Author Note:

Firstly: Though this is my first story here, and my first (finished) for Terra Nova, it is not my first story ever, so I am not (I hope) an inexperienced writer.

Secondly: This is slightly AU, in that it doesn't happen at any certain point in the story line of the TV show. It has certain aspects from Now You See Me included, such as Mark having declared his intentions to marry Maddy to her father, and others, such as the identity and/or gender of the spy being known, excluded. This is mainly because I started writing it before NYSM aired, and didn't want to change certain things around to accommodate some aspects of the episode.

Thirdly: In light of spoilers and previews for the end of the season revealing that someone will die, and all the depressing stories written by amazing authors who know that TV show writers just love to screw with us by giving us characters to fall in love with right before taking them away, I wanted some happy fluff to cheer me up and give me hope that Maddy and Mark will stay together forever.

So, without further ado, here is The Test. I hope you enjoy.

"No!" Mark Reynolds' passive expression twitched at hearing her voice, but he ignored it, continuing to stand at attention. That is, until a pair of petite hands started pounding on his chest. His gaze flicked to Commander Taylor (who, if Mark didn't know any better, looked slightly amused), before lowering to the woman in front of him.

"Maddy," he pleaded quietly, hoping to convey that he'd talk to her later, and encourage her to leave just as quietly. But this was Maddy Shannon; he should have known better.

"No, Mark," she said firmly, "I'm not leaving, and neither are you." She had since stopped the assault on his chest, and was now standing with her hands on her hips, glaring up at him.

Mark glanced around at all the people and wondered if she even realized what she interrupted, or how big a spectacle she was making. He figured she did, and that was why she had chosen now to do this. He glanced back at the Commander, who had one eyebrow raised, waiting to see what the atypical couple would do next. Mark pressed his lips tightly together and sighed; it was never his intention to make his and Maddy's private relationship so publicly known as she was about to have him do.

He looked back down at the stubborn set in Maddy's stance (something she had no doubt inherited from her father), and knew there was absolutely no way to get around this; everything was about to hit the fan. He decided to try a last ditch effort, knowing that if anything was going to work, it would be this: "Maddy-" he started in his 'official solider voice' as Zoe called it, before Maddy launched off at him. It obviously didn't work.

"Don't you dare try to stop me Mark Reynolds, you know it won't work. I am not letting you go out there!" Maddy stomped her foot and pointed at the main gate.

"Maddy, hush. We'll talk about this later, ok? I promise. I'm not going anywhere yet," Mark told her. He put his hand on her arm, trying to placate her, but she pulled her arm back. "Please, Maddy, not here."

"Why, Mark? Why not here?" she hissed at him.

"It's not what you think it is, please," Mark whispered once more, before Commander Taylor finally stepped in.

"Miss Shannon, while I'm sure there are people here who might like to hear about your and Reynolds' relationship, however informal the setting and private the information may be, during an award ceremony is neither the time nor the place to be doing so," Taylor said as he came up to the couple and set his hands on Maddy's shoulders. "Now, do you think you might hold off on your conversation for a more appropriate time?"

Maddy wasn't about to be appeased through. She shrugged the Commander's hands off her shoulders and spun around to look up at him. "Now is the perfect time to be doing this, as is here, because this involves more than me and Mark! You are not sending him to the Sixers!" Maddy shouted. At her exclamation, Mark heard the people around them start murmuring to each other, obviously wondering what she was talking about. Maddy was not too far gone in her emotional state that she missed what everyone was saying. "Do they not know?"

Mark reached forward and grabbed Maddy's arm to pull her back to him; she was so focused on waiting for Taylor's answer that she let him. He knew Commander Taylor was going to have to address the gathering of people around them soon, and Mark wanted her near him when that happened.

The Commander leveled his gaze on Maddy, as if asking her if she really wanted to open this can of worms; she didn't back down. Mark knew that she wouldn't have, and let his head fall backward in exasperation. "Well," Commander Taylor began, addressing the gathering of people, "it seems that this young lady is bound and determined to do this here and now. I'm sure you all know Maddy, Jim and Dr. Shannon's daughter?" Taylor gestured to Maddy's parents, who were standing near Lieutenant Washington, close to where he himself had been standing moments before.

Everyone surrounding them, which happened to be the majority of the colony who were all gathered in the market square for the ceremony, had trained their eyes on the central figures by now. "Miss Shannon also happens to be courting Reynolds here, and she has apparently chosen the setting of his promotion to sergeant to publicly show her care for him."

No sooner had the Commander finished smoothing over the situation, then Maddy started ripping it apart again. "This is not about declaring my affections for Mark, and don't you lie to everyone and say it is," she warned him. "You can't send Mark to the Sixers." Maddy whirled around to face Mark, lowering her voice to barely above a whisper. "He can't send you away; they won't let you come back." She threw herself at him then, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding onto him as tightly as she could. "They won't let you come back to me…"

Mark held onto her as tightly as she held him. Compared with her earlier volume, the drop in the level of her voice almost caused him to miss her last statement.

In the time it took him to piece together the sounds he caught, the Commander had addressed the colony again. "Pardon this interruption to our ceremony folks, but this matter deserves my attention. I believe a 15 minute intermission is in order."

As people started breaking off into groups to discuss what just transpired, and the noise level rose with the multiple conversations, Taylor turned back to where Mark was standing, still holding Maddy close to him, and said "Reynolds," before turning and walking away. Mark debated letting Maddy go to follow his commanding officer alone, but upon loosening his arms around her only to have her cling tighter to him, he changed his mind and simply scooped her legs up and cradled her to his chest. As Mark followed after the Commander, Taylor started toward his command center, calling out, "Wash, Shannons," as he passed them. The three fell in behind Mark and Maddy, and made their way along amidst the whispers and stares of the colony.

Once they all reached the command center behind Commander Taylor, Mark set Maddy back down on her feet, shifting her slightly so she was tucked against his side. Taylor paced for a moment or two in front of his desk, while Lieutenant Washington went to stand next to it, and Jim and Elizabeth stationed themselves near the wall halfway through the room. The Commander finished pacing, and probably his thinking, and turned towards Maddy. "Miss Shannon, would you mind explaining how you gained knowledge of private military plans?" Though Taylor directed his question towards Maddy, his gaze settled on Mark at the end.

Before Maddy had a chance to answer the Commander's question though, her dad spoke up, "Actually, I was the one to tell her about Reynolds' trip, Sir."

"We do not share our intel with you, Shannon, just so you can go blab it to your children," Washington interjected.

"I didn't "blab" information to just any random people, I told Maddy something she might want to know, 'cause she and Reynolds are... together... -ish," Jim trailed off, before his wife jumped to his defense.

"I think what my husband is trying to say here is that he knew Mark had been ordered not to reveal his assignment to anyone, and wouldn't break that order, even to tell Maddy, so Jim told her as a father to his daughter."

"Yeah, that," Jim nodded, agreeing with his wife's wording. Wash rolled her eyes at their lovey-dovey coupleness, and Mark suppressed a smile at her actions.

"Understood," Commander Taylor said, nodding to Jim, before turning back to Maddy. "That doesn't, however, explain why you interrupted the ceremony to talk to Reynolds about his assignment."

"I didn't know that was a ceremony," Maddy shot out quickly, pulling off of Mark's side and holding her palms out in front of her in a defensive gesture. "He," Maddy jerked her thumb backwards into Mark's chest, "didn't tell me what was going on. He didn't tell me anything. I found out from Reilly that everyone was in the market center and went straight there, assuming they were gathered to see Mark off." Maddy whirled around to face Mark and in the same breath continued, "You should have told me you were leaving, regardless of your orders."

"Now hold up one moment, young lady," Taylor jumped in, "You do not get to go around telling my soldiers to disobey my commands."

Maddy drew in her breath, startled by the Commander's brash response, and embarrassed at realizing what she had just brazenly said to the leader of Terra Nova. Before anyone else could speak however, Mark leapt to her defense, "Begging your pardon, Sir, but I believe she does." There were dropped jaws all around at Mark's bold statement. "At least she does when it comes to me." If Maddy had been watching her father, she would have seen admiration, anger, and fear warring on his face, but she was too busy staring up at Mark in awe that he would say that, in front of her parents and his commanding officers no less. He had a small smile on his face as he looked down at her.

Commander Taylor joined his Lieutenant in the eye roll as Maddy stretched up on her toes to press a soft kiss to Mark's cheek. "You can't go," she whispered. She turned back around to face Taylor and Washington, and repeated her comment, "He can't go; you can't send him to the Sixers."

"And why not, Miss Shannon? This man is my soldier, why can't I send him to spy on anyone I want?" Commander Taylor asked her, crossing his arms, leaning back against his desk, and wearing a humoring smirk.

Maddy was not about to be patronized though, and quickly started into her expert defense. "You say there is a spy in Terra Nova, is there not?" Taylor immediately started showing signs of discomfort, and lost his humoring look. Maddy carried on, "Don't you think he, or she, might have informed Mira of all the soldiers in Terra Nova? So Mark has very little chance of successfully getting accepted into the Sixers community."

"His cover story is to tell them he was banished," Washington supplied, not sounding too happy herself about Mark's assignment.

"But," Maddy continued, not fazed by this, "if the spy knows of all of the soldiers, couldn't it stand to reason that he also knows of Mark and my relationship?" Maddy smiled smugly, thinking that she had supplied the perfect reason for Mark to not be able to go.

But apparently the Commander didn't see her reasoning quite as clearly as she did. He replied with an immature "So?" still not happy about his authority being challenged.

Maddy sighed, wondering why no one ever understood her explanation of things. "If Mira knows that Mark is courting me, and he walks into her camp, do you think she'd ever let him come back? My dad is one of the only people you trust; Mira knows this. If she got ahold of Mark, she could use him to hurt me, and in turn my dad, and then you," Maddy spelled it out for the Commander. During her explanation, Mark had wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and set his chin on top of her head. "You can't send him to the Sixers. Mira won't ever let him come back. She would hurt him-" Maddy broke off, unable to imagine Mark being hurt. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and squeezed her tighter in his arms, knowing what she was thinking about. Maddy threaded the fingers on one hand through Mark's where it rested on her stomach, and lifted her other hand up to caress his cheek. "I'm not letting him go," she said resolutely.

Mark gave her one more gentle squeeze, before letting go completely, and stepping to the side. He stood respectfully at attention, and said "And I won't go, Sir."

Commander Taylor raised his eyebrows at the young soldier, and glanced sideways at first Lieutenant Washington, and then Jim Shannon. "And why not, soldier?"

"Permission to speak freely Sir?" The Commander nodded, and Mark continued. "Respectfully Sir, I'm in love with Maddy Shannon." Maddy's jaw dropped slightly at his declaration, and she stared up at him, but he didn't look her way. "I love her, and I never want to do anything to hurt her. And as she explained, sending me to the Sixers, that will hurt her. I intend to marry her one day, and I can't do that if I'm not here." Mark kept his gaze on the Commander's straight face throughout his declaration, but now swept it over the others in the room. He could tell that Wash's eyes were slightly shinier than normal. Anyone could see that Jim was torn between being proud his daughter had picked such an honorable suitor, and angry that this boy was declaring serious emotions for his daughter, but Mark thought he also looked a little embarrassed, though he couldn't fathom why. Elizabeth had proud tears trailing down her cheeks, and Maddy was just in awe.

When his gaze landed on her, Maddy rushed forward into Mark's arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and let him hold her to his body, lifting her feet off the floor in the process. "Really?" she whispered to him.

"Really," he told her back. He could feel her tears leaking into the collar of his shirt and held her tighter.

It was the Commander clearing his throat that finally pulled them apart. Mark set Maddy back down on the floor, keeping one arm around her waist, while she kept one around his as well. She pulled her fingers across her cheeks, crudely wiping away the tears that were falling down her face, before Mark's gentle touch pushed her hand away and finished it for her.

"I commend you, Reynolds, for being brave enough to do that in front of the girl's father; however that does not excuse you from the repercussions of denying a direct order," Taylor told him.

"I am prepared to take any punishment that comes my way," Mark declared respectfully.

Commander Taylor smiled slightly and shook his head, leaning forwards off his desk and walking over to where Jim was standing. He clapped his hand down on the man's shoulder, and said "You happy now Jim? The boy's responsible, smart, honorable, and puts her first."

Mark and Maddy glanced at each other in confusion, wondering what was going on. Mark looked over at Washington, while Maddy looked to her mom, and both women had similar looks of confusion.

Jim let out a breathy laugh and rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I guess I'm satisfied. I can't expect much more of the boy."

Maddy looked across the faces of the people in the room. "What is going on?" she asked no one in particular. She settled on staring at her father, since he seemed to know what was happening, and she knew she could get information from him. Maddy took a step toward her father as she asked "Dad?"

It was not her dad that responded, however, but the Commander. "Reynolds, you're not going to the Sixers."

"What? Sir?" Mark was not accustomed to Commander Taylor granting soldiers' duty requests, let alone demands made by a civilian which lead to blatant disregard of orders by a soldier.

"You're not going to the Sixers. You never were." Taylor spent a moment enjoying the confused looks he was getting from the four people in the room who had no idea what was going on, before continuing in his explanation. "The whole assignment was bogus, phony, false, made up. You are not, and never were, going to infiltrate and spy on the Sixers."

Mark was too shocked to do anything but catch Maddy as she flew into his arms. "But... Why?" he wondered aloud.

"Now that is a question for Shannon," Commander Taylor said, bringing the attention of the room to rest on Jim.

Normally comfortable with attention, Jim Shannon shifted his weight from foot to foot, and Mark noticed he looked embarrassed again. "Well, this has been a sort of test."

"A test?" Mark questioned.

"Umm, yeah. I know Maddy's really serious about you, and I just wanted to make sure it went both ways. So, with the Commander's help, I set up this little situation to see what you would do."

"Dad!"
"Jim!" Maddy and Elizabeth shouted simultaneously. Jim had the decency to at least look ashamed and hang his head while his wife reprimanded him on his antics.

Knowing her mother would take care of her father, Maddy turned back to face Mark and held onto his hands, staring up into his eyes. She knew how much he loved her, but was still shocked to see it all shining in his eyes as he stared down at her. "You could have been fired… Or stripped of your rank, or thrown in the brig, or put on dawn patrol for your insubordination," Maddy rambled, still staring at his eyes.

Mark just smiled and shook his head at her; he found her rambling adorable. "I would have taken whatever punishment was given because it would mean I get to stay here with you and make you happy. I don't want to hurt you, Maddy. Ever. I know that eventually I will inadvertently, but I'd rather not purposefully do so now. I'll do everything in my power to protect you, including not putting myself in potentially dangerous situations that will cause you more harm than good. I love you. I always will," he told her seriously, running his fingers through her hair, and then letting them rest on her cheek.

Maddy held his hand to her face, whispering "I love you too," as she rushed up on her toes to press her lips to his. The four other people in the room were forgotten by the two teens so very much in love. Elizabeth was gently holding Jim's arm and kissing his cheek, partly because she was caught up in the atmosphere of the room, and partly to keep him from rushing forward to try to separate the two. Commander Taylor was standing off to the side, trying to hide his smile of approval at how well Reynolds had done in the whole courting process, while Lieutenant Washington just let hers show wide across her face. It was no secret how close she was to the young soldier - neither having any family in Terra Nova had led to them becoming their own sort of family - and she was glad for him that he had finally found his happily ever after.

The couple finally separated and Maddy was still smiling up at him. Mark pulled her tight against his body again, content to just hold her. "Marry me," he asked her, "Not now, but eventually. Some day in the future when we're both a little older. But say you will now; say you will so I know I get to keep you forever."

Maddy nodded against his chest, telling him "I will. I'd do it today; I'd wait for a lifetime. I'll be yours forever, Mark." Overjoyed, Mark picked her up in his arms and spun them in circles until they were both dizzy with laughter. He set her down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, still keeping her wrapped in his hug. He was happy he wasn't being sent to spy on the Sixers, but more so that he was holding his beautiful fiancée in his arms.

Mark had a big smile on his face, bigger than he had had in a long time. And he knew that his smile today would probably only be overshadowed by the one he knew he would have on his wedding day, his wedding to the beautiful girl in his arms.

Closing Note:

I hope you enjoyed this story. It took me a while, but I really did love writing it.

If you wouldn't mind, I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a review. I love writing stories, but I am always my worst critic when it comes down to it, and never know if my latest endeavor was successful or not. Please and thank you. :)