After The End

Connor

The three of us rush back to Mitch and Clem. Mitch is still trying to get Clem to leave. "Listen, we don't have a lot of time. Clem, I just want to get you and the baby out of here. Let's go."

Clem shakes her head, "No, I'm not going anywhere without Sam."

Logan sighs, "And that wall is solid concrete. 15 feet thick and 40 feet high. We're taking a hit, but this is still the safest place for her right now."

Garrison looks around, "The blood of all these soldiers is on your hands, Dr. Morgan."

Jackson steps between Logan and I, toward Mitch, "Did you even stop to think about what would happen if you activated that beacon?"

"What I did save millions of lives all over the world, okay?"

"Well, what's your plan now, Mitch?"

"Stop." I place a hand on Jackson's chest.

The boys' arguing overlaps while Clem and I try to get them to stop. Finally, we shout in unison, "Stop!" When we do they stop and Clem takes a deep breath, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here with Sam, till he's stable. So you can stop worrying about me, and start worrying about the beacon."

Mitch sighs, as he looks around, "I just needed to buy some time."

Jackson shakes his had "Time for what?"

"To figure out how the beacon is designed."

I nod, "If you can get us all the intel that you have on it, we might be able to reverse-engineer it."

Garrison nods and looks from me to Mitch, "We'll start pulling body cam footage from our team in Tokyo."

Mitch sighs, "Although none of that's gonna matter unless I know exactly what the beacons are broadcasting and I..."

"There's a signal-monitoring station in the wall a half click north. I'll take a team and redirect it to target the beacon." Logan uncrosses his arms.

"If you can't take that beacon offline, I'll have to take it out by force." Garrison turns to Logan.

Jackson shakes his head, "no, no, no. You can't do that."

"We've already got St. Louis and half of Missouri Evacuated."

"None of those people will be able to get out of the blast radius in time."

"My hands are tied. This is by executive order. If there is another way. Find it." Garrison orders as he walks away.

Jackson, Mitch, and I look between each other, not sure if we've been giving on order or a challenge, but either way, we soon get to work. Mitch goes to watch the footage and Jackson goes to stay with Sam. The medical personnel finally caught me and ran a few more tests on me, before releasing me. When I get back Abe is getting ready to inject the little one with what we hope will be the cure to sterility. "This serum will help boost your child's ability to create the CLM protein and restore human reproduction. Don't worry, it's quite harmless. Just three shots. One now, one in 12 hours, and the last in 24."

Clem nods, bouncing the little one, "Okay, you ready, little peanut?"

I chuckle, "If he's really going to save the world, people are going to want to call him something. Have you picked a name for him, yet?"

"I have a few ideas." Clem smiles, "Mostly family names."

The baby cries loudly as Abe sticks him, "I know, I know, I know, little one. It's a great responsibility."

Clem's smile fades as she looks over to Jackson and Sam, "Sam and I never decided on a name. Now, maybe we never will."

"It's okay."

I leave Abe with Clem and walk over to Jackson and Sam. Sam is hooked up to all kinds of machines. Jackson doesn't look up at me as I sit down next to Sam, "After all we've been through I'm surprised one of us hasn't ended up like this."

I take a deep breath, knowing Jackson is reacting out of guilt and pain, "Jackson. What you did took bravery and compassion. You knew Sam was working with Abigail, and you still risked your life to save him. I'm not sure I would have done the same."

"Trust me, Kat. You would have done the same thing."

"You have more faith in me then I do." I shake my head, as I walk over to Jackson and place a hand on his shoulder, as I do, he places his hand on mine, "You gave a son his father." I look over to Clem, "And a woman, the love of her life."

"I didn't do it for the baby or Clem. I did it for me."

"What do you mean?" I kneel down next to Jackson.

"Sam..." Jackson takes a deep breath, not looking at me. Finally, he does as tears well up in his eyes, "Sam is Connor Oz." I shake my head, bewildered, "Sam is my son..."

"What?"

"This was all part of Abigail's plan... For us to meet like this. She wanted revenge for taking our father away from her. She wanted me to watch Connor die all over again."

I shake my head again, "But if Abigail is the one that told you Sam is Connor, why would you believe her?"

"Because is he had proof." Jackson takes a small piece of yellow knit fabric out of his jacket pocket and hands it to me, along with a photo, "Because she had this." I take fabric and look it over, before looking at the photo, "Nia knit this for Connor. He was wrapped in this."

"Oh, my God."

"20 years ago, I watched my son die. And now he's here. Older than I was the day he was born. He's a grown man." Jackson shakes his head as I look back up to him, tears still in his eyes. "How do I make this right?"

I place a hand on his cheek, "you try your hardest to be there for him. You make up for the time he was taken from you... and you move forward."