Copyright ©1999, Tracey Harnack. All rights reserved.  No part of this story may be re-posted in part or in full without written permission from me. It's characters are used without permission, no infringement is intended.
Disclaimer: Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict is copyright 1998, Tribune Entertainment Co.
Rating: PG.
Title: A Merry Little Christmas
Author: Tracy Harnack

 

 

A Merry Little Christmas

 

                Liam flew the shuttle over Washington DC like there was no tomorrow. He was tired, he’d had what might have been the worst week of his life save for the one when his mother had died, and all the rage he’d been bottling up inside since Lili died was about to explode. Da’an and Augur’s betrayal, and the death of the Resistance leaders…he felt like it was all on his head.

Da’an had told him to report to the mothership. Fine, he’d do that. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t fly off a little frustration on the way there.

                He made a tight turn just for the heck of it, too tight, and he went into a spin. He took his time righting the craft, and then pulled back hard, causing the ship to loop several times. To the outside observer, it seemed that the pilot of the shuttle was either very good, or very, very suicidal. Both were more than a little true.

                The ship stalled for a moment and then jerked to starboard. Liam realized a stabilizer had blown. Damn, he thought. He struggled to right the craft, but it began to spin again. Without warning, the shuttle entered interdimensional. Liam began to be afraid. He hadn’t yet programmed in any coordinates, or even a heading, so there was no telling where he might exit.

                Forcibly calming his already jittery nerves, Liam prepared to exit ID. It was a little risky, but once he was out, he could figure out where he was and then set course back to the embassy. There was no way he was flying this shuttle up to the mothership in this condition. Pulling one hand back, while extending the other, Liam braced himself for the transitional jolt. It never came.

                Muttering a string of Kimera curses, he tried it again. Nothing. He adjusted some of the settings and once more tried to leave ID space. This time, the ship obeyed, but too fast. Ten gees threw Liam against the safety straps and he struggled to remain conscious. The instruments told him nothing of where he was, but the craft began a nosedive spin. The controls refused to respond to anything he did.

                I’m going to die, he told himself rationally. Well, look on the bright side. At least I’ll get to see Lili sooner than I expected.

                He sensed that the ground was approaching and then there was a terrific clanging within his head and everything went black.

 

******

 

                Liam was floating on his back in a warm ocean, the waves bobbing him up and down. He was happy there, he knew that. He wanted to stay there forever. He closed his eyes and let the sun beat down on his face.         He floated like that for a little while, but all of a sudden, he felt something pulling on him.

                No, he thought. I want to stay here.

                The pulling became more urgent, and he felt himself go under. That didn’t worry him, particularly, except that it meant he could float in the sunshine anymore. In fact, he noticed, the water was getting cooler as he sank.

                I don’t want to go back, he thought stubbornly. It’s much nicer here.

                But his sinking didn’t stop, and the water just kept getting cooler and cooler. It was now quite chill, and uncomfortable. It was dark, too. He couldn’t see the sun on the surface anymore. He whimpered and began to struggle, trying to get back the warmth and light he’d had before.

                He began to fall faster, faster and faster until his heart was pounding. He wasn’t in the water anymore, now he was tumbling through a black, airless vacuum. Suddenly, he felt the desperate need to breathe, but there was no air for him. All around him flashed scenes from his life. And not just his life, but his mother’s and his father’s and Sandoval’s.

                Then even the scenes began to blur. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, panicked for want of oxygen. Then he slammed into something with an awesome force, and every nerve in his body screamed in agony.

                The pain dulled to a steady throbbing and he realized that he was lying flat on his back in something damp and freezing. His eyelids were leaden and he decided to leave them shut for the time being. He took an experimental breath. The air was cold, but smelled familiar.

                So, heaven smells like Irish woods, he thought, not very surprised by that fact. He peeled his eyes open and found he was staring at a cloudless blue sky and some bare tree branches. Sharp daggers stabbed his head as the bright light flooded in.

                Wait a second, if I’m in heaven, I shouldn’t be in pain. Now there was a sobering realization. Groaning, Liam pulled himself to a sitting position, trying to ignore the protestations from every cell in his body. He looked around.

                He was sitting in about two inches of crusty snow. Off to one side was the wreckage of his shuttle. He must’ve been thrown clear of the crash. He dragged himself to his feet and assessed the damage to himself. Well, nothing seemed broken, at least, expect maybe his ribs. He had a lot of scrapes and bruises and a couple deep cuts, and his head was pounding like a set of bongos, but he was alive and he could stand.

                He tried a couple of careful steps. He was wobbly, but he could walk. Better and better. Now to figure out where he was. It seemed like Ireland. In fact, it bore an uncanny resemblance to an area near his mother’s childhood home.

                One glance at the shuttle told him that it would never fly again. In fact, it would never do much of anything again. He should probably go see what parts he could salvage anyway, but it was getting dark. Before he could decide whether to check the ship, or go look for human habitation, he was startled to hear a sound in the bushes behind him. He turned slowly around.

                All was still for a moment, and then out of the underbrush stepped a familiar slim figure. Shocked, he began to reassess if he was indeed, dead.

                “Liam,” breathed the figure, wide-eyed. “It can’t be…”

                Liam took a step forward. “Lili?” he whispered. “But you’re…”

                “You’re dead,” Lili said softly.

                Liam began to feel very light headed. Loss of blood, he thought. He stumbled and the woman who couldn’t be Lili rushed forward. Then the world went dark again.

 

******

 

                Liam woke in a soft bed under a down comforter. He was very warm and cozy, and he didn’t hurt so much any more. He smiled drowsily and opened his lids. He found himself staring into the dark eyes of Lili Marquette.

                There was a look of concern on her face, but it soon melted in to a delighted grin. “Liam, you’re awake!” she exclaimed. “Finally! I was worried. After four days, we were beginning to think the worst.”

                “Where I am?” Liam croaked.

                “Liam…you’re at home, of course,” she said.

                “Home?” he asked. Reality hit him then and he sat up suddenly.

                “Liam, no!” Lili said. “You had three broken ribs, and they aren’t fully healed yet.”

                He ignored her, even though sharp pains in his chest told him she was telling the truth. “You’re not Lili,” he said flatly. “What do you want from me?”

                “What do you mean I’m not Lili?” she asked, hurt. “Of course I am, what are talking about?”

                “Lili Marquette is dead,” Liam said bitterly. “Who are you?”

                Lili’s large eyes began to fill with tears. “Marquette? What are you talking about? I’m Lili, you know that, I’m not dead…” She wiped her eyes. “Liam, we thought you were dead. Augur saw you throw yourself on that grenade…”

                Liam’s green eyes widened in confusion. “What’s going on here?” he asked, more to himself than to her. His mind raced, searching for an explanation. Then it hit him. “I must have been thrown into an alternate reality…” he murmured, remembering the time Doors had tried to kill him with that bomb.

                “What?” asked Lili.

                “Nothing,” he said. He reached out and pulled her into an embrace, not minding the pain of his cracked ribs. She hugged him back gingerly, but her love was almost palpable. He buried his face in her dark, sweet-smelling hair. “Oh Lili, I missed you so much,” he said.

                “I missed you too, Liam. It’s been so long…”

                Finally, he released her, though she kept her arms around his shoulders. “How long?” he asked.

                “Don’t you know?”

                He shook his head.

                “Three years,” she told him. “It was three years ago you… I mean, since we thought you’d been killed.”

                “Lili…” he said, not wanting to end the moment, but knowing she deserved the truth. “There’s something I have to say.”

                Lili bit her lip. “Mother’s downstairs. You should tell her first.”

                “Who?” he asked slowly.

                “Mother,” Lili said, looking worried. “Melissa said you might be confused for awhile, but I never thought…Maybe you should go back to sleep until you feel better.”

                Liam winced. “I feel fine,” he insisted. “Really. I’ll get everything straight soon enough, I promise. Just take me downstairs and I’ll talk to whoever you think I should.”

                “No, you shouldn’t be using the steps yet. I’ll go get her.” Lili started to leave, but Liam stopped her.

                “Please, I want to get out of bed. I can handle it, honest.” His green gems looked pleadingly at the woman he thought of as his surrogate mother.

                Lili scowled and muttered something about stubborn men not knowing what’s good for them, but she nevertheless turned back the covers and helped him out of bed. She slung his arms around her wiry shoulders and managed to support most of the tall man’s weight.

                It hurt like hell to walk, even like that, but he didn’t make a sign.

                “You always thought it was so wonderful to be stoic about pain,” Lili commented.

                “I’m not in pain,” he protested.

                “You never could lie to me.”

                They bantered their way down the stairs, and Liam was almost able to forget that he wasn’t supposed to be here. He felt a little guilty about letting Lili think, even for a moment, that he was her Liam. Her Liam wouldn’t be coming back, he knew.

                Lili took him into a large, cozy living room. On the couch, a small, red headed woman sat, reading a book. When they came in, she put down the book, and Liam was able to see her face.

                His jaw dropped. “Mother?” he asked in a small voice. He hadn’t been prepared for this.

                The woman got easily to her feet and bounded over to him. Lili moved away to allow them to greet each other.

                “Liam…It’s really you isn’t it?” Siobhan Beckett asked. “Oh my son, I love ye so much.” She enfolded him in a warm, motherly hug that up until now he had only dreamed about. It felt so good; tears ran down his cheeks. Siobhan wiped them away and held his shoulders until he stopped shaking.

                He took a good look at her. It was his mother, no doubt. But she was older than he remembered. He realized that in this world, Ha’gel must never have come to earth, making her Liam fully human. She looked to be about fifty-five, but she had aged well, her body still as lithe and firm as a girl’s. She had relatively few wrinkles, and her hair was still fiery red, pull loosely into a bun with no gray streaks showing.

                She smiled that heavenly smile he loved. “Come on, let’s get ye sitting down. Lili should nae have let ye walk,” she reprimanded.

                “Well, I couldn’t exactly keep him in bed, Mother,” Lili said, defensively.

                “Why am I not surprised?” Siobhan said, looking mock-sternly at Liam. “Ye always did try to do too much. There we go, nice and slow,” she said as she eased him down on the couch. “Lili, go get the others,” she instructed, tucking a quilt around him. She took a seat next to him, running her delicate fingers through his curly hair.

                He smiled, closing his eyes. “Mother…”

                “Aye, darling?” she said in her lilting voice, leaning over to kiss his forehead. .

                “I…” He didn’t want to say it, but he knew if he waited any longer it would be too hard, too tempting not to say anything, ever. “I’m not your Liam…” he forced out.

                Siobhan’s emerald eyes flashed in confusion. “What?” she asked.

                “I…I’m not from this world,” Liam said softly.

                She sat up straight, folding her hands in her lap and trying to understand what her son had just told her. “Tell me,” she commanded in that tone he dared not disobey, putting her hand on his chest. He shut his eyes and told her, told her everything about him and where he came from and what had happened.

                Tears began to well in her vivid eyes, and several rolled down her cheek. Liam reached up hesitantly and wiped them away, half-expecting her to turn from him. She didn’t. Instead of being angry or upset and even devastated that her Liam was still dead, she pushed her own pain to the back of her mind.

                “Oh, ye poor child,” she said softly. “Ye never had a real mother, did ye? I…the Siobhan of your world, couldn’t be there, could she? Ye must be so lost, so alone. Ye really are an alien, aren’t ye?”

                She caressed his cheek with her hand. “It’s okay, I’m here now.” Liam couldn’t believe it. No, that wasn’t true. His Siobhan Beckett would’ve done the same thing. She was, in any world, the perfect mother.

                Their heads both turned at a choked sob from the doorway. Lili stood there in horror, with her hand covering her mouth.

                “Lili,” Siobhan said evenly. “Come here. I know ye are hurt, but ye have to take things as they come.”

                “No!” Lili said. “Never.” She directed her anger towards Liam. “How could you? How could you come in here and pretend to be him? You’re not him, you’re nothing like him. He would never do something like this. Never. Mother how can you accept him? Liam’s dead, you can’t pretend that he,” she spat the word, “can replace your son, no matter what he looks like.” She again turned to the man on the couch. “Damn you, whatever world you’re from. Damn you to hell!”

                With that, Lili spun on her heel and ran out of the house. Siobhan half-smiled ruefully. “She took it rather well, for Lili, don’t ye think?”

                Liam nodded. “Maybe you should go talk to her.”

                Siobhan shook her head. “Nay, it would do no good. She’ll come around, ye know.”

                “Yeah.” He sank back on the pillows. After a moment of silence, he said quietly, “She really loved him, didn’t she?”

                Siobhan smiled fondly. “Aye, that she did. He was the light of her life. Ye know, your sister carried ye all the way here from the grove where ye crashed. Neigh on five miles, all by herself.”

                “Sister?” Liam asked, sitting up.

                “I’m sorry, I forgot,” Siobhan said. “Lili’s parents were killed in the wars, and we adopted her and Andrew in when ye were only wee a babe. I raised ye as brother and sister. She always was terribly protective of ye, especially after Andrew married so young and moved away.”

                Liam put a hand to his head. “I’m sorry…Mother.” He waited for a nod of approval before moving on. “This is all so confusing, and I’m so tired.”

                “I understand,” Siobhan told him. “Ye get some rest, and I’ll break the news to the others. Then, this evening, we’ll tell ye all about this world.”

                He smiled and nodded. “I’d like that.”

                “Ye cannae stay forever, ye know,” she told him gently.

                “What?” That was the last thing he expected to hear from her.

                “From what ye told me, they need ye where ye come from, need ye badly. God knows, I want ye to stay so badly I can taste it, and I know ye want that too. But ye must go back, sooner or later.”

                “I know,” he whispered. “I don’t want to, but you’re right.”

                “Ye’ll stay ‘til Christmas. We’ll give ye a proper one, and then ye have to go back where you came from,” Siobhan decided.

                Liam knew she was right. He did have to leave, he was needed back home. He consoled himself with the fact that for a little while, at least, he’d have the love he’d always dreamed of. “Yes, Mother,” he said obediently.

                “There’s my son,” she said, brushing his hair back. “Now sleep well, and I’ll be back when ye need me.”

                Liam closed his eyes and soon he was fast asleep. He woke to see the room filled with people. He sat up and his mother joined him on the couch, curling her feet underneath her like a cat. The first person Liam noticed was Sandoval. He was sitting in a chair by the fireplace, and he stood when Liam woke.

                “Son?” he asked slowly. He was older, too, but still the same man. His dark hair held traces of gray, and his face was etched with pain, but his expression was one of joyful disbelief.

                “I… No,” Liam said sadly. “I’m not—”

                Sandoval waved his hand, cutting the young man off. “Siobhan told us all about it. Or at least what she thought we needed to know.” He shot Beckett a playfully suspicious look. “It’s okay, we understand. But you’re still Liam, whether from this world or the next…aren’t you?”

                “I… Yeah!” Liam said. “Yes, I am.”

                Sandoval’s face broke into a smile, and he crossed the room and hugged his son tightly. Liam had never dared even dream of this moment, the way things were back on his earth. It was weird, but…good. Very good.

                “Hey, Dad,” Liam choked out. “I love you, you know.”

                “I know,” Sandoval said. “I know.” Sandoval released Liam, and got up reluctantly, moving back his seat by the fire. Siobhan stood up, and all the others took this a sign to be seated. The room was still, waiting for her to speak.

                “Ye all know what happened now,” she said. “But our boy does nae know a thing about this place. He needs to know, I believe.”

                Heads nodded in approval, and Liam’s head cleared enough so that he could recognize familiar faces. Siobhan noticed this and decided, “Perhaps introductions are in order, though I know ye all know each other in some way or another.” She started on her left, the loveseat next to the couch. Liam focused on Jonathan Doors and Melissa Park.

                “Ye know these two, I believe.”

                Liam grinned. “Dr. Park, we were afraid you had been found out by the Taelons!”

                Park gave him a quizzical look, but smiled nevertheless. “It’s good to see you, Liam.”

                “Melissa delivered ye,” Siobhan explained.

                “Here too?” he asked, surprised.

                “Yes, here too,” the blond woman replied, getting up and giving Liam a gentle hug and kiss, and tousling his hair fondly.

                Liam turned his attention to the man beside her. “Jonathan,” acknowledged levelly.

                “Liam,” the older man returned warily.

                “You don’t trust me, do you?” Liam asked, point-blank.

                “No, I don’t,” replied Doors. “Can you give me a good reason why I should?”

                Liam shook his head sadly. “No, sir, I can’t.”

                Dr. Park sat down next the man and practically snuggled up to him, putting one arm around his neck and picking up a mug of cider with the other.

                Liam’s eyebrows shot up. “You two…?”

                “Married, nine years,” replied Dr. Park factually. “Surprise, I guess.”

                “You could say that,” Liam said.

                “Don’t worry, Jonathan will come around,” she assured her godson.

                Doors glowered at his wife, but they all knew he wasn’t angry. Siobhan stepped in, motioning to the next person. “Do ye know Joshua?” she asked.

                The young man got up almost nervously. “Hey Liam, glad you’re…er, back.”

                “We’ve met,” Liam said coldly.

                Joshua’s face fell. “I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?”

                Siobhan looked warningly at her son as though to remind him that what was true in his world was not necessarily true in this one.

                “No, I’m sorry,” Liam said finally. “I just need to get used to you, that’s all.”

                Joshua nodded and took his seat again.

                Sitting next to Sandoval by the fireplace was an unfamiliar woman. Siobhan moved next to her. “This is Sarah Boone, William Boone’s sister,” she said.

                “Hi, Liam,” she said. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

                “No,” he replied regretfully. “I’m sorry. Where I come from, we’ve never met.”

                She smiled reassuringly. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault. We’ll get to know each other again.”

                He grinned at her, warmed by her greeting. He turned to look at his mother. “Is Augur here?” he asked hopefully.

                Siobhan smiled. “Aye, but ye will nae see him this evening. He’s trying to talk some sense into Lili.” She moved over to stand behind her husband. “I guess we’ll tell ye the bare bones of the situation, and then ye’ll hear the rest as need be.”

                Liam nodded. “Shoot.”

                Siobhan took a deep breath. “The Taelons came to us nearly thirty years ago, but they did nae come in peace. From what ye’ve said, on your world the war is subtle and the Taelons insidious. Here, they simply announced that they were taking control of this world, and expected us to just roll over and take it.”

                “That was why they lost,” Doors put in.

                “We fought them, of course,” Siobhan continued. “And thankfully they needed us too much to simply blast us back to the Stone Age from space. ‘Twas a ground war, mainly, between every able-bodied human and alien soldiers from a thousand races previously subjugated by the Taelons. I never thought I’d live through it, nor did anyone else who was there at the beginning.”

                She shook her head sadly. “We have precious few people over fifty left alive. We all lost many good friends and fighters. Julianne Belman and her husband, Bruce Aylward. William Boone. Mary Fieldman, Jonathan’s first wife. Rachel Marquette and Jack Purcell. Others. Our world has been ravaged Liam. There are signs of the war everywhere. Dublin, like most major cities, has been destroyed. Around here is one of very few places still untouched.

                “The war lasted twenty-five years. Three years ago, the Jaridians offered their assistance. There was a huge battle, in which the only three Taelon motherships were destroyed. We won the war, but we lost millions. Ye…my Liam, that is, was killed in the final battle.”

                Liam was silent for a moment. “I see,” he said slowly. “I think I’d like to go out for a walk, if you don’t mind.”

Siobhan nodded. “I understand. Supper will be in a little while. I’ll send someone to fetch ye.”

Liam carefully got up off the couch, kissed his mother and father, and walked slowly out of the house.

“Should he be walking?” asked Ron, concerned.

Siobhan shook her head. “Probably not,” she admitted. “But the boy needs time to think things through. He’s been through a lot lately, I think.” She stood up. “Sarah, Melissa, can ye help me in the kitchen?”

The two other women nodded and followed Siobhan out of the room.

 

******

 

Liam strolled painfully through the grove on his mother’s large estate. He thought that this universe was even more alien than the one Maiya had come from. But it was good to see his mother, and his father. He could hardly believe he was going to stay for Christmas. He heard footsteps behind him, and he turned slowly, and found himself face-to-face with Joshua.

The smaller man smiled carefully. “Mind some company?”

“I guess not,” Liam said. Joshua took his arm, removing some stress from Liam’s legs, so as to make it easier for him to walk. “Thanks.”

They walked quietly for awhile, and finally Joshua broke the silence. “What have I done?”

“Excuse me?” Liam asked.

“I mean in the other universe. I saw the way you reacted to me. Those weren’t warm fuzzies you were sending my way.”

Liam sighed. “You don’t really want to know.”

Joshua stopped him. “No. I do. Please.”

“Well…The truth is that you betrayed your father. You nearly got him killed.” It came out harsher than he had meant, and Liam was instantly sorry.

“I…what?” he said. “I would never do that…I love my father. I want to kill him sometimes, but I love him.”

“Well, you did do it.”

“Why?” Joshua asked, almost petulantly.

“Jonathan…wasn’t the best father. He sort of gave up his family for his business. You blamed him for the death of your mother. You came to him, pretended to reconcile, and then stabbed him in the back. You really hurt him.” Joshua didn’t say anything, just looked stunned. “I’m sorry,” Liam offered awkwardly.

Joshua shook his head. “No. I needed to know that. I means that the capacity for something like that is within me, and I have to watch for that.”

They continued on wordlessly. “I don’t blame him for mom’s death, you know,” Joshua said suddenly. “It wasn’t his fault. It was the plague.”

“Plague?” Liam asked.

Joshua coughed, his breath visible in the chill air. “Twelve years ago there was a pandemic of something like Ebola. After so many years of war, sanitation was at an all time low. Dad wasn’t with her when she died, but he was doing something more important.”

“You don’t sound bitter,” Liam commented.

“I’m not.” Joshua assured him. “He was doing something more important. Because of him, we got through to the Jaridians in time. I can’t begrudge that. Besides, I was there for her, and she understood why he wasn’t.”

“I wish things had been that clear-cut for the Joshua Doors I know,” Liam said sorrowfully.

“Fieldman.”

“What?”

Joshua smiled. “It’s Joshua Fieldman,” he said.

“But isn’t your father’s name Jonathan Doors?” Liam asked in confusion.

“Yes,” he told the young man. “But my mother’s name was Fieldman.”

“I don’t understand,” Liam said.

“You see, around here second names are rather complicated,” Joshua explained. “The son takes the second name of the mother, and the daughter takes the second name of the father.”

Liam knitted his brows. “Doesn’t the wife take the husband’s name?” he asked.

“No!” Joshua said. “What an absurd notion. When you get married, your name doesn’t change. But when you have children, you give them first and second names based on sex.” He could see Liam still didn’t get it. “Look,” he said. “My mother’s name was Mary Fieldman. My father gave me my first name, and I was given my mother’s second name by default. When my father remarried Melissa and they had Sean, he got Melissa’s second name, Park. See?”

“I think so,” Liam said. “That would make me…Liam Beckett?”

“Exactly!” Joshua said. “Of course, it’s really confusing when people don’t stick to the pattern. Like me, actually. Because my father didn’t have any daughters or brothers there wouldn’t be anymore Doors after him. So I gave my daughters the name Doors instead of Fieldman, because my mother had three sisters, all with sons and granddaughters.”

Liam’s eyes widened. “You weren’t kidding!”

“Nope.” Just then, they reached a little stone wall with a gate. Liam could see the path continued on past that, and he began to go through.

“Ah, I think we should be getting back,” Joshua said hurriedly, looking at the sun. “It’s almost supper time, after all.”

“Mother said she’d send someone to fetch us when it was time,” Liam said. “Besides, I want to see what’s past the gate.

Joshua shook his head. “No, you don’t. Trust me, you don’t.”

Liam narrowed his eyes. “Yes. I do.”

“It’s not something you want to see,” Joshua insisted.

“Whatever it is, I do want to see it,” Liam retorted. He reached around Joshua and turned the handle. Stepping through gate he asked the man. “You coming?”

Joshua groaned and followed him. They found themselves in a little sheltered clearing covered in snow. Stones peeked out from under the white blanket, and the place had an almost unnatural hush. Liam shivered.

“What is this place?” he asked.

In answer Joshua walked slowly over to one of the evergreen trees. Liam followed him. He knelt down and swept the old snow off one of the stones. “Look,” he said hoarsely.

Liam looked, and he realized that it wasn’t just a stone, it was a headstone. He knelt beside the brown haired man and, using his sleeve, wiped the ice off the lettering.

“Kalinda Putnam, angel on earth,” he read. Tears blurred the rest of the lettering from his vision and he leaned heavily back against the scratchy bark of the old tree.

Joshua looked at him with sympathy. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You loved her, too?”

“Yes,” Liam whispered. “Very much. What happened?”

Joshua sighed. “I didn’t know her that well, but I know that you fell deep in love, and got married.”

“We…married?”

Joshua nodded.

“I…in my world she was killed on our engagement day.”

“Here you were married for four years, and had a baby.”

“A baby?” Liam’s eyes widened. “Where…?”

Joshua pointed sadly to a smaller lump under the snow, right next Kali’s grave. “Daithi was two years old. We lost all three of you on the same day. Siobhan was devastated. We all were.”

Liam swallowed his grief, trying to ignore the other large headstone that doubtless belonged to the Liam of this universe. “So, who did you lose?” he asked.

“Everyone in this graveyard,” he said bitterly. He was quiet for a long moment and pointed to a grave that had been sheltered from the snow by some overhanging branches. They went over together and Liam looked at Joshua in surprise.

“Renee?” he asked incredulously. “She’s…”

Joshua nodded. “Three years ago.”

“You were close?”

“We were married.”

Liam closed his eyes. He shouldn’t be surprised. It made sense, really. Renee worked for Doors International. It only made sense that she had a close relationship with the family, one that could blossom into romance with the son. “I’m so sorry,” he said helplessly.

Joshua shook his head. “At least I have my kids.” He smiled. “Three beautiful children. You’ll meet them later on.”

Just then the gate creaked open. A willowy woman with dark, kinky hair, wrapped snugly in a down coat with a bright scarf, stepped into the graveyard. She headed over to the two men.

“Siobhan sent me to tell you to come in to supper. You will come, no?” She had a lovely Russian accent.

“Yes ma’am,” Liam said.

Joshua stepped forward. “You already know Liam, but I don’t think he knows you. Liam, this is Katya Petrenko. She was married to William Boone.”

Liam nodded. “I remember hearing about her…you. You’re a psychic?”

She smiled shyly. “Yes. It is good to see…meet you, Liam. We must go now, or the others will wonder where we are.” She brushed past them to another grave, knelt, crossed herself, and got up. “Joshua, are you coming?” she asked.

The man shook his head. “No…I want to stay with Renee for awhile…you understand.”

Katya half-smiled empathetically. “Of course. I’ll tell Siobhan not to expect you.” With that she took Liam’s hand and led him out of the cemetery. He went slowly, glancing back at Joshua occasionally.

“Where I come from, we do not intrude on the interaction between the grieving and the dead by observing them,” Katya told him gently.

Chastised, Liam blushed and moved along side her. “I’m sorry, I must seem horribly rude to you,” he said.

“No, not rude. Ignorant, perhaps. Young.” She looked seriously at him. “When a war rages so long, privacy breaks down completely unless strict codes of conduct are enforced, especially in the areas of love and loss.”

“I think I understand,” Liam said.

She smiled a little and squeezed his hand. “I am glad you are here. Siobhan is happy again, for a time.”

“She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?”

“She means the world to all of us,” she replied.

“And who is ‘us’,” Liam asked.

                “I guess you could say the leaders and key players of the war. Siobhan was there from the beginning, and she has been the one who kept us together, kept us going,” Katya told him. She smiled fondly. “She also brought Will and I together. I never would have met him without her. Did you ever meet him?”

                “Uh, no,” Liam said. “No, I didn’t. He died before I was born. But I understand he was a remarkable man.”

                Katya nodded. “He was that, indeed. I just wish my Ania could have known him better.”

                “Ania?” Liam asked.

                “My…our daughter. She’s seven now. She was only three when he died, and because he was often on the front, she didn’t get to see him as much as we all would have liked. Patrick was six, and remembers much better.”

                Liam’s brow furrowed. “Kate’s son, right?”

                “Yes. Kate died in childbirth, poor woman. He never knew her at all. William married me when he was so young; I’m the only mother he knows. Such a wonderful boy. So sweet tempered and honest. He’s so like his father. Ania takes after me, mostly.”

                Liam shook his head. “This is very different from the way I remember.”

Katya grinned. “You’ll meet the children tomorrow.” They reached the house just then, and Liam noticed for the first time how big it was. The place was practically a mansion. When they stepped inside they were greeted by wonderful cooking smells. Liam’s mouth began to water. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was.

Katya led him into the splendid dining room. There was a huge oak table filled with food. Everyone Liam had met before was there, with the notable exception of Lili. Augur jumped up immediately and gave Liam a bone-crushing hug, causing him to yelp in pain.

“Sorry, buddy,” Augur said releasing him quickly. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Liam wheezed. He took a seat between Augur and Katya, right across from Jonathan. Siobhan and Ron seated themselves at the head of the massive table. Liam noticed that the table definitely served far more than the eight there now.

Everyone respectfully waited until Siobhan had been served before beginning to eat and talk. Liam was presented with a plate piled high with potatoes, corned beef, bread, pasta salad and vegetables. He lost no time in setting to work on the food.

“Slow down, Liam,” Dr. Park laughed. “You’re going to choke yourself, and it’s hard to do the Heimlich maneuver on a man with broken ribs!”

Liam grinned sheepishly and did as she said. “How come all of you are here?” he asked.

“For Christmas,” answered Sarah.

“It’s sort of a tradition,” Ron explained. “Somehow, throughout the entire war, this place was never discovered by the Taelons. Every year at Christmas time, we’d all gather here to celebrate that we were still alive and to see old friends. Now that the war is over and we don’t see each other all the time, we still do it to remind us what good friends we have. It also reminds us how lucky we are to have survived this long.”

“Aye, that it does,” Siobhan agreed. “It began with myself, Ron, Julianne, Bruce, Jonathan, Mary, Rachel, and Jack. We added people and lost people over the years, but the idea’s still the same.”

“We’re like a family,” put in Katya. “Closer, even. We take care of each other.”

“That’s great,” Liam said.

“Are Andy and Joyce coming?” Sarah asked, turning to Siobhan. Siobhan looked at Augur, who shrugged.

“Last I heard they were, and bringing the whole brood. Lili knows for sure, but I wouldn’t go asking her anything right now.”

Liam winced. “She’s still mad?”

“You know her,” Augur replied. “Great at grudges…not so good with forgiveness.”

“Yeah, I know,” Liam said sighing. “So, how many people are coming in total?” he asked, changing the subject.

Siobhan looked thoughtful. “Counting the little ones, and Joyce and Andy…twenty-five if Suzanne can get away.”

Liam whistled. “Twenty-five…Good thing it’s a big house.”

“Eight bedrooms,” his mother informed him. “We’ve had more people than this, of course, but twenty-five is a comfortable number.” She was practically glowing. “Which reminds me, ye will have to share a room with Joshua, if ye do nae mind.”

“Not at all,” Liam said.

“Ye do know who built this house, do ye nae?”

Liam shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”

“Why, ‘twas my grandfather, the one ye are named after. He bought this whole grand estate for my grandmother and built her this house.”

“It’s beautiful,” Liam said.

“You haven’t even seen half the place yet,” Melissa reminded him. “I don’t know where you went on your walk, but there’s still acres you can’t have possibly gotten to. And the rest of the house, of course.”

They lingered at the table until the food was all gone, and Liam offered to help clear. “Nonsense,” Siobhan told him. “Ye’ve done too much today already, with your injuries. Jonathan and Augur will help me, and ye will go to bed.” There was no doubt; Siobhan’s word was law. She was obviously the matriarch of the entire gathering.

“Yes, Mother,” Liam said, smiling. He didn’t really mind. He was tired, and after so long with no parents at all, he found himself rather enjoying having a mother to tell him what to do. “Um, I’m not sure how to get to my room,” he said, glancing around.

His father laughed. “I can sympathize. I still get lost looking for the bathroom at night. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Liam bid his goodnights to all, even though it was still early. His mother hugged him tightly and said, “I’ll be up in a while to tuck ye in.”

Liam blushed, but looked forward to it. Although he looked nearly thirty, he was really only two years old and he’d missed out on all the childhood experiences he should have had. Besides, he had the feeling that not even the adult Liam of this world would object to his mother’s attentions.

Ron helped his son up the elaborate oak staircase with its polished banister. There was a beautiful, but not ostentatious chandelier over the foyer that gave off a soft, homey light. The landing and upstairs had hardwood floors, like most of the rest of the house. At the top of the steps, two hallways forked off. Ron led Liam down the left one. The walls were decorated with family photos and tasteful art work.

“Are you in any pain?” Ron asked.

Liam shook his head. “Not really. A little when I move too fast. Dr. Park did a wonderful job.”

Ron smiled. “She always does.” Just then a dark-haired young girl exited one of the rooms on the right and turned down the hall towards them.

She frowned when she saw Liam and began to edge her way past the two. “Hi, Grandfather,” she greeted the Filipino man with smile.

“Good evening, Kati,” he replied. The girl started to continue on past, but Ron stopped her. “I thought your mother put you and the other kids to bed already,” he said.

“She did,” Kati informed him. “But Sean woke up with a stomach ache, and he wants Aunt Melissa. Mom told me to go get her, since I couldn’t sleep anyway.” Liam couldn’t help noticing that she refused to look at him, even though he was standing right there.

Ron nodded. “Okay, go.” Kati resumed her trip downstairs, but Ron again halted her before she reached the steps. “Excuse me, young lady, but I don’t believe I am the only other person here,” he said gently.

She turned and looked imploringly at the older man. “But grandfather—” she began to protest.

“Kati…” Ron said sternly.

The girl made a noise almost like a growl and turned her piercing gaze on Liam. Her eyes were a startling, blazing purple, with a burning hatred directed solely at him. “Good evening, Uncle Liam,” she said as scathingly as humanly possible. With a final sneer she turned and hurried down the stairs.

Ron rubbed his temples. “That girl…” he muttered to himself.

“Who is she?” Liam asked, opening the door to his room.

“That’s right, you don’t know her,” Ron said, sitting down on the bed. “You just had your first encounter with your niece. She’s Lili’s daughter.”

“Lili has kids?” Liam asked, surprised.

“Yes, one. The girl takes after her mother with a vengeance, and she’s only nine yet. She obviously is sticking with Lili when it comes to you.”

“And her father would be…?” Liam began to ask, but realized there was really only one possibility. “Augur,” he said, answering his own question.

“Of course. He named her, and from what I understand her namesake was quite the lady, too.”

Liam nodded. “I think I remember something about a Kati that Augur knew once, but he wasn’t very forthcoming.”

“I would think not. I know she died horribly some years before we met him, but that’s about it.” Ron turned back the covers for his son and helped him into bed.

Liam yawned a little. “Is it just me, or are there are a lot more people married with kids than in my universe?”

Ron smiled. “Probably. When there’s a war, people grow very close, very fast. Friendship often becomes love, and when your life is in danger every single day, you don’t waste time on anything. There’s a sense of urgency about everything, and many people get married who, under ordinary circumstances, would have spent years flirting with each other before beginning even a casual relationship.

“As for the kids…well, when the human population is being decimated, biology takes over to fill in the holes.”

Liam nodded. “Makes sense.” He yawned again.

Ron tousled his hair, and kissed him. “Good night, Liam,” he said, turning off the light and closing the door. Liam lay awake for a long time, exhausted but unable to sleep. A part of him was afraid that if he went to sleep, he’d wake up and find out that it had all been a dream.

In some ways, he thought, this world was in worse condition than his own. But in a lot of ways, things were better. He was sure that this eclectic, tight-knit family was far from the only one that had sprung up during the war. Ten, twenty, thirty years from now, this world would blossom again, and the society that rose from the ashes of the great war would be a stronger, better one than the previous one had ever been.

After a long while of hearing only the sounds of his own breathing and muffled conversation from the other rooms, Liam heard the door creak open. The slim figure of his mother slipped in, and Liam sat up against the headboard.

Siobhan brushed the top of the nightstand with her fingers and a lamp turned itself on lowly. She smiled lovingly at her son and pressed a mug of something warm and fragrant into his hands. “Here,” she said softly, seating herself on the edge of the bed. “This will help ye sleep.”

“What is it?” he asked, sniffing the concoction.

“Just drink it,” she told him.

Liam took a careful sip and found that it was some kind of sweet herb tea, with milk and honey in it. He drank deeply, and the heat of the liquid did begin to make him drowsy.

“Mother,” he asked. “Doesn’t it bother you that I’m not your Liam? That I’m just a stranger, really?”

Siobhan took his hand. “Nay, it does nae bother me. Ye are still Liam, exactly as the son I raised was. Ye just remember differently from the way he did, that’s all.”

“But what about what I told you?” Liam protested. “About my…other father. Surely I can’t be the same person if I have different DNA.”

Siobhan sighed. “Let me put it this way. Ye have told me that I am perhaps thirty years older than the mother ye knew, am I not?” At his nod, she continued. “That is far different from the Siobhan of your world. Yet, do ye find me to be a different person than her?”

Liam thought of the woman his mother had been without the CVI that had eventually killed her, after destroying the best of all she was. “No,” he whispered. “No, you’re not.”

Siobhan smiled. “Well, there ye are. We are the same people; we just have different memories. I’m still your mother, and ye are still my son, even if we can’t stay together for very long.”

“But what about the others?” he asked, still not assured.

“Do nae worry about them. I accept ye, your father accepts ye, and so do most of the others. Lili will come around eventually, and so will Kati. Jonathan won’t be long behind.”

Comforted, Liam finished his drink and lazily lay back down. His mother tucked the blankets up around his chin and smoothed his hair back. Her cool touch felt good against his warm forehead and he closed his eyes. He felt her lips brush his brow.

Keeping one hand on his shoulder, Siobhan began a lullaby her mother had taught her. She had sung it to him many times before, and to her other children and grandchildren. Her voice was clear and sweet and so very perfect.

“Sleep, my child and peace attend thee

All through the night

Guardian angels, God will lend thee

All through the night

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping

Hill and dale in slumber sleeping

I, my loving vigil keeping

All through the night

 

While the moon her watch is keeping

All through the night

While the weary world is sleeping

All through the night

O'er the spirit gently stealing

Visions of delight revealing

Breathes a pure and holy feeling

All through the night

 

Though I roam a minstrel lonely

All through the night

My true harp shall praise thee only 

All through the night

Love's young dream, alas, is over

Yet my strains of love shall hover

Near the presence of my lover

All through the night

 

Hark! A solemn bell is ringing

Clear through the night

Thou, my love, art heav'nward winging

Home through the night

Earthly dust from off the shaken

Soul immortal shall not waken

With thy last dim journey taken

Home through the night.”

 

Liam was asleep by the end of the last verse, his chest rising and fall rhythmically and his face wearing a peaceful expression. It broke Siobhan’s heart to look at him. So beautiful, so perfect. But he’d be gone soon, back into a savage world she couldn’t protect him from.

She kissed him again, and got up reluctantly. She turned off the lamp and padded softly out of the room. She crossed the hallway on bare feet and opened the door to the room across from Liam and Joshua’s.

Five children slumbered quietly on two beds and a cot. She’d assigned the two largest rooms to the kids, so that the married couples could have rooms to themselves.

“Goodnight, Sonia,” she whispered.

The oldest, a blond girl of ten opened her eyes and sighed. “How did you know?” she asked.

“Shh!” Siobhan hissed. “Ye’ll wake Tasha.” She motioned to the four-year-old sharing the bed with her older sister. “Come here.”

The girl gracefully jumped out of bed and slipped out into the hall. “Is Daddy back yet?” she asked.

Siobhan shook her head. “But do nae worry, he’ll come back.”

Sonia frowned. “He always does, but I do worry.” Since the death of Renee, Sonia had taken on the responsibilities of the lady of the house, and she had quite the job taking care of her father. “I heard you singing,” she said.

Siobhan narrowed her eyes. Sonia seemed to hear everything. “Yes?” she said.

“Were you singing to Liam?”

“I was.”

“Oh.” Sonia was silent and Siobhan had no clue what she was thinking. The girl was like that. She had gotten the most secretive, independent, manipulative parts from her parents and grandfather and mixed them up. “Goodnight, Grandmother Siobhan,” she said, kissing the older woman’s cheek. She glided back into her room and slithered under the covers, careful not to disturb the little one.

Siobhan closed the door and made her way down the hall towards the stairway. She turned left down the other hall and went in the first door on the right. To her surprise, Ron was already in bed, but sitting up waiting for her.

“I thought ye would still be downstairs with the others,” she said, undressing.

Ron got up and came over to her. “I thought you might want some company,” he said.

Siobhan smiled tiredly. “Aye, that I do,” she replied.

He put his arms about her bare shoulders and kissed her neck. “Are you alright?” he asked, concerned.

She shrugged and closed her eyes. Ron snatched her robe from the edge of the bed and wrapped it around her slim figure. He leaned over and picked his wife up in his arms. She made a sound of surprise.

“I did nae think ye could do that any longer,” she exclaimed.

“You’re not the only one who’s kept fit,” he reminded her. He carried her over to the bed and set her down against the soft pillows and climbed in next to her. “Come on, what’s wrong?” he asked solicitously, brushing a strand of auburn hair away from her face.

“It’s just…so hard,” she said finally.

“Liam?” he asked, pulling her to him and resting his chin on her collarbone.

She got a faraway look in her eyes. “When we had Liam, I was so happy. And then I found I could nae have any more.”

“I remember. It broke your heart.”

“Then we adopted Jack Purcell’s children, and I did nae care about that any more. Liam had his brother and sisters and we had our kids. Even during the war, we were happy. But then Maiya…” she choked up. “We lost Maiya so young. Eventually, Andy married and went away, and Lili was always on some mission or other. But my Liam stayed with me, he never left me. I was so sure he’d make it through the war.”

“I know. You took it so hard when we lost him and the baby,” Ron said gently.

“And now he’s back and I’m happy, but I know I’m going to lose him again. I’m nae sure I can bear it.” Siobhan worked at holding back tears.

“Shh, easy,” her husband said, holding her tightly. “I love him, too, and I don’t want to lose him again. I can’t pretend to understand the bond you had with him, but I know it hurts more than anything.” He turned her to face him. “Look at me,” he said firmly. “At least we have him for Christmas. That is more than we ever expected. This is a painful miracle, but a miracle nonetheless.”

He sighed. “And look at the boy. He’s so young, so alone. From what you’ve said, he’s a complete orphan, and people are depending on him for their lives, their futures. Can you imagine what that must be like for him?”

Siobhan nodded. “Aye, ye are right, of course. I should be grateful. He is Liam, ye know that.” She looked at her husband for confirmation. He nodded. “I just want to keep him safe, that’s all. I just want to keep him safe.”

She curled herself into Ron and shut off the light. Her frame shook with silent tears for a long while, and Ron could do nothing to comfort her. He knew his wife very well indeed. To try to console her would be folly. She needed to get it out.

Tomorrow, she would be herself again. She would be able to enjoy the presence of friends and family and her beloved son. There would be no more tears, he knew, until Liam was gone.

               

******

 

                Liam awoke to sunshine streaming through the window into his room. He smiled at the warmth on his face and opened his eyes a crack. Light flooded in and he moaned, burrowing under the covers. Just then he identified the smell hanging in the air. Breakfast.

                Bracing himself, he pushed back the covers and opened his eyes all the way. He blinked a couple of times until his eyes adjusted, and then swung his feet over the edge of the bed.  He carefully stood up, expecting to feel pain from his ribs.

                Surprisingly, he found that although he was sore, he could move normally. He usually healed fairly quickly, but not this quickly. Must be Dr. Park’s handiwork. The thick green carpet felt good under his bare feet and his dug his toes into it, enjoying the sensation. He noticed that the other bed was rumpled, but Joshua was gone. He couldn’t remember hearing the man come in.

                Liam went over to the window and stretched luxuriously. The view looked out over a snow-covered paddock where thick-haired, stocky horses frisked in the cold morning air. He was pleasantly surprised to see that his parents kept horses. He also noticed that snow had fallen during the night, perhaps ten fresh inches of heavy snow. Not the fluffy kind, light as a down covering, but the thick, clinging kind, meant for snowmen and snowballs and other winter games.

                His stomach rumbled and he was reminded of why he had gotten up in the first place. Ack, shower first, he thought to himself, realizing he hadn’t bathed since the crash, which he had been told was five days ago now. A little exploration proved that there was door leading to a lovely, well-stocked bathroom.

                Liam stripped quickly and jumped into the shower. He took his time, loving the feeling of stripping all the dirt and dried blood away. Just as he was turning off the water, he heard the opening of a door into the bathroom. He rubbed at the fog on the clear glass shower door so that he could see who it was.

                “Liam, I’ve been your doctor since before you were born. There’s nothing I haven’t seen,” Melissa Park informed him, opening the shower door as he scrambled to cover himself. “Did we not notice that there were two doors to the bathroom?”

                “Uh, actually…” Liam’s face had gone a wonderful beet color.

                “See, that’s why it’s a good idea to lock them both, especially if you don’t know who’s in the next bedroom.” Dr. Park was clearly getting a good deal of amusement out of his predicament. Mercifully, she tossed him a towel, chuckling under her breath. “Hurry up and get dressed or you won’t get breakfast. With this many kids, food doesn’t last long.”

                Park turned to leave. “Um, where are my clothes?” Liam asked, tying the towel around his waist and stepping out of the shower. “All I had was what I was wearing when I crashed, and when I woke up I was wearing something else…” He trailed off.

                She grinned at him. “There are plenty of clothes in that dresser by your bed. I helped your sister put them there myself.” She examined him critically. “Not too bad. You’re a little thin, though. Your mother’s cooking will put that to rights soon enough. You’re healing nicely.” Her hands danced across his chest, pressing here and there. She hit a sore spot and he winced. “Ah, there it is!” she exclaimed. “I knew that spot was going to give me trouble. You had some internal bleeding there, but I patched you up pretty well. Just try not to impale yourself on anything in that place for a week or so, okay?”

                Liam nodded. “Yes, Doctor,” he said solemnly.

                She patted his cheek. “Good boy.”

                As soon as she was gone he raced into the other room and threw on a pair of jeans and a thick woolen sweater of a gray-green color that matched his eyes perfectly. Grabbing the slippers his mother had placed at the foot of the bed, he pulled them on as he ran out of the room humming to himself.

                He went down the steps, two at a time, and almost tripped over a three-year-old boy on his way down. “Oops! Sorry, are you okay?” Liam asked the kid. The boy nodded warily.

                Liam grinned. “I’m Liam, what’s your name?”

                The kid stared at him suspiciously but said nothing.

                “Ah…okay, that’s fine,” Liam said awkwardly. “You don’t have to tell me, I guess.”

                The boy shot him one last look and pounded down the stairs as fast as his little, chubby legs could take him. Shrugging, Liam followed the kid into the kitchen. The boy took a flying leap and landed in the lap of Jonathan Doors, crushing the paper he had been trying to read.

                Jonathan extricated the paper from underneath the kid and folded it neatly on the table. He bounced the little boy on his knee and the kid laughed delightedly. Liam shook his head and wondered if he was dreaming or just plain out of his mind.

                Just then Jonathan turned around. He looked up at Liam and frowned gruffly. “Oh. It’s you.”

                “I’m glad you’re so happy to see me,” Liam said sarcastically.

                “Humph.”

                “And who is this?” Liam asked, looking at the boy.

                “My son, Sean,” Jonathan replied, with more than a hint of pride.

Liam blinked.

                “Miracles of modern technology,” Dr. Park said, with a sparkle in her eyes, coming up behind him. She crossed the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee from the pit brewing on the stove.

                “I don’t like you,” Sean informed Liam.

                “Well, why not?” Liam asked, eyebrows raised.

                “I don’t know you,” he returned.

                Liam laughed. “I see he takes after you, Jonathan,” he said. He padded across the kitchen and hugged his mother tightly.

                “G’morning, Liam,” she said happily.

                “Morning, Mother,” he replied. “Mmm, it smells so good,” he said, reaching for a pancake.

                She slapped his hand away. “Wait until they’re done!” she exclaimed, standing on tiptoe to kiss his forehead and then shooing him back over to the table.

                Liam grinned and took a seat next to Dr. Park, across from Jonathan and the little boy. Just then, he heard a stampeding sound heading in the direction of the kitchen. “Kids are up,” Melissa stated the obvious.

                Sure enough, within a few seconds a pack of children had burst into the kitchen, headed by compact boy with blonder than blond hair. Kati was right beside him. She scowled at Liam but said nothing.

                “Hello,” Liam said, as they all looked at him, startled. “I’m Liam.”

                The boy sized him up for a moment. “Well, you look like him,” he said finally. “And Grandmother Siobhan says you’re the same. I guess that’s good enough for me.” He walked confidently over to Liam’s chair and stuck out his hand. “Kevin Palmer,” he said, as Liam shook his hand. “I’m nine.”

                I guess I’ve been approved, Liam thought. “Pleased to meet you. And who are the rest of you?” he asked, looking past the boy to the other children, who were milling about, clearly waiting for breakfast.

                Kevin went back over to his group and began to make introductions. He was obviously a born leader and beloved by the other children.

                He pointed to a boy about his age with brown hair and golden brown eyes, who looked very much like a former Companion Protector. “This is Patrick Barrett,” he said.

                Patrick smiled softly. “Hi, Liam,” he said. “I’m glad you’re back.”

                “It’s an honor,” Liam assured him.

                Kevin motioned to a tall girl with the same bright blond hair. “This is my sister, Sonia Doors.”

                “Older sister,” the girl reminded him and moved gracefully over to the table. She sat down next to Liam and smiled charmingly at him. Kati glared at them both, something that Sonia patently enjoyed.

                “And this is my other sister, Tasha,” Kevin continued, his hands on the shoulders of a small child, her blond hair falling straight down beyond her waist like a flaxen cloak. “She’s four.”

                “Hi, Tasha,” Liam said.

                “She doesn’t say much,” Kevin told him. “She’s always been like that.”

                Tasha walked directly over to the table and climbed up on the lap of a very surprised Liam. She didn’t say anything, but observed the proceedings from his knee.

                “She likes you,” Kevin informed him. “I know you’ve met Sean, so I guess the only one left is Kati.” The dark haired girl, with her hair cut evenly at chin length, refused to acknowledge she had heard him.

                “Ah, it’s okay,” Liam said hurriedly. “We’ve met.” Kevin looked oddly at him, but said nothing.

                “If ye are still hungry, the cakes are ready,” Siobhan called out, breaking the silence. A clamor began which she immediately shushed. “Now, I am going to set down the pancakes and bacon and eggs and other food on the table and then I’m going to back away very slowly. Please do nae trample me as I do so.”

                This elicited laughs from the kids, and Kevin soon had his troop in order and quiet. Very impressive, thought Liam. As soon as the food had been set down, everyone dove for it, though in a reasonably orderly fashion.

                Liam piled his plate high with pancakes and fruit and sausage, and poured himself a tall glass of orange juice. Just after they had begun eating, Sarah and Katya strolled in to the kitchen talking animatedly to each other.

                Patrick jumped up from the table and gave Katya a warm hug. “Good morning Mama, Aunt Sarah,” he said. “Would you like me to get you breakfast?” he asked politely.

                Katya smiled. “No thank you, Patrick. I think we’ll be just fine.”

                Patrick nodded and then he caught sight of a curly head peeking out from the doorway. “Come on in, Ania,” he told her. “It’s okay.” He took her hand and drew her gently into the room, where she stared wide-eyed at Liam. The seven-year-old was the spitting image of her mother, complete with black kinky hair and big dark eyes, but next to Patrick their shared blood was still obvious.

                “So, the baby finally finds the courage to join the big people, eh?” Sonia said mockingly.

                Patrick looked daggers at the blond girl, and Kati immediately moved between her and Ania, as though daring Sonia to say another word. “Watch it,” she told the older girl warningly.

Sonia met her gaze defiantly and held it for a moment. No one else said anything, but Joshua and Augur were tensed for action. Liam guessed that the two girls had probably come to blows at least once. Finally, Sonia sniffed derisively and managed to back down without making seem as though she had given an inch. Liam felt the tension evaporate almost at once. Score one for the good guys, he thought. He decided that, while Sonia was very much like Renee in a lot of ways, there was something harder and crueler in her that he didn’t like.

                Sarah and Katya said their good mornings and served themselves breakfast. Liam found himself drawn easily into the conversation, as though he’d always been a part of this wondrous, mysterious thing called a family, which was defined not by blood but by love and the determination of it’s members. In a way, he thought, he had been a part of it. Some facet of him had always been here.

                Just about the time breakfast was over, but before anyone had stirred to clear the table, a rumpled, robed figure stumbled into the kitchen. “Coffee,” it mumbled urgently.

                Siobhan’s face split with an adoring grin that took twenty years off her face. She looked almost exactly as she had the last time Liam had seen her, in the recording she had left him after her death. “On the counter by the ‘fresher, dear,” she said cheerily.

                Ron blearily dragged himself over to the coffeepot and poured an immense mug of coffee, which was by now so strong that Liam wasn’t sure it couldn’t have stood up by itself.

                When all had had their fill, everyone helped clear up. Then Siobhan ordered everyone into the living room, sending Kati to get her mother.

                Liam’s first time in the large living room had been a foggy, confusing experience, giving him little time to take in the décor. It was cozy, but spacious, with overstuffed furniture. The whole room was decorated in cranberry and green. The fireplace was big and, Ron was already lighting a fire in it. Mother had explained to Liam that in the winter, especially when it was the Christmas season and the house was full, she liked to have a fire burning all the time.

                Liam went over and helped his father get the fire started. Ron smiled at his son, and said nothing. In any universe, he was a man of few words and Liam found his silence to be comforting.

                Just about the time they got it going good, Lili entered the room. She looked fabulous, wearing black leggings and formfitting, dark purple sweater, her brown hair framing her sharp face. Liam wanted to go over to her and hug her and be with her for every moment he could, but she wouldn’t even meet his eyes. She kissed Siobhan good morning and found a seat as far away from her adopted brother as possible. Liam swallowed hard and closed his eyes.

                “Alright,” Siobhan began, “Ye all know that today is Wednesday. Which mean that Christmas is one week from today. Which means we have some serious work to do: decorating the house, getting a tree, cooking, wrapping…” She let that pronouncement hang there as the family exchanged looks of anticipation. No one minded such “work” in the least.

                “Now,” she continued at last. “Andrew called early this morning,” she grinned wickedly here, “Long before any of ye slugabeds were up, and he said that he and Joyce will be arriving at the portal in town no later than noon today!”

                This brought a chorus of cheers, especially from the children, who were quite fond of their “Uncle Andy”.

                “Really, Mother?” Lili asked as though she could scarcely believe it.

                “Aye,” Siobhan grinned at her, “And bringing the whole brood with ‘em. Ye won’t mind driving the sleigh t’ pick them up, will ye?”

                Lili’s eyes sparkled. “Of course not!”

                “Sleigh?” Liam asked.

                “Because there’s been so much environmental damage due to the war, transportation has been restricted to the Taelons portals and a few shuttles left over from their occupation, which don’t pollute, and more ‘environment friendly’ forms of locomotion,” Dr. Park explained. “A horse drawn sleigh works best in the winter, because almost no one owns a shuttle.”

                That explained the horses, of course.

                Siobhan cleared her throat. “The question is, should we wait until after the Marquette and Belman family comes to start, or begin without them? There’s an awful lot t’ do.”

                The children threw themselves immediately into the discussion.

                “I say we start now,” Sonia put in. “If they can’t get here in time, it’s no reason we should have to wait.”

                Kati, not surprisingly, took a firmly opposite stance. “This a family holiday, Grandmother Siobhan says. They’re family, and they shouldn’t have to miss the best part.”

                “Since when is decorating the best part?”

                “Oh, I suppose you think getting presents is more in the spirit of Christmas.”

                “And you know what exactly about the spirit of Christmas, tomboy?”

                “Girls!” Siobhan said firmly. “I think both of ye have a lot t’ learn about Christmas, if you think bickering is going to make a pleasant holiday.”

                Chastened, both girls returned to their seats on the floor, muttering apologies to Beckett but not to each other. Lili smiled faintly at her daughter, making Liam wonder what her relationship with Renee had been, exactly. Somehow, he didn’t think that those two would get along very well.

                “I propose a compromise,” Ron spoke up. “Since we just got a fresh coat of snow, how about we let the kids go out and play for a bit, while we adults stay in here and get everything ready to decorate. You know, get the boxes out of the attic, clean out stuff, get the house ready for seven more people.”

                After some discussion it Sandoval’s plan was settled upon. The children immediately decided to go sledding, and as they were bundled up and hustled out the door, Liam looked longingly after them.

                “No.” Mother and Dr. Park told him firmly.

                “Not yet, anyway,” Dr. Park amended. “Maybe in a few days, but not today.”

                Siobhan handed out assignments at once. Liam, Dr. Park, Augur, and Lili went up to the attic to find the boxes of decorations that had been in storage for the past year.

                The attic proved to be a dusty, dark place full of all things imaginable from over the years. They made their way up the steep spiral staircase and through the creaky trap door. Liam held out his hand for Lili, who simply swore at him and pulled herself up. Augur shrugged sympathetically at Liam but said nothing.

                Dr. Park was not so helpless. She reprimanded her goddaughter sternly, and Lili reddened and began rummaging furiously through unmarked cardboard boxes.

                There were literally hundreds of boxes, and other containers. Each person took a corner and started searching, because Siobhan had said that the decorations were rather scattered.

                “Found one!” Augur exclaimed not long after, holding up a box of evergreen garlands.

                “Great! Keep looking, though, there’s plenty more,” the older woman told him.

                The first box Liam opened was filled with old electronic equipment, the second with the ugliest curtains he’d ever set eyes on, and the third…well there was a surprise. It contained energy weapons.

                “Oh yeah,” Augur said coming over to inspect his find. “There are probably lots more in here, too. We had to store them somewhere after the war. Don’t worry, they’ve been completely drained of power, and the re-charger is locked up somewhere that only Beckett and Sandoval know about.”

                As Liam’s shocked look, he added, “This place was HQ for the oldest, most powerful Resistance cell for nearly thirty years. You think we didn’t keep guns around here?”

                Liam agreed, but hastily closed the box and shoved it in the corner. He didn’t want to be reminded of anything having to do with war, death, or violence during this brief furlough from savagery and hate of his own world.

                Before he could open another box, Lili made a soft, sharp sound from the other side of the room that bought Dr. Park, Liam, and Augur scrambling over.

                “Look,” she said quietly, pointing to an open chest. They looked, and saw that it was filled to the brim with pictures; holos and old-style photographs alike. Lili held in her hand a sharp, color photograph of three children standing in front of the very house they were in now. Liam recognized the older girl, almost ten by the looks of it, as Maiya. Beside Maiya stood a four-year-old Lili and a little boy of perhaps two, who had to be Lili’s younger brother, Andy.

                Liam looked at his sister’s face, but she was in another world now, back before Maiya had sacrificed herself for the life of her blood-siblings and adopted brother. By now Dr. Park and Augur were looking through the pictures. Liam’s eye was caught by a small holo peeking out from underneath a stack of other pictures.

                He drew it out and dusted it off with his sleeve, but before he could get a good look at it, Lili snatched it violently out of his hand. “Don’t touch that!” she snapped viciously.

                “Lili!” Augur reproved.

                “I don’t want him touching this picture!” she shot back.

                “Lili Denner Purcell! Stop acting like a vengeful child and apologize to your brother, right now,” Melissa said firmly, trying not to yell.

                “He’s not my brother!”

                “Lili, calm down.” Augur tried to soothe her.

                That was the wrong thing to do. She whirled on her husband. “Calm down? This is my brother’s memory we’re talking about, and I refuse to let him come in and profane it.” Lili rushed out of the attic, slamming the trap door behind her. But she left the picture.

                Liam picked it up sorrowfully and looked at it. It was of him and Lili, in their early or mid twenties. They stood on a green lawn, dirty and worn, as though they had just been through a long battle. But they were laughing, laughing so hard and triumphantly and joyfully that Liam almost started laughing with exultation himself, despite the fact that this holo had no sound. Their arms were about each other and their expressions were so natural that Liam guessed that someone had snapped the shot on the spur of the moment.

                Liam felt that he could almost remember that day, that it was just the back of his mind, a memory that was forever an inch out of reach.

                “I remember the day that was taken,” Dr. Park said fondly. “You’d gone on a rescue mission to liberate three hundred human prisoners from a Taelon brainwashing facility. The two of you single-handedly managed to get every single person in that place out alive, before they could be implanted or turned, and you blew up the place behind you. A stunning victory. Damned if I know how you did it.

“You tramped in here after a long chase by Taelon forces, having gotten rid of them not two minutes before you got here. Lili told us the wonderful news of your success and then you both started laughing so hard. Stress relief, I suppose. It was contagious, at any rate. Siobhan nearly died giggling not a second after she snapped this shot.”

                “Lili always loved this picture,” Augur said. “Ever since you…. er…he died, she’s worn a locket with a miniature of this inside. She’s never taken it off, not since that day. Not even for a second.” He was silent for a moment. “I’d better go find her, try to keep her from killing someone,” he said at last. “I’ll send Jonathan up to help you.”

                After a long while, Liam put the picture back in the trunk and, sighing, said, “We’d better get back to work, huh?”

                Dr. Park smiled humorlessly. “Are you alright?” she asked kindly.

                He nodded tightly. “I…yeah, I guess.”

                She patted his shoulder affectionately. “I know it hurts, but she’ll come around. She loved him too much not to.”

                Liam looked gratefully at his godmother for a long moment and then they silently went back to rummaging through boxes.

 

******

 

                Outside, the kids were rediscovering the wonders of winter. The past year had yielded little weather below freezing and less snow. A predominately rainy, wet winter in which gray was the color of choice, the family which had sprung from the Resistance has still had a very merry Christmas. But there was something about the presence of ten inches of new-fallen snow that beat ‘merry’ out by a good light-year.

                They had tramped the kilometer to the long, steep hill that seemed to have been put there just for the purpose of a toboggan run. The trees were sparse at the bottom, and anyone who knew anything could easily avoid them, even if doing so had to involve throwing oneself off the sled a second before it hit a large pine.

                Because the snow was heavy, a couple runs down the hill had compacted the stuff into several icy tracks that hurled the sled and occupant down the hill at speeds and angles defying any main law of physics you care to quote.

                Kevin Palmer and his troop, naturally, recklessly tried to outdo one another in feats of daring, danger, and pure velocity. If anyone was ever injured, they knew they could count on Dr. Park (or Melissa, or Grandma, depending on who was hurt) to fix them up again and send them back out to continue their games.

                Kati had, at once, found the steepest route down the hill and chose the fastest sled to run it with.

                “Kati, don’t do that, not on that sled!” Kevin shouted to her.

                “Worry-wort!” she called down to the blond boy. “The other tracks are boring.”

                “Kati!” he yelled back firmly. “There’s a tree dead straight a ahead of you.”

                “So?” The slim shoulders shrugged. “I’ll steer around.” By now, all activity of the other children had stopped, and they were watching the confrontation between their leader and the uncontrollable, violet-eyed girl. She was the only child in the family, except maybe for Laurie who was fifteen, who paid no mind to what Kevin said if it didn’t suit her fancy. Even the older kids tended to do what he said, simply because he was so often right about the way things should be done. And the younger kids…none would dare go against his orders, not more than once, anyway. And Kati was a good six months younger than him!

                “Don’t!” Kevin shouted up again, in a commanding tone, but it was too late. Kati had already pushed off with all her might and was hurtling down the hill, heading right for the old oak tree. Kevin sprung into action, though he wasn’t exactly sure what he would do about it.

                Kati was flying with a feeling of pure exhilaration, her sled barely skimming the ground. She lay on her belly, and the wind blew her short away from her face. Mom had promised to teach how to fly one day, and she knew that if anything were better than this, true flying was it.

                Just then she realized that she was going too fast. The tree was approaching faster than she could think. Kati tried throwing all her weight to one side of the sled to steer it away from the obstacle but it was too little, too late. She closed her eyes and waited to be turned into Strawberry jam.

                Kevin leapt, snatched, and rolled in one effective, if slightly awkward movement. Kati felt a hand grab her ankle and jerk her fiercely to the left, off the sled. She cried out sharply, once, more in surprise than pain, although her leg felt like it had been ripped out of it’s socked. She found herself covered in snow, in a tangle of legs and arms, half of which did not belong to her.

                She struggled to right herself, dusting the cold wet stuff out of her face, and discovered she was staring into the clear blue eyes of Kevin Palmer. “I…uh…thanks,” she muttered, a little dazed.

                He shrugged. “Just because you were stupid doesn’t mean you should get hurt. Could you get off me now, please?”

                Kati reddened and realized that she was indeed sitting on her rescuer. She scrambled unsteadily to her feet, a task she managed (just barely) without kicking him. She reached out a hand and pulled Kevin to his feet.

                He nodded tersely and hit her shoulder affectionately. “Grandmother Siobhan’d kill me if you got hurt.” He glanced at the sled, lying broken at the foot of the tree. “That won’t be much good anymore,” he pointed out.

                Before Kati could reply, Patrick, always the gentleman, spoke up. “You can go doubles with me,” he offered. “It’ll be faster that way, anyway.”

                Kati grinned at him. “Great!” she said, and bounced over to where he was standing with the old, fire-engine red sled that had belonged to his father. Kevin marveled at the way she seemed to dance over the snow. Ten inches of fluff stole the grace from movements of nearly anyone, but not Kati.

                Patrick smiled warmly at Kati and began to pick icicles out of her hair. Patrick and Kati were best friends, everyone knew that. He was the only one who could talk her out of her moods. But then Patrick could calm down just about anyone.

                The games began in earnest now, with friendly challenges and not-so-friendly dares. Races were the game of choice, naturally, but more than one snowball war broke out. Just when everyone was getting cold and tired and hungry, and Kevin was about ready to head in for lunch, the sled Ania was on went into a spin, hit a hidden rock and flipped. Ania was buried under a big snowdrift, and the empty toboggan only narrowly missed hitting Sean and Tasha.

                Patrick and Kati rushed to dig Ania out, and Kevin wasn’t far behind, although it took him longer because he was on the far side of the hill when it happened. Ania was crying, her doe-brown eyes wet with tears that ran in frozen rivulets down her face. She had a scrape on her chin where she had connected with the rock.

                “Ania, sisterling, are you alright?” Patrick asked the little girl urgently, lifting her out of the snow.

                Ania made an indecipherable head motion and Patrick ran his hand over her, making sure that she was all right. She was, and he kissed the top of her head and began to soothe her. She clutched her brother tightly.

                “Oh, you’re such a baby!” a sneering voice proclaimed. “It’s just a little scrape. Suck it up and stop crying.”

                Sonia’s proclamation only made little Ania feel worse. Her crying had slowed to sniffles, but now she began sobbing again.

                “Leave her alone!” Kati yelled at the older girl. “You’re always picking on her.” She moved forward defensively.

                “Ania’s such a coward, afraid of a little pain,” Sonia went on, ignoring the warning. “What if her father were here? What would he think to see his daughter crying over a tiny bump?”

                “Sonia, that’s enough,” Kevin ordered, scandalized. It was strictly taboo to mention a lost relative or friend unless the bereaved brought it up first, and you never, ever said something hurtful about the deceased.

                Sonia looked mildly shocked at herself for having said that, and she muttered an apology to her brother. She did pick on Ania a lot, because she thought the dainty child needed toughening, but that was no excuse for saying such a thing. Most of her reaction came from Kati’s protectiveness towards the girl. She loathed Kati, and the surest way to make Kati angry was go after Ania or Patrick, but Ania especially.

                “Take it back.” Kati’s voice was firm.

                In her heart, Sonia already had taken it back, but she wasn’t about to admit to that to her nemesis. “Never.” Sonia said just as firmly.

                Patrick, who had tensed at the moment the insult was hurled, moved forward a step as though to attack the blond before he realized he still held the tearful Ania in his arms. None of the children could ever recall seeing gentle Patrick so angry.

                Kati, however, did not have an armful of little girl and felt nearly as loyal to William Boone as his own children did. She sprang at Sonia, who immediately braced herself in a fighting stance. Except for Sean and Tasha, every one of the children knew more than a little about fighting, and Sonia was no exception.

                She never got a chance to show off her expertise, because Kevin intercepted the little imp before she could give Sonia the shiner of the century. Kati tried to claw her way free, but Kevin held tight and he had better leverage.

                “Stop it, Kati! You’ll only make it worse!” he shouted her down. Patrick looked horribly torn between his peace-making nature and the instinct to rip anyone who insulted his family to shreds.

                Kati let out a string of curses and kept struggling.

                All of a sudden a childish voice rang out, “Stop fighting, it’s Christmas!”

                Everything stopped. Sonia’s taunting, Kati’s swearing, Ania’s crying. They all turned to look at four-year-old Tasha, who stood hand-in-hand with little Sean Park.

                “Tasha, did you say something?” Kevin asked in wonder, releasing his hold on Kati. If she said a sentence in a month, they were lucky.

                Cornflower-blue eyes stared guilelessly at him. “It’s Christmas. You shouldn’t hurt people at Christmas,” the flaxen haired fairy said firmly. “It’s not right. Besides, Ania’s hurt.”

                Sonia, Kati, and even Patrick looked abashed. They realized she was right and somberly the mood of anger and retaliation slipped into one of shame.

                Finally Kevin broke the silence. “Come on, let’s get Ania inside,” he said, taking his little sister’s hand. “Sonia, you and Kati get the sleds.”

The girls did as they were told, and soon the little troop was on it’s way back to the house, where the knew warmth, love, and hot cocoa would be waiting.  Patrick put Ania on his sled and he and Kati took turns pulling her.

Halfway back, Sonia moved up along side Patrick. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

“Look, I’m really sorry about what I said earlier, okay?” she said tentatively.

Patrick nodded. “Okay.”

“Pax?” she asked, shifting Sean to her other hip and holding out her hand.

“Pax,” he agreed, shaking the proffered hand. After several moments of silence, Patrick finally asked quietly, “Why do you hate Kati so much?”

Sonia sighed. “She’s insufferable, and loud, and blunt, and defensive, and…and…Oh, I don’t know!” she said finally, exasperated. “Why does she hate me?”

Patrick raised a brow. “Well, she seems to think you’re deceptive, and manipulative, and cold, and unfeeling,” he told her gently.

Sonia was taken aback. “Oh,” she said simply, and walked in silence the rest of the way.

The walk took only a few more minutes, and the children burst into the house bringing snow and ice with them. “We’re back!” Kevin bellowed.

“Mama, come quick! Ania’s hurt,” Patrick added with an impressive yell. Soon a clatter of footsteps sounded from all corners of the house, and the children were surrounded by an excited group of adults, frantically asking questions.

Katya pushed her way through to her children.

“Mamka, I fell off the sled!” Ania proclaimed, much recovered from her spill, though there was still blood on her chin.

Katya turned to Kati. “Go get Dr. Park just to be safe. She’s in the attic.”

Kati took off at a run.

“Now,” Katya said, scooping her daughter into her arms. “Exactly what happened?” The question was aimed at Patrick.

He coughed and told the her whole story, from the rock to Kati and Sonia’s fight, switching fluidly for English to Russian and back again. When he was done, Katya looked at Sonia and frowned. Sonia flinched.

“I’m sorry, Aunt Katya,” she said, in such an exquisitely sorrowful tone of voice that Katya couldn’t be angry.

“It’s alright,” she assured the girl. “But I think your father wants to speak with you.” Indeed he did. Joshua Fieldman looked sternly at his daughter, and she followed him sullenly upstairs.

Dr. Park arrived then, along with Jonathan and Liam. She checked Ania over quickly, gave her a brightly colored band-aid, and pronounced, “Well, she has what we doctors like to call ‘a bonk on the noggin’. She’ll be just fine.”

By then, a fine puddle of water had melted around the children, and Sarah suggested that the kids take off their soaking winter-wear and have some lunch.

“Aye,” Siobhan agreed. “Liam, would ye mind mopping up that puddle a bit? I’ve got some hearty soup waiting for ye in the kitchen, plenty for all.”

This brought a ragged cheer from the hungry children, and the hungry adults as well. Soon, they were all gathered around the big table, being warmed by some of the best-tasting soup that Liam had ever had. The little band wasn’t halfway through their lunch, before Siobhan stood up suddenly.

“Bells…” she said softly. Leaving her soup at the table, she ran excitedly out of the room like a girl, and the others followed at a more leisurely pace.

By the time they got outside, the sleigh, driven expertly by Lili, was just pulling up at the house. Andy, Joyce, a teenage boy and four kids piled out.

“Mother!” Andy exclaimed and nearly knocked Siobhan over with an enthusiastic hug. “Dad! I’ve missed you both!” Andy practically picked up the shorter Filipino man in his joy. Soon everyone was hugging everyone and chattering excitedly. Liam felt a bit left out, until Joyce shyly came over and gave him a sisterly peck on the check.

“Siobhan told us what happened,” she said softly. “To me, you’re still the same. Merry Christmas, Liam.”

Liam blushed. “Um…Thanks,” he said gratefully. “Merry Christmas, Joyce.”

Then Andy came over and pulled Liam into a back slapping bear-hug. “Hey, Bro! Good to have you back for the holiday!” Andy was a compact man with ruffled, tawny hair. His eyes were dark, like Lili’s, but they laughed perpetually. “The kids were so excited when Mother told us…which reminds me, you need to meet them, don’t you?”

Liam nodded, a little overwhelmed.

Andy grinned at him and then continued his greetings. “Hey, Augur! Where’s my niece?”

“Here I am!” Kati’s voice rang out. “Where’s Tyler?”

Liam heard her delighted shriek as her cousin popped out from behind Lili with a loud “Boo!”

The air of excitement was utterly contagious, and the cheerful pandemonium went on for sometime, until Mother said, “Let’s not stand about in th’ cold. There’ll be plenty o’ time t’ catch up once everyone’s inside and settled. Come on, let’s get their bags and go in.” She turned to her youngest son. “We were just setting down for lunch. I made lentil basil soup.”

“My favorite!” Andy exclaimed, his arm around the shoulder of the slight Irishwoman.

Soon, the whole party was inside, along with luggage, coats, and lovingly wrapped presents.

“Now,” Andy said loudly, and everyone quieted down to listen. “I believe some introductions are in order, at least for my dear brother’s sake. Mother said you know Joyce already, but you haven’t met my kids, right?”

“Uh, no…” Liam answered. I haven’t met you either, actually, he thought to himself. But he didn’t mind. He quite liked his adopted brother already, partly because Andy was much like a different, carefree version of Lili, and partly because of his bouistirous good-humor.

Andy put his hands on the shoulders of a boy and girl, both slim and brown haired, with sharp features, and an other-worldly air inherited from their mother. They were alike as two peas, and both looked very serious for their age.

“These are the twins, Jaqui and Jacin,” Andy said proudly. “They’re eleven. The scientist and the poet, they are,” he told Liam, motioning first to the girl and then to the boy. “Quite the pair, these two.”

He motioned to a skinny light-haired boy of eight who was busy taunting Sonia by tugging on her golden hair and then ducking out of sight when she turned around. “Tyler, leave that poor girl alone and come meet your uncle.”

Tyler slid over to his father and just narrowly missed being smacked by Sonia, who was rather sensitive about her hair. Tyler, of course, knew that already. “Hey, Liam. Long time, no see,” he said. “It’s weird you’re here, though.”

Liam thought that no one had expressed it better than his nephew just had. “Yes, it’s is weird,” he agreed emphatically.

“But it’s cool, too,” Tyler added. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sonia heading towards him. “Catch you later,” he called, beating a hasty retreat.

“Tyler’s our resident dare-devil, trickster, and mischief-maker. Takes after his old man,” Andy commented with a twinkle in his eye, elbowing Liam gently in the ribs. Turning around, he picked up a plump little girl with dark blond curls.

“This is Astrin,” he said. “She’s six.”

“Six and a half, Daddy!” she corrected.

“Sorry, sweetie,” he apologized with a grin. “Six and a half.” He set the child down. “Go find Dr. Park,” he told her. “You haven’t given her a kiss yet.” The chubby little girl set off at a trot.

Andy turned back to Liam. “The teenage boy you saw is Laurie. He’s Joyce’s little brother. When Julianne and Bruce were killed, Joyce and I took him in. He’s seen a lot of things a boy his age shouldn’t have had to, but then we all have.” For the first time, Liam saw the pain behind the laughter in Andy’s eyes. “He’s out tending the horses right now, but he’ll be in awhile. If he seems cold, don’t worry, it’s not you.”

Siobhan spoke up just then. “Alright, this year we’ve got it so that the kids are all sharing two rooms. Which means that the married couples,” she winked at Andy and Joyce. “Get rooms to themselves.”

Andy grinned wickedly and Joyce blushed.

Siobhan went on as she herded her son, daughter-in-law, grandkids, and luggage-bearers up the stairs. “Ye and Joyce will be in the little room at the end of the hall. Jaqui, Jacin, and Tyler will be in with Ania and Kati, and I’ve put Astrin in the other room with Patrick, Tasha, Sonia, Kevin, and Sean. I was going to split it as boys and girls, but that would have meant having Sonia and Kati in the same room and separating the twins, and those are both bad ideas,” She explained.

“Laurie gets to move into the bachelor pad with Joshua and Liam,” she added.

Once everyone was settled, fed, and warmed, it was time to start decorating. Augur, Jonathan, and Ron had dragged all the boxes of decorations into the huge foyer, and soon the entire house was filled with laughing, cheery people of all ages trying to get everything just so. There were garlands to be hung and apples to be stuck full of cloves, candles to place and bells to string, bows to tie and wreaths to hang. And plenty more.

The house was brimming with all the delightful smells of Christmas, from not only the evergreen and cloves and cinnamon they were using to brighten the house, but from the apple pie Melissa had stuck in the oven as an incentive to keep working.

As Liam was balanced precariously on the banister, trying to wrap a gold ribbon around a pine garland without bringing the whole thing down, with Sarah trying to help from the other end, he heard Tyler’s voice sing loudly from the library, “Deck the halls with boughs of holly…”

Automatically everyone who was within hearing range (which was just about everyone) replied just as loudly, “Fa la la la la, la la la la!”

“Neat!” Tyler commented to himself, bring laughter from those nearest.

“Tis the season to be jolly!” Siobhan sang out.

“Fa la la la la, la la la la!”

“Don we now our gay apparrel!” At the sound of Jonathan’s deep voice ringing joyfully out, Liam nearly fell of his perch, but Sarah caught his ankle and steadied him.

“Fa la la, la la la, la la la!”

They went through the song several times, until someone (Katya) started in on the Twelve Days of Christmas. After the fifth day of Christmas, things got a bit silly, because no one seemed to remember what came next and Ron began to make up verses, some of which scanned, most of which did not.

Working like this, the house was decorated and the pie was done before anyone had noticed that any time at all had passed. And it was perfect. Red and green and gold in all the right places did not allow you to forget, even for a moment, that Christmas was here.

Astrin hit it on the nose when she commented, wide-eyed, “It’s like a storybook!”

It was like a storybook. The house looked like the kind of place every person, child or adult, dreams of spending Christmas in, and the fact that it was overflowing with loving, happy kin and friends made Liam wonder if he had indeed stepped into the pages of some impossibly perfect Christmas tale.

Just then his mother, clad in jeans, a red flannel shirt tied at her slim waist, and a cream colored turtleneck, skipped lightly into the room. “Isn’t it wonderful?” she asked, pushing her auburn hair out of her face and giving her son a tight squeeze.

In that instant, any doubt Liam had, vanished. He thought his heart would burst with happiness. “Yes, Mother,” he replied, squeezing her back. “It is wonderful.”

 

They had an early, light dinner, during which Liam got to see the great table filled to capacity. Then, they all bundled into two sleighs and set out for that most pleasant of activities, finding the perfect Christmas tree.

Liam sat up front next to Ron, who was driving one of the sleighs. With the moonlight, the harness bells, and the horses, Jingle Bells soon broke out and the family raised quite a racket. They only stopped singing when they got into the deep woods, where the best evergreen trees were.

After a bit, they all tumbled out of the sled and began their search on foot, scattering in all directions, all eager to be the person to find the tree. Every few moments, from all directions, you would hear an excited shout of, “I found it!” followed by running feet and then a disparaging comment like, “Too small” or “It’s crooked” or some other such rejection.

Finally, as it was getting late, Patrick’s sweet voice called out, “I’ve found it!” There was not a hint of doubt in him.

Liam was the first to reach the clearing where Patrick stood, looking in awe at what was indeed “it”. The perfectly formed spruce rose majestically to a height of eight feet. Never had anyone seen a better Christmas tree. “Everyone, come see what Patrick found!” he yelled, grinning at the ten year old.

It only took a few minutes before everyone really was there, and they all agreed that it was just the right tree. Ron and Jonathan immediately set upon it with the hatchet, but it was clear it would take a long time to fell this tree. Liam rubbed his palms together in the cold, and realized to his astonishment that his hands weren’t just cold…they were itchy!

Is it possible? he wondered to himself, looking at the red streaks on his palms in curiousity. That really would be a Christmas miracle!

“Dad, Jonathan,” he called after a moment of indecision. After all, if you couldn’t be yourself with your family, who could you be yourself with? “Stand back a second. I want to try something.”

Ron raised his eyebrows, as did Jonathan, but both moved away from the tree. “Go ahead, Liam,” Ron told his son.

Liam held up his hands, shut his eyes, and concentrated. At first, nothing happened. But then he felt the familiar glow of heat spreading up from somewhere deep inside him, the energy flowing into his hands and building up in his Shaqarava. Then, wham! The energy leapt from his hands in a (for once) controlled burst, and hit the trunk of the tree. The spruce shuddered once and then toppled down to the soft snow with a muffled thump.

As one, the family of twenty-three turned and looked at Liam. Their expressions varied. The kids were enthralled, as a rule, with Jaqui looking much Dr. Park and Joyce in her desire to take him apart to see what made him tick. Ron looked confused, but proud. Jonathan looked suspicious, and Joshua, awed. Andy was holding back laughter for some reason, Lili looked ready to take him apart, but not to see what made him tick, and Augur waggled his eyebrows at Liam as though to say, “I couldn’t have done the shock factor better myself!”. Siobhan looked like she was going to explode with joy.

No one said anyone, until Andy finally slapped Liam on the back and said, “Quite a timesaver, that. What else you got up your sleeve, Bro?”

Everyone laughed and then they got to work loading the tree into the sleigh to take back home. Dr. Park wouldn’t let Liam help, for fear he’d tear something. He walked back with Mother, who was hugging herself in delight.

“I thought ye said that was gone!” she exclaimed at once.

“I thought it was,” he admitted slightly sheepishly. “I guess the truth of the matter is that once it stopped jumping to the surface when I was upset or in danger, and itching when I was nervous, I sort of assumed it was gone. I never thought that it might now be solely under concious control, instead of instinctive. I was sort of afraid to check.”

“Well, I’m glad ye did!” Siobhan told him. “Fron what ye’ve told me about your position wi’ the Taelons right now, ye’ll need your Shaqarava to help bridge the gap between our peoples. Not to mention, it’ll save your life more’n once, I’m sure.”

The trip home seemed to take no time at all. Once they got the tree in the door and standing tall in the appointed spot in the living room, Ron got out the special box of decorations meant only for the tree. With loving care, they were hung one by one on the branches, each with a story or memory behind it that had to be told. Everyone had at least one story to tell, though Jonathan and Siobhan had the most. Even little Sean got to blurt out the tale of the misshapen clay snowman he’d made last year.

Liam got the honor of putting the antique angel on the very top of the bushy tree, and then eggnog was served all around. Conversation lasted long into the night, and Liam was soon informed about any relationships and history he might have missed, as well as regaled with stories of the bravery of the fallen friends during the war.

As he was taking a break from the catching up and admiring the tree, Jonathan surprised him by coming up behind him and saying jovially, “Nice job back there with the tree. It’ll be a better Christmas this year, now that you’re here.”

Liam looked speculatively at the mug of eggnog in Doors’ hand, wondering if it was spiked. “I…uh…thanks.”

Jonathan coughed. “Well…I mean, the kids seem to like you for some reason,” he said gruffly, trying to recover his cantankerous, suspicious reputation. “I wouldn’t know why.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t,” Liam agreed with a smile, purposely tinging his tone with sarcasm, to help the older man save face. They smiled at each other understandingly and went back to the party.

 

The next day, everyone slept in late. It was a lazy day, where everyone seemed inclined to stay inside and just be. Liam found himself sharing a room with one very sullen teenager. Laurie maybe said three words to him that day, and none of them were friendly.

After lunch, Laurie retreated to the barn. Out of curiousity and a lack of something better to do, Liam followed him. He found the dark-haired boy in one of the stalls, talking in a soft voice to one of the horses. Liam couldn’t make out what he was saying.

He stuck his head in the stall and to his amazement, he saw the stoic, bitter-seeming teen leaning against a beautiful bay workhorse, with tears streaming down his face.

“You okay?” Liam asked, ducking into the roomy stall and patting the frisky animal to reassure it.

Laurie quickly wiped his eyes. “What are you doing here?” he snarled defensively, trying to regain his sulky, ‘I don’t care about anything’ attitude.

“I was just wondering what was up with you, that’s all. You seemed a like you were hurting and didn’t want to admit it.”

“Yeah, well what do you know about me anyway?” Laurie demanded. “You’re not really Liam.”

That stung, and Liam winced inwardly, but gave no outward sign. “I know a kid in pain when I see one,” he replied. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Laurie scowled at him. “What business of it is yours?”

“None,” Liam admitted. “But sometime you just need to let it out, to someone who’s willing to listen and who understands.”

Laurie jerked up ramrod straight, furiously. Liam had hit a nerve. “Understand?” he asked angrily. “What do you understand?”

“Well, I—” Liam began but was cut off by the raging teen.

“Both my parents died when I was eight, while I watched. My mom was tortured to death by the Taelons, and I couldn’t stop it, no matter how hard I tried.” Hot, angry tears were pouring down Laurie’s face, but he didn’t stop there. “My older brother, Ben, was shot four years ago, because I didn’t cover him well enough. I killed for the first time when I was ten, and I was fighting on the front lines when I was eleven because there weren’t enough adults left. My two best friends were shot on the same day, the Last Day, three years ago. What do you understand?” he screamed the last part.

Liam realized that while this boy had gotten a lot of sympathy and love and pity, he hadn’t gotten what he needed to jar him out of the slump he was in.

“What do I understand?” he asked, taking a firm grip on the youth’s shoulders. “I had my parents taken from me when I was a baby. I had to work with my mother, when she couldn’t even remember who I was. I had to hold her in my arms while she died because of something the one I’d sworn to protect had done to her. My father hates me and all I stand for, and I had to lead a hopeless fight when I wasn’t even a year old.

“I got to be alone, one of a kind, with no one living who even remotely understands me, and no one else anything like me in the whole universe. I saw my best friends betray me or be killed.

“Don’t you dare lecture me on pain! Or anyone else here, for that matter. Name anyone here and they’ve lost at least two close relatives and countless friends, and they’ve seen them all die horrible deaths. You’re young yes, you’ve been hurt in a way no one should ever have to go through, but you don’t have the monopoly on loss and you don’t have the special privilidge to just stop living, stop feeling, because it hurts too much to try to rebuild.

“You’re so worried about being hurt again, so wounded and full of self-pity, that you can’t see past yourself to this loving family that wants to have you as a part of it, a family I’ve wished for every day of my life. You’re so arrogant to think that your pain gives you the right to sulk your life away. You don’t see Sarah, who’s lost a brother and a best friend acting like that. Or my mother, who’s lost two children and more friends than she can count. For God’s sake, just cry it out, treasure your memories of the ones you’ve lost, and start showing some gratitude!”

Laurie looked at Liam in stunned silence. Then he began to sob loudly with the grief that had been poisoning him for so long.  Liam pulled the boy into an embrace, and held him for a long time as he cried it out. Finally, Laurie wiped his eyes.

“You’re right,” he said, almost timidly. “Thank you.”

Liam nodded, and together they walked back to the house.

 

 

The next evening, just after dinner, there was a knock on the door.  It was sleeting when Augur answered the door, and a small, bundled up figure blew in the door. She pushed back her hood.

“Suzanne!” he exclaimed and hugged her heartily. “We thought you couldn’t come this year!”

“Yeah, well I’d never forgive myself if I missed this, particularly once I heard that Liam was here.”

Suzanne’s arrival caused a huge stir, and she was soon settled in a room with Sarah and Katya (“The three musketeers together again!” she commented with a laugh).  Once she had been sufficiently toasted and had had a chance to catch up with Liam, someone put on the old version of “Miracle on 34th Street”.

Lili drifted back and forth from the kitchen, where there was a lively debate going on between her husband and Jonathan Doors, and the living room, where half the family was curled up watching her favorite Christmas movie of all time. Since she wasn’t really in the mood for a debate, it only seemed natural that she would choose to settle in the living room.

But Liam was in the living room. For awhile, Lili toyed with the idea of going to bed, or just going to her room to read. But once she was upstairs, that would make her automatically responsible for all the children, once they were sent up, and she really wanted to be alone.

Finally, Lili poured herself a mug of strong Irish coffee from the kitchen and wandered out to the back porch to look at the stars and think. The night had cleared remarkably fast, and the ice from the sleet storm had covered everything, making the whole world glitter eerily in the almost-full moon.

She heard a soft sound behind her, and then Mother was next to her.

“Why aren’t ye watching the movie?” she asked gently.

“Don’t feel like it.”

“Don’t give me that.”

Lili sighed. “I don’t want to be in there in with him, okay? Happy?”

“No,” Siobhan said quietly. “Lili, it’s time for ye to forgive him and accept him.”

“Mother!” Lili said, shocked. “Never. He’s a lying, manipulative bastard, and he’s nothing like my brother.”

Siobhan slapped her.

Lili put her hand to her face, stunned to silence. In thirty years of parenting, Siobhan Beckett had never raised a hand to any of her children, and Lili was having just a tiny problem processing the fact that her mother had just slapped her.

“Ye listen to me, Lili Denner Purcell Sandoval,” Siobhan said fiercely, invoking Lili’s rarely used fourth name. “That is my son ye’re talking about.”

“But—”

“No! Ye have been acting like a spiteful, bitter, brat since the moment ye discovered who he was, and I won’t stand for it any more. Just because this man is not what you hoped, though he is more than ye ever had a right to expect, ye treat him as though he were some serial killer without basic human rights. Ye talk about preserving your brother’s memory, but ye shun your brother.”

Lili opened her mouth to protest, but Siobhan shot her down.

“Simply because Liam’s memory does not fit with your personal world-view, ye assume him to be some horrible monster. Ye loved your brother more than anything in the universe, but when someone who is, in every way that matters, the same person, ye denounce him. Dare I say ye did not love him as much as ye claimed?

“Can ye not forgive him one, tiny identity misleading committed after having awoken from a four-day coma, by a man ye love more than life, who was just as surprised to see ye alive as ye were to see him? Or are ye less the woman I thought you were, and more a bigot? I have always considered ye not only my daughter, but one of the finest people I have ever known. Don’t make me reassess that.”

“I…” Lili felt the fight drain out of her. She was humbled as she had never been humbled before. Not when, at the age of fifteen, she had first been in combat. Not when she was taken hostage by the Taelons and shown their huge motherships. Not even when she had seen the Jaridian ships come by the thousands, so numerous they blotted out the sun for a week, to scour the Taelon presence from the face of the Earth had Lili Purcell felt so meek and lowly. “I’m sorry…” she said faintly, and turned and ran upstairs to her room.

Siobhan sighed deeply. She hadn’t been sure that she’d have the strength to do that, but it was done now, for good or ill, though she suspected for good.

 

The next day, a snowball fight broke out. But this was no ordinary snowball fight. This was an all-out war, complete with forts, battle plans, bases, and strategy, which covered nearly the whole huge estate. Of course, who was fighting who was a bit muddled, but that never stopped a good war, in play or in real life.

It had begun with the children, of course. When Liam and Andy came out to find them stocking ammunition behind their snow fortresses, they glanced at each other with identical looks of mischief, and decided to show them “how it was really done”.

Seeing this, Augur and Joshua soon joined the fight, which was moving from a guerilla war to a pitched battle. Katya, Suzanne, and Sarah could see the battleground from their window, and flew downstairs as fast as they could, never mind decorum. This was snowball fight!

They dragged Laurie with them, and so it escalated. Liam had no idea when Jonathan had entered the fray, and was also surprised to find his mother firing snowballs at him and his father (Where had Dad come from?) with equal intensity.

The two men ganged up on her, forcing her retreat. They followed, bearing their best snowballs, and found themselves led into an ambush by amazons, including Dr. Park, Sonia, and the self-proclaimed Three Musketeers. Liam and Ron were about to holler “uncle” when two things happened.

First, Laurie and Joshua came to their rescue, and second, Jaqui turned on her own kind and began pummeling her own mother, with help from her twin. Joyce ran to Andy for protection, who buried her in a snowdrift, from which she was rescued by Kevin and Patrick, and proceeded to launch a full-scale attack on the twins.

And so it went. People switched sides on a whim, and alliances formed and dissolved in the blink of an eye. All in the name of good, clean fun. (Except for the bad blood between Kati and Sonia, that is. The entire group had conspired to never let them get a clean shot at one another, so disaster was averted.)

As Liam was helping Patrick defend himself from Kevin, Kati, and Sarah, a huge, fluffy, snowball hit him on the side of his head. He grimaced as ice water began to melt into his ear and turned to see who had fired the shot, without much hope of the assailant still being there.

To his great surprise, Lili stood there, bold as brass, with another large snowball in her hand. When he turned towards her, she fired. Being a war-hero, she was an awful good shot, and hit him square in the face.

After Liam had finished wiping snow out of his eyes, Lili was still standing there. She looked cock-eyed at him for a second, and then gave him one of those huge, give ‘em hell grins he loved so much, and bounded away, practically daring him to chase her.

And chase her he did. Packing snowballs as he ran, he threw them at her as fast he could make them. He never hit her. Lots of trees, a few kids, yes. But never Lili. She, on the other hand, was pelting him unmercifully. Finally, he chased her into and aspen grove and ambushed her from behind the lone maple tree growing.

He hit her once in the face, and while her vision was obscured, he took a flying leap and tackled her to the ground. She rolled, and he held on until she rolled him into a snowbank. He let go and they began firing at each other again, and the shots flew thick until he tackled her again and wrestled her to the ground.

Her dark eyes, shining once again, looked up at him in a way he thought he’d never see again. Then she started laughing. He joined her until they were out of breath and they lay on their backs in the thick snow.

“Does this mean I’m forgiven?” Liam asked carefully when they had caught their breath.

“If I am,” Lili replied, humbly.

“Done and done!” he said, relieved.

They lay there for a few more minutes.

“I love you,” Lili offered.

“I love you, too, Sis,” Liam replied, thrilled that for once he could add out loud what he’d thought in private many a time.

The sounds of the war raged on in the distance.

“Should we go rejoin them?” Liam asked.

Lili sat up with difficulty and grinned at him. “Let’s.”

The war continued for another good hour, until everyone was exhausted and quite ready to surrender to the conquering force. Lili and Liam, as a team, had proved to be unbeatable.

 

The rest of the week flew by without any major incidents. Despite the fact that the time seemed to fly, Liam felt that he had lived a lifetime since the shuttle crash. Still, suddenly, it was Christmas Eve.

The day was busy with preparations for the next day’s feast, and last minute gift-wrappings, and such. The evening was kicked off by the children showing up at the door singing carols.

“Well, such merry carolers I never did see!” Siobhan exclaimed after they had been belting out “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” for a respectable amount of time. They were, of course, taken inside and given hot chocolate.

Then mugs of eggnog (unspiked) were distributed to the kids, while other mugs of eggnog (quite thoroughly spiked) were handed out to the adults. The whole family cuddled up in the living room for the annual reading of “A Christmas Carol”.

The fire was roaring, and as Ron opened the worn copy of Dicken’s Liam thought he’d never been or never again be, so contented. He was sitting on the corner of the biggest couch nearest the Christmas tree, with Lili curled comfortably next to him, like a drowsy wildcat. Augur, seated on her other side, felt the merest twinge of jealously. He pushed it back immediately.

He’s her brother and your best friend. This is the next-to-last she’ll ever have with him. You have the rest of your life, many Christmases after this to curl up with her and listen.

Siobhan was perched lazily on the arm of the recliner, looking over her husband’s shoulder. Dr. Park and Jonathan had claimed the loveseat, with Sean snuggled between them. Katya sat indian-style in an overstuffed chair, with Ania on her lap and Suzanne and Sarah leaning comfortably against the chair.

The twins were lying on their stomachs by the fire, and Patrick and Kati were cuddled up together on the other end of the big couch. Andy and Joyce were stretched out on the smaller couch, with Astrin curled like a cat at their feet. Joshua was leaning up against the same couch, with Sonia in his arms. Kevin, Tyler, and Laurie were sprawled on the floor, and Tasha was leaning back against Liam’s leg.

“Marley was dead, to begin with…” Ron began. Soon, all twenty-five people were completely entwined in the story. They were all startled when the book shut, and they were forced to notice the fact that the fire had burned down to embers and that it was nearly midnight.

Everyone dragged themselves tiredly to bed, except for Jaqui and Jacin, who were debating the existence of Santa Claus. Siobhan put an end to the argument by saying, “Nonsense! Everyone in my house believes in Santa Claus until…well, until they’re old enough to be Santa Claus!”

Her announcement dissolved the kids into fits of laughter as she shooed them to bed.

Liam went to his room, along with Joshua and Laurie. Laurie, being a teenage boy, was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Joshua, too, who usually lay awake thinking of Renee until exhaustion claimed him, fell asleep quickly.

Liam, however, was left awake, listening to the steady, soothing sound of his companions’ breathing. He couldn’t sleep. He didn’t want to. He felt like… Well, like a kid on Christmas, actually. He was excited about the coming day, his first—and likely only—real Christmas. In addition, he wanted to drink in everything he could, before he had to go home.

He didn’t even realize he had fallen asleep until he head Tyler’s loud shout, “It’s Christmas morning!”

At once, everyone in the house was awake. Liam jumped out of bed, only a little ahead of Laurie and Joshua, and stumbled into the hallway. He got to the top of the steps just in time to see Tyler hurl himself down the banister, likely breaking three bones, some molding, and the sound barrier, by the looks of things.

“Ye did nae see that,” Mother whispered in his ear.

“Wha?”

“It’s Christmas,” she said clearly. “Ye did nae see that.” She patted his shoulder and headed downstairs. He followed blearily. Soon, they were all assembled (in their jammies) in the living room. The pile of presents under the tree had sprouted overnight, and there wasn’t even room under the tree for them all.

The happy tearing of wrapping paper, squeals of delight, and enthusiastic thanks were underway not long after.

“Mother, Dad,” Liam said apologetically. “I didn’t get you anything…” He looked at the floor.

Siobhan and Ron exchanged looks and Ron said, “Son, you’ve given us a better present than we thought possible just by being here this Christmas.”

Siobhan moved to the floor and wrapped her arms around her son, as though she would never let him go. Just then, Lili came over with a small, nicely wrapped package.

“Here,” she said. “This is from all of us, so you’ll never be able to forget.”

Wordlessly, overcome by emotion, Liam tore into the paper. Inside was a long silver chain with a plain black rectangle about two inches by one inch and one-quarter inch thick. Lili showed him how to press his fingers just so around the edge so that it sprang open. On one half of the funny little locket was a picture of him and Mother together, obviously around Christmas some years back. On the other side was the laughing picture of him and Lili he’d seen the other day.

Liam choked up and barely managed to get a “thanks” out before the tears came. Lili also showed him that there were about fifty other pictures in the little locket, of everyone in the family. But every time you opened it, it would open to those same two pictures.

The rest of the day went by in a blur, despite Liam’s best efforts to hold on to every moment. Siobhan was permanently attached to her son’s side, unwilling to leave him for even a moment. He felt the same.

After a huge Christmas dinner, the family once again gathered in the living room, this time to sing Christmas carols, and read the original Christmas story.

Before they could start, in the momentary hush that fell over the room, a childish voice began to sing loud and clear.

“The first Noel, the angel did say,

Was to certain poor shepherds in field as they lay,”

 

It was Tasha. Silent, sober, wise little Tasha. No one stirred, for fear to break the spell.

 

“In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,

On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.

 

Noel, Noel. Noel, Noel.

Born is the King of Israel.

 

They looked up and saw a star,

Bright in the East beyond them far,

And to the Earth it gave great light,

And so it continued day and night.

 

Noel, Noel. Noel, Noel.

Born is the King of Israel.”

 

As the last note trailed away, Liam endevoured to burn that moment into his memory forever. When he went to bed, Mother came again to tuck him in. She said nothing except, “I love you,” and sang him softly to sleep with an old Gaelic lullaby that soothed the ache in his soul.

He slept deeply that night, so restfully he thought that that one night sleep could sustain him through whatever trials he might encounter over the next five year. He knew it was fanciful, but there was something in his soul that was so refreshed. Despite the unutterable sadness he felt at having to leave those he loved so much, something in him had not felt so reassured, so loved, so sure that things would eventually work out in his entire life.

Lili had procured a shuttle, and Augur had fixed it up so that the first jump to ID would take him back to his own universe. So easy to do, and yet so hard for him to do it. He had said his tearful goodbyes to everyone inside.

“Thank you,” Joyce had whispered to him. “I don’t know what you said to Laurie, but for the first time in his life, he’s a whole person.”

Even Sonia and Kati had a made a temporary truce to see him off. Liam sensed that their truce was more than ‘temporary’, but arguing the point would have made the cease-fire disappear, so he left it alone.

Patrick was one of the hardest to leave. Liam made a mental note to find the Sarah and Patrick of his world as soon as he got back.

Only Lili, Dad, and Mother had accompanied him outside.

Ron gave his son a tight hug and said, “I’m sorry, Liam.”

“For what?”

“For whatever my counterpart has done to you. I love you, my boy.” With that, he patted his son’s cheek and turned and walked away, afraid he would lose his composure.

Lili threw her arms around the neck of her brother and almost couldn’t make herself let go.

“Dammit, it’s not fair!” she cried. “I’ve lost you here, and you’ve lost me there. Why won’t the universe let us be together?”

“I don’t know,” he said kissing her cheek. “I love you, Lili. I’ll never forget you, I promise.”

She nodded and sniffled. “I love you Liam. I know it’s not possible, but try to come back to me.”

He nodded, although they both knew it wouldn’t happen.

Mother stood on tiptoes and kissed his forehead. By that time, they were both weeping so hard it seems as though they’d never stop. “I love ye my son. I’ll miss ye always. But remember my star. I’ll never leave ye, wherever ye are.”

He gulped, “I know…”

“Forgive Da’an,” she said suddenly.

“What?” he asked, shocked.

“Forgive Da’an. From what ye’ve told me, he’s in a tough position. Here, billions of people, human and alien died. He’s trying to prevent that where you are. It doesn’t make what he’s done right, but it may make it unavoidable, from where he stands. Ye have the unique chance to prevent the greatest war in human history, but ye may have to forgive atrocities to do it.”

“I…I’ll try,” he promised. It was the best he could do.

She kissed him again. “That’s all I can asked.”

Liam nodded, and climbed into the shuttle. He looked back and took one last look at his mother the way she was, the way would have been, the way she should’ve been. Still weeping, he told her. “I love most, Mother.” Then he pressed to button. It was the hardest things he’d ever done.

Within a very few moments, Liam was back over DC, only a few hours later than he had left. It would be very easy indeed to pretend that it had all been dream. But he knew it hadn’t.

The feeling of well-being was still there. Even though had just been ripped from his loved ones once again, Liam felt a lessening of grief for the first time since either Mother or Lili had died. He had had a chance to say the unsaid things, sped some time with them, and most of all, say goodbye.

As he headed towards the embassy, he gripped the wafer-thin locket around his neck with the precious, wonderful pictures in it. He knew that for as long a he lived, he would never, ever take it off.