"Ivanova's Angel"
AU: Nothing to do with canon, or the Telepath Homeworld. It's set in 'Alternate Histories', a different timeline/series that I'm tinkering with. It went AU at the very end of season 4 - explained in story. :) ** NOT a crossover! **
Main chars: Captain Susan Ivanova, Angel.
Rated G? PG 13? No smut, anyway - it's mostly dialogue.
Note: I'm 'pulling a gray' here - a rather important character for the story isn't even *in* the story! ;)
Setting: The year is 2269, the name of the place . . . is Babylon 5. (S5 was 62, Crusade began 67)
*shows emphasis*
[shows thoughts]
****
After as many years in the military service as their Captain had lived through, her crew would have thought that *nothing* was capable of surprising their fearless leader. If you had told any of them mere seconds before the blast that she was capable of not only being surprised but knocked over, they would have laughed and then called for the ship's medical team to come and sedate the person who'd even suggested such a thing.
So it's not that surprising (pun intended) that a group of 4 or 5 of them were as astonished as she was to suddenly find themselves sprawled ass-first onto the deck plates of the Babylon 5 customs area.
Over the sudden commotion (noticeably interlaced with high-pitched squeals of delight), an abrupt and very *authoritative* voice boomed out, "No, Angel!"
Even as the hands belonging to the voice reached into the sprawl to yank back the offender, her crew looked on with bewilderment as their commander not only *didn't* kill the thing that had been aimed at her; but did not physically harm, yell, or even glare at her assailant. Instead, to about a hundred dropped jaws and pairs of boggled eyes, Captain Ivanova (feared across most of the Galaxy for her ruthless battle tactics and never-fail-never-show-weakness personal attitude) actually wrapped said missile in her arms to hug it, laughing. "You gonna let me get up and greet you properly, girl?"
"You're here," the child squealed in obvious rapture. "You're finally here, Auntie Susan!"
As the Captain got to her feet, the Customs officer helped the others who had been floored to regain their footing. "You can not DO that, Angel!" he exclaimed sourly, though his words were unheeded by the girl.
"You're here! You're here! You finally got here, Auntie Susan!" Her bright-crimson braid, which might have otherwise reached halfway down the young girl's back, was bouncing around as its owner hopped about the Captain gleefully.
"Angel!!"
The girl paused, eyes shifting to the very-obviously-pissed-off customs officer. "Yes, Frank - uh - Mister Clancy?"
"You were told REPEATEDLY that you were NOT allowed past the gate! Do you *want* me to pull the Chief off his shift to come down here?"
"No, Mister Clancy. But I waited until she was carded and everything! What'd I do wrong?" She seemed completely unaware that everything around her had slid to a complete halt in order to watch what was occurring.
"Um - Ma'am?" One of Ivanova's crew held out an identicard, trying to avoid meeting her eyes. "You - um - dropped this, Sir."
"Oops. Sorry, Auntie Susan. I think I hugged you a little bit too happy." She actually held still for a few moments while saying this, her big pale-brown eyes almost alight with repressed joy.
"No damage done," the Captain told the officer. "It seems she's inherited her mother's knack for grand entrances."
It was Clancy's turn to look surprised, though he hid it quickly. "You know her mother?"
"And father, for a great many years. This is the first time I've been able to actually visit her."
"Oh. Welcome aboard then, and you-" he directed his next words to the again-hopping girl, who'd taken the Captain's hand and was trying to pull her away from the area- "You had better never get caught doing that again, do you hear?"
"Yes, Mr. Clancy. Thank you, Mr. Clancy. Let's go, Auntie Susan! I got so MUCH to tell you now that you're finally *here*!"
Ivanova let the young Angel drag her off, leaving the crewmembers behind to wonder who the heck this mystery kid was to deserve such obviously-exclusive treatment.
****
Keeping up a steady stream of excited chatter the entire way, Angel dragged her guest right across the station, not stopping until they were back inside of the quarters she shared with the other members of her family, interlacing the entire speech with "You're finally here!" at random intervals. Ivanova finally got her to sit down on the room's little couch, to continue the somewhat one-sided conversation in comfort.
[I knew she was a chatterbox, but this is incredible! Who was that on the comm unit when we came in?] A technician - in C&C, if she remembered the background correctly - had been waiting, looking slightly annoyed, but he had only said "Oh good, you're back now - don't pull a stunt like that again or I'll tell your father!" before he'd given the Captain a nod of acknowledgement and signed off. Angel had barely noticed him, just tossing off a "Thank you!" that might have been aimed at the technician but was just as likely related to the retelling of all the fun the girl had had with the 'very excellent' presents she'd received for her birthdays over the years from her bemused guest.
"So you liked my gifts then?" She asked when Angel had paused to breathe in.
"Oh yes! You gave such great birthday gifts! Usually not on time but since you had to depend on Earthforce to deliver them I can't blame you when they came early or late and I had other gifts from people here on the actual day anyway! Did you know . . ." and the happy chatter continued on.
Gradually, the near-monologue started to wind down, enough that Ivanova could actually say things and know she'd been heard. She knew that Angel was used to only sending messages back and forth with her, not holding an actual conversation, so she tried her best to consider it an exercise in patience as much as a long-awaited visit.
"Angel?"
"Yes, Auntie Susan?"
"You haven't said yet - is your mom in?"
Angel's grin faded suddenly. "No."
For a few awful seconds, Ivanova forgot about the messages that had said otherwise and thought that her much-missed friend was still in a coma, but right then, in walked a big surprise.
Well, actually, it was a very small surprise, but not so small that it wasn't already old enough to walk. A toddler had just entered, through a door that wasn't the one Ivanova'd passed through. With a cut-short crop of bright red hair and sleepy brown eyes, the child looked like an exact, if smaller, replica of the girl who was sitting next to her - if not for the fact it was wearing fleecy pyjamas with little green-headed ducks printed on them. The toddler was glaring at her, a look that clearly stated "who's this stranger in my home" as much as it showed the owner had just been fast asleep.
The toddler looked as much to be Lyta's child as Angel did, but the Captain KNEW beyond any doubts that she had *not* been told of another child, and was extremely confused. [?!?]
Angel, sensing her confusion but not seeing that the baby had come in behind her, quickly said, "No, no Auntie Susan, she's just on a courier run! She'll be back in another week - we TOLD you she was working for the Alliance! She's a Ranger now!"
"When did - who is -" Ivanova couldn't figure out which question to ask first.
Angel swivelled around and spotted the intruder. "Oh it's you! You woke up already? C'mere." She scooped the baby up and sat him onto her lap. "Mom started her training just after we all found out that he was going to be born. They gave her special training so that she could do secret spy stuff, even, but Daddy worries about her a lot so she isn't going to do it for much longer she figures. But she's a Ranger! She has her own special flyer that can go really fast for super-long distances and it's even got weapons on it! She's been-"
"Who," Ivanova interrupts, "is this? And when was he born and what's his name and why the bloody blue blazes wasn't I told there was another kid!"
The little redheaded boy stared at her, his eyebrows crinkled together.
"Oh," Angel said, and handed him across the cushion between them, letting Ivanova reach out to hold the suspicious toddler. "Little Z, this nice lady is our Auntie Susan. She's known Mommy and Daddy just about forever. Auntie Susan, this handsome little devil is Zackary Allan the second, my younger brother. Shake hands," she encouraged, and the baby obediently stuck out a plump left hand.
Ivanova smiled and shook his hand with great seriousness. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir."
"He was born in May of last year and the reason we can't talk about him or me even though I'm the one who usually sends you your messages is because of Mommy's work! Some of the stuff she does is dangerous and I think that she does lots of stuff thats really very dangerous because she has new scars or burns marks just about every time she gets home but I think she says 'only some' to try to keep Daddy from worrying but he worries anyway."
"So - you never told me about having a brother because of Lyta's work being dangerous?" Ivanova tried, wondering if there was a more exact reason buried somewhere in the great vats of words Angel kept dumping on her.
"Yeah she doesn't want to endanger us because if she gets traced back to here me and little Z might be hurt because there are some really mean nasty people out there. Me and him - and maybe Daddy does too - both have a couple of different tracking implants in case somebody tries to take me again. Didya hear about when I was real little like Z here and the Psi Corps back when it still existed tried to steal me because I'm special like Mommy? Daddy stopped them! He really loves us, I can feel it all the time, even without trying but Mommy and my other telepathy teachers in the Rangers keep helping me keep my blocks and shields strong because they're all pretty sure I'm already a high P rating but I'm getting stronger as I get older and if I don't block right now I can hear all kinds of noise and being in a crowd is really annoying! But don't worry I won't scan you because Daddy told me this morning that I better not because you can tell and you'd get really mad at me even though I'm really young."
"I appreciate that. Yes, Zackary, that's my ear. Please let go. Ow."
"Leggo little Z! Here, go get some juice."
"Juice?" the toddler sounded hopefully.
"Juice, go get some juice," Angel said. "I put your cup in the cooler, it's full of juice."
Zack Jr happily thumped to the floor and stomped off in the oddly flat-footed run of the newly walking. "Juice!"
Ivanova watched his progress over her shoulder, amazed at the baby's very existence. "You didn't leave him here alone when you came to find me, did you?"
"Of course not, Auntie Susan, that would have been highly irresponsible. When Mr. Chadd called to say your ship was here I asked him to keep the screen on to watch and make sure little Z stayed asleep. My brother can sleep for hours and hours."
"And he agreed? You were allowed to do that?"
"Well um - no - I kindof had to run out the door before he could yell at me. It's just a good thing it wasn't Commander Corwin who called, he's too smart to get suckered like that. Um - you won't tell Daddy, will you?"
"I might forget to mention it if you promise to *never* try a foolish stunt like that again. Agreed? Agreed then . . . so. Do you miss Lyta when she's away? I know you missed her terribly when she wasn't awake yet. The remarks the other kids made-"
"Yeah," Angel said, gloomy now. "Some of the mean ones say things that are really rude. Before, I'd threaten to have Daddy arrest 'em but that got me in more trouble from *everyone* in Security. So I can't do that anymore - but I'm in some martial arts classes after school and I'm gonna be learning how to use the pike soon! So if they try to do something physical to me, I can defend myself, and if anyone does try to hurt me I can press charges. Daddy is making me learn all the legal stuff that gets involved and that means I'd end up with way too much homework, so I try to behave and make sure I don't provoke anyone. Not even the boys," she added, putting a great deal of venom into her last word.
"Don't like boys?"
"No, they keep getting me in trouble. Like Tuesday, this boy Derek, he got me into lots of trouble with the teachers."
"Oh?" Ivanova asked as the youngest Allan thumped back down onto her lap, slurping at his beloved juice. "Now how would he do that?"
"The big weenie called me pretty."
There was a slight pause. "And that got you into trouble?"
"Well yeah, some other boys snickered so I had to beat them all up. I got into lots of trouble, the teachers almost didn't let me have this afternoon off to visit with you because by the time school gets done you'll almost have to be gone right?"
"There's only a few hours for stopover, yes. We're restocking food and other supplies - there's no time for R&R. But I'm letting them stretch their legs, eat out, shop, that sort of thing. You were told that that your dad plans to treat us to dinner after his shift is done?"
"Yes we all have a reservation at the Fresh Aire. Really fancy. I have to have clean clothes on and little Z's got to be bathed before then - Daddy said he'd do that if I took you for a walk and show you the playgrounds they put in since you left because Daddy says there wasn't much here for kids before, but between him having me and Auntie Tess having Shawn, there was lots of stuff done for kids and it made the school teachers and lots of other parents really like him and Tess. Have you ever met Auntie Tess? No? Well I'll introduce you because I want you to meet Shawn, you knew his dad, his dad was the main doctor here for years. I've known him since before he was born and Auntie Tess let me feel him moving around inside her and now he's just starting school and I like him. He's the only boy I do like besides little Z - well and Jamie too but Jamie never says anything so he doesn't count - because all the other boys are idiots and some girls too and that's not just because most of them are normal because in the grade above me there's another latent kid but I think I scare him because I wanna be a Ranger when I grow up, just like Mommy is, a real Ranger and that means working with lots of aliens and the other kid is afraid of aliens. Did you know that most humans don't like anyone that's not a human too? That's very strange of them because most people are not humans and yes there's idiots in all races, my Daddy agrees with me for that."
"I'd agree too," said Ivanova, in the space that was left when Angel took a deep breath.
The young redhead stopped talking for a few seconds, looking sad again. "More of them tease me because I'm a telepath. Because of all the bad stuff the rogues here did, the bad stuff the Psi Corps did to everyone when it was still around."
"I heard on the news what was going on, reports from the Rangers. You were too young to be involved - you weren't even born yet when that Byron person torched himself and those other rogues."
"I know. But they're still very mean. Not all of them, but their parents tell them bad things about telepaths and they believe it because nobody tells them otherwise."
"You could tell them the truth, Angel," Ivanova pointed out.
"I'm trying to. Some don't want to listen. They say the data was faked and teeps never did anything but cause trouble. Some of them don't even believe there ever was Shadows or that the Vorlons messed up the DNA of just about every species they could get their tentacles on." Angel paused. "Mommy really hates the Vorlons, because of what they did to her, and the other races, and of them leaving their 'mistakes' around. I can feel her being angry when someone talks about them. The stuff they did to her, I have too. But we don't think little Z there does, he's already more than a year old and he isn't even a latent."
Ivanova looked down at the toddler slumped over her legs. "He's normal then? As far as you can tell?"
"No he's got the genetic markers in him but there's something weird about him - his mind leaks normally and other teeps can sense and scan him and he never notices but there's something different and we just know it's not the usual latent baby stuff because his mind is normal that way. He doesn't have the physical changes me and Mommy have-"
"Like methane gills?"
" . . . you KNOW??"
"Your mom showed me. A long time ago. She was crying because the second vorlon - you know about what really happened, right?"
"Mommy told me and Daddy everything she can remember. And Daddy told me and her what the official story is that we're allowed to share. But keep going, Auntie Susan, I wanna hear your story."
"The second vorlon had hurt her again, she was too upset to realise her oxygen mask wasn't on properly. I noticed, of course, and when we were back through the airlock I asked her about it. Took a few drinks and a lot of privacy, but she explained to me what she knew."
"You didn't mind being around her even though she was a telepath? I thought you hated teeps, 'cept me."
"No. Not after a while, I didn't hate her. Hated the Corps, certainly, and any psi cop that crawled out of their slimeholes to bother the rest of us. But not your mom. She did stop a spy, and I certainly liked the real Kosh and since he brought her back to us . . . She's never tried to scan me, I would have known if she had tried. And she was very polite when she needed to be but a hell of a fighter the rest of the time. I was really upset when I found out she'd been hurt so badly on Mars."
"Yeah you sure pissed off lots of people at the first hospital, I've seen the records. And uncle Mike says you came to visit her a couple times when he was protecting her in his own hospital. Before she woke up. Before anyone found out she had me inside her, even, you were trying to protect her."
"It was you that brought her out that that coma, wasn't it, Angel. You'd lost your latency and somehow was able to find your mom's mind in that mess the Shadow-altered people made."
"That's what she figures. She sure doesn't like to talk about back then, though. Sometimes - well just once - Auntie Tess had been drinking lots - this was just after she found out that Shawn's dad was trapped on Earth and the quarantine just started up - and when she's been drinking lots she remembers things and she told me what it was like to find Mommy, after she'd stopped the 30 cruisers. Lying like she was already dead in the sand and her face mask all covered in blood and leaking it and the seizure she had back in the bunker and Shawn's dad trying to keep her alive long enough for the Rangers to get there and get her to a hospital, she was burned really bad down to the bone from that headset and her eyes had ripped right out of their nerve sockets and her brain was bleeding and-"
The only sound for the next few seconds was the rustle of Ivanova's uniform as little Zack squirmed off her to hug his crying sister.
"It's probably a good thing she was asleep," Ivanova pointed out. "It meant she was safe during the telepath war. She didn't get caught in any of it."
"Daddy says that too. But he sure missed her. And while she's away working, but now he knows she's coming back when before him and everyone else thought she'd never wake up. They kiss lots when they're both here, especially since she got pregnant with Z."
"They love each other very much, don't they."
"Uh-huh. They tell each other that all the time, too. Mommy leaves us messages when she has to go to work, and she calls us when she can. She misses us, too." Angel paused, visibly thinking. "She's gonna be steamed when she finds out she missed seeing you! Are you going to leave any messages for her?"
"Of course. I had been hoping to talk with her finally, but orders are orders. Does your dad ever have to leave? Like for his work?"
"Sometimes, but not very much. Aunti- erm - Entil'zha Delenn always to make sure Mommy isn't working when he needs to go away. We needed Auntie Tess to sit us for a few hours one time, but nothing big yet. Daddy's shift is done by now so he should be here soon. Then I can introduce you to everyone, and we can meet him back at the restaurant. Does that sound good to you? Do you have any shopping you want to do? I can help carry stuff. I'm a really good-DADDY! Daddy's here daddyshere!" She suddenly shrieked, bounding off the couch to run out the door, leaving her brother and guest to make their own way over.
Ivanova scooped up the smaller child as he slid toes-first off the couch and lifted him onto her hip. Angel could be heard clear through the sealed door, making Ivanova wonder if all her greetings were as enthusiastic. She poked her head out the doorway, then moved out into the corridor to watch, grinning as Babylon 5's security chief headed her direction, his excited daughter having clambered up onto his back to deliver a stream of super-fast chatter that sounded like an extremely condensed version of the hour of conversation she'd just had.
"Captain," he greeted her with a grin of his own, returning the bent-fingers wave his son gave him. "Glad to see you weren't quite as flattened as the customs officers claimed. Welcome back." He shook her free hand with his own, then she pulled him into a much-gentler bear hug that the last one she'd experienced.
"You have TWO kids!" She pointed out, laughing.
"Well yeah, I - oh crud - you never knew, did you?" He looked surprised for a moment, then shook his head. "I trust my Angel hasn't completely taken off your ears."
"Nope," Ivanova said as she let the wiggling youngest person down to the floor. "But we have been catching up on a few things."
"She agrees with me that boys can be creeps, Daddy!"
"Oh, she does?"
"Only some, dear girl," Ivanova said. "Does your dad want to talk now, or can you drag me off to meet Shawn and his mom yet?"
Angel climbed slightly higher, to lean overtop his head and stare into his eyes. "Do you, Daddy?"
"Well the reservation time is only an hour away, and we'll have time to talk then, so you women can run play if you want. I need to convince this guy-" he scooped up his eager son- "to get into actual clothing. Are you ready yourself, Angel? Good!"
"An hour then, the lobby of the Fresh Aire?"
"I'll meet you there." He gave her a grin, and carried the hugging baby inside while Angel dragged Ivanova down the corridor to the elevator.
" . . . and you can see the best park right from the lobby window, they have a slide that goes around in three circles, and I know a place right next to the hull where if you wave Draal can see you and wave back but we can't see him of course he's way underground 'cept when his hologram visits, but I dunno if we'll have time to wave hi before you have to go, and no we go THIS way to get to Shawn's quarters!"
****
(end?)
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