Earth

2019

Knives of pain skittered down Rory's leg frequently while a deep ache wrapped around her thigh like a band. It had been two days since the shooting, but it felt like weeks.

"I still don't remember anything else." Rory ran through the memory again, savoring every morsel. It was the only thing she had actually remembered since coming to in the desert. "It's just these quick flashes. There was a gash in my leg and someone was using a swab to apply this thick substance to the wound. I remember them closing it up and I just keep thinking paste. I think it's what we called it."

Theo tilted his head. "Maybe it's kind of like when doctors glue wounds closed?"

"It feels different. Much more advanced."

"It is interesting you don't have any scars. Everyone has a scar somewhere. Your medicine may be much better than ours."

Rory glanced down her body. "No scars, no tattoos, no blemishes of any kind." She smiled humorlessly. "Until now."

Theo lowered his head some.

"It's okay. I got a memory out of it. Maybe if someone shoots me again I'll get another."

There was no sign of a smile on his face.

"Nothing?" Rory asked dryly. "Really?"

"If I got shot, you wouldn't be smiling either."

Rory sighed and let her head fall back. "Yeah."

A knock sounded on the door and Theo rose as General Price entered.

"Rory." Price smiled and lifted a bouquet of flowers. "I'm sorry I couldn't visit sooner. How are you feeling?"

She couldn't help but smile at the uncomfortable but genuine worry in his voice. "I'm okay. Thanks for the flowers."

"Mind if I sit?"

"Go ahead."

Theo pulled a chair close for him. "Did you find anything else out?" he asked.

"Well, we've read through some messages. I can't say too much while the investigation in ongoing. But she knew your habits, Rory." General Price spoke softly, much more softly than normal. "We've found messages with the group that had targeted her where she described your habits, like when you tend to walk your dog. This is something she's been planning for a few weeks."

A dark film of sand speckled the window outside where the wind blew viciously today. "She seemed like a sweet lady," Rory said.

Price crossed his arms over his chest. "It looks like she was targeted because of living here on the base. Others likely were too. The investigation is ongoing. I promise we will find those responsible."

"She gave my dog a treat. I just keep seeing her holding that gun when she was holding a treat last week."

Theo took her hand and cupped it in his, eyes intent on hers. "People get radicalized. It does not mean anything is wrong with you."

"She looked me in the eyes and she shot." Holding her breath, she eased herself to sit up more on the bed. "I know what it's like to have your world turned upside down. I'm not out there shooting people. What's making people hate so much that they'd kill?" The look in the woman's eyes filled her mind. "There's so much hate and fear."

Theo squeezed her hand. "I think you should rest."

"I don't need to rest. I need to go on air." Rory nodded at the general. "I need to make a statement."

"You want to go on air?" the general asked. "This is a first."

"I'm not going to sit by while people shoot at me. What if Benji or Theo got hit? Enough."

It took only a few hours for the film crew to arrive when news teams had all been begging for an exclusive with her. Though she agreed to an interview once she was doing better, this time she would speak directly to the viewers. Rory had spoken to public many times, but it had always been for someone else. Today, she spoke for herself.

The hair and makeup exhausted her when she had so little energy. Sitting up for so long drained her, but she needed to look strong for the camera. So when it was time, she refused to allow any amount of pain or discomfort distract her.

A gust of wind sprayed sand against the window as she straightened and fixed her stare on the camera. "Two days ago, while I was walking my dog, Benji, down my street my neighbor shot me. My dog ran in terror as I fell and she fired two more rounds." General Price and Theo watched her with concerned expressions. "She tried to kill me."

With a deep breath, she glanced down and then back to the camera. "Some of you don't believe me. You think I'm making all of this up. Some of you accept me and support me. Some of you fear me." Rory spoke authoritatively now and refused to show any weakness. "I have done nothing to hurt any of you. But this week, someone did hurt me. They tried to kill me. They could have shot my dog."

Tight fingers of pain closed around her chest.

"I watch the news and I hear this talk of danger, of violence. The danger is not just the unknown or the government or the ails of society. It's not just the mystery surrounding where I came from or why I'm here. The danger is inside of us. In here." Rory touched her chest. "If we let fear fester into hate, we become dangerous." She deepened her voice. "I refuse to fear or hate. Believe me, I could. This pain I feel right now, if I let it consume me, if I let it make me terrified, it could fester. I won't let it. Don't you let it either."

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"I'm sorry that my arrival here in your world has frightened you and made everything feel uncertain. I'm scared too. We've made it this far, though. Instead of fearing each other because we're different, we can get to know each other. We can find what makes us all human." After a pause, she looked directly into the camera. "Do not mistake my goodwill for weakness, though. I will not accept anyone hurting me or my dog or my friends. I come in peace, but I do not come to get hurt. I deserve to live safely. And so does my dog."

With a nod, Rory ended her broadcast. "The world is only as safe as each of us make it."

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Earth

2020

"Woah!" Rory laughed hard as Benji sprinted past her, skidded to a stop, and turned so tightly that he nearly spun in a full circle. "Come get me!"

She ran back toward the house while he launched himself for her, circled almost close enough to touch, and darted in a circuit across the yard. The ache hadn't started in her leg even after playing with the dog for so long.

Theo dove for Benji when he dared to come within reach, but the boxer shifted to easily evade the grab and ran back to Rory.

Full sunlight bathed the dusty yard in gold that filtered through the dissipating sand from Benji running.

"You're so fast." Rory dropped down and Benji jumped on her. They fell to the ground together as he licked her face. "You got me!"

Theo ran over and grabbed Benji around the neck. "Now I've got you!"

The boys wrestled for a minute while she lay on her back before Theo dropped down as well. Benji hopped over Theo, leaned his head against Rory, and then curled up to lay down as well. His tail wagged back and forth in a full arc as he panted.

"Happy boy." Rory scratched beneath his chin and kissed his face, earning a quick lick across her temple.

Theo's head fell to the side as he ran his fingers through Benji's fur. "He's so much happier than when you first got him."

"You like it here, don't you?" She nuzzled her face against his. "I like having you here."

Sometimes that bittersweetness still came to think that a family who may have loved Benji as much as she did could be out there, missing him still. She'd wonder if he remembered them and if he'd want to go home to them if they found him. If she let herself think about it too long, it awakened that deep and all-consuming grief in her chest.

Almost a year had passed since she was shot and she had not had even another scrap of memory return to her. Nothing.

The backlash from the shooting had garnered more support for Rory than she'd ever had. It wasn't her story that had caught the hearts of the world but Benji's. After her interview aired, some pictures of Benji circulated and then internet sleuths went to work putting the pieces of his story together. No one had ever found his family. Maybe he hadn't actually had one that missed him, after all. But everyone was outraged to see this dog who had already been through so much face the danger of a woman wielding a gun and paranoia.

In the end, the fact that Rory loved Benji made the world love her.

The increased support placed more pressure upon the government, who eventually was forced to concede to the U.N.'s demand for the international community to make decisions regarding Rory. While the U.S. still clung to power over her, that was improving. Politically, more members of Congress had voiced support for her. Her court case had even made it to the Supreme Court where some time in the next few months they would rule on whether the rights that other human beings had also applied to her. It seemed ridiculous to think they wouldn't, but this world, this country, had a long history of denying rights to people.

What mattered more to Rory, though, was that this place had started to feel more like home after she returned from the hospital and recovered here. Although, Theo was likely more excited about the progress he had made with the scientific inquiry into literally every aspect of her. He practically had created a museum dedicated to her brain scans.

Days like this, though, when there was nothing to do except to lay with Benji beneath the warm sun, nothing else mattered to her so much. Rory turned her head to look at Theo and met his warm hazel eyes.

"I think Benji is starting to like you more than me," she said.

He smiled but shook his head.

A needle punctured the tender flesh of Rory's heart and threaded a single strand of longing through all the complicated feelings she carried with her every day. His fingers rested close on the ground, tempting that thread to weave them together. It hadn't come as a surprise to Rory when she'd started thinking about Theo. There wasn't a kinder man on earth. She knew that to be a fact. And he was brilliant. Her best friend. It wasn't a surprise, but it was fresh. Even as new as the desire was, the acute pang was undeniable. Rory wanted to glide her fingers along the back of his hand, catch his eyes to see if he felt it too, and feel the thrill of the first real touch. The first kiss of intimacy.

Familiar.

The thread in her heart snapped as pain cut through her core. Intimacy was familiar to her. If she closed her eyes and imagined taking the hand of a man she loved, melting her lips against his, drawing him into her arms, her bed. All of this felt familiar. More familiar than anything else had.

Had Rory loved someone back home? It was something she'd wondered about, but it wasn't until now, as she could measure these feelings for Theo against what her heart already knew, that she sensed it was true. It was the same way she'd once felt the familiarity of holding a gun.

Both were equally jarring.

Was this man waiting for her? Or had their story already met its end?

And if she did have someone else, how would he feel about her entertaining thoughts of Theo? What if she was able to go home at some point?

Rory squeezed Benji tight, thankful for finding new life in these two beside her, but heartbroken to think of those who may have been left in the past. Who may be missing them still. What her boy had taught her, though, was that she was home, even if there was another one out there for her somewhere.

Rory rolled onto her side and glanced down the profile of Theo's face, down the soft line of his chin and his whiskered cheeks. "Theo."

His gaze fell to hers at her quiet whisper. He looked as if his breath slowed. The thread of longing pierced her heart again and wove through the quiet between them. Subtly, but undeniably, his look changed, and her heart beat harder.

Beneath the full sun, Rory slid her hand along his neck, into his hair, and drew closer, waiting to see if he would meet her, or if he would slip away.

She expected him to stiffen. Or maybe to question her. To touch her face as she had his. Or to gently press his lips to hers. She expected gentle and quiet as Theo always was.

But without warning, Theo pulled her to him across the ground and plastered his lips to hers in a deep and unhesitating kiss that seized her heart completely.

"Finally." Theo's whispered gasp raked chills down her spine as he kissed her bottom lip.

Finally? Did he really mean it? Of all the women on Earth, could he really want the only one who didn't belong? Someone who could never have a remotely normal life? When she broke the kiss and opened her mouth to ask the question, Theo's eyes turned stern, and he touched her lips to quiet her.

"Don't you think one more second about asking me." He gazed at her hair lying around her on the ground and then into her eyes. "You're Rory. No one and nothing else. Don't ask me what I know you're about to. Not now, not ever."

And so she wouldn't. Not now, not ever. Never would she question his affection, or his loyalty, or his friendship or whether he could truly see her as a person just the same as himself.

Rory let herself melt in his arms, holding back a giggle, as Benji tried to squeeze between them.

And they kissed one another beneath the full sun.

Finally.