Alternate Dream

19. Reunion

"I must say, Nina, that's a lot to take in. But you are doing well now?"

"Yes Xander, doing well... for now.  It seems every time I think I'm settling in and adjusting to life here, something else happens or some new major piece of information comes to light and my life is turned upside down again. I really hope the calm lasts longer this time."

Nina plopped into her chair in the sitting)  room. Xander had surprised her when he arrived and she had just filled him in on everything that had happened since they parted.

"How about you? Now that I've filled you in about me, will you finally tell me why you're here? What's going on?"

"After I went back to the station alone, I did a lot of thinking and decided it was time to return. You see, I wasn't always assigned to a station. I had actually volunteered for one about a year ago. I needed some quiet time away from everything."

He seemed to get lost in his thoughts a moment, staring at the fire, and Nina tried her best to be patient.

"You had asked me once if I had a family. I did... before."

Nina's eyes rounded but she made herself stay quiet.

"Lena.  I couldn't believe when she chose me at the pairing." He chuckled. "I thought she couldn't stand me. I loved picking on her to get her reaction, you see."  He looked at Nina and they shared a smile. "Years later we had a daughter. After so long we'd thought we couldn't have children. But then she came, our Joy." Xanders smiling face was replaced with one of anguish. "She would have been 9 this year."

He was staring at the fire again, Nina worried he'd never come out of his thoughts.  She moved her chair to sit close to his and put her hand on his arm, rubbing circles with her thumb.  He drew in a deep breath. "There was an infiltration in the palace." Nina sucked in a breath. "They were after the king, but they didn't mind who they hurt along the way.  Lena and Joy were walking to the throne room, I can only imagine they were looking for me.  We all heard Lena scream but when we rushed out it was too late. Joy was dead in her arms and she was bleeding too much." He grasped her hand in his, for comfort. "But she was brave, my Lena. She held on long enough to tell us who had done it and what she saw. It was the information we had been looking for to solve a handful of unsolved crimes and information leaks.  When we arrested them, one eventually told us all they'd planned before we executed them.  My Lena saved the future of The Capitol. And countless lives."

She leaned her head against his shoulder and stroked his arm.  "I'm so sorry Xander"

"I tried to continue on with my work, we had much to do in the aftermath. But I was unable to focus, I was too emotional to handle things appropriately. So I stepped down from my position and headed for the badlands station.  The one year mark of their deaths had just passed when I found you."

She hugged his arm tighter. 

"So what will you do now that you're not at the station?"

"The King has offered for me to return to my previous position, as my replacement now needs a bit of a hiatus himself. And I have accepted."

"Oh? And what is your position?"

"The Capitol Commander."

Nina didn't hide her shock as she sat straight up. "You were the Commander before Hezron? I mean... you are the Commander?"  He nodded. "It seems I really can't make it a full week here without being shocked by something."  They joined together in a laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... but I was so scared of getting caught and them telling Pearl so in a panic I jumped off the bridge into the river!"  Fulton smiled at Nina's elaborate retelling of a story from when she was 14.