: : Summary : : Set just after TM, Rick�s past complicates his future.
�So when are you going to stop this nonsense and say what�s really going on?� Jonathan asked the back of the form lying on the metal cot.
�What part of �no visitors� is so hard to understand around here?� asked the form.
�We�re only trying to help,� said Jonathan.
�I told your sister. I don�t want any help.�
�So you�re just going to let them hang you for something you didn�t do?�
Rick sighed. �What makes you so sure I didn�t do it?�
�I�m not,� Jonathan said. �But if you did, I�m sure there is a good explanation. I spent a week with you under horrible conditions surrounded by horrible people and things. I never once saw you do anything less than honorable. Hell, man. If I thought you weren�t decent do you think I�d let you marry my sister?� Jonathan noticed Rick stiffen at the mention of Evy. �This is tearing her apart, you know.�
�She�ll get over it,� Rick said.
�Evy doesn�t �get over� anything,� Jonathan said. �You know her well enough by now to know that. She�ll spend the rest of her life trying to figure out what she did wrong.�
�The only thing she did wrong was trust me,� Rick told him.
�And what makes you so untrustworthy?�
�Nice try, Jonathan. Not going to work.�
�Alright, then,� said Jonathan. �I�ll just have to try something else. We�ve done a little searching today. Found out a few things, too. Want to know what?� Rick didn�t respond. �I�ll tell you. We found out that a little boy named Richard O�Connell came to Egypt with his dad in 1908. The dad tried working legitimate jobs and illegitimate ones, not terribly successful at either pursuit. He was killed in 1910, the boy went to an orphanage, then ran away in 1913. Any of this sound familiar?� Still no response. �The O�Connell name pops up again, but not until 1923 when a man by that name signs up with the French Foreign Legion. After 2 unspectacular years he drops out of that, following in his father�s footsteps to become an unremarkable thief with a bit of a reputation as a lady�s man and a tendency to get into fights in disreputable bars.�
�You think you�re pretty clever, don�t you?� asked Rick.
�With a little help from my sister, yes,� he replied. �We�re just now trying to patch together those missing years. What happened in the Army, Rick?� Silence again. �Why don�t you help yourself? Who are you trying to protect? That�s it, isn�t it? You�re covering for someone, aren�t you? Is it worth your life?�
�It�s worth a life,� Rick said softly.
�Does it have to be yours?� asked Jonathan.
�It seemed like a good idea at the time,� replied Rick.
�And now?�
�Now, not so much. But there really isn�t anything anyone can do about now, so why don�t you and your sister just go away and leave it alone?�
�I told you mate, I can�t do that. You saved my life, you saved my sister�s, hell, you saved the whole bloody world from that creature� Now it�s time someone saved you,� Jonathan told him.
�Someone already did,� Rick said. �I am not going to sacrifice him for me.�
�What happened?�
�I can�t tell you.�
�I owe you, Rick. Tell me. Then, if you still insist, I won�t tell anyone else. You owe yourself. Even if you can�t get out of this, don�t you want one person to know the truth about you?�
�One person already does. You can�t tell anyone because he�ll deny it.�
�Then you�ve got no reason to keep silent,� said Jonathan. He sat on the floor and watched Rick.
Rick stood, walked over to Jonathan and took a seat on the stone floor next to him. He started to talk.