They Couldn't Tell You
Summary: Written months ago, based off the spoilers that something would happen to make Hal and Maggie realize they meant more to each other.
Rating: PG-13
A.N: This was written before the season even aired so it's very different from what took place.
[ This wasn't the way the mission was supposed to go.]
This wasn't the way the mission was supposed to go. It was supposed to be a quick one. The plan was to get in and get out with as much provisions they could in a limited amount of time. If anyone asked him later what happened, he didn't think he could give an accurate account. All he remembers was the moment the skitter stabbed her through the leg and carried her off. Then came his guttural cry of war when he shot all the ammo he had into the alien.
Hal ran toward her limp figure on the tiled floor and cradled her on his lap. He leaned his head forward to check her breathing and sighed in relief when he felt her breath on his face. It was faint but it was there. He hadn't imagined it. She was still alive.
He looked around before lifting her in his arms and walking toward the exit. He cradled her unconscious body close to him and carried her out of the crumbling building. Once outside, the glaring light blinded him and he instinctively looked around for his team. Where was Ben? Did Dai make it?
As much as he worried about them, especially his brother, his first priority was to get her to safety. They'd been attacked and he needed to get her back to Anne. He needed to get her help.
"Hal!"
He turned toward his brother's voice and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"What happened?" Dai asked when he caught up to them.
Ben's eyes widened when he saw the limp body in his arms. "Is she…?"
"She's alive." Hal nodded. "Help me get her to the truck. We need to get her back to Dr. Glass."
Ben didn't hesitate and ran to open the tailgate of the pick-up. Dai loaded the few bags of groceries into the truck.
Hal laid her body on the bed of the truck and jumped on next to her. "We have to go now!"
Dai nodded before jumping into the driver seat. Ben jumped into the truck's bed with his brother.
"She's going to be okay…" Ben assured him. "She's always okay."
Hal nodded.
"Ben, keep a look-out."
Nodding, he positioned himself and his rifle to be look-out for the ride back to camp. Hal looked down at her and pushed her tangled blonde hair back. She had to be okay. Once they got her back, she would be. He wouldn't accept any other outcome.
The ride back should have taken longer but Dai sped through the abandoned streets without worry. Hal looked up as they drove up to the airport. Ben jumped out of the bed of the truck as soon as it came to a stop and opened the tail-gate. With his help, Hal was able to pick up her wilted body and carried it into the building.
"Dr. Glass!" Ben cried out. "We need your help!"
Hal saw Anne and his father come out to greet them. "She was attacked." He mumbled.
Anne reacted quickly as Tom helped take Maggie off his hands. He watched his father carry her into the infirmary and lay her on one of the tables.
"What happened?" Anne asked.
"A skitter…" he mumbled. "We didn't see it… it got her leg… I don't know… Is she going to make it?"
Tom pushed him back. "Hal, let Anne work… Maggie will be fine."
Hal nodded numbly and let Ben and Tom pull him out of the room.
"Weaver's going to want to know what happened." Tom said.
"I don't even know." Hal shook his head. "One minute we were packing away food and the next a skitter came out of nowhere… I killed it."
"Good." Tom nodded. "She's going to be fine."
Hal nodded and lowered his head.
"Hey… it's not your fault."
Hal nodded again. He looked up when Anne came out of the room. "How is she?"
"She's going to be fine." Anne answered. "We stopped the bleeding and we're going to be pumping the poison out of her for a few days. I gave her a sedative so she can sleep comfortably." She smiled softly. "You can go in and see her…"
"Thanks." He coughed. "But I have to help Dai and Ben unload the truck."
Anne and Tom watched him walk down the hallway. Tom sighed.
"She really is going to be okay." Anne told him.
"Thank God." Tom muttered. "I don't think Hal would have been able to handle it if she wasn't."
"He cares about her." Anne answered.
"He does." Tom answered. "I just wish he'd realize how much."
He sat in a chair in the dark infirmary later that night with his rifle in his lap. He leaned forward in his chair and placed the rifle up against the wall and rubbed his head. He'd almost lost her today. His partner. The one person who he trusted his life with that wasn't family. The one person who always had his back.
He leaned forward and took her limp hand in his. "You scared me today…" he mumbled. "You know that's not allowed." He watched her sleep. "We're supposed to be alert at all times. This is war. Isn't that what you always tell me?"
He didn't expect a response.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't paying attention…" he muttered. "I should have been watching your back like you're always watching mine."
He squeezed her hand and lowered his head on the bed closing his eyes. He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his head and looked up to find his father standing over him.
"Dad…" he felt his throat tighten up. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see if you wanted to get some sleep." Tom smiled. "I'll stay with her."
"I'm okay." Hal shook his head.
"Hal…" Tom started. "Are you and Maggie…?"
"Dad." He started. "Don't."
"I think it's a valid question." Tom shrugged.
"We're…" Hal started. "Friends…"
"Please don't end that sentence with benefits…" Tom blanched making Hal chuckle lightly.
"It's not like that, Dad." Hal answered.
"Do you love her?" Tom asked.
"I…" Hal mumbled. "I don't know."
"Is it Karen?"
Hal shook his head.
"Then what is it?"
"I don't think I'm good enough for her." Hal mumbled.
"What?"
"Look at me…" Hal shrugged. "I'm just a kid turned soldier… I used to be the school jock. And she's… she's Maggie… I'm probably nothing but a kid to her. I probably always will be."
"I doubt that." Tom shook his head with a smile.
Hal turned toward him. "Why?"
"Because I've seen the way she looks at you…" Tom shrugged. "And if you really care about her as much as I think you do, then you should tell her."
"Maggie's not exactly the type of girl who you tell how much you care about her, dad."
"You're right." Tom nodded. "Show her then."
Hal looked up. "How?"
Tom shrugged and smiled. "You'll figure it out." He patted his son's back and walked toward the door. "And Hal…."
Hal turned around.
"Show her soon…" Tom advised him. "Tomorrow's not promised… especially now."
Hal nodded quietly and watched his father leave. He turned back to the sleeping girl and stood to lean over her, placing a chaste kiss on her forehead. He sat back down and laid his head against the wall with the rifle back on his lap.
If you asked her, she wouldn't be able to tell you the exact moment she started looking at him as more than just Tom's son. She couldn't tell you when he stopped being "The Kid" and became just Hal. It all happened so fast. It was like a rocket racing at the speed of light and one day it just hit her. They went from being on opposite sides to being on the same side. They went from being partners who were paired up on missions constantly to being genuine friends. And now, she couldn't tell you what they were exactly.
She just knew they were on the cusp of something. Something more.
They didn't live in the most ideal place. Life couldn't be more complicated. Their world was a post-apocalyptic one. They were survivors. But you couldn't stop these type of things even if you wanted to. Even if you told yourself that the timing was off. Or that you were too different. That you were both from such different worlds. His views on the world were idealistic. They weren't as dark as hers. He hadn't lived the life she had. He'd had the perfect life snatched from him the day of the invasion. For her it was different. The day of the invasion is the day her new life began. She stopped being that sixteen year old girl who'd been diagnosed with cancer. She was now the girl who'd survived an alien invasion and personal attack.
She didn't particularly enjoy carrying around the second title. She used to be a little bit more invisible before the attack. Now they treated her like she was made out of glass. Weaver had even kept her from a few missions since she woke up a few days ago. She was pacing the halls of the airport waiting for the team to return. She leaned her head against a wall and sighed in frustration.
"They'll be back soon…"
She looked up to see Anne standing in front of her with her arms crossed.
"I'm not worried."
"Sure you're not…" Anne smiled and leaned against the wall next to her.
"How do you do it?"
"Stay behind every time?" Anne asked. "It's hard. I hate seeing you all leave the base and have my stomach in knots until you return."
"I definitely know the feeling."
"Hal will be fine." Anne said softly. "He's with Tom, Ben and Dai. They'd never let anything happen to him."
Maggie looked up and felt her face flush in embarrassment.
"I…"
"It's okay to worry…" Anne shrugged straightening from the wall. "I do. All the time."
Maggie nodded.
"Try to stay off that leg as much as possible." Anne warned with a smile before turning to walk away.
The doors slammed open and they both turned toward them. Maggie positioned her rifle on instinct and let out a breath of relief when she saw the four shadows standing in the doorway. She grinned and jogged down the hall to meet them halfway not realizing what she was doing until she jumped into his arms. It took him a moment to react but he eventually wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. She hugged him close to her. "I'm glad you're back." She whispered.
"Were you waiting for me?" he asked smugly.
She pulled back and slapped his arm as he put her down. "How did it go?"
"We got a lot of supplies." Hal answered with a smile. "Overall a success. Not a skitter or mech in sight."
"Good." She nodded.
"Hey…" he whispered cupping her face in his hands and lifting her face to see her better. "You okay?"
"Yeah…" she nodded. "I guess I was just worried."
"Come on…" he muttered. "I want to show you something. Now that you can walk."
She rolled her eyes and followed him down the hall away from the quiet group. He led her toward a staircase and turned back toward her. "You can climb the stairs, right?"
She scowled at him before pushing him aside and taking the steps two at a time. She pushed open the door and found herself on the rooftop of the airport. Hal came up behind her and grinned. "I found this the other night while you were still unconscious."
He led her toward the edge of the rooftop and sat down.
"It's a nice view." She said.
He nodded agreeing. "It's been a long time since I see a clear night. I can actually see the stars from here."
"I don't think I'll ever look at the stars the same way again to be honest."
"Being up here, I can pretend that everything is back to normal." He shrugged.
"Except it's not." Maggie mumbled.
"No… it's not…" he muttered.
She sat down next to him. "I haven't seen you since I woke up." She started.
"I was there when you woke up…" Hal mumbled. "And you saw us leave this afternoon."
"But I haven't actually seen you…" Maggie said. "I was starting to think you were avoiding me."
Hal blushed. "I wasn't…"
"Right…." Maggie laughed.
"I wasn't."
She smiled shaking her head. "So where'd you guys go?"
"A small whole foods store a few miles away." He shrugged. "It took a lot longer to scout the place than it did to ransack it."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure…" he muttered.
"What happened?" she asked. "The day with the skitter…?"
He looked down before taking a deep breath. "One minute you were standing in front of me loading food into a bag and the next it's standing behind you ready to attack. It all happened fast."
He lowered his gaze to the ground.
"Hey…" she said softly touching his face. "I don't blame you."
"It's just… that's when it hit me." He shrugged.
"That's when what hit you?"
"That I could still lose you." He answered.
She watched him intently as he looked up at her.
"And I guess I realized that I can't lose you." He continued. "I don't even know when you became that important to me."
She let herself smile softly. "I know what you mean."
He flicked his eyes toward her. "Really?"
"Yeah…" she nodded. "One minute you're the guy I'm leading down the basement with a bag over his head and the next you're closest friend I've ever had."
"Friend…" he repeated.
"Hal…"
"No, it's okay." He said.
"It's just complicated." She continued.
"I know that." He nodded.
"Hal…."
"Maggie, I said it was okay-"
She cut him off with her lips on his. She wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled him closer to her. She massaged his lips with hers and trailed her tongue along his bottom lip. He opened up to her and she gasped when she felt his tongue touch hers. He wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her on top of him. She straddled his lap and cupped his face as she deepened the kiss.
They should have done this a long time ago.
If you'd asked her when she started feeling this way around Hal Mason, she couldn't tell you. All that mattered was that right here, in this moment, he was alive and so was she. And together they could take it one day at a time. They were both survivors. They were partners. And she couldn't imagine fighting the good fight without him by her side. That's all that she could tell you.