Terra Nova fic...everyone else just move along
Title: Barbarians and Rampaging Women
Character/Pairing: Maddy/Reynolds
Word Count: 9271 (total. This is part 1. Part 2 is linked at the bottom)
Rating: PG-13 for swearing and mentions of sex
Warning: none
Spoiler alert: none this is a future!fic
Summary: Filled for the prompt at Terra Nova's Holiday Challenge! My prompt is below. I wanted to go a little more angsty, but this is still fluffy. Hope you enjoy it
Scenario: There can be no more pilgrimages, the Sixers have somehow sabotaged the portal. It's been a couple years and now the Terra Novan's are seeing the end of themselves as a species. Terra Nova has always had what Maddy has thought of as odd courting customs but now they've instituted more to it. Courting can only last a certain time until a couple must get married. And after that, unlike in 2149, they have to have at least two children and in a certain time period after they get married. A reversal of how things were in 2149. How do people react to these marriage laws - how do Maddy and Mark react?
Any mistakes are my own but I certainly appreciate Emily's beta work. (miss_junie
“With the harvest done, we need to schedule perimeter duty just to keep an eye out there. Get a lot of rowdy kids out there doing God knows what in those empty fields,” Commander Taylor said to the six men and women in front of him.
Reynolds looked at the clock on the wall. He was starving and he still had another hour of duty before he’d get to go home and cook. It was Maddy’s late day because she spent a portion of her regular day substituting at the school. The regular teacher was on maternity leave and Maddy was way too eager to help with that sort of thing, meaning he got to cook dinner. She was probably already finished at the school and had gone back to the Science Division so she could work on whatever she had going on there. Fleetingly he thought about stealing her away early. Between her working so much and being sick, it had been a while since they’d ripped each other’s clothes off. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Not the place to be thinking about such things, especially when Lieutenant Washington was glancing his way.
“I think that about does it,” Taylor said standing up and leaning over the table. People began collecting their things to leave the meeting, until the doors to the office flew open and the very person Reynolds had just been imagining naked moments earlier, stormed in.
“You are a barbarian!” She marched right up to Taylor, glaring. Her face was flushed, her hair was falling out of the messy ponytail and she’d never looked sexier. But Reynolds just slouched and sighed in defeat. She was here to yell at his boss. Awesome. Wash started gesturing for the others to exit but when Mark tried to follow, she put a hand on his chest to stop him.
“I think we ought to stay for this one,” she said with raised eyebrows. He let out a breath and turned back to the scene. Not where he wanted to be.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Reynolds,” Taylor replied jovially. “What have I done to upset you today?”
“The new population rules,” she said shortly. She hadn’t even noticed Mark or Alicia in the room. He could see her eyes were firmly fixed on the Commander. “You cannot seriously think that anyone will agree to the new rules. They’re barbaric, they’re misogynistic, they’re just plain wrong!”
“Why don’t you have a seat?” he offered. “There was a point in human history where abortion was considered all of those things.”
“And that point is long past.” Maddy’s hands were on her hips and she showed no sign of calming or sitting. “When I came here five years ago, you told my parents you didn’t care for the population laws of the future. And here you are doing the same thing!”
“The proposed procedure is exactly the opposite of the laws of the future,” Taylor said with a bit of edge. He was starting to tire of Maddy’s insolence.
“Right, first stop on the crazy train is to outlaw abortion. That ought to go over well. Stop number two, people must get married by their nineteenth birthday. They must have two children by their twenty-fifth, brownie points for more than two children. Stop three: anyone older than those ages, but under the age of 40 must have two children within a reasonable amount of time.” She took a breath and Taylor used the brief hesitation to speak up.
“Reasonable amount of time, that’s lax wording don’t you think?” Maddy’s face turned an even brighter shade of red and Mark could see her fight the urge to stomp her foot like her little sister would.
“I don’t want to haggle over verbiage. I want you to throw these silly suggestions for rules out the window!”
“The colony is dying,” Taylor said with finality and Maddy shook her head trying to gather her next thought.
After the destruction of the portal three years earlier, the colony’s growth had predictably plateaued. With no new settlers coming through, the roughly 1500 people of Terra Nova just weren’t growing. Maddy knew this. She’d submitted a report about birth rates and work demands. Mark sat in on all the meetings, the different departments bringing in their suggestions, their ideas for technology to help with things like crop harvest and what jobs could be run with machines instead of people.
The Commander was set to make a decision on how he would handle the crisis soon, but Mark didn’t know what the decision would be, so when Maddy began explaining the new rules, even he was caught off guard. How she ended up with the information was anyone’s best guess. He thanked his lucky stars he wasn’t privy to the news. He would have agonized over telling her, when he really shouldn’t, and she would have done this very thing. He’d never been so thankful to be kept out of the loop. Because when it came to choosing between his job and his wife, he’d always choose his wife, but that wasn’t good for his career.
“I know all about the colony’s low birth rate. Don’t be dramatic. I wrote the damn report.” Maddy had found her niche in the science department but she also loved to dabble in economics and so despite being low on the totem pole in science, she was highly regarded in this matter. “There’s got to be a better way to do this. You can’t dictate how people use their reproductive systems.”
“Dramatic?” He chuckled and turned to Reynolds and Wash. “Can’t you control her?” Maddy seemed to notice the other two people in the room for the first time. After a split second of hesitation, Mark spoke up.
“Respectfully, sir, I can’t and don’t want to control her. She’s got a valid point even if she’s not presenting it in the proper manner.”
Taylor seemed to nod in understanding. But Maddy wasn’t slowing down.
“This isn’t your own personal Eden, Commander, you don’t get to tell a woman what to do with her body. Quite frankly, I’ll take my chances outside the gates if this is what the colony has come to.”
Alicia lifted her eyebrows and glanced at Mark. He gave her the smallest shake of his head as if to tell her shut up.
“What we need is a regime change.” Mark and Alicia both cringed. This was not a topic that anyone wanted to discuss in this room. ”We need elected officials, I think you’ve overstayed your welcome as dictator.” Commander Taylor had stayed remarkably blank for the last few jibs, but at that he started to open his mouth. Reynolds stole the moment and spoke quicker.
“Maddy,” he pleaded with as much dignity as he could muster when one is begging their wife to stop talking. The interruption seemed to be enough to relax Taylor.
“Well, Mrs. Reynolds, what you can have is a drink and 24 hours to cool off.” Maddy huffed angrily and started to speak, but Taylor kept talking over her. “Come back and see me tomorrow for a scheduled discussion, one where you don’t barge into my office.” He paused a moment. “Why are you so fond of doing that anyways?”
Maddy stood seething, unable to answer. Taylor had patronized her and Mark knew if you wanted her really pissed off, you spoke down to her. Whether Taylor knew that fact and was driving home a point, or if he was out of patience and just wanted her gone, Mark was unsure. With Wash’s nod, he moved to stand in front of Maddy and tilted his head towards the door.
Wash poked her head out of the door as they made their way down the steps. “You’re done for the day, Reynolds,” she said before going back into the office.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he sighed, relieved to be out of the office but Maddy took the moment to glare at him.
“Did you know about this?”
“Not even a little,” he answered thankfully. “Let’s go home.” She continued to glare for a moment but relented as he took her hand and started walking her towards their home.
She had the decency not to start the discussion again until he’d shut the front door, although he wasn’t quite sure how she’d held back so long. “He is not a god. Nor is he the be all, and end all of everyone’s lives.” She threw her bag on the floor.
“But he kind of is. People need a leader, without it, there’s chaos.” He pulled his chest armor off and started on his arm pads. “This place would be Lord of the Flies without him.”
“I understand you respect him. But how do you feel about his absolute power over our reproductive systems, honey? The only people who have any say in our family planning are you and I. And that is the way it should stay. It’s a basic human right.”
“Hardly, not that long ago we had the privilege to leave a society that did that exact thing.” He walked into the bedroom, yanking his shirt over his head as he walked, Maddy followed while pulling her earrings out of her ears. “But I agree that we shouldn’t have to explain our family choices to anyone. I’m panicked enough at the idea of one child.” He took a moment to stare at her small belly. She was just barely beginning to show. She didn’t notice, just kept removing her jewelry. “But the point is we need a leader. The colony needs that. And right now you need him. He’s the one who decides if these rules go into effect.
“And when has barging into his office ever gotten you results? As a matter of fact, I can recall at least one time when that plan put you in harm’s way. I’d prefer not to repeat that event,” he said as he sat on the bed to remove his boots.
“I remember that differently. You were the one with a knife to your throat,” she said sharply, removing her own shoes and reaching for a pair of fluffy socks.
“Splitting hairs, Maddy. You were in just as much danger as I was and it was you I was worried about.” She rolled her eyes, as he walked into the bathroom and started the shower. “Don’t blow me off. If you want Taylor to listen to you, you need to understand how he works. He doesn’t respond to demands, you have to respect him.” Removing the last of his clothing he got into the shower. She stood outside as if there was no barrier between them.
“Why would I respect someone who could even dream up such absurd rules?” She turned to the mirror and began brushing through her hair. “How do you respect someone who wants to play god?”
“You know he’s not keen on doing this,” he said poking his head out of the curtain. “There were lots of ideas brought to the table. You should have heard this guy go on and on about cloning and test tube babies. Believe me, family planning laws are about the least offensive thing the commander could do.”
“When all the options are horrific, you come up with another solution!” She stood at the door tapping her foot.
“You’re right, but he doesn’t speak ‘Maddy.’ You need to organize your thoughts, be concise, don’t go in there emotional.”
“Do I look like a soldier? I don’t take orders.” He saw her begin braiding her hair as steam filled the bathroom.
“I know, I understand you, but he won’t unless you’re prepared and calm,” he said as he scrubbed the grime of work from his skin.
Maddy pointed the brush at him. “This isn’t going to be good for the colony, it’s going to cause backlash, public outrage, maybe even a coup.”
“Okay, first thing on the list, you have to separate your desperate desire for an elected government from this individual issue. There’s no way he’s going to hear anything you say after you call for his removal.”
“Someone needs to say it, it needs to be talked about more!” Maddy demanded and this time she did stomp her foot.
“Fine, but now is not the time. Remember, you’re trying to sell him on another way around this crisis?”
“So you’re going to teach me how speak to ‘Taylor’ and then I can fix this problem?” she said rather calmly. He was suspicious, but these days she tired a bit sooner and changed her mind a little quicker.
“Yes, we’ll work up your list of other options and you can practice on me, and by practice I mean, you can try not to yell at me like you yell at him.” As he exited the shower she handed him a towel. “I could just skip the towel and remove your clothes,” he said with a smirk while invading her space.
“Or you could help me with all this and then I could reward you for your outstanding efforts,” Maddy said with a quick peck on his lips and a smooth exit from the bathroom. Mark chuckled. Nothing put her in the mood like studying.
Maddy hardly slept the night before. She was a stomach sleeper but recently she’d realized her growing belly didn’t allow for her favorite position. People said children changed your life. As if the puking of the first trimester wasn’t enough, she was already losing sleep due to the grapefruit sized little person growing inside her. Of course, it wasn’t like her sleep would have been great otherwise.
Today’s looming confrontation with Taylor wasn’t helping matters. She and Mark had spent hours the night before rehearsing what she’d say. Always the diligent student, Maddy would have stayed up all night going over her notes, but her husband coaxed her into bed. She had missed the intimacy that seemed to flee when she spent all her time hanging her head over the toilet.
After a full morning of research, then an hour subbing in the schoolhouse covering science class, Maddy finally rounded on the stairs up to Taylor’s office. She heard her name called and turned to see her mother running to her.
“Hey, I heard what happened and I just wanted to wish you luck,” her mother said giving her big hug. “Give him hell!” She smiled widely and Maddy felt her confidence swell.
“How did you hear?”
“Mark brought in a couple of guys who’d been fighting,” her mother explained. “He’s actually on his way here now, he wants to be here when you get out.”
Maddy took a deep breath and steeled herself. “Alright, I’m going in.”
“I love you,” her mother called cheerfully after her. Maddy turned and gave her mom a big thumbs up and off she went.
This time, like her manners dictated, she knocked on the door and waited. Lieutenant Washington opened the door and gestured for her to enter. She turned to Taylor and excused herself, but not before giving a nod to Maddy.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Reynolds.” Taylor gestured for her to have a seat and today, unlike the day before, she took it. “You know, it’s funny that I don’t call you Miss Shannon anymore. Guess that makes you an old married lady. I haven’t thought of you as Miss Shannon in years.”
“Well, it has been years, Commander,” she said tersely, wanting nothing to do with his small talk. He didn’t seem to notice or maybe he didn’t care.
“Two, almost three? Married two autumns ago, right?”
“Yes.”
“And correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you pregnant?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye, one that made Maddy want to fly off the handle.
“Yes, I am, but that has nothing to do with what we need to discuss.” She folded her arms, frustrated.
“Really? I feel like it has everything to do with that,” he said with raised eyebrows.
“If you think this is some hormone induced rant, you’re wrong.” Maddy resisted the urge to shake a finger at him like he was a child.
“Despite your assumptions, I don’t hate women. I am not a misogynist that wants to see you all barefoot and pregnant.” He stopped a moment and glanced towards the door. “I have many capable women under my command, if you notice, whenever I’m not here, there’s a woman that takes control of this place and let me be honest, she scares even me sometimes.” Maddy softened a bit at the slip of information. “I’m just trying to save us.”
“You’re making the wrong choices,” she said firmly, but she hoped without too much emotion. Mark had warned her, getting hysterical would not help her case. “I promised my husband I wouldn’t discuss the fact that I think you’ve overstayed your role as dictator and stick to the much more pressing matter of trying to control people’s reproductive systems.”
The smallest twitch of Taylor’s lips slowed Maddy down and she tried to reign in her thoughts.
“I’m not thrilled with the idea, but we need to increase our population. You’re going to need people to support you when you get old. This colony will die without people to run it.”
“I concede the point, but punishing people won’t make the colony thrive,” she said putting a hand to her forehead in frustration. “It was argued that Roe vs. Wade was the reason for the drop in crime 20 years later. Children that aren’t wanted turn to crime.” Taylor chuckled.
“We’ve had this discussion before, Mrs. Reynolds. Those ideas don’t translate well to a 1500 person civilization.”
“Fine, let’s reward people,” she said, glad to finally be making headway in the conversation. “People respond to incentives.”
“What incentives can I give them? People have what they need here,” he said gesturing to the windows as if to lay out his own personal paradise.
Maddy took a deep breath before she started, “Money, maternity and paternity leave, home helps, and housing.”
“We give maternity leave. Hell, I even authorize 10 days paternity leave if one of my men wants it.”
“Give them longer.” Maddy stood her ground.
“Did you forget about the daily tasks of running this colony?” he asked. “If everyone is on maternity leave, who is harvesting food or guarding the gate?”
“You think you won’t have that problem when you force families to have more children?” she shot back. “And how long before we start sending children to work?”
“Hey now,” he said clearly offended. “I don’t send children to work and you know I wouldn’t. Stop taking pot shots.” Maddy pressed her lips into a tight line. She knew that much was true. The man wasn’t going to put children at risk. He had a grandfatherly love for the kids of the colony.
“I’m sorry, Commander.”
“Okay, so what else, housing? People have housing,” he said, obviously ready to be back on topic.
“They do, but with few exceptions, all the homes are three bedrooms. Speaking from experience, those rooms are small if you have more than one person in them.” She thought of the tight space she and Zoe occupied in their old room. “If you offer more spacious housing, people will be more inclined to have more children.”
“How big was your apartment in 2149?” He reclined in his chair a bit. Maddy sighed. She knew where he was going with this.
“450 square feet,” she answered sullenly.
“And how big is your home now?”
“We have a newer home, it’s 1300 square feet.”
He leaned his elbows on the desk and put his hands together. “You sure people need bigger houses?”
“The point is to make people want to have children, it’s an incentive. Like you said, people have everything they need here.”
-----
“Maddy’s in there with him?” Wash asked a pacing Reynolds. “Should we go put our ears up to the door to listen?”
“I’m quite sure we can hang here at the bottom of the stairs and hear them, or maybe we could walk over to the mess hall, we could probably hear them there if we wanted to grab a snack.” He continued pacing despite her presence.
“You sound a bit exasperated.”
“One day I’m going to be relegated to Agriculture because of the two of them butting heads,” Mark answered with a sigh. Alicia shook her head.
“Nah, I won’t let that happen,” Alicia replied fondly.
“Because you have that kind of control?” Mark asked skeptically with a sidelong glance. Alicia smirked and Mark closed his eyes fighting against an unwanted mental image. “I don’t want to know what kind of control you have over him. K?”
Alicia laughed.
“Something funny, Lieutenant?” Commander Taylor called from up above them as Maddy walked down the stairs.
“Oh, yes, sir,” she answered. When she didn’t explain Taylor chuckled and retreated back into his office.
“Aren’t you worried about this?” a frustrated Maddy asked Alicia as she reached them at the bottom of the stairs. “This is a huge deal!” Mark pulled her to him and kissed her forehead before speaking.
“I’m sure you did fine,” he soothed. “We didn’t even hear any screaming so that’s an improvement over yesterday.”
Maddy shrugged and turned back to Alicia. “Really though, you know the new policies would affect you, don’t you?”
Alicia nodded stoically. “I know.”
“So why aren’t you upset? How could you let him come up with these barbaric rules?” Maddy asked harshly.
“I don’t have that kind of control,” she said and then immediately looked to Reynolds who made a face at her.
“But surely you’ll talk to him about it.”
“Oh, I’ve got my very own appointment scheduled,” she said and watched Maddy’s face shine with surprise. “But what did you suggest we do?”
“Reward people instead of punishing them. Maternity leave, home help, housing, and then monetary rewards,” she reiterated quickly.
“Home help?” Alicia asked, her interest piqued.
“Yeah, you know, a person to come and help out the first few weeks of maternity leave. Especially helpful to those with spouses that are OTG for long periods of time or who have children close together.”
“I like that,” she noted. “It would be a good transition job for young people coming out of school that haven’t found a job.”
“Exactly.”
“So what are you gonna do if he doesn’t accept your proposal?”
“I’ll have 10 or 12 kids if it means that someone who needs one can have an abortion.” Next to Maddy, Mark choked at her words.
“This conversation was worth it solely for the look on his face right now,” Alicia teased.
“I’m having panic attacks over one, Maddy. Slow your roll.” Mark spit out. But Maddy just shook her head.
“We all have to make sacrifices, Mark.”
“Yeah, Mark.” Alicia parroted, looking amused.
“I can’t imagine how we got here,” Maddy said sitting across the couch with her feet in Mark’s lap. She was reading and he was looking over some work schedules. He loved sitting with her like this. He just loved being with her and he found he never tired of just sitting comfortably together.
“Well, you finished up with your productive appointment with Commander Taylor, then we walked home, you jumped me as soon as we walked in the door, which I loved, by the way.” He gave her a mischievous look but she just pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes as though she was upset, but he knew she wasn’t. “Then we showered, cooked, ate, and here we are.”
“Jerk,” she said lifting her foot to kick at his chest awkwardly.
“What?” he asked innocently, catching her foot and massaging it.
“Don’t be a smart ass.” He dropped her foot and she whined.
“Smart asses don’t rub their wives’ feet.”
“But this wife is pregnant, you should always rub a pregnant woman’s feet.” He lifted his eyebrows and she pouted. He relented and resumed the massage. “What I meant earlier-“
“I know what you meant,” he interrupted. “That day still tops the list of shitty days.”
“It was my fault,” she whispered and he couldn’t help the flash of anger and frustration.
“Stop! It was not.” Maddy flinched but he reached over to hold her cheek. “I never should have said it was your fault. You didn’t set the charges. You just wanted to learn about the portal. You were just being you and there is nothing wrong with that.”
“We could have died.” He could see her fighting tears so he leaned over and kissed her softly.
“But we didn’t.” He said it firmly.
Reynolds scrubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he walked up to the gate. Normally he was well rested for his morning shifts, but he’d worked a mid last night and his relief was late. Since he had to be at the gate at 0600, the measly four hours of sleep he was able to get was not sufficient. He cursed inwardly, he wouldn’t have to be here at all, but he’d volunteered. After seeing the list of colonist volunteers, with Maddy’s name at the very top, he had no choice but to ask for this extra duty.
Sidling up to Maddy, he stared intently at her thermos. “That is for me, right?” She rolled her eyes.
“Maybe.” She pulled it out of his reach. “You didn’t have to come this morning.”
“The fuck I didn’t,” he said and watched her cringe. He made it a point to avoid swearing in her presence but he was tired, and this was all her fault so he might have said it on purpose. She handed him the hot coffee. “Thank you,” he said more kindly as he took it from her.
“There are lots of other people with guns, and it’s not like this is a particularly dangerous adventure.” She gestured to the other 20 or so of his fellow soldiers.
It was standard procedure to take enough soldiers to cover the jungle, one nurse, and a few volunteer medical staff to help the people coming through the portal adjust. Maddy had the day off from her research duties at the science department and was just dying to go for a stroll through the jungle. He often wondered why she’d ever want to do that exact thing after their date when they were stuck OTG. But he wasn’t going to let her go without him. She had a knack for attracting trouble and the jungle was no place he wanted her to attract it.
“Your ideas of chivalry are beginning to wear on me, but watching you suffer this morning makes me feel just a little bit better.” He glared at her a moment before turning and waving to a few of his friends.
“Why would you volunteer as medical staff anyways?” he asked turning back to her. “I don’t really enjoy the idea of holding your hair while you barf like on your birthday.” She huffed.
“Puke on your boyfriends’ shoes one time and he just won’t let it go.”
“One time?” he scoffed before Lieutenant Washington called for everyone’s attention. After she finished with her instructions the group of people headed out the gate towards the portal. Mark took a perimeter spot and Maddy fell in step with a girl who was doing an internship with Dr. Shannon.
“Mark, did you see that brachiosaurus?” she hollered excitedly. He just grinned and nodded his head. He remembered how he’d first spoken to her about those dinos and the two of them both seemed to favor those creatures as a step in their relationship. “It’s mating season for them and they tend to…” Maddy stopped when several of Mark’s fellow soldiers started to chuckle. “Never mind, some people just can’t keep their minds out of the gutter, it’s scientific, you jerks.”
She’d become familiar with his coworkers and while he liked that she was friendly, she really needed to watch what she said around them. They weren’t the most mature bunch.
“That woman of yours,” a soldier named Pierce started as he caught up with Reynolds. “She’s all kinds of entertaining.”
“Shut it,” he replied shortly. “Go back to your position. Dinos get territorial during mating season and you don’t want to be the trophy snack that one of those things brings back to his lady, right?”
“You cannot take a joke.”
“You cannot take an order,” he said leaving no room for further discussion.
Once they made it to the portal, they set up a perimeter and Mark caught Maddy straying very close to the actual portal.
“Was this an excuse to write another paper?” he asked catching her off guard as she held a sensor close to a tree near the portal. “Because I would have loved to spend our day off doing anything but this.”
“No one made you come,” she said avoiding the question and pulling a camera from the pocket of her utility pants. She bent down and started taking photos of the tree’s roots. The portal lay just a meter from them.
“Maddy,” he said sternly. She looked up at him and pursed her lips. “This is a paper, isn’t it?”
“So what if it is?” she shot back. “I like writing papers and this portal is the height of insane anomalies.
“Wait.” Mark glanced around, but Maddy just continued taking pictures. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” she asked as he mentally took a head count of all the people a few meters back, all standing around the brush waiting. A very faint beeping seemed to be coming from the portal. As it started to speed up and increase pitch, realization dawned on him.
“It’s like a…shit! Maddy run!” She looked confused but the seriousness on his face must have convinced her because she started running towards the group of people. “Everybody run!” Mark yelled again as he followed Maddy.
Just as they reached the group, something popped and then a huge explosion sent them all forward. Mark’s ears were ringing and his head felt fuzzy. He looked around frantically and dragged himself to Maddy who was a few feet from him. He tried to yell for her, but he could barely hear himself so he figured she couldn’t hear him. Against his body’s protests he pulled himself to sit up and rolled her from front to back. She opened her dazed eyes and he sighed with relief. He checked her over quickly and determined she was fine, just shaken. He glanced back and saw that the others seemed to be checking one another and there didn’t appear to be any major injuries. Just scrapes and bruises. Maddy gestured for him to help her up and as he did she grabbed her bag and tried to stand up to help the others. She couldn’t quite do it though and she ended up back in Mark’s lap.
Everyone’s hearing seemed to be coming back because Mark started to hear the upset groans of people who had almost been blown up. Maddy finally stood up and when she did, she heaved. Oh great. Mark thought.
“You’re bleeding,” she said as she pointed to his left shoulder, a hand covering her mouth.
“It’s nothing.” He blew it off, but he hadn’t even noticed, now that he looked at it, there was a rather large branch lodged in his shoulder.
“How did you know?” Wash had made her way over to Maddy and Mark.
“I heard the ticking,” he replied without hesitation. “Maddy, do not throw up on me.” He looked to her as she tried to pull her med kit out of her bag. “Let Nurse Agawa do it, I’m fine but my health will deteriorate rapidly if you puke on me.” Maddy made a face as he turned back to Wash.
“It was a digital ticker, and it sped up. I heard it first when I walked over there.” He pointed back to the tree that he and Maddy had been standing next to before the explosion. “I need to go look and see if there are any pieces left. See what the Sixers have to make explosives with.”
“What do you know about bombs?” Maddy asked as she sat down next to him, handing him a couple of pills. He looked at her with raised eyebrows. “It’s just pain meds. If you insist on waiting on your shoulder, you’ll need those. Adrenaline won’t last forever.” He took them and the water she handed him. “I used to build bombs.”
“What?” Maddy asked shocked.
“Cooking is chemistry, yeah? So is building bombs, it’s pretty fun to blow up things, too.” Her eyes were still wide when Wash interrupted.
“Get up, let’s go look at it,” she said, offering him a hand. He took it, but a wave of pain struck him and he buckled. “Okay, you sit here. Maddy, you’ve got a camera, right?” Maddy nodded. “Pierce, go with Miss Shannon, take this bag, collect everything that looks like shrapnel or bits of bomb, and bring it back.”
“I can go,” Mark tried, but Alicia pushed on his chest. “Come on, she’s gonna get hurt over there, what if there’s another one?”
“I’m going over there, too.” She glared down at him. “Is that enough assurance for you? No wonder she huffs about your protection. You’re stifling.”
Mark tried desperately not to roll his eyes at his superior as she walked away. “Agawa!” he hollered for the nurse. “Get this damn tree out of my shoulder!”
“What do you think the likelihood is that we can fix it?” Wash asked Maddy. “Can you even make that kind of guess?”
“She can make some really intelligent guesses and since she’s the only member of the science division with us…” Mark trailed off as Wash glared at him. They both looked back to Maddy who stood looking around the base of what used to be the portal. She bit her finger nervously. Normally it was a habit that Mark found to be a combination of adorable and sexy but at the moment he was too busy being aggravated at the way his day had turned out to have either feeling.
“Maddy?” Wash asked anxiously.
“I don’t know,” she finally answered. Wash threw her hands up and Maddy shrunk a bit like a child in trouble.
“I just need to know if it’s still going to open? Do we go back or do we wait for the people to come through?”
“Can we get Dr. Wallace on the comm? Maybe if I can explain some of what I see, he might be able to take a better guess.”
“No, it just so happens that every comm unit with us was smashed by our falling bodies.” Alicia ran a hand over her head and down her ponytail. “The commander will send someone out any minute when he notices he can’t contact us, but it’s gonna be at least 30 minutes by rover.”
“When was it going to open?” Maddy asked. “Maybe we can just wait?”
“This is all a very vague kind of schedule. We don’t know when they were supposed to be here.” Another soldier called for the lieutenant and she excused herself.
Mark wrapped his good arm around Maddy’s neck and pulled her to his chest. He kissed her hair and spoke against it.
“Don’t feel bad.” She shuddered and he held her a little tighter. He wondered if all the excitement was finally catching up with her. “You’re doing the best you can.”
Just as predicted, 45 minutes later a rover with a couple of soldiers and Jim Shannon arrived. After some fighting, it was decided, or possibly an order given, that Mark would go back in the rover along with Maddy and the other civilian volunteers while the other soldiers, Lieutenant Washington, and her father stayed behind to gather any further information to take back to Malcolm about what was left of the portal.
Mark couldn’t get comfortable in the rover since he couldn’t lean back on his shoulder, so Agawa gave him some more meds and he slumped over his knees, holding Maddy’s hand. She mimicked his position so she could talk to him in a semi private fashion.
“All I want is for your mom to clear me so I can go home and sleep.”
“You might have to stay overnight,” she said and he grunted. “It’s not pretty back there.”
“Well you know, I wouldn’t have even been there, and neither would you…”
“Don’t say that, I already feel bad enough.” She was right and Mark felt guilty. “And if you and I hadn’t been there, maybe someone besides you would have been seriously injured. You heard the bomb, so see, you’re a hero.”
“Hardly.” His head started to feel fuzzy and he leaned his head on her knee. “I wish we were already married so I could just go to sleep and know that you were right next to me, safe.”
“Oh yeah?” Maddy asked with a giggle. “I’ve never heard that plan.”
“I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud. It was a surprise.” He knew he should be embarrassed but he was just tired and sore and a little fuzzy in the head.
“I’m surprised.”
“Are you laughing because the idea is absurd or because I’m funny when I’m high?”
“I’m laughing because I’m not sure if that’s a valid proposal.”
“No, it’s not. I still haven’t gotten up the courage to ask your dad. I kept looking for him when he wasn’t armed, but it’s weird how he’s always armed these days.”
“Maybe he guessed your surprise and wants to scare you.”
“It’s working.”
Part 2
Character/Pairing: Maddy/Reynolds
Word Count: 9271 (total. This is part 1. Part 2 is linked at the bottom)
Rating: PG-13 for swearing and mentions of sex
Warning: none
Spoiler alert: none this is a future!fic
Summary: Filled for the prompt at Terra Nova's Holiday Challenge! My prompt is below. I wanted to go a little more angsty, but this is still fluffy. Hope you enjoy it
Scenario: There can be no more pilgrimages, the Sixers have somehow sabotaged the portal. It's been a couple years and now the Terra Novan's are seeing the end of themselves as a species. Terra Nova has always had what Maddy has thought of as odd courting customs but now they've instituted more to it. Courting can only last a certain time until a couple must get married. And after that, unlike in 2149, they have to have at least two children and in a certain time period after they get married. A reversal of how things were in 2149. How do people react to these marriage laws - how do Maddy and Mark react?
Any mistakes are my own but I certainly appreciate Emily's beta work. (miss_junie
“With the harvest done, we need to schedule perimeter duty just to keep an eye out there. Get a lot of rowdy kids out there doing God knows what in those empty fields,” Commander Taylor said to the six men and women in front of him.
Reynolds looked at the clock on the wall. He was starving and he still had another hour of duty before he’d get to go home and cook. It was Maddy’s late day because she spent a portion of her regular day substituting at the school. The regular teacher was on maternity leave and Maddy was way too eager to help with that sort of thing, meaning he got to cook dinner. She was probably already finished at the school and had gone back to the Science Division so she could work on whatever she had going on there. Fleetingly he thought about stealing her away early. Between her working so much and being sick, it had been a while since they’d ripped each other’s clothes off. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Not the place to be thinking about such things, especially when Lieutenant Washington was glancing his way.
“I think that about does it,” Taylor said standing up and leaning over the table. People began collecting their things to leave the meeting, until the doors to the office flew open and the very person Reynolds had just been imagining naked moments earlier, stormed in.
“You are a barbarian!” She marched right up to Taylor, glaring. Her face was flushed, her hair was falling out of the messy ponytail and she’d never looked sexier. But Reynolds just slouched and sighed in defeat. She was here to yell at his boss. Awesome. Wash started gesturing for the others to exit but when Mark tried to follow, she put a hand on his chest to stop him.
“I think we ought to stay for this one,” she said with raised eyebrows. He let out a breath and turned back to the scene. Not where he wanted to be.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Reynolds,” Taylor replied jovially. “What have I done to upset you today?”
“The new population rules,” she said shortly. She hadn’t even noticed Mark or Alicia in the room. He could see her eyes were firmly fixed on the Commander. “You cannot seriously think that anyone will agree to the new rules. They’re barbaric, they’re misogynistic, they’re just plain wrong!”
“Why don’t you have a seat?” he offered. “There was a point in human history where abortion was considered all of those things.”
“And that point is long past.” Maddy’s hands were on her hips and she showed no sign of calming or sitting. “When I came here five years ago, you told my parents you didn’t care for the population laws of the future. And here you are doing the same thing!”
“The proposed procedure is exactly the opposite of the laws of the future,” Taylor said with a bit of edge. He was starting to tire of Maddy’s insolence.
“Right, first stop on the crazy train is to outlaw abortion. That ought to go over well. Stop number two, people must get married by their nineteenth birthday. They must have two children by their twenty-fifth, brownie points for more than two children. Stop three: anyone older than those ages, but under the age of 40 must have two children within a reasonable amount of time.” She took a breath and Taylor used the brief hesitation to speak up.
“Reasonable amount of time, that’s lax wording don’t you think?” Maddy’s face turned an even brighter shade of red and Mark could see her fight the urge to stomp her foot like her little sister would.
“I don’t want to haggle over verbiage. I want you to throw these silly suggestions for rules out the window!”
“The colony is dying,” Taylor said with finality and Maddy shook her head trying to gather her next thought.
After the destruction of the portal three years earlier, the colony’s growth had predictably plateaued. With no new settlers coming through, the roughly 1500 people of Terra Nova just weren’t growing. Maddy knew this. She’d submitted a report about birth rates and work demands. Mark sat in on all the meetings, the different departments bringing in their suggestions, their ideas for technology to help with things like crop harvest and what jobs could be run with machines instead of people.
The Commander was set to make a decision on how he would handle the crisis soon, but Mark didn’t know what the decision would be, so when Maddy began explaining the new rules, even he was caught off guard. How she ended up with the information was anyone’s best guess. He thanked his lucky stars he wasn’t privy to the news. He would have agonized over telling her, when he really shouldn’t, and she would have done this very thing. He’d never been so thankful to be kept out of the loop. Because when it came to choosing between his job and his wife, he’d always choose his wife, but that wasn’t good for his career.
“I know all about the colony’s low birth rate. Don’t be dramatic. I wrote the damn report.” Maddy had found her niche in the science department but she also loved to dabble in economics and so despite being low on the totem pole in science, she was highly regarded in this matter. “There’s got to be a better way to do this. You can’t dictate how people use their reproductive systems.”
“Dramatic?” He chuckled and turned to Reynolds and Wash. “Can’t you control her?” Maddy seemed to notice the other two people in the room for the first time. After a split second of hesitation, Mark spoke up.
“Respectfully, sir, I can’t and don’t want to control her. She’s got a valid point even if she’s not presenting it in the proper manner.”
Taylor seemed to nod in understanding. But Maddy wasn’t slowing down.
“This isn’t your own personal Eden, Commander, you don’t get to tell a woman what to do with her body. Quite frankly, I’ll take my chances outside the gates if this is what the colony has come to.”
Alicia lifted her eyebrows and glanced at Mark. He gave her the smallest shake of his head as if to tell her shut up.
“What we need is a regime change.” Mark and Alicia both cringed. This was not a topic that anyone wanted to discuss in this room. ”We need elected officials, I think you’ve overstayed your welcome as dictator.” Commander Taylor had stayed remarkably blank for the last few jibs, but at that he started to open his mouth. Reynolds stole the moment and spoke quicker.
“Maddy,” he pleaded with as much dignity as he could muster when one is begging their wife to stop talking. The interruption seemed to be enough to relax Taylor.
“Well, Mrs. Reynolds, what you can have is a drink and 24 hours to cool off.” Maddy huffed angrily and started to speak, but Taylor kept talking over her. “Come back and see me tomorrow for a scheduled discussion, one where you don’t barge into my office.” He paused a moment. “Why are you so fond of doing that anyways?”
Maddy stood seething, unable to answer. Taylor had patronized her and Mark knew if you wanted her really pissed off, you spoke down to her. Whether Taylor knew that fact and was driving home a point, or if he was out of patience and just wanted her gone, Mark was unsure. With Wash’s nod, he moved to stand in front of Maddy and tilted his head towards the door.
Wash poked her head out of the door as they made their way down the steps. “You’re done for the day, Reynolds,” she said before going back into the office.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he sighed, relieved to be out of the office but Maddy took the moment to glare at him.
“Did you know about this?”
“Not even a little,” he answered thankfully. “Let’s go home.” She continued to glare for a moment but relented as he took her hand and started walking her towards their home.
She had the decency not to start the discussion again until he’d shut the front door, although he wasn’t quite sure how she’d held back so long. “He is not a god. Nor is he the be all, and end all of everyone’s lives.” She threw her bag on the floor.
“But he kind of is. People need a leader, without it, there’s chaos.” He pulled his chest armor off and started on his arm pads. “This place would be Lord of the Flies without him.”
“I understand you respect him. But how do you feel about his absolute power over our reproductive systems, honey? The only people who have any say in our family planning are you and I. And that is the way it should stay. It’s a basic human right.”
“Hardly, not that long ago we had the privilege to leave a society that did that exact thing.” He walked into the bedroom, yanking his shirt over his head as he walked, Maddy followed while pulling her earrings out of her ears. “But I agree that we shouldn’t have to explain our family choices to anyone. I’m panicked enough at the idea of one child.” He took a moment to stare at her small belly. She was just barely beginning to show. She didn’t notice, just kept removing her jewelry. “But the point is we need a leader. The colony needs that. And right now you need him. He’s the one who decides if these rules go into effect.
“And when has barging into his office ever gotten you results? As a matter of fact, I can recall at least one time when that plan put you in harm’s way. I’d prefer not to repeat that event,” he said as he sat on the bed to remove his boots.
“I remember that differently. You were the one with a knife to your throat,” she said sharply, removing her own shoes and reaching for a pair of fluffy socks.
“Splitting hairs, Maddy. You were in just as much danger as I was and it was you I was worried about.” She rolled her eyes, as he walked into the bathroom and started the shower. “Don’t blow me off. If you want Taylor to listen to you, you need to understand how he works. He doesn’t respond to demands, you have to respect him.” Removing the last of his clothing he got into the shower. She stood outside as if there was no barrier between them.
“Why would I respect someone who could even dream up such absurd rules?” She turned to the mirror and began brushing through her hair. “How do you respect someone who wants to play god?”
“You know he’s not keen on doing this,” he said poking his head out of the curtain. “There were lots of ideas brought to the table. You should have heard this guy go on and on about cloning and test tube babies. Believe me, family planning laws are about the least offensive thing the commander could do.”
“When all the options are horrific, you come up with another solution!” She stood at the door tapping her foot.
“You’re right, but he doesn’t speak ‘Maddy.’ You need to organize your thoughts, be concise, don’t go in there emotional.”
“Do I look like a soldier? I don’t take orders.” He saw her begin braiding her hair as steam filled the bathroom.
“I know, I understand you, but he won’t unless you’re prepared and calm,” he said as he scrubbed the grime of work from his skin.
Maddy pointed the brush at him. “This isn’t going to be good for the colony, it’s going to cause backlash, public outrage, maybe even a coup.”
“Okay, first thing on the list, you have to separate your desperate desire for an elected government from this individual issue. There’s no way he’s going to hear anything you say after you call for his removal.”
“Someone needs to say it, it needs to be talked about more!” Maddy demanded and this time she did stomp her foot.
“Fine, but now is not the time. Remember, you’re trying to sell him on another way around this crisis?”
“So you’re going to teach me how speak to ‘Taylor’ and then I can fix this problem?” she said rather calmly. He was suspicious, but these days she tired a bit sooner and changed her mind a little quicker.
“Yes, we’ll work up your list of other options and you can practice on me, and by practice I mean, you can try not to yell at me like you yell at him.” As he exited the shower she handed him a towel. “I could just skip the towel and remove your clothes,” he said with a smirk while invading her space.
“Or you could help me with all this and then I could reward you for your outstanding efforts,” Maddy said with a quick peck on his lips and a smooth exit from the bathroom. Mark chuckled. Nothing put her in the mood like studying.
Maddy hardly slept the night before. She was a stomach sleeper but recently she’d realized her growing belly didn’t allow for her favorite position. People said children changed your life. As if the puking of the first trimester wasn’t enough, she was already losing sleep due to the grapefruit sized little person growing inside her. Of course, it wasn’t like her sleep would have been great otherwise.
Today’s looming confrontation with Taylor wasn’t helping matters. She and Mark had spent hours the night before rehearsing what she’d say. Always the diligent student, Maddy would have stayed up all night going over her notes, but her husband coaxed her into bed. She had missed the intimacy that seemed to flee when she spent all her time hanging her head over the toilet.
After a full morning of research, then an hour subbing in the schoolhouse covering science class, Maddy finally rounded on the stairs up to Taylor’s office. She heard her name called and turned to see her mother running to her.
“Hey, I heard what happened and I just wanted to wish you luck,” her mother said giving her big hug. “Give him hell!” She smiled widely and Maddy felt her confidence swell.
“How did you hear?”
“Mark brought in a couple of guys who’d been fighting,” her mother explained. “He’s actually on his way here now, he wants to be here when you get out.”
Maddy took a deep breath and steeled herself. “Alright, I’m going in.”
“I love you,” her mother called cheerfully after her. Maddy turned and gave her mom a big thumbs up and off she went.
This time, like her manners dictated, she knocked on the door and waited. Lieutenant Washington opened the door and gestured for her to enter. She turned to Taylor and excused herself, but not before giving a nod to Maddy.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Reynolds.” Taylor gestured for her to have a seat and today, unlike the day before, she took it. “You know, it’s funny that I don’t call you Miss Shannon anymore. Guess that makes you an old married lady. I haven’t thought of you as Miss Shannon in years.”
“Well, it has been years, Commander,” she said tersely, wanting nothing to do with his small talk. He didn’t seem to notice or maybe he didn’t care.
“Two, almost three? Married two autumns ago, right?”
“Yes.”
“And correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you pregnant?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye, one that made Maddy want to fly off the handle.
“Yes, I am, but that has nothing to do with what we need to discuss.” She folded her arms, frustrated.
“Really? I feel like it has everything to do with that,” he said with raised eyebrows.
“If you think this is some hormone induced rant, you’re wrong.” Maddy resisted the urge to shake a finger at him like he was a child.
“Despite your assumptions, I don’t hate women. I am not a misogynist that wants to see you all barefoot and pregnant.” He stopped a moment and glanced towards the door. “I have many capable women under my command, if you notice, whenever I’m not here, there’s a woman that takes control of this place and let me be honest, she scares even me sometimes.” Maddy softened a bit at the slip of information. “I’m just trying to save us.”
“You’re making the wrong choices,” she said firmly, but she hoped without too much emotion. Mark had warned her, getting hysterical would not help her case. “I promised my husband I wouldn’t discuss the fact that I think you’ve overstayed your role as dictator and stick to the much more pressing matter of trying to control people’s reproductive systems.”
The smallest twitch of Taylor’s lips slowed Maddy down and she tried to reign in her thoughts.
“I’m not thrilled with the idea, but we need to increase our population. You’re going to need people to support you when you get old. This colony will die without people to run it.”
“I concede the point, but punishing people won’t make the colony thrive,” she said putting a hand to her forehead in frustration. “It was argued that Roe vs. Wade was the reason for the drop in crime 20 years later. Children that aren’t wanted turn to crime.” Taylor chuckled.
“We’ve had this discussion before, Mrs. Reynolds. Those ideas don’t translate well to a 1500 person civilization.”
“Fine, let’s reward people,” she said, glad to finally be making headway in the conversation. “People respond to incentives.”
“What incentives can I give them? People have what they need here,” he said gesturing to the windows as if to lay out his own personal paradise.
Maddy took a deep breath before she started, “Money, maternity and paternity leave, home helps, and housing.”
“We give maternity leave. Hell, I even authorize 10 days paternity leave if one of my men wants it.”
“Give them longer.” Maddy stood her ground.
“Did you forget about the daily tasks of running this colony?” he asked. “If everyone is on maternity leave, who is harvesting food or guarding the gate?”
“You think you won’t have that problem when you force families to have more children?” she shot back. “And how long before we start sending children to work?”
“Hey now,” he said clearly offended. “I don’t send children to work and you know I wouldn’t. Stop taking pot shots.” Maddy pressed her lips into a tight line. She knew that much was true. The man wasn’t going to put children at risk. He had a grandfatherly love for the kids of the colony.
“I’m sorry, Commander.”
“Okay, so what else, housing? People have housing,” he said, obviously ready to be back on topic.
“They do, but with few exceptions, all the homes are three bedrooms. Speaking from experience, those rooms are small if you have more than one person in them.” She thought of the tight space she and Zoe occupied in their old room. “If you offer more spacious housing, people will be more inclined to have more children.”
“How big was your apartment in 2149?” He reclined in his chair a bit. Maddy sighed. She knew where he was going with this.
“450 square feet,” she answered sullenly.
“And how big is your home now?”
“We have a newer home, it’s 1300 square feet.”
He leaned his elbows on the desk and put his hands together. “You sure people need bigger houses?”
“The point is to make people want to have children, it’s an incentive. Like you said, people have everything they need here.”
-----
“Maddy’s in there with him?” Wash asked a pacing Reynolds. “Should we go put our ears up to the door to listen?”
“I’m quite sure we can hang here at the bottom of the stairs and hear them, or maybe we could walk over to the mess hall, we could probably hear them there if we wanted to grab a snack.” He continued pacing despite her presence.
“You sound a bit exasperated.”
“One day I’m going to be relegated to Agriculture because of the two of them butting heads,” Mark answered with a sigh. Alicia shook her head.
“Nah, I won’t let that happen,” Alicia replied fondly.
“Because you have that kind of control?” Mark asked skeptically with a sidelong glance. Alicia smirked and Mark closed his eyes fighting against an unwanted mental image. “I don’t want to know what kind of control you have over him. K?”
Alicia laughed.
“Something funny, Lieutenant?” Commander Taylor called from up above them as Maddy walked down the stairs.
“Oh, yes, sir,” she answered. When she didn’t explain Taylor chuckled and retreated back into his office.
“Aren’t you worried about this?” a frustrated Maddy asked Alicia as she reached them at the bottom of the stairs. “This is a huge deal!” Mark pulled her to him and kissed her forehead before speaking.
“I’m sure you did fine,” he soothed. “We didn’t even hear any screaming so that’s an improvement over yesterday.”
Maddy shrugged and turned back to Alicia. “Really though, you know the new policies would affect you, don’t you?”
Alicia nodded stoically. “I know.”
“So why aren’t you upset? How could you let him come up with these barbaric rules?” Maddy asked harshly.
“I don’t have that kind of control,” she said and then immediately looked to Reynolds who made a face at her.
“But surely you’ll talk to him about it.”
“Oh, I’ve got my very own appointment scheduled,” she said and watched Maddy’s face shine with surprise. “But what did you suggest we do?”
“Reward people instead of punishing them. Maternity leave, home help, housing, and then monetary rewards,” she reiterated quickly.
“Home help?” Alicia asked, her interest piqued.
“Yeah, you know, a person to come and help out the first few weeks of maternity leave. Especially helpful to those with spouses that are OTG for long periods of time or who have children close together.”
“I like that,” she noted. “It would be a good transition job for young people coming out of school that haven’t found a job.”
“Exactly.”
“So what are you gonna do if he doesn’t accept your proposal?”
“I’ll have 10 or 12 kids if it means that someone who needs one can have an abortion.” Next to Maddy, Mark choked at her words.
“This conversation was worth it solely for the look on his face right now,” Alicia teased.
“I’m having panic attacks over one, Maddy. Slow your roll.” Mark spit out. But Maddy just shook her head.
“We all have to make sacrifices, Mark.”
“Yeah, Mark.” Alicia parroted, looking amused.
“I can’t imagine how we got here,” Maddy said sitting across the couch with her feet in Mark’s lap. She was reading and he was looking over some work schedules. He loved sitting with her like this. He just loved being with her and he found he never tired of just sitting comfortably together.
“Well, you finished up with your productive appointment with Commander Taylor, then we walked home, you jumped me as soon as we walked in the door, which I loved, by the way.” He gave her a mischievous look but she just pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes as though she was upset, but he knew she wasn’t. “Then we showered, cooked, ate, and here we are.”
“Jerk,” she said lifting her foot to kick at his chest awkwardly.
“What?” he asked innocently, catching her foot and massaging it.
“Don’t be a smart ass.” He dropped her foot and she whined.
“Smart asses don’t rub their wives’ feet.”
“But this wife is pregnant, you should always rub a pregnant woman’s feet.” He lifted his eyebrows and she pouted. He relented and resumed the massage. “What I meant earlier-“
“I know what you meant,” he interrupted. “That day still tops the list of shitty days.”
“It was my fault,” she whispered and he couldn’t help the flash of anger and frustration.
“Stop! It was not.” Maddy flinched but he reached over to hold her cheek. “I never should have said it was your fault. You didn’t set the charges. You just wanted to learn about the portal. You were just being you and there is nothing wrong with that.”
“We could have died.” He could see her fighting tears so he leaned over and kissed her softly.
“But we didn’t.” He said it firmly.
Reynolds scrubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he walked up to the gate. Normally he was well rested for his morning shifts, but he’d worked a mid last night and his relief was late. Since he had to be at the gate at 0600, the measly four hours of sleep he was able to get was not sufficient. He cursed inwardly, he wouldn’t have to be here at all, but he’d volunteered. After seeing the list of colonist volunteers, with Maddy’s name at the very top, he had no choice but to ask for this extra duty.
Sidling up to Maddy, he stared intently at her thermos. “That is for me, right?” She rolled her eyes.
“Maybe.” She pulled it out of his reach. “You didn’t have to come this morning.”
“The fuck I didn’t,” he said and watched her cringe. He made it a point to avoid swearing in her presence but he was tired, and this was all her fault so he might have said it on purpose. She handed him the hot coffee. “Thank you,” he said more kindly as he took it from her.
“There are lots of other people with guns, and it’s not like this is a particularly dangerous adventure.” She gestured to the other 20 or so of his fellow soldiers.
It was standard procedure to take enough soldiers to cover the jungle, one nurse, and a few volunteer medical staff to help the people coming through the portal adjust. Maddy had the day off from her research duties at the science department and was just dying to go for a stroll through the jungle. He often wondered why she’d ever want to do that exact thing after their date when they were stuck OTG. But he wasn’t going to let her go without him. She had a knack for attracting trouble and the jungle was no place he wanted her to attract it.
“Your ideas of chivalry are beginning to wear on me, but watching you suffer this morning makes me feel just a little bit better.” He glared at her a moment before turning and waving to a few of his friends.
“Why would you volunteer as medical staff anyways?” he asked turning back to her. “I don’t really enjoy the idea of holding your hair while you barf like on your birthday.” She huffed.
“Puke on your boyfriends’ shoes one time and he just won’t let it go.”
“One time?” he scoffed before Lieutenant Washington called for everyone’s attention. After she finished with her instructions the group of people headed out the gate towards the portal. Mark took a perimeter spot and Maddy fell in step with a girl who was doing an internship with Dr. Shannon.
“Mark, did you see that brachiosaurus?” she hollered excitedly. He just grinned and nodded his head. He remembered how he’d first spoken to her about those dinos and the two of them both seemed to favor those creatures as a step in their relationship. “It’s mating season for them and they tend to…” Maddy stopped when several of Mark’s fellow soldiers started to chuckle. “Never mind, some people just can’t keep their minds out of the gutter, it’s scientific, you jerks.”
She’d become familiar with his coworkers and while he liked that she was friendly, she really needed to watch what she said around them. They weren’t the most mature bunch.
“That woman of yours,” a soldier named Pierce started as he caught up with Reynolds. “She’s all kinds of entertaining.”
“Shut it,” he replied shortly. “Go back to your position. Dinos get territorial during mating season and you don’t want to be the trophy snack that one of those things brings back to his lady, right?”
“You cannot take a joke.”
“You cannot take an order,” he said leaving no room for further discussion.
Once they made it to the portal, they set up a perimeter and Mark caught Maddy straying very close to the actual portal.
“Was this an excuse to write another paper?” he asked catching her off guard as she held a sensor close to a tree near the portal. “Because I would have loved to spend our day off doing anything but this.”
“No one made you come,” she said avoiding the question and pulling a camera from the pocket of her utility pants. She bent down and started taking photos of the tree’s roots. The portal lay just a meter from them.
“Maddy,” he said sternly. She looked up at him and pursed her lips. “This is a paper, isn’t it?”
“So what if it is?” she shot back. “I like writing papers and this portal is the height of insane anomalies.
“Wait.” Mark glanced around, but Maddy just continued taking pictures. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” she asked as he mentally took a head count of all the people a few meters back, all standing around the brush waiting. A very faint beeping seemed to be coming from the portal. As it started to speed up and increase pitch, realization dawned on him.
“It’s like a…shit! Maddy run!” She looked confused but the seriousness on his face must have convinced her because she started running towards the group of people. “Everybody run!” Mark yelled again as he followed Maddy.
Just as they reached the group, something popped and then a huge explosion sent them all forward. Mark’s ears were ringing and his head felt fuzzy. He looked around frantically and dragged himself to Maddy who was a few feet from him. He tried to yell for her, but he could barely hear himself so he figured she couldn’t hear him. Against his body’s protests he pulled himself to sit up and rolled her from front to back. She opened her dazed eyes and he sighed with relief. He checked her over quickly and determined she was fine, just shaken. He glanced back and saw that the others seemed to be checking one another and there didn’t appear to be any major injuries. Just scrapes and bruises. Maddy gestured for him to help her up and as he did she grabbed her bag and tried to stand up to help the others. She couldn’t quite do it though and she ended up back in Mark’s lap.
Everyone’s hearing seemed to be coming back because Mark started to hear the upset groans of people who had almost been blown up. Maddy finally stood up and when she did, she heaved. Oh great. Mark thought.
“You’re bleeding,” she said as she pointed to his left shoulder, a hand covering her mouth.
“It’s nothing.” He blew it off, but he hadn’t even noticed, now that he looked at it, there was a rather large branch lodged in his shoulder.
“How did you know?” Wash had made her way over to Maddy and Mark.
“I heard the ticking,” he replied without hesitation. “Maddy, do not throw up on me.” He looked to her as she tried to pull her med kit out of her bag. “Let Nurse Agawa do it, I’m fine but my health will deteriorate rapidly if you puke on me.” Maddy made a face as he turned back to Wash.
“It was a digital ticker, and it sped up. I heard it first when I walked over there.” He pointed back to the tree that he and Maddy had been standing next to before the explosion. “I need to go look and see if there are any pieces left. See what the Sixers have to make explosives with.”
“What do you know about bombs?” Maddy asked as she sat down next to him, handing him a couple of pills. He looked at her with raised eyebrows. “It’s just pain meds. If you insist on waiting on your shoulder, you’ll need those. Adrenaline won’t last forever.” He took them and the water she handed him. “I used to build bombs.”
“What?” Maddy asked shocked.
“Cooking is chemistry, yeah? So is building bombs, it’s pretty fun to blow up things, too.” Her eyes were still wide when Wash interrupted.
“Get up, let’s go look at it,” she said, offering him a hand. He took it, but a wave of pain struck him and he buckled. “Okay, you sit here. Maddy, you’ve got a camera, right?” Maddy nodded. “Pierce, go with Miss Shannon, take this bag, collect everything that looks like shrapnel or bits of bomb, and bring it back.”
“I can go,” Mark tried, but Alicia pushed on his chest. “Come on, she’s gonna get hurt over there, what if there’s another one?”
“I’m going over there, too.” She glared down at him. “Is that enough assurance for you? No wonder she huffs about your protection. You’re stifling.”
Mark tried desperately not to roll his eyes at his superior as she walked away. “Agawa!” he hollered for the nurse. “Get this damn tree out of my shoulder!”
“What do you think the likelihood is that we can fix it?” Wash asked Maddy. “Can you even make that kind of guess?”
“She can make some really intelligent guesses and since she’s the only member of the science division with us…” Mark trailed off as Wash glared at him. They both looked back to Maddy who stood looking around the base of what used to be the portal. She bit her finger nervously. Normally it was a habit that Mark found to be a combination of adorable and sexy but at the moment he was too busy being aggravated at the way his day had turned out to have either feeling.
“Maddy?” Wash asked anxiously.
“I don’t know,” she finally answered. Wash threw her hands up and Maddy shrunk a bit like a child in trouble.
“I just need to know if it’s still going to open? Do we go back or do we wait for the people to come through?”
“Can we get Dr. Wallace on the comm? Maybe if I can explain some of what I see, he might be able to take a better guess.”
“No, it just so happens that every comm unit with us was smashed by our falling bodies.” Alicia ran a hand over her head and down her ponytail. “The commander will send someone out any minute when he notices he can’t contact us, but it’s gonna be at least 30 minutes by rover.”
“When was it going to open?” Maddy asked. “Maybe we can just wait?”
“This is all a very vague kind of schedule. We don’t know when they were supposed to be here.” Another soldier called for the lieutenant and she excused herself.
Mark wrapped his good arm around Maddy’s neck and pulled her to his chest. He kissed her hair and spoke against it.
“Don’t feel bad.” She shuddered and he held her a little tighter. He wondered if all the excitement was finally catching up with her. “You’re doing the best you can.”
Just as predicted, 45 minutes later a rover with a couple of soldiers and Jim Shannon arrived. After some fighting, it was decided, or possibly an order given, that Mark would go back in the rover along with Maddy and the other civilian volunteers while the other soldiers, Lieutenant Washington, and her father stayed behind to gather any further information to take back to Malcolm about what was left of the portal.
Mark couldn’t get comfortable in the rover since he couldn’t lean back on his shoulder, so Agawa gave him some more meds and he slumped over his knees, holding Maddy’s hand. She mimicked his position so she could talk to him in a semi private fashion.
“All I want is for your mom to clear me so I can go home and sleep.”
“You might have to stay overnight,” she said and he grunted. “It’s not pretty back there.”
“Well you know, I wouldn’t have even been there, and neither would you…”
“Don’t say that, I already feel bad enough.” She was right and Mark felt guilty. “And if you and I hadn’t been there, maybe someone besides you would have been seriously injured. You heard the bomb, so see, you’re a hero.”
“Hardly.” His head started to feel fuzzy and he leaned his head on her knee. “I wish we were already married so I could just go to sleep and know that you were right next to me, safe.”
“Oh yeah?” Maddy asked with a giggle. “I’ve never heard that plan.”
“I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud. It was a surprise.” He knew he should be embarrassed but he was just tired and sore and a little fuzzy in the head.
“I’m surprised.”
“Are you laughing because the idea is absurd or because I’m funny when I’m high?”
“I’m laughing because I’m not sure if that’s a valid proposal.”
“No, it’s not. I still haven’t gotten up the courage to ask your dad. I kept looking for him when he wasn’t armed, but it’s weird how he’s always armed these days.”
“Maybe he guessed your surprise and wants to scare you.”
“It’s working.”
Part 2