little. It
didn't get easier to say, it sounded so wrong in her ears. A part of her was
still hoping someone would tell her it was all a lie, or that she'd wake up
soon. "They're calling it a random attack."
Joanna looked at her carefully, wrapping an arm around her as she guided her
in. "But you're not so sure," she prompted softly.
"Random attacks don't just happen on Star Fleet stations, there's always a
reason." The thought of it made her shiver. "To many people wanted him out
of the way."
Joanna guided her into the drawing room and settled her into a chair,
ordering some tea for them then sat across from her, frowning slightly. "You
never told me why that was."
N'Ellie looked up into only eyes she'd ever seen love, kindness, and respect
in and knew it was all for her. How could she voice what she thought? It was
making her sick just thinking it. "He was a Turnner survivor."
Joanna looked stunned. "Darling, you really think this happened because of
an incident seventeen years ago?" Besides, from what Joanna had been told,
as history had been written, there were no Turner Colony survivors.
N'Ellie nodded slowly. "There weren't meant to be anyone left, remember? Now
there isn't."
She seemed so lost. So confused. Seeking conspiracies where there surely
couldn't really be any. Could there? "Darling, the Gorn destroyed Turner
Colony. They wiped out everyone. No survivors. None at all. I know. I
remember the headlines quite vividly. And Darius was there. His first wife
and their child were on that Colony."
"He lost his mother on Turner." She said softly. Tears welled in her eyes as
she drew her knees to her chest. "He hadn't meant to project to me, he
didn't know he was telepathic, he didn't understand the bond that was
forming." She lost all color and felt even more sick. "It was like some sick
sculpture of lovers or something."
Joanna wrapped her arms around her girl, drawing her close. "It could have
been a dream, darling. Some nightmare drawn from anywhere. As I understand
it, John's boys grew up in a nightmare place. It's understandable he'd have
them."
"With Gorn soliders carrying flame throwers?" N'Ellie asked. "With the smell
of burning flesh and the screams of people on fire?"
"It was a Gorn mine run under hellish conditions, N'Ellie. Sweetheart, I
don't understand where the conspiracy idea has come from. Maybe we should
talk to Darius. If there were survivors, any at all, he'd have known. His
ship was the first one to reach the colony and search for them." Rising, she
kissed N'Ellie gently on top of her head and went to fetch her husband.
She should have known no one would believe her. Why think he had something
to do with it? He was her husband, she was just an outsider.
Darius laughed as he ran from his daughters in the back yard. It felt good
to know old age wasn't slowing him down, it felt even better being able to
enjoy his daughters more now that he'd slowed down at work.
Joanna stepped out onto the porch and watched a moment, smiling softly at
her husband and their girls. Her thoughts turned quickly to their other
girl, though. The one in the drawing room. Quickly, Joanna moved to her
husbands side and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I'm sorry to
interrupt, dear, but I need your assistance with something, if you please."
Darius smiled brightly as he chuckled. "I swear Jo, it was Frankie and Abbie
who made the mess in the kitchen. I'm a grown man, I can make a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich without getting the jelly on the ceiling."
"only if that's your intent," Joanna grinned. "I've seen your aim, love.
Now..." Leading him in, she turned serious again. "It's not the kitchen,
though we can no doubt revisit that later. It's N'Ellie. I'm afraid there's
been an incident."
He'd been waiting for this and he was truely concerned. "Is she alright? Are
the babies aright?"
"No, darling. She's not alright at all. Not even remotely alright at the
moment. The babies, on the other hand, are quite beautiful. Amazingly so, in
fact." she thought about those bright blue eyes and adorable curls.
"Beautiful."
It had been hard to look into his 'grandchildren's' eyes and it made him
sick inside. They just looked to much like Danny's eyes. "What's happened,
Joanna?"
"John's boy is dead, Darius. It's been called a random attack, apparently,
but N'Ellie's convinced there's more to it." Joanna looked up into his eyes
for something, anything, to reassure her that just this once her girl was
wrong.
Darius looked away for a moment before looking back at his wife. "There's
been a rash of attacks at several stations and DSs. No one knows what
they're after, only that they seem to have tech. from all over the quad." He
explained. They'd been ready for such questions. "I didn't know they were
out in that sector, though. Does John know?"
"I don't think so," Joanna answered, frowning slightly at her husband's
answer. He'd looked away. He never did that. Why had he looked away before
answering her?
"This is going to crush him." Darius pulled Joanna into his arms and held
her. He'd call Lindsey and tell her, John would ask him questions he
couldn't answer.
"I know. And so soon after the loss of the other one. I thought perhaps we'd
call him together after we spoke with N'Ellie. She's waiting for us in the
drawing room." Joanna pressed herself against him, drawing strength from his
embrace.
Darius held her tightly. "It's a good thing he had Lindsey. Come on, lets go
see what we can do for Nell."
Joanna led him in to where their girl still sat, waiting. "She seems to have
an idea that he was murdered because of that colony Elle was on." she told
him as the entered the room.
He flinched inwardly at that, and yet felt angry at the same time. It
couldn't get around that she knew anything, it also stirred his feelings
about those two mine rats. "N'Ellie."
N'Ellie got to her feet and turned to look at him. Normally she'd have
smiled and hugged him, not though she wanted as far away from him as she
could get.
"I've told him what happened, N'Ellie. And your concerns as well." She
looked at Darius. "She seems convinced that her young man was a survivor of
Turner Colony, though as I remember there were no survivors."
Darius nodded his agreement. "There weren't." Officially, there weren't.
"N'Ellie, your right about there being more to the story. It's not commonly
known, but there's been a rash of attacks like this all over the place.
Clearly your young man was in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's
all."
He was lying. "I saw his memories, he protected them to me. He was in that
colony."
"N'Ellie's convinced he saw his mother die there, Darius. How was it you
described it dearest? A sick sculpture of lovers or something? Gorn soldiers
carrying flame throwers, burning flesh, screaming people. It was all
apparently quite vivid. Where else would he possibly have seen something of
that sort?"
He made a show of thinking it over before finally replying. "It sounds as if
he'd read the reports. John wrote something about finding a man and woman
fused together from the fires."
"Had he simply told her about them, I might agree that's possible, but it
would appear the young man was a closet telepath. Apparently, he never quite
realized it himself, and yet these are things he showed her, as telepath
shows another their memories. I rather doubt he'd have gleaned that much
detail from John's rather curt reports, don't you?"
Darius shrugged. "He was an engineer. They're creative people."
In that moment, when Darius had shrugged, N'Ellie mind spun. She staggered
back at the images, the way Josh always did that. She had to shake her head
to clear it.
"N'Ellie, darling, what is it?" Joanna asked, hurrying to her side as she
shook her head. "Tell me."
"Everything reminds me of him." She whispered though her tears.
"I'm sure it does."she looked up at Darius, eyes filled with concern. "It's
like that when you lose someone you love."
N'Ellie looked up at Darius. It was in her eyes, she didn't believe him, she
accused him, she was trying not to hate him. "My children don't have a
father now."
"They have you, and us. In fact, I believe I hear one of them now. One
moment, I'll fetch the little one for you." Before she could step out of the
room, though, Frankie entered carrying Gabriel.
Turning him toward Darius, she commented casually, "And now we have proof
N'Ellie's really our sister. Her babies sure look related, doesn't they,
daddy? Except for those eyes. None of us have eyes like that."
"They have Josh's eyes." N'Ellie said softly as went stiff. Darius was
taking her son from Frankie and she didn't like that anymore.
It had been so long since he'd held a little boy. He hadn't even held
John's oldest boy until he was three. Frankie was right, the boys hair even
curled.
Gabriel looked up at the new person and blinked.
Joanna rubbed her arm and patted her hand gently. "It's alright, darling.
Darius is not inexperienced holding children. He's held four of his own just
that same way."
"Three," Frankie corrected without thinking. "oh, wait...no
four....right...can't forget Daniel the Great."
"That's right, we can't." Joanna said softly but sternly. Then it hit her
where she'd seen those eyes before. "Daniel had blue eyes, didn't he Darius?
Pale crystal blue, like Elle's." Looking at N'Ellie she added, "Like your
children's." Without thinking she went for the albums containing the
pictures of Daniel as an infant. Suddenly she had to see them.
N'Ellie blinked as she watched Joanna walk away. That wasn't like her, the
only time Joanna ever walked away was when her sister was around, and that
she was sure was because if she didn't she'd end up doing something very
unlady like.
"I've never seen a Klingon hybrid with ligth eyes." Darius remarked.
"Klingon genes tend to be dominate." N'Ellie replied. "Though in this case,
Josh's seemed to be just as strong. They both have his metabolism as well."
Joanna returned with the albums in her hand, looking shocked and stunned.
Slowly, she turned the picture toward N'Ellie, so that she could see it too.
"What do you mean his metabolism?" Frankie asked curiously as she sat down
next to her mother and peered over her shoulder. "Is he fat?"
N'Ellie shook her head as she looked down at a picture of what appeared to
be her son minus his very light ridges. "It's hyper, he needs meds to slow
it down so he body can use what's it's taking in."
Joanna paled further as she looked up at Darius. "As I recall, Daniel had a
similar problem, didn't he?" She gestured for him to join them, needing him
to see what they were seeing. Surely this couldn't be true. Had they really
been so very close to Darius' son all this time only to find out now, when
he was truly out of reach?
"Elle had to come up with an enzyme to keep him from losing weight." Darius
replied as he sat beside Frankie. He couldn't bare to look at the picture of
his son.
"Anacrese, wasn't it?" Joanna asked, remembering how hard it had been to
develop yet how necessary, with their child starving to death despite their
best efforts, simply unable to take in enough nourishment fast enough to
sustain his tiny form.
N'Ellie's head snapped up to watch Darius.
Darius nodded. "Took longer then we would have liked, she had to get a
doctor's help to do it. Danny would have had to take it all his life."
The color in N'Ellie's face rose as she got to her feet. "Just as my son and
my daughter will have too."
Frankie couldn't take her eyes off of the picture. "Wow...daddy, look....I
swear it's like the same baby except for the ridges. See?" She reached over
and took the album from her mother, handing it to her father to see. "They
could be the same baby except for those."
Darius finally looked down at the picture. All he saw was his son.
"How can they look so much alike?" Frankie wondered aloud, before looking up
at N'Ellie. "Are you sure they gave you the right stuff? I mean...do you
think maybe they gave you Daniel's by mistake?" Remembering then how young
Daniel had been she looked at her dad curiously. "Would they have had
Daniel's...you know.. stuff? Do guys even have it that little?"
"Of course they don't." Darius replied. "Don't be silly, Frankie. Why don't
you go play with your sisters." He didn't like where this was going and he
was going to put a stop to it. "And take the baby back to the nanny."
"No, don't." Joanna countered quickly, taking the little one into her own
arms. "I'll take him." Turning to N'Ellie, she asked timidly. "I don't
suppose you've a holo or anything of your young man, have you?"
N'Ellie went cold. "He wasn't mine." She replied bitterly. She went to her
bag which sat by the door and fished out the holo she was going to use to
prove that witch had tricked Josh into marriage. "Mac let him get suckered."
"Suckered?" Joanna asked as she opened the holo. Suddenly she couldn't
breathe. There before her was the perfect blending of her husband and his
first wife. Darius curls, his height and his strength blended with Elle's
delicate features and slender frame. And those eyes. There was no doubt at
all, those were Danielle's eyes. "My God, it's him." She almost whispered.
"How completely clueless was he?" Frankie blurted as she watched. "Did he
even know what it meant?"
"No he didn't." N'Ellie replied as she watched it yet again.
When Darius saw himself standing there he took a step back. That was
imposable. This was all to much. "I need to make some calls. Excuse me
ladies."
Tears filled Joanna's eyes. She had no doubt left. "How could they not have
known..." she whispered, looking at the image of the boy before her.
It suddenly dawned on N'Ellie what Joanne was talking about. Was she for
real? Did she really think? "You think he's, he was, Danny?"
Without a word, Joanna walked over and picked up another album and opened
it, turning it toward N'Ellie. This one showed a young Darius in uniform,
unruly curls ever so slightly obscuring his eyes, a slight smile on his
lips. "What do you think?" Joanna asked at last, as she stared at the holo
N'Ellie had brought and imagined the man he might have been.
"Whoa," Frankie sighed, eyes wide. "You mean N'Ellie was all ga ga over
Daniel the great? For real?"
N'Ellie looked at the picture of Darius and then at Josh's holo. She felt
her knees go weak and she sank onto the couch as she started to mutter in
her odd mix of French and
"What?" Frankie asked, looking at N'Ellie as if she'd just sprouted another
head. "I hate it when you do that. Speak Standard!"
"Learn French and Klingon!" N'Ellie shouted back.
"Francesca," Joanna scolded, placing the baby in N'Ellie's arms and putting
her arms around her. "I'm sorry, darling. This is all too much right now. I
know. Why not rest awhile with your little ones. We'll see what we can find
out about what happened to your...to Josh. Okay?"
"Why would I want to learn those when you already know Standard," Frankie
asked petulantly, ignoring her mother's look. "Want me to take the baby back
now?"
"To broaden your grasp of culture." N'Ellie replied weakly. "And because
your.. niece and nephew will speak all three as well." She cuddled her son
and spoke softly to him in French. He in turn cuddled and calmed.
Frankie shrugged as she watched the baby snuggle into N'Ellie's arms. "Fine.
I'll try. but just so you know, I suck at languages."
N'Ellie kissed her son and then handed him to the girl. "You'd be surprised
how easy Klingon is."
"Sure," Frankie agreed half heartedly, remembering her feeble attempts at
learning Vulcan the year before. She looked down at her nephew and winked
before adding in a stage whisper, "I've heard that before."
The baby reached out and grabbed a hand full of curls.
Despite it all N'Ellie smiled. "Careful, he is a partly Klingon baby, though
his sister seems a little stronger."
"Yeah, no kidding," Frankie laughed as she carefully unwound his tiny fist
from her hair. "Quite the grip there, little guy."
Seeing that the girls seemed alright there, Joanna went in search of her
husband.
His mind was in a fog, he hadn't even realized he was in Danny's room. There
had to be a simple reason for why N'Ellie son looked like Danny, why Josh
looked like him, and that reason had nothing to do with that boy being his
son.
Joanna knew where to find him. Where did he always go when his thoughts
turned to his son? Quietly, she entered Daniel's room, still unchanged after
all this time. "Darius." She began quietly, sitting down next to him little
twin-sized bed. "Did you find out anything?" She doubted he'd yet made any
of the calls he'd claimed he would, but she still thought it best to ask.
"What you're thinking can't be true." Darius said softly. "It just can't."
"Darling," Joanna began, putting her arms around him. "I don't see another
explanation. But of course there is an easy way to find out for sure. Simple
strand matching. That will tell us if it's so."
"Then I loss him all over again." He replied. "I'd have died the first time
if not for you."
"I'm still here," Joanna reassured him. " but we have to know. If those are
Daniel's children, we really do HAVE to know. If it is...Darius...they still
have his genetic material, They could recreate him. You could still have
him back."
They still had his room, she thought. They could raise him together. Do it
right this time. They could give him the life he should have had all along.
They'd have his son. Their son. They'd have Daniel.
Something about what she said made his heart stop. Those innocent babies
could have Danny's DNA, the same DNA Elle's toyed with. Plus it would have
been fused with a one of kind hybrid. Suddenly he was angry. No wonder that
snake bitch offered to help N'Ellie have apart of Josh. "The babies, if they
are, they need to be protected." Then the rest of what she said hit him and
he blinked. Turning to her he asked, "What did you say?"
"They obviously have some of her young man's DNA. They must have if they
were able to help N'Ellie as they did. Isn't it possible we could have him
back? They could give him back to you. Couldn't they?" Joanna had to hope.
Darius needed his son. He always had. If they could give him back, didn't
they owe him that?
Suddenly it occurred to Joanna what Darius had said. "Protected? Darling,
protected from what? What aren't you telling me?"
"He must know who that are, what they are." He wasn't making much sense even
to himself. "They'll want to watch them, to record their development.
They're lab rats."
"Who, darling? I don't understand..." Joanna was truly baffled now. What was
he talking about?
"Taggert."
"Jack? What's he got to do with Daniel or the children, either. I realize he
and Jenna are somewhat cozy, but my understanding is that Jenna and N'Ellie
worked out their little arrangement on their own." Realizing there was
clearly alot more to this than either she or her girl knew, Joanna pressed
harder. "Please just tell me everything, Darius. Tell me. "
He looked at his wife for a long time weighing if he should tell her all of
it. These were the only secrets he ever kept from her and it was time he let
them go as well. N'Ellie and the babies needed to be protected. Sitting
there in his son's room with the little starships on the walls and the
models they built together all around him, he told Joanna everything.
Tears flowed freely down Joanna's cheeks by the time he was done. She looked
at the man sitting in front of her and wondered how she'd ever really known
him. "How could you? How could you have been a party to all of that? And
have kept all of that from me? I don't understand..."
"I was a young captain at the time, Joanna." He knew that wasn't an excuse.
"I was following orders. I just got in deeper and deeper as the years went
on, as my grief and resentment went on."
"So, how much of this is your doing? Is he dead now because of you? When she
called me to tell me she'd found him. After their argument. Did you send
them for him?" she had to know. As much as she prayed now that it wasn't
him, she needed to know for sure. "Are you the reason that he's dead?"
"Yes but I didn't send them." Darius lost all color from his face as he
realized what had happened. "They must have our comm. tapped."
A sob escaped her, as she turned from him. All this time, he'd been so
close. Close enough to touch. How many times had John asked them over and
they refused because 'his boys' were there. How many arguments had they been
in, their friendship tested to the limits over John's boys. Elle's boys.
Darius' boy. Daniel. How could he have been so blind for so long?
He felt something between them he'd never felt before. "Joanna?"
"All those years grieving for his loss, and he was right there." Sobs racked
her slender frame as it hit home what exactly her husband had done. "All
those years lying to me. And hurting them. And us....I don't understand...."
Reaching out Darius pulled her into his arms once more. "I can't explain it.
I'm so sorry."
"Oh, God, those poor babies," she sobbed into his chest. All at once she
remembered. John. They had yet to call John. "We have to tell John. I don't
want him to hear about this from someone who doesn't know or care what they
meant to him."
He was on the edge of losing it all, but Darius nodded. "I'll send work to
Lindsey. Have 'em come over."
Joanna nodded, her eyes till filled with tears. "I'll go check on the
girls."
"I'm sorry, Joanna." He said again, tears rolling down his cheeks. "God I'm
sorry."
"I think it's safe to say we all are now." Joanna answered, rising for the
door. "let's just take care of the others now.Okay?"
Joanna stopped in the doorway to survey the scene. The other girls had come
in to join N'Ellie and Frankie in the drawing room. They'd been cheated.
Robbed. All of them. "N'Ellie, dear, I'm afraid I must ask you to check
something for me, if you please."
Looking from the scene of Joanna's girls playing with her twins, N'Ellie
nodded and got to her feet. She walked over to Joanna, then glanced back at
the babies. They still had family, but she'd wanted them to have a father so
badly.
"Have you your medical tricorder with you?" Joanna asked carefully.
"Of course." N'Ellie replied. "I've the kit you gave me when I graduated
from medical school."
"I need you to compare something for me. Calibrate it to determine familial
relationships. Please." Joanna directed.
N'Ellie blinked then quietly asked Joanna what was going on in French,
knowing she'd understand.
"Please, N'Ellie. I'll explain afterward, but I have to know. Please."
Joanna asked in a harsh whisper, her eyes pleading.
Though it was whispered, N'Ellie knew the tone. She nodded and went to fetch
her kit.
Joanna nodded gratefully as N'Ellie returned. "I need you to
check...Darius...and Gabriel. Please."
She opened her mouth to ask why but the look told her not to. She went up
stairs to scan Darius first. She said nothing to him, and he nothing to her.
She got what she needed and came back down stairs. Kneeling on the floor
where they'd spread a blanket, she scaned her son.
"What're you doing?" Frankie asked loudly. "Is something wrong? Is he sick?"
"Well," Joanna asked quietly. "What does it say?"
"No he's fine." N'Ellie smiled at the girl as best she could. "I just need
check something." Once the scan was finished she got up, walked away from
everyone and tapped in the proper coding. "Dear Kahless."
"Well?" She asked again, though by N'Ellie's reaction she was almost certain
she knew the outcome. Just then the doorbell rang. John Hale hurried in,
looking worried. "Linds'll be along soon. What's going on?" He asked.
N'Ellie told Joanna that it was a match in French before leaving the room.
She felt sick.
Joanna went white and looked as though she might faint.
The look on Joanna's face was all Darius needed. He came down off the steps
and gathered her in his arms. When he saw John he couldn't look at him.
"Mommy had N'Ellie test Daddy and Gabe to see if they're family." Abbie
said. She unlike her sister studied her French.
John looked at Abbie in disbelief. "And were they?' he asked when at last
he'd found his voice.
Abbie nodded her head as she carefully picked Angel up and held her in her
lap.
"How?' John asked as he turned back to Darius. "What's going on here?" He
stepped aside so Darius could take Joanna to the couch, then poured her some
tea from the still-warm pot before kneeling in front of them both. "Darius,
what the hell is this?"
"I don't know where to start." Darius replied as he held his wife. He looked
into his best friend's eyes. "Taggert tagged out comm. unit. N'Ellie called
a week ago to tell us she'd found Josh."
Hale opened his mouth to respond then snapped it shut. Darius had actually
spoken the boys name. Something had to be very wrong. "What's happened to my
boy." He asked dangerously.
"He was killed on a station waiting for his new ship." N'Ellie said from the
doorway. She was so pale she'd scared herself when she'd looked.
"He was...." John sat heavily upon the floor. "No...wait...he was....he
couldn't have been...he was..." He turned to Darius, his eyes filled with
pain and rage. "ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? COME ON YOU BASTARD. YOU FINALLY DID IT.
YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED. ARE YOU FINALLY FUCKING HAPPY?"
"He was Danny." Was Darius' whispered reply. He looked over at N'Ellie.
"Wasn't he?"
N'Ellie nodded. "My children truely are your grandchildren."
John shook his head, his eyes brimming with tears. He stood slowly and made
for the door "Damn you, Darius Murgo. Damn you to hell."
Tears once again rolled down Darius' cheeks.
Joanna looked at her family, sitting there in a shambles around her.
Tentatively she reached up wiped his tears. Whatever he may have done, he
was her husband. "go after him, Darius. You've been friends far too long to
let him walk out now."
Frankie sat in shock trying to sort out what she was hearing. "So Uncle
John's Josh really was Daniel the great? How come he never came home, then?
Why didn't you find him, Daddy? Why didn't he give him back to you?"
"I don't know, Frankie." Darius answered as he got to his feet. He kissed
his wife then went after John. Somewhere in depths of his mind he was glad
there was a doctor on hand. There was no way this was happening without
blood shed. "John."
John spun without a word and punched Darius hard in the face, diving on him
even as he fell backwards.
For a moment Darius thought of just letting John beat the shit out of him,
and in fact he didn't fight back at all until he couldn't hold back years of
service.
"Mommy!" Abbie yelled from the window. "They're fist fighting again!"
Joanna just nodded. She'd expected that. "Why not see if the babies want
changing, Abigail. Tend to those inside and let those outside tend
themselves for the moment."
The girl looked at her mother as if she'd grown wings. Then she shrugged and
went to see if the babies needed anything.
Joanna sat very still and counted slowly until she was calm. She didn't dare
go outside right now. Not when she couldn't swear whose side she'd take.
Would she pull John off of Darius? Or would she, perhaps, join him in
pummeling them man she loved?
Abbie watched from the out the window. It actually looks silly, two old men
fighting, so she couldn't help but laugh.
Frankie climbed up next to her, looking to see what she'd been. "Oh,
man...that's sad. Aren't they a little old to act like that?"
"They might break a hip or something." Abbie agreed.
N'Ellie couldn't help but laughed.
"Oh, enough." Joanna huffed, heading outside as John rolled on top again,
punching and kicking.
Darius was giving as good as he was getting, but he knew that he was going
to be in a heap of pain once this was over. He threw a hard right to his
friend's nose and then pushed him of.
John staggered back, his nose clearly broken, then gathered himself to lunge
again when Joanna stepped between them. "Stop. Please. This won't help."
Looking from one to the other earnestly, she added. "It won't bring him
back."
Darius was breathing hard as he stared at John. "I never knew."
"you son of a bitch," John gasped, spitting blood. "You never wanted to
know. You could have. At any time. I tried to make you see them." Grief
overtook him and he turned away. "Damn you to hell..."
Darius nodded. That's where he felt he was, where he should be. "His
children are inside."
John started inside to where they all waited when Joanna put a gentle hand
on his shoulder. "Let's clean you up first, Johnathan. Alright?" Silently,
he followed, not daring to look back at his friend.
He didn't know what else to do. He'd made a mess of so many lives, why
couldn't he have just done what John had asked? Not knowing what else to do,
Darius went for a walk.
Cleaning John up as best as she could, she packed his nose and called for
N'Ellie. "Sweetheart, can you help for a moment?"
Handing her daughter over to the Nanny, N'Ellie picked up her medical kit
and headed towards the kitchen. She wasn't sure how Hale felt about her, but
it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but her children now. "Yes?"
Joanna indicated John and smiled. "If you could possibly see to him, I'll go
after my husband."
N'Ellie nodded. She'd much rather tend to Hale then to Darius. Opening her
kit she pulled out a tricorder. "Try not to move."
John held as still as he could, though tears still pooled down his cheeks.
He needed to let Linds know. And the kids. They'd have to be told.
He had no idea where he was going, Darius simply walked.
It took little effort to find him. She needed only follow the droplets of
his blood upon the walk. Gripping the smell first aid kit tighter, Joanna
caught up to her husband. "Darius, stop. Please."
He stopped, plopping down at the curb. He put his head in his hands and
closed his eyes. "John ok?"
"He will be," Joanna answered, kneeling down next to him. "He's suffered a
great loss. You understand that."
"He took my son when I throw him away." Darius replied, bitterly, angrily,
hurt.
Joanna couldn't believe she was saying this, but she had to. She couldn't
not. "After all he'd been through, he was long since past being Daniel. He
knew nothing of him." She swallowed hard as she tried to detach herself from
all of this. "Darling...we can still have him back. We can give him the life
he deserved to have. Joshua is gone, and that's terrible, it really is. But
Daniel, your Daniel, doesn't have to be."
She'd said that earlier and yet it wasn't any less surprising the second
time around. He looked up at her for a long moment before asking, "You're
serious?"
"Deadly so," Joanna answered as she tended his injuries. "At least consider
it."
Tag could do it, or more like his wife. She'd given him his grandchildren.
"I'll think about it."
Joanna nodded as she finished stopping the last of the bleeding. "N'Ellie
will have to see to the breaks, my love."
Darius snorted painfully. "She'd rather cut my throat."
"No doubt, but she won't." She smiled gently. "We are, after all, her
family."
"Neither of them will ever forgive me." He told her as he swayed to his
feet. "And you can't blame them."
"If they truly loved him, they will. From all I've heard of her Joshua, he
was a remarkably forgiving young man."
He put his arm around her as they headed back to the house. "I don't think
even he'd forgive this."
" I don't know," Joanna sighed. "I guess we'll never know."
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