Born on the Fourth Day of Bloom

AN: This is the end of this story. I hoped you've all enjoyed reading it. Thanks to my many reviewers, especially the ones who have stuck with this from beginning to end. I had no idea that this was going to be quite such an epic, but it's been fun to write.

Baird only remembered bits and pieces of the ride home in the Raven. His memory wasn't helped by the two seizures that he had in the Raven, or the fact that the drug Jannerman had given him was still in his system and still giving him visual and auditory hallucinations. He was fairly sure that it was also inducing a large dose of anxiety because he was suddenly afraid of his own shadow. When they got him to the Medical Centre on Azura, he was having a full on panic attack and the setting didn't make it any easier to deal with. Medical stuff just reminded him of hours of inescapable pain and despite his best attempts, he couldn't distinguish what was real and what wasn't.

He trembled and murmured his way through an exam, during which his blood pressure went through the roof and he ended up nearly hysterical by the time Hayman was done, despite his best attempts to not be. Finally, Hayman said screw the drug interactions, took as many precautions as she could, and gave him something which definitely helped take the edge off whatever had been in Jannerman's drug cocktail.

Sam was with him throughout the entire thing. She listened patiently to his explanations of how the walls seemed to be bleeding and the slightest sound of metal on metal grated like a horror movie soundtrack. She promised him that it was all in his head and he really believed her, unfortunately his brain's sensory input was hard to deny. At some point Cole joined her and between the two of them they reassured him enough that it was safe, and persuaded him that he could sleep. He woke up feeling much better and the constant trembling had stopped, which was a good sign. Although he still wasn't seeing the world exactly as it was, he could live with things being the wrong colours for a few hours when it was compared to serapedes carpeting the floors or watching hallucination-Cole blow his own brains out like poor, zombie Carl had done. He had enough nightmare fuel to last him for years in his head now, and somehow he'd have to learn to live with that, but according to Hayman he'd already been suffering from PTSD for years, so what was one more bad memory to add to the collection? Yeah, he was totally kidding himself with that one and he knew it.

With the hallucinations receding, he found that mostly he was tired, although his epilepsy was seriously out of control due to the extra drugs in his system and being denied his medication the previous day. Hayman wouldn't put him back on his meds until he was totally free of whatever Jannerman had been giving him, so he was going to be in the Medical Centre for a few days whilst Hayman got him back on an even keel again. He'd already had another seizure that morning, but after everything that he'd been through, it really wasn't so bad. He was tucked up in a warm bed, with his wounds disinfected and dressed, painkillers on tap, and he had his friends with him.

Baird was unbelievably grateful that he had Sam with him and that she was really, definitely alive. It wasn't another hallucination, which he'd actually contemplated for a moment back in the engineering lab. He'd really, really appreciated that when he'd woken up in the Med Centre she was there holding his hand and reminding him of where he was - although he was still finding it hard to make sense of his feelings about it and he wasn't totally sure that it wasn't the drugs clouding his emotions. For all he knew this warmth in his chest was a side effect of the come down, or it was Hayman's anti-anxiety meds, which were probably all still washing around his bloodstream.

While Baird had slept, Hayman had checked over Cole's leg and declared it to be healing nicely, so that was something positive. Apparently the medical attention that he'd received had actually been pretty good, which did sort of fit with what Baird had discovered about the other scientists working in Fort Kirnheim. They weren't all monsters like Jannerman. Some of them were just as coerced into working for Katia as Baird had been.

Sofia had also been admitted to the Medical Centre, but Baird had yet to see her. Like the other miners, most of whom were staying in Ostri for now, she'd been slowly starving to death. Hayman seemed pretty confident that she'd recover and just needed rehydration, rest and a few good meals. Baird wanted to see her, but Hayman wasn't letting him go anywhere, even down the corridor, until she could guarantee that his neurological activity was back to normal. His reunion with Sofia would have to wait.

Marcus eventually turned up to visit the following day, having done his big damn hero routine again and dealt with the remaining Soldiers of the Nation of Ostri. He'd spent some time questioning the scientists and prisoners, before returning with the remainder of the Strike Team.

"At some point Anya's going to want the full story of everything that happened after you were captured," said Marcus. "But it can wait a few days."

Baird didn't bother to hide his distaste for that. Debriefs weren't fun at the best of times and this would be hell to relive.

"Too right it can," said Sam, who appeared to be in over-protective mother-hen mode. "He's only just getting all the drugs out of his system."

Marcus gave Sam a slightly annoyed look but continued. "I would like to know how you managed to get the Hammer of Dawn to work without the control console, and how you managed to get it firing on target."

"I got lucky," said Baird. "Katia gave me all the data that she'd collected on the Hammer of Dawn and some stuff that Keller had stolen. I knew the firing codes and had a good working knowledge of the system. It wasn't that hard for me to hack into the system and get a good idea of where all the satellites were… and I knew that there was a convergence coming up over Ostri in a few days' time."

"Convergence?" asked Sam.

Baird nodded. "Yeah. It never happened when the system was working properly, but as the satellites got more out of alignment there have been moments when there have been four or five satellites overhead on slightly different trajectories. Like I said, I got lucky. They maybe happen once every six months. Without that, I couldn't have got any accuracy or kept it firing for so long. I definitely couldn't have told it to zero in on the control box."

"Or overloaded the system?" asked Marcus.

"Yeah, but I didn't destroy all the satellites. I just took out the firing mechanism. We can still use the cameras to monitor the weather and all that stuff," said Baird.

"I'd have prefered it if you'd asked me first before you took out our last remaining big gun," said Marcus.

"Hey, are you really telling me that you're okay with a malfunctioning superweapon orbiting Sera? And maybe we shouldn't be the ones to have it anyway. We kind of suck at being the good guys, in case you hadn't noticed, what with the secret bioweapons and the clone project in the basement," Baird pointed out.

Marcus shook his head but seemed to come to terms with Baird's decision. "You have a point. I guess it's too late to do anything now anyway. But some good came out of all this. Some of those Ostrian scientists were chemists and they worked at the Kirnheim chemical plant. They confirmed that there are chemical stock piles there and we should be able to retrieve them. We've finally got a hope in hell of getting a pharmaceuticals lab up and running that could provide medication for everyone that needs it."

"That's great news," said Sam.

Baird took a moment to take it in. "You mean I don't have to worry about my medication running out anymore?"

"Yeah, baby," said Cole. "Aurelie's already on the case and putting people to work. Those scientists are pretty damn grateful not to be under Katia's thumb anymore."

Baird wasn't sure how to feel about that. Of course he was grateful and pleased, but he'd been living for months with the idea that one day pretty soon he'd be too disabled to work or to even leave his quarters. It was hard to shake that off at the mere pronouncement of salvation. It would take time for it to sink in.

Then something reminded him that there was one person whose fate he hadn't learnt yet. His face fell.

"Did we get Jannerman?" asked Baird.

"Jannerman?" asked Marcus.

"He was the doctor…" Baird trailed off, suddenly finding himself unable to continue as he was assailed with unwanted images and memories. He felt the tremors run through his body and the heart rate monitor's tempo increase. "Damn it," he swore quietly as his body's fear response kicked in and he tried to get his breathing to slow down.

"He was the one who tortured you," said Marcus, blunt as always.

Baird managed to nod, but he was feeling his control over his body slipping away from him as an alarm sounded on the monitor. Hayman would be here to see what the problem was if he couldn't manage to calm down and he'd really like to go a day without being drugged to the gills. Sam got in his line of sight by grabbing his chin and pulling his head up so that his eyes met hers.

"Hey, you're safe on Azura now and I'm never letting you out of my sight again," said Sam.

Baird let out a small laugh. It was more from incredulity than because he found what she'd said funny. He was even more broken than he'd been when they left for Anvil Gate and Sam still wanted to be there for him. It was unbelievable that she'd think that way, and yet here she was.

"Yeah, same goes for me," said Cole.

"We look after our own," said Marcus, arms resolutely folded across his chest.

Bizarrely, for no good reason that Baird could discern, their reassurances helped and he found that he could feel his heart beat slowing and his breathing returning to normal.

"But you didn't get him?" asked Baird, after a final deep breath. He felt a little light headed, but Hayman hadn't made an appearance, so it probably wasn't reason for concern.

"We didn't take names, he might be one of the ones we took prisoner but we'll have to check everyone's ID," said Marcus.

Baird sighed. "Good luck with that."

Sam took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "It'll be okay. He's definitely not getting anywhere near Azura and the Hammer of Dawn is gone so no one's ever going to ask you to make that work again."

"No, they'll probably just find something else that they want me to fix," replied Baird. "Speaking of which, I've still got a fleet of Ravens that need reprogramming. We can't assume that the Ostrians were the only ones that got the memo about the back door in the engine control chips."

He lay back on his pillows, trying to get more comfortable. He was tired and he'd probably fall asleep again soon.

Marcus was nodding, but then added "yeah, but not until you're back on your feet."

Baird groaned as bright spots of light broke out across his vision. "Damn it. Sorry, my epilepsy is totally screwed up at the moment. I've lost count of what number seizure I'm on today, but it's about to be more. There's no point in you guys hanging around."

Sam just rolled her eyes. "Idiot. Of course I'm going to stay with you."

"Can't Hayman do anything?" asked Marcus.

"Not until all the other drugs have left his system," said Cole.

"Fruit pencil diorama box toys folder carpet," added Sam.

"Oh crap," said Baird, and once more lost awareness.

When he came round he knew from the sour taste in his mouth that he'd thrown up whilst he'd seized, and by the feel of his muscles, this had been a major episode. Sam was still there, although Cole and Marcus weren't. She was reading her book and hadn't noticed that he was awake.

"None of this would have happened if I hadn't fallen off that fucking roof," said Baird, looking at Sam.

Sam looked up at the sound of his voice, and was apparently unfazed by the opening non-sequitur from her boyfriend. "How do you work that one out?"

"Well for starters we wouldn't have found the Embry Labs when we did, so there'd have been no Chairman Prescott clone and Zeta squad would still be alive. Brand wouldn't have had a grudge against me and she wouldn't have brought Keller here to solve the crashed helicopter mystery. Keller wouldn't have been here to betray us and hand Cole and me over to the Ostrians," said Baird.

"Maybe, or maybe they'd just have found another way to get you. Katia always knew that you were here, she'd been listening to the radio transmissions the same as us," said Sam.

Baird shrugged. "I guess."

"You know, there is some other stuff that might not have happened if you hadn't fallen off a roof," said Sam.

"Yeah? And what would that be?" asked Baird.

"Well, Marcus only went on that boat patrol because you'd pissed him off, and he was the one who spotted the Ostri boat with Daniel Carmine on it. Clay wouldn't have got his brother back if Marcus hadn't been there and Daniel would have died. Then there's Cole and Aurelie. We'd never have needed a chemist if it hadn't been for you needing your epilepsy meds, so Cole wouldn't have met up with Aurelie again and the two of them wouldn't be at it like rabbits," Sam pointed out.

"Except we'd have needed drugs for other people at some point, so she'd probably have come to Azura at some point," said Baird.

"Or maybe she'd just have kept working in Gorasnaya."

"Okay, whatever, maybe Daniel wouldn't be alive and Cole wouldn't be getting laid. That doesn't really outweigh killing Zeta squad and getting Cole and me tortured. Oh and don't think I haven't noticed the bandages that you and Marcus are hiding. Should you even be out of the Med Centre?"

Sam just gave him a look. "I'm fine. If I wasn't then Marcus never would have let me go to Ostri."

"Liar," said Baird.

"Hey, Marcus was more badly injured than I was. You should have heard the argument he had with Anya. Those two could argue for Tyrus."

Baird smiled. "I'd loved to have been there for that." He wriggled to get into a move comfortable position and winced as his worn out muscles protested.

Sam was on her feet at the first sign of discomfort. "What's wrong? Do you need more painkillers?"

Baird shook his head. "The last thing I need right now are more drugs. I'm just achy from the seizure."

Sam was holding his hand and stroking his hair soothingly. It was kind of nice. He looked up and met her eyes.

"Sam, you're okay, aren't you? I mean, you're better and not hurting from whatever's under those bandages?"

"I'm a bit sore, but it's all healing nicely. If you're really good and behave for Doc Hayman then I'll let you play Doctors and Nurses with me when we get back to your quarters." Sam grinned.

Baird's eyes widened, and then he remembered that it would probably be another day at least before Hayman would let him out.

"I really, really wish I wasn't constantly stuck in this place." Baird indicated his general surroundings. "I've always hated hospitals, well, ever since I had my appendix out when I was eight anyway, and it's typical of my fucked up luck that I'd end up with a disorder that means I get to spend regular time in one."

"It's not that bad. If Hayman can get your meds balanced again then you should be fine. You'll just be back for check-ups," said Sam.

"Yeah, maybe," said Baird.

Sam looked a little exasperated by Baird's continued pessimism, but she seemed to decide to ignore it.

"You know there is one other thing that might not have happened if you hadn't fallen off a roof," said Sam.

Baird looked at Sam, puzzled. "Yeah, and what would that be?"

"Us," said Sam, and she leaned down to kiss him.

When she broke off, all Baird could manage was "uh". He decided to hide his inability to utter a coherent remark by pulling her in for a second kiss. He wasn't totally sold on the idea that they'd never have become an item without his fall, but he'd accept it as a theory and right now he was just happy to have her in his arms.

Cole had been damn happy to get back to Azura, and he'd been damn happy to get Baird back to Azura. All in all this was a good outcome, considering that at one point he'd been pretty sure that they were all going to die in whatever escape attempt Baird was able to hatch. He found Aurelie waiting for the Raven when it landed with him, Baird and Sam on board. Baird had been whisked off to the Medical Centre, with Sam keeping pace alongside him. Cole had decided that his buddy was in good hands and he had a few seconds to spare to greet his woman properly.

Aurelie knew that Cole would want to be with Baird, so she'd sent him off to the Med Centre once they'd said their hellos and pointed out that she had work to do. The scientists that were on their way from Ostri needed places to sleep and somewhere to work. Anya had asked her to take care of that, and it seemed a logical choice.

Cole eventually left Baird in Sam's care, after he'd had his own wounds looked at and been given the all clear by Hayman. Three days later, Cole was persuading Baird that he didn't need to head straight to the workshop, but he was allowed to go back to his quarters and rest. Three weeks later, he'd stopped Baird from drinking his sixth cup of coffee in a twenty-six hour period and reminded him of his working hours. Then he'd vetoed Baird's suggestion that Jack needed proper weapons rather than just a cutting torch, and if Baird couldn't carry a lancer anymore then Jack could carry it for him. Cole could see that ending very badly.

Things were slowly getting back to what passed for normal on Azura.

The pharmaceutical lab was getting up and running nicely. The Ostrian scientists were settling in well, despite some initial hostility towards them. They'd never found Jannerman, but Marcus had discovered a body out in the Kirnheim woods, near the mines, that was pretty much unidentifiable. It looked like whoever it was had unfortunately met with one of the local wolf packs, and been torn to pieces by the hungry animals. Baird was choosing to believe that it was his torturer and Cole was quite happy to go along with that. No one was mourning the doctor.

Clone Prescott was still around and was actually becoming a useful addition to Anya's command team. It turned out that Richard Prescott excelled at logistics and stock keeping. This made Anya very happy, and through a concerted diplomatic effort, she persuaded Gavriel at Anvil Gate that he didn't need to put Prescott on trial for war crimes. Surprisingly, Alex Brand helped her to get the desired result, and seemed to be turning into a useful liaison between the military and the civilians. Brand had returned to Anvil Gate to continue her duties there, but had left under much less of a cloud this time. Cole doubted that she'd ever really get on with Baird, but there was at least a grudging acknowledgement from Brand that she'd made a mistake.

The Ravens still needed reprogramming and Marcus eventually allowed Baird to take KR Eight-zero to Anvil Gate so that he could do the required work. This journey was a lot less eventful than their previous attempt, and Cole and Sam accompanied Baird to make sure he stayed out of trouble. They dealt with all the Ravens and returned to Azura without incident, although Sam and Baird argued pretty much constantly about Baird tiring himself out too much.

He was going through a concerted phase of pushing the boundaries of his working hours and Sam was distinctly unimpressed with this. Baird wanted to be able to do all the things that he'd done before his accident, but the reality was that he just had to slow down or seizures followed. Ten cups of coffee and late nights in the workshop inevitably led to a seizure, which then laid Baird out for half a day whilst he recovered. This was particularly annoying because when Baird didn't overwork himself, his medication seemed to have the seizures under complete control. The entire thing culminated in a blazing row that Cole was an unwilling witness to when Sam stormed into the workshop at 21:00 one evening in Gale. Baird should have left four hours earlier, but he hadn't because he'd been tinkering with his latest pet project, the jet engine that they'd removed from the crashed plane.

"Baird, get your arse out here," shouted Sam, as she stormed into the shop.

"Uh oh," said Cole, who'd already pointed out to Baird that he was working too late and Sam would be mad.

Baird was doing his best to hide behind the massive engine without much success. "Shit," he exclaimed. "How mad does she look?"

"On a scale of one to ten, I'd give her an eleven," replied Cole.

"Shit, shit, shit," said Baird, looking just a little scared.

"I'd get over there and beg for mercy if I was you," said Cole, smirking.

Baird wiped his hands on the nearest rag and headed out to meet his fate.

"What the fuck is wrong now?" asked Baird. Cole winced. That was not the best opening line.

"You damn well know what the fuck is wrong, you bastard," shouted Sam. "You were supposed to be in your quarters two hours ago and we were going to meet for dinner."

"Well excuse me for having to work late," Baird shouted back, waving an arm in the direction of the engine.

"You're not supposed to be working late on anything, you fucking idiot. Do you want to have a seizure?"

"No, but I'm not going to," said Baird.

"You arrogant arsehole," said Sam. "Hayman specifically told you that working too hard was the trigger for the last seizure. When are you going to get it through your thick skull that you have epilepsy?"

"I fucking know that I've got epilepsy. I live with it every day and I don't need someone to keep reminding me. Why are you being such a bitch about it?"

Cole winced again. This was actually kind of painful to watch.

"Because I care about what happens to you, you stupid arsehole, and I love you."

Sam snapped her mouth shut and there was silence for a moment. Cole could see Sam was looking like she'd just accidentally given away something important.

"What did you say?" asked Baird, taking a step closer to Sam.

Sam straightened up, clearly deciding to own her mistake. "I love you."

"You love me?"

Sam nodded. Baird closed the gap to Sam and kissed her passionately. Cole rolled his eyes. How had it taken this pair this long to actually acknowledge what was blatantly obvious to everyone else?

Baird broke the kiss first, but kept his arms wrapped around Sam. "I fucking love you too, Samantha Byrne."

Cole didn't hang around to see what happened next, he left as stealthily as he could through the workshop's back door.

The next day, Sam quietly moved into Baird's quarters, and no one said anything about the change of living arrangements. Baird also apparently to decide to work more regular hours and no one said anything about that either.

Baird found himself settling into a routine, one which he actually quite enjoyed. He'd co-opted a couple of the Ostrian scientists to help out in the workshop and they were taking some of the load off him. He was still busy, but he was getting better at telling people to go screw themselves if they wanted something done yesterday and he didn't have the manpower.

He and Sam had fallen into a sort of happy domestic bliss that he'd have never believed possible. They both suffered nightmares about his adventure in Ostri, but at least there was someone there when they woke themselves from whatever horror they were reliving. Even Baird could understand the need for physical contact after a nightmare and he would hold Sam until she fell asleep. Baird still wasn't really the touchy feely type, being self-sufficient was too ingrained in his psyche, but Sam would talk him through the come down and then would shuffle over and spoon behind him until they both fell asleep.

Sam was good for him, even helping pull himself out of a couple of bad patches of the depression that he was still prone to. Hayman reckoned he was stuck with that, but the two of them actually started working through some of the exercises in the book that she'd given him, and it helped. Sam was enthusiastic that he should at least try everything he could, and Baird acknowledged that her presence in his life helped just as much as all the therapy that Hayman could conceive. The seizures also persisted but were almost completely under control as long as he was careful with his stress levels, sleep patterns and working hours. Even the occasional seizure that he did have was less severe than the early ones he'd experienced.

Before he knew it, a full year had nearly passed and Bloom was approaching again.

"I want to celebrate your birthday," said Sam, out of the blue about a week before the actual day. She was in the kitchen, burning toast for their breakfast in a toaster that Baird had almost fixed. It toasted but it wasn't always terribly reliable when it came to temperature and timing.

"No," said Baird, without even thinking about it. He was going over an engine schematic, whilst eating the burnt toast.

"Oh, come on, Damon. Let's make some good memories to replace the bad ones," said Sam.

"No one even knows that it's my birthday," said Baird.

"That's because you've never told anyone. I only found out by accident."

"Yeah, and I like it that way," said Baird.

Sam sighed with defeat. "Well, why don't just the two of us celebrate?"

"We can't. Anya's planned a massive All Fathers celebration and everyone will be at that," said Baird.

"We can still have lunch together," said Sam.

"In the mess hall? Yeah, that's going to be really special."

"There isn't a romantic bone in your body is there?" observed Sam.

"I got you a birthday present," said Baird.

"You gave me a carburettor," said Sam.

Baird frowned. It hadn't actually really dawned on him until this point that a new carburettor for her bike might actually not be the most romantic thing to give his girlfriend.

"I thought you liked it." It was hard to keep the tinge of hurt out of his voice.

"Of course I liked it. It was just what I needed, and honestly I'd like a rock as long as you gave it to me. It just wasn't terribly romantic," said Sam.

Baird rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you picked the wrong guy if you wanted grand gestures of love and carpets of rose petals."

Sam smirked at that. "Clearly I need to give you a few lessons."

Then she'd rather pointedly changed the subject.

The fourth day of Bloom arrived and the weather was as good as any that Azura ever dished up. Almost everyone was getting ready for the All Fathers Day celebrations, but Cole made a point of dropping by the workshop to see how Baird was doing. Then Marcus did the exact same thing. No one actually said "so how do you feel about falling off a roof this time last year?" but he got the message that everyone was just a little concerned about him. He was aware of the anniversary but he didn't really feel anything about it. He wondered what they'd have done if everyone had known about his birthday too.

He found himself feeling a sense of trepidation when Sam arrived at the workshop at lunch time with a large basket and a blanket.

"What are you supposed to be? Little red riding hood?"

Sam just ignored him. "Come on, Baird, we're going out for lunch."

Baird shouted back to Brennan to look after things until he got back, and then Sam dragged him out of the workshop. She walked him along a path that was familiar, although he hadn't been this way for several months.

"The 'plane?" he asked. "We're going to the 'plane?"

Sam nodded and led him through the thick undergrowth that had come through in the growing season. The path had never been great but the rain over the winter had made it worse. Baird's slightly less strong left leg complained a little at the rough going, as it occasionally still did when he made it work hard.

"You okay?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, just my leg being annoying. I'll take some anti-inflammatories when we get back. It'll be fine." Baird didn't really let anyone apart from Sam know stuff like that. He'd much prefer that everyone thought that he was back to being fully fit, even though he still needed his goggles to read and he tired more easily than he did before the accident. He was fine enough that he could usually hide anything that didn't fit with being a hundred per cent, however the one person he just couldn't fool was Sam, and these days he didn't even want to try.

Sam smiled, and without a word, came over to him and supported him on his less good side.

"Sam, I said I'm fine," said Baird.

"Yeah, and this'll be quicker," said Sam, ignoring him.

Baird sighed and gave in. The two of them proceeded along the path and into the clearing where Baird found a surprise waiting for him. Marcus and Anya were sat on a log, chatting very quietly with Cole, who was leaning against the fuselage of the crashed airplane. Sat on the ground was Jace, with the two Carmine brothers.

"Sam!" said Baird with exasperation. "Please tell me that you didn't…"

"Hey, they're here!" shouted Cole.

Everyone turned to look at Baird and Sam as they properly entered the clearing. Sam was sort of pulling Baird along at this point, as he'd suddenly become rather reluctant.

Sam whispered so that only Baird could hear. "No one knows that it's your birthday apart from me and Anya. The others just thought you might need cheering up a bit, that's all."

Baird let out a breath. "Thanks, Sam."

"Hey, I know you, remember. You'll tell them when you're ready, but let's start building those good memories, hey?"

Baird nodded. One day maybe he'd grow not to hate the fourth day in Bloom, because he had a feeling Sam would be doing something like this every year from now onwards. And she was right, if he had enough good memories for this day, then the bad ones wouldn't matter so much. Even falling off a building could have its good points if this is what he gained from it. At this moment, as he was welcomed to the picnic by his friends, Baird knew that this island, with all its technological marvels and hidden secrets, was where he belonged. Azura had become home finally. Sam and Delta had made it that way.