STF

Shipwide Side Sim: Catching up with Lucas Holloway

Posted April 25, 2019, 11:53 p.m. by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) (Joana Ribeiro)

Posted by Colonel Calvin Harris (Commanding Officer) in Shipwide Side Sim: Catching up with Lucas Holloway

Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Shipwide Side Sim: Catching up with Lucas Holloway

Posted by Captain Molly Wright (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Shipwide Side Sim: Catching up with Lucas Holloway
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Molly squeezed her uncle’s hands and looked back up at him. Tears still streaked her cheeks. “I’m sorry.” She managed to say. “I’m sorry… I didn’t know. I thought…” She gulped. “I didn’t know I had been that much of an accident… that much unwanted… I’m sorry… I didn’t know about all that happened… dad… your— my grandparents…” With a sigh, Molly cleared her throat. Resolve suddenly in her gaze. “I want to visit.” She finally said. “I want to meet them, uncle Luc. After this is all said and done… I could maybe go with you. For a week or two. I have some leave I haven’t taken yet. And I’m sure Calvin…” Her voice faltered slightly. “… I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. But I need to sort all of this out first. And Calvin to come around after that… Will you stay on board until then?” There was a pleading tone in her eyes and in her voice.

Lucas smiled warmly and, wiping the tears from Molly’s cheeks, kissed her forehead then hugged her tightly once more. “I know they would love to see you Gracie. And as for staying…” He looked back into her eyes. “… I’d love to.”

For a moment, Molly paused as if she was fighting back tears. Squeezing Lucas’s hands tighter, a sob escaped her throat. “I miss… I miss her, uncle Luc. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss her. I wish she could see Erin… that she could see the amazing woman she has become. All I have of her is a book and faint memories. It was all I took from home when we left. Her battered copy of A Journey to the Center of the Earth and the necklace she wore… the one that has our names on it… I gave it to Erin… I thought she should have it. Everything else stayed behind… all the pictures… everything. I kept this…” Molly fumbled with her collar for a second before taking out a thin golden chain with a small golden cross on it. “It’s from my confirmation. Mom picked it for me… but she was never there to give it to me…” Molly sobbed again. “I don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore. But… you knew her. You knew my mother. Can you tell me about her?”

Molly

“I miss Mary too honey, more than you know.” There was a fleeting moment of eminence sadness in his eyes as he spoke, the kind of pain that could never truly be put into words. “Your mother was a good woman, kind beyond all imagination with the utter patience of a saint. They did grow to love each other over the years, but those closest to them knew that they were probably on borrowed time before…” A single tear ran down Lucas’ cheek and he looked for a split second like he’d seen a ghost before he smiled lovingly at her once more. “… my God, you do look like Mary. Seriously Gracie, you could’a been her twin.”

Molly could see in her uncle’s eyes a different pain than hers. The pain of losing someone very close that one remembered very well. Borrowed time… The expression surprised Molly. Had she thought about divorcing her father? For a second, Molly wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t passed away and she and her dad had gone their own separate ways. But there was no point in entertaining the thought for long.

Lucas reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small cherry box. Barely larger than a stack of two decks of cards, its rounded polished top engraved with the letters ‘M.G.H’. “I gave this to your mother…” Lucas began. “… on your parent’s first anniversary. As you got Grace from your mother, I thought it fitting that you should have it. Go ahead…” He smiled. “… open it.”

Molly took the box in her shaking hands, trying her best not to drop it. It was curious… something she had never noticed before, but with her original name, her and her mother shared the exact same initials.

The box’s lid squeaked softly and the second it was open, Molly would see the bright smile of Mary Grace Holloway staring up at her from a small, wallet sized photo. And yes, the resemblance with her mother was striking, as Molly felt as though she was looking… hauntingly… at a photo of herself her Senior year at Starfleet Academy.

Another sob escaped Molly’s lips as the picture came into view. It had been a long time since she had seen a picture of her mother. Nineteen years to be more exact. She had struggled to hold the memories in her mind… her face, her smile… and now it all came back to her. All this time she had been so angry to stare at her father’s eyes every time she looked in the mirror, that she had never noticed that she had her mother’s smile… just like she had the same hair, the same lips, nose and freckles…

Gently she touched the picture with her index finger, almost as if she wanted them to pass through the paper into the great beyond and touch her mother’s face once more. The longing in her heart was devastating.

“Your mother was barely 22 in that picture…” Lucas continued. “… if you look under it, there’s a data stick containing probably every photo and video ever taken of your mother from the day I met her… I was a witness at their courthouse wedding… till three days before…” He sighed, clearly brokenhearted. “… before your sister was born. It…” The tears started again as his voice cracked. “… it also has the only picture of Mary holding Erin. I…” He held composure well but Molly could tell this was very difficult for him. “… I took the picture. Seconds later… they took Erin and handed her to me as Mary passed from this world.” Drying his tears on his hand, he trembled as he said softly. “Mary was my best friend… I knew I had to take that picture because she wanted it… wanted Erin to know her mother held her… one time.”

“My God…” The words left her mouth in a whisper as Molly realized what her uncle had just given her. Tears streamed down her cheeks once more as she remembered the fateful day. That evening, Molly had helplessly watched as her mother fell down the stairs. She had talked to her and tried to make her stand but to no avail. The next thing she knew, she was being pushed inside an ambulance and both had been rushed to the hospital. She remembered the blood, the doctors working around her… Her grandparents running to her and taking her away from her mother, while Mary was taken inside. They told her that she was going to get to see her baby sister that night and Molly remembered how excited she had been. And then… a serious looking doctor came into the room… followed by her uncle who hugged her tightly and tried to explain to her that mommy was not coming home. Molly remembered walking in, hand in hand with Lucas to see her baby sister. Her mother was still on the bed… she was resting. Her small hand reached out and held on to her mother’s for a second. Twenty-three years later, and the coldness of her skin still plagued her nightmares.

Gaining some level of strength, Lucas continued. “That there…” He pointed to the small gold necklace. “… was your mother’s Confirmation necklace. She wore it every day… I know she’d want you t have it.” His warm smile returning. “And I know she’d be damn proud of you both.”

Lucas

Molly slowly placed the box on the coffee table next to her uncle, as she held the necklace between her fingers. It was a slightly more elaborate version of her own, but with the same elements — the thin gold chain and the gold cross.

Looking at it, she remembered the necklace. Molly used to play with it whenever her mother carried her in her arms. For a second she placed the gold chain back on the box and reached behind her neck, taking off the one she carried. After a few seconds, her mother’s necklace disappeared inside her tunic.

Lucas had a warm glow as he saw Mary’s necklace where it belonged, around her eldest daughter’s neck. That fateful night, the same simple piece of jewelry had been in Lucas’ hand as he told his niece the most terrible thing anyone would have to tell a child… that their mother was gone. Lucas had taken the thin gold chain from around Mary’s neck moments after the duty Chaplain had administered Last Rights, after watching his sister-in-law… and honestly probably the first person he’d ever truly loved… take her last breaths. It had been one of the worst days of his life and he had suffered much of his most intense pain alone. He hurt for his nieces, who would never truly know their mother. For Mary’s parents… for his parents, a daughter lost in the most tragic of ways. For his brother, losing his wife and mother to his only children yet never knowing that within months, Mary had planned to leave him for good. Leave him… for Lucas. It had long been discussed, but both he & Mary respected the status quo. Yet, over the years, their friendship had blossomed into something more… and while they would have never crossed that line while Mary was still Peter’s wife… they knew that, once the dust had settled… they wanted to at least give it a try. But, it was never to be. A handful of kisses were all he had shared with a woman Lucas quietly swore he’d love till his last breath.... even if he were the only one to ever know it.

Molly took her own chain. The one that her mother had picked for her so many years ago but had never seen her wear it. Reaching forward for one of her uncle’s hands, she turned it face up and placed the necklace on his palm, closing his fingers around it. “I want you to have that one. Dad told me on the day of my confirmation that mom had picked it for me. I want you to have it. As a token of appreciation, and as something to remember me by.”

It took every thing in Lucas not to openly bawl as he closed his hand around the small, sparkling cross and tears poured down onto his shaking hands as he looked at the tiny gift Lucas knew meant so much to his niece. “I hope I never have to just “remember” you ever again Gracie.” His voice cracked.

“I don’t know if you believe… mom certainly did. Sometimes I feel guilty that I don’t. I can’t understand what God that would let this happen… Maybe one day I will…”

“Oh Gracie…” Lucas sighed heavily, his eyes still rimmed in tears. “… I have never been a very strong man of the Faith but I can tell you, your mother was and to be honest… knowing that gave me comfort in the years since Mary left us. That, if right, she got to watch you girls grow from wherever she is now and knew that you were alright.”

After a moment of silence, she looked up at Lucas once again. “I wish mom had married you instead.” There was longing and sadness in her voice. “You were there when no one else was… Even when I couldn’t see you. You taught me how to tie my shoes, and how to tell the time… You taught me most of the things I knew growing up…” She wiped a tear from her face. “For all that’s worth… you’re my dad.”

Molly

Lucas crumpled onto Molly’s shoulder, tears soaking it as he raggedly breathed and held Molly tighter than he had in years. “Oh Gracie…” The man sobbed. “… you will never, ever know how much that means to me. How hard it was to let you and your sister go. It was like losing a part of my very soul.” Lucas leaned back and in an instant, both niece and Uncle were back in time. Central Park Zoo, Molly had just dropped her ice cream and was terrified of the trouble she’d be in when her dad got back from the bathroom with her sister. Her Uncle Lucas dropped to one knee, his hands holding her face as to where he could dry both cheeks with his thumbs. He gently shushed the scared nine year-old and, wiping the tears away, kissed her forehead gently. “We are a family Gracie and families love… before all else… we love.” He then walked her to the stand and got her another ice cream just in time.

Molly held her uncle as he sobbed heavily onto her shoulder. Molly’s own tears sprinkling the back of his suit jacket. She might never know how much her words meant to him, but she knew for sure that they meant a lot. And she meant them. Every single one of them.

As the two were again back on the couch, light-years from that day… that park… Lucas’ hands did the same wiping away of tears, the same holding of a much older niece’s face and with a cracking voice, Lucas said once more. “We are a family Gracie and families love… before all else… we love.”

Lucas

As the words left his mouth, Molly’s mind went back to that same day. To the ice cream fallen on the ground, and to the terror she had felt within her, when Lucas uttered those same words. At the time she hadn’t fully comprehended the meaning behind them, but now she saw how the man before her lived by them. It was her turn to sob, as her arms wrapped around her uncle’s neck, hugging him with the same urgency a daughter would to a father. “Thank you.” She managed to say between her tears. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. For being there… for taking care of us both in person and from the distance… Thank you for giving us all the opportunities you could. You were the only bright spot on our lives in New York City… You made our days more bearable. I wish we hadn’t lost so many years. I’m so sorry…” Molly’s words were muffled as she never lifted her face from his shoulder. “I… I love you, Uncle Luc… and I meant every single word I said… And now that you’re here, I promise… I’ll never let you go.”

“Gracie…” Lucas’ voice cracked as he squeezed his niece in a tight hug, his head resting against the side of Molly’s as he struggled through his own emotions. “… you will never know… how much that means.” The elder Holloway sobbed. “I have hated myself for years for not fighting for you girls, for not putting my foot down and saying enough was enough…” Lucas shook from the wracking sobs as he spoke, pouring out his heart for the closest thing he’d ever had to a daughter. “… you girls could have been spared so much heartache… so much pain. Your dad might still be alive…” He gasped. “… your mother… at least you girls would have been alright. But…” He kissed the side of her head and continued to hold on, hold on for dear life. “… but you & Erin wouldn’t be the amazing young women you are today. Change one thing and you or your sister could have been spoiled brats.” He then chuckled softly. “Well.. not anymore than you two were to begin with.” He hugged her tightly once more.

Finally, Molly moved back and wiped the tears from her face, sniffing as she did so. “Thank you for coming for me. And thank you for the box… and everything in it. The pictures… I’ll send them to Erin. She should have them too. The only thing she has is that necklace… The one I was talking about… With our names on it… It’s safe in San Francisco, but… For as much as it pains me to say it… I don’t think she will ever have the same connection. Part of me understands why. Part of me wishes I could have raised her better… but I tried my best with the tools that I was given. And ultimately, Robert did a much better job than I could ever have done.”

The mention of the Mother’s Necklace caught Lucas by surprise, leaving him momentarily breathless. He had paid for the necklace himself weeks before Erin’s birth as a gift for Mary after she told him her new daughter’s name… Erin Leah… with Erin a nod to her Uncle’s middle name… Elliot. The inverted initials of his own first & middle name. The words would stay with Lucas forever ‘How I wish she was yours’. The loss of Mary and the near loss of Erin nearly killed him and, long before his brother, Lucas had… for the only time in his life… seriously contemplated ending it. The memory of that little redheaded baby, his baby as far as he would ever be concerned, in his arms that night… the only person that could calm her after Mary was gone… had broke through the pain and Lucas left the cold, dark Brooklyn Bridge the Christmas Eve after Erin’s birth never to return. He never told anyone he had ever gone there that night and it was something that had always haunted him… that his brother leaped from the bridge not ten feet from where he had stood on the edge of forever a half decade before.

“Stop that Gracie…” Lucas shook his head slowly. “… you gave everything you could to your sister and did better than anyone else, including your Uncle, in looking out for her. And…” Lucas sighed. “… I have long prepared myself for that possibility, certain Erin & I would never have the relationship you and I have. That’s my own goddamn fault, not yours.” The pain at those words radiated in Lucas’ eyes, like putting the words out into the universe acknowledging the loss of one’s own child.

There was resolve in her eyes when Molly looked back at her uncle. “Before we head down to Missouri, I need to stop in San Francisco. I want you to come with me to the courthouse, if you could. I realized mom and I share the same initials… and I want to change my name back. I think it’s time for me to close this chapter of my life… I was angry and scared… and I didn’t want to be tracked down. I wanted to erase my dad from my name. Using mom’s maiden name felt both like making a statement and finding some closeness… but in the end, she was a Holloway too. And more importantly, so are you. I was born a Holloway. I think I should die one.”

Molly

The tears flowed once more from Molly’s uncle as he hugged her tightly again and then smiled the brightest smile Molly had ever seen on another human being. “It would be my honor Gracie. You name the time and place, I’ll be there. Your Grandparents will be over the moon.” He paused for a moment and smiled. “Either way, your mother would have died a Holloway no matter what… she wore our family name like a badge of honor. She would have wanted it for you. This is your family, always.” Lucas beamed at his niece.

Lucas

Molly smiled as the sudden happiness in Lucas’s expression seemed to fill the room. It had been a long time since she had seen him this happy. He had never been the same after her mother’s passing. None of them had…

An inquisitive eyebrow rose in Molly’s face as her uncle’s words processed in her brain. Either way, your mother would have died a Holloway what exactly did he mean? She wore our family name like a badge of honor. Oh… Molly’s smile subsided slightly as she tried to picture her own mother, proud of the family name. A possibility that had never occurred to her before. She reached for the little box with Mary’s initials and for a second, she lost herself in the old picture inside it.

After a long silence, Molly finally spoke. “How could she be proud of the Holloway name when her father-in-law strip them both from the fortune and made everything more difficult for them? Why would she wear it as a badge of honor? She was married to the family’s screw up that got drunk and beat her up. How did she manage to…?”

Molly

Holloway froze momentarily. He knew in that second he had slipped up… screwed up and let show a secret he had had no intention to share. Thinking quickly, Lucas replied cheerfully.

“Your mother…” He began with a bright smile. “… knew damn well that the judgement handed down against Peter had actually nothing to do with her, or for that matter… you, and she was keenly aware that her children would be the heirs to one of the largest fortunes in modern history. Mom & Dad had their disagreements with certain ways Mary raised you…” Molly’s Uncle suddenly paused and burst out laughing.

“Hell! When your mother announced at Christmas Dinner… in front of God and everybody… that she intended to have you Baptized into The Roman Catholic Church… Jesus… I thought your Grandmother might strike her down where she stood! I bet you being less than a month out from being born might likely have saved her from my Mom’s wrath.”

Holloway ran a hand through his hair. “As I said, they didn’t always see eye to eye… but Mom & Dad respected Mary, way more than I think even she realized and certainly more than Peter. She always knew you and Erin would be cared for… Peter was the only one left in the dark on that one.”

Lucas

Molly smiled softly, nodding, accepting her uncle’s answer. Her hand mindlessly clutching her mother’s necklace hidden under her tunic. Knowing that her mother knew what awaited both her and Erin, somehow brought her peace.

Knowing his beloved Mary’s necklace was finally, at long last, where it belonged also brought Lucas imense peace.

“I don’t know how much free time you have, but… help me sort this whole mess out… after that let me talk to Calvin. Give me a week… stay on board… And I’ll go with you. I’ve been away for too long. I miss the days we would spend exploring the house in Chesterfield… I want to go back. What do you say?”

Holloway grinned widely and nodded. “Whenever you like Gracie. Your bio-signatures were never removed from the Security Net at Falcon Crest (OOC: The formal name of the Chesterfield house), so either of you could have come home at any time with no issues what so ever.”

For a moment, Molly’s heart sank. They could have gone home whenever they wanted but they were never told that… and all those years they thought they were nothing but unwanted. Although to be fair, Molly conceded after some thought, she didn’t know if she would have wanted to go back.

“In the meantime…” Molly sighed. “I have to get Calvin back on my side… if I don’t… I might just leave the Dresden all together, or… face prison for the rest of my life. I really don’t care.” She gave her uncle a sad smile. “Can you help me put together our old flat in Elmhurst on the Holodeck? Let’s say I’m not the best when it comes to programming…”

Molly

Holloway chuckled softly, rolling his eyes ever so slightly. “Don’t be so melodramatic, Molly Grace, your ass ain’t goin’ to prison.” The tiniest hint of Lucas’ Midwestern roots slipped in his words. “I didn’t come half way across the galaxy at maximum speed in the fastest civilian starship in the Federation to let that happen.” He smirked slightly. “And Calvin Harris is a lot of things… a lush, a showoff, a chronic, irrepressible flirt and a cocky, stubborn, arrogant jackass… but he’s no fool. You’ll get you Marine back.” He winked and then, tapping the SLU ring on his right hand. “Now, as for the room… I’m an Administrator Gracie, not an Engineer… that would be your Grandfather. I’m not bad though and I have some of the pictures of the place taken when they packed everything out after your dad passed.” His tone was soft with the words and Molly could see that particular point was hard on him. “Certainly, we should be able to put something together.” With a solemn nod, Lucas kept the slightest hint of a respectful and knowing smile. “In short, I’d be honored Gracie.”

Lucas

When they packed everything out after your dad passed. The words still sounded foreign to Molly. She realized she had always assumed that the flat where she had grown up was still there… intact. But it wasn’t. She wondered if it had been sold, or who had it.

Molly’s expression grew somber. “I still can’t believe that dad has been gone for eighteen years… and we were never told… Erin still doesn’t even know… It’s just… what did you guys do with all the stuff in that house? With… his stuff…” After the conversation about her mother, it was the first time Molly seemed to show the slightest interest in her father.

A frown grew across Lucas’ face, the strain of the years apart showing clearly. “It wouldn’t have brought your Dad back, Gracie. It would only have upset you after just getting your feet under you in your new home. While not an easy decision to make, I was the one that made the call to keep that information from you both until you were older. I never even told Robert. As for the apartment…” Holloway looked her in the eyes and forced a smile. “… everything that belonged to your parents is now safely stored for your retrieval whenever you would like to do so.”

Molly nodded. Although she understood her uncle’s decision, Molly couldn’t help but wish that she would have known earlier than eighteen years after the fact. But she understood. Her breath caught in her chest for a moment, at the thought of going back to New York and going through her parents’ belongings… her belongings now. Part of her wanted to see what was left, part of her didn’t want deal with that part of her life anymore.

He then smiled. “And the apartment, I brought the building about ten years ago when it was slatted to be torn down. We gutted much of the building, brought it up to code and then rebuilt from the ground up. Your folk’s place is damn near the same as the day you left… colors, layout, and so on… but the bones of the building are a thousand times better. The first floor is home to Mary’s Place, a creative writing and literature center… your mother loved to write, so I thought it only fitting to remember her that way. Across the street next to the park where we used to go play, is the Mary Holloway Memorial Library. It’s the largest community library in the five boroughs and has a robust community outreach program. I think your mother would be proud.”

“What… how…?” Molly’s expression seemed to freeze for a moment as she tried to process everything her uncle had just told her. It finally hit her exactly how much money the Holloways had. Enough to completely change a public part of New York City itself. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing…

Lucas paused for a moment and then looked warmly to his niece. “The building is yours Molly… if you want it. It’s upper floors provided the area with quality, affordable housing for the first time in decades. Today, over a hundred families call Wright Center home and it generates the revenue to staff and fund Mary’s Place’s outreach programs completely independent of outside resources. Your mother may be gone but I made damn sure her memory and her name was a force for good in that community. As for Holloway Memorial, there are two Board posts that can only be held by the Holloway children or their heirs.... I made sure of that too.”

Molly couldn’t even picture the changes in the neighborhood she had grown up. The thought that her own mother’s name was such an integral part of the community… the thought that the places her uncle had built might actually be changing the lives of the people around them… Wright’s eyes teared up slightly as she listened.

“Again…” Lucas said softly. “… its the least I could do for you girls.”

Finally, her voice shaking, Molly exhaled. “Take me there…” She pleaded her uncle. “Please… I want to see it. I… I can’t… I can’t even imagine…” She scratched her forehead. “Can you go there with me? Can you show me the place?”

Lucas smiled warmly and, taking the trembling hand of his oldest niece, nodded softly. “I would love to Gracie. You name the day and time, and I’ll be there.” Then added with a chuckle. “Hell.. like I said, it’s your damn building.” His smile radiated throughout the room, the love clear in his eyes.

Finally, Molly smiled at her uncle and nodded. “Thank you for helping with the holodeck. Although… I’m curious… you almost speak as if you think Calvin is not good enough for me.” She chuckled. “Please… don’t hold anything back.”

Holloway laughed loudly and grinned a roguish grin. “Oh yes, he’s a scoundrel alright… but as I happen to have known the man for many years, I can assure you… he’d rip a guy’s head off with his bare hands to protect you if he had to.”

Molly smiled. She knew Lucas was right. “I thought that too, Uncle Luc… the scoundrel part. But you would be surprised with the man that lives underneath.” Her expression saddened ever so slightly. She then shook her head dismissing whatever thoughts were going through it.

She then asked. “And… my grandfather is an Engineer? What was that about?”

Molly

“Your father and I are Black Sheep in the Holloway clan…” Lucas laughed once more. “… as we’re the first non-engineers in the family in like six generations. Peter, while smart, was a terrible tester… and damn near botched every math test he had in high school. Needless to say, he never got into Engineering School. Your Uncle on the other hand…” He grinned at the third-person reference to himself. “… can’t stand Engineering, much to your grandfather’s dismay. When you grow up not only the kids of a Shipping Magnet but also a retired Starfleet Engineering Commodore, not being an engineer yourself is down right a scandal.”

Lucas

Molly chuckled. “I thought you were all businessmen…” She commented. “Hell, I thought that was a requirement.” She sighed. “Well… it looks like there will be another generation of non-Engineer Holloways. It was pure luck that got me to join Starfleet in the first place. I only did it because dad—“ She paused abruptly and then continued. “… Robert… thought I was a good fit. Otherwise I would probably be working at the local farmer’s market. It was always what I imagined I was destined to do after high school… Not a very proper Holloway profession though.” Her tone turned bitter.

Looking back at Lucas, Molly continued. “You said mom loved to write.” She paused trying to ponder her next words. “I didn’t know that…” Her expression turned dreamy, as if she was trying to imagine what her mother would have written. “She used to read us stories… but I didn’t know she wrote them too.” After a moment, Molly continued. “Thank you. What you did… is more than I could ever had asked for…” Molly paused again. “You really liked her, didn’t you? I mean… you went to the whole trouble of doing that for mom… but your own brother…” Her voice trailed off. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be judgmental, and my curiosity is probably only going to hurt you. I don’t want that. But please… I meant it before Uncle Luc…” She squeezed his hand in hers. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re my dad.”

Once again after so many years of being apart, Molly buried her face in her uncle’s chest. This time without tears, rather just like she had done so many times before as a child. Lucas had always been the peaceful one. The one that could calm her down no matter what. The one that would make her tears stop. The one that could make any wrong in the world turn right. And after almost twenty years, there he was, turning the world around for her. And after almost twenty years, Molly still found the same comfort in his heartbeat.

Molly

With a long sigh, Lucas’ eyes began to tear as the words Molly had said hit him, patting Molly’s back as he processed them. It took a moment before he could speak and when he did, his voice cracked as he began. “I did Gracie, very much. Your mother was one of the most incredible women I have ever had the honor of knowing. Funny, witty, brilliant and god was she beautiful.” Holloway paused, blushing after the final words. He then shook his head and wiped away fresh tears. “Your father, had no clue the treasure he had and he squandered the gifts he was given in this life.” His tone was harsh, the bitter cold and anger from years of repressed feelings washing over him once more.

Molly sighed and smiled sadly. There was something hidden behind her uncle’s words that she couldn’t quite pinpoint. “I wish I had more time with her… so I could have known her better.” She finally said. “Sometimes I feel so much anger towards everything that happened… and sometimes I just feel guilty about leaving dad behind and replacing him with someone else…”

There were two long, slow breaths that broke up his speech before he added. “Robert Hazen is a wonderful human being and I thank God he found you girls. You grew up normal, respectable, decent young women with morals and hearts that those of us from… ‘money’… sometimes lack. Your lives might not have been as comfortable and easy as that a life of privilege would have provided but to an extent, I think such distance has better prepared you for the world that has always been rightfully yours. You girls will be more respectful and appreciative of the family’s place in the world and will be much more connected to the real world than even I ever could. That said, I intervened with this because… honestly… enough was enough. You’ve faced enough garbage in this life and it was time to bring you and Erin into the fold. I love you girls, very very much. I have looked after you since the day you were born and just couldn’t take the two most important people in my life being apart from me anymore.” Tears started flowing and his voice cracked once more. “I have always felt I abandoned you… abandoned you girls when you needed me the most. I was the one that abandoned Mary’s little girls…” He sobbed softly. “… and I have spent my entire life trying to make right mistakes I made nearly 30 years ago.”

Lucas

Molly hugged her uncle once more. This time in a comforting manner. “Don’t say that. You know that’s not true. You did all you could and we are eternally grateful…” She paused for a moment recalling all the things her uncle had given them access to from a distance without either her or Erin knowing. “You have done more than you’ll ever know.”

Pulling away, Molly looked Lucas in the eyes before saying with a wide smile. “I’m glad to have you back, Uncle Luc.”

Capt. Wright, CIO

“Its…” Holloway’s voice cracked softly. “… it’s the very least I could do. I’m happy to have you back too Gracie.” The warm smile across Lucas’ face lit the room. Looking at Molly one last time, Lucas stood. “Well Honey, it’s time for me to get some rest and I think you should too. I love you Gracie.” He nodded and waited for Molly to stand & join him for a last hug.

Molly nodded before standing up and hugging her uncle tightly. “Thank you, Uncle Luc. I mean it.”

With a tight squeeze and a “Goodnight sweetie”, Lucas headed out for the evening.

Holloway

“I’ll try… Goodnight.” With a tired smile Molly walked Lucas to the door and stood watching him leave. When the man was out of sight, she retreated back to her room, still trying to process the events of that day.


It was late.

Sitting on her living room couch, Molly clutched in her hands the small cherry wood box her uncle had given her. Her gaze was on her mother’s initials carefully engraved on the wooden lid, but her mind was light years away. In the past. A long time ago.

After a moment, Molly returned to the present. To her quarters and to the Dresden. Gently, her fingers opened the box uncovering Mary Holloway’s smiling face. A happy moment frozen in time.

Carefully removing the picture, Molly’s eyes glanced at the data stick Lucas had included in the box. It contained every photo and video he had ever taken of her mother. Memories she had long forgotten and even moments she had never witnessed. Taking it, Molly held it in her palm, as if she was weighting it. Measuring the weight of the past. Finally, she placed the picture back in the box and closed it, carrying both items into her bedroom.

Silently, Molly placed the box on her desk, plugged the data stick to her terminal and sat down on her chair. She didn’t know what she was about to find out, but she was also not sure what to expect.

It began with a picture of a young couple at what seemed to be a small courthouse. Her parents’ wedding. Her mother was wearing a flowing light peach colored dress, and even though it was not yet visible, Molly knew Mary was already pregnant. Her father wore an expensive looking suit. Certainly one he had gotten before being cut access to the family’s fortune. They were eighteen and nineteen in the picture. Both barely out of their teens, and yet, trying to be more mature than any of them really were. For her. For Molly.

There were a few more pictures of the day. Mostly pictures of the couple, the Justice of the Peace, her grandparents from both her mother and her father’s sides, and her uncle Lucas. Molly wondered how often the whole family had been together.

Although Molly’s recollection of Mary was vague, seeing her smiling face in every picture brought back memories she had thought forgotten. The kindness in her smile every time Molly talked to her, the comfort of her embrace, and the gentle way she used to rock her whenever she was sad…

Eventually, the wedding pictures gave way to other pictures of the couple. Happy for the most part, or at least smiling at the camera, as Mary’s pregnancy was more pronounced with the passing of every photo. Then, a picture of her mother in a hospital bed, holding a small pale skinned baby with a tuft of fiery red hair. A soft gasp escaped Molly’s lips as tears rimmed her eyes. In her heart, the hole left by her mother grew bigger. Her fingers gently touched her younger mother’s face as if she was hoping to reach her, only to be stopped by the screen’s surface. The scent of Mary’s skin came back to her nose. As her daughter, it was a fragrance that she would never forget. Tears fell silently down her cheeks as Molly struggled with the loss of her mother.

And then… a short video of Molly’s first steps. A smile appeared in Molly’s face as she watched, until a familiar sound came through the speakers — Mary kindly urging her daughter forward. Twenty-three years had passed since she had last heard her mother’s voice and Molly found herself unable to stop the tears now violently falling down her face. “Oh God…” her body shook as the whisper left her lips and she quickly moved to the next file.

Pictures… videos… dozens of them… of Mary and Peter and the first six years of Molly’s life. Sometimes Lucas would appear, but most of the time, he was the man behind the lens.

As the photos progressed, so did the years, and with them Peter was less and less present, as Mary became a much bigger focus. Mysterious glances, stolen by the camera when she wasn’t looking, perfectly framed close-ups of her mother’s face… Lucas was a talented photographer. In some of the pictures, the way Mary looked at the camera, it was almost as if she had fallen in love with it, and the composition, it was almost as if Molly was looking through the eyes of a man in love…

Suddenly, the realization hit her. Those closest to them knew that they were probably on borrowed time. Lucas’s words echoed in her mind. Either way, your mother would have died a Holloway. Mary was not just planning to divorce Peter. She was planning to divorce Peter and marry Lucas.

It felt like someone had punched Molly in the chest, as her breath left her lungs. It had been a thought… a wish… that Molly had entertained as a kid, and sometimes she still found herself wondering what would have changed if that had happened. She had always thought it to have been impossible… nothing but a figment of her imagination, but now… knowing it could have been real… they had been so close to having the family she had always wished for…

Tears streamed down Molly’s face as she pressed through every picture and video her uncle had gathered. Until she was staring at a visibly weak Mary, back in a hospital bed, this time holding a different redheaded baby. The moment that preceded her mother’s last breath, forever frozen in time.

“No…” The word left Molly’s lips as a whisper. “No.” This time it came louder. The screen no longer visible through the tears. “No!” The yell came as Molly’s fist hit the table. The wail that followed, a mix of deep sadness and the pain that shot through her arm. Pain that somehow she needed to feel. Pain that reminded her that even though her mother was gone, she was still very much alive.

“Why…!” Molly’s wet fingertips reached towards the screen but never made it there.

Time seemed to come to a halt as Molly sat in front of her terminal, sobbing, wondering once more how it would have been if her mother hadn’t died. If she had divorced her father and moved on to a life with her uncle. How happy she and Erin could have been… how happy they could all have been as a family. Lucas had always been the fatherly figure in her life, and having him as her father had been a wish she had had for a long time. But now… knowing that it had been on the verge of happening… it made the pain so much bigger. It wasn’t fair.

Molly wiped away her tears as a surge of anger made her rise to her feet. Taking her mother’s cross from around her neck, she held it up high in front of her as if she was showing it to someone above.

“Why?” Her voice was loud and steady, swelling with rage. “Why would you do this? Why would you take her away and leave me and my sister to rot? We were so close to being a real family! Why would you take her? What kind of person would do this!?” Molly waited, almost as she expected some sort of response, but nothing ever came.

“What am I doing?” This time, the words were directed at herself. Her shoulders slumped forward as she lowered her arm. Looking back up she spoke loudly once more. “You don’t exist.” A sad smirk appeared on her lips. “You are nothing but a concept made by Men to cope with the fact that we are alone. There’s no higher power. Nothing created us. Life is nothing but a mere coincidence in the chaos of the universe. It has to be! Because no benevolent being would ever make this happen. We are nothing but pointless and powerful beings made to feed the ecosystem, going about our business as best as we can while we wait to die. Life is pointless and I wish I was dead!” There was a deranged look on her face. A mix of anger and despair. Taking a deep breath, Molly wiped the tears falling from her eyes again as she held her mother’s necklace in the air once more. “You could have stopped it!” She shouted. “You could have stopped it but you didn’t! You could have changed the outcome! She believed in you!!!” Her last words an anguished cry. Molly shook her head. “But you didn’t care about her enough to save her! You are nothing but worthless.”

With a wide motion, Molly threw the necklace across the room, her hand violently clashing with the single flower vase on her desk and sending it crashing to the ground where it shattered into a million pieces. Her mother’s cross hit the wall and fell. “You can keep it!”

Her last words were drowned as Molly’s body finally gave in to the pain and exhaustion. Sitting on the foot of her bed, she cried. She cried as she hadn’t in a long time, eventually, hugging her knees and falling asleep curled up in her bed, still in uniform.

When the morning came, Molly woke up. Her eyes hurt, but her night had been surprisingly dreamless. She felt rested, almost as if there had been something trapped inside of her for years, waiting to be let out.

As she looked around the room, her mind went back to the previous night. To the box and and the pictures. Looking at her terminal, she could see the box still on the desk beside it, but the picture of her mother holding Erin was gone as with time, the screen had eventually turned off. A wave of panic washed over her, as Molly realized what she had done with her mother’s necklace. The only object she had that connected mother and daughter, and she had thrown it at the wall. Hurrying to where it had fallen, she hoped against all hope that she hadn’t broken it, but the chain was nowhere to be found.

Frantically, Molly overturned every object on that side of the room. She couldn’t have lost it. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t! It was the only thing she had… the only thing… Suddenly, Molly felt something cold rub against her collar bone, and with a quick hand movement, she trapped it against her skin, sending her other hand fumbling inside her collar. And there it was. Her mother’s gold chain and the gold cross, solidly closed around her neck.

Molly breathed out in relief. It had been nothing but a bad dream. She must have been so distraught by her mother’s pictures that she had cried, curled up in bed, and fallen asleep. She clutched the cross in her hand. There was no way she would ever throw it away.

With a sigh, Molly tucked the chain back inside her tunic and prepared to start her morning, thankful that it had been nothing but a dream. But as she turned to head to the sonic shower, her foot stepped on something. And as she looked down, she could see the water pooling around a single red rose surrounded by the shards of her broken flower vase.

Molly


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