Shake Your Body

I am Always Listening

Better get yourself together, and hold on to what you've got

Once the music hits your system, there's no way you're gonna stop

– Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine (Conga)

=/\=

"Yanno, this happens every time," Doug said, still in Lili's dream, still in 2192. There was no hint of exasperation. It was merely a simple statement of fact.

"I don't get it. This has happened before?"

"Yes," he said, "whenever you sleep by yourself, you dream about me, ever since Malcolm retired from Starfleet a few years ago. So it's not often – usually when you sleep, he's with you, and you dream together. I pick my moments with you. They don't come too often."

"Why do I forget these dreams?"

"You're supposed to," he said, "for otherwise, you'd just live to sleep, pretty much. You'd give up on life, and on him. And you shouldn't. You've got a whole lot of it left, and it's with him and it's going to continue to be wonderful." He took her hand, and there was a bit of sparking between them, although it went away quickly.

"Ionization," she said, "I bet I say that every time, too."

"Don't be upset," he said, "these dreams are – they are kind of a gift. And they're a break for me."

"A break?"

"Yeah, Purgatory is very real. Ian and I both have a lot to work off. Not so much for Jay."

"Jay, I take it, you mean your counterpart, Jay Hayes. But who's Ian?"

"Malcolm's mirror counterpart," Doug explained, "he wanted to distance himself from all of the terrible things he had done in his life, so he took a different name."

"Kind of like you decided you wanted to be Beckett instead of Hayes when you crossed over to this universe?"

"Originally, that was to protect Laura Hayes, Jay's sister, to keep her from just stumbling across me. But as time went on, I also felt the new name helped to give me a fresh start. Doug Hayes was a killer, he cheated on every girlfriend he ever had and he never let himself get close to anyone. Doug Beckett was a family man, a loyal husband –"

"In an open marriage," she reminded him.

"Yes, that's true, but I never wanted anyone but you and Melissa, never."

"Speaking of her, are you ever in her dreams?"

"Most nights. She tends toward depression; I think she needs the help. But she also forgets."

"I see," Lili said.

=/\=

From his seat near the bed, Malcolm clearly heard her say, "Are you ever in her dreams?"

=/\=

Helen Walker lived on Callisto. Or, rather, she was hiding out there, for a goodly portion of the Perfectionists' secrecy had been the faking of her death, in 3109. She and all of the Human Unit's less senior time travelers – including the AWOL Doctor Marisol Castillo – were interviewed by Carmen in a group interview setting. Then they had left the Temporal Integrity Commission in two shuttles. One shuttle was fine. The other crash-landed on Berren One.

Helen was presumed dead, a victim of the crash. Marisol even confirmed that, but it was all a part of the ruse. HD Avery had been on that shuttle, and he and the others had gotten out in time, before the shuttle was consumed by the superheated daylight side of that benzene-soaked tiny world. Because time was short and the other passengers were in peril, the body had been left in the shuttle. It seemed that rapid cremation was the only thing in Helen Walker's future.