Participants:
| Scene Title | Through a Fractal on a Breaking Wall |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | When reality cracks, most people are not exactly sure what they're seeing in the kaleidoscope. |
| Date | January 4, 2019 |
Speaking of that Felix, the one who’s still walking around with the utter loss of Liz as one of those scars — he’s in his quarters at Wolfhound’s base. Lying on his bed in that spartan little room, reading.
The gun safe in the closet is where all the important stuff is kept. He has the combination. He's had it for years. Though walking through the apartment where she was killed is not his most favorite thing to do. If he never has to return here, that might be for the best. But Cam needs his room packed up, and Felix needs to get the weapons and the paperwork from the safe.
When he opens it, there are two holstered pistols — her backup Springfield XD and her personal off-duty piece, the S&W .380 EZ — boxes of ammunition for each, and a manila envelope that contains several file folders, each labeled. "Apartment Papers." Because the apartment had been purchased years ago for her by her parents. "Will." That's an important one. A skim through it shows nothing that he wasn't expecting — her father had a copy of it, as her lawyer, and told him what it contained. "Life Insurance Papers." Turns out she had two policies — one through the FBI and one independent one. "IRA/Investment Papers." She had her government retirement accounts and her personal accounts that came from an inheritance from her mother. Cameron is set. Felix is listed as co-trustee for all of those, with Jared Harrison. "Birth Certificates & Passports." Good, he'll need Cam's for school and various things. It's what he sees as he flips it open to glance at it that stops him cold.
Cameron William Ivanov Harrison
February 27, 2012
7lbs 9oz
Mother's Name: Elisabeth M. Harrison; DOB: 10/31/1975; POB: New York, NY
Father's Name: Felix N. Ivanov; DOB: 11/30/1972; POB: Moscow, Russia
He’s had little fugues before of memory, neurons that never quite rewired themselves properly after that last injury in the War.
This is nothing like that. Safely reclining, he doesn’t fall….but the book he’s holding in his hand, a worn copy of ‘Treasure Island’ topples off to land on the floor. All straining attention in the vision. Nor is it like the dreams he has of the wife and daughter, that pleasant thread that emerges only in sleep. He’s trying to parse it, utterly confused. What is this?
….and in that Bright Future, the Felix that’s there, happily married to his detective, is just about as gobsmacked. He’s got the papers in his hand, but he’s frozen. The world has slowed down to that impossible waltz-beat, with only his heartbeat thundering in his ears. This isn’t possible. Why…..why is he finding out now? Surely Cameron’s someone else’s child….
When she opens the door, Elisabeth looks pale and drawn, but she smiles to see him. Shoving her nearly black hair back from her face, the blue eyes take in his expression. "Felix?" Drawing him into the apartment and closing the door behind him, she has concern in her tone and expression. "What is it? What's happened? Is Cam okay? Is Lee okay?" Alarm colors her words as she hurls questions at him.
Mutely, he turns to her, holding out the papers. The question’s in his face, but the words won’t force their way out of his throat. Stricken otherwise, that old familiar knotting between his brows. A moment, and he manages, “No, they’re fine. I just…..” He trails off into nothingness again.
Reaching out for the papers, she looks … almost as shocked as he seems to be feeling. "Whoa…" Elisabeth looks up and for a moment her reaction is a ridiculous grin. One she very quickly wipes from her face. "Uhm… yeah, okay. C'mon, Feeb, let's get you some tea." She pauses. "Never mind. I'll get the good vodka." He's apparently going to need it. Nudging him gently to go the couch, helping him out of his coat, and getting him to sit, those are easy. She leaves the papers with him and walks to the cabinet where she stores the bottle — it's been replaced once already this month. That's a lot for them.
"Okay," she says as she pours drinks and joins him, "First things first… Please breathe." Ever practical, his Liz. In all her forms.
One of the things he loves about her. They love about them. He loves about them. It’s…there’s still that bemusement there. Docile as a lamb, he lets her lead him to sit, get off his jacket. The pallor of shock is still there. It’s not a bad shock, but….so many questions. All of them crowding out coherent thought.
At her reminder, he sucks in a deep, whooping breath, like a man breaking the surface after nearly drowning.
Felix is frozen, even more aghast. What’s happening? What is he seeing?
Handing him the vodka after he finally remembers how to actually take a full breath, Elisabeth holds up her glass. "Nu, vzdrognuli! ((Well, startled! literally))" Swallowing the mouthful with the back of her hand covering her mouth, she pulls in a breath. Then she sets the glass down to pick up the papers and look at the birth certificate. Lifting it, she skims the document beneath as well. "She had a paternity test done just a couple of months ago…" Her voice is quiet, her brows pulling together slightly. "I would have thought she would have done it right after he was born…. But the original birth certificate doesn't list a father. This is the amended one."
She looks up at him and seems… uncertain. "I wonder what…" She trails off and then says, "Are you okay?"
He makes a funny sound, between a gasp and a hoot of laughter. “I’ll be damned,” he says. “I’m gonna back up this test before I say anything to Lee or Cameron, but….fuck. Imagine that. I was a father all along, and this boy …..well, he’d’ve been my son anyhow, love counts for more than blood, but…oh my god. What if he’s got my version of the linkage? I didn’t start manifesting until I was seven or so….”
Fel looks into her eyes, guilelessly, amazed. “Can you imagine?”
"Love counts for more than blood any day of the week. I told you… you've always been his father," Elisabeth chides gently. "You're the only one Aurora's ever known too." But she does understand the impact of learning it's not just by love and bond but a genetic fact. She leans over and kisses his cheek with a grin. "Congratulations, Papa… you're a daddy." She laughs at his continued expression of complete and utter wonder.
Both her brows rise, though, and she confesses, "I can't help you with the SLC question. Although… " She bites her lip. "I can tell you that I know that I had another son besides Cameron and his abilities appear to be sound-based. I don't know what that means for Cam here — I don't think anyone knew what the other Cam's powers were. The … Bright future they all visited, there were differences. And he was Norton's son. At least… Well, I admit now you have me wondering."
“Well, that’ll come,” he says, more pragmatically. A blank stare for that middle distance for a moment, shaking his head….then that incredulous grin returns, and he turns back to Liz. “LIZ. I can’t believe this. It’s even more of a gift.” His hands curl into fists, not of anger, but raised in something like victory. “Oh, my god. Lee’s gonna have kittens. I wonder if….I don’t know if both parents being link positive means anything for his power level.”
….and in his bunk, Fel’s released from the vision. Only to sit up and clutch his middle. There’s a world where Liz is alive. More than one Liz…..was that…surely not. But the possibility, let alone the vivid sight of her, is like a knife to the gut.