579: Time and Again: Two

by -=/\=- Zanh Liis
81014.00

-=Personal Quarters of Keiran O'Sullivan, USS Serendipity=-

...continued from part one

His smile faded, his mood returning from reflection to sorrow.

"Then the nightmares came back
."



-=/\=-

About the war?"

"Some were that, yeah."

She laid her head down upon him again.

"About us?"

By that, he knew she meant about the events that had destroyed the life they had worked so hard to build.

"Not in the beginnin'. At the start, you were the thing that saved me in my nightmares, every time. Only I wasn't sure it was you, I couldn't see your face. As time went on I started to remember fragments of conversations we'd had over the years, but it was like trying to listen to something that's very far away. You're just not sure what you've heard, no matter how hard you try to make it out. As days went on, the dreams were clearer, and I heard your voice plain as day," he stopped.

"Then..."

"Then, when I was coming around in Sickbay, after I got shot on the Gauntlet..." His eyes were shadowed by sadness, "You were standin' next to me, and instantly I knew it was you that I remembered. The hardest part was knowin' that you had no idea that we'd ever."

He closed his eyes again, bracing internally against the wave of emotions the memory brought with it. "Then the Sylph came, and my God, what they did to you..."

Liis was stuck on his previous remark; the one about the day in Sickbay after the mission aboard the Gauntlet.

"You...I can't believe I didn't...you...Keiran!"

She changed position, sitting up beside him in bed as the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place in her mind.

"You called me 'Liis' that day! I remember it distinctly. I couldn't understand why you were looking at me the way that you..."

She stopped, simply overwhelmed.

"Keiran, I love you," she murmured, leaning down and placing soft, rapid kisses in a line across his chest. "So much."

He shivered, unable to believe he was hearing the words every time she said them.

"Promise me, I beg you," he whispered, "That I'll never again have to live a life without this. Without you."

"I promise."

Another question formed in her mind as he drew her forward to kiss her again.

"Wait. One more thing, I have to know." She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling cold. "How long was it, for you? Between the day we said goodbye beneath the tree and when you woke up in the transporter room?"

He knew that she'd been living only linear time since he'd gone, so for her the time span between those two events only measured in weeks. Even though they were weeks that seemed, to her, years long...

For him things were a little different.

There had been more than one mission, and more than one Jump before he'd ended up back here, at last.

"For me, it's been..." he hesitated, hating to tell her, knowing how it would make her feel.

"How. Long." She repeated.

He sighed. "Almost two years since."

"Two years? Her hands flew upward, coming together and covering her mouth. "Oh, Keiran."

He gathered her back into his arms as she began to cry. "'Tis alright, my darlin'."

He did his best to put up a brave front, even though he could recall every day, every night of those two long years.

Try as he might, he could not hide from her the pain of how very much he'd missed her. "Worth every second of the wait, this is. I," he brushed her tears away, "I was willin' to wait forever for you."

She brought her eyes back to his, unsure how he'd react to what she was about to say next but needing to say it just the same. "Let's not wait."

"Wait?" He pretended he didn't know what she meant, even as his heart sped up.

Given how short the span of time seemed to her, he didn't want to rush things any more than he felt he already had done by asking her to set a wedding date so soon.

Still, if she was about to say what he thought she was, he was going to be a very happy man after she'd said it.

"Let's not wait to get married. Let's do it right away."

"You certain?" His eyes searched hers. "I don't want you to do it just 'cause of the time that I've-"

She quickly silenced him with another powerful, heartfelt kiss before speaking. "I've never been more certain of anything in my life."

His eyes shone brightly with joy. A gentle smile slowly upturned the corners of his mouth.

"Ireland?" He asked hopefully.

"Ireland." She affirmed, adding, "Home."

"Oh, Liis." He looked happier than she could ever remember seeing him, at any time, in any place. "If you only knew how much I-"

He reached for her, having every intention of showing her again just how much he loved her when the door chime began to sound.

Repeatedly.

Keiran growled with profound annoyance.

They both realized now that the day was nearly over and that their combadges, if anyone had tried to hail them, had been lying unattended beneath piles of discarded clothing since morning.

Like a teenager caught sneaking back into the house after curfew, Liis' eyes widened in panic. She grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around herself and bolted for the bathroom.

Keiran could only rumble with laughter at the sight as he called for the waiting party to hold on a minute and threw on his pants.

"Who is it then?" He demanded as he lumbered to the door.

"It's Ashton, Captain."

*Oh GREAT.* Liis thought, things had just officially gone from bad to worse. Of all people to find her here, like this, Ledbetter was the absolute last one she'd want to do it.

"Keiran Riley O'Sullivan! Don't you dare let him IN!" She whispered loudly through the door, causing him to laugh even harder.

He took a moment to try to wipe the Cheshire Cat grin from his face before releasing the door.

"Ash, 'tis good to see they've finally let you out from under lock and key," Keiran offered his hand to Ledbetter.

"Took long enough. That hypervigilent, twangy LMH of theirs has it in for me, I know it." Ashton shook Keiran's hand and moved without thinking to step into the room.

Keiran's arm streaked upward, crossing the span of the doorway and blocking it as he leaned up against the frame. "Now's... not really a good time. Did ya need something specific?"

Ledbetter was far too proper a man to indicate that judging from the clothing very obviously strewn around the room, (which included, but was not limited to two command level uniform tunics) he was certain that it had been a very good time indeed not long ago.

"The Admiral is throwing us a party tonight, in the lounge. Magicians... Mirages...what do they call it?"

"Illusions." Keiran laughed.

"That's the one. The whole crew is going to be there." He was speaking of the Perseids crew. "We've invited all the officers from Sera's crew and the Away Team of course..." he paused, "Most of us go in for resequencing, Sir, the moment we're back to Earth, and so we really hoped," Ashton's mood was suddenly melancholy.

"You see, last time we were all together, as we recall it was a much different occasion, Captain. It would mean a lot to them, to us all, if we could have just one more night together, and have you there with us. Even if most of us won't remember it twenty-four hours from now."

Keiran's eyes burned as he struggled to contain his emotions in front of his former First Officer.

"Of course, Ash. I'd be honored, I," he cleared his throat. "Wouldn't miss it for an'athing. Tell them, I'll be there."

"Eighteen hundred," Ashton advised. He wiggled his eyebrows and raised his voice to be sure he'd be clearly heard by all present, even those in hiding. "I wanted to extend the invitation to Captain Zanh too, but it's the strangest thing. No one seems to want to tell me where she is today. If you happen to talk to her before then..."

Keiran gave Ashton a menacing stare that said 'not funny,' even though he was really quite amused and Ledbetter knew it.

He hit the button and closed the door in Ledbetter's face. "Goodbye, Ashton."

On the other side of the divide, Ledbetter laughed, shaking his head as he pondered the O'Sullivan/Zanh reunion. *It's about damned time.*

Liis emerged from the other room, blanket still wound around her.

Keiran shook his head, amazed again by the fact she was standing there and hating that he had to share her with anyone else so soon.

"Before the party," Liis began, knowing he'd want to make an annoucement tonight before all, "I need to tell Salvek, and Blane and," she reached up, twisting the chain of her earring. "We need to tell Carrick."

Keiran sighed. The idea of giving the his son such news now, unnerved him. Liis read his expression quickly, and accurately.

"Let me talk to him? I think he may take the news a little differently coming from me. We," Now hers were the eyes that were haunted.

"We've been through a lot together, in a short period of time. I think I might be able to reach him."

---------------------
-=/\=- Zanh Liis
Captain of the Serendipity