| PHD #247: Good Surprises |
| Summary: | Wade and Serene find each other on Cerberus. Serene introduces Wade to his nephew. |
| Date: | 31 Oct 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | None. |
| Players: |
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| The Deck! |
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| This place is full of people! |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #247 |
Whenever a Raptor is bringing back survivors to the Battlestar, the Hangar Deck becomes a very busy place. Medical staff, security staff, you name it. Now, the reason Wade is here has nothing to do with that fact, he is just standing next to his Viper, eyeing it with narrowed eyes. He is wearing his flight suit, so it's possible that he'll have to go on CAP in a few moments. The pilot exchanges a couple words with a closeby deckie and then looks at the Viper again.
This group is a little larger than some, but not as large as anyone would likely hope. Two full Raptors have emptied out onto the deck, refugees being routed along in various states to the medical bays for examinations, surely to be followed by getting cleaned up and processed onto whatever ships in the fleet they and what remains of their families will be staying on. The last Raptor holds a few adults, but mostly a half-dozen or so children who don't have other family members to follow after them. Filing out with large eyes, looking around the hanger and sticking close to the familiar adults, they seem to be a healthy group for the most part, one little boy with an arm in a sling coming out and bouncing down the ramp onto the deck with excitement even. "Dr. Wilkinson, that's everyone," says one of the ladies hearding children to a woman exiting the shuttle, "I think we have them all headed towards sickbay."
A set of Raptors downloading people is something that calls for attention. Wade tilts his head to the side and he immeditaly sees a group of children and a couple adults, he doesn't spot Serene yet nor he hears her name being mentioned. The Viper pilot goes back to what he was doing, staring to slowly walk around the Viper, paying special attention to the engines. "Sorry about that guys, didn't mean for this girl to get hit that hard" Yeah, during one of his last missions, he took a bad hit and the Viper received some heavy damage. Now, however, it's looking pretty good.
"Good." Says a familiar voice, to the other woman as she comes down the ramp. Her attention is divided between the children who look like at any minute they could go running off to look at the Vipers, the woman next to her, and a small bundle that she's carrying in one arm against her shoulder, "If you'll just look after them, Amanda, I'll make sure and check on everyone else and get their current medical histories to the ship's doctor when we get down there." After she finishes her instructions to the other woman, as she's watching the children, the adventurous boy with the sling does break off from the group, running streight over to the man inspecting the engines and looking up at him, "Hey! You fly these, right? That's so cool!"
Needless to say, the part of the hangar he is on is offlimits to Civilians so as soon as the voice of a kid talks to Wade, the man turns his head around and then down. "Oh…" He looks at the Viper again, then at the kid and then the group of survivors that are probably being conducted to another deck. "Hey there bud, glad you like it" He kneels down and ruffles the kids hair "Let me take you back to the group" With that said, he picks the kid in his arms. "I'm the pilot of this particular one, yes. And you know, I know that if you eat right and study hard, you might even be able to fly one of these when you are older." Now, he walks over to the group of people, MPs closing the path back to the other ships so nobody goes there. "Excuse me…" calls the man to the group of survivors, still not seeing Serene. "I believe you guys lost a young man here"
Waving Amanda on, the doctor trots away from the group to come up from behind and meet the boy and the man carrying him, "Gerald! We talked about this, don't bother the pilots when they're working on the Vipers, it's rude." Looking over with an apologetic smile as she puts her free hand on the boy's back, she gives her attention to the pilot in question, starting to talk before she finishes focusing her attention on him, "I'm sorry he's just so ex…" Suddenly her sentence stops in the middle, mouth falling open in stunned silence for a moment, "Oh… my gods… Wade?"
Wade is actually smiling at the boy as he hears the voice. However, when she says his name, the voice does actually ring familiarity and he looks up, focusing on the woman. His eyes open wide and his mouth falls open for the longest time before he says "Serene?" Yes, he knows it's her, tho at this point, seeing a familiar face is something so…strange that he can't help to wonder if he is not 'seeing things'. Wade swallows saliva and slowly places the boy on the floor, eyes still focused on Serene. His attention drifts to what she is holding because at the moment, he doesn't know what it is. He takes a deep breath and walks towards her, slowly.
Serene doesn't move forward slowly at this point, taking two quick steps forward around the little confused Gerald to throw her free arm around Wade's shoulder and press her face in against his neck in a half-way crushing hug. She is careful of the bundle she's carrying, however, not squishing it in against him even as she clings on Wade, "Thank the gods… I never… I mean when I heard that we were going up to Cerebrus I knew it'd been stationed out of Leonis and I might know somebody that Pops had come around and everything but…" She seems to be just kind of babbling really, which is definitely unusual for the collected Serene that's normally out and around. Stepping back just a little, more pulling her face away than anything so she can get a good look at him she gives him a once over from head to toe, "Are you alright?" With all the josteling, the bundle in her arms starts to let out a tiny hiccuping sniffley pre-cry. She automatically shifts what's now obviously a baby in her arm one handed just a little, bouncing slightly and quieting him down again.
When Serene approaches him, Wade actually lifts one arm and brings her in, wrapping it around her as she rests her face (or presses) against his neck "I thought…thank the gods" His hand moves to the back of her head as his fingers interlaces with her hair. When she steps back, he presses his lips together "Yes, yes I'm alright" Now his attention moves to the baby and he stays silent, looking back at her "You?"
Nodding in answer to the question, Serene's eyes fill up with tears a little and she takes in a slightly broken deep breath, clearing her throat before she can talk again, "Yeah…" She smiles, releasing Wade's shoulder to reach around and shift the baby so that he's laying with his head in the crook of her arm and she can undo the blanket a little to make it easier to see him. Talking softly to the baby she bounces him just a little, "Hey, Dare… Look at who we found…" The baby is obviously very young, just a couple of short months old, and even then perhaps a little on the small side. But, he looks like he could've been transported out of Duncan baby pictures from the family photo album, a dusting of dark brown hair just starting to come in on the top of his head with his face scrunched up against the light from the overhead cans brightening the deck. Looking up again to Wade, Serene bites her lip a little, "Is…" She doesn't even seem to be able to finish asking the question, though it's painfully obvious what it is…
Wade extends his hand and runs it over Serene's check when he sees her eyes filling up with tears. He takes a deep breath again, clearly shaken by the whole situation. When she speaks to the baby, his expression reveals that, he doesn't have a clue. "Dare…?" repeats the man, approaching her a little, to better look at the baby. Yes, seeing this infant brings a lot of memories and he is silent as he looks at him "Is…" starts the man but then her own 'Is…' comes to play. He looks at her and it pains him, it pains him to deliver the news. Right at this moment, he lightly shakes his head, sadness fills up his eyes.
Nodding again, Serene manages a little smile, "I named him Derek Wade… I wasn't… We didn't know anything and…" She blinks again, bringing the hand up to wipe tears away from under her eyesbefore they fall, letting out another breath, "I didn't know I was even pregnant when I left. Everything was so busy and we were running around getting things planned for… So, I guess I wasn't paying much attention." She blinks a little more, shaking her head, the smile becoming a little more forced but staying around through sheer force of will, "It's okay. I didn't figure… I mean… what're the odds, right?" Stepping in again she puts her arm around Wade's waist and leans her forehead on his chest, "Jupiter above I'm just so glad to see you… I never thought I'd see you again and…"
The pilot looks at the baby again "Derek Wade..?" asks the man as if still not fully processing the idea. He looks at her and just stays there with his mouth open "Derek's son" finally says the man, looking down at the baby now. There are lots of things going on inside his head right now, and he can't voice things properly.When she leans her forehead against his chest, he moves one arm around her and keeps her close, taking a deep breath again. "And I'm so glad to see you…I can't" He closes his eyes and lightly rests his chin on her head. "I'm so glad you are alive."
Turning so that she's still against Wade's chest but can look down at her baby, Serene says, "Yeah. Derek's son." She sighs a little, seeming to pull it together slightly as she watches her son with a small smile in her voice, "I can't…" She clears her throat a little and moves away from whatever she was going to say, "Dare is just like his daddy in some ways. Totally independent. And stubborn." She grins slightly as he lets out a big yawn and then squishes his face slightly, fingers closing around the edge of the blanket, "And totally OCD about staying clean. If he gets one little smudge of something on his face he freaks out until it's all cleaned up."
There is a very faint smile that forms on Wade's lips as she mentions that the baby is like his father. Said smile, banishes just a moment after. "Yeah, Derek was always the tidy one. Not that I am not, but he was…well, you know." Now Wade clears his throat, feeling really weird right now. He is definitely happy to see her and definitely happy to meet his nephew, but he knows that there will come a point, in which she'll want to know what happened in Leonis, and he'll explain, even if that brings memories that will torment him. "You are safe now, and Dare is safe too, the Battlestar and a few other ships have become house for many" His arm is still around her and he looks at the baby again. As soon as the little buddy closes his eyes, he lightly touches his nose with his finger.
Smiling as Wade touches the baby, she turns a little again, looking up at him, "Do you want to hold him? I know we're going to have all these tests and everything in sickbay in a minute to make sure that we're all safe to get out on the ship, but he's fine…" Serene clears her throat, "I haven't heard where we're going to be staying, yet. I'm sure it's a nightmare trying to figure out all the people and where to give everyone the space and things that they need. Are you stationed on Cerebrus?" She doesn't ask anything about it now, for whatever reason. Nor does she mention anything about their time down on the planet for the moment. It's just a matter of time before all of that will come around anyway. She nods over to the group of kids with the ladies from her Raptor, Gerald among them having since run back at all the grown-up talk that isn't about Vipers, "Those are the orphans with our group, I'm sure there are dozens and dozens. Do you know where they'll end up bunking?"
Wade looks at her and blinks, then looking at the baby. "Umm…" he takes a step back and swallows, having the need to take a deep breath before nodding his head. He extends his hand and gently takes the baby from Serene's arms. He leans him close to his chest and looks down, smiling just a little bit "Handsome fella" says the man with a bit of a smile. Now he looks at her again and then around "I'm stationed here, yes. With one of the Viper Squadrons." Now he looks at the orphans and he presses his lips before saying anything. "I don't know, maybe they'll be sent to a Civilian ship, I can't be certain." He imagines that this is a pretty strong moment for both of them. Him carrying his brother's son and her seeing her future husband's twin brother, carrying her child.
Transferring Dare over to his uncle easily, Serene smiles, glancing up at him and noticing the breath, adding reassuringly, "See, you're a natural." She reaches a hand out to brush over the top of the baby's head briefly before letting it fall to her side. Looking up to Wade again, she steps aside slightly so that he's completely holding the boy, folding her arms in front of her as she takes in watching them together. Noticing the pilot's nervousness, she keeps talking, though, "That makes sense, it'd be hard to have all of them around here. And it's probably safer for them so that they're not in the way down here on the flight deck or in other areas of the ship where they shouldn't be."
The Viper pilot looks at the baby for a while longer, listening to what Serene is saying. He looks at her and offers a very faint nod of his head before he says "We can always use doctors and some kids will stay around I'm sure. You'll be interviewed by MPs, to do background checks. I'm sure you'll be able to stay here, you and Dare." He looks down at the baby again and sadness attacks him, knowing that he'll never be able to meet his father. "I'm sorry Serene, I couldn't save him." He looks at her now, and shakes his head "I couldn't save anyone"
Stepping forward again, Serene senses Wade's sadness as it's coming on or at least knows him well enough that it's coming and slides her arm around his waist once more, leaning her head on his shoulder to look down at Dare as he holds him. "Oh, sure. That's all understandable. And we'll stay wherever it's best for the fleet, if that's on the civilian ship with all the kids or… wherever." She rubs a hand over his back and looks up with a little smile, "We'll be around, I'm not going far either way." When he looks back down to his nephew and apologizes, she frowns, shaking her head, "Wade… Don't…" She takes another breath, sliding her fingers from his back down to hold one of his hands, "I know that if there was anything, -anything- that you could've done for him… And you've saved a lot of people." She nods over to the group of twenty or so survivors from the surface milling around, "You helped save them. You helped save us…"
Wade clears his throat after she speaks. He gently returns the baby to Serene and nods in silence. It's not like he saved anyone really, but he won't argue on that one. He knows there's nothing he could have done, and he knows he tried…it is still painful. He looks down at his hand, the one being held by her and then looks at Serene again. He looks into her eyes for a moment and then smiles softly "I'm glad you both are here" And really, he is. Now, a voice through the Ship Speakers can be heard. "Lieutenant Duncan, report to Bay C for CAP. I repeat, Lieutenant Duncan, report to Bay C for CAP" Wade looks at the speakers and then back to Serene, squeezing her hand with his own. "Don't go anywhere, ok? I'll be back"
Serene smiling gently and about to say something before the speakers go off, she looks up to the ceiling at the voice, "Oh, go." She gives his hand a squeeze and steps back after taking Dare easily into her arms, sliding him up to her shoulder so that she can pat him on the back with a practiced motion. Her smile brightens a little more, "We've got tests to go through and people to get settled and I know that if you've got CAP you'd better take off. But I won't leave the ship until you get back. Even if we end up set up somewhere else for barracks, I'll wait to make sure I talk to you first before we head out." Lifting up on her toes just a little bit she kisses his cheek and steps over towards the group of people from the planet, several of whom are watching her with unhidden curiosity now.