What's Next? -- Chapter 36

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Caroline raced into the living room of her apartment from Jenny’s bedroom when she heard the phone ring. She grabbed the receiver of the cordless phone and answered it on the second ring. “Hello, Robinson residence. Who may I ask is calling?”

“It’s just me, Mom,” Becky said. She sounded subdued.

“Hi, honey,” Caroline said. She sat down on the couch, concerned. “How have you been holding up?”

“I don’t even know for sure,” Becky confessed. “Gem’s funeral was today. A lot of us attended, even several from Alec’s old unit.” She sighed. “That was hard. Poor little Andrea. I’m not sure if she really understood exactly what was going on, but she was crying most of the time all the same and her birthday is just over a week away. Max told me that Gem had been really excited about it and was planning something really nice for Andrea and the other kids before she was killed.”

“It’s hard to lose somebody, especially when they were taken away so young,” Caroline said. She closed her eyes. God, it still hurts like hell to think about Chris and Lisa. I miss them so much. “Both Lisa and your uncle Chris were still both in their twenties when they died. It was agony at both of their funerals because of how young they were and how senseless their deaths seemed. I’ll be honest with you, Becky, it still feels to me like their lives were wasted because of somebody else’s stupidity or cruel actions and I still get so angry because of that.”

“I know what you mean,” Becky said. “Even though it turned out that Felicia lived and is all right now, I still want to strangle the two trainers who had accused her of accidentally killing the third one during that exercise.” She shook her head, even though she knew that Caroline wouldn’t be able to see it. “This whole mess is so surreal, Mom. I’m so confused.”

“Don’t worry sweetheart, things will sort themselves out,” Caroline assured her. “Just give them time. How is your brother?”

“Zack’s doing pretty well, all things considered. He’s one strong bastard, that’s for sure,” Becky said.

“What about Max and the baby? Is Rena doing better?”

“Max and the baby are both fine,” Becky told Caroline. “No problems there. Rena’s recovering pretty well. She should be one hundred percent again in another day or two.” She grew quiet again.

“Is something else wrong?” Caroline asked.

“Cam and Brandi are scheduled to be executed in Terminal City tomorrow,” Becky said. “I ended up drawing the duty of being one of the ‘executioners.’” She laughed bitterly. “This is fucking stupid, Mom. I’ve done how many things over the course of my time in Manticore that were as bad and sometimes worse and this still gets to me? I used to be in better control of myself than this. What ever happened to that girl?”

“She didn’t go anywhere,” Caroline reassured her older daughter. “The difference, or at least one of them, is that now you have people that you can turn to when you feel like things are getting to you so you don’t have to hold them in like you did when you were still in Manticore. You still have the same control, you’re just venting in a different manner than you had previously.”

“Yeah, I used to get my frustrations out on the punching bags in the gym,” Becky recalled. “Not that I still don’t do that once in awhile, but you know what I mean.”

Caroline nodded. “I do. Just hang in there and if you still feel bothered by this tomorrow once it’s over, don’t hesitate to call myself or your father.”

“I will,” Becky promised. She took a deep breath. “Speaking of Dad, where is he?”

“We don’t live together, Becky,” Caroline said, amused.

“Yet,” Becky said.

“Excuse me?”

“Come on,” Becky said. “The fact that you took up Dad’s offer of you and Jenny crashing at his house in D.C. until you found a place aside, you decided to rent an apartment instead of buying a house even though you can easily afford one in that area which says to me like you’re planning or at least hoping that you and Dad will move in together for real one of these days.”

“Unbelievable,” Caroline said. “Just before I sent Jenny to bed, she kept asking me when your father was going to ask me to marry him already and get it over with because it’s so obvious.”

“Has Dad asked you yet?” Becky asked wickedly.

“No, but if and God-willing when he does, you and Zack will be the first people that Dennis and I will call,” Caroline promised. “You know, I thought that you took after your father more than you did me but not only did you almost repeat what Jenny had asked me earlier, you also sounded suspiciously like your uncles when I spoke to them over the phone yesterday.”

“My human genes did come from two different people,” Becky said. “I should get going, Mom. On top of everything else that’s going on, I still have assignments to grade. I’ll talk to you again soon.”

“Absolutely,” Caroline said. “Good-night, Becky.”

“Good-night, Mom,” Becky said.

Caroline hung up the phone and sighed. Those poor kids. When are things just going to settle down for them? If it’s not one thing, it’s another. How do they keep rebounding time after time like they have been? It’s a damn miracle. She looked up when she heard the doorbell ring and got up and checked the peephole before smiling and opening the apartment’s front door. “Hey, sweetie.”

“Hey, beautiful,” Dennis said. He kissed her. “I’ve got the DVDs you wanted to watch.”

“Great,” Caroline said. “Come on in.”

“Thanks,” Dennis said as he walked inside the living room.

“You just missed Becky,” Caroline said. “She called me a few minutes ago. She was stressed about everything that’s been going on for the past couple of days with Gem, Brandi, and Cam.”

“So is Zack,” Dennis said. “I spoke with him on the phone before I came over here. He’s pretty stressed as well, but he’s holding it together.”

Caroline was silent for a few seconds. “Dennis, what was the thing that you’ve had the most trouble with over the course of your career? I mean, have you ever done anything that made you lose sleep?” Dennis gave her a questioning look and she elaborated. “Becky told me that she got drawn to be one of the people to execute Brandi and Cam tomorrow in Terminal City and that even though she’s had to do worse thing on missions, it’s still bothering her.”

Dennis nodded grimly. “I’ve been ordered to do plenty of things that I was not proud of and that I lost my fair share of sleep over. Some of them, like in this situation, I knew deep down was necessary and in the end the right and only thing to do, but other times I was not only questioning my sanity but my commanding officer’s as well.” He sighed and pulled Caroline into a hug. “It’s never easy.”

“No,” Caroline agreed softly. “It never is.”

“Yeah,” Dennis echoed. He kissed the top of her head before he pulled away a little and smiled. “They’ll get through it. They always have before.”

“You always know the right thing to say, Murphy,” Caroline teased, though she still sounded a little subdued.

“Maybe I do,” Dennis said. He pulled her back into his arms. “I love you, Caroline.”

“I love you, Dennis,” Caroline said. She leaned her head on his shoulder and they stood there like that for several minutes, silently supporting each other.