Andy's Fan-Fiction Archive

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST CONCLUSION
By
Alex Queirolo

Timeline: After "Survival Of The Fittest" (Day 117)
Author's E-Mail: CUVH94A@prodigy.com

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Well, here it is and even as I post this, a new story idea has come to be. One that describes what happened in grown up Uly's timeline. Hm.. curiouser and curiouser. Oh well..here it is. I'm gonna go watch the Giants play the Braves. Go Giants.
-Alex

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: Conclusion
Silence. God-damn silence. Not unexpected though. Devon Adair moved through the ajar metal door. She wanted to say something, anything, but truth be told, she didn't quite dare.
Three of them were sitting silently at the table. Martin was with his wife. That was good. the way the three of them looked, Morgan would have just grated their nerves. Alonzo Solace and Dr.Julia Heller who had barely left each others' side since the whole mess had begun, were next to each other. Julia's eyes were closed and she was leaning against Alonzo. Devon could see him tightly holding one of Julia's hands on his knee. His other arm was around her back, pulling her towards him. He was just watching her. She wasn't asleep and she wasn't crying but she looked like she was about to. Devon could only guess at what anguish she'd be in, being a doctor and all. Sometimes, forgiveness from someone else, even the person you hurt, wasn't enough. Sometimes, forgiveness had to come from within. It certainly seemed that way with all the scouters. Danziger was across from the couple, gazing silently at the table and nursing a steaming cup of coffee. He looked thoughtful.
Devon crossed over to the coffee pot and poured three mugs. She went over to the table and sat down, handing Alonzo the mugs. He took them and put them next to his elbow, truing to not disturb Julia. Softly, she asked, "Are you guys okay?" She was talking to all three of them.
At first,no one said anything and then John Danziger murmured, "Fine, Adair. Tired."
She didn't believe him. Or Alonzo's silent nod of agreement. They looked awful. All three of them.
Julia opened her eyes and sat up. Devon was appalled at how bloodshot her icy blue eyes were. She tried to convince Devon with a smile but it never reached her eyes. It was phony and everybody knew it, "Fine." She said. She used Alonzo as an anchor and pushed herself up. "If you'll excuse me, I really have some things I need to get done." She turned and left the dome. Alonzo watched her with concern etched on his handsome face. He started to rise but Danziger caught his arm.
"Let her go, Solace." He said simply. His eyes said more but Alonzo wasn't listening. His heart was shouting, his mind was only whispering. He listened to his heart and shrugged Danziger away with a glare.
"Alonzo." Devon said, "John is right, Julia needs..." "What, Devon!?" He snapped angrily. He turned on her, all the frustration spilling out of him and he involuntarily startled her. Danziger stood but didn't intervene. "Time? She needs time? Is that what you were going to say? Save it. You don't know what she needs! You have no idea what she's going through! Just butt the hell out of it for once!"
"Alonzo." Danziger warned. Devon was obviously stung. She never did anything to "butt in". All she cared about was helping and 'Lonz knew that but he wasn't thinking straight.
Alonzo turned on him. Uh oh, he was on a roll. "Don't need your advice, Danziger. You wanna piss and moan..."
"Watch it!" Danziger said sharply. His own anger started to seep out. He wasn't in the mood to take anything right now. Sure, Alonzo had a right to be angry but there was no reason for him to take it out on anyone.
"Watch it?" Alonzo challenged. "Why? Whada ya gonna do?" "Stop it! Both of you! This is hardly productive!" Devon cried out. "You don't want to know, Solace. Back off." Danziger hissed. "John! Alonzo!" Devon pleaded.
Alonzo glanced at her, then away and then back at her. He locked eyes with her and then tore away, slamming into Danziger and tossing him to the deck of the dome with a loud crash. Devon cried out in alarm and tried to pull them away from each other. She had no idea who knocked her cold. It didn't really matter as the icy darkness overtook her.
The door to the dome slammed open and Julia, Bess and her husband, Morgan Martin ran in. Julia went straight to Devon and began to check her out, looking up briefly to see how Morgan and Bess were doing, breaking up the fight. "Stop it!" Julia roared. "Haven't we seen enough violence? Why do you two have to go pounding away at each other? What's it solving? You want to take your aggression out, use a wall!" She looked down at Devon, "Look what you've done. Meaningless violence to you but you gave Devon a mild concussion. Are you proud of yourselves?" She was angry, almost in tears, her captive emotion spilling out as though the floodgate which had been holding them in had been lifted. Bess watched her with growing concern, afraid that Julia was about to deck both of the med.
Danziger and Alonzo watched her and it pained both of them to see her hurting so badly. He took a step towards her but she backed up, "No, No sweet words. You're in trouble, buddy."
"Julia?" Alonzo said in confusion. Why was he acting like this. He knew she was hurting, he was too. Why couldn't she see that they could help each other through this? He reached out for her again but she backed away.
"Alonzo!" She shouted. "Is any of this getting through to you?" He tried to hold the anger in check and so he advanced once more. She slapped him.
He blinked in shocked confusion and barely heard her soft apology. He fought back the brewing anger and he called out her name as she fled into the shadows towards her room. And then it exploded, "Damn it, Julia! Get back here! Don't walk away from me!"
There was a stunned silence broken only by Devon Adair moaning as she regained consiousness. She put her hand to her temple and moaned softly. She looked around. Alonzo's face was red and drawn with fury. The others were simply stunned. "What's goin' on?" She mumbled. No one paid her any attention.
For a long, torturous moment, there was nothing but silence nad then Julia slowly walked out of the shadows, her face pale, eyes wide. "What did you say?" She walked towards Alonzo slowly, angrily. She was tense, Devon thought, obviously not thinking clearly. This was, afterall, Alonzo, whom she undoubtable loved. Fights were inevitable. Angry wars were not.
"Julia..." He started. He had no idea what he would say. Or for that matter, what he could say. He looked back at Danziger who simply shrugged. He looked at Julia. He wanted to hold her, forget all about the Grendler but he couldn't, none of them could. She blinked back the tears as she approached.
"Don't walk away from me? Come back here? Alonzo?" Anger, doubt, fear, pain.
"Julia, I'm sorry.. I just.."
"No, no, don't be. I..need to think." She turned away from him, refusing to let him see the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.
Danziger saw them though and it tore at his heart. Julia was a family member to him. He hadn't decided if she was more like a sister or a daughter but whatever it was, he cared about her very deeply. He couldn't stand to see her like this and he knew for a fact that Alonzo couldn't either. They were all hurting and consequently, they were hurting each other with their fear and pain. He exchanged a look with Morgan Martin. Martin annoyed him frequently but truth be told, he was a good man. Martin was quiet now, as bothered by the emotional scene as the rest of them were.
Alonzo took a step towards Julia, her back to him, and he took her in his arms. She turned and struggled weakly against him, her face down. "Alonzo..please..."
"No." He said softly, holding her shoulders tightly. "No." She felt the harsh stuble of his cheeks against her face and she felt the flood-gate failing her again. It had come back into place but it was weak and so were her knees at the moment.
"Not here. Not here. Oh God, 'Lonz, not here." She said, her voice virtually inaudible.
"It's alright." he whispered, "I swear to you, it's alright." His anger was completely forgotten. Compassion and love were all that remained. He touched her face.
That was all it took. Julia collapsed in his arms, sobbing. Morgan looked at his wife in astonishment. He had never expected to see this. None of them had. Alonzo fell to his knees and pulled her to his chest, whispering soothing nonsense words into her ear as she had once done for him. He tried to calm her but she was shaking into his well-muscled arms.
Danziger looked at Devon. His eyes spoke for him. Devon looked at the Martins and they understood also. They strode silently in separate directions, Danziger and Devon towards her room and the Martins towards theirs, leaving Julia and Alonzo completely alone.
"Alonzo..."
"Don't talk." He insisted. Words often got in the way when raw emotion could say everything. Danziger knew that. No one really knew if the Grendler had understood a single word that John had said but his honest display of emotion had touched the Grendler as no words, no matter how eloquent, could. Danziger had had his emotional breakdown and this was Julia's. He held her tighter, rocking her body until fatigue and exhaustion overtook her and then he carried her to bed.

The first thing John Danziger did was hold up his hand, "Don't start, Adair. I don't want to talk about it."
Devon sighed. She hadn't really expected him to just spill his guts. That just wasn't him. "Alright, John, have it however you like. Just remember that I'm here for you."
Danziger stared at her. Sometimes, he felt like shaking her 'til her teeth rattled and sometimes, he just wanted her. She was an amazing woman and God help him, an infuriatingly attractive one also.

Bess Martin said, "Everything is alright, y'all. There was a small fight, it's been resolved." The rest of the colonists were gathered around her. Baines and Walman were at the front, listening carefully. Baines was probably taking notes.
The door opened and Alonzo walked out. He smiled tiredly and then walked across the camp, shouting behind him, "I'll be back in an hour or so."

Devon Adair walked into Julia's room. On the way in, she had passed Alonzo who had returned from his walk looking slightly refreshed nad more at ease. She had stopped to talk but he had shaken his head at her so she had continued on.
Julia was sitting up in bed, a blanket around her shoulders. She smiled up at Devon faintly. Devon glanced down at her feet and saw clothes scattered about. She smiled inwardly. Ah, young passion could sometimes help you momentarily forget the pain. The smile turned to a frown however when she thought that even though passion helped, what it all came down to was being able to understand and deal with the pain.
Julia looked up and then down, "I don't really understand it all, Devon."
"I know, Julia. I want you to know, I'm here for you. If you want to talk about what's really bothering you. I am here."
Julia blinked, startled. "Wha..what's really bothering me? I don't know.." She stopped and sighed. She shook her head and looked at Devon, "I guess I do."
Devon sat on the end of her bed, "Well?" She prompted softly. Julia sighed.

"I'm sorry, John. I don't know what came over me." Alonzo said, holding out his left hand.
Danziger never hesitated. He took it imediately, shaking it firmly. "Not at all, man. It's been hard on all of us." The two men were both sitting on chairs outside Julia's room.
" I hate seeing her like this." "You and me both, 'Lonz. It'd be the same way with Devon. We've gotten so damn used to them being superwomen that I think we tend to ignore the fact that they are people. It was inevitable. You can only be so strong for so long. Frankly, I'm suprised it took so long. I thought the breakdown would come at the campsite. She held up remarkable well considering."
"Considering?"
Alonzo, you and I are so-called men of action. We've seen extreme danger and I'll be damned if we don't live for it. Devon and Julia are different. Both were completely brought up on the space stations. They are diplomacy to our action. They solve with eloquent and intelligent words, we solve by acting. They're so used to order and sterility. For Julia, it was only a matter of time before the feelings of frustration and helplessness caught up with her."
Alonzo nodded. That was certainly true. He remembered holding her while she had teetered on the edge of an emotional breakdown at the campsite. It had scared the living hell out of him.

Julia said, "When Morgan got injured, it all hit home. I couldn't do anything. I was useless. Suddenly, everything seemed so damned pointless. I take so much pride in my work but I didn't care then, Devon. Becuase it didn't matter. All my degrees were useless, meaningless." She looked at Devon, "I was scared. Scared that we would all died. Scared to death that I would have to watch them die, knowing that I couldn't do anything about it. Scared that I would have to watch Alonzo die in front of me. Oh God, Devon, I couldn't handle that. I..."
Devon and Julia locked eyes. Devon saw the raw emotion in the younger womans' eyes. "I know Julia. I think about that with Uly. It's a horrifying prospect, isn't it?"
Julia nodded, "I've never felt like that. Never before and God willing, never again."
Devon touched the doc's arm," I'm worried about you. Are you going to be able to pull through this? We need you."
Julia turned and smiled softly, "I'll be alright, Devon. I just need a little bit of time."
"You got it. If you need anything..." "I'll tell you. Thanks."

Alonzo Solace woke up. He looked over at Julia. They had talked all night. God, she was beautiful. He knew that as a fly-boy, he had driven women in every port crazy with his mere touch. His lips had rendered more than a few women virtually unconsious. None of that mattered anymore. All that mattered was Julia. Her kiss left him paralyzed, her touch made him beg for more. Her love and adoration was all that was important to this fly-boy. He'd die for her.
He heard a moan and he looked down and smiled and she blinked the sleep away. "Hey, 'Lonz." She took his hand and brought it to her lips, "Good morning."
He brougt her face up next to his and kissed her, "Morning, doc." He kissed her again. "Did ya sleep well?"
She moaned, "Were you here all night?" "Of course."
"Then it was a good night, 'Lonzo." She sat up and looked at him, "I want to thank you for putting up with me.. I..."
"It's okay." He said.

Everyone was in the dome when Alonzo and Julia appeared. Julia smiled and wlaked over to Devon. "Hi."
Devon smiled, "Well, you're in a better mood." "Yeah, I guess I am. I think we can finally put this all behind you and move on."
Devon grinned, "Good."

Who would have thought it would be so hard? On Earth, people killed animals all the time for food and it was just that way. When we were faced with the same, we couldn't deal with it. All life is life and it's good that we learned that.
-Morgan Martin
END

-Alex
4-26-95
1:29 P.M.

This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.