Here Comes The Cavalry - Part 2 - To The Letter

Posted on Thu Oct 15, 2015 @ 11:36am by Lieutenant Liam Reynolds & Commander Amia Telamon M.D.

2,427 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Pangaea (Wrap up)
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD1 - 19:50 hrs

OLD:

"So you could have been lost over there forever and none of your friends would have even had a clue, let alone being there to bring help for you? I'm marvelling that Haku was able to do this ......... and deeply grateful to her!" she breathed in awe.

"Ermmm ... its complicated, Evil me nabbed me,"

NEW:


Liam suddenly found it was easy to get out more. It was always easy to talk to Amia. "And there's more, Amia my twin betrayed me and my mother decided to try marry me off to "secure the future of the 15th House" at which point I knew it was time to get back to Starfleet. She's in mourning for me now Amia as I refused to marry some woman I don't know or care about."

"Your twin never was someone I could really warm to that much!" Amia said crossly, wishing she'd been able to do something more when she had met that man on the one occasion he appeared within her own sightline as it were. She had clear memories of Liam and Haku but her recollections of the twin Liam was talking about were more misty.

She couldn't pin down if she'd met him face to face on the Illustrious or if it had been on the Vid communications channel but one way or the other she remembered that although his face was spookily the same, he had an aura and a range of expressions that were totally different and nothing like as warm or trustworthy in her opinion.

She also seemed to remember he was in trouble of some sort at the time and trying to get Liam to help him out in a way that had worried Amia at the time. Perhaps it was a good thing that she couldn't pin details onto that shadowy picture in her mind.

"Mind you, that could just be me super-imposing an opinion I have of him now that you've told me that he betrayed you, over the original image I already had in the mists of my messed up head anyway." she gave a weak laugh and then changed the angle of that subject to distract herself from trying to analyse it more.

"I approve strongly of you not marrying some stranger just to continue your family line! Arranged marriages work for some people because sometimes the parents can see the advantage or suitability but even if they want to give advice on a suitable prospective, the idea that they should be able to enforce their choice on an unwilling offspring is barbaric!" she said with feeling.

"If you marry for choice, the line still continues, surely? Just perhaps in a different direction but nonetheless times and peoples, races and Universal politics all move on and what was right in your mother's time, with all due respect, truly doesn't still apply right now in the real life that's happening out here.

I wonder if she could imagine what has happened to her precious line in all the different universes around? I bet that'd upset her apple cart of planning, right? What a shame to lose someone you love over something so tiny in the full perspective of everything?" Amia stopped, realising there was a way to apply that particular piece of philosophy to her own personal dilema.

"Who was I in the Mirror Universe Lee? Was I married to Cade? Were we both rotten people over there?" she wondered, suddenly veering off on a very bizarre chain of thought.

"I don't remember much," Liam said suddenly. "I was strapped down to a bed having tests and chemicals pumped in me. I vaguely remember you being there but you weren't there all the time. But don't remember the specifics. I think you tried to help me. Ease the pain on occasion. I have kind of put some blocks in place to ring fence memories."

"I'm so sorry, lovely friend!" she said, realising she'd been thoughtless in bringing this up. "I didn't mean to make you go back there."

"I was thinking maybe if I tried to imagine myself in a different life. Perhaps one where I hadn't met Cade, then it might something jolt loose here? What if he'd never married? What if he were XO here, but single? I wonder if he'd fall in love with the Captain, or the Second Officer - or Yolanthe maybe?

I wonder if I'd never married him, perhaps I'd still be on the old ship and what would I would be doing now? Well, I'd never have got shot, that's for one thing, but would I have been happy? I can't think I would have. If I didn't have even the memories of us four as friends double dating, there'd be nothing at all.

I was never as happy in my whole life as I was when I first started dating Cade. I don't think I ever imagined getting married to him. Imagine that! Me, married and to Cade of all the people in the Universe! What would someone like that see in me, Liam? And once we were married.... what then? I guess he'd get fed up, right?

Do you think that's what happened? Is that why I've blocked it out? I have to ask him if he regrets it......... " she stood up, agitated again.

"The letter!" She suddenly remembered the letter Cade had brought her with the fruit in a basket.

"He brought me a letter. It was hand written. Do you think it was to tell me he's fed up? But he SAID he'd never give up on me... he did say that...... " she sat down heavily and looked back across at Liam.

"So if he didn't get fed up yet..... there's still time to make it work, right??" it was more of a plea than a question and all of her calm that Liam had established seemed to be deserting her with this line of thinking.

"Oh by the great fire," Liam suddenly snapped at himself. "Oh why didn't I see this straight away. Of course! You're not just on the Nimitz mentally but emotionally too. All that work we did on building your self esteem and now you're right back to this." He stood up and paced for a moment. Of course he hadn't helped mentioning an alternative universe. Of course all those possibilities. That wasn't helping this at all.

"You're not wondering about different possibilities Amia. You have lost your confidence in believing that you should have what you have. When we first met, remember how down you were. After that Ryan slime ball and the one that came after him. They knocked you down. Your confidence was shot." Liam said gently. He bet ten to one that if she read that letter it would all come flooding back.

"Read the letter," he said simply. "He's not given up on you. He hasn't even given up on me, the sneaky SOB," Liam laughed suddenly. It hadn't dawned properly earlier in their brief talk. He had requested him. All the time Liam had been thinking it was just sheer dumb luck this post coming up but no .... well obviously the Trill knew something, had spoken to someone and made this happen. "His friend he's barely heard from in a year and he requests me. If he would do that he's hardly likely to give up on his wife is he? The first thing he said today was he had plenty to keep me busy and get me over Haku. Oh he means business, to be that tricky!" Liam laughed out loud.

"Read the letter Amia," he sat back down again and took both of her hands inside his. "Life is what you make it. If you want your memories back, your marriage and to make it work don't cut your nose off to spite your face by being too scared to look it over. That woman, the one who didn't believe she was beautiful or worthy of happiness or love was gone when I left. We put her to bed. She was walking in the light going forward. I'm not going to leave again to make her come back you know. And besides not that I believe it for one second but if he EVER did write you a letter to tell you he was fed up with you I would have to kick his arse. He wouldn't request me to come work for him, for me to kick his arse now would he?"

Amia had to laugh at that mental image. "Ryan.... Ryan Blake!" she remembered him now too. "Liam..... I ....." she was trying to sieve through all that he'd just said. "What reason would Cade have to give up on you? He means business? And he's tricky? Everyone told me he's a sweetheart.... do you think he's like Ryan? I didn't get that impression.... I thought he really seemed to care." she looked around for the letter and found it still in the empty fruit basket on the shelf above her desk. She fetched it down and with trepidation she began to unfold it, her hands shaking.

"Oh by the Goddess no. Very few men are like Ryan. He was sublimely messed up. Cade is a sweetheart Amia. When I said he's tricky I merely meant he's done it in a way to help me out without it looking like he is in fact helping me out. I think he knows more than I gave him credit for. Or maybe I just came to a conclusion I want to believe as it makes life a little bit nicer. Lets not mention that again." He wondered. It didn't matter. He was here.

"You know what ..... my stuff right now. Not important. Getting your memories back and you and Cade back on track ..... important. So ....." he indicated the letter.

Amia unfolded the paper. The beautiful calligraphic writing took her breath away a second time. She began to read.

Her eyes began to well up yet again and two huge tear drops rolled slowly down her cheeks. She looked up at Liam through the mist again.

"I make him happy Liam. He adores me. He says he'll wait forever for me to get well again and when i do...... " she looked down and blushed. "He says it'll be okay to have babies, like I wanted to...... " a sob escaped her.

"I'm going to start crying again.... why can't I stop crying......" she buried her face in the letter, kissing the signature softly. "It was a really deep green....." she stopped crying and began to beam, wet cheeked at Liam.

"What was?" Liam asked happy to see her suddenly so happy. Despite the tears. "Here," he found some tissues.

"My wedding dress! I remember the wedding Liam. All of it..... " She began to laugh softly. "And I remember the argument we had about babies.... so I was wrong earlier, when I said we'd only ever had one argument......... we've had two - just two in all our time together........ that's not bad right?" her hand was still shaking and the letter wafted a little.

"When we argued, we were talking about it being too soon, and about our careers, and getting settled in and everything. I was VERY unreasonable...... " her eyes lowered again. "But now he says, that we never know what's around the next corner and that he thought I might die when he first heard I'd been shot and that we need to live every moment like it was our last now we've been given another chance to be together. He mentions his friend Riley who was killed and his young widow who we both had to watch grieving, and he wants us to take this second chance and make it pay, for our own sakes and for Riley's and ........" she was lost in more sobs again now.

Would she ever stop crying? Or would she dissolve first? This wasn't like her. Well at least she could remember that now too.

Liam handed her another tissue. "Look there was never any doubt. Of course you make him happy. He wouldn't have married you otherwise. And by the way, I'm sorry I missed it. I owe you guys a present."

"Coming back to us is all the gift we need!" she blew her nose and then hugged him again, tightly!

"I need to see him..... Am I allowed to go look for him? I'm not confined to Sickbay am i? I don't think I ever was that......." she stood up and looked around to see if Benj was within sight. "Would you come with me?" she asked, grasping his hand. "Please?"

"Of course your allowed to see him. He's your husband," Liam stood up. "Come on then I'll walk you home but I'm leaving at the door. You both have some major catching up to do. You don't need this third wheel."

"But he'd be SO glad to see you Liam! And if it weren't for you, I'm just so grateful... I want to make you some nice dinner to say thank you..... I know it's not much but I can't just leave you here all by yourself when I owe you all my happiness for the rest of my life from here on out!" She looked at the set expression on his face and shrugged.

"..... oh, okay, I submit... pass me that white flag! But dinner tomorrow? at ours? 7.30? I INSIST!" she conceded and gave Liam another very grateful and tight hug before accompanying him out into the corridor. As she passed the night nurse she said she was just "going up" to see her husband and the nurse nodded, having little choice but to allow this, especially as there was now something of the demeanour of the old CMO about Amia again.

"I doubt if he'll be at home.... he's probably in Ops." Amia said to Liam as they set out towards the Turbolifts. she marvelled briefly at just how easy this all became when a person had their own memories and knowledge base all intact and working normally again. It had been like swimming through mud for what had felt like weeks but was actually only interminable days, and now, suddenly, she felt emotionally and mentally weightless and was loving the feeling.

"Okay dinner tomorrow sounds good," Liam agreed. "Come on lets get you to your husband."

TBC....



A JP Between:

LT JG Liam Reynolds
CDO - DS5

and

Lt Cmdr Amia Telamon
CMO - DS5

 

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