Liam's Kin

by Seven


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



Note from Author:     Shortly after "Defector"



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Liam looked earnestly at the tombstone, slightly weathered, no longer new. The fresh smells of the Irish graveyard made his feelings flow more easily. "I asked Da'an if he would betray me... he just looked at me for a moment, then walked away," he said quietly. "It was the first time he ever really spooked me like that."

For a long moment he sat there, rubbing at his palms. "Mother, I sometimes wonder if I'm going about this all the wrong way... the way the Kimera did. I may have to make decisions someday that could affect all of Earth, and I don't know if I can take that kind of responsibility."

"Excuse me?" a warm voice with a thick brogue broke in. A small, gray-haired woman, holding a bouquet of flowers, had silently entered the graveyard. "I don't recognize you... were you a colleague of Siobhan's?"

Liam's breath caught in his throat as he recognized the woman. Siobhan Beckett's mother. His grandmother. "Uh... yes, yes," he babbled. "I'm Major Liam Kincaid. I knew Siobhan..."

Mrs. Beckett nodded and looked at the grave. "You work for the Companions?"

"Yes, I do." It runs in the family, he thought wryly.

Mrs. Beckett put the flowers on her daughter's grave. A tear made its way down her cheek. "How long did you know Siobhan?"

Liam shrugged. "Too short a time. I... wish I could have been around her more."

Mrs. Beckett sat down on the bench and patted the seat beside her. "Tell me, what did you think of Siobhan?"

Liam thought for a moment. "Very passionate, very loyal... and very caring about the people who mattered to her." He glanced at his grandmother. "You're her mother. She cared so much about you."

Mrs. Beckett smiled waveringly. "It seemed... sometimes... that she cared more for the Companions than she did for her own kith and kin."

Liam shook his head. "Under her CVI, Siobhan loved her family more than anything else in this world. She made me feel... almost like a part of it. She never said a harsh word to me in the time I knew her."

Mrs. Beckett glanced up at him and frowned a little. "How do you know all this?"

Liam stopped for a moment, thinking. "Siobhan told me many things," he said gently. "And Mrs. Beckett?"

She looked at him intently.

"Siobhan was very happy when she died. Because she had, then, what she had always wanted," Liam said, putting an arm around his grandmother's shoulders. "One of the things that had always mattered to her the most."

Mrs. Beckett began to silently weep. Liam hugged her as her tears fell onto Beckett's grave, staining the lush grass. After a few minutes, Mrs. Beckett rose and gestured towards the small stone church at the other end of the graveyard. "I'm going in to light a candle for Siobhan. Will you come with me, Liam?"

Liam smiled, tears blurring his vision. "I'd love to..." Grandmother, he finished silently...