Babylon 5: Endings and Regrets
An AU ending to "Confessions and Lamentations"
Title: Endings and Regrets
Genre: Babylon 5
Written: 9/20/95 (During the break between "Confessions and Lamentations" and "Divided Loyalties"
"When I do see you again...call me John." She hesitated a moment in the doorway, then turned and was gone. Sheridan wasn't completely sure why he had said that. He only knew that what he was feeling wouldn't let her leave without saying something. His feelings. For her. Delenn. He wasn't quite sure what he felt for her, but he felt something. That made Sheridan uncomfortable. And now she was walking into a situation that could easily lead to her death.
*****
Delenn worked almost frantically. There were so many sick, so many calling out to her for aid. So many already dead. Too many. But she welcomed the work, because their need and pain and fear drowned out her own confusion. Washed away her problems in the flood of their own. She shouldn't have touched him. It was improper. Especially considering that he...Captain Sheridan...John...was human. But it had felt right. She had seen the fear and worry and something else in his eyes, heard it in his voice. Emotions that mirrored her own. She had found herself being drawn to him, needing to give comfort and reassurance as much as he had needed to receive them. And so, lost in her thoughts, Delenn failed to notice the first symptoms of the plague in herself.
*****
"What the disease is actually doing is neutralizing the chemicals in the synaptic gap." Hope flared in Sheridan's mind at Dr. Franklin's words.
"So you have a cure?"
"No precisely a cure, but through a series of injections, an infected body will begin producing stronger cells to carry the messages across the gap."
Ivanova broke in. "Have you determined which races are most susceptible to the disease?"
"Yes," Franklin replied. "It's confined to those races that use specialized cells to bridge the synaptic gaps in the brain. The Marcab, the Pak'ma'ra..." he paused, and Sheridan felt his hope die as he finished"...and the Minbari."
*****
Most of the Marcab were already dead when Lennier collapsed, overcome with exhaustion and the disease. Delenn nursed him a long as she could, fighting the dizziness brought on by the plague as long as she could, focusing on her longtime aide and friend. She watched fearfully as he grew weaker and weaker, finally loosing consciousness. Delenn prayed to Valen and the Universe and every power she had ever heard of, her voice hoarse from the ravages of the disease. She was still praying when she succumbed to the plague and slipped into unconsciousness.
*****
Sheridan arrived at the hatch to the isolation zone, Franklin and Ivanova in tow. Ignoring the guards salute, he ordered the door opened at once. As he stepped into the room, Sheridan was prepared for anything...except the sight that greeted his eyes. There were no survivors aiding the sick. There weren't even any sick calling out for help. There was just the dead, scattered all around the floor, a ghastly reflection of the World War II scene he had described to Zack Allen only a few months before. Out of the corner of his eye, Sheridan caught a flash of color. Maneuvering quickly around the bodies in his path, he made his way over to where she lay. Delenn. Sheridan gathered her into his arms as Ivanova and Dr. Franklin moved to his side.
Sheridan saw Susan bend over Lennier, heard her whisper softly, "He's gone, Captain." He noticed, as if from a distance, Dr. Franklin running a scanner over the body he cradled. Franklin's words shook him out of his shock. "I'm sorry, Captain. There's nothing I can do. Too many of her synaptic transmitters were destroyed by the disease. She's dying."
Sheridan looked up at him, ready to beg, demand, order him to do something, anything, when the object of his concern stirred gently in his arms.
"John..." the voice was almost painfully weak.
"Shhh. I'm here, Delenn. I'm here." He caressed her face, as she had touched his, such a short time ago. A moment that now seemed lost forever in eternity.
"John...I am sorry...to be leaving you alone...against the coming darkness..."
Sheridan tried in vain to deny that she was dying. The words just wouldn't come out, and the reassurances he tried to voice fled away from him. Because the reassurances were lies, and he couldn't lie to her. So instead he brushed her hair back from her face, cupping her cheek in his hand, offering what comfort he could. Delenn's eyes fluttered closed and her breathing roughened.
A gentle hand on his arm distracted Sheridan, but he refused to look away from her, unwilling to see the sympathy and sorrow in Ivanova and Franklin's faces. Delenn's eyes opened once more, their clear grey irises focused on something only she could see, her beautiful face transformed by awe.
"Oh, John...the light...the light......" her voice trailed off into silence as the tears of the man who might have loved her fell unheeded on her upturned face. Then Delenn of the Minbari breathed out her last breath...and was gone.
FINI.
Title: Endings and Regrets
Genre: Babylon 5
Written: 9/20/95 (During the break between "Confessions and Lamentations" and "Divided Loyalties"
"When I do see you again...call me John." She hesitated a moment in the doorway, then turned and was gone. Sheridan wasn't completely sure why he had said that. He only knew that what he was feeling wouldn't let her leave without saying something. His feelings. For her. Delenn. He wasn't quite sure what he felt for her, but he felt something. That made Sheridan uncomfortable. And now she was walking into a situation that could easily lead to her death.
*****
Delenn worked almost frantically. There were so many sick, so many calling out to her for aid. So many already dead. Too many. But she welcomed the work, because their need and pain and fear drowned out her own confusion. Washed away her problems in the flood of their own. She shouldn't have touched him. It was improper. Especially considering that he...Captain Sheridan...John...was human. But it had felt right. She had seen the fear and worry and something else in his eyes, heard it in his voice. Emotions that mirrored her own. She had found herself being drawn to him, needing to give comfort and reassurance as much as he had needed to receive them. And so, lost in her thoughts, Delenn failed to notice the first symptoms of the plague in herself.
*****
"What the disease is actually doing is neutralizing the chemicals in the synaptic gap." Hope flared in Sheridan's mind at Dr. Franklin's words.
"So you have a cure?"
"No precisely a cure, but through a series of injections, an infected body will begin producing stronger cells to carry the messages across the gap."
Ivanova broke in. "Have you determined which races are most susceptible to the disease?"
"Yes," Franklin replied. "It's confined to those races that use specialized cells to bridge the synaptic gaps in the brain. The Marcab, the Pak'ma'ra..." he paused, and Sheridan felt his hope die as he finished"...and the Minbari."
*****
Most of the Marcab were already dead when Lennier collapsed, overcome with exhaustion and the disease. Delenn nursed him a long as she could, fighting the dizziness brought on by the plague as long as she could, focusing on her longtime aide and friend. She watched fearfully as he grew weaker and weaker, finally loosing consciousness. Delenn prayed to Valen and the Universe and every power she had ever heard of, her voice hoarse from the ravages of the disease. She was still praying when she succumbed to the plague and slipped into unconsciousness.
*****
Sheridan arrived at the hatch to the isolation zone, Franklin and Ivanova in tow. Ignoring the guards salute, he ordered the door opened at once. As he stepped into the room, Sheridan was prepared for anything...except the sight that greeted his eyes. There were no survivors aiding the sick. There weren't even any sick calling out for help. There was just the dead, scattered all around the floor, a ghastly reflection of the World War II scene he had described to Zack Allen only a few months before. Out of the corner of his eye, Sheridan caught a flash of color. Maneuvering quickly around the bodies in his path, he made his way over to where she lay. Delenn. Sheridan gathered her into his arms as Ivanova and Dr. Franklin moved to his side.
Sheridan saw Susan bend over Lennier, heard her whisper softly, "He's gone, Captain." He noticed, as if from a distance, Dr. Franklin running a scanner over the body he cradled. Franklin's words shook him out of his shock. "I'm sorry, Captain. There's nothing I can do. Too many of her synaptic transmitters were destroyed by the disease. She's dying."
Sheridan looked up at him, ready to beg, demand, order him to do something, anything, when the object of his concern stirred gently in his arms.
"John..." the voice was almost painfully weak.
"Shhh. I'm here, Delenn. I'm here." He caressed her face, as she had touched his, such a short time ago. A moment that now seemed lost forever in eternity.
"John...I am sorry...to be leaving you alone...against the coming darkness..."
Sheridan tried in vain to deny that she was dying. The words just wouldn't come out, and the reassurances he tried to voice fled away from him. Because the reassurances were lies, and he couldn't lie to her. So instead he brushed her hair back from her face, cupping her cheek in his hand, offering what comfort he could. Delenn's eyes fluttered closed and her breathing roughened.
A gentle hand on his arm distracted Sheridan, but he refused to look away from her, unwilling to see the sympathy and sorrow in Ivanova and Franklin's faces. Delenn's eyes opened once more, their clear grey irises focused on something only she could see, her beautiful face transformed by awe.
"Oh, John...the light...the light......" her voice trailed off into silence as the tears of the man who might have loved her fell unheeded on her upturned face. Then Delenn of the Minbari breathed out her last breath...and was gone.
FINI.