Heritage by Nicole Mayer

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Heritage (4/4)
by Nicole Mayer

"Do you ever regret it?" Devon suddenly asked, breaking the silence in the lonely foothills of the mountains of G889. Alonzo stared hard at her for a moment.

"No," he finally replied. "We did the right thing, given the circumstances. Back then, we never could have been together. I guess I just didn't know it could all change so much."

His profound statement echoed through both minds. Devon watched Alonzo carefully, wondering if his thoughts matched hers. Ever since that morning, when the future was decided, she and Alonzo had tried to remain good friends, but their closeness inevitably diminished as the years went by. And then came the Eden Project, where they were suddenly thrown together in a way they'd never dreamed possible.

"Alonzo," Devon spoke carefully. "After we crashed... did you ever, uh, consider our relationship?" Alonzo leaned forward to rest his chin upon his fist as he contemplated her question. He couldn't lie to Devon, not in the past, and not now either.

"I guess I did," Alonzo admitted. "Not right away, the first few weeks were pretty hazy. I mean, with my leg, and the realisation that I couldn't fly anymore, and then facing reality that this group of people were going to be my life for the next few years...it didn't sink in right away, but yeah, I considered it."

"And?" Devon prompted. She understood her own reaction clearly, but it remained to be seen if Alonzo felt the same way.

"And, well," shrugged Alonzo, "by the time I realised that maybe we could have restarted something, it was already too late. I mean, what would Uly have thought? What would everyone have thought?"

"Your flirting with Julia didn't help either," said Devon wryly.

Alonzo merely laughed. "Hey, that's me, that's who I am! You know that," he reminded.

"Yeah, I do," answered Devon, crossing one leg over the other. "I know a lot more about you than most people here. Except maybe Julia..."

Alonzo was nodding in agreement as a new thought struck him. "I can't believe that Julia never figured it out. She was, uh," Alonzo paused, searching for the right phrase so as not to remind them of the terrible things their friend once did, "studying Uly's DNA, and she was treating me at the same time. I didn't think about it then, but surely she would have made the connection!"

"Not if she wasn't looking for it," cautioned Devon. "No one even suspects that we had that kind of relationship in the past, and it's incredible how much Uly looks like an Adair rather than you."

"He doesn't look that much like you, either," Alonzo pointed out. Devon sighed. "Maybe that's an effect of the Syndrome, maybe it's his link with the Terrians...and anyway," Devon suddenly realised, "he has more of his father in him than we think."

Alonzo stared at Devon blankly.
"The Terrians!" she explained. "Why do they dream to you? And that was *before* they took Uly. Perhaps they knew that you and he were connected; the Terrians may have been asking *you* for permission..." Devon's eyes widened as mysteries of the past suddenly fell into place. Alonzo continued her train of thought.

"Uly and I are still the only ones in our group with strong Terrian links. That's really...something."

Alonzo sensed a new emotion arising within himself. For years, he had been avoiding the boy as much as possible, but now, with discovering the common link they shared, Alonzo felt a sudden desire to really take time and get to know Uly. Uly was, after all, his only son, and the only Solace after himself.

"I've gotta tell him," Alonzo suddenly decided. "Dev, he deserves the truth."

"I know," she said quietly. "But we have to prepare ourselves for the reaction of the group. I don't like the prospect of," and she had to swallow before she could say his name, "John's response."

Devon knew that Danziger had kept the truth from True about her mother for so long to protect her. In a way, Devon had done the exact same thing. But Uly's father *was* around, so would Danziger understand why they had hidden the fact for so long? Devon barely understood it herself. It had just been too busy at the start of their journey, and then there was no reason to bring it up and so it was gradually pushed aside until Uly's questions reminded her of the situation.

"Danziger'll forgive you," reassured Alonzo. "He's made parenting mistakes himself."

Devon replied, "I know," but she was still worried. "Worse than that, though, how will everyone react to the knowledge that we were together?"

Frowning, Alonzo said, "But that was a long time ago." "It wasn't, really, for you - I mean, what is Julia? Only the third, or fourth, serious involvement since me?"

Alonzo's response surprised her. "The second," he stated. "Oh," said Devon quietly. What did that mean? Had Alonzo ever really gotten over her? Or had she ever forgotten him?

"We -I- don't want to cause any trouble between you two," Devon quickly added. "I mean, you and Julia seem so happy together..."

"And then there's you and Danziger," Alonzo jumped in, noticing her slight blush. He wondered if Devon would ever realise how obvious it was to everyone that she and Danziger might make a great couple some day.

Shifting on her rocky seat, Devon offered, "So no regrets?" There was more than a note of uncertainty in her voice. Alonzo heard it come through.

"Did we ever really finish?" he suggested. Devon looked into Alonzo's flashing, soulful eyes and suddenly didn't know. Her heart was thrown into a whirlwind of confusion and she bent closer to him, their eyes still locked.

"I don't remember if we said goodbye forever," Devon whispered. His face inched closer to hers.

"Forever is a long time," murmured Alonzo. They were so close now that Devon could feel Alonzo's breath upon her cheek.

"We could have been something beautiful together..." "But how do we know?" protested Devon. "How can we be sure about now?"

"One kiss," whispered Alonzo, brushing his lips across her cheek, ever growing closer to her mouth. In the heartbeat that followed, Devon made a life-changing decision.

"One kiss, and then we'll know..." Their lips finally, undeniably, met.

-The End-

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