Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 01:03:56 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" - disclaimer and notes... Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Hey everyone! Yeah, I finally got this thing done! Took me long enough, huh? Well, edits seemed to take forever on this thing - mostly 'cause it's longer than most of my other stories. There are 5 parts - all of which had to be broken up into smaller sub-parts with part 3 having the most (4) (And I get the feeling that this is going to be as long as one of the parts! Gee, I'm getting pretty long-winded these days, aren't I?) This is practically my baby -- I've worked on it for nearly a year & now, well, I hope it's ready to show to you guys. Knowing me, I'll find something I meant to change *after* I've sent it out. But that's just me. I'm paranoid like that :) Then again, I almost left out a whole 3 pages that were essential to the story when putting together the 3rd draft, so maybe I'm not *that* paranoid! BACKSTORY: The idea for this story came when I realized how many stories there are out there about Lucas & Tim, but almost none about Tony. I figured that he deserved one, so this is the result. Kyra underwent many name changes 'til I finally settled on her name (poor girl must've had at least 5 or 6 names -- talk about an identity crisis!) Kyra also shows up in the story I submitted for Bluesong :) She's actually become one of my favorite characters to write, only because the more I use her, the more dimensions she seems to gain. Oh, and I do use some detail in explaining certain, um, conditions. I am, in no way, overly knowledgeable on *any* of it -- I did my research like a good little fanfic writer :) So if any of the details are wrong, I'm sorry -- I can only be so accurate, y'know? DISCLAIMER: All the people you recognize obviously aren't mine, as much as I'd like Tony to be. They belong to those people who created them in the first place...most of whom I'm too exhausted to remember who they are! Those you don't recognize, like Kyra Martinez, are mine. All those random people that I created make an appearance in some way or another in the sequel (tentatively titled "Shadows and Light") which is in progress right now. So if you want to use any of those characters I created, just ask -- I'll probably say yes, but it's just a formality, y'know. RATING: Somewhere between a PG-13 and an R, I'd think -- only because some things get pretty descriptive. And there are a couple of innuendos, but we're talking about Tony here -- of course they're gonna exist! SPECIAL WARNINGS: Things do get kinda descriptive at points and there is some angst-y stuff going on with Tony. But mostly it's not anything you wouldn't find in an ELF story, it's just focused on Tony in this case :) This also deals with some pretty heavy things -- rape is implied in a couple of cases -- but I've tried not to be *too* descriptive, yet get my point across as effectively as possible. DEDICATION: This is for all of you who have been *begging* me to read this thing since I first mentioned it back in November. Oh, and Callie -- Happy Birthday :) I figured that this'd work as a birthday present -- especially for a fellow EvilTony fan! THANKS: Many, many thanks to my editors Jessi Albano & Larie Stoley. Thanks, guys! You helped to turn this story from the thing that it was into what it has become now :) I really can't begin to thank you enough. Your insight was invaluable in writing this. Also, many thanks to 'Lex -- thanks for keeping my spirits up! Lord only knows I needed it at times! And no, I will *not* be sending it out all at once...I like to keep the suspense there... just like my best friend says, I'm a "woman of mystery"...whatever she was implying by that, I will never know. ('sides, at the time that I'm sending this out, I still haven't finished editing part 4...) But I will be sending it out as quickly as I can, knowing that people do want to read it... Well, I will *not* be begging for feedback on this one -- although I would like to see some...hopefully more than for my other stories. Seriously, since this is my first long story, I could really use the feedback...I'm still trying to figure out if I can really handle writing things this long -- the length of S&L is depending on it! At least this is done now & I can work on my Joxer story, which has *literally* been in-progress for a year (I started it when "Comedy of Eros" premiered here!) Okay, enough of my rambling...on with the story! ~Michelle <|:) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) "We gotta do something about this. It's like Chinese water torture." - Sgt. Richard Santoro ("Brooklyn South" 4/14/98) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage ("Ally McBeal") ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 01:40:40 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 1-1 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu "Chasing Time" by Michelle Vincenti ************************************** "Missing me one place search another, I stop some where waiting for you" - Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" ************************************** Part I - Falling Tony Piccolo ran around the corner, seemingly in a hurry and not seeing where he was going, when he smacked into someone. He looked up quickly and saw a young woman in uniform standing in front of him, her arms folded across her chest. She looked slightly upset about something. "I . . . I'm sorry. I . . . shoulda watched where I was going." He was finding it difficult to speak because as he looked at her wavy auburn hair and dark eyes, he felt only one thing -- instant attraction. "Hey, no problem," she replied coolly. "I should probably be more careful myself." "Oh, no. It was completely my fault. I was in a hurry to get nowhere and wasn't watchin' where I was going." Tony was trying not to sound nervous. She laughed lightly. "I should've known you were coming. Your feet were really pounding on the deck." "I'm really, _really_ sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Tony leaned against the wall, apologizing profusely, but still turning on the Piccolo charm. She gave him a small smile. "Just don't let it happen again, seaman." She patted him on the shoulder and started to walk away. Tony quickly called after her. "By the way, what's your name?" "Kyra Martinez," she called over her shoulder. "CPO Kyra Martinez." She turned a corner, but just before she disappeared out of sight, she flashed a quick smile at Tony. 'CPO Kyra Martinez,' he thought. 'I'll have to remember that for later.' He smiled slightly, looking down the hallway after her. 'I'll _definitely_ have to remember that.' He walked in the direction he came from, forgetting where he was headed in the first place. *********** Tony was lounging around in the rec room a few hours later, chatting with Lieutenant (j.g.) Tim O'Neill, when she walked in. Tony lowered his voice considerably and whispered to Tim. "That's the girl I told you about." Tim glanced towards the hatch just as Ensign Steve Robinson pulled her aside. He started saying soemthing and grinning widely, but all Kyra's expression conveyed was sheer annoyance. "So, you ran into Kyra, huh?" "Yeah, so?" Tony saw nothing wrong with it. "You know that she's practically like Ortiz's sister, right? He's extremely protective of her -- over _every_thing." Tim filled him in. "Oh." Tony glanced in Kyra's direction, noticing that they were arguing at this point. Robinson said something that had to have offended her because she slapped him and ran out of the room. Tony's mind raced with possibilities as he quickly stood up. "I'm gonna go see if she's okay." "Just . . . be careful, Tony. You don't know what happened and you may not want to get involved." Tim also got up and walked to the hatch with him. "I'll be fine, Tim. I think I can take care of myself. Stop worrying so much." He grinned and took off down the hallway after her. *********** He finally caught up with her. "Hey, Martinez!" She stopped and turned to face him, her face tearstained. "Oh, hi." "Hey, is everything okay? You look kinda upset." Tony looked at her, genuinely concerned, once he noticed her tear-stained face. "Yeah, things are fine, I guess." Kyra wouldn't meet his eyes, instead looking down at the ground. Tony spoke gently. "Things don't _sound_ fine. Do you want to talk about it?" Kyra looked at him skeptically, not sure if she should trust him. After a few minutes, she relaxed and said, "I guess it would help." Tony smiled slightly at her, looking around. "We should go somewhere else, though. I don't think a hallway is really a good place to discuss this. How 'bout Seadeck?" She nodded and they headed towards Seadeck in relative silence. *********** They arrived at Seadeck and sat at the edge of the pool. "You, uh, seemed upset back there. You all right?" Tony was hesitant, remembering Tim's words of warning, but he wanted to help her feel better. Kyra looked into his eyes and saw his sincerity. She barely knew him, yet felt she could trust him somehow. "No, not really." She sighed deeply. "I'm just tired of Robinson hitting on me. The guy doesn't know when to quit." Tony gently, but reassuringly touched her arm. He could see that these unwanted advances very obviously upset her. "No matter how many times I try to push him away, he just keeps coming back." "Hey, Robinson's like that. He's the type of guy who never knows how to take 'no' for an answer. He gives guys a bad reputation." Tony's tone was light, hoping to elicit a smile from her. "He's gone so far as to try and pull rank on me because I wouldn't go out with him," she said softly. Tony stared at her in shock. "He did what?!" Kyra looked up at this outburst, nodding slowly. "Why haven't you reported him?" "He, um, threatened me. He said that even if I did say anything, he'd only deny it and then make my life a living hell, claming that he could because he had rank over me." Kyra's voice gained a hard edge as she continued speaking. "He even threatened to have my orders to _seaQuest_ rescinded." "He can't do that, can he?" Tony asked in amazement. "I don't know, honestly. He even..." Her voice trailed off. There was obviously more to the story, but she was finding it difficult to continue. "What? What else did he do?" "He threatened to go to Commander Ford and tell him that I struck a superior officer on several occasions," she responded softly. "Did you?" Tony questioned gently. "Yes," she admitted. "He'd been harassing me and the only thing I could think of to do was to slap him. The lewd comments were getting a bit much to bear." "Listen, even if he did say something, you know that you could report him for sexual harassment," he stated. "I wish it were only that easy, seaman. He's got a way of twisting the truth to make it look like he's the martyr," she answered wistfully. "Chief, please. Call me Tony. I'm a little uncomfortable with the whole 'seaman' bit since I've only been a seaman for a month and a half. Y'know? I'm not really used to the whole ranking thing yet." She smiled at him. "Sure, and it's Kyra. Besides, I was wondering what your first name was." Tony laughed and said, "I'm an idiot, aren't I? I knew your name and I didn't even tell you mine." Kyra rolled her eyes. "Nah. I don't think you're an idiot. I knew your last name by looking at the patch on your uniform." Kyra and Tony sat there talking and laughing for nearly an hour. "So, you feeling better yet?" "I guess so. I don't know how easy it'll be to get through this if he does try to brign charges against me..." Kyra started looking a little upset again. "Hey, don't you go getting upset on me again. I thought I cheered you up!" Tony said jokingly, then turned serious. "If you need someone to talk to, you know where to find me." A slight smile appeared on Kyra's face. "Thanks, Tony. That means a lot to me." Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 01:48:57 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 1-1 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Just ignore the other version of this I sent out...my computer's going screwy... :) (Kinda like me!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Chasing Time" by Michelle Vincenti ************************************** "Missing me one place search another, I stop some where waiting for you" - Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" ************************************** Part I - Falling Tony Piccolo ran around the corner, seemingly in a hurry and not seeing where he was going, when he smacked into someone. He looked up quickly and saw a young woman in uniform standing in front of him, her arms folded across her chest. She looked slightly upset about something. "I . . . I'm sorry. I . . . shoulda watched where I was going." He was finding it difficult to speak because as he looked at her wavy auburn hair and dark eyes, he felt only one thing -- instant attraction. "Hey, no problem," she replied coolly. "I should probably be more careful myself." "Oh, no. It was completely my fault. I was in a hurry to get nowhere and wasn't watchin' where I was going." Tony was trying not to sound nervous. She laughed lightly. "I should've known you were coming. Your feet were really pounding on the deck." "I'm really, _really_ sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Tony leaned against the wall, apologizing profusely, but still turning on the Piccolo charm. She gave him a small smile. "Just don't let it happen again, seaman." She patted him on the shoulder and started to walk away. Tony quickly called after her. "By the way, what's your name?" "Kyra Martinez," she called over her shoulder. "CPO Kyra Martinez." She turned a corner, but just before she disappeared out of sight, she flashed a quick smile at Tony. 'CPO Kyra Martinez,' he thought. 'I'll have to remember that for later.' He smiled slightly, looking down the hallway after her. 'I'll _definitely_ have to remember that.' He walked in the direction he came from, forgetting where he was headed in the first place. *********** Tony was lounging around in the rec room a few hours later, chatting with Lieutenant (j.g.) Tim O'Neill, when she walked in. Tony lowered his voice considerably and whispered to Tim. "That's the girl I told you about." Tim glanced towards the hatch just as Ensign Steve Robinson pulled her aside. He started saying soemthing and grinning widely, but all Kyra's expression conveyed was sheer annoyance. "So, you ran into Kyra, huh?" "Yeah, so?" Tony saw nothing wrong with it. "You know that she's practically like Ortiz's sister, right? He's extremely protective of her -- over _every_thing." Tim filled him in. "Oh." Tony glanced in Kyra's direction, noticing that they were arguing at this point. Robinson said something that had to have offended her because she slapped him and ran out of the room. Tony's mind raced with possibilities as he quickly stood up. "I'm gonna go see if she's okay." "Just . . . be careful, Tony. You don't know what happened and you may not want to get involved." Tim also got up and walked to the hatch with him. "I'll be fine, Tim. I think I can take care of myself. Stop worrying so much." He grinned and took off down the hallway after her. *********** He finally caught up with her. "Hey, Martinez!" She stopped and turned to face him, her face tearstained. "Oh, hi." "Hey, is everything okay? You look kinda upset." Tony looked at her, genuinely concerned, once he noticed her tear-stained face. "Yeah, things are fine, I guess." Kyra wouldn't meet his eyes, instead looking down at the ground. Tony spoke gently. "Things don't _sound_ fine. Do you want to talk about it?" Kyra looked at him skeptically, not sure if she should trust him. After a few minutes, she relaxed and said, "I guess it would help." Tony smiled slightly at her, looking around. "We should go somewhere else, though. I don't think a hallway is really a good place to discuss this. How 'bout Seadeck?" She nodded and they headed towards Seadeck in relative silence. *********** They arrived at Seadeck and sat at the edge of the pool. "You, uh, seemed upset back there. You all right?" Tony was hesitant, remembering Tim's words of warning, but he wanted to help her feel better. Kyra looked into his eyes and saw his sincerity. She barely knew him, yet felt she could trust him somehow. "No, not really." She sighed deeply. "I'm just tired of Robinson hitting on me. The guy doesn't know when to quit." Tony gently, but reassuringly touched her arm. He could see that these unwanted advances very obviously upset her. "No matter how many times I try to push him away, he just keeps coming back." "Hey, Robinson's like that. He's the type of guy who never knows how to take 'no' for an answer. He gives guys a bad reputation." Tony's tone was light, hoping to elicit a smile from her. "He's gone so far as to try and pull rank on me because I wouldn't go out with him," she said softly. Tony stared at her in shock. "He did what?!" Kyra looked up at this outburst, nodding slowly. "Why haven't you reported him?" "He, um, threatened me. He said that even if I did say anything, he'd only deny it and then make my life a living hell, claming that he could because he had rank over me." Kyra's voice gained a hard edge as she continued speaking. "He even threatened to have my orders to _seaQuest_ rescinded." "He can't do that, can he?" Tony asked in amazement. "I don't know, honestly. He even..." Her voice trailed off. There was obviously more to the story, but she was finding it difficult to continue. "What? What else did he do?" "He threatened to go to Commander Ford and tell him that I struck a superior officer on several occasions," she responded softly. "Did you?" Tony questioned gently. "Yes," she admitted. "He'd been harassing me and the only thing I could think of to do was to slap him. The lewd comments were getting a bit much to bear." "Listen, even if he did say something, you know that you could report him for sexual harassment," he stated. "I wish it were only that easy, seaman. He's got a way of twisting the truth to make it look like he's the martyr," she answered wistfully. "Chief, please. Call me Tony. I'm a little uncomfortable with the whole 'seaman' bit since I've only been a seaman for a month and a half. Y'know? I'm not really used to the whole ranking thing yet." She smiled at him. "Sure, and it's Kyra. Besides, I was wondering what your first name was." Tony laughed and said, "I'm an idiot, aren't I? I knew your name and I didn't even tell you mine." Kyra rolled her eyes. "Nah. I don't think you're an idiot. I knew your last name by looking at the patch on your uniform." Kyra and Tony sat there talking and laughing for nearly an hour. "So, you feeling better yet?" "I guess so. I don't know how easy it'll be to get through this if he does try to brign charges against me..." Kyra started looking a little upset again. "Hey, don't you go getting upset on me again. I thought I cheered you up!" Tony said jokingly, then turned serious. "If you need someone to talk to, you know where to find me." A slight smile appeared on Kyra's face. "Thanks, Tony. That means a lot to me." To be continued in part 1-2 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) "We gotta do something about this. It's like Chinese water torture." - Sgt. Richard Santoro ("Brooklyn South" 4/14/98) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage ("Ally McBeal") ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 17:54:20 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 1-2 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Here's part 1-2... enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Over the next two months, Kyra and Tony were nearly inseparable while on _seaQuest_. Shore leave was a different story. They usually went their own ways, pursuing their own interests. One day, they were in the rec room, when Kyra turned to look at Tony. "Hey, when's your next shore leave?" "Next week. Why?" Tony sounded a little confused. Kyra almost never asked when he was going on leave. He'd generally run into her an hour before he left and say goodbye. "What're you planning on doing?" She'd never asked what he was planning either. "Nothing much, really. Just basically checking out the town." He started to wonder what she was up to. "Kyra," he said as he paused the action on the television screen. "You're acting like something off that tv show you're always making me watch." "Tony, I've never forced you to watch "X-Files" with me. And I if I recall correctly, you've been watching it voluntarily as of late." Kyra rolled her eyes, grinning. "But what's with this sudden curiosity about my shore leave?" Tony queried, still confused. "Well, I'm on leave as well and I was wondering if you'd want to do something." "Like what?" "Well, we're docking in New York and I know that "Phantom of the Opera" is starting a new run on Broadway..." "Broadway?" Tony graoned. "That's chick stuff!" "Tony, have you ever seen a Broadway play? It's hardly 'chick stuff' as you put it." "Yeah, I have. My cousin dragged me to see "Beauty and the Beast" once. I have never seen anything so cutesy." "Phantom is nothing like that. Besides, since when is romance purely for women? If I recall correctly, it takes two to tango." She smiled at him. "I don't know..." he hesitated, not sure what to answer. "Oh, come on, Tony. I've wanted to see "Phantom" since I was a little girl. Now that we're docking in NYC, I may actually get my chance. Please! I really don't want to go by myself. I'd much rather go with a friend." She was practically begging. Tony knew he was going to give in, but pretended to think about it some more. He turned away from her, but when he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, she could see the mischievous look in his eyes. "Tony!" she exclaimed, swatting at him. "Okay, okay! I'll go." he conceded and turned back to her, grinning. "So what's this thing really about, anyway?" For the next half an hour, Kyra tried to explain the story of "Phantom of the Opera" to Tony. After a while, Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz walked in and leaned against the back of the chair that Kyra was sitting in. "What are you two up to?" "I was just telling Tony the story behind "Phantom of the Opera", that's all," she explained, looking up at him. Miguel groaned, faking annoyance. "Again? Kyra, aren't you *ever* going to get tired of talking about "Phantom"?" "Nunca, Miguelito. Me gusta la musica especialmente -- tu conoces eso." "Sí, sí. Yo sé..." Miguel answered, shaking his head. "I don't think I could handle hearing this story again." He hugged Kyra and straightened up. "I'll see you two later," he said, and left. Kyra grinned at Miguel and he shook his head as he left. Tony looked completely confused. "What in God's name did you two just say?!" Kyra smiled at Tony. "Miguel and I go _way_ back. We went to the same middle school in Miami." "That answers how you know him so well, but not what you were saying." "All I said was that I'm never going to stop telling the story of "Phantom". I also reminded him that he should know how much I especially love the music." She smiled, shaking her head in amusement as she remembered the many conversations she'd had about it with Miguel. "I still don't think I'm going to like it very much." Tony said. "Believe me, you'll change your mind about it," Kyra responded knowingly, her eyes shining. *********** Tony and Kyra entered her hotel room, exhausted. It had been a long day for the both of them. Kyra looked into his eyes, silently asking him to stay. Tony smiled in return, accepting her offer. "I'll be right back." Kyra said quickly and went into the bathroom. Tony collapsed onto a nearby couch. He rested his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. He didn't notice Kyra quietly come out of the bathroom and turn on a radio, the volume turned down. She walked up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, gently massaging them. Tony's eyes shot open, not knowing what was going on. Relief flooded over him as he saw it was Kyra. "Hi," he said softly. "What'cha up to?" Kyra smiled softly at him. "You looked kinda tired and tense. I figured a massage might help." She leaned against the back of the couch and looked into his eyes. "Was I right?" "Yeah, a little." Tony didn't want to admit to how good it felt to have her gentle touch on his shoulders, how he wanted to feel that very touch over the entire length of his body. Kyra walked around the couch and sat down next to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders again and a slight shiver went through Tony's body. Kyra smiled inwardly, understanding exactly what this was doing to him. He turned his back to her not only so it would be easier for her to reach both his shoulders, but because he didn't want her to see just how much she was affecting him. "Mmm." he said after a minute. "That feels great." He suddenly noticed the music. "What's that music?" "It's 'Angel of Music'. Y'know, from the show we just saw," Kyra teased. "So, what'd you think?" she asked as she continued massaging his shoulders. "Man, those special effects were awesome! Especially with the chandelier." Tony was truly impressed. "I knew you'd like "Phantom of the Opera". It's nice to know things can still be done the old-fashioned way and still be absolutely amazing." Kyra seemed impressed herself. "And to think, those actors rehearse for _years_ to get their voices to hit some of those notes. There's no way I could ever hit some of the notes that the woman playing Christine hit." Tony laughed. "Talk about a soprano." "Yeah," Kyra sighed. "Makes me kinda envious." "Why's that?" "I once auditioned for a role in "Phantom", but couldn't make the cut. I think my voice was off that day or something. The director's assistant told me if my voice were a little better, I might've had a shot at Meg." She sounded wistful, but quickly cheered up. "Anyway, that was seven years ago. After that I joined the UEO Navy and got a job on _seaQuest_'s first tour after it was given to the UEO. I've been there ever since." "Did you . . ." Tony paused for a moment, wondering if he should ask, then decided to anyway. "Did you ever regret not making it into the cast?" "Sometimes I do, but I think I'm better off where I'm at now." '_I_'m probably better off that you didn't make it.' Tony thought. The two of them sat in silence for a minute. Tony suddenly reached up and took one of her hands. He turned to face her and as he did, her other hand slid down his arm, sending another shiver down his spine. Tony looked deeply into her eyes. Her eyes were shining brightly, even in the dim light. He released her hand and reached up to caress her cheek. Kyra lifted her hand and placed it over his, smiling. She softly whispered his name. Still gazing into her eyes, he slowly leaned forward, waiting until the last possible moment to close his eyes. He softly touched her lips with his own. She responded after a second, returning the gentle kiss. She surprised him by putting her hand behind his neck and pulling him a little closer. Tony slid his arms around her waist, holding her close. He'd wanted this for so long, but had never imagined that it would be like this, so gentle, so caring. He felt as if she were somehow making him whole. *********** The next morning, Tony found himself lying on Kyra's couch, her head resting on his chest. They were both fully clothed, so Tony knew nothing had happened beyond a gentle moment shared between them. He smiled and pushed a lock of auburn hair off her cheek, gently replacing it with his lips. He continued to hold her in his arms until she awoke several minutes later. "Hi," he whispered softly. Kyra sat up, startled for a brief second, until she realied where she was. "Morning, Tony." She quickly sat up and looked away, not wanting her face to reveal what she thought of the precarious position she'd awoken in. She didn't want to admit her feelings for Tony, even to herself. She had become increasingly aware of her attraction to him, but she had pushed those thoughts out of her mind, fearing what could happen if they did become involved, or worse, if he didn't feel the same way. She knew Tony's reputation for romancing women, which was close to that of Lieutenant Brody's She continually denied the feelings to herself, trying to avoid getting hurt. She had to ask him. She had to know if what he was projecting the night before was the same as she had been feeling for him. "Um, Tony, I, uh, need to ask you a question." "Shoot." Tony had a slight edge of concern to his voice. Kyra spoke hesitatingly. "I need you to be completely honest with me here. How do you really feel about me?" Tony laughed nervously. "You know I think of you as a friend." She shut her eyes and sighed deeply. "So I was imagining there was more to that kiss than friendship?" Tony started blushing. He got up, mumbled something incoherently and walked to a window. He stared out, unable to look Kyra in the eye. Kyra immediately knew the answer to her question. She also knew he wasn't going to admit to it willingly; he'd kept it a secret so far and he wasn't about to give up. Kyra got up and stood behind Tony. "Anything interesting out there?" she said lightly. Tony turned to look at her, uncertainty in his eyes. "Kyra, if I were just flirting with you, if it were meant to be a one-night-stand, things would probably have gone a lot farther than they did." He smiled softly at her. "And right now, I probably wouldn't have the courage to do this." He leaned forward and softly kissed her the way he had the night before. She knew that there was something she had to admit to him, but it wasn't going to be an easy thing for her. "Was there supposed to be more to that kiss last night? Or the one you gave me a minute ago? Was it meant to mean anything more than friendship?" She hesitated even more and decided to make an admission of her own. "Because I know I wanted it to mean something more." Tony's expression changed to one of surprise. He opened his mouth to say something, but Kyra quickly silenced him. "When I first started hanging out with you, you really grated on my nerves." His expression darkened slightly, but he remained quiet, sensing she had more to say. "The only reason I continued to hang out with you was because you helped me through so much. You helped me to understand that I'm not alone in my problems. You helped me a lot, Tony." The expression on Tony's face softened, but he still looked insulted. "Look, I'll admit my original reason isn't a very good one, but somewhere along the way, I completely forgot about that. Somewhere along the way I guess I started falling for you." Tony said nothing. He simply searched her eyes for the truth. He saw the sincerity in her eyes and he had a sudden "revelation", almost as if he instantly knew that she were telling him the truth. He smiled reassuringly and took her face in his hands. "You weren't imagining it. I _do_ have feelings for you. I just held them back because I wasn't sure if you felt the same way. I was afraid of getting hurt. To be completely honest, I've liked you from the first minute I saw you, when I ran into you in the hallway." He would've said more if Kyra hadn't placed her hands on his wrists and reached up to kiss him. When she pulled away, she softly whispered, "Maybe it's a good thing that neither of us was looking where we were going." To be continued in part 1-3 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) "We gotta do something about this. It's like Chinese water torture." - Sgt. Richard Santoro ("Brooklyn South" 4/14/98) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage ("Ally McBeal") ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 23:52:33 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 1-3 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Kyra was sitting in her quarters reading, some two days after returning from her shore leave with Tony, when there was a knock at the hatch. She looked up and saw Miguel there. She motioned for him to come in as she placed a bookmark in her book. Getting up off the bed, she crossed the room and gave him a hug. "Hey you! Haven't seen ya around since I got back. Where've you been?" "I've been around," Miguel said, somewhat absent-minded. "Kyra, we need to talk." "Okay," she answered, confused. "Have a seat." Kyra gestured to her bunk and they sat down, facing each other. "What's on your mind, Mig?" "How was your leave?" He sounded extremely hesitant - almost reluctant - to get to the point. "It was fine," Kyra replied suspiciously. "Tony and I went to see "Phantom" then finally decided to take in a baseball game. How was everything here?" "Fine. No major disasters. Biggest thing was Tim's paper cut. So, did anything else happen?" "Miguel, what's with the sudden curiosity about my shore leave, you've never asked before." "Tony didn't try anything?" Miguel was almost incredulous. "Nothing I didn't want him to." Kyra spoke softly, then raised her voice to her normal tone. "Look, I can handle myself, okay? You don't need to be playing big brother." "Can I help it after. . .Look, Kyra, I feel somewhat reponsible for what happened. After that, who _wouldn't_ be protective?" Miguel looked worried. The expression on Kyra's face had been growing darker and darker as Miguel spoke. "What happened was _not_ your fault," she said, barely reining in her emotions. "Look, I'm the one who told Mark to take you home that night. After what he did to you, of course I'm gonna be somewhat protective. Tony rarely does anything that doesn't suit his own needs, Kyra. This guy always seems to have an ulterior motive for everything. Yeah, he's harmless most of the time, but when it comes to girls, I'm never sure..." Kyra angrily cut him off, almost screaming. "I'm not a little child! I can take care of myself." "The same way you handled the situation with Mark?" he said softly. "Damn you," she said through gritted teeth. She got up and walked away from him a little, clenching and unclenching her hand in a fist. "I had no control over what he did. Do you honestly think I wanted it to happen?" "Kyra," he interjected gently. "I'm only trying to look out for you. Knowing how Tony is. . ." She cut him off again. "Tony has been nothing but a perfect gentleman towards me." "Tony has a reputation for romancing women, Kyra. Girl in every port kind of thing." Miguel was trying everything he could think of to assuage Kyra's agitated nerves. "He's got a very macho attitude. Are you sure you're willing to deal with it?" Kyra's hard expression softened slightly. "Honey, I'm concerned about you. I'm only trying to look out for you." "I know that. I can look out for myself, though. I'm not 19 anymore. I'm a little older and a little wiser. I think I know how to handle anything that comes my way by now." She sighed deeply. "Look, Miguelito, Tony has been an absolute sweetheart to me since we first met. He was there when I needed him to be." "Don't you find that a bit strange?" "What?" "The fact that he was there so conveniently when you were going through a hard time?" "Tony and I bumped into each other in the hallway - literally. I was thinking about how I was going to deal with the whole situation with Robinson and I wasn't watching where I was going. Neither was he, I guess, 'cause he came tearing down the hallway and just smacked right into me." "It still seems rather convenient. . ." "Look, he's been there when I needed him most. Yeah, his reputation certainly precedes him, but I'll be damned if I'll let that make any difference. I believe what I see - not so much what I hear. Damn it, I really care about him, okay? There's nothing you can say that'll change my mind, either." Miguel sighed and stood up. "In that case. . ." He crossed over to her and hugged her. "I wish you nothing but happiness, mi hermana. I'm not gonna stop worrying, but at least I know the guy. If I didn't, well. . . I probably wouldn't give in so easily." He released her, but held her hands in his. "But if he dares try anything you don't want him to do. . ." "I'll let you know." Kyra smiled brightly at him, all traces of her previous angry state gone. Miguel hugged her one last time then left. He closed the hatch behind him and leaned against a bulkhead. "God, Kyra, for your sake, I hope you know what you're doing," he said softly, sighing. "God help us all if she doesn't learn to control that rage." *********** "So, you're seeing Kyra now, are you?" Robinson stood by the table where Tony was sitting with Dagwood, Tim and Lucas. Tony looked up at him, confused at his nonchalant, almost conversational tone. He and Robinson had never been friends, so this comment caught him completely by surprise. "Yeah, we're dating. Is there anything wrong with that?" Tony tried to remain calm, even though he sensed some tension in the other man. "You know she's crazy, don't you?" Robinson continued in a nonchalant tone, but it had an almost challenging edge to it. "Kyra is not crazy," Dagwood jumped in. "She is very nice. She helps Dagwood take care of Darwin." "What're you talking about, Robinson?" Lucas added. "I've known Kyra for longer than you have." "She's a regular psycho woman." Robinson replied. "You could say the most innocent thing to her and then -- wham! She's all pissed off at you and you've got no idea what you've done." Although Tim preferred to stay silent in situations like this, he felt the need to speak up in his friend's defense. "Steve, you hit on every single girl on this boat. I seriously doubt you ever said anything innocent her." "Oh, shut up, Four Eyes. As if you'd know anything about that," Robinson chided. When Tony saw how hurt Tim was, he got to his feet and faced the offender. "That was really uncalled for," he said as calmly as he could. "And if I was you, I'd think twice before I started spreading rumors about Kyra." "What? You gonna do something if I do?" Robinson challenged. "Let's just say that you're not gonna have any problems breathing underwater when I get through with you." Tony was slowly losing his cool. "Is that a threat?" he sneered. Then he shoved him. "C'mon, tough guy. Let's see how far you're really willing to go to defend Martinez's so-called honor." Tony stood completely still, staring him down. Robinson shoved him again, throwing him slightly off-balance. Lucas and Tim could see the anger rising in Tony and with with one glance at each other, decided to stop the whole thing before it got out-of-hand. Lucas looked over at Dagwood, who grabbed Robinson from behind, pinning his arms against his sides as Lucas attempted to calm Tony down. Robinson struggled against Dagwood's grip. Tim turned to Robinson, a rarely-seen stern look in his eyes. "I suggest you leave before I report you to the Commander, *Ensign*. I doubt you'd want a citation for fighting on your record." Dagwood released him and with one last glare at Tony, he started to leave. He suddenly turned back and called, "Consider that your warning, Piccolo. When she turns on you, don't say I didn't try to tell you about it." Having said that, he turned on his heel and walked out. "You all right, Tony, man?" Lucas asked as they all sat down again. "Yeah, I just can't take anyone talking any trash about Kyra." He sat down heavily and sighed. "She's the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'm not screwing it up. And I certainly ain't sitting back and listening to someone insult her." "Tony loves Kyra?" Dagwood asked. "I don't know, Dag," he answered honestly. "I certainly feel _something_ for her. Whether it's love or not, I don't know." Tim smiled at him. "Only time will tell for sure. You've been going out, what, nine weeks? You two haven't even hit New Year's together yet. Give it a little time. If it's love, you'll know it." "All I know," Tony said, "is that I'd do just about anything for her. Like I said, she's the best thing that ever happened to me and I ain't gonna screw it up." *********** On one May morning, several months later, Kyra awoke in Tony's arms, completely content, and kissed him softly. He responded by hugging her tightly, but didn't open his eyes. "Man," he murmured, "I'm glad neither one of us is really an officer." Kyra smiled. "Yeah. So am I." She rolled over and looked at the chronometer. She groaned when she saw the time and got out of bed. "Tony, it's nearly 07:30. Aren't you on-duty at 08:00?" He grumbled an obscene expression under his breath. She laughed lightly and hit him with a pillow. "C'mon, sleepyhead. You've gotta get up." She threw the pillow at him then dropped into a chair by her desk, starting to read something over. "Yeah, yeah. I'm up." Tony yawned and slowly got out of bed. He walked over to where Kyra was sitting and put his arms around her. "How come my mother needed at least half an hour to get me outta bed when I was a kid, but you only gotta tell me once?" Kyra was about to answer when her vidlink beeped. She grinned at him and answered it, still smiling. Her smile faded when she saw her sister Emma on the other end, looking extremely upset. "Em, what's wrong?" "Kyra, I..." Emma stopped suddenly. "Who's he?" "Emma, this is Tony, my boyfriend. Tony, this is my sister Emma." As Kyra made the quick introduction, each nodded politely. "What's going on, Emma? Is dad all right?" Emma took a deep breath and tried not to cry. "I don't know how to tell you this..." She broke off, giving way to tears. Kyra panicked. "What is it? What's wrong?" "Dad's in the hospital," her sister responded bluntly. Kyra looked as if she were going to collapse in shock, but Tony held her tightly. "What happened?" she finally managed to get out. "His heart's finally decided to give out on him." Emma's voice cracked as the tears started rolling down her cheeks again. "Kyra, I think he's waiting for you." Kyra took a deep breath. "I'll speak with Captain Bridger." The sisters smiled at each other as reassuringly as they could and cut their respective ends of the link. Kyra rested her head against Tony's chest and he supported her. He reached over and dialed the com link to Bridger. "Yes?" came Bridger's calm response. "Captain, I'm in Kyra's quarters." In his quarters, Bridger raised an eyebrow at his omission of rank. Tony continued, rushed. "I think you'd better come in here, Sir." Kyra was sobbing by this point. Hearing this, Bridger replied "I'll be right there." and shut his link. Several minutes later, there was a knock at the hatch. "C'min," Tony called. Bridger entered and found Tony and Kyra sitting on her bunk. He was holding her in his arms and she was still sobbing uncontrollably. Bridger quietly shut the hatch, walked over to the bunk and crouched down in front of her. "What's wrong?" he asked soothingly. Kyra started to answer, but was too choked up to say anything. She semi-gestured for Tony to tell him. "Well, Kyra's sister just called. Her father's in the hospital." Bridger put a reassuring hand on her knee. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Would you like a few days' leave to be with your father?" Her tears had subsided a little and she nodded. Tony indicated that he wanted to speak to the captain privately. Bridger nodded and gestured to the hallway. Tony softly kissed Kyra on the top of her head and whispered to her, "I'll be right back, sweetheart." He got up and followed Bridger out to the hallway. Tony shut the hatch and turned toward Bridger. "Sir, I was wondering...I mean, request permission to accompany CPO Martinez. She may need someone there for support." Bridger studied Tony's face for a brief moment and saw his genuine concern. "Permission granted, Seaman." Bridger then smiled slightly. "Take care of her, Tony. She'll need all the support you can give her." "I will, Sir. I care about her too much not to." *********** On the morning of May 13, 2022, Tony stood in a cemetery, holding a stoic Kyra in his arms as her father's body was lowered into the ground. She could barely hold back her tears as her father was returned to the earth from which he came. Several hours later, she was on a vidlink to Captain Bridger. "I need a few days so my sister and I can settle my father's estate." Bridger smiled reassuringly. "That should be fine. When should we expect you and Seaman Piccolo back?" "Tony's returning later today. I'll need until at least the seventeenth." "All right. We'll see you then. And on behalf of the entire crew, we're deeply sorry for your loss." "Thank you, Captain. I'll see everyone on the seventeenth." *********** Two days later, Emma and Kyra were sitting in their father's living room, going through a few of his things, with the news on the television in the background. Kyra's head shot up when she heard the reporter mention _seaQuest_. She quickly turned up the volume. "According to a spokesperson for the UEO, when _seaQuest_'s logs for the past two days hadn't come through to headquarters, numerous attempts were made to contact them. When there no response was received, several other ships were sent out to search. As of this point, nothing has turned up." Kyra dropped the remote, in shock. Emma quickly picked it up and shut off the television. She moved to her sister's side. "Tony." That was the only word that Kyra could even manage to whisper. "I'm sure he's fine. I'm sure they're all fine." Emma quickly tried to reassure her sister. "Maybe they're trapped in a sinkhole or something." Kyra barely heard her. She got up from the floor where she was sitting and walked to the nearest vidlink. She numbly punched in the code for UEO Headquarters. A young lieutenant answered. "Can I help you, ma'am?" Kyra quickly pulled herself together as best as she could. "My name is Chief Petty Officer Kyra Martinez CPO5061978, assigned to _seaQuest DSV 4600_. I am currently on a family emergency leave. I just heard that _seaQuest_ has been reported missing. Is there any way I can find out if there is any validity to this?" "Please hold for a minute." The lieutenant put her on hold. The call was transferred from one person to another, and each time, Kyra was forced to repeat her name, rank and explain the nature of her call. Finally, she was put through to the Secretary General's aide, Bryan Matthews. "How can I help you, Chief Martinez?" "I've been transferred so many times already and no one has been able to help me. I'm currently on leave from _seaQuest_ due to a family emergency. I just heard on the news that _seaQuest_ was reported missing. I have been attempting to find out the validity of this report." Matthews looked grim. "Unfortunately, the reports are true. _seaQuest_'s last known whereabouts are near the Tonga Trench in the Pacific Ocean." "Is there a possibility that they could be caught in a sinkhole near there?" Kyra attempted to sound hopeful. "I'm afraid not. We've had ships searching the area since their signal was lost and nothing has turned up. Even a sweep of the few sinkholes in that area hasn't turned up anything." He paused for a moment, then continued, business-like. "If you come in on Monday, you'll receive your new assignment." Kyra sighed deeply. "Yes, Sir," she replied numbly. "I'll see you on Monday." She somberly cut her end of the link, walked back to the living room and collapsed on the couch. She buried her face in her hands, unable to cry. "Oh, Tony. Where are you?" she whispered. Emma sat down next to her and put an arm around her reassuringly. "I'm sure Tony's fine, wherever he is. Didn't you tell me he lived in New York? If he survived living there, he'll be fine." Kyra smiled slightly. "Yeah. Tony'll be fine." But she didn't sound at all convinced of what she was saying. *********** END OF PART 1 -- To be continued in part 2-1 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) "Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite: "Fool," said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart, and write." - Sir Philip Sidney, "Astrophil and Stella" (1) "We gotta do something about this. It's like Chinese water torture." - Sgt. Richard Santoro ("Brooklyn South" 4/14/98) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage ("Ally McBeal") ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 20:46:50 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 2-1 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Part II - The Price of Love and War On May 14, 2032, Kyra went to the memorial dedicated to the _seaQuest_. She knelt before the spot where Tony's name was engraved and placed a single red rose on the ground, just as she had done every year on that very day. "Tony," she softly whispered as she lightly touched the memorial, "I've never forgotten you, my love." She remained there for a while longer, silent, until she noticed a shadow fall over her. She got up quickly and saw an older man standing there. "You knew someone on board _seaQuest_, too?" the older man said sadly. "I was a member of the crew, but wasn't aboard when it disappeared because of a family emergency." she replied, glancing at the memorial. "You must've known my son, then." "I'm sorry, Sir. Who is -- was your son?" Kyra had no idea who the man was who she was speaking with. "Lucas Wolenczak." Dr. Wolenczak suddenly looked very old and sad. "His mother and I had a huge argument the day _seaQuest_ was reported missing. She refuses to visit the memorial." Tears began forming in his eyes. "She won't even acknowledge that he existed in the first place." Kyra led him to a nearby bench. "Every day I pray he hasn't died and that he'll return home safely. My God, he's only a boy. If only I hadn't forced him onto _seaQuest_ in the first place. If only I had gotten to know him better. If only..." Dr. Wolenczak's voice broke and he began to cry. Kyra tried to calm him down. "Oh, God. If there were only some way I could take his place right now, wherever he is." Kyra softly tried to reassure him. "Dr. Wolenczak, I knew Lucas well. He was the little brother I never had. This may not make much of a difference now, but I served with Lucas for both tours he was aboard. He wasn't happy at first, but I can truthfully tell you that _seaQuest_ had become like a home to him. He loved being there. Granted, it was an adventure a minute and at his age it'd be difficult to deal with, but he handled it with much more maturity than most people twice his age." Dr. Wolenczak smiled ruefully at her. "Thank you. It means so much to hear you say that. Knowing that makes the pain a little easier to bear." He rose and extended a hand to Kyra. "You've done so much and I appreciate it, but I don't even know your name." "Lieutenant Kyra Martinez, but I was a CPO when _seaQuest_ disappeared." Kyra stood, taking his hand. He took her hand in both of his. "Thank you, Lieutenant Martinez. I only pray that your grief will be lessened as time passes." "Thank you, Dr. Wolenczak, and I hope the same for you." Dr. Wolenczak nodded and, after taking one last glance at the memorial and gently touching the place where Lucas' name was engraved, walked away. Kyra once again knelt before the memorial. "Oh, Lucas. You'd waited for so long to hear those words from your father. I can't believe it took so long for him to say them." A slight hint of anger came into her voice, tears welled up in her eyes. "He couldn't even say it when you were around. He had to wait until you were gone. I feel for him, but I would've liked to hit the bastard for the pain he caused you. "Miguel, mi hermano, adonde vas? Why did you leave me? You promised you'd be there when I needed you, but where are you now? You'd be proud of me, Miguel. I made it to a Lieutenant junior grade. I earned that one in battle. Even with all my injuries and everything, they still gave me the promotion. You'd always said I could do it, I just didn't believe you. "I can't believe that you're all dead. I can't make myself believe something that isn't true. Something in me keeps telling me that you're still alive. Someday you'll return -- all of you -- and I plan to be here, waiting." She heard a sound coming from the ocean behind the memorial and looked up in time to see a small pod of dolphins leap into the air. "It's a sign of good luck," she whispered. "You hear that Miguelito? The dolphins are jumping. Maybe our luck's gonna change. I get the feeling all my years of dreaming and wishing haven't been in vain, at least not completely." Kyra stood up and looked out into the ocean. The same ocean Tony had fallen in love with after a few short months on board _seaQuest_. The sun was just beginning to set and the colors it reflected on the ocean reminded Kyra of the time she and Tony had watched the sunset on the beach. He'd told her that the light of the sunset on the water reminded him of her wavy auburn hair. "But it's nowhere near as beautiful as you are," he'd said. Kyra hugged herself tightly, trying to remember the feel of Tony's arms around her. "Why'd you leave me, Tony? Why? These past ten years have been pure hell. One of my co-workers, Lieutenant Harper, has helped tremendously. He's been such a great friend, but no matter how much he wants to, he can never, ever replace you. No one ever will. When I told you I was yours forever, I meant it. Come back to me, baby." Kyra was crying by this point. "Please, Tony. I need you. Don't leave me here alone. Please come back to me." *********** Four months later, Kyra was sitting in her office in UEO Headquarters when Lieutenant Alex Harper walked in. Kyra, we need to talk." "What's up, Alex?" she said, looking up from the blueprints sitting on her desk. "You know how much I care about you, right?" "Alex, we've been through this before. You know how much I care about Tony. I can't give up on him being alive..." Harper sighed deeply and cut in, "Kyra, they found _seaQuest_ -- in a cornfield in Iowa." "What?!" Kyra's eyes opened widely and her jaw dropped. Her mind started racing, blocking out whatever Harper was saying to her. '_seaQuest_! How on earth?! How did it... Tony! Tony must be alive! If _seaQuest_'s back, then the crew must've returned with it! But how did it end up in Iowa? Iowa's a landlocked state. There isn't a major body of water nearby.' Finally, she focused in on what Harper was saying. "...I don't know if I could stand it if you were reassigned to _seaQuest_ again, Kyra. I know you'd been hoping to find Tony alive again, but chances are, he might not remember you or anything that you've shared. Do you really want to take that risk?" "Alex," she said gently, getting up and walking around her desk to stand in front of him, taking his hands in hers. "You know that I consider you a friend. But I made a promise to Tony a long time ago when I told him that he had my heart forever. Forever doesn't have any conditions attached. Miguel was also on board _seaQuest_ when she disappeared -- along with many other people I was close to, not just Tony. Captain Bridger, Lucas, Darwin, Tim, Dagwood, they were all on board as well. I need to know that they're all safe." Harper's eyes saddened as he realized that she was truly serious about returning to _seaQuest_. Sighing, he released her hands and turned away from her, towards the door. "Then go back to _seaQuest_. If that's what will make you happy, then that's what you need to do." Then he left. Kyra shook her head, frustrated. Then she remembered what he'd said about _seaQuest_'s return and dashed out of her office and into that of her superior and close friend, Commander Christine Layton. "Chris,Alex just came into my office and told me that _seaQuest_ has been found. Is it true?" "Yeah, Kyra, it is. And before you ask, yes, the majority of the crew has been accounted for." "The majority?" Kyra became worried that Tony hadn't returned. "Do you know who _has_ returned?" "Relax, you'll be able to find out for yourself." The commander had a smile on her face. She was glad to be the one to give her friend the news. "The results of your recent physical have come in and it appears that you're well enough to be reassigned to active duty -- on _seaQuest_." "You're kidding!" Kyra nearly shouted. Commander Layton raised an eyebrow and Kyra instantly calmed down, returning to her professional demeanor. "I mean, thank you, Commander. You don't know how much this means to me." "I think I do. You've certainly talked about it enough. Oh, go and get your things together. _seaQuest_ should be at the dock in a few hours." Kyra nodded and ran out of the room, ecstatic. Commander Layton laughed and continued with her work. *********** Kyra stepped onto the dock and saw _seaQuest_. She smiled as some of the memories started to flood her mind. She'd gotten so lost in her memories that she hadn't heard the footsteps of someone coming up behind her. "This is a restricted area, lady," a familiar voice said. Kyra whirled around and saw Tony standing behind her, Lucas and Dagwood standing a little behind him. Kyra smiled slightly as Tony grabbed her around the waist and spun her around. "Kyra," he breathed, before he sent her on the ground and kissed her. "Tony," she sighed and slowly slid her arms around him, somewhat hesitantly. He held her more tightly as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I knew you'd come back." After a few minutes, Tony released her and she hugged Lucas and Dagwood in turn. Looking around, she asked, "Where's Miguel? I thought he'd be here with you guys." Lucas and Dagwood looked down uncomfortably and Tony put his arm around her and held her gently. "I...we...don't have good news for you, sweetheart." Lucas softly broke in. "Miguel didn't make it back. I'm sorry, Kyra. I know how close you two were." Kyra remained stoic, although her expression grew sad. Enough people had died around her within the past ten years that she'd become almost numb to the aftermath of death. This surprised Lucas and Tony. They'd expected her to completely break down, considering how close she was to Miguel. Tony gestured to Lucas and Dagwood to give him some time with Kyra. Lucas nodded and practically dragged the curious GELF away. Tony looked at Kyra, deeply concerned. "Are you all right? I mean, Miguel was as close as a brother. . ." "I'm fine. For now, I'm just anxious to get back on _seaQuest_. Besides, I'm really happy to see you. You don't know how long I've waited for this." Tony shrugged and the two of them walked towards _seaQuest_ so they could help get ready to leave port. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 2-2 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) "Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite: "Fool," said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart, and write." - Sir Philip Sidney, "Astrophil and Stella" (1) "We gotta do something about this. It's like Chinese water torture." - Sgt. Richard Santoro ("Brooklyn South" 4/14/98) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage ("Ally McBeal") ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 21:47:18 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 2-2 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Here's more of CT! Enjoy! (BTW, I got my room for next year!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Several months later, both Lieutenants Jim Brody and JJ Fredricks were gone. Tony leaned on Kyra for support as she remained as stoic as the day she learned of Miguel's untimely demise. Tony grew very concerned about Kyra's "sudden" lack of emotion. One day, they were sitting in Kyra's quarters when Tony decided to bring it up. "Kyra, you all right?" "Yeah. I'm fine. Why do you ask?" "I don't know, you've been actin' kinda strange since we got back. You're almost a completely different person than you were before." Out of nowhere, Kyra got very upset at him. "Dammit, Tony. A lot of things have happened to me over the past ten years - a lot of things I couldn't even begin to describe to you. Did you know that I had to be cross-trained as a Spectre pilot because there was a shortage towards the end of the war with Macronesia?" she said forcefully. Tony shook his head. "No, but only because you never told me." "Well, I was. They said something about my having the right 'attitude' for it - that I didn't let the wrong emotions take over during battle. I trained with Fredricks, y'know. She was being trained on a newer model than she'd initially learned on and I was just starting from scratch. Thank God whatever I learned as an engineer helped me to catch on quickly." She paused for a moment, beginning to pace, her voice trembling as she tried, in vain, to control herself. "They said...they said I had the right balance of rage and courage. That it was...it was the right combination for a Spectre pilot." Tony sat there, surprised. When he finally regained the slightest ability to speak, he whispered, "My God, you're startin' to act like Kimura." Rage flashed across Kyra's face and she slapped Tony across the face as hard as she could. "How _dare_ you compare me to her! We're nothing alike!" Tony again spoke in a whisper, barely able to find his voice. "You've both had to endure losing people you care about." Kyra could barely control her anger. She didn't know what else to do, so she did the first thing that came to her mind. "Get out!" She was screaming almost at the top of her lungs. "Just get the hell out of here." "Kyra," Tony pleaded. "Sweetheart. . ." "I said, get out," she said through gritted teeth. Tony looked at her sadly and got up off the bunk. He reached for Kyra, who had gotten up and moved away from him in her fit of rage, to put his arms around her, hold her and comfort her. She backed away and pointed toward the hatch. Tony dropped his arms, defeated, and left. As soon as the hatch shut, Kyra's defenses completely broke down. She collapsed onto the bunk, dropped her head into her hands, and began to cry. Her sobs were so loud that she didn't hear the hatch open. Tony hurried in as soon as he heard her begin to cry. "Oh, baby. It's okay. C'mere. . ." He sat down next to her and gathered her in his arms. Kyra buried her face in his shoulder, still crying. Tony gently stroked her hair and reassured her. He softly kissed the top of her head and held her tightly. Her tears slowly subsided. Still choking back a few tears, Kyra began apologizing to Tony. "I'm sorry, honey. I don't know what came over me. I guess I just got really upset when you compared me to Kimura, of all people." "Ssh. It's okay. You don't have to apologize to me." Tony held her close. "You don't have to apologize for anything -- ever." *********** One day, Kyra was sitting alone in the galley, having dinner. She sat there picking at her food and thinking about Tony. She ended up so lost in her daydream that she didn't notice Kimura approach. "May I sit, Lieutenant?" Kimura's voice had a gentle tone no one had ever heard before, but the expression on her face was still harsh and cold. When Kyra heard the slight difference in Kimura's voice, she quickly broke out of her daydream. "Yeah, sure, Commander. Have a seat." Kimura sat almost on the edge of her seat, as she was known to do most of the time. "I couldn't help noticing you and Warrant Officer Piccolo." "Tony's such a sweetheart ." Kyra's voice took on a dreamy tone. "I really care about him so much." "Then it's no wonder your life-bond with him is so apparent." "Our life-what?" Kyra looked extremely confused. "Life-bond. It is the most harmonious state two lovers can achieve. Sometimes the bond is so strong it can unite two people into one." Kyra thought she saw a hint of a smile on Kimura's face. "And you believe that Tony and I have this?" Kyra was slightly unbelieving. "Yes, I do." Kimura plainly stated, then continued warningly. "But you must be careful." "What do you mean? Why?" "When a life-bond is formed between two people, their spirits almost always mold into one. When one person feels pain or is injured, the other can feel it -- and just as intensely." Kimura lowered her voice. "There have been legends of the life-bond causing death. When one has died, the other feels they cannot go on, so they too succumb to the same fate." "Why are you telling me this?" Kyra grew wary at Kimura's warnings. Kimura's tone of voice returned to normal and for perhaps the first, and last, time since she arrived on _seaQuest_, a look of concern crossed her face. "I am only trying to warn you. These forces can be intensified even more due to Warrant Officer Piccolo's psi ability." Then, as quickly as it came, the concern vanished and the hard edge returned to her manner. She stood up and faced Kyra. "I'm only warning you for your own safety, as well as his. We work in a very dangerous occupation. One never knows how things are going to change from one minute to the next. Be careful." With that said, Kimura left Kyra to ponder her warning. *********** Several days later, Hudson sent Kyra, Tony and Kimura out on a training run. Since Kyra was the fighter pilot most familiar with UEO technology, she was to help the two of them to catch up. Halfway through the training run, the three fighters were ambushed by the Chaodai. Despite her Chaodai training, Kimura's fighter was hit in in a propulsion unit and was forced to return to _seaQuest_. "Speak to me, Mister Piccolo. How are things looking out there?" Hudson stood with his arms folded, his face expressionless. "Doesn't look good, Sir." Tony was sweating profusely inside his fighter, attempting to maneuver out of the line of fire. "We're pretty much surrounded out here. Kyra, behind you! Pull up!" Over the sonar they could see a subfighter closing in on Kyra. She quickly maneuvered out of the way. Tony had been so busy looking out for Kyra he hadn't noticed the fighter on his tail. As she spoke to Hudson, Kyra quickly moved between Tony's fighter and the enemy, catching the torpedo before it hit its intended target -- Tony's fighter. "Lieutenant? How do things look to you?" Hudson began pacing. Kyra answered him hesitantly. "I'd have to agree with Piccolo, Sir. Things don't look too..." Her radio signal cut out. "What the hell happened?" Hudson demanded sharply, turning to O'Neill. "I don't know, Sir. Her signal should be transmitting." O'Neill sounded worried. Suddenly the whole Bridge could hear Tony screaming. "Kyra! What the hell's going on? Kyra, where are you?" Tony sounded more afraid than anyone had ever heard him before. "Sir, her subfighter's gone. Lieutenant Martinez seems to have vanished." Lucas looked over from his station. "So have the Chaodai. The only subfighter detected in the area is Piccolo's." Hudson sighed. "Call Mister Piccolo back. I want to see him and Lieutenant Commander Kimura in the wardroom in ten minutes." Ford nodded. "Yes, Sir." He exchanged glances with O'Neill and Lucas as Hudson walked briskly off the bridge. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 2-3 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage (Ally McBeal) "To conquer others is to have power. To conquer yourself is to know the way." - Lao Ma, "The Debt II" (Xena: Warrior Princess) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 18:52:37 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 2-3 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Now y'all can find out what happened to Kyra! (And can stop accusing me of a cliffhanger!) All the disclaimer info is in the msg I sent before part 1-1, in case you forgot! Enjoy!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tony knocked on the wardroom door. "Come in" came the reply from inside. Tony hesitantly entered, still extremely concerned about Kyra. He weakly saluted Hudson, who motioned to a chair. Tony sat across from Kimura. "What happened out there?" Hudson seemed not only curious, but also slightly angry. "I was afraid of this, Sir." Kimura's guard was slightly let down as a hint of concern came into her voice. "Afraid of what, Commander?" "The Chaodai are still attempting to retrieve me. They don't want to give up a fighter pilot that easily." "So that's what this whole thing was about? It was their attempt to get you back?" Hudson asked angrily. "I don't know about that, Sir," Tony interjected. "It's almost like they knew who they were going after. Almost like they knew which fighter was Kyra's." Then realizing his slip-up, he quickly corrected himself. "I mean, Lieutenant Martinez." "I think the Chaodai somehow know that I am still alive and that I did not die on board my fighter when they torpedoed it." "Then if they knew you were alive," Hudson angrily said, "then why didn't they go after your fighter and take you in?" "I don't believe they knew it was me. They know that I am still alive, but perhaps not that I am a fighter pilot on board _seaQuest_." Kimura stated matter-of-factly. "I believe that the Chaodai may have taken Lieutenant Martinez as a POW and may attempt to trade my life for hers." Tony finally broke. He forgot about protocol, jumped to his feet and began pacing as he spoke. "What? You can't mean...no. I refuse to believe that. Kyra is too good. There's no way the Chaodai could have captured her. She was trying to stop them from firing at me, but probably crashed somewhere on the ocean floor. Maybe she's hiding in a trench somewhere 'til she's sure it's safe. We've gotta go out there and find her!" "Mister Piccolo." Hudson began admonishing him sternly. "Calm down." Tony looked at him, the expression of a lost five-year-old on his face, then sat down. He looked like he was about to cry as Hudson continued. "We have to explore all possibilities. We _will_ search the ocean floor, but we have to be prepared in the event that the Chaodai have captured her." Tony nodded. Hudson noticed how upset he was and quickly turned to Kimura. "You're dismissed for now, Commander. However, I'll need to speak with you about negotiations with the Chaodai, should they be necessary." "Yes, Sir." Kimura saluted sharply and left. Tony dropped his head into his hands and began trembling. Hudson's expression softened as he tried to empathize with the young man. "I know this must be hard for you, seeing as how you're so close with the Lieutenant." Hudson sat next to Tony and tried to be as comforting as he possibly could. Tony looked at his captain, pure grief in his eyes. "This is _extremely_ difficult for me, Sir. Kyra, I mean, Lieutenant Martinez, " he quickly corrected himself, realizing he was speaking with Hudson, "is the only woman I've ever truly loved. I don't know if I could ever make it without her." Hudson spoke gently. "We'll do everything we can to make sure she makes it back to you, Mister Piccolo. I assure you of that." *********** Meanwhile, in a Chaodai prison, Kyra was given less-than-accomodating quarters. It was so small and cramped that Kyra could barely stand up straight without hitting her head. Two Chaodai officers came in and dragged Kyra out of the cell. They'd been doing this every six hours since her capture a week before and she'd long given up the struggle to break free. Something inside her felt like it had broken, yet there was this unseen strength holding her up. They dragged her into a room and roughly strapped her onto a table. The officers left to stand guard outside the door. A doctor said something to his nurse. Kyra couldn't tell understand what was being said because it wasn't a language she was familiar with. 'Where's Tim's language skills when you need 'em?' she thought. The doctor injected an opaque liquid into her bloodstream. As Kyra's consciousness began to fade, she mentally reached out for the one person she knew she could trust. "Tony, my love, never forget..." Her thought went unfinished as she succumbed to the forces of the darkness. *********** An hour later, she regained consciousness and found herself back in her miniscule cell. She sat up and a wave of nausea hit her. She crawled over to the bucket which was meant to serve as her toilet and vomited. She heard snickering from the Chaodai guards. Kyra turned as quickly as she possibly could without getting sick again, and glared at them. One soldier turned to his companion and quietly said something to him. Kyra couldn't understand the words, but assumed it had something to do with her because the soldiers kept glancing at her. The second soldier left and the other soldier walked over to Kyra's cell. There was something familiar about him, but through the haze in her mind, she couldn't quite place where she'd seen him before. He looked her over as he punched in the code to open the cell bars. 'Oh, God. What is he doing?' Kyra instantly panicked. 'Please, God, don't let him be thinking what I think he is.' Her worst fears were confirmed, however, as he stepped into the cell and approached her. He touched her hair, then roughly pulled him toward her and kissed her. Kyra pulled away and delivered a knee to his groin. The soldier doubled over in pain for a moment, but quickly recovered. He glared at Kyra then lunged for her again. He slapped her and threw her to the ground. He knelt down in front of her and started kissing her again. Kyra struggled to get away, but whatever the Chaodai had been testing on her made her too weak to continue to put up any kind of fight. Finally, she's "forced" to succumb to the violation. As the soldier tore at her clothes, Kyra screams inside her head, 'Tony! Tony, I need you! Help me! Oh, God, no! Not again. . .' *********** On _seaQuest_, Tony was sleeping fitfully in the quarters he shared with Lucas. He suddenly started screaming. "Kyra!" Lucas heard Tony's yelling and jumped down off his bunk. He leaned over and gently shook him. "Tony. Tony, wake up, man." Tony gave a strangled cry, but didn't wake up. Lucas continued to try to wake him, but was still unsuccessful. He quickly stepped over to the nearest com link. "This is Ensign Wolenczak. I need a med unit in my quarters, now. Warrant Officer Piccolo seems to be having a siezure of some sort." Lucas shut the link and walked back to Tony. He looked extremely worried. "C'mon, Tony. Wake up. Quit scaring me like this." *********** Kyra was lying on the ground of her cell, her clothes torn. She was alone by this point and the guard who violated her was off-duty. She curled herself into a ball, her knees to her chest, as she struggled to regain some sense of control. Her body shook violently with every sob that escaped from her. Kyra was never one to be scared, but at this moment, she was more scared than she'd ever been in her entire life. Between the experimental testing and the treatment shown her by the soldier, Kyra's strength, both physically and mentally, were slowly diminishing. Despite this, Kyra's only thoughts were of Tony. She knew that if she ever managed to get out of this alive, she wouldn't take their relationship for granted as she had been since the _seaQuest_'s return from wherever it had been. Tony still wouldn't tell her where they'd been and this had caused some arguments between them. Kyra now regretted them and thought about how much she'd rather be on _seaQuest_, in the arms of the man she loved, rather than stuck in a cramped cell. In another room, the doctor was watching Kyra on a monitor. The camera was inside the cell on a wall behind her. It's positioned so that no matter what Kyra does, they can see her. As the doctor watched, he took some notes on a pad of paper. He knew about the violation and from the look on his face, it looked almost as if he condoned the action as a part of the research. He motioned to an assistant and said a few words to her. The associate nodded, walked over to a guard and whispered quietly to him. The guard walked in the direction of Kyra's cell as the doctor and his assistant entered the testing room. Kyra was still tightly curled up in a ball, sobbing, as the soldier entered. He motioned to the other guard to open the cell and help him get her to the testing room. The other guard nodded in compliance and they dragged Kyra into the testing room to endure what looked like it might be her final test. *********** Several hours later, after Tony's brief nightmare episode, he was walking down a corridor, chatting with Tim. He suddenly put his hand to his head, in pain, and collapsed to the deck, unconscious. Yet another medteam was summoned to aid Tony and rush him to MedBay. Doctor Perry looked him over and was extremely puzzled. She approached Tim, who was anxiously waiting for news. "Lieutenant, what exactly happened?" "I don't know. We were just walking down the hallway, talking. Out of nowhere, he grabbed his head, almost like he had a headache, then collapsed. I couldn't tell you anything else." Tim's face mirrored his concern. "Is he going to be all right?" Doctor Perry shook her head. "I don't know. I can't find any explanation as to why this might have happened. All of his vital signs are normal, with the exception of a slight increase in his heart rate and a slight change in his brain waves. However, it isn't irregular enough to cause him to become unconscious like that." "It's the life-bond," came a voice from behind Tim. He turned around and saw Kimura standing behind him. "That is the only thing that could have caused this if there is no biological evidence otherwise." "What are you talking about?" Doctor Perry sounded exasperated. "Look, I don't have time for this..." Kimura quickly cut her off. "I am trying to give you a possible explanation as to why this is happening. The Chaodai believe in what is called a life-bond. When a life-bond is formed between two people, their spirits become one. When one of them feels any sort of pain, the other feels it, sometimes just as intensely, although they don't experience a lot of the same symptoms." Doctor Perry looked extremely impatient. "What does this have to do with Piccolo?" "I believe that Lieutenant Martinez and Warrant Officer Piccolo have a life-bond. However, their particular life-bond is intensified somewhat due to Piccolo's psi ability. Whatever is happening with Lieutenant Martinez right now, Piccolo is feeling and it is causing a similar reaction." "Is there anything we can do?" Tim's voice wavered as he spoke. "All that can be done is to monitor his progress, and make sure he knows that everyone is there for him. Maybe those feelings will transfer over to the lieutenant and once she manages to relax, wherever she is, Piccolo should be able to return to normal." "Well, I'm pulling him off-duty for a couple of shifts, just to make sure he's really okay. If you'll excuse me, I need to inform Captain Hudson." Doctor Perry walked over to Tony, checked his vital signs, then moved to the com link to call the Bridge. The air between Kimura and Tim was tense, but neither of them would let that show. "Do you think he'll be all right?" he said to her. Kimura looked towards Piccolo, her body still rigid, but her eyes revealed her inner sadness. "I don't know, O'Neill. Only time will tell." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 2-4 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, so now you know what happened, but the question now is, will they be able to rescue her from the Chaodai? The story is far from over, folks... :) (You've still got parts 3-5 to go!) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage (Ally McBeal) "To conquer others is to have power. To conquer yourself is to know the way." - Lao Ma, "The Debt II" (Xena: Warrior Princess) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html Date: Sat, 02 May 1998 12:48:50 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 2-4 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Sorry this is late... Part 3-1 is coming up in a couple of minutes. Promise :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two weeks later, another soldier entered Kyra's cell, also alone, He knelt in front of her sleeping form, looking at her. He quietly whispered to her, softly enough that it wouldn't wake her. "My cousin Will asked me to come and find you. He said something about his friends on _seaQuest_ missing you." He injected a sedative into her bloodstream as he looked around carefully. The soldier gently picked her up and she stirred a little, but didn't wake up. "If Will hadn't asked, I never would have been able to do this. Helping you is the only way I can help myself as well. Hopefully the sedative will let you rest until I can get you to safety." He carried her through the hallways, nearly undetected. The one time he was stopped and questioned, he remarked that he had his orders and was not in a position to question them. He got to a shuttle and gently strapped her in, trying not to jostle her too much. He then set his course for the UEO border. Quickly scanning his sonar for _seaQuest_'s location, he spotted it just on the other side of the border. He quickly opened a channel and attemped to hail _seaQuest_. Suspiciously scanning for Chaodai fighters, he was surprised when he didn't see any in the vicinity. He continued to attempt to contact the UEO flagship. *********** "Captain, we're being hailed." Tim called out to Hudson. "Who is it, Lieutenant?" Hudson responded, exasperatedly. "The only other ship in the area appears to be a Chaodai subfighter, Sir." Lucas answered for him. "Put it on-screen, Mister O'Neill." Hudson ordered, standing from his chair. "Aye, Sir," Tim responded and typed in a code. Several seconds later, an image of a Chaodai soldier, somewhere in his mid- to late thirties appeared on the screen. "Identify yourself," Hudson dmenaded. "My name is Lieutenant Commander David Shan. I am hereby requesting political asylum in the UEO. I also believe that I have a UEO citizen that was being held captive by the Chaodai." Klaxons began ringing on the _seaQuest_ bridge, signaling approaching subfighters. "Please, I need your immediate assistance." "Fire a grapnel torpedo and haul her in." Hudson rose from his chair. "Ensign Wolenczak, you and I will go to the Docking Bay and 'greet' our refugee." "Yes, sir." Lucas rose from his seat and began walking towards the Docking Bay. "Commander Ford, you have the conn." Hudson quickly walked off the Bridge. *********** Hudson and Lucas entered Launch Bay as the fighter docked. The shuttle airlock cycled open and Shan stepped out, a woman in his arms. A medteam rushed to him and took the woman from his arms. "Kyra!" Lucas exclaimed when he saw her, stopping himself from rushing her to MedBay himself. The medteam gently placed Kyra on a stretcher. One of them quickly looked her over. "She's unconscious, Sir. Judging solely by how things look, there may be trauma to the brain, but I'm not sure how severe just yet." "What are you doing standing here, telling me this?" Hudson barked. "Get her to MedBay right now!" The tech, out of fear, quickly ordered his team to rush Kyra to MedBay. They leave hurriedly, trying not to incur further damage by jostling her around. "Ensign Wolenczak," Hudson turned to him after the medteam had left. "Sir?" Lucas stood at attention. "I want you tell Mister Piccolo that Lieutenant Martinez has been returned to us and is in MedBay." "Yes, Sir." Lucas looked anxious to give Tony the good news, but waited, seeing as how he hadn't been dismissed yet. "Anything else, Sir?" "No. That will be all. I'll see the Lieutenant Commander to his quarters. Dismissed." *********** Lucas ran into the quarters he shared with Tony, only to find him lying on his bunk, staring at the bottom of Lucas' mattress, as he was known to do since Kyra's capture. "Hey, Tony!" "Hi." Tony said nothing more. He'd become somewhat quieter and introverted of late. This concerned much of the crew who knew him well. They were so used to seeing Tony joke around and make numerous wisecracks that his recent quiet, withdrawn ways worried many of them. "Guess what! We've got Kyra back. . ." Lucas said excitedly Tony cut him off. "What?" He jumped up, temporarily forgetting he was on the bottom bunk, and hit his head. "Ow! Whaddya mean 'we've got Kyra back'? This better not be some sort of sick joke. . ." "I'm not joking, Tony. She's in MedBay right now. She's unconscious. . ." Lucas trailed off as Tony ignored the last part of what he'd said and started running blindly to MedBay. Tony ran into people left and right. He muttered hasty apologies as he continued running towards MedBay. He entered, breathless, and stopped short when he saw her. It seemed that Doctor Perry had her linked up to every machine imaginable. "Oh, God." Tony instantly choked up. "Oh, baby, what'd they do to you?" There were bruises on every part of her body that he could see. Her lower lip was swollen and she had two black eyes. Her right arm was in a cast extending from her shoulder to her fingertips. She was hooked up to a respirator, an EEG, and a heart monitor. An IV machine was behind the headboard, feeding various medications into her bloodstream. Doctor Perry came in, looking extremely worried. When she saw Tony by Kyra's bedside, she quickly hid her worry in an attempt to reassure the young warrant officer. She walked toward the machines and started checking them. "Hello, Tony." She tried to sound as cheerful as she possibly could. "Hi, Doctor Perry. What's. . . what's wrong with her, really?" Tony took one of Kyra's limp hands in his and looked at Doctor Perry expectantly. "We're not quite sure yet, Tony. She's suffered some trauma to her brain, but we're not sure quite how much yet." Tony looked as if he were about to cry. "What. . . why. . . how did she. . ." He broke off as a tear slowly slid down his cheek. "Our only guess is that it happened while she was a prisoner of the Chaodai. But we can't be sure until she regains consciousness." Doctor Perry glanced at several of the machines, continuing to check their readouts. "Well, is she just unconscious or. . ." Tony struggled to regain his composure. "She's comatose right now, Tony. Most likely due to the brain trauma. I'm not sure how soon we can perform the tests necessary to find out for sure. Her injuries are quite extensive." Doctor Perry took one last look at one of the machines and turned to leave. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a look at her blood sample again. Something seemed slightly off last time." She nodded to Tony and left. Tony looked at Kyra sadly. He was still holding her hand and looked like he was about to cry any second. "Oh, Kyra. What did they do to you?" He rested his head on the bed for a moment then softly kissed her hand. He looked at her beaten, swollen face. "Dammit, Kyra. What'd you have to go and do something like that for?" Tony couldn't hold back his feelings any longer. But instead of sadness, the pain took on the form of rage. "Goddamn it, girl! What the hell did you think you were doing out there? Your life is _not_ worth risking for me. But you did -- and look where it got you. Don't you _dare_ leave me, Kyra Martinez. I swear, Lieutenant, if you leave me..." The anger finally subsided and Tony started sobbing uncontrollably. Through his tears, he managed to whisper, "I love you, Kyra. I'm not ready to let you go. Not yet, anyway." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 3-1 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage (Ally McBeal) "To conquer others is to have power. To conquer yourself is to know the way." - Lao Ma, "The Debt II" (Xena: Warrior Princess) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html Date: Sat, 02 May 1998 12:50:13 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 3-1 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Part III - Silent Screams Hudson and Doctor Perry were standing outside MedBay. "Is there anything we can do for her, Doctor Perry? This is beginning to affect my entire crew. They're all concerned over Piccolo's well-being, as well as Lieutenant Martinez, and I don't want it affecting their performance while on duty." Doctor Perry nodded, understanding what Hudson was getting at. "We could move her to a UEO-sanctioned hospital, but if we do that now, it may end up killing her. She's too fragile to be moved and any sort of movement could prove fatal." "What exactly is wrong with her?" "As far as we can tell, Captain, she's severely bruised and in a coma, most likely due to the trauma inflicted upon her brain. When she does regain consciousness, she may have temporary amnesia and minor paralysis, but that would be mainly due to shock. She also has an unidentifiable toxin in he bloodstream." Doctor Perry paused, not sure of how to continue. "There's also another aspect which I'm afraid to tell Mister Piccolo about." "What would that be?" Hudson asked. "Perhaps I can tell him." "I'm not sure he'd take it too well coming from anyone, Captain. During the examination I found some evidence of what appeared to be a sexual violation. Unfortunately it was confirmed in her blood test." "Are you saying that she was raped?" Hudson couldn't hide his shock. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." Doctor Perry paused and glanced back into MedBay where Tony was still sitting with Kyra, and was still crying. "They've both endured so much over the past couple of months. Let's just hope that Piccolo can be strong and help Martinez get through this." Hudson nodded sadly. "I think the only question is, will she make it through this alive?" *********** The next day, Kimura entered MedBay and found Tony sitting by Kyra's bedside yet again. "You haven't neglected your duties, have you, Mister Piccolo?" Tony turned quickly and saw her. "No, Commander, I haven't. I got off-duty a half-hour ago and came right down here to be with Kyra." Kimura nodded and for the first time since she arrived onboard _seaQuest_, she looked worried. "Piccolo, I..." Tony looked at her curiously. "Yeah, Commander?" Kimura pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tony. "I have a feeling I know what might be keeping Lieutenant Martinez in this state." "You knew and you didn't tell Doctor Perry?" Tony quickly stood up. "You've got to tell her, now." "It's not something Doctor Perry can take care of." Kimura said, softly. Tony looked surprised and sat down as she continued. "You may be the only one who can bring her out of her unconscious state." "How? I'll do anything." He looked at Kyra, his eyes starting to fill with tears. "I'd do anything for my angel." "Then you have to be strong. She needs your strength to help her pull through." "How..." Tony's voice faltered. "How can that help her?" "You and Lieutenant Martinez share something that very few people do. There is a special bond between you that keeps you together. It is what many cultures, including the Chaodai, call a life-bond. My parents..." Kimura's voice broke off for a moment. She quickly recomposed herself and continued. "My parents had that kind of a bond. That's why the Chaodai had them die together. They were trying to escape from the tyranny that is the Chaodai nation. Chaodai policy called for the extermination of anyone seen as a probable threat to the nation." She paused for a brief second, then continued, disgusted. "They wouldn't kill a woman if she was within childbearing years, because she could be used to breed more soldiers -- as a sort of repentant act. It's the Chaodai version of "community service". " She shuddered at the thought, her voice conveying her anger. "What exactly are you trying to say, Commander?" Tony interrupted, sounding thoroughly confused. "I'm saying that if you believe that Lieutenant Martinez will pull through and you convey that belief to her, she will survive. You must believe it within the very depths of your soul, or else she will sense it." Tony glanced at Kyra then looked back at Kimura. "Are you sure it'll work?" Kimura nodded slightly. "My mother saw my father give up hope that she would live. I saw the look in her eyes. It wasn't only the nanoexplosives that destroyed her, it was my father's lack of faith as well." She rose and placed a reassuring hand on Tony's shoulder. "Just keep the faith and she will return to you, just as she was delivered from the hands of the Chaodai." He nodded softly and Kimura left him alone with Kyra. He gently took a hand in his and sat there with her. The only thing breaking the silence was the hum of the machines surrounding Kyra, now keeping her alive. *********** Lucas, like Tony, had also been taking his turn sitting at Kyra's bedside. When Tony couldn't be there, mostly because he was on-duty, Lucas was. He'd resolved that he would do everything he could to help Kyra come back, thus he was as vigilant in his visits. One day, as Tony was leaving for bridge duty, Lucas came in. "Hang in there, man. Kyra's gonna pull through. She's one tough lady." Tony nodded slightly and left. There was something missing in Tony for a while and everyone had noticed it. While he was happy that Kyra was back, there was still a sense of hopelessness that surrounded him that she would never truly come back to him. Lucas sat down next to Kyra. "Hey there, Kyra. How's everything? Y'know, we all miss you around here - even Darwin is starting to miss you." He laughed nervously. "You think I'm kidding? Dag's the one who told me - and you know Dag." He took a deep breath. "Kyra, you should see how Tony's been. He misses you so much. He hasn't exactly been himself. Seeing you like this is starting to tear him up inside, I think. He needs to feel that you're somewhere inside that gorgeous body of yours. No, really. You are beautiful, Kyra. Hell, if you weren't spoken for and almost like a sister to me, I'd be going after you myself. But that's besides the point. He needs to know, Kyra. I think he knows you love him, but he feels like you're about to leave him -- for good. I'm just guessing about his feelings, but that's how he looks. "Damn, girl. You're breaking everyone's heart around here - not just Tony's. Since Brody and Fredricks are gone, you're the _only_ one I can turn to. Even Dag's getting a little depressed -- and have you ever seen him depressed? It's not a pretty sight, let me assure you. None of us want to sit here and watch you leave us. I don't think anyone here is quite ready for that." Lucas forced himself not to cry. "Kyra, please. Come back to us, if only to ease our hearts. But you need to come back most of all, for Tony, the man who's fallen completely head-over-heels in love with you." By this point, Hudson had relieved Tony of duty for the day, mostly because he was too depressed to remain on duty and he'd arrived in MedBay to hear the last part of what Lucas had said to Kyra. He walked up behind Lucas and put a hand on his shoulder. Lucas jumped and turned around, his face showing relief when he saw who it was. "Hey, Tony. Everything okay?" Lucas stood up slowly. "Yeah. Hudson took me off-duty for the rest of the day. Said somethin' about me bein' too depressed to stay on the Bridge." Tony hesitated for a second before continuing. "I, uh, heard what you said to Kyra," he said softly, taking Kyra's hand. "Which part?" Lucas looked even sadder as he continued to keep his eyes on Kyra. "The last part. The part where you were begging her to come back. Tony took his eyes away from Kyra long enough to look at Lucas. "Yeah, well, I figured she needed to hear it. . ." Lucas said sheepishly. "Luke, I know that wasn't your reason. I heard it in your voice. Everyone 'round here knows how close you and Kyra have gotten since Ortiz...Hell, even _I_ know. I couldn't even start to count how many times she told me." He smiled faintly at the memory. "What you said meant a lot to me and I'm sure it meant a lot to Kyra. Havin' you around can be a real pain sometimes, kid, but now, well, I'm glad you're here." Tony let go of Kyra's hand and extended his hand to Lucas. They shook hands for a second and almost impulsively, Tony hugged him. "That's for my Kyra. You're the little brother she never had and let me tell ya, she treasures that immensely." "She's pretty much been the only family I ever had. I wouldn't give that up for anything." He glanced at the chronometer on the wall. "Oh, shoot. I'm on-duty in a couple of minutes. You gonna be okay?" Tony nodded and Lucas stepped over to Kyra's bedside and kissed her softly on the forehead. "Keep in mind what I said, sis. We all need you here." He stood up straight, gave Tony one last reassuring nod and dashed off to the Bridge. Tony sat by Kyra's bedside and again took her hand in both of his. "I'm here, angel. I heard what Lucas was saying to you. Guess we're both lucky to know him, huh? "As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. I don't think anyone here is ready to let you leave -- especially not me. I'm certainly not ready to let you go. Not now and certainly not ever. I love you, my Kyra." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 3-2 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage (Ally McBeal) "To conquer others is to have power. To conquer yourself is to know the way." - Lao Ma, "The Debt II" (Xena: Warrior Princess) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html Date: Sat, 02 May 1998 22:53:55 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 3-2 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Well, considering that people were asking me what happens to Kyra, I figured I'd send this part out tonight :) And if you can guess which part of this section's my favorite, well...then you're just a good guesser (And yes, this section's my favorite of the whole story...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He sat there silently for several hours, hoping that there'd be some change. Finally, he looked up, tears in his eyes. "I don't know if anyone's listenin' up there. Um, it's been a while since I've done this. I'm not even sure what I should say. "Kyra means the world to me, but I'm sure you already know that. She, um. . ." Tony stumbled over the words, barely able to speak. "Having her here with me would mean more than life itself, y'know? I love her. I really do. I never felt this way 'bout anyone before and it's both scary and great. Scares the hell outta me that I can feel so strongly about someone. Never thought it'd happen. Please, if _anyone_ is listenin' up there, please send my Kyra back to me. I'm not sure if I can make it without her." He looked at her still-bruised face with tears in his eyes. He bent his head and softly kissed her hand. "I love you, Kyra," he whispered hoarsely. Tony hadn't noticed Tim enter and stand behind him. "How is she?" he asked softly. "There hasn't been any change yet." Tony looked up at Tim, still looking as if he were about to cry. "I heard you praying, Tony." Tim looked almost admiringly at his friend. "Sometimes it's the best thing you can do." "D'you think anyone was even listenin'?" Tony sounded wary and uncertain. "You'd be surprised what's been heard, Tony. I'm sure Kyra heard you, too. It's been said that if you talk to a person in a comatose state, they can hear you." Tim tried to reassure him. "Really?" Tony thought for a second and then it was as if a lightlbulb went on in his head. He kissed Kyra's hand and stood up. "Could you stay here with her for a minute? I gotta run to my quarters." "Sure," Tim replied, somewhat puzzled. "Thanks." He kissed Kyra's hand one last time, then dashed out. "I have _no_ idea what he's up to," Tim said to Kyra. "But he is hurting. Don't mistake that sudden burst of energy for happiness. He's miserable without you, Kyra. Do us all a favor and come back. We're all starting to miss the way he used to be. Hard to believe, huh?" Tony ran back into the room with his hands full. He'd brought back not only a radio, but some CDs and a keyboard with some sheet music. "Tony, what are you doing?" Tim looked confused. "You said that she could hear me. Then what's to say she can't hear music?" Tony set up the radio by her bed. I borrowed Kyra's radio from her quarters. I didn't think she'd mind." Tim shook his head in disbelief as Tony stacked some CDs next to the radio and put one in. Within a few seconds, the X-Files theme was playing. "This one's always been her favorite," Tony explained when Tim shot him a puzzled look. "I've got all of her favorites here. I figured it'd help." "Who knows, Tony?" Tim patted him on the shoulder as he started to walk out. "Who knows?" Tony sat next to the bed, just letting the music play. When it ended, Tony shut off the radio and turned on his keyboard. "Remember this thing, Kyra? You got it for me on my last birthday -- after you found out I could play. Well, I never really used it," he said, gently touching they keys as if every one held some part of her. "I thought I'd try and put it to good use now. I'm nowhere near as good a singer as you are, but I remember how you and I used to do a pretty good duet of this one." Tony started playing and said softly, "You should remember this one -- "All I Ask of You". Y'know, from 'Phantom', the shore leave I'll always think of as our first date." He started singing softly at first, but his voice got stronger as he continued. "I'm here, nothing can harm you - my words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears. I'm here with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you." Tony could swear he heard Kyra's voice somewhere off in the distance, continuing the song as she'd done so often, so he continued playing. "Say you love me every waking moment, turn my head with talk of summertime. Say you need me with you now and always. Promise me that all you say is true - that's all I ask of you." Doctor Perry entered the room to check on Kyra and to her surprise, found Tony softly singing to her. 'Piccolo can sing?' she thought incredulously. She smiled and quickly exited, leaving them alone. He smiled at hearing her voice and continued singing, feeling Kyra's presence in the room more strongly than he had before. "Let me be your shelter, let me be your light. You're safe, no one will find you - your fears are far behind you." "All I want is freedom, a world with no more night...and you, always beside me, to hold me and to hide me." Tony remembered their duets of the song when at this point Kyra would always put her arms around him and hold him tightly. "Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Let me lead you from your solitude. Say you need me with you here, beside you, anywhere you go, let me go too..." Tony's voice broke off, but he continued playing. He wanted those words to be true more than anything else in the world. Suddenly he heard Kyra's voice in his ear, almost in a whisper. "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Say the word and I will follow you. Share each day with me, each night, each morning. Say you love me..." Tony picked up the line in his mind, putting forth all his heart could bear to put into the one line. "You know I do." Then, feeling Kyra's presence in his heart, he continued, hearing her voice blending with his. "Love me - that's all I ask of you. Anywhere you go, let me go too. Love me - that's all I ask of you." He sighed deeply as he played the last chords of the song. He took her hand in his and rested his head on it. He softly kissed it and started crying. "I've never been one to beg, you know that, but I'm begging now. Please come back to me, angel. I need you here beside me." He looked up again. "I know that I'm supposed to be projecting my strength through this life-bond thing, but it's so hard. For the first time in my life, I don't know if I've got the strength. I know she needs me, but I'm not sure if I can make it. I love her so much, but. . ." He stopped abruptly and looked at Kyra's still form. "I just don't know if I'm really the one who can help her." He rested his head on the bed and fell asleep. *********** A short while later, Tony thought he heard Kyra talking to him. He picked his head up and looked at her. She hadn't moved. The machines kept their steady pace. "Kyra?" he said quietly. "I'm here, Tony," said a gentle voice in his mind. "It's me, baby." "Kyra, sweetheart. . ." Tony's eyes gained a light quality missing since Kyra's capture by the Chaodai. "Ssh. Don't say anything out loud. Just talk to me in your mind. They might think you're crazy otherwise." "As if they don't already think I'm crazy," he jokingly said. "Honey, I know you're doubting yourself right now. . ." she started. "You mean you heard all of that?" "Yeah, I did. You'd be amazed at what I've heard - not only from you, but from Lucas and Tim -- and Dagwood. He mostly just says 'hello', though." "So Tim was right. You can hear me." Tony sounded amazed. "Yes, I can." I know you're doubting a lot of things right about now. . ." Kyra said slowly. "What's _not_ to doubt anymore? You don't seem to be getting any better. It almost feels as if you don't want to come back to me -- to any of us." "Oh, honey. Don't talk like that. I'm trying to get back. It's a lot harder than you think it is. Just do one favor for me." "Anything, my angel. You know I'd do anything for you." "Just keep believing and being there. Knowing that helps me fight just a little harder. I wanna make sure I've got something to come home to." "I'm not gonna leave you, my Kyra. I promise." Tony smiled. After a few moments, all he heard was one of Kyra's favorite songs by Celine Dion, "My Heart Will Go On". Still smiling, he reached over and gently touched her cheek. "I can feel you here with me, angel. As long as you won't give up, neither will I. I swear to you, as long as I can feel you with me, I won't give up hope that you'll come back to me." He leaned over and gently touched his lips to hers. "I love you, Lieutenant Kyra Martinez. I've loved you from the moment I first laid eyes on you and I will love you until the end of time. My Kyra, this is one promise I never intend to break. I swear to you, if we make it through this and I can ever find the courage, I intend to ask you to be with me forever. So please, baby, hurry back. Without you here, I doubt I'll ever have the courage to ask, and I don't think I'd ever be able to love anyone else enough to say those words to her. Come home, my darlin' Kyra. Come home to everyone here who misses you and loves you." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 4-1 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti Oh, and before I forget to mention it, "All I Ask of You" *isn't* mine...that's from "Phantom of the Opera". Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (man's a musical genius, let me tell you!) and lyrics by Charles Hart. Everything else is mine, except the typos -- those belong to the stress that is slowly taking over my life :) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage (Ally McBeal) "To conquer others is to have power. To conquer yourself is to know the way." - Lao Ma, "The Debt II" (Xena: Warrior Princess) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html Date: Mon, 04 May 1998 09:23:22 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 4-1 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu I'm sending this out now 'cause I know that I'm gonna be working on my paper tonight (as well as watching Ally McBeal & Brooklyn South, of course...assuming that BS is even on!) Note: any and all typos are due to the inane amount of stress I'm under... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part IV - Demons Tony sat by Kyra's bedside in MedBay as he had been doing for the past several weeks. She was showing signs of improvement, but they were minimal. She had, however, been taken off the respirator several days earlier because she was breathing on her own, although had not regained consciousness. His head was resting on his hand, which was still holding hers, when he felt a slight movement coming from her. He quickly looked up and saw that she had opened her eyes. "Oh, my God," he whispered and reached for the com button. "Doctor Perry! Kyra's awake!" he quickly said into the intercom then leaned over Kyra. He gently caressed her hair and kissed her forehead. "Oh, baby. I was starting to think you'd never come back to me." Kyra looked at him, and replied, confused, "Who are you?" Doctor Perry rushed in and immediately begain checking monitors and shutting them down as soon as she was sure they weren't needed. She finally finished and smiled at Kyra. "So, how're you feeling, Kyra?" "Who are you? Where am I?" Kyra looked extremely confused and frustrated. Doctor Perry replied, seemingly unfazed, "I'm Doctor Perry and you're aboard _seaQuest_." "Who's he?" Kyra asked, sounding almost scared as she stared at Tony. "This is Tony Piccolo, your boyfriend," Doctor Perry replied calmly. "Boyfriend?" She giggled. "How can I have a boyfriend? I'm only seventeen. My parents won't even let me date yet! They barely let me hang out with Miguel and he's practically my brother!" She paused, looking around. "Where is Miguel, anyway? I need to talk to him." Tony looked at her sadly. "Miguel's not..." Doctor Perry quickly cut him off. "He's not here. I believe he's out somewhere at the moment." Tony shot the doctor a surprised look, but the look the doctor shot back shut him up immediately. "Probably out with the guys again, I guess." She laughed. "Ah, mi Miguel. Yo espero que no esta causando problemas. Lo siento," she apologized, smiling. "I'm sorry. I tend to start speaking Spanish without even realizing it sometimes." Tony fought back the tears he wanted to shed. He loved Kyra so much, yet now, when she needed him most, there was nothing he could do for her. She'd remained so stoic, so calm throughout many tragedies, yet now, when she needed him to be calm, he couldn't. " 'scuse me," he said, quickly leaving the room, not wanting Kyra to see the pain he was in. He walked to his quarters and collapsed on the bed. At that moment, he let himself go. He began to cry for all the time he'd lost with Kyra - for the arguments because of his own inane stubbornness. He cried for those ten years they'd lost, even though the cause was beyond his control. However, his greatest heartache was that he could do nothing for Kyra now, except stand by and watch helplessly. *********** Hudson sat in his office, going throught the drudgery of paperwork. He jumped when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he said briskly. Tony entered the room and saluted. "Sir." Hudson could see the pained look in his eyes and could tell he'd been crying. "At ease. Is everything all right?" "Lieutenant Martinez is awake, sir." Hudson smiled slightly, but sobered when he saw Tony's solemn look. "I thought you'd be happier about it, Piccolo. You've got your girlfriend back." Tony tried not to burst into tears again. "Not really, sir." Hudson gestured to a chair and Tony sat down. "What's wrong? She is all right, isn't she?" Hudson pulled up a chair and sat directly across from him. "I don't know, Sir," he started slowly. "She's awake, but thinks she's only seventeen. She thinks Ortiz is alive and out with friends or something." He stopped and shut his eyes tightly, his face looking even more pained. "She still looks really bruised and I have no idea what's really wrong with her. Doctor Perry won't give me any details and...and..." His voice faltered as tears started falling down his cheeks. He dropped his head into his hands and his shoulders shook as he fought to control the tears. "You're assuming the worst." Hudson softly finished. Tony lifted his head and looked at Hudson. He nodded, unable to speak. Hudson reached for the intercom and dialed MedBay. "Doctor Perry?" "She just went off-duty, Sir." Doctor Kathleen Richardson's voice came over the com-link. "Is there anything I can do to help you?" "I would like to know how Lieutenant Martinez is doing." "She's sleeping at the moment, but I can check her records. Excuse me for one moment." Hudson glanced reassuringly at Tony, who was still trying to get a handle on his emotions. "Captain?" Richardson said a few moments later, "Her bruises are healing much more slowly than they normally would, possibly because of the still unidentified toxin we found in her bloodstream. However, her arm is healing at the normal rate and that should be fine within a day or two. We checked her over to find out if there was any sort of paralysis, seeing as how it's common in traumatic situations, in essence, paralysis due to shock. There was no response from the waist down, but I highly doubt that it's permanent. Once the shock wears off, she should be fine..." There was a pause as she consulted the charts. "She has what's called traumatic amnesia, of which retrograde amnesia is a part. The retrograde amnesia is probably what is causing the age regression. This is most likely due to both the brain trauma and any traumatic experience she encountered while being held by the Chaodai." "Is that all, Doctor?" Hudson asked, noting a tone of something unsaid in her voice. "Let me look at the chart again." There was a brief pause and they could hear the rustle of papers as Richardson looked them over. "Oh, yes," she said after a minute. "One last thing. She checked out negative for any STDs." Tony, who'd been looking down at his hands, looked up in shock. Hudson saw this and quickly ended the conversation. "Thank you, Doctor Richardson. I'll check on her progress again later." "Aye, Captain," Richardson replied and cut the link. Hudson looked directly into Tony's eyes which were slowly filling with tears. "She was. . . Kyra. . ." Tony could barely form the words as he struggled with his emotions. "She was violated by a Chaodai soldier. All the examinations done point to it." He paused, then stood up straight. "I thought Doctor Perry would have told you." Tony remained silent, letting Hudson's words sink in. Once they did, an expression of rage crossed his face. He slowly rose to his feet, each word he spoke punctuated with more anger. "If I ever get my hands on that bastard!" he screamed. "He's gonna pay for what he did to my Kyra and thensome. Nobody hurts someone I love and gets away with it!" Hudson stood up, put his hands on Tony's arms and pushed him down into the chair. "Getting angry and screaming is not going to solve anything, Mister Piccolo. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about that soldier. Lieutenant Martinez likely didn't know him and by now he's gotten away with it. The only excuse the Chaodai would give would be that they have no knowledge of the incident. You're not going to accomplish anything by going off in a rage. It's not going to help her any if she sees you like this." "She doesn't even remember me, Sir," he replied helplessly. "I can't do anything for her if she doesn't know who I am." "You can be there for her and support her. She'll come around in time." Hudson paused briefly, then continued in a more sympathetic tone. "I was considering pulling you off-duty for a few shifts, but I think you need to get your mind off of all this. You'll be able to see things more clearly later on if you let your mind focus on something else for a while." Tony looked at Hudson, seemingly lost. "Why don't you go back to your quarters and rest," Hudson gently suggested. "Don't go to MedBay. You'll only disrupt things right now. Go rest and make sure you're on time for your next shift." "Yes, Sir." Tony replied flatly. There was no hint of emotion in his voice. "You're dismissed, Piccolo," Hudson said as Tony quietly stood up. After weakly saluting Hudson, he left, looking like a defeated man. Hudson sighed and sat down in his chair. He thought for a few minutes, then reached over to the vidlink and punched in a code. Secretary General Thomas McGath's image appeared on the screen after a minute. "What can I do for you, Captain?" "Mister Secretary, I'm sure you're well aware of the situation that recently occurred with the Chaodai." "Yes, Captain. However, they are now denying that the incident ever happened." "Damn," Hudson muttered under his breath. "Just as I thought." McGath continued, "We _are_ looking into the incident. . ." "Mister Secretary," Hudson cut in as politely as he could, "a member of my crew was captured and was a prisoner of the Chaodai for several weeks and once returned, remained in a comatose state until this morning." McGath nodded, trying to take it all in. Hudson continued. "According to my medical staff, Lieutenant Martinez's mental state has regressed seventeen years. Doctor Richardson is attemtping to discover the exact reason for this age regression, what caused this amnesia, but has had no luck so far. Unfortunately, this is also beginning to affect the performance of at least one of my crewmembers out of concern for her well-being." "Well, Captain, the only thing I can suggest is to recommend that one of our psychologists discuss this with Doctor Richardson and that may be able to help Lieutenant Martinez. As for your crew, I'm afraid that's your concern. There is nothing I can do about that." "I understand, Sir." "You can expect Doctor Martin's call sometime within the next few days." "Thank you, Mister Secretary. I appreciate it." Hudson cut the link and sank down in his chair. He could only hope that Piccolo could hold out until then. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 4-2 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti Any requests for info on whether Kyra regains her memory will be ignored... I'm not giving *anything* away... ::evil grin:: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage (Ally McBeal) "To conquer others is to have power. To conquer yourself is to know the way." - Lao Ma, "The Debt II" (Xena: Warrior Princess) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html Date: Tue, 05 May 1998 19:15:23 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 4-2 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Doctor Richardson was sitting with Kyra in MedBay. She'd made some progress in restoring Kyra's memories over the past week, but could not get past her nineteenth birthday. For some reason, she'd had an easier time restoring the memories from the time Kyra was seventeen up until her nineteenth birthday, but couldn't get beyond that. Kyra was in a state of hypnosis as Tony quietly walked in. Richardson motioned for him to be quiet and he nodded in consent. "Now, Kyra. How old are you?" "I'm turning nineteen tomorrow." Tony was about to say something, but stopped himself, knowing it would only hurt Kyra, having been admonished at least once before. She recognized him now, but only as a comforting friend, rather than as her lover. He sat next to the bed, ready to reassure her that she was all right, should he need to. "Are you doing anything special?" "No, not really. Miguel, a few of our friends and I were going out to dinner tonight." Tony had been somewhat confused by the fact that Kyra would switch from future to past tense so quickly, but Doctor Richardson explained that it was all a part of the memory recall. "That sounds nice. So, what else happened that night?" "We had a pretty nice dinner, except for the fact that Miguel embarrassed me by having the waiters sing 'Happy Birthday'. Of course, what's even _more_ embarrassing was that it was in my favorite restaurant." She was laughing by this point. "I don't think I can ever go back there without dying of embarrassment!" "What happened after dinner?" "Mark drove me home." She smiled. "Normally, Miguel would've taken me home, but he knew that I had a huge crush on Mark and decided to have him drive me - as a birthday present." "That's really sweet of him." "Yeah," she replied wistfully. "So was it a nice car ride? I mean, did you enjoy yourself?" Tony shot Doctor Richardson a warning look. Richardson's expression simply said that she needed to do what she was doing to restore Kyra's memory. "Yeah, but he didn't drive me home right away," she replied, puzzled. "Really? Where did you go?" "He took me to an old, abandoned warehouse parking lot. He parked the car and shut it off." She stopped abruptly. "What is it, Kyra? What's happening?" "Oh, God, no!" She began screaming and crying uncontrollably. "Madre de Dios! Ayudame! Ayudame!" She was screaming alternately in Spanish and in English. Tony looked at Richardson helplessly as he took Kyra in his arms and tried to soothe her. Richardson nodded and brought Kyra out of the hypnotic state. Kyra clung to Tony, sobbing uncontrollably. "Ayudame," she barely managed to whisper. "No quiero morir." *********** "That's what she said." Tony and Richardson were with Tim, trying to understand what Kyra had been saying. "She said, 'Madre de Dios. Ayudame.' ?" "Yes. What did she mean? What was she saying?" Richardson bit her lower lip, trying to understand. "Well, 'Madre de Dios' means 'Mother of God' and 'ayudame' means 'help me'. I'm guessing that she was calling out to the Blessed Virgin for help." Tim speculated. "What about the 'no quiero morir' part? What does that mean?" Tony pressed. Tim thought for a second, then his expression saddened. "She was saying, 'I don't want to die'. " he replied quietly. Richardson put a hand to her mouth, shocked, while Tony simply sat there, stoic. "Oh, my God," Richardson whispered. She quickly calmed down. "Thank you, Lieutenant. If you'll excuse me, I need to update Kyra's charts for when I speak to Doctor Martin." She stood up. "It's my pleasure, Doctor," Tim replied, also standing. "Anything I can do to help." Richardson quickly left and Tim turned towards Tony. "You all right?" Tony didn't say anything. He just stared blankly into space, his expression betraying his sadness, although he was trying not to cry. Tim put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Tony?" he said gently. He looked directly into Tim's eyes as his own filled with tears. They spilled out onto his cheeks in a release of emotion. "What did I ever do to be cursed like this? Kyra's the only woman I've *ever* loved and now she's being taken from me." Tim sighed softly. "You've gotta believe there's a higher good that will come out of this." "Yeah, what?" he replied bitterly. "Maybe your relationship with her will be strengthened." "How, Tim?" Tony was slightly exasperated. "She doesn't remember *any* of the time she's spent with me. We've really only been together for a few months, but you and I spent _ten_ damned years on another planet! Before any of this happened, Kyra told me she'd been faithful to me the entire time. _All ten years._ So really, we've been together for over ten years -- and now she can barely remember me!" "Tony, if you're there for her just as she needs you to be, she'll remember that. She needs you to help her get through this. It can only help your relationship. Don't worry. In time, she will remember and you'll be together." "You think so?" Tony looked hopeful. "Yeah." Tim smiled at him. "I do." *********** Tim, Ford and Henderson were sitting in the mess hall when they saw Tony hurry in, grab something to eat, then leave again in the direction of MedBay. "Has he left her side since she started these sessions?" Henderson asked. Ford glanced in the direction in which Tony had left. "No, not even to sleep. Hudson had Perry pull him from duty for medical reasons, just so he could be with her." "Talk about favoritism," Henderson said bitterly. "Tony's not the only one worried about Kyra." Tim sighed deeply and turned to Henderson. "Tony's pretty shaken up by this whole thing. Besides, if what Kimura claims is true, then they need Tony to be there during the sessions to help Kyra remember." "What did I claim, Lieutenant?" Kimura asked as she came up behind him. "That Tony and Kyra have a life-bond and if Tony is able to project his strength through it, Kyra will get better," Tim replied as Kimura sat down. "What?" Henderson and Ford said simultaneously. Kimura quickly explained and recognition finally dawned upon the both of them. "I'm guessing that's why Hudson had Tony pulled from duty," Tim said softly. "Exactly," Kimura replied. "Having him there not only helps her in that she trusts him, but it helps him to be a little stronger." She grew quiet as she continued, her voice very sad. "There's also less interference from any "outside forces". Those forces tend to be more dangerous since they block a person's main sources of strength - just like the Chaodai did to my mother and father. They had about five or six known psychics present and blocking the life-bond because my parents' bond was unusually strong, like they'd been together in another lifetime." She stopped, looking like she was going to cry, but quickly pulled herself together. "So they figured it'd be better to have Piccolo close by so it'd help Lieutenant Martinez heal quicker." The others noted Kimura's brief moment of sadness, but said nothing. "I can't believe how loyal Tony's been, though," Ford commented. "You'd expect that he'd have gone after other girls by now," Tim shook his head. "Then you obviously haven't noticed how much he really does love Kyra. He'd do *anything* for her." *********** Tony lay in the bed next to Kyra's that had been set up for him. The sessions Doctor Richardson had conducted were becoming more exhausting - not only for Kyra, but for him as well. Now he understood what Kimura meant by the life-bond. He'd felt all of Kyra's happiness and pain as she relived it. Doctor Richardson had worked on helping Kyra fully reconstruct the events of the night of her nineteenth birthday. Somehow she'd managed to get past Kyra's screaming fits to find out what had happened. Tony had felt everything just as strongly as Kyra was remembering it. He remembered feeling not only his jealousy, but the happiness Kyra had felt when Mark kissed her. Then he remembered having to fight to stay strong as Kyra began screaming for help. He wanted to reach out to her and hold her, but Doctor Richardson shook her head. She later explained that it would have inhibited Kyra's memory from returning. While she had allowed it before, her conversation with Doctor Martin had changed her mind. Kyra's screams died down after five minutes, then she recounted what had had happened. Mark had forced himself on her and had threatened to kill her if she hadn't gone along with it. So she had, many times calling out to the Blessed Virgin for help. Finally, her prayers were answered as Miguel found them. Tony sensed her relief as Miguel had pulled Mark off of her and had hit him numerous times before bringing Kyra home. It turns out she had become pregnant and had miscarried. Tony slid off the bed and stood by Kyra's beside. Doctor Richardson gave her a strong sedative to help her rest. He took a hand in his and softly kissed it. "My poor baby. My darling Kyra," he whispered. "I'm not gonna hurt you like that -- ever. I promise. I love you, honey." *********** Five days later, Doctor Richardson had made tremendous progress with Kyra, following many of Doctor Martin's suggestions. She had recalled everything up until the day she'd met Doctor Wolenczak at the memorial. Lucas had been present when she talked about it and had nearly burst into tears. He'd never had the chance to know this and had even refused to go to his father's funeral after he died in a shuttle accident, thinking his father didn't care. Kyra now realized exactly who Tony was, but thought she was hallucinating every time she saw him standing at her bedside. Doctor Richardson still hadn't been able to reach the point where she'd learned of seaQuest's return. She hesitated in reaching out to him, thinking he was an apparition, that he had really left her. Tony sat next to her bed, as usual, when he heard her crying. "Kyra, sweetheart?" He got up and stood by her bedside. "What's wrong, honey?" She didn't acknowledge that he'd said anything, still believing it was all in her mind; that he really wasn't there. "Oh, Tony," she whispered, trying to fight back her tears. "I thought I was going to die when you disappeared. Eventually, after the memorial service, I thought I'd be able to put you out of my mind and somehow forget about how much I really loved you. "But it hasn't happened, Tony. As much as Alex wants me to be with him, I can't. I can't forget the love we've shared - the love that has always been so precious to me. If only I could understand why you're still in my heart and why I feel you as strongly now as I did when you walked on this earth. "Oh, God, baby. I miss you so much. Instead of missing you less every day, I only miss you more. I wish there were some way I could be with you -- wherever you are. I love you, Tony Piccolo. I always will." Kyra then turned onto her side and went back to sleep. Tony stood beside the bed, unmoving, in utter shock. He could hardly believe the words he'd just heard Kyra speak. He was finding out so much in helping her to recover her memories - so much that he'd taken for granted. He now understood so much more about Kyra than he thought he ever thought he would. He bent over and softly brushed her cheek with his lips. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 5-1 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti Any requests for info on whether Kyra regains her memory will be ignored... I'm not giving *anything* away... ::evil grin:: (You'll find out soon enough!) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "The world is no longer a romantic place. Some of its people still are, however. And therein lies the promise." - John Cage (Ally McBeal) "To conquer others is to have power. To conquer yourself is to know the way." - Lao Ma, "The Debt II" (Xena: Warrior Princess) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 14:33:38 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 5-1 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu I'm feeling generous today, so I'm sending out the rest of the story :) Enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part V - Recovery "Damn, Kyra, why can't you remember?" Tony's frustration was beginning to mount even higher. "I don't understand it, honey. You came back to me, but in a way, you didn't. Physically, you're here -- but mentally, I think you're still off wherever you were." He sighed deeply and began pacing around the small room. He clasped his hands behind his head and looked up. "What's goin' on here, huh? Why is this happening? Yeah, I know that you heard me & gave me my Kyra back, but did it have to be like this? She's barely who she used to be. I'm not sure if I even remember her like this." "That's because you're seeing what you didn't get to see over those ten years we were gone," a voice said softly from behind him. Tony turned quickly and saw Tim standing behind him. "Hey, Tim," he said in relief. "How do you know that?" "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Tim said, looking over at Kyra. "Try me," Tony responded, sitting by Kyra's bedside. "You'd be surprised at what I'd believe these days." Tim sighed deeply. "Okay, here goes." He paused for a second before continuing. "I, um, talked to Miguel," he answered quietly. "No, really, Tim. How do you know?" Tony said, thinking that Tim was joking, until he realized that his friend was serious. "What...How..." "He, uh, just kinda showed up in my quarters," Tim answered. "It's really strange to see your best friend like that. He said that they've still got him on Hyperion, but they were being nice enough to let him contact me. Go figure." Tim sounded wistful. "So, what'd he say about Kyra?" Tony interrupted impatiently. "He said that you seeing Kyra like this was meant as both a punishment and a gift," Tim said, crossing over to the other side of Kyra's bed and taking one of her hands in both of his. Kyra stirred, but remained asleep. "What's that mean?" "Well, the punishment is because you and Kyra had started taking each other for granted. It had to be so drastic a punishment for both of you to open your eyes. Plus, Kyra still had a lot of demons from her past that she needed to confront." "So what's supposed to be so good about it?" "Besides Kyra conquering her demons? You'd been saying that you barely know her after all these years, so now you're getting the chance to find out what happened to her." "Yeah, but like this?" Tony shook his head in dispair. "Did he say anything else?" "Only that you should keep an eye out for her because she's got a rough road ahead and is going to need you to get through it. That's all. He told me that he misses everyone and to give them his love. Then he was gone." Tim sounded a little sad. "I've gotta run, Tony. Hudson'll have my hide if I'm late for duty." He leaned over and softly kissed Kyra on the forehead. "That's from Miguel, Kyra. Vaya con Dios, mi hermana," he said quietly, then left. Tony watched him leave, then turned back toward Kyra and gently caressed her cheek. "I love you so much, baby." She stirred and opened her eyes. "Tony?" she whispered. "Yeah. Yeah, angel, it's me." Tony gently caressed her hair and smiled at her. "Tony, I. . . I remember." "Remember what?" "Everything. I remember everything. . . well, almost." "Almost?" "Yeah, almost." She smiled at him. "I can't remember any of my high school geometry class except that the teacher I had for half a year was a moron." Tony grinned at her. "You really remember everything?" he asked as he put his arms around her. "Yeah," she replied softly. "But I can't remember what happened after the battle with the Chaodai except that I was captured. I barely remember how I got back here." Tony held her tighter. "You don't hafta think about that now, okay? Just get some sleep." "But, Tony, I. . ." "Don't you start with me. You get some sleep and I'll be right next to you. I promise. I'm not goin' anywhere." She smiled at him as he lay on the tiny bed next to her, holding her as close to him as he could. *********** The next morning, Hudson entered MedBay and found Tony and Kyra in each other's arms, awake and talking quietly. Hudson smiled, then cleared his throat, not wanting to interrupt too abruptly. Kyra sat up and after looking around for a minute in confusion, smiled at Hudson. She saluted as well as she could. "Good morning, Captain Hudson, Sir." "You remember who I am?" Hudson walked up to the bed just as Tony was making the effort to sit up. "Yes, Sir, I do. Last night, I had this sudden. . . revelation. As if time had somehow caught up with me, or I'd caught up with time or something." She smiled brightly. "I felt like an angel had come down from Heaven and given me my life back." She leaned against Tony. "It's as if somehow, someone knew how much I really wanted to be with Tony." Hudson saw the look of pure joy in Tony's eyes as he gazed at Kyra. He also saw the way her eyes danced as she spoke Tony's name. Hudson smiled at the both of them. "I'll let you two have some time to yourselves. . . and Mister Piccolo --" "Yes, Sir?" Tony was nervous, as well as curious, as to what Hudson wanted. "Please debrief Lieutenant Martinez as to what happened during her. . . absence." Tony looked confused for a moment, but when he saw the smile on Hudson's face, he relaxed and grinned. "Yes, Sir," he replied, happy to follow an order for the first time in his life. Hudson nodded and left MedBay, shutting the blinds to the windows. Tony grinned at Kyra. "I guess I'm supposed to. . . debrief you. Captain's orders." "Can't disobey a superior officer, now can we?" she murmured as Tony took her in his arms. "No, we can't," he replied as he gently pushed her back onto the bed, kissing her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be continued in part 5-2 :) copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti Okay? So now you know what happened to her...or is that it? There's another part left to the story, and there's already a sequel in progress, so...by no means is this the last you're gonna see of Tony & Kyra :) (Or should it be? Could use some feedback here...) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such." - Henry Miller ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 14:34:29 -0500 (EST) From: "Vincenti, Michelle" Subject: "Chasing Time" Part 5-2 Sender: owner-tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu To: tales Cc: Katerina , mecate , Larie Stoley , PaxtnKrieg Reply-to: tales@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu One month later, Kyra sat in MedBay with both Doctor Perry and Doctor Richardson. They were checking her over to see how her recovery was progressing. "Well, you're doing very well, Kyra." Doctor Perry smiled at her while Doctor Richardson went over her chart. "I made a promise to Tony and I'm not about to break it. Besides, I wanna make sure he keeps that promise he made to me while I was. . . out of it." Kyra smiled brightly, her natural color beginning to return to her pale skin. "We found out what the difference in your blood samples is." Doctor Richardson looked up from the chart. "It appears it's some sort of biological waste. It's not doing any harm, nor does it appear that it ever will, so that's a good sign. It should leave your system within a few months. Branched DNA such as this generally isn't all that much of a problem." "Just like Scully," Kyra murmured quietly. "What?" Lucas said as he entered. "You making more trouble, Kyra?" "No, of course not. Not me. What would make you think that?" Kyra smilingly shot back. "I know you too well, Lieutenant." Lucas stood beside where she was sitting and leaned against the chair. "So, what's the prognosis?" "Well, I'm going to live, so that means hands off the vid-disks, little brother." She playfully hit him in the arm. "And what are you doing here, anyway? I thought Tony would be here." "He would've," Lucas replied, "only he and Tim were waiting for a delivery coming into Launch Bay. So he asked me to come and see how you're doing. Guess I can tell him that you're giving everyone a hard time." "No, just you, Lucas." Kyra grinned at him. "She was fine until you entered, Ensign." Doctor Perry admonished him teasingly. "I'd say any change she endured over the last few minutes would be due to your entrance." Kyra started laughing hysterically. Once she calmed down, she reached out for Lucas' arm. "Help me get back into bed, would you?" "You still haven't regained full use of your legs yet?" Lucas sounded worried. "Well, Doctor Richardson's got me doing some physical therapy, so it's a lot better than before. Remember, I _was_ paralyzed from the waist down up until a week ago." "Paralysis due to shock," Doctor Richardson explained. "You should regain your full faculties within another month or so." Lucas helped Kyra to stand up and when she was partway to the bed, she felt herself being swept off her feet. She turned her head and saw that Tony had picked her up and was holding her. "Tony!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing?" "I've always wanted to be able to sweep a girl off her feet," he joked. He brought her back to her bed and gently laid her down. "Figured you wouldn't mind," he said as he sat on the edge of the bed near her. "Not at all." She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "I'm glad you're here." "So is everything okay?" Tony looked concerned. "Yeah. I should be back at one hundred percent in a month or so, according to Doctor Richardson." Both doctors approached the bed. "Are you okay, Kyra? Do you need anything?" Doctor Perry asked. "No, I think I'm all right. Thanks." Kyra smiled and the doctors left. Tim, who'd entered with Tony, gently cleared his throat and motioned to Lucas that they should leave Tony and Kyra alone. Lucas walked over, hugged her and promised to visit her later. Then Tony was the only one left in the room. "So, what's up?" she asked. "Nothing much. I'm so happy that you're doing better." He reached behind him on the bed and then handed her a single red rose. "You weren't holding this when you came in," she said, astonished. "Actually, I was. Tim had it. He gave it back just before he left." Tony smiled and reached into his pocket. "I've got something else for you," he said and handed her a small box. "Tony!" She rolled her eyes, then opened the box. Inside lay a gold necklace with a pendant in the shape of a heart. "Oh, my. . ." she barely managed to whisper. "Look at the other side," Tony said softly. Kyra turned it over and saw it was engraved. "To my darling angel," she read. She looked up briefly, smiled at him, then continued. "All my love forever, Tony." She looked at him again, her eyes bright with tears. "Oh, sweetheart, it's beautiful." He took it out of the box and gently fastened it around her neck. "I knew you'd like it," Tony said happily. "With this necklace, I'm giving you my heart." Kyra took the hand he was holding the pendant in and squeezed it tightly. "Tony, my love, you've _always_ had my heart," She put her arms around him and hugged him. "You always have and you always will." *********** Several months after Kyra recovered her memory, she was finishing up her physical therapy as well. She was almost back to one hundred percent physically. Mentally, she was still having difficulty in exorcising her demons. Tony stood on one side of the room, leaning against the wall. Kyra was just finishing up her workout under Doctor Richardson's supervision. "You've improved tremendously over the past few weeks, Lieutenant. I'm very impressed." Richardson smiled as she made a notation on a clipboard. "I think you're done for today." Richardson glanced at Tony and made a quick exit, not wanting to get in the way. Kyra smiled and walked over to Tony. "Hey," she said as she leaned over and softly kissed him on the cheek. "Hey yourself, beautiful. Y'know, the doc's right. You're doin' a lot better than you were before. I'm really proud of you." Tony put his arms around her waist, held her close and smiled. "Well, it's like Scully said to Mulder - "I had the strength of your beliefs." If it weren't for you believing in me, my love, I probably wouldn't have had the courage to go on. But knowing that you're there, supporting me, gives me the strength to face every challenge and to endure the pain." "X-Files reference? Man, Kyra, now I *know* you've got your memory back," he teased. "You haven't mentioned it to me since before your -- " He stopped, slightly upset. She laughed softly and gave him a brief hug. "I love you, Tony." "I love you too, Kyra, my angel. I always will," he replied and softly kissed her. ~~~THE END~~~ copyright 1998 by Michelle Vincenti Now I'm begging for feedback. C'mon guys! What'd you think? Okay, so the recovery happened a little suddenly & a little quickly. Well, I needed to leave a couple of things to be revealed in "Shadows and Light", which is the sequel. (currently in progress ) Should I even bother to continue with it? This lack of feedback is rather discouraging... Was it too sappy toward the end? What did you like? What didn't you like? I hate begging, but if I have to... ;) Oh, and any resemblance between Kyra's HS geometry teacher and the one I had is *purely* coincidental . Additionally, any resemblance between Robinson and the stereotypical sleazy guy *is* intentional. (Yes, I knew what I was doing when I wrote him in...) I also forgot to mention in the original disclaimer note that any references to anything relating to "The X-Files" (Mulder, Scully, etc.) don't belong to me, although I wouldn't mind if they gave me Krycek in exchange for my using Mulder & Scully They belong to 20th Century Fox and the Surfer Dude (aka Chris Carter), as well as David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson. Got it? Good :) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joxer's faithful and fierce sidekick; High Priestess of Ares :) :) 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 11-13 :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life may hurt...but it goes on." - "A Life So Changed" (Jeane Noriega) "Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such." - Henry Miller ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pandora's Realm: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/4867 Muses' Corner: http://daniel.drew.edu/~mvincent/poetry/pindex.html