Disclaimer: You know the drill. We all know what belongs to whom.
My personal thanks, to my best friend and ever faithful Beta Girl, Joy (without whom I could never post a fic) and my new buddy Brenda, who kicked my butt, er I mean, encouraged me relentlessly to take on this fic challenge.
This short snippet takes place twenty years after my story "Reconciliations". The TV characters are not mine, but I promise to put them back when I'm finished. <G>
Reflections
By Sharon Shoji
Dr. Walter Atwood, former Director of the newly renamed Whitney Research Center for Interspecies Advancement, stood off to the side and gazed around the room in amazement. He'd agreed to a retirement party, more out of obligation than desire, but the resulting turnout of guests had touched him deeply. During the twenty-five years he had been in charge, he'd made many friends and from the looks of the crowd, they had traveled from all over the world to be with him today. Sighing, he smoothed one hand over his goatee, now as silver as his hair.
He started as he felt a drink pressed into his other hand, and turned to look at the man who stood there grinning good-naturedly at him. His thick hair was peppered with gray, but his brown eyes still held the enthusiasm and humor that Walter remembered -- and had relied on many times.
"So, Walter, aren't you going to be bored? No intrigue or mayhem, no bullets to dodge, no all-out wars to subvert?"
Walter closed his eyes, tilted his head back and smiled blissfully. "Ahh. Just think of it…traveling around the world…visiting friends and family…dining in Paris…or Rome….or maybe I'll just spend some time on one of those quiet little outer islands around Fiji….
Ed laughed and sidestepped as two rambunctious young boys ran between them. "Quiet? I vaguely remember the word."
He turned as a handsome brunet came up and slipped her arms around his waist to hug him. "Yeah, well, you *would* have to father two boys."
Ed put a hand to his chest and feigned a hurt expression. "Oh, so now it's my fault?"
"It's that damn Y chromosome!"
The three turned and looked at the tall, pale blonde woman who joined them. "Didn't I always say it was just a mutant X chromosome?"
"You did, Amanda, but at least it's *my* mutant chromosome." Ed paused and made a show of looking worriedly at his wife. "Uh, unless there's something you haven't told me?"
"Yes, Tory, surely those two boys are too smart and too good-looking to be Ed's," Walter quipped.
"Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to come clean." She turned to Walter, who was sipping his drink and enjoying the byplay. "Darling," she began, smiling sweetly at him, "We've kept the secret long enough. We might as well admit the real reason why I named our oldest boy after you."
Walter gasped and choked on his drink. As Ed and Tory laughed, Amanda thumped his back soundly.
"Walter," she said, as he finally regained his breath. "After all these years, I think you would have realized how dangerous it is to give Tory an opening like that."
Walter wheezed and nodded his thanks as a waiter stopped by and exchanged his drink for a fresh one. "I guess I just thought fifteen years of marriage to Ed might have had a sobering effect on his wife," he said, the twinkle in his eyes at odds with his aggrieved tone.
"Yeah, right," Ed snorted. Turning his head, he grinned at the couple approaching them. "Hey, Tom! Any chance we poor men will ever be able to second guess these Parker women?"
Tom tilted his head slightly and considered the question seriously. Glancing down into Sloan's upturned face, he thought of all the times she'd come through for him when the outcome had seemed hopeless. Looking back at Ed, he gave him an unblinking stare. "Not even my Dominant sensing abilities have been an advantage," he deadpanned, the corners of his mouth twitching into a hint of a smile.
As Ed groaned and slapped his forehead in mock dismay, Walter watched as Sloan laughed and hugged her sister, Tory. The two women had long since reconciled their differences, and with the death of their father a few years ago, had become even closer. He looked from one to the other, shaking his head to see how the past twenty years seemed to have hardly touched them. They both wore their hair up now -- Tory more for convenience sake and Sloan because she seemed to think it more fitting for the new Director of the Whitney Research Center. But watching them laughing together, Walter could only see their youthful spirits.
"They radiate a joy for life, don't they?"
Walter nodded and turned to look at Amanda. "As do you," he answered. "You look no older than when we first met."
Amada shrugged. "Dominants don't age the way humans do." She nodded at Tom who whose dark hair and trim physique gave the impression of a man nearly half his age. "We may look the same, but a lot has happened since those first days."
As a dark shadow flitted across her face, Walter reached out to touch her arm. "A lot *has* happened since then. You and Ed now head the Whitney Genetics Research Center in Europe but it took great effort and terrible sacrifices on both sides. We lost many good people -- your husband Mark being one in particular."
Amanda started slightly in surprise at his touch, but before he could pull away, she reached out and covered his hand with hers. "I miss him greatly," she said her voice low.
"We all do," Tom added, as the others nodded. "And the truce we are all living with today is his legacy."
Amanda smiled at Tom, her aquamarine eyes unblinking and bright with unshed tears. "Yes. I am grateful for that and even more for the fact that you've now taken his role in furthering the peace movement he worked so hard for."
"Hmm. From what I can see, there's another legacy of Mark's that's attracting quite a bit of attention," Tory commented as she looked across the room.
The group chuckled as they saw Amanda's tall handsome son, flanked by a pair of chattering teenage girls -- identical twins with a riot of chestnut curls framing their faces and startling blue-grey eyes.
"Yessir, those girls get more beautiful each time I see them," Ed exclaimed. As he turned to Tom, a grin spread across his face at the intense look his friend was leveling at his daughters. "Ease up, Dad," he said, clapping Tom on the shoulder. "Ya know you gotta let them start dating sometime."
Catching Sloan's eye, he winked. "I just pity the poor guy who has to face their father when they come home too late from a date."
"They're too young to date," Tom said flatly.
Sloan hooked her arm through Tom's and leaned against him. "We'll talk about it later, Tom."
Walter smiled to himself as he watched Tom turn and look into Sloan's face; his stern demeanor melting as she smiled radiantly at him and softly whispered a private endearment as she reached up to lightly stroke his cheek. It had always been that way between them, he mused. They had connected from the start -- each giving to the other some indefinable precious thing that they didn't even know they needed.
They had never married but Walter knew their relationship was defined by terms other than conventional human vows. And there was no denying the strength of commitment and devotion they shared. As for love -- he chuckled softly -- it practically radiated from them when they were together.
"Hey, who called this meeting?"
Walter turned and laughed as Ray Peterson and his family joined the group.
"I'm glad you could make it!" Walter exclaimed as he shook Ray's hand and accepted a hug and kiss from Grace. "And I hear you're going to be working with Tom," he added, shaking Matt's hand.
The young man grinned and nodded. "Tom just told me this afternoon." He looked over and his grin widened as Tom smiled warmly in acknowledgment.
Walter smiled with them as he remembered when they'd first met. It had been during the early days of conflict when Lewis's threat had forced Walter's team and Ray and his family to take refuge in a safe house together. Matt had been a young boy at the time, but something special about him had touched Tom, and over the years their unlikely friendship continued to grow. And although Matt pursued a career in law, his interest had always been with Tom and Mark's work with the Dominant Peace Movement. At his mother's urgings, he'd recently approached Tom about his desire to help in some way -- a conversation that resulted in his new appointment as the first human Legal Counsel for the group.
Turning to Ray, Walter raised an eyebrow. "So if you're here, who's minding the store?"
Ray grinned. "As Whitney's Chief of Security, I think my duty is here." He looked around the room, then back at their group. "There's a good reason why we took great precautions to keep this party private," he said, his tone suddenly serious. "There are some people out there who would sell their soul to get their hands on just *half* the people in this room."
Walter nodded grimly. "Although if you're talking about Felicity, I think she sold her soul long ago."
Sloan snorted softly. "Assuming she had a soul to sell in the first place."
"Damn straight! She was one, stone cold bit….," Ray stopped at a quelling look from his wife. "…bitter person," he finished, rolling his eyes at Walter, who grinned in understanding.
After the fiasco of Tom's kidnapping, Felicity, Walter's former boss (whom Sloan and Ed had dubbed the Limo Lady) had gone underground. But periodic reports had assured them she was still alive and as vengeful as ever.
"By the way, Tom, I thought you said your father was coming tonight?" Walter asked.
Tom glanced at Sloan and then back to Walter, a tiny crease between his brows. "That's what he said the last time I talked to him."
Suddenly he stilled and his eyes focused toward the hallway.
"Tom, what is it?" Sloan could feel her stomach knotting. She knew he was sensing something and from what she would pick up from him, she knew it wasn't good.
Sloan's mouth went dry as she saw Amanda turn and look intently in the same direction.
"Sloan, what's going on?" Walter asked, as Tom walked quickly out of the room, followed by Amanda.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," she said, dashing after them.
The others followed swiftly, and as they rounded a corner to a side corridor, they stopped cold.
"James!" Sloan cried, rushing toward him. He was bleeding and leaning heavily on Tom and Amanda.
Ed and Tory crowded close, trying to staunch the flow of blood as Ray pulled out his cell phone and started to call for an ambulance.
"No time," he gasped, looking at Ray. "Get reinforcements. Lewis … his men …. on their way," he panted, turning to look at Tom. "I was coming here … to warn you but…"
Sloan's hand flew to her mouth and stifled a cry as James abruptly slumped to the floor.
"Lewis," Tom hissed, clenching his hands.