July 1997
     The fiction below contains SPOILERS for War Without End part 2 - if 
you haven't seen it, don't read the story!
     Well, I tried...I honestly tried to give Sheridan an out in the 
original version of this...I tried. But it all happened, just the way I was 
afraid it would...(apologies to Sinclair for mangling his dialogue...)
     I originally posted this as a *speculated* missing scene, in the hopes 
that I'd be wrong and JMS would allow this scene to happen. I still have a 
small hope that it might appear in the next new episode, but since there's 
a LONG wait for that, I'm just going to post the revised version.
     As I said above, I'd tried to give Sheridan an out. I wanted to be 
able to keep him out of the actual stuff going on because he'd been hurt in 
his little side trip. Unfortunately, as we found out in part 2, the 
injuries didn't stay with him. Sorry, but they didn't give me much 
choice... And I couldn't really have him involving himself, because then 
Garibaldi *would* be in trouble for striking his commanding officer, and I 
think Garibaldi is in enough trouble as it is...
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"Missing Scene" from War Without End Part 2 
by Galenn
 
     Garibaldi paced outside the docking bay, his stomach churning with 
nervousness. There was a fist clenched tight about his chest, or at least, 
that was the way it felt. _God, why can't I breathe?!_ he thought, although 
he already knew the answer.
     The shuttles were back from their mission in Sector 14 and the only 
message he'd had from them was a short, terse one from Ivanova saying they 
were on their way back.
     Nothing more...
     _Not one hint of how Jeff is,_ he thought. _Not one breath, not one 
whisper. Something's wrong._ He punched up the docking bay information on 
the computer, saw that the shuttles were now locked down and it was safe 
for people to enter the bay.
     _Good, I'm not waitin' anymore,_ he thought, jabbing at the entry 
controls. The door slid open and he stormed in.
     The first one in line was Sheridan, looking extremely overwhelmed and 
leaning heavily on Delenn. _What the hell happened to him?_ Garibaldi 
thought briefly, then said, "Captain, Ambassador," as they stopped and 
Sheridan leaned against the wall for a moment. Garibaldi couldn't help 
fixing him with an angry stare, the full force of his pain and betrayal 
behind it. Sheridan looked down, unable to face him and the fist around 
Garibaldi's chest squeezed tighter. _Oh, god..._
     Next came Ivanova and Lennier. Lennier looked somewhat shocky and 
Ivanova had an arm around his shoulder to help him along. She looked up at 
Garibaldi and the sheer depth of the sadness and understanding in her eyes 
pierced him to the core. _Oh, god, no..._
     And next came Marcus.
     And only Marcus.
     No one leaning on him, or walking with him. No one following him. No 
Sinclair.
     Marcus looked up, met his stricken gaze and shook his head. "I'm 
sorry, Michael... I'm so sorry..."
     Garibaldi looked at each of them, turning in a circle until he came 
about to face Marcus again. "Where *is* he?" he demanded. Then he looked 
back over his shoulder at Sheridan with vicious accusation in his eyes and 
asked, "How could you let this happen? You *sonofabitch*!"
     He took a swing at Sheridan but Marcus jumped forward to grab his arm. 
"No, Michael, don't!" Marcus cried, "it wasn't his fault."
     Instead of calming Garibaldi as he had planned to, Marcus only managed 
to draw his ire to him. Garibaldi turned back to him, grabbed two fistfuls 
of his coat and pulled him close. "You were supposed to keep him *safe*," 
he snarled in Marcus' face. "How could you let this happen?!"
     Marcus stood, unresisting, as Garibaldi shook him. He looked past 
Garibaldi to the others, his expression helpless. He met Delenn's gaze, saw 
the tears in her eyes, felt his own spill over and run down his face.
     Garibaldi let go of Marcus' jacket and began pounding his fists 
against his shoulders, saying, "You were supposed to keep him safe...you 
were supposed to *protect* him..."
     Marcus whispered, "Michael, I'm sorry," and tried to pull him into an 
embrace to keep him from pummeling him further. "It had to happen, Michael, 
it was his destiny..." he said softly.
     At that, Garibaldi growled and Ivanova lurched for him having felt the 
sudden flare of fury. She reached for his arm an instant too late as he 
snarled, "Fuck destiny!" and his fist slammed into Marcus' jaw, knocking 
him back off his feet.
     Sheridan stared at Garibaldi in surprise, but stayed where he was, too 
stunned to move. Delenn gasped and for an instant thought of rushing to 
Marcus, but stayed with Sheridan.
     Lennier rushed to Marcus' side, helped him to sit up, asked him, "Are 
you hurt?"
     Marcus looked at him and said, "My *body* will heal -- it's nothing," 
although he did rub at his jaw, relieved to find it wasn't broken.
     Garibaldi collapsed to his knees sobbing openly. He stared, unseeing, 
at the floor before him and hugged himself. Ivanova knelt next to him and 
very, very carefully put one hand on each of his shoulders.
     "Michael," she whispered. He looked up at her and the despairing, 
lonely look in his eyes tore at her heart. "Michael, I'm sorry. It had to 
be -- he did it to save you."
     "But he's *gone*. I never even got to say goodbye!" The pain in his 
voice was soul deep -- contact with him *hurt*.
     _But he needs a friend. Now,_ she thought, struggling to keep control, 
_and I can't do it..._
     She looked at Marcus and asked, "Can you?"
     Marcus nodded and stood with Lennier's help. He walked to Garibaldi's 
side and knelt down, steadied him and allowed Ivanova to back off.
     Sheridan took a deep breath and asked, "Can you help him? I... need to 
think..."
     Marcus nodded and put gentle arms around Garibaldi, pulling him close. 
"Michael," he coaxed, "time to go."
     Sheridan straightened, looking back at Garibaldi, then when Delenn 
moved to put her arm around his waist, said, "I know it had to be, but..."
     Delenn nodded and said, "Yes, it would not be the first time he has 
been _sechli sakarr_ -- soul sick. It is what nearly killed him when you 
first arrived."
     Sheridan looked down at her, then back at Garibaldi. "Soul sick? 
Should we get him to MedLab?"
     She shook her head sadly and said, "No, leave him with Marcus. He 
probably has the best understanding of his pain."
     They walked out, with Ivanova and Lennier following a few steps 
behind.
     Ivanova paused in the doorway and watched as Marcus helped Garibaldi 
to his feet. She shook her head and walked back past Lennier to Marcus' 
side.
     "You need any help?" she asked Marcus, while looking at Garibaldi and 
wishing there was *something* she could do...
     "Just make sure we don't run into anyone on the way back to my 
quarters," Marcus instructed, walking Garibaldi to the doorway. "Last thing 
we need is to run into someone who wants to *chat*."
     "We will see to it," Lennier said and he slid out past Marcus and 
Garibaldi. Ivanova nodded and followed him, thinking, _Just let someone 
*try* to get in our way..._
     The trip to Marcus' quarters was quiet and uneventful, beyond the fact 
that Garibaldi stumbled along in a daze, leaning heavily on the slender 
Ranger. Ivanova glanced back to see how they were managing and felt a 
terrible sadness close around her heart when she saw the look in 
Garibaldi's eyes.
     When they got to Marcus' quarters, Marcus asked him, "Do you want 
something to eat, Michael?" in hopes that doing something normal would 
break him out of his funk.
     Garibaldi turned to glare at him and after a moment, Marcus backed 
away. "Sorry." He turned to Ivanova and Lennier and said, "I think I'd 
better handle this from here. Thanks for running interference."
     "You sure?" Ivanova asked, concerned about the despair and emptiness 
she felt from Garibaldi.
     "I'm sure. Thank you -- both of you." He left Garibaldi's side for a 
moment to walk them to the door and, once they were gone, made sure the 
door was locked.
     When he turned around, he found Garibaldi sitting on the edge of his 
bed, his PPG in hand. He was staring at it blankly.
     "Oh, bugger," Marcus muttered, moving carefully towards him. "Michael, 
put that away. I'm a friend."
     "I just lost my friend," Garibaldi answered, his voice as empty as his 
eyes...
     "I know, Michael. Hurts me, too," Marcus said softly, moving closer. 
"But he did it for you -- to save your life. If you do something rash, it 
would make what he's done meaningless."
     Garibaldi suddenly looked up at Marcus, anger again joining the 
despair in his eyes. Then he looked back down at his PPG and carefully laid 
it on the floor.
     "Damn it," he whispered, "*why*?"
     Marcus sat down next to him, carefully nudging the PPG under his bed, 
and reached up to rub tense shoulders. "Because it had to be. It's not a 
good answer, but it's the only one there is." He pulled Garibaldi into a 
clumsy hug and whispered, "I'm sorry..."
     Garibaldi swallowed hard, trying to hold back the tears. "I loved him, 
and I miss him," he whispered, and suddenly the tears wouldn't wait 
anymore.
                                END
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Babylon 5 is (c) 1996 - 2000 Babylonian Productions. This 'missing scene' 
is not intended to infringe on those copyrights. "Missing Scene from War 
Without End part 2" is (c) 1996 Galenn