565: The Question

by Keiran O'Sullivan
81007.18
Following Balance of Power: Two
Soundtrack:Far Away, by Nickelback


--=/\=--

"If suffering brings wisdom,
I would wish to be less wise
."

~William Butler Yeats

--=/\=--

-=Conference Room One: USS Serendipity=-


"Now, Captain Zanh, I would like very much for you to leave." Lassiter commanded.

"I'm sure that you have things to do before your vacation starts," she couldn't help but roll her eyes. "...and I need a few moments alone with Captain O'Sullivan. We have details to discuss about his new assignment."

Liis remained still and quiet on the couch, until Keiran stepped up to her, leaning down and lowering his voice. "Hey there you, I think she's throwin' ya out."

Liis didn't meet his eyes, wondering why he hadn't told her last night that he was going to be taking command of the flagship.

It wasn't that she had expected him to take a nearby assignment it was just that this one, in particular, would pretty much ensure that they would not get to see each other again after they finished up business on Earth.

Not, at the very least, for a very long time.

"Seems I'm only in the way here," Liis commented softly, rising and moving to the door. "I'll...speak with you later. Admiral. Captain."

Keiran became alarmed and turned to Lassiter as soon as Zanh was gone. "What the hell did you say to her?"

"I told her that we'd offered you the Zenith."

"What? Did you tell her I'd taken it?"

Lassiter dodged his questioning stare, tracing her finger in aimless circles on top of the conference table. "I didn't tell her that you declined it."

"Gemini!" Keiran exclaimed. No wonder Liis was so confused.

Lassiter winced at hearing him use her full, given name in objection. "Well I wanted you to be sure, O'Sullivan. This is a huge decision. I didn't want you to make it last night and then regret it this morning."

"The only thing I regret this morning is not doing what I should have done the moment I set foot aboard this ship. I'm sorry, but you'll have to excuse me,"

"Wait," Lassiter pulled a large envelope out from beneath her stack of PADDs and held it out toward him. "This belongs to you."

"Keep it a little longer, yeah?" Keiran requested, suddenly anxious. "'Til I find out if I've any more use for what's in it."

He hurried from the room and once she was alone, a satisfied grin unfurled upon Gem Lassiter's face.

"Go on," she whispered, "Go and get her, Keiran."

-=/\=-

Keiran rushed onto the bridge proper, seeking only one person but not finding her there.

"Lose something?" TC Blane inquired, rotating in the command chair.

"I hope not, Mister Blane." He took a step toward the ready room, but Blane shook his head.

"She's not there. She told me to consider her unavailable for the rest of the day and took off in a big hurry."

"O'Sullivan to Zanh," he tried hailing her, but there was no response.

"Did she say an'athing else to ya?" He shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot as he repeatedly punched the button to summon the lift, which seemed to be taking forever to arrive.

Blane hopped up out of his chair, approached Keiran and spoke in hushed tones.

"Only that there was something she needed to say goodbye to."

Keiran immediately knew exactly what she intended to do. He gave Blane a grateful pat on the back.

"Thank you, Thomas." He entered the lift and the second the doors snapped shut, indicated his desired destination.

"Deck eight."

-=/\=-

His boots pounded against the deck plates as he navigated corridors crowded with everyday foot traffic. Running as fast as his legs would carry him, he could only hope that it wasn't too late.

He found the doors to Holodeck Two to be sealed, and cursed.

Using his prior knowledge of the Sera's security grid and a few other tricks he'd learned along the way, he overrode her lockout command and hurried through the arch.

He arrived just in time to see her standing in the middle of the Perseids program, taking a last look up at the 'sky' and speaking exactly the command he'd feared she would.

"Computer," Zanh instructed, her voice as broken as her spirit. "Delete program."

"No!" he shouted, in the attempt to drown out her words. "Computer, belay that order and continue program!"

She spun around.

He rushed over, taking her by the hand as soon as he reached her. "What do you think you're doing?"

She was powerless to stop her tears from falling as she closed her eyes tight shut.

"The past is past and it's over, Keiran," she answered sadly before looking down at their entwined fingers. "It's time for me to accept that."

"Is it really all over for you, Zanh Liis?" After holding her last night, he just could not believe her words. "Tell me then, why did you create all of this? This is home."

He cast his eyes up over their heads for an instant. "Why did last night feel so perfect, if..." he paused, taking a deep breath to try to maintain some semblance of composure.

"Are you tellin' me, truly, that your feelings for me belong only to the past?"

"Why didn't you tell me about the Zenith?" Liis demanded instead of answering his questions. She blinked as fresh, biting tears continued to obscure her vision.

"I had more important things on my mind!"

"What could be more important than telling me that you were taking command of the flagship?" She focused on the grass beneath her feet. "Than telling me that you were leaving?"

He knew he had no choice left but to show her exactly what was most important to him.

With one swift motion he pulled her into his arms, closed his eyes and brushed his lips against hers.

Liis shivered, the sensation as familiar to her as it was heart stopping.

His first slow and tentative kiss became a second, more powerful one. Her lips gently parted as memories of a thousand such kisses overtook her, bridging in an instant the chasm of time, space and tragedy that had kept them apart.

All she could do was hold him close...and kiss him back.

When they finally broke to catch their breath, she found that he was trembling. He buried his face into her shoulder, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

"You've no idea," he murmured between gasps, "How long I've wanted to do that."

"You've no idea," she whispered, "How long I've wished that you would."

He held her at arms length. "Just so there's no misunderstandin' what's going on here, I'm tellin' you outright." He stood before her a completely vulnerable man with one foot over the edge, her kiss having given him every reason in the world he needed to jump.

"I am in love with you, Zanh Liis. I always have been." He brushed her hair back. "Through years of hell and all the things that have changed, that is one thing that never will."

Her eyes fluttered closed and she sighed, reveling in the sound of his words, and his voice.

"I didn't tell you about the Zenith last night because I don't want it," he explained. "I never did, and I told them as much, yesterday. So."

"What do you want?"

He slid his hands down to her wrists and raised both of her hands up toward him, kissing each in turn as he held them fast.

"The same thing I have wanted since the first time I saw you standin’ there," he confessed. "Only now, I want it so much more than I ever have done." He paused momentarily before continuing, completely overwhelmed.

"I want the ring in that envelope that Lassiter is holdin' onto for me to have meaning again, and only one thing can make it so." His eyes shone more brightly than ever as he finally spoke his heart.

"Marry me, Liis."

Her face reflected her astonishment as he dropped to one knee before her, still grasping her hands.

"I want to give you the life that History has denied us. If you'll have me," he held her gaze, his expression alive with hope and affection. "I want nothin' more than to spend the rest of my days at your side."

Liis stared down at him, still and silent for such a long time that he began to fear he'd overestimated his chances, or worse, expected too much too soon.

He was about to add that she didn't have to answer him now. To assure her that he was willing to wait on her, however long it took and work tirelessly at it if that was what was necessary to convince her that he meant every blessed word he was saying...

...when her low, emotional voice shattered the silence at last with a single, incredible word.

"Yes."

Even she could not believe what she was saying.

Was she out of her mind?

She had honestly believed, until only recently, that she would never marry. Ever. She just was not the marrying kind.

Then, lessons of Time had shown her otherwise.

She had taken that leap once before, with him, and in that other life she had been happy.

Now here again, against all odds, was Keiran. Offering his heart, his hand, and the chance to share the rest of his life, holding nothing back.

She could feel the power of the unconditional love he had for her, and knew for an absolute certainty that there was no other possible answer she could give to his proposal.

"What?" His heart sped up. *Say it again, please, say it again,*

"I love you, Keiran," She couldn’t believe she was finally able to say the words to his face, after all they had been through and for the very first time in this timeline. Excitement quickly erased the fear he'd heard in her before.

"I love you,” she repeated, ”and I will marry you."

Keiran inhaled sharply, dizzy with happiness. "Yeah?"

"Yeah.” She grinned, affectionately mimicking his accent as she’d done so many times before.

She began tugging insistently on his hands, until he rose from bended knee up to his full height.

He held her, hanging on so tightly she could scarcely breathe, lifting her gently upward until her toes were barely touching the ground.
-----------------------
Keiran O'Sullivan
Aboard the USS Serendipity
-=/\=-