Date: ??/??/2001
From: SouthernSlider

“Wade!  Wade!”  Quinn screamed.  “Wait.  Come back!”  He scrambled up and tried to run, but his ankle had been twisted in the fall; there was no way he could catch up.

Colin was in the process of trying to separate Remmy from the enemy when he heard Quinn scream.  He looked up to see Wade slipping away from view.

“Kelly, stay here.  Maggie, help Quinn; and see if you and Tony can corral these two.  I am going after her.”  Maggie almost smiled at the way he commanded everyone like a general in charge of his troops.  She pulled Quinn to his feet and helped him to sit against a tree.  Kelly disobeyed the order and took off after Colin.

“Remmy!  Remmy!  You’re going to kill him,”  Maggie yelled as she tried to pull him away.

“That’s . . . the general . . . idea,”  he answered between blows to Kryoptus’s head.

“Tony!”  she yelled.  “Help me get him off.”

Tony obliged as they dragged the fighting man away.  Kryoptus pushed himself out of reach from the swinging arms, and collapsed at Quinn’s feet.  Before he could take a much-needed breath, he felt himself being hauled up by the shirt.  When he opened the only eye that wasn’t swollen shut, he found himself staring at another fist. Then everything went black.

“What the hell is that?”  Tony asked as he went over to Quinn.  The ‘man’ on the ground had been beaten up, for sure, but Tony had never seen a few right hooks and a couple of jabs do that kind of damage.  The man’s face was an atrocity even without the swollen lip and black eye.

“That, my friend, is your worst enemy.  Pray that he’s the first and last one you’ll ever see,”  Quinn said.  “Remmy, are you okay?”

“I’ll be just fine if you tell me he’s dead.”  He worked to regain his breath as he sat on the grass glaring at the half-human only a few feet away.

“I’m afraid not, but it’s not for lack of trying on your part,”  Quinn answered.  He grabbed his ankle, wincing in pain as it throbbed, then sat back against the tree.

Tony looked at Maggie, impressed by the skills she had demonstrated against the two fighting men.  She had obviously had some defensive tactics training.  “That was good work just then.”

“I can hold my own.  You did pretty good yourself.  Thanks for the help.”

“Sure.  If you think you can hold down the fort, I’m going to head out and see if I can help the other guy find Wade.”  He was just a little uncomfortable around the alien being lying at his feet, and he was tremendously worried about Wade.

Quinn grabbed at Tony’s pants leg as he went by.  “Please.  Please, bring her back.”

“Sure thing, man.  Sure thing.”  Tony felt a twinge.  The plea he heard said Wade meant as much to this man as she did to him.  He wondered what their past had been.  He took off running in the direction he had seen Colin take.

***

As Colin caught up with Wade, he had to tackle her to get her to stop.  His frantic cries had been ignored.  They both fell to the ground with a thud.  Wade felt all the air rush from her lungs as she hit the ground, then felt a heavy weight on top of her.  Her sight went fuzzy for a moment as if she might faint.

Colin used his body to pin her to the ground when she fought him.  He had rolled her over to her back to help her up when she started struggling to get away again.  He pulled her arms above her head, and held them there with force.

“I am sorry to be this way, Wade, but I can not let you get away.  I know this is not how you wanted things to be, but it is a reality now.  The best thing to do is face it. My brother and your sister are not going to be satisfied until they have talked with you. They think you are being forced by Kryoptus and other Kromaggs.”

“You know that’s not true, Colin,”  she said in heaving breaths.  The running and his weight upon her was making it very hard to breath.  And to top it off, she was about to become very emotional.  She felt tears slip from her lids and trail down the sides of her face.  “This is my decision.”

“I felt that was the case.  But the others could not be convinced.”  She stopped struggling, but he didn’t let go.  He wasn’t sure of her intentions yet.  “Wade, you know what torture you have been through.  Please, try to understand theirs.  They have to see you . . .to talk with you.  It is the only way.”

“Wade!  Wade!”

She heard her name being yelled and recognized the voice of her sister.  It was useless to try to run away now.  Colin was right.  She had to face them.  If the Kromaggs couldn’t kill her, this wasn’t going to kill her either.

“Let me up, Colin.  I’m not going to run.”

He hesitated, but as he heard the labored breathing of Kelly coming up behind him, he felt she was telling the truth.  He released her arms, climbed off and helped her to her feet.  Kelly stopped suddenly in front of her sister.  Colin stepped back out of the way.

“Wade?”  Kelly whispered.  She wanted to run and wrap her arms around the girl, but she couldn’t.  Why?  Was it the hard look in Wade’s eyes?

Wade stood staring at the woman she thought never to see again.  Whether it was Kromaggs or just sliding, she thought her family was lost to her forever.  She was frozen in her spot, and used every bit of Kromagg knowledge to keep the tears at bay.

Colin looked from one girl to the other.  He knew they were both dying inside to embrace the other.  Why wouldn’t one of them make the first move?  He was about to intervene, when Kelly’s fear subsided and she ran to Wade, nearly knocking her over.

“Oh, Wade.  My baby sister.  I can’t believe I have you back.”  she cried.

Wade hesitated only for a second before she put her arms around Kelly and buried her head in her shoulder.  The two stood, arm in arm, not one bit ashamed of the tears that flowed.  Colin lowered his head, not wanting to stare and intrude on the reunion.  He took several steps back out of the way.

Tony came running up in the middle of the embrace and stopped next to Colin. He watched the scene for only a moment before turning his head and speaking with the man beside him.

“Thank goodness you caught her.  Is she going to be all right?”   A lump formed in his throat.  The touching scene was almost too much for him.

“Yes.  I think she will be.  She just took the first step of many.  And you know, they always say the first step is the hardest.”

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Nominated by DieselMickeyDolenz