Fallout, part 7 (G)

Originally posted 2/13/06

Can you believe it? I'm still plugging away at this particular (now AU) future, off and on. If you haven't read "A Day in the Life" or the previous 6 "Fallout" fics, this probably isn't going to make a heck of a lot of sense. You can check out the series on my site, or look around here or in the archives on Terra Firma. This one follow pretty closely on the heels of Fallout 3 (in which Aeryn and Livvy have a discussion that ends up with Livvy deciding she wants to go to school on earth), and Fallout 5 (in which John talks to his sister Olivia about letting his daughter stay with her for a while).

At long last, here is a story of young Olivia Sun Crichton on Earth. When you're only 15, even getting your heart's desire can be tough....

Rating: G (the cursing is Farscape)
Setting: Some 20 cycles after Bad Timing and a couple months after Fallout: Part 5
Spoilers: Through Bad Timing
Disclaimer: Not my characters (well, except for Livvy and her siblings....), not my universe, no money being made here!

I've got more thank yous than usual here.....
Thanks to cretkid for the help with all things geological....
Thanks to imloco2 for help with all things canine....
Thanks to shipsister for assurance that I hadn't completely missed the mark on teenage daughters....
And thanks to MadScientist for a drive by and couple of typos....
All blame for screwups belongs to me, however!

I hope you'll enjoy this story. There will be at least one more in this series....but first, there's a Starburst challenge fic with my name on it, and then next up, a "Family Ties" fic -- I do believe, with Chiana.

Fallout: A Day in the Life Epilogue...

Part the seventh, in which young Olivia Sun Crichton realizes she's not in the UTs any more....

"Mrs. Dorsey?" The voice on the phone sounded nervous. "Barbarella has made an unauthorized departure from her scheduled location."

Olivia Crichton Dorsey hated "spook speak." Biting back – just barely – a sarcastic response, she said, "We're on the secure phone, Ms. Mitchell, just tell me what happened."

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone, and then the young bodyguard answered, "Your niece has left school."

Olivia's heart dropped to her stomach, but she told herself not to panic. After all, Livvy was a teenager, not a toddler. "What do you mean, she 'left school'? On her own? Where did she go?"

There was another pause from the young woman who was assigned to keep an eye on the 15-year-old "girl from outer space" when she was away from her Aunt Olivia's home. Finally the agent admitted, "We don't know, Mrs. Dorsey. She was walking with some of the students, and then she was just gone. We're sure she wasn't taken against her will, but we don't know where she went."

Olivia's opinion of the Secret Service, never very high in the first place, dropped another notch. Of course Livvy gave you the slip, you morons, she thought. She comes from a world where she goes armed to buy a new top at the mall! The first game her mother ever taught her was probably, "Hide." No, the only question here was, what had possessed the 15 year old to ditch her bodyguards, when they were a condition of her being allowed to attend the geology program at the local university. Hoping to get some clue, Olivia shook her head and asked, "What happened?"

Mitchell explained tersely, lapsing back into Agency jargon, that there had been an encounter with a young man whose attentions were apparently unwanted, and that they had moved in to handle it. Livvy had seemed fine, but shortly after that, they realized she was no longer in the group of students she'd been talking with.

"Can't you track her?"

Sheepishly, the agent confessed, "She slipped her cell phone into another girl's pack before she left. No one noticed, not even her friend."

You go girl, Olivia thought, but still, she couldn't help but worry a little. Livvy's street smarts had been learned on streets a very long ways from Florida....

Mitchell said they would continue to look for Livvy in the vicinity of the university, and with a sigh, Olivia agreed to go home and wait for the girl there.

"Kid crisis," she called to her assistant on her way out the door, trying to keep her tone light. Since it was already mid-afternoon, she added, "I probably won't be back till tomorrow."

Madeline, who had three teenagers of her own, nodded knowingly....

* * * * * * * *

Olivia paced from the living room to the kitchen and back. She had plenty of experience in pacing, but it was usually her sixteen-year-old daughter Dani who was the cause. Livvy, on the other hand.... In the six weeks John and Aeryn's daughter had been with them, she hadn't given Olivia or Dan a moment's concern. She'd been unfailingly curious, happy, and self-possessed. Unlike her cousins, Dani and eleven-year-old Evan, Livvy talked up a storm, at least about the classes she was taking and the week-long field trip she'd already been on, hunting fossils in the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky.

It occurred to Olivia that Livvy's openness about what she was doing had possibly misled them about how she was actually feeling.

The front door banged open and Livvy strode into the house with a scowl on her face.

Olivia did a quick visual inventory – no obvious injuries, brown hair pulled back in a neat braid, brightly flowered tank top tucked into khaki-colored cargo pants, backpack slung over one shoulder – and did exactly what she had told herself she wouldn't do: "Where have you been?" she exclaimed. "I've been worried sick! The Secret Service is looking everywhere for you!"

Livvy's face colored, but she answered. "I walked home!"

"You walked home? Why? It's at least ten miles!"

"Because this stupid planet is too backward to have transports, and besides that, you won't even let me drive a car!" She shrugged her pack off her shoulder. "I'm a pilot! A good one! At home I fly spaceships!" she bellowed. "I don't need someone to drive me around!"

"Liv, honey—"

"Frell you!" Livvy stomped off towards the stairs, dragging her backpack behind her.

Stunned by the display of temper, Olivia called after her namesake, "Olivia! I know what that word means! What would your mother say?" There was no response from the teen, and Olivia decided to give her a few minutes to cool down before she followed to try to get to the bottom of this behavior.

She used the time to call her husband and the Secret Service and let them know Livvy was home and safe, then took a deep breath and headed up the stairs.

The door to Livvy's bedroom was shut, but there was only silence from within. If it had been Dani, there would have been either loud sobs, or louder music.... Glad that Dani was at cheerleading practice and Evan was at a friend's house, Olivia knocked firmly on the door.

From within came Livvy's strained voice. "Come in."

Well, that was something. Olivia opened the door and found the girl sitting on her bed, back to the wall, arms wrapped around her knees. Her backpack was sitting in the middle of the floor. There was a moment of silence, and Olivia caught her niece's grey eyes and held them.

Defiantly, Livvy said, "Where do you think I learned it?"

Olivia had to think about that for a minute, and then realized that Livvy was talking about the alien swear word. Despite the defiance, and the implication that her mother swore like the ex-soldier she was, her comment suggested that Liv wasn't supposed to use it at home either. She probably had learned it from her mother, though. "All right, I believe that." Olivia waited just a beat and added, "But would she approve of how you just used it?"

That hit home, apparently. The girl put her head down on her knees and said, "I'm sorry, Aunt Olivia. I didn't mean to be rude. And I didn't mean to disobey the rules." She looked and sounded miserable.

Closing the door behind her just in case the other kids came home earlier than expected, Olivia walked over and sat down on the bed next to her niece. She reached out and touched the girl's arm. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

Livvy lifted her head up again and looked at her. "Rory says I'm not qualified to be part of the team that's looking through the rock cabinets down in the basement to find stuff for her fossil lab!"

Olivia wracked her memory for the name and then finally remembered that Rory was one of Prof. Calhoun's grad students. Livvy usually spoke of Rory in glowing terms. "Why not? I thought you did really well on the field trip?

"I did," Livvy said, and sniffled just a little. "I found as many specimens as anyone. But, Rory says I can't tell a trilobite from a eurypterid, and she doesn't have time to answer all my inevitable questions!"

This was exactly the sort of thing Olivia had been worried about when she suggested to her brother that Livvy might be better off in high school than college, but she'd been overruled. "Well," she suggested carefully, "She's probably right, don't you think? It sounds like she has a deadline to be ready for her lab." When Livvy nodded, she continued, "I know it's disappointing, but you're really just beginning your studies here. There will be other chances when you've got more experience."

Livvy sighed, "I know."

Damn! And what was that word? Frell? This disappointment wasn't really what had sent the teen walking ten miles in a snit. "Olivia, honey, what's really bothering you? You're not really that upset with Rory, I can tell...." She trailed off, hoping Livvy would choose to enlighten her.

Livvy stared off at the wall for a minute, apparently thinking, and then let go of her knees and kicked her feet out in front of her. Dropping her hands into her lap she blurted, "I hate it here! I want to go home!" As soon as the words were out, her face twisted up in misery, and she burst into tears.

"Oh, baby, come here," Olivia said, and pulled the girl into her arms and held her while she cried. Olivia berated herself mentally for not having seen this coming. The poor kid was only 15, but she was so self-possessed most of the time, it was easy to forget that she was a stranger in a very strange land. "Shhh, it's okay," she said, "it's okay."

As Livvy ran out of tears, she pulled away and sat up straight again. She pulled up the hem of her shirt to wipe off her face, and then, still sniveling, she announced, "Dani hates me. She doesn't want me here."

Olivia's mama bear gene kicked in and she bristled at the accusation against her firstborn, but she bit her tongue to keep from protesting automatically that it wasn't true. In fairness, she had to admit Dani and her friends had been leaving Livvy out of a lot of their activities. But Livvy'd been wrapped up in her own school and homework and her field trip, and when she had free time, she seemed to enjoy playing big sister to Evan. Olivia had had no idea that she'd been feeling shut out. Not that Dani had said anything at all to her mother, of course, getting that girl to talk was like pulling teeth, so she could only speculate on Dani's motives. "Livvy, she doesn't hate you. I can guarantee you that. But, I guess it has kind of changed her life having you here. You're so close to the same age, it makes it hard. Some of her friends are really interested in you, and she's probably feeling kind of threatened...."

Livvy shook her head, suggesting she didn't understand. "Evan likes me...." she said plaintively. Why doesn't Dani? went unspoken.

Olivia couldn't help chuckling at that one. She shook her head in return and grinned. "Honey, you're an 11-year-old's idea of the perfect girl! He's the coolest kid in tae kwon do because of all those moves you've taught him, and you even like his dog!"

With absolutely impeccable timing, a canine whine came from the direction of the bedroom door.

Brightening slightly, Livvy looked over at the door. When a scratching sound of paws on wood joined the whine, Livvy looked back at her aunt.

Olivia gave her a squeeze and got up and opened the door for Evan's black Lab.

* * * * * * * *

Livvy watched as, tail wagging, Midnight crossed the room and plopped his head into her lap. She looked at him and found her eyes brimming with tears again. He was a great dog, he really was, and he obviously knew she wasn't happy. It was really sweet that he was here....

But he wasn't her pet, he was Evan's, and he didn't even talk.

Toto talked.

Well, a little bit, anyway. Her mom said he talked about as well as a two-cycle-old child, in sentences of two or three words. But he really understood a lot!

She stroked the dog absently as she thought about the weersa she'd had to leave behind on Moya. Her dad said he looked like a raccoon, mostly, except when he spread his arms and legs to glide through Moya's lower tiers, hunting trill bats. Then her dad said he looked like Rocky the Flying Squirrel. She wondered if Toto was missing her as much as she missed him.

She'd tried to make him understand she would be back.... But he'd looked at her with his big wide black-rimmed eyes and said, "Livvy go?" She could tell he couldn't quite grasp that it was only for a little while. And no one else would be looking after him like she did....

Well, okay, Dad would, and maybe TJ.... Mom and Merry wouldn't, though.

He'd probably be all bonded to her dad by the time she got back, and think his name was Rocky....

She settled back into misery.

Midnight put his head in her lap again.

Stupid dog.

But she knew she wasn't being fair to the dog, and she turned her attention to the animal who was here, trying to comfort her. He was a great dog. Evan was really lucky. Evan wasn't stupid enough to let his family fly off without him. Evan wasn't stupid enough to try to live where he didn't belong....

She finally realized her Aunt Olivia was still in the room, waiting patiently like her dad did sometimes, till she was ready to talk. That almost made her cry, too, but she looked up and said softly, "I miss Toto."

"I'm sure Toto misses you, too."

Something in her aunt's kind assurances made her feel it was safe to tell her the truth. "I don't fit in here. I'm a freak."

"Olivia, you are not a freak!" her aunt said emphatically.

"Yes I am. I've got frelling guards following me around, everyone looks at me like I'm some kind of weirdo." She glared, because it was better to be angry than miserable.

After a few microts, her aunt asked, "You get that word from your dad?"

What if I did? She scowled, and went on, "Anyway, I don't need babysitters. I could have taken care of that drannit."

"What....drannit?"

She shook her head and let the story out. "Just this boy. He was kind of hanging on me and I didn't want him to. I could have handled it, but the babysitters came in and threatened him. And now everyone thinks I can't take care of myself." After a pause she added, "My mother would have let me handle it."

After a moment's thought, Olivia said, "I'm sure she would have. And I'm also sure you could have handled it." She reached out and brushed some loose hair out of Livvy's face. "But Livvy, they were just doing their job."

But that was the point! "I don't want to be their job. I don't want to be anyone's job."

Livvy didn't think she'd said anything funny, but her aunt smiled at her. "I remember when I went away to college," she said, and shook her head. "I was older than you are, but it was still really hard. I missed my parents, and I missed your dad a lot, even though he'd already gone away to school himself by that time. Susan, not so much....she was so much older than me, we were never very close."

As much as she tried to stop it, Livvy's eyes fill with tears. "TJ's my best friend," she whispered.

Aunt Olivia wrapped her in a big hug and said, "It's okay to miss them, you know, honey. It doesn't mean you shouldn't have come."

That was so much like something her mother would say that Livvy found herself sobbing again in misery for everyone and everything she'd left behind to come to this terrible place.

* * * * * * * *

Olivia held onto her niece and rocked her while she cried some more. The poor kid had obviously had all this bottled up for a long time. At last she saw Livvy begin to pull herself together. Olivia looked at her face, so much like her mother's, as the girl struggled to maintain dignity. Olivia turned her loose and let her sit up.

"I'm sorry," Livvy said, wiping her face off with her hands.

Like mother, like daughter in behavior, too.... Olivia stifled a grin because she knew Livvy would be offended by it, but tried to reassure her. "Olivia, when I was 15, if I'd gone to a place even a tenth as foreign as the one you've been dropped into, I'd have come completely unglued. You are just having a bad day. I bet you have them at home sometimes, too."

Midnight pushed his nose into Livvy's hand then, nudging so she'd keep petting him, and she pretended to be focused on the dog. Olivia waited her out and she finally admitted, "Sometimes."

There was enough tentativeness in the girl's voice that she asked, "Do you want to go home? Because you don't have to stay the whole semester. If I know your dad, he'd be thrilled to get you home early...."

Livvy took a deep breath and shook her head. "No, I don't want to go. I'm glad I'm here. Mostly."

Olivia studied her a bit more. "So tell me what you like about being here. If your mom and dad were here right now, what would you want to tell them about?"

Livvy perked up just a little. "The field trip last week," she said, eyes sparkling. "I've never been in a cave before – and we were almost the first people ever in these! How drad is that? I was as good as anyone there, too! And Midnight," she said, shifting gears and patting the dog. "He's really cool. He reminds me a little of Toto, even though dogs and weersas aren't really anything alike. And Evan's cool." She continued to talk, seeming more confident and comfortable.

Half listening as Livvy described how much she liked being on a planet instead of a ship, and admitted that even her cousin Dani was okay sometimes, Olivia made a mental note to talk to Livvy's spooks about giving the girl more space to work out simple problems. She might be only 15 in years, but she was definitely older in some kinds of experience. And it occurred to her that Livvy was probably old enough to take driver's training even if she wouldn't be here long enough to get a license...maybe that would take the edge off some of her feelings of being held back.... Olivia realized this was a learning experience for her too. Livvy's needs weren't remotely the same as Dani's, and she really had been assuming they were. She hadn't had a clue how homesick the girl was, or how frustrated.

When Livvy ran out of things to say, Olivia reached out and gave her a hug. "You know what makes me feel better when I have a really crappy day?"

"What?"

"A chocolate sundae."

"Before dinner?"

"Especially before dinner."

Livvy's eyes opened wide.

Olivia nodded her head towards the bedroom door and the hallway beyond. "Come on, let's go see what we can find in the kitchen."

On the way downstairs, Midnight rushing ahead of them, Livvy said, "TJ makes crispy grolak when he's upset. It's really good." She paused for just a second and then grinned. "But I think ice cream is definitely better."

Score one for planet earth!