Where There Once Was A Darkness

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



Note from Author:      Shortly after "Remember the Good Times".



**********



Augur's underground home was swarming with Resistance members. Unlike their more frenzied moments, they were mostly laughing and drinking the more exotic drinks that Augur had procured for the party.

Lili wandered over to where Julia was arranging the M&Ms in a small glass bowl. The younger woman looked up at the corner. "What's with Liam?" she asked.

Lili sighed. "Loved and lost."

"Loved?" Julia choked, startled. "Liam?"

"Why not? He's a person, with feelings," Lili said sternly. "He fell in love with a doctor who had worked for the Taelons and was keeping some CVI-enhanced convicts in a mental institution. Now she's suffering from amnesia for the last six months."

"So she doesn't remember him at all?" Julia asked. "That is so sad."

Lili nodded, watching as a laughing Augur detached himself from a group and headed for Liam's seat. "I wonder how the news about her will affect him."

****

Augur slid into the seat beside his friend and grinned fakely. Liam was sitting, head bowed, an uneaten baloney sandwich between his fingers. "Liam, as the man who provides you with your apartment, I order you to take a bite of that sandwich!"

Liam smiled without any hint of happiness and took a small bite of his sandwich. "Tastes good," he murmured through his mouthful.

Augur sighed, his smile draining away. "Look, Liam, what's wrong?"

"Susan."

"Ah, the blond scientist. Liam, things could be much worse."

"How?" Liam asked, sipping a martini. "How could things possibly be worse?"

Augur grimaced a little, glancing at the pocket of new Resistance members across the room. Liam looked up, then stood up, shocked. Susan Armstrong was standing among them, laughing and holding up a drink.

****

After the party, Liam was pacing Augur's place, his footsteps rattling hollowly on the walkways. "You didn't tell me!" Liam shouted at Julia, who sat stoically on the steps. "Why didn't you tell me she was one of us now?"

Julia shrugged and shook her head, exasperated at her superior's illogic. "Liam, I had no idea. I couldn't possibly have-"

A beeping noise came from the door. Augur sprang to his feet and checked. "It's Miss Armstrong herself."

Liam's heart jumped in his chest. He tried to control his shaking hands by clenching them into tight fists as a tall blond woman entered the Resistance. Seeing him, she broke into a wide, friendly smile that made him nearly fall over.

"Hi!" she said, holding out a hand. "You must be Liam Kincaid. I'm Susan Armstrong. I've heard a lot about you."

Liam saw Augur and Lili herd Julia into the next room, out of earshot. "And... I've heard a lot about you," Liam said faintly, shaking her hand as briefly as possible. "You used to work for the Taelons, didn't you?"

Susan nodded. "I got involved in one of the projects, Memory Alpha. Fortunately, Alpha flopped and I ended up losing part of my memory, very disconcerting. Then I saw some of the security tapes, and decided that I didn't want to work for them anymore."

Liam smiled. "Well, it's good that you've seen the light."

Susan laughed, making Liam's heart dance again. Then she frowned, staring at him blankly. "Strange... do I know you? Have we met before?"

*Yes!* Liam's mind shrieked, hope welling up. *Remember me! Please!*

"Perhaps," Liam said hesitantly.

Susan stared at him, still with that odd blank look in her eyes.

*Please... please remember me. Remember the night you kissed me. Remember what I said to you right before the surgery... I love you.*

Susan shook her head. "No. It must be someone else. Sorry to have bothered you."

She turned abruptly and strode out. Liam felt as if something deep within him had been twisted out of shape, bent, burned. "I love you, Susan," he whispered to the air.

****

For the next few days, Liam was able to forget, at least partially, the meeting with Susan. But when Julia announced a special meeting concerning the Taelon weapons being shipped to a government facility, Liam knew from her face that Susan would be there.

And Susan was there. She still stared at Liam occasionally, but seemed too thrilled by her new status as a Resistance member to pay much attention.

"So," Lili said, breaking Liam from his reverie. "Susan, you and Dachov will set off a series of chain reaction explosions on the roof, while Liam and Augur carry off some weapons for study and sabotage the weapons we can't take beyond repair. How long will it take to sabotage them?"

"It shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes," Bush, a young man from Julia's cell, said. "They're very fragile."

"And the explosions will distract them further if we blow up a sidewalk or two," Susan commented. "Just so long as we make sure no one is crossing them."

"Agreed," Lili said.

Liam listened in a daze. Susan was going to be setting off dangerous explosives in the vicinity of Volunteer guards. It was too dangerous. He couldn't let her go there...

"I guess it's decided, then," Liam said in a strained voice.

****

"Liam?"

Liam jolted back to reality as he heard Da'an calling him softly. The Taelon was standing over his desk, looking mildly concerned. "Liam, are you all right?" Da'an asked. "You seem preoccupied."

Liam smiled and leaned back in his chair. Da'an's wide blue eyes seemed to bore through him. "Da'an," he asked quietly, "have Taelons ever had... love?"

Da'an looked mildly startled, then a little amused. "Romantic love--which is what I assume you are referring to--has not been experienced by Taelons for a... very long time. Why do you ask?"

Liam sighed and buried his head in his hands. "I'm in love, and I'm very... very... upset."

"Upset?" Da'an asked. When Liam didn't answer, he walked around his desk, smiling a little. "Liam... I have never experienced romantic love. However, I have often envied humans that very quality, for the joy and fulfilment that it gives them. I believe that you should seek this if you believe that it will make you and the woman you love happy."

Liam looked up at him with a wan smile. "Thank you, Da'an."

****

The four Resistance members crept along the rooftop, clad in black, their bodies seeming to melt into the darkness. Liam glanced at Susan, whose bright blond hair was tied up and hidden under one of Augur's dark caps. She looked intense... and beautiful. Liam felt the familiar knot inside his chest.

"Charges are set," Dachov whispered.

"I'm going down now," Liam whispered, Augur sitting beside him.

The rooftop blew just as Liam reached the floor. The Volunteer guards began to climb the fire escape quickly, shouting to their comrades. Liam ignored the pain in the pit of his stomach and ran into the place.

****

Fifteen minutes later, Liam heard a shrill scream from the roof. He dropped the energy weapon to the floor and sprinted out. He heard a brief curse from Augur, but the hacker didn't dare to call his name out loud.

Liam pulled a dark mask from his pocket and yanked it over his face as he climbed the fire escape. The roof was a mess, a tangle of twisted metal and broken concrete.

And Susan was being pressed, face-first, against a pile of concrete. Her beautiful face was scraped and bloody, and her eyes were wide with fear. The Volunteer holding her hands growled and pulled a pistol from his jacket.

Liam uttered a wordless roar and launched himself at the Volunteer. He punched the man's head to the side, and the gun flew from his grasp. The Volunteer lunged at Liam, and Liam jammed both fists against his stomach, throwing him back over his shoulder and over the edge of the building.

And then there was silence, except for Susan's gasping sobs.

****

Liam knelt down and pulled off his mask, using it to wipe her bloodied face. "It's okay, it's okay," he whispered soothingly. "It's all right..."

Susan stared at him. Sweat, dirt, blood, and tears mingled to form a weird paste on her face. "Liam?" she whispered.

Liam was kissing her before he knew what was happening. In a moment, he was transported to the beautiful, terrible night that she had kissed him, one of her last moments remembering him. As she pulled back, he saw bewilderment in her eyes, and his heart sank. She still didn't remember, and the kiss would confuse her further.

"I don't understand," Susan whispered. "I've never seen you before and... I love you... I don't understand this."

Liam smiled, feeling almost giddy. She loved him! "Perhaps... two people can be drawn together for a reason," he said softly. "Two people can find each other and never let go."

Susan smiled waveringly, and gently kissed him again. Liam knew that he would tell her. Not today. Someday. But he would not tell her now.

****

"It's a lovely view," Susan said softly, staring out at the Washington monument. "Did Da'an know the view he'd be getting when the Embassy was built?"

"I don't know," Liam said. "I'll have to ask him."

The two of them were sitting at the top of Da'an's spiral ramp, staring out at the city. Liam had deactivated some of the virtual glass, so that a cool breeze wafted through.

Susan glanced at him, as if memorizing his face. "I love you so much, but I don't know why," she said quietly. "Does it... have something to do with the time... I don't remember?"

"Yes," Liam said quietly. "But what you don't know of the past doesn't matter now. What matters is the pres-"

His statement was cut short as Susan kissed him. "I love you, Liam," she whispered.

"I love you, Susan..." Liam whispered back.

THE END