Wounded

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Rocking The Wounded

by Agent Sandy

Disclaimer: Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company. All rights reserved. Kerren is a creation of the authors. Please do not use her without asking the author's permission first.

Author's Notes: After having his true nature revealed to the Taelons, Liam is forced to face things most humans never have to. Will he be able to overcome the pain they cause?

Rating: PG

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"In your heart,

In your soul,

Did you find peace there?"

She watched him sit on the floor; his hands were around his knees where his head was resting. He had spent most of this day and the days before like this. When Zo'or had found out that he was part Kimera-and they still didn't know how that had happened-he had been arrested and imprisoned on the Mothership. It had taken the Resistance so long-too long-to rescue him, and by the time they had, the damage had already been done. Kerren didn't want to think about what horrors he'd been put through. There were rumors being passed around about the experiments and torture-all of it horrible. The newest rumor being passed around was so terrible Kerren wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't helped Dr. Parks go over the test results and x-rays. The tests and examinations had showed that Liam had been severely raped more than once in an effort to break him down and make him cooperate with them.

Kerren shook her head. The others couldn't understand why Liam didn't come out of his 'zone' now that he was safe. Kerren did though. She had reason to. Kerren shut her eyes, better not to think of that now. Dr. Parks had asked her to try and talk to Liam. He was barely eating anything, and the doctor was very worried.

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Kerren entered the room. Liam didn't even acknowledge her presence, but that was nothing new. He had done that to everyone who had tried to talk to him. She walked over to him and knelt down a few feet away. She couldn't help noticing that he flinched away from her.

"Liam, I'm not going to hurt you," she said softly as she went from her kneeling position to a sitting one.

He didn't reply. He didn't even look up at her.

Kerren wasn't discouraged. She knew getting through to him would take awhile. He had regressed so far into himself that some people wondered if he would ever come out again.

"Liam, everyone is worried about you. Isn't there something we can do to get you to talk to us?" She asked. "Go away," a muffled voice said after a few minutes.

Kerren's look saddened, "I can't Liam. I see you hurting, and I want to help."

"There's nothing you can do," he replied. "You have no idea what I am feeling, and I don't want your pity."

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Kerren shut her eyes, and for a moment, images flashed through her mind-images of a time before she was a part of the Resistance, images of a man, her father, beating her and…. Kerren shook herself loose from the grip memories had taken over her. Even though the abuse had happened over 15 years ago, the memories still paralyzed her at times. The pain was still as real as it had been when she had been 10 years old.

"What are you thinking about?" Kerren opened her eyes and was surprised to see that Liam was looking at her.Kerren forced herself to smile, "Nothing." Liam looked at her sadly, "Are you suppose to be lying to me?"

Kerren started to say she wasn't lying, but stopped, "No, I shouldn't be I guess. Let's just say I know more about how you are feeling than you could imagine." Liam just looked at her as if waiting for an explanation. Kerren looked down, "When I was 10 my father began abusing me. At first he'd just hit me. Then he started in on other things. He, he…" Kerren's voice drifted off as tears entered her eyes. She shut her eyes to stop herself from crying.

A few minutes passed, and then she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. She opened her eyes. It was Liam. He pulled her against himself, and she cried on his shoulder.

Once she started to settle down, Liam spoke quietly, "Does the feeling of emptiness and violation ever go away?"

"No," Kerren whispered, "it just lessens. Having people-friends-around helps, but you can never be the same." Her voice cracked, "You can never be the same." Liam put his head against her shoulder and shut his eyes. Tears flowed down his face as he wondered if he'd be able to carry on always feeling the way he felt at that moment. "Facing the pain is the key," Kerren said, her voice slightly muffled by his shoulder. "You can't let it control you. ' Cause if you do he...they...win."

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Liam nodded against her shoulder. He couldn't let Zo'or defeat him. He had to carry one-for the Resistance, for his family…for himself.

Liam tightened his arms around Kerren, and she squeezed him back. Unconsciously, Liam began to rock her, and she him, as they sat there and faced their pain… together.

TO BE CONTINUED...