Victoria's Challenge (29 page)

“He can
.” Victoria eyes are angry. “We’re still alive thanks to his skill!”

“Victoria, don’t
talk to your father like that…” Victoria snaps her mouth shut, it’s been a long time since her mother has reprimanded her.

“Brett
.” She looks at her brother. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired.”

“Why don’t I take you into your quarters, then you can sleep. Dad will be long shortly. When you wake up, we’ll have second meal. How’s that sound?”

“Okay.
” Returning to the living quarters, Victoria finds her father with her mother asleep in his arms. Wishing she could convince him to sleep, she knows it’s futile. Lucas wouldn’t either, if she were sick. The look in his eyes lets her know he’s expecting an argument. Leaning over, she kisses his sunken cheek.

“She needs you dad
but she needs you strong, so that means you sleep too.” Grabbing a blanket, she covers them. “I’m going to lie down on the other couch. If you need anything, wake me.”

Peter looks at his daughter
. “Has it really been nine years?” His soft question stops her in her tracks.

“Nine years
, four months, twenty-three days.” Peter’s eyes widen at her reply. “It’s kind of one of those things you remember. Aunt Cassie and I always spend the day together, remembering, talking, telling stories, you were never forgotten, dad.”

“Then what took you so long!”
he demands.

“I didn’t remember.
” Tears fill Victoria’s eyes. “I’m sorry daddy...I didn’t remember the bunker...not until seven days ago. I didn’t remember Grandpa sending you to it.”

“How could you not!
” Peter roars, waking up Cyndy.

“Peter
… what’s wrong?”

“You will
not
blame, Victoria!” Lucas comes charging in from the cockpit, one look at Victoria’s tear streak cheeks has him swearing. “You are not to blame Victoria!” Pulling her close, he kisses the top of her head. “You were nine!”

“Peter, what’s he talking about
?” Cyndy watches as Lucas pulls Tori close, protecting her.

“Victoria forg
ot dad sent us to the shelter, for over
nine years
!”

Lucas f
eels Victoria cringe in his arms.

“You son of a bitch!
” Lucas turns furious eyes on Peter.

“Why would s
he even have known Peter? She followed Cassie.”

“I heard mom, I just
… I don’t know why it took me so long to remember.”

“Stop!
” While his voice is rough, Lucas’ touch is gentle as he tips her chin up to look into her eyes. “You were nine cycles old, Victoria. Your
father
has no right to judge, he doesn’t know what you had to survive!”

“Peter, you can’t blame her
. She was a child,” Cyndy tells him.

“Cassie wasn’t.
” Peter says stubbornly, although with less heat.

“She didn’t know
. She still doesn’t.” Victoria whispers.

“What do you mean Cassie doesn’t know
. You said she was alive.”

“She is
. I didn’t want her to know, in case I was wrong.” Sad green eyes look at her father.

“Wrong?”

“That you were alive, that I wasn’t too late.”

“That’s enough for now
, Victoria. You’re exhausted, you need to sleep, or you’ll be sick too.” As he stands with her still tucked close, Cyndy begins to cough, trying to move towards her, Lucas refuses to let go.

“Lucas…
” Her eyes plead with him. “It’s my mother...” Understanding, he slowly releases her but stays close. “Dad, you have to release her, your squeezing her, she needs to stretch to be able to breathe.” When Peter finally does, she gently leans her back.

“Come on mom, relax, everything is fine
, just relax, and breathe.” When she stiffens even more, Victoria’s eyes shoot to Lucas. “Get my other bag, in our quarters, bottom drawer.” Nodding, he does what she asks letting her concentrate on her mother.

“Relax mom, come on, spit it out
… it’ll help, I promise it will.” Finally, she’s able to eject the glob that’s choking her. It’s the size of a quarter, Cyndy collapses exhausted.

“
Here,” Lucas puts the bag down, shock in his eyes as he sees the matter she’s ejected. How could someone survive with that in her lungs?

Pulling out a breather, Victoria
sets it, then puts it over Cyndy’s nose and mouth. “Just breath, mom. Relax and breath, this will help. I promise it will.” The eyes that meet hers are fading. “No! Mom! Don’t you go! You promised you’d always be there for me, I need you to stay. I can’t lose you again! Lucas! The small pressure syringe!”

Trusting him to give her the right
one, she presses it against her mother’s neck. She finally starts to relax.

“There you go
, mom. There you go… breath.” When she finally goes lax, this time it’s with sleep. Shoulders sagging Victoria takes a shuddering breath.

“Why is she so sick?
” Peter’s tortured eyes meet hers.

“Because she’s all but starved to death!
” Flinging the syringe back in the bag, Victoria stands, finding Lucas helping her. “But why she has so much more lung damage, I don’t know?” Victoria’s eyes clash with his. “You all had your faces covered when we met, all we could see was your eyes.”

“Yes, Cyndy made the masks…
” Peter’s eyes shoot to his wife.

“She made yours and Brett’s thicker, to filter out more dust.
” Victoria’s turns understanding eyes back to her mother. She’d knowingly put herself at risk to protect her husband and son, Victoria couldn’t fault her, she'd have done the same.

“How could she do
that? How could I not know?” Peter’s voice is full of remorse.

“You didn’t pay
attention
?” Lucas accuses. “You didn’t protect
her
?”

“Lucas, that’s enough.
” Victoria can’t take the guilt in her father’s eyes. “Dad would no more hurt mom then you would me.”

“The same can’t be the same for you though
, can it?”

Knowing nothing she says will
change his anger, she just leans against him, drawing on his strength. He’s right, she’s tired.

“Dad
, the breather helped relax her lungs, kind of like asthma medicine. The shot was a sedative, to help relieve her anxiety. She was having a panic attack. You need to let her lay back the way she is now. If you hold her like you were, it will shrink her lungs and she won’t get a good breath.”

“I was hurting her…”

“You were holding her, supporting her, letting her know you love her. She needs that, needs to know you are here, that you are okay. It worries her, so what we’re going to do, is have you sleep out here, next to her but dad, you need to rest too. She’ll worry if you don’t and she’s going to need all her strength to recover.”

“Tori…”

“I’m not going to let her die, dad. I can help her but she needs to stay calm.”

“Okay.”

“Sleep dad, I’ll come back and check on you both later. Brett will be down for a while.” Picking up the blanket, she covers them both then lets Lucas lead her away.

Entering the cockpit, Lucas sits then pulls her into his lap. “Come here baby.” As he tucks her in, he feels her tremble. “Shh it’s okay. I’ve got you.” Turning his chair, he checks the autopilot.

“Oh god Lucas, I let them down.”

“You did no such thing! Stop it!” He gives her a little shake.

“I did, there was no reason
I didn’t remember.”

“You were nine
! You barely overheard the conversation and immediately following it you were trapped in a burning meadow, being swung into a moving Raptor, exposed to a nuclear explosion, taken onto a strange ship where everyone reminded you of the Glitter Man, and the only person you knew and trusted was your Aunt Cassie.
She
told you they were dead. You had no reason to doubt that. No reason to remember.”

“But if I had…”

“Victoria, you said it yourself, certain things had to happen. The Phoenix needed to be built, you needed to learn to fly her. You needed to be a doctor first. The atmosphere needed to clear enough for a Raptor to get through. This is the first time all those things were possible.” He tilts her chin up to him.

“You’re exhausted
. Sleep. I’ve got you.”

“Lucas, you can’t fly with me in your arms.”

“Yes I can. I need you here. Need to know your resting. Please Victoria.”

“You’ll wake me
if anyone needs me? Even my father?” Eyes that meet his are already half closed.

“I will, I promise
. Sleep honey.” Feeling her immediately fall to sleep Lucas pulls her closer. Disengaging the autopilot, he flies the Phoenix.

Opening her eyes, Victoria tries to figure out where she is. “Sleep more.” Lucas kisses the top of her head.

“
Hmm?” Lifting her head, she realizes she’s still sitting in Lucas’ lap in the cockpit. “How long?”

“Just two hours, go back to sleep.”

“I need to check on them. I promised Brett he could eat again when he woke up.”

“He seems to be handling everything pretty well.”

“Yeah, he’s a trooper but he’s got a long ways to go to get up to normal weight.” Sitting up, she looks at Lucas. “You have the mic on in the living quarters.” She realizes that’s how he’d heard her father.

“I wanted to make sure you rested.
” She sees his jaw tense, letting her know he was still angry. Touching his cheek, she brings his eyes to hers, seeing the banked rage.

“He’s just upset about mom
. He has the right to be angry.”

“Not at you, never you.
” Knowing how she’d feel if the situation was reversed, she couldn’t argue with him. Giving him a gentle kiss, she starts to slide out of his lap. Hitting the autopilot, he stops her, pulling her up for a hard deep kiss. Turning in his arms, she straddles him returning the kiss. They’re both breathless by the time the kiss ends.

“I need to go check on them.
” She rubs a thumb across his lips.

“I know
. I’ll be listening.” He turns his chair so she can rise.

“How’s your leg feeling
? I shouldn’t have been in your lap.”

“It’s fine
. It’s not like you weigh anything.”

“I’m going to scan it anyway
. What are you going to want for second meal?”

“Just fix me whatever you
’re having.”

She can’t help but smile at him.

“You think you’re pretty tricky don’t you.” He just smiles at her then turns to disengage the autopilot. Shaking her head, she goes to check on her family.

“Hey Brett, how are you feeling?” Entering the living quarters, she finds him in a chair watching their parents sleep.

“Okay.”

“You didn’t sleep long, you need to rest.”

“I was hungry.”

“Hungry huh?” She smiles at him. “Come on, we’ll go into the galley, let them sleep.” Rising, he follows her.

“How’s your stomach feeling
? You’ve been keeping everything down?”

“Down?”

“You haven’t been sick, throwing up?”

“No.”

“Okay, let’s try something heavier. Have you ever had chicken nuggets?”

“What?
” Shaking her head, she goes to the console.

“You’re in for a lot of surprises
but remember,” she gives him a serious look. “If you don’t like it, you can have something else. Okay?”

“Okay.”

With Brett eating, Victoria scans her still sleeping parents and prepares the syringes. While giving them, her father starts to stir, the smell of food waking him.

“How are you feeling?”
she asks quietly.

“Okay.
” Is his hoarse reply.

“Here,” She hands him a bottle
. “Drink, I’ll get you second meal.” Returning with a larger bowl of soup and bread for him, she finds Cyndy awake.

“Hey.
” Smiling, Victoria kneels down to take her hand. “You had a good sleep. Take some water.” Obediently her mom sips the water. “I’ll get you some soup maybe we’ll try some bread with it. How does that sound?”

“Good.
” Squeezing her hand, she returns to the galley to get the meal.

“Dad,
do you want to help mom?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, make sure it’s small bites of the bread, maybe dip it in the soup, her throat is going to be sore.” Turning, she looks at Brett, seeing his plate is empty, she smiles. “More?”