by -=/\=- Zanh Liis
Soundtrack: The Grand Finale from Edward Scissorhands,
by Danny Elfman
continued from part one...
-=Flashback, continued=-
Soundtrack: The Grand Finale from Edward Scissorhands,
by Danny Elfman
continued from part one...
-=Flashback, continued=-
She attempted to peer in through the frost-covered window and found it was too fogged to see what was on the other side. She bit her lip.
For a moment, she actually seemed to consider his offer.
He opened the door a crack, and immediately Liis was greeted by the sound of voices which seemed eerily familiar to her, because they were so similar to Keiran's. Along with those voices came the echo of laughter, and the excited chatter of children.
She heard the clinking of plates and silverware; of ice cubes being portioned out into glasses as people prepared to lift celebratory drinks to their lips.
Someone was playing a beautiful song on the piano.
It was all just a bit too overwhelming.
"No." Not meaning to sound ungrateful for his kindness, she quickly added, "thank you, but this is your family, Keiran. They haven't seen you in a very long time. Let them have you all to themselves, without a stranger in the way."
*They could be your family too...* Keiran thought wistfully.*In a heartbeat, I could belong to you, and then they would, as well. Besides, whether you go, or whether you stay, don't you know you're still going to be here with me?*
"In the way? Liis, you're my partner. They don't know the specifics of my job, to be sure, but they know that much. I've told them about you. They...were kind'a hopin' to meet ya. Mary Clare, especially."
*Mary Clare. The Catholic Nun.* The thought of it made Liis even more nervous, and anxious to go.
A woman without family, suddenly being sized up by the very large family of a man who was one of few people in the universe whose opinion of her actually mattered to her?
*I'd rather face a General Court Martial.*
She held her position, and he folded his arms over himself to try to chase away the cold. "But, what'll ya do with yerself then if ya don't stay? Go to Temple? Burn a scroll?"
He knew that the Peldor Festival was upon them as well, and he knew her well enough by this point to know the conflicting emotions that the annual event dredged up for her.
She wouldn't be going to Bajor to mark the observance, she'd said.
There was, she felt, simply nothing to go back for.
"Don't know. Might." She shrugged and smiled again gently."Don't worry, Commander. I am perfectly capable of keeping myself amused."
"Amused? Of that, I'm certain. Out of trouble, like, eh?" He was teasing, of course, and she laughed. "Not so sure."
"Go on." She insisted, pushing him with one good shove toward the door. "You're letting all the heat out."
Instead of going in through that door, he pulled it shut once again. Those inside were too busy with dinner preparations to notice the man they had so eagerly awaited had in fact already arrived.
"You're sure, yeah?"
"Entirely. Again, thank you."
"Well, even if you don't want to come in now, can still come to midnight Mass with me later..." he offered genuinely. Not because he had any hopes of converting her, but because he just couldn't bear the thought of her being alone, and lonely, on Christmas Eve.
"Maybe I'll see you there." She replied politely.
They both knew that she would not.
She turned away, hopping down the steps in one jump.
Just before leaving, she spun back on her heel. Snow was scattered from her shoulders by the sudden motion. The skirt of her beautiful coat flared outward, swirling around her legs.
The sight of her, glistening diamonds of fresh snow all around her, stopped Keiran's every other thought.
The vision of moonlight shining down from overhead through broken clouds, piercing the starry winter sky as though it had been created for no other purpose than that of lighting up her face, was an image that Keiran knew he'd never get out of his head.
Not if he lived to be a hundred.
"Wait." She pointed, up over his shoulder and above him. "What's that?"
She indicated a small green something, hanging just over the door. Just over his head.
"That?" Keiran knew exactly what she was referring to but wasn't sure quite how to explain the tradition that went along with it. He was sure that no matter what he said, she wouldn't believe him. "'Tis nothin'. Just for decoration."
"Well I didn't think it was a load bearing plant, O'Sunshine." She rolled her eyes. "Looks a little puny to be holding up the door frame. I know it's decoration! But all of your Christmas decorations mean something or have some custom associated with them. I know about the shrubs,"
"Trees."
"Fine. Trees. And that vile concoction I tasted one time on a dare at the Academy. What did they call it."
"Egg nog?"
"Ugh. That was it." Liis shuddered at the memory and Keiran laughed.
"Next time, go for the other classic winter drink."
"Jack Daniels?"
He laughed even harder. "Some may say so. I was speakin' of hot cocoa. Add whipped cream. Hell, they can even sneak some coffee into it for ya. You'll like it much better than the nog." He tried hard with this- a serious attempt to distract her from her original question.
He failed.
She climbed the steps again and stood inches from him, looking up with wide blue eyes at the leaves of the plant. "So what is this thing? What does it mean?"
*That 'thing' is the perfect excuse I have waited for,* he thought. *To find out what it would be like to kiss you, just once.* He felt his entire body react to the fantasy, and grasped hold of the door handle once again, hoping that the shock of the freezing metal against his skin would snap him back to his senses.
"Well, 'tis called..." Finding the door handle idea had no merit at all, he quickly released it, turned back toward her fully and stepped one boot forward.
The gap between their bodies all but disappeared, and he tilted his face downward, toward hers.
"The tradition calls for..." He noticed immediately that she didn't step back.
This was surprising.
This was someone who never allowed anyone to stand this close to her for any reason. Well, except for him, but that was only if he was knocking her out of the way of disruptor fire or some other potentially fatal form of imminent danger. Still, she did not flinch at his approach.
She was staying exactly where she was, and what was more, the look in her eyes was very much that of a woman who, for the first time, didn't look like she'd mind too terribly much if there was no distance left between them at all, anymore.
Keiran held his breath, and leaned closer. He closed his eyes.
He had imagined doing this so many times, if given the opportunity. Despite the rules, despite his fears, and despite the fact that he believed that the most likely response he'd get would be for her to slug him.
She gasped, and he stopped just before his lips touched hers.
When he looked at her now, there were tears in her eyes. He only wished he knew why.
Liis only wished she knew why.
"You'd best go inside to your family, O'Sullivan. It's bloody cold out here." She whispered, backing up a pace and nearly falling right off the small porch.
Keiran's arms instinctively raced out and up, grabbing hold of her and pulling her back from the edge, steadying her until she'd regained her balance.
"Watch your step, yeah?" He whispered back, his breath making small clouds of fog in the freezing night air. "'Tis...so easy to fall."
"I will." She took the steps one at a time this time, and shuffled toward the sidewalk.
*And I sure as hell had better watch mine,* Keiran berated himself for what he'd nearly done.
"Happy Christmas," she offered the appropriate greeting, without looking back as she hurried off.
"Peldor Joi," he called after, watching her until she had disappeared around the corner and out of view.
She stopped just beyond his line of sight, observing as he waited several moments more before going inside. She stealthily made her way back toward the house, wanting to see and hear his family's reaction when they saw him.
She peeked out from behind a large tree trunk as Keiran finally gave up hoping she'd come back, and opened the door.
"Uncle Keiran!" A small feminine voice declared loudly, and with great joy. "Look, ev'ra'body, is Uncle Keiran!"
Liis watched through the still open door as Keiran hoisted the young girl up and into his arms, placing a gentle kiss upon her forehead.
"This isn't little Siobhan, is it?" He laughed, sizing up one of his many nieces. "Not so little now, are ya?"
One after another, people flooded the entry way, each trying to hug Keiran or at the very least, shake his hand.
Liis watched as this continued until someone finally realized the door was still open, and moved to shut it.
As he disappeared from sight, the last thing she saw was Keiran looking back out of the house, away from everyone in it.
His attention was fixed on the street.
On the spot where he'd last seen her standing.
She didn't understand why he cared about her at all. For some reason, though, it seemed that he had become one of the best friends she'd ever had.
She smiled, tears streaming down her face, as someone inside the house flipped a switch.
The strands of lights on the house came to life, throwing warmth down onto the entire street below, and onto her as she made her way, alone.
-=End Flashback=-
"Liis," Will shook her by the shoulders, having tried several times to get her attention by speaking her name, and failing.
"Sorry," she reached up and patted him on the arm. "I'm back."
She had found that the most disorienting aspect, in many ways, of the memories she continued to recover due to the Sylph's interference was that she rarely recalled events from purely her own perspective. Instead, she was also able to see, and feel, each from Keiran's as well.
"Where were ya this time?"
She couldn't find the words to tell the story, so she offered him a short, alternate explanation.
"This year..." she whispered, looking back at the item on her desk which had sparked the memory in her to begin with, "I'm going to get Keiran the biggest Christmas tree we can fit aboard ship, if we can't get home in time."
"I'll help you."
She looked at the compass again and then slowly closed the case. "You know what this means don't you, William? Means we're off the map."
"And?"
"And...from here on out, no matter what that damned thing says, I'm calling the shots."
Will slowly closed his own compass and clipped it to his belt. "I'll be standin' right beside you."
[Captain to the bridge,] Blane's voice interrupted, and Zanh and Lindsay quickly joined the command crew.
"Well?"
"They've done it," Blane announced triumphantly, a look of determination in his eyes unlike any Zanh had ever seen in him before. "Ten minutes."
Zanh nodded with satisfaction. "We'll be boarding the Romulan ship. Blane, Lindsay, Briggs, you're with me. Reece, you're in command."
The Trill spun in his chair and gaped at her. "Really Liisy? Really?"
"Really." she said, marching into the turbolift with three large men on her heels. "Don't screw up." She addressed the lift as the doors closed. "The armory."
--------------
-=/\=- Zanh Liis O'Sullivan
Captain of the Serendipity
-=/\=- Zanh Liis O'Sullivan
Captain of the Serendipity