Title: Family
Author: Melissa, aka ILH
Censor: PG
Content Warnings: Nothing major
Central Characters: Harper, Beka
Spoilers: None really
Author's Note: I started this a month ago when I came upon the challenge and just finished it now. I've been working on it on and off since then. I hope you enjoy it.
Fic Challenge: Write a story including the following: Fireworks reflected on water; a barbecue party with lots of food; dancing; a Dachshund or two
Disclaimer: Andromeda's characters and the like belong to Tribune, not me. The fic challenge is from a Yahoo Group (can't remember which one)
Beka Valentine stood on the Observation Deck, her arms crossed, staring out at the stars. Her expression was pensive, as it had been since she entered the room. This silent contemplation was not a new experience for her. She had done it every year after her father died, this being the fourth. Only this year, it was very different. Dylan had offered the crew a week to do as they please, and it began in less than two days. Before this, she always had an excuse to avoid it. There was a shipment that needed to be carried to Infinity Atoll, or Harper had been sick and needed her there. Without an excuse, the contemplation became a major decision--a decision that she dreaded.
"Hey, Boss. What's up?" Harper asked from behind her.
She hadn't heard him enter the room, and it startled her a bit. "Nothing."
Several seconds of silence passed before Harper asked, "Have you decided what you're gonna do with this week off you've been begging for forever?"
Beka wondered how he had become so adept in finding what was bothering her and bringing it up. "I haven't really thought about it," she lied.
"So, you're gonna do one of those spontaneous adventure vacations to only god knows where?"
"Not this time." She smiled when the memories of her last vacation like that drifted into her thoughts. It had been a completely unpredictable intergalactic joy ride.
"Well, I have no clue what I'm doing. Probably just working on Andromeda since there isn't anything really going on next week," he said, his voice hinting disappointment.
Beka hadn't told a soul about what had been bothering her. She turned around and stared at the young engineer. She had known him for years, and if there was anyone that could be trustworthy when she needed them to be, it was him. "Actually, I was thinking about going somewhere, Harper, but you aren't allowed to let it leave this room."
"You've got my word. Now, where?" He seemed interested.
"I've talked about my father to you before, but never my mother," she began.
"Yeah, I've always thought that was kinda weird," he admitted.
"My mother died when I was a kid, and my father didn't take her death very well. He didn't even talk about her after she died. With the Maru, he left me a box. It included the coordinates and location of my relatives from my mother's side, my aunts, uncles, cousins. I don't have any relatives left on my father's side, and you know how Rafe is..."
"So you're thinking about going to see your mom's family?" he guessed.
"Yeah. But I'm not sure how they'd take me suddenly coming into their lives. I mean I've never even met the people before. I don't even know if my mom told them about Rafe and me."
"If you wanna do this, you should. I know where you're coming from. I don't have any family at all left, but if I did, I'd definitely go and see them."
"I'm not even sure if I trust the coordinates. Hell, with his friends like my 'Uncle Sid,' I could end up at some assassins' hideout and dead before I could blink."
"Why don't you take someone with you, then?" he suggested.
"Dylan and Rommie are staying here, of course. Trance is off to see some plants and animals. Rev has a retreat. I wouldn't want my family to meet Tyr. That leaves you and you-"
"I've got no plans, and meeting your family would be a lot better than working through my vacation. We both need some time off to relax anyways."
"I haven't told you everything. My mother's diaries were also in the box, and I read them. Her family is extremely traditional and set in past ways. They even continue celebrate some 21st century holidays three thousand years later," she warned.
"Wouldn't bother me. Any party is a good party, regardless of what it's for!" He offered her a grin to convince her.
She sighed. This had been completely unexpected. 'I came so close to putting it off another year, but now Harper has it actually sounding good,' she thought.
"C'mon, Bek. You might regret it if you don't do it. I mean, from personal experience, there's stuff you should do now while you still have the chance to."
She hated to admit it, but he was right. Her crew had been her family until now, and it past was time she should meet her real family. She needed to go before something happened to them. If it hadn't already. "I'll check out the coordinates again and tell Dylan where we're going."
"You're gonna let me go, too?" He seemed as if he didn't believe it.
"Yeah, I am," she said with half of a smile.
*****
Beka had spent the entire day after talking with Harper trying to find a courier to deliver an advance message that she was coming to visit. The given coordinates were that of an out of the way planet that had very little, if any, space faring traffic. She had also told Dylan that she was taking Harper with her to 'tie up some loose ends' that she had left from her years prior to living on Andromeda. He looked worried, probably because he was assuming the loose ties had to do with individuals like Gerentex. He reluctantly reminded her the vacation was only a week long and told her to be careful.
She was ready to leave at any time. No packing needed to be done since she still lived mostly on the Maru. She only kept a few essentials in her Andromeda quarters, enough that she would have something to wear when she allowed someone to borrow the Maru. After glancing down at the chronometer for the tenth time, she decided she needed to leave before she could change her mind about it.
She found Harper in his quarters, throwing some clothes and whatnot into a knapsack.
"I'm glad you didn't decide to put this off until the last minute again," she commented.
"When are we leaving?" he asked as he continued packing.
"Right after you finish packing." She plopped down on the edge of his bed, careful to avoid the objects scattered on it.
He threw a couple of pairs of pants in the knapsack. He couldn't close it completely, but managed to fasten the main snaps to keep its contents from falling out. "I think that's everything."
"Do you still have some of your things on the Maru?" Beka asked.
"Yeah, I think I do." He threw knapsack over his shoulder.
"Then you should be fine." She walked out of his quarters.
He followed. "Hey, the Hangar Deck is that way, not this way."
"Dylan doesn't know we're leaving right now." She continued heading towards Dylan's quarters.
"But he does know we are leaving, right?" He caught up to her.
"Of course he does, Harper. Give me more credit than that."
"Just making sure, that's all."
They arrived at their destination to find Dylan just walking out.
"You two are leaving already?" Dylan asked, glancing at Harper's knapsack.
"We want to give ourselves plenty of time so we won't be late coming back," Beka explained.
"Be careful, but have a good time. You've both earned it." Dylan smiled before going the opposite direction down the corridor.
"Now we can go," Beka said.
"I'm right behind you!" Harper said.
*****
"So, when was the last time you saw these people?" Harper asked, perched a level above Beka on the railing
"When I was nine or ten," Beka replied.
"Were any of your cousins hot?" He hopped down from the railing.
"Harper!" she said, disgusted. "That's not why you came with me!"
"You're right. But, hey, you can't knock me for trying."
"But I can throw you out the airlock if you try again," she muttered.
"Fine, I won't hit on your cousins."
"It's not like you'd get any action anyways, Harper. They have better taste than that," she kidded.
"Ha ha ha. Very funny, Beka." He sat down next to her. "There are women that aren't in your family on that planet, too, probably. And they aren't off limits."
"You aren't going to meet women. You're going to keep me company in case my family turns out to be even weirder than expected." She set the Maru on autopilot and turned around.
"I know. So...is there anything else weird about them you've been hiding from me?" he asked.
"All I know is from a long time ago, back when my mom was eighteen or nineteen. So, who knows what they're gonna be like now, after all these years..."
"We're almost there, aren't we?" He sounded slightly nervous.
The planet slowly came into view. It was a beautiful emerald and azure orb, looking much like Earth from space, only free of the visible pollution. There were no vessels in orbit, or in the general vicinity.
"It looks like the kind of planet Nietzcheans would be dying to take over," Harper commented.
"But there's no sign of any other ships being around here in weeks. Weird. The coordinates given for the planet's surface are on a land mass. It seems legit so far..."
Beka landed the Maru near what appeared to be a small town. Her hand covered her forcelance as she and Harper exited the Maru. Harper followed closely behind her as they approached the establishment.
"Hey, that's no town, Bek...that's a huge estate! You didn't tell me they were loaded!" Harper was excited.
"I didn't know they were loaded. It didn't sound that way in the diaries," Beka said.
They approached the gates to the estate only to find they were locked.
"Here's a little button. I'm guessing it either lets us in or drops us into a pit of Magog. Let's find out which." He grinned as he pressed the button.
An older woman with graying red hair limped up to the gate. "Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Beka Valentine," Beka said.
"Rebecca! You have your mother's eyes." The woman opened the gate and took Beka into her embrace and noticed Harper behind them. "Your husband needs to eat more! He's as skinny as a rail."
"That's not my husband," Beka said, laughing. "You honestly think I'd marry him?"
"Hey!" Harper said, annoyed and a bit offended.
"I'm just kidding. He's one of my friends," Beka explained.
"I'm your grandmother, in case you don't remember me," the woman said.
"Remember you?" Beka asked.
"We'll discuss this later," she replied. "Now, let's get inside. Everyone else will be excited to see you."
Beka and her grandmother were engaged in conversation while Harper followed silently behind. 'I bet this is gonna be exactly what the rest of this vacation ends up like for me,' he thought.
They soon neared a gigantic white mansion with a walkway leading through the flower garden that surrounded it. Blooms of every color of the rainbow attracted butterflies, hummingbirds and other various creatures.
"Trance would love it here," Beka commented.
"She'd be in heaven. I haven't even seen most of the these flowers before." Harper leaned down to examine one particularly beautiful flower of pink and blue.
"These are hybrids, all originals. Your Uncle Jimmy has a green thumb," Beka's grandmother explained. "He's been growing flowers since he and your mother were playing in the sandbox here."
"I have an uncle?" Beka asked.
"You have three uncles, two aunts and many cousins that call the Ronin Estate home," Beka's grandmother replied with pride as she opened the door to the mansion with a key. "And you'll get to meet them very soon."
The entry room was elaborately decorated. In the center of the room, a large staircase covered with navy blue fabric led to the upstairs. Many pictures lined the mantle and the tables. Beka noticed several of her mother, one being of her mother, her father, Rafe and her. She picked it up, remembering the moment it was taken.
"Your mother sent that to us shortly before her passing," Beka's grandmother said.
"I remember this. We were on Infinity Atoll. My father was working out a business deal, but we begged him to let us go down to the beach," Beka reminisced.
"Rebecca?" a voice asked from behind her.
Beka turned around to see a beautiful young woman several years younger than her with fire red hair. "That's me."
"It's great to finally meet you!" the woman exclaimed happily and hugged Beka.
"This is Victoria, your cousin," Beka's grandmother said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, too," Beka said.
"Is this your husband?" Victoria asked looking Harper over. "He's really cute," she added softly.
"Nope, he's just a friend. I'm not married," Beka said.
"So, I'm really cute?" Harper asked, moving closer to Victoria.
"Vicky!" A man with dark eyes and hair entered the room. It was obvious he worked out nearly as much as Tyr.
"That's my husband, Nate," Victoria said.
"Damn!" Harper muttered under his breath. "I knew that was too good to be true."
Introductions were made before everyone recommended that their guests should rest before the rest of the family arrived in the evening. Beka and Harper didn't object and headed up to their adjoining rooms.
"Your relatives are really nice, Bek," Harper said.
"Definitely not what I expected," Beka said.
"What were you expecting?" he asked.
"I don't know...just not that. They're very accepting."
"Yeah, and they're all married."
"I thought we already agreed that you weren't going to hit on my relatives..."
"Yeah, we did." He sighed.
"And not all of them were married," she added.
"Really?" He seemed very interested.
"There's always my Uncle Marvin." She laughed.
He cringed. "I'll pass on that one. I like my dates female and within ten years of my age."
They entered their rooms to find that all that separated them was a large dark curtain. Harper pulled the curtain open, wondering if Beka had a bigger room than he did. Her room was identical to his in every way, including how it was furnished.
"It's like looking into a mirror," he commented.
"If you were a woman that looked exactly like me, yeah it would be." Beka sat down on her bed, looking slightly worried.
Harper crossed the room and sat down beside her. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I don't know. I'm starting to have second thoughts about all of this," she admitted.
"If you wanna leave, I don't blame you. And we can be out of here in ten minutes. But we've come all this way, y'know..."
"You just want to see Vicky again." Beka half smiled. "I know you, Harper."
"Well, that's one good thing about this place. Maybe you have more gorgeous relatives..."
They were both laughing when the door opened, and an elderly woman in a dress entered. "I was told that you were not wed."
"We're not. We're as far from being married as you can get, trust me," Harper said.
"Why are you sitting on the same bed?" Two small dogs emerged from behind her and waddled over to Beka and Harper to sniff their feet.
"We're just friends, and we were talking," Beka said.
"What are those? They look like little hot dogs..." Harper commented.
"They're my dachshunds, Edward and Henry," the woman said. "I am your Great Aunt Rebecca."
"Was I named after you?" Beka asked.
"Yes, your mother insisted that if her second child was a daughter that she have my name." Rebecca seated herself beside Beka.
"Hey, ummmmm, I'll be going now. I've got people to see, things to do." Harper hopped up off the bed and exited the room, Rebecca's dachshunds following him.
"Your friend seems like a good man," Rebecca said.
"He is. Not to mention a great engineer. I'm glad I found him," Beka said, smiling.
"It's been so long since I saw you, Beka. In fact, you fit in my arms the last time I saw you so many years ago..." The older woman's eyes stared blankly in the memory.
"I don't remember it. I must've been a baby."
"You were. Ah, the memories. But that aside, how has life been treating you?"
"Pretty good. I'm working aboard the Andromeda Ascendant now," Beka said.
"How long can you stay with us before you must return?"
"A few more days unless we get a message from Andromeda."
"Tomorrow is the fourth of July. You'll surely be coming to our celebration."
"Of course. Even if I didn't want to come, which I do, Harper wouldn't miss out on a party for anything." Beka smiled.
"I'll leave you to rest now. I should probably make sure your Harper hasn't done anything to Edward or Henry."
"No, I'll come with you," Beka said.
They exited the room and walked through the corridor. When they reached the end, they found Harper and dachshunds.
He didn't notice their presence. He was too busy holding both of the small dogs and giving them kisses, talking in a voice that most people used for babies. "You're so cute, yes you are. And you, too. I'd have little doggies like you on Andromeda if mean old Dylan liked animals more than he does. Yes, I would."
Beka cleared her throat.
Harper glanced up, embarrassed. "Ummmm, I was just checking to see-"
"It's okay that you kissed the dogs, Harper. I won't tell anyone," Beka said.
"Thanks," Harper said.
"I've never met anyone so fond of Henry and Edward," Rebecca said.
"I'll take that as a compliment." He placed the dogs on the floor again and hopped up to his feet. "So, what is there to do around here?"
"It is getting late. You should freshen up for our evening meal," Rebecca said.
"Can do!" Harper said.
Beka remained behind with her great aunt for a moment. "It was really nice meeting you."
"No, it was my pleasure, my dear. Seeing you again means a lot to me."
Beka headed back to her room to find Harper had drawn the curtain. "We share a bathroom, Harper," she noticed.
"I know that. You can use it first."
She realized she would have to cross into his room to get into the bathroom. "Are you dressed, Harper?"
"Yeah, I'm dressed. I wouldn't have offered if I weren't. Are you going to put on a bunch of make-up or anything?"
"I wasn't planning on it, why?"
"Because I don't want to look completely underdressed and embarrass you or anything."
"You thinking about someone besides yourself. I'm surprised, Harper..."
"Hey, these are your relatives. I don't wanna give them a bad impression of your friends or Andromeda or anything, that's all."
*****
Beka and Harper entered the dining room to find a huge table made to seat nearly forty people. Almost all the chairs were filled, with the exception of two near the head of the table obviously saved for them. They seated themselves.
"Don't forget your table manners, Harper," Beka whispered to him.
"Table manners? What are those?" Harper grinned at her.
"I'd like to propose a toast to Beka, a long lost granddaughter in the Ronin family." Everyone lifted their glasses and toasted.
A large dinner was brought out from the kitchen. Beka and Harper were both equally amazed at all of the food that was layed out before them.
"Wow, this is a feast fit for a king!" Harper whispered to her.
"No kidding," Beka whispered back.
Since everyone else was doing the same, they both indulged themselves on all of the wonderful food until they felt as if they were going to explode. Everyone began leaving the table, and Beka and Harper headed back up to their rooms.
"Man, I haven't eaten that much food...well, since you found me," Harper said.
"I haven't ever eaten that much at one sitting. I must have gained twenty pounds in one meal," Beka said, groaning as she plopped down on her bed.
"Nah, you didn't," Harper said.
She could hear him throwing off clothing.
"This isn't your quarters...make sure you clean up after yourself," she warned.
"Will do, Boss." She heard him get up and pick up his clothes and drop them into a pile.
"Goodnight, Harper," she said, turning out the light on her side of the curtain.
"Night, Beka," he said. He turned his light out.
*****
Beka awoke early the next morning and pulled the curtain back to check on Harper. She found him sounds asleep, the dachshunds sleeping in his arms. She wished she had a camera to capture the moment--and blackmail him with it later. A grin crept across her face as she shut the curtain again and got dressed.
She returned to Harper's room and shook his shoulder. "Not right now. Later."
"You got drunk on the wine, didn't you?" Beka asked.
"Hangover," he muttered. "Just get me some asprin."
She opened her suitcase and pulled out some asprin. She picked up the dogs and gently placed them on the floor before putting the asprin in his hand. He trudged into the bathroom and took the asprin with some water.
"Can I go back to sleep now, Bek?" he asked, emerging from the bathroom.
"For right now, yeah you can."
He scooped up the dogs and curled back up to sleep.
She smiled as she went back to her room again. There was no one else she knew like Harper. "Definitely a one of a kind deal..."
Soon, she could hear Harper's soft snoring and grew bored. "Maybe some exploration is in order..."
She quietly left her room and roamed through the corridors, until she found a dimly lit one that seemed mostly untouched for quite a while. It felt slightly forbidden, but something within her kept her walking through it. One door in particular seemed to pull her magnetically. She heard the knob squeak as she opened the door.
It was dusty, as if it hadn't been touched in years. A white bassinet that had yellowed over years was in the corner. The bed wasn't made, as slightly rumpled sheets were also yellowing. Several pictures sat on the nightstand. Beka leaned down to look at them.
It was her father, Rafe and herself. "This is my mom's room," Beka realized aloud.
"Yes, it is, Beka...and it hadn't been opened since the day of her death," Rebecca said from behind her.
"Oh, I'm sorry-"
"No, you have all the right in the world to be in here. She did love you very much and would want you to do this if you wanted to." Rebecca lifted a jewelry box from the dresser and blew the dust off of it.
"It's beautiful," Beka said, looking closely at the box her great aunt held.
Rebecca opened it, holding up a small locket on a golden chain. "She wanted you to have this when you grew up."
Beka watched as Rebecca placed the necklace around her head and fastened the clasp. "She wanted me to have it?"
"Yes, very much. When you were born, she was so happy she had a daughter. She wanted to teach you how to be a girl, like most mothers do. Only, she never had the chance."
"Did I turn out okay without her?" Beka asked.
"You turned out much better than 'okay,' my child." Rebecca smiled.
*****
After a large breakfast and chat with her relatives, Beka returned to her room to check on Harper. He was still asleep with the dachshunds.
"Harper, it's past noon! Time to get your lazy butt out of bed." Beka threw the sheets off of him.
"Try hungover butt, and you've got it right," Harper said groggily.
"You're still not feeling well?" she asked, concerned.
"Actually, I do feel better. I'll get up." He pushed himself to his feet, putthing the dachshunds on the floor.
"I'll be downstairs waiting for you," Beka said as she left the room.
Harper sighed and pulled his clothes on. The asprin had taken the edge off of his headache. "And you get to party today anyways, Harper," he told himself.
He combed his hair and made himself look halfway decent before going downstairs, followed by the dachshunds, to join Beka. She was sitting with some relatives, a three adults and two children, he hadn't met yet.
"Harper, you sure took long enough." Beka smiled. "Sit down. We were just talking about you."
"All bad, I assume." He grinned.
"Are you really an engineer?" the little girl asked.
"Yep, that's me." Harper sat down.
"What do you fix?" the little boy asked.
"Whatever breaks. And I do upgrades to make things easier for me and Rommie, too," Harper replied.
"Who's Rommie?" the little boy asked.
Harper went into a long detailed, but simple, explanation of Rommie while Beka talked with the adults. Their conversations carried well into lunch time, until it was practically dinner.
"We're going to start the grill. The food will be ready in half an hour. You can come out now and watch if you like," Nate said as he walked into the room.
"Wanna go watch?" Harper asked Beka.
"Sure," Beka replied.
They went outside to find that everyone had gathered around a lake about half a kilometer behind the house. Everyone was sitting on blankets, chatting and waiting for their dinner. As the barbecued ribs and hamburgers were being finished, more of the relatives brought traditional cook-out food by the bucket.
"This is great, Beka!" Harper said he was hungrily eating his hamburger.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Beka said.
He stopped and swallowed, grinning. "'Kay, Boss."
After they had stuffed themselves, Harper and Beka exchanged stories with Nate and Vicky. Life at the Ronin Estate was much more interesting than either Harper or Beka had originally thought. It became very late afternoon when a small group of musicians in the family began playing some old Earth music.
Various couples started dancing. Harper watched Beka's foot tapping along with the beat. "You wanna dance?" he asked.
"Sure, why not?" She stood with him, and they started dancing with the fast paced music. Beka was surprised by how well Harper danced. "You're really good at this."
"Happens when you get a girlfriend that's a professional dancer," Harper said. "She demands no less than mediocre dancing so I don't make a fool of her by making a fool of myself."
"Know how to swing dance?" Beka asked.
"My favorite." He grinned.
A perfect song for swing dancing had started to play, but few couples were still dancing. Beka and Harper were the best dancers out of all the couples, and soon they were the center of attention without even knowing it themselves. With each flip and spin, everyone was more amazed. The song ended, leaving them both out of breath.
They were applauded by everyone. They bowed appreciatively before they plopped down on the grass to rest.
"I can run for an hour shooting criminals with my forcelance, but five minutes of swing dancing wears me out like I'd been doing it all day," Beka complained.
"Yeah, it tends to do that to me, too..." Harper said between breaths.
After several more songs and a lot of recooperating silence, it had grown dark. Everyone started to head to the edge of the lake. Harper and Beka followed, wondering what was to come next. They hadn't ever been to a Fourth of July celebration before.
Fireworks started shooting up into the air over the lake, reflecting beautiful bursts of color and light over the rippling water. Beka and Harper found a quiet corner for themselves to sit and watch the spectacle above them.
"I've never seen anything like this from a planet's surface," Beka said.
"Me neither. It is really pretty." Harper stared at Beka out of the corner of his eye.
The band started playing music again, this time a particularly slow song. They both turned to look at each other and wordlessly stood. They danced in the dark as they watched the fireworks over the lake. They were soon staring at each other discreetly, though. After they realized the other was also staring, they locked gazes in the dim light.
Before they had realized what was happening, they leaned forward and their lips met. It was a surreal experience for both of them. One kiss led to another, and long after the slow music had ended, they were still kissing and dancing to the same tempo.
Eventually, the music had stopped completely and everyone else had headed back to the mansion, assuming Harper and Beka were among them. They were still completely disconnected from the rest of the world. They sat down where they had been before and stared at the moon reflecting on the lake.
"Seamus?" Beka asked barely above a whisper.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For making me come here after all these years and coming with me. I'm really glad I finally did do this..." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Nothing is more important than your family. And I'm lucky enough to have two of them."
"Oh?" Harper asked.
"I have Andromeda and everyone there. And I have these people," Beka replied.
"If we're family...what am I to you?" Harper asked.
"Well...you're really special, unlike anyone else," Beka eventually replied.
Silence took over again until Harper decided to break it. "So, was this all a one night to never be repeated thing?"
"We'll see. As I said, you're special, and a different set of rules applies to you." She smiled in the darkness.
He took the initiative and kissed her again. "You're right. Our family, if you want to call it that, is most important. But something bothers me..."
"What bothers you?" Beka asked.
"Well, if we're family, and I'm kissing you...well, some things are just so wrong, Bek..." he kidded.
"Harper." She paused and laughed. "You're definitely a one of a kind deal."
Author: Melissa, aka ILH
Censor: PG
Content Warnings: Nothing major
Central Characters: Harper, Beka
Spoilers: None really
Author's Note: I started this a month ago when I came upon the challenge and just finished it now. I've been working on it on and off since then. I hope you enjoy it.
Fic Challenge: Write a story including the following: Fireworks reflected on water; a barbecue party with lots of food; dancing; a Dachshund or two
Disclaimer: Andromeda's characters and the like belong to Tribune, not me. The fic challenge is from a Yahoo Group (can't remember which one)
Beka Valentine stood on the Observation Deck, her arms crossed, staring out at the stars. Her expression was pensive, as it had been since she entered the room. This silent contemplation was not a new experience for her. She had done it every year after her father died, this being the fourth. Only this year, it was very different. Dylan had offered the crew a week to do as they please, and it began in less than two days. Before this, she always had an excuse to avoid it. There was a shipment that needed to be carried to Infinity Atoll, or Harper had been sick and needed her there. Without an excuse, the contemplation became a major decision--a decision that she dreaded.
"Hey, Boss. What's up?" Harper asked from behind her.
She hadn't heard him enter the room, and it startled her a bit. "Nothing."
Several seconds of silence passed before Harper asked, "Have you decided what you're gonna do with this week off you've been begging for forever?"
Beka wondered how he had become so adept in finding what was bothering her and bringing it up. "I haven't really thought about it," she lied.
"So, you're gonna do one of those spontaneous adventure vacations to only god knows where?"
"Not this time." She smiled when the memories of her last vacation like that drifted into her thoughts. It had been a completely unpredictable intergalactic joy ride.
"Well, I have no clue what I'm doing. Probably just working on Andromeda since there isn't anything really going on next week," he said, his voice hinting disappointment.
Beka hadn't told a soul about what had been bothering her. She turned around and stared at the young engineer. She had known him for years, and if there was anyone that could be trustworthy when she needed them to be, it was him. "Actually, I was thinking about going somewhere, Harper, but you aren't allowed to let it leave this room."
"You've got my word. Now, where?" He seemed interested.
"I've talked about my father to you before, but never my mother," she began.
"Yeah, I've always thought that was kinda weird," he admitted.
"My mother died when I was a kid, and my father didn't take her death very well. He didn't even talk about her after she died. With the Maru, he left me a box. It included the coordinates and location of my relatives from my mother's side, my aunts, uncles, cousins. I don't have any relatives left on my father's side, and you know how Rafe is..."
"So you're thinking about going to see your mom's family?" he guessed.
"Yeah. But I'm not sure how they'd take me suddenly coming into their lives. I mean I've never even met the people before. I don't even know if my mom told them about Rafe and me."
"If you wanna do this, you should. I know where you're coming from. I don't have any family at all left, but if I did, I'd definitely go and see them."
"I'm not even sure if I trust the coordinates. Hell, with his friends like my 'Uncle Sid,' I could end up at some assassins' hideout and dead before I could blink."
"Why don't you take someone with you, then?" he suggested.
"Dylan and Rommie are staying here, of course. Trance is off to see some plants and animals. Rev has a retreat. I wouldn't want my family to meet Tyr. That leaves you and you-"
"I've got no plans, and meeting your family would be a lot better than working through my vacation. We both need some time off to relax anyways."
"I haven't told you everything. My mother's diaries were also in the box, and I read them. Her family is extremely traditional and set in past ways. They even continue celebrate some 21st century holidays three thousand years later," she warned.
"Wouldn't bother me. Any party is a good party, regardless of what it's for!" He offered her a grin to convince her.
She sighed. This had been completely unexpected. 'I came so close to putting it off another year, but now Harper has it actually sounding good,' she thought.
"C'mon, Bek. You might regret it if you don't do it. I mean, from personal experience, there's stuff you should do now while you still have the chance to."
She hated to admit it, but he was right. Her crew had been her family until now, and it past was time she should meet her real family. She needed to go before something happened to them. If it hadn't already. "I'll check out the coordinates again and tell Dylan where we're going."
"You're gonna let me go, too?" He seemed as if he didn't believe it.
"Yeah, I am," she said with half of a smile.
*****
Beka had spent the entire day after talking with Harper trying to find a courier to deliver an advance message that she was coming to visit. The given coordinates were that of an out of the way planet that had very little, if any, space faring traffic. She had also told Dylan that she was taking Harper with her to 'tie up some loose ends' that she had left from her years prior to living on Andromeda. He looked worried, probably because he was assuming the loose ties had to do with individuals like Gerentex. He reluctantly reminded her the vacation was only a week long and told her to be careful.
She was ready to leave at any time. No packing needed to be done since she still lived mostly on the Maru. She only kept a few essentials in her Andromeda quarters, enough that she would have something to wear when she allowed someone to borrow the Maru. After glancing down at the chronometer for the tenth time, she decided she needed to leave before she could change her mind about it.
She found Harper in his quarters, throwing some clothes and whatnot into a knapsack.
"I'm glad you didn't decide to put this off until the last minute again," she commented.
"When are we leaving?" he asked as he continued packing.
"Right after you finish packing." She plopped down on the edge of his bed, careful to avoid the objects scattered on it.
He threw a couple of pairs of pants in the knapsack. He couldn't close it completely, but managed to fasten the main snaps to keep its contents from falling out. "I think that's everything."
"Do you still have some of your things on the Maru?" Beka asked.
"Yeah, I think I do." He threw knapsack over his shoulder.
"Then you should be fine." She walked out of his quarters.
He followed. "Hey, the Hangar Deck is that way, not this way."
"Dylan doesn't know we're leaving right now." She continued heading towards Dylan's quarters.
"But he does know we are leaving, right?" He caught up to her.
"Of course he does, Harper. Give me more credit than that."
"Just making sure, that's all."
They arrived at their destination to find Dylan just walking out.
"You two are leaving already?" Dylan asked, glancing at Harper's knapsack.
"We want to give ourselves plenty of time so we won't be late coming back," Beka explained.
"Be careful, but have a good time. You've both earned it." Dylan smiled before going the opposite direction down the corridor.
"Now we can go," Beka said.
"I'm right behind you!" Harper said.
*****
"So, when was the last time you saw these people?" Harper asked, perched a level above Beka on the railing
"When I was nine or ten," Beka replied.
"Were any of your cousins hot?" He hopped down from the railing.
"Harper!" she said, disgusted. "That's not why you came with me!"
"You're right. But, hey, you can't knock me for trying."
"But I can throw you out the airlock if you try again," she muttered.
"Fine, I won't hit on your cousins."
"It's not like you'd get any action anyways, Harper. They have better taste than that," she kidded.
"Ha ha ha. Very funny, Beka." He sat down next to her. "There are women that aren't in your family on that planet, too, probably. And they aren't off limits."
"You aren't going to meet women. You're going to keep me company in case my family turns out to be even weirder than expected." She set the Maru on autopilot and turned around.
"I know. So...is there anything else weird about them you've been hiding from me?" he asked.
"All I know is from a long time ago, back when my mom was eighteen or nineteen. So, who knows what they're gonna be like now, after all these years..."
"We're almost there, aren't we?" He sounded slightly nervous.
The planet slowly came into view. It was a beautiful emerald and azure orb, looking much like Earth from space, only free of the visible pollution. There were no vessels in orbit, or in the general vicinity.
"It looks like the kind of planet Nietzcheans would be dying to take over," Harper commented.
"But there's no sign of any other ships being around here in weeks. Weird. The coordinates given for the planet's surface are on a land mass. It seems legit so far..."
Beka landed the Maru near what appeared to be a small town. Her hand covered her forcelance as she and Harper exited the Maru. Harper followed closely behind her as they approached the establishment.
"Hey, that's no town, Bek...that's a huge estate! You didn't tell me they were loaded!" Harper was excited.
"I didn't know they were loaded. It didn't sound that way in the diaries," Beka said.
They approached the gates to the estate only to find they were locked.
"Here's a little button. I'm guessing it either lets us in or drops us into a pit of Magog. Let's find out which." He grinned as he pressed the button.
An older woman with graying red hair limped up to the gate. "Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Beka Valentine," Beka said.
"Rebecca! You have your mother's eyes." The woman opened the gate and took Beka into her embrace and noticed Harper behind them. "Your husband needs to eat more! He's as skinny as a rail."
"That's not my husband," Beka said, laughing. "You honestly think I'd marry him?"
"Hey!" Harper said, annoyed and a bit offended.
"I'm just kidding. He's one of my friends," Beka explained.
"I'm your grandmother, in case you don't remember me," the woman said.
"Remember you?" Beka asked.
"We'll discuss this later," she replied. "Now, let's get inside. Everyone else will be excited to see you."
Beka and her grandmother were engaged in conversation while Harper followed silently behind. 'I bet this is gonna be exactly what the rest of this vacation ends up like for me,' he thought.
They soon neared a gigantic white mansion with a walkway leading through the flower garden that surrounded it. Blooms of every color of the rainbow attracted butterflies, hummingbirds and other various creatures.
"Trance would love it here," Beka commented.
"She'd be in heaven. I haven't even seen most of the these flowers before." Harper leaned down to examine one particularly beautiful flower of pink and blue.
"These are hybrids, all originals. Your Uncle Jimmy has a green thumb," Beka's grandmother explained. "He's been growing flowers since he and your mother were playing in the sandbox here."
"I have an uncle?" Beka asked.
"You have three uncles, two aunts and many cousins that call the Ronin Estate home," Beka's grandmother replied with pride as she opened the door to the mansion with a key. "And you'll get to meet them very soon."
The entry room was elaborately decorated. In the center of the room, a large staircase covered with navy blue fabric led to the upstairs. Many pictures lined the mantle and the tables. Beka noticed several of her mother, one being of her mother, her father, Rafe and her. She picked it up, remembering the moment it was taken.
"Your mother sent that to us shortly before her passing," Beka's grandmother said.
"I remember this. We were on Infinity Atoll. My father was working out a business deal, but we begged him to let us go down to the beach," Beka reminisced.
"Rebecca?" a voice asked from behind her.
Beka turned around to see a beautiful young woman several years younger than her with fire red hair. "That's me."
"It's great to finally meet you!" the woman exclaimed happily and hugged Beka.
"This is Victoria, your cousin," Beka's grandmother said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, too," Beka said.
"Is this your husband?" Victoria asked looking Harper over. "He's really cute," she added softly.
"Nope, he's just a friend. I'm not married," Beka said.
"So, I'm really cute?" Harper asked, moving closer to Victoria.
"Vicky!" A man with dark eyes and hair entered the room. It was obvious he worked out nearly as much as Tyr.
"That's my husband, Nate," Victoria said.
"Damn!" Harper muttered under his breath. "I knew that was too good to be true."
Introductions were made before everyone recommended that their guests should rest before the rest of the family arrived in the evening. Beka and Harper didn't object and headed up to their adjoining rooms.
"Your relatives are really nice, Bek," Harper said.
"Definitely not what I expected," Beka said.
"What were you expecting?" he asked.
"I don't know...just not that. They're very accepting."
"Yeah, and they're all married."
"I thought we already agreed that you weren't going to hit on my relatives..."
"Yeah, we did." He sighed.
"And not all of them were married," she added.
"Really?" He seemed very interested.
"There's always my Uncle Marvin." She laughed.
He cringed. "I'll pass on that one. I like my dates female and within ten years of my age."
They entered their rooms to find that all that separated them was a large dark curtain. Harper pulled the curtain open, wondering if Beka had a bigger room than he did. Her room was identical to his in every way, including how it was furnished.
"It's like looking into a mirror," he commented.
"If you were a woman that looked exactly like me, yeah it would be." Beka sat down on her bed, looking slightly worried.
Harper crossed the room and sat down beside her. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I don't know. I'm starting to have second thoughts about all of this," she admitted.
"If you wanna leave, I don't blame you. And we can be out of here in ten minutes. But we've come all this way, y'know..."
"You just want to see Vicky again." Beka half smiled. "I know you, Harper."
"Well, that's one good thing about this place. Maybe you have more gorgeous relatives..."
They were both laughing when the door opened, and an elderly woman in a dress entered. "I was told that you were not wed."
"We're not. We're as far from being married as you can get, trust me," Harper said.
"Why are you sitting on the same bed?" Two small dogs emerged from behind her and waddled over to Beka and Harper to sniff their feet.
"We're just friends, and we were talking," Beka said.
"What are those? They look like little hot dogs..." Harper commented.
"They're my dachshunds, Edward and Henry," the woman said. "I am your Great Aunt Rebecca."
"Was I named after you?" Beka asked.
"Yes, your mother insisted that if her second child was a daughter that she have my name." Rebecca seated herself beside Beka.
"Hey, ummmmm, I'll be going now. I've got people to see, things to do." Harper hopped up off the bed and exited the room, Rebecca's dachshunds following him.
"Your friend seems like a good man," Rebecca said.
"He is. Not to mention a great engineer. I'm glad I found him," Beka said, smiling.
"It's been so long since I saw you, Beka. In fact, you fit in my arms the last time I saw you so many years ago..." The older woman's eyes stared blankly in the memory.
"I don't remember it. I must've been a baby."
"You were. Ah, the memories. But that aside, how has life been treating you?"
"Pretty good. I'm working aboard the Andromeda Ascendant now," Beka said.
"How long can you stay with us before you must return?"
"A few more days unless we get a message from Andromeda."
"Tomorrow is the fourth of July. You'll surely be coming to our celebration."
"Of course. Even if I didn't want to come, which I do, Harper wouldn't miss out on a party for anything." Beka smiled.
"I'll leave you to rest now. I should probably make sure your Harper hasn't done anything to Edward or Henry."
"No, I'll come with you," Beka said.
They exited the room and walked through the corridor. When they reached the end, they found Harper and dachshunds.
He didn't notice their presence. He was too busy holding both of the small dogs and giving them kisses, talking in a voice that most people used for babies. "You're so cute, yes you are. And you, too. I'd have little doggies like you on Andromeda if mean old Dylan liked animals more than he does. Yes, I would."
Beka cleared her throat.
Harper glanced up, embarrassed. "Ummmm, I was just checking to see-"
"It's okay that you kissed the dogs, Harper. I won't tell anyone," Beka said.
"Thanks," Harper said.
"I've never met anyone so fond of Henry and Edward," Rebecca said.
"I'll take that as a compliment." He placed the dogs on the floor again and hopped up to his feet. "So, what is there to do around here?"
"It is getting late. You should freshen up for our evening meal," Rebecca said.
"Can do!" Harper said.
Beka remained behind with her great aunt for a moment. "It was really nice meeting you."
"No, it was my pleasure, my dear. Seeing you again means a lot to me."
Beka headed back to her room to find Harper had drawn the curtain. "We share a bathroom, Harper," she noticed.
"I know that. You can use it first."
She realized she would have to cross into his room to get into the bathroom. "Are you dressed, Harper?"
"Yeah, I'm dressed. I wouldn't have offered if I weren't. Are you going to put on a bunch of make-up or anything?"
"I wasn't planning on it, why?"
"Because I don't want to look completely underdressed and embarrass you or anything."
"You thinking about someone besides yourself. I'm surprised, Harper..."
"Hey, these are your relatives. I don't wanna give them a bad impression of your friends or Andromeda or anything, that's all."
*****
Beka and Harper entered the dining room to find a huge table made to seat nearly forty people. Almost all the chairs were filled, with the exception of two near the head of the table obviously saved for them. They seated themselves.
"Don't forget your table manners, Harper," Beka whispered to him.
"Table manners? What are those?" Harper grinned at her.
"I'd like to propose a toast to Beka, a long lost granddaughter in the Ronin family." Everyone lifted their glasses and toasted.
A large dinner was brought out from the kitchen. Beka and Harper were both equally amazed at all of the food that was layed out before them.
"Wow, this is a feast fit for a king!" Harper whispered to her.
"No kidding," Beka whispered back.
Since everyone else was doing the same, they both indulged themselves on all of the wonderful food until they felt as if they were going to explode. Everyone began leaving the table, and Beka and Harper headed back up to their rooms.
"Man, I haven't eaten that much food...well, since you found me," Harper said.
"I haven't ever eaten that much at one sitting. I must have gained twenty pounds in one meal," Beka said, groaning as she plopped down on her bed.
"Nah, you didn't," Harper said.
She could hear him throwing off clothing.
"This isn't your quarters...make sure you clean up after yourself," she warned.
"Will do, Boss." She heard him get up and pick up his clothes and drop them into a pile.
"Goodnight, Harper," she said, turning out the light on her side of the curtain.
"Night, Beka," he said. He turned his light out.
*****
Beka awoke early the next morning and pulled the curtain back to check on Harper. She found him sounds asleep, the dachshunds sleeping in his arms. She wished she had a camera to capture the moment--and blackmail him with it later. A grin crept across her face as she shut the curtain again and got dressed.
She returned to Harper's room and shook his shoulder. "Not right now. Later."
"You got drunk on the wine, didn't you?" Beka asked.
"Hangover," he muttered. "Just get me some asprin."
She opened her suitcase and pulled out some asprin. She picked up the dogs and gently placed them on the floor before putting the asprin in his hand. He trudged into the bathroom and took the asprin with some water.
"Can I go back to sleep now, Bek?" he asked, emerging from the bathroom.
"For right now, yeah you can."
He scooped up the dogs and curled back up to sleep.
She smiled as she went back to her room again. There was no one else she knew like Harper. "Definitely a one of a kind deal..."
Soon, she could hear Harper's soft snoring and grew bored. "Maybe some exploration is in order..."
She quietly left her room and roamed through the corridors, until she found a dimly lit one that seemed mostly untouched for quite a while. It felt slightly forbidden, but something within her kept her walking through it. One door in particular seemed to pull her magnetically. She heard the knob squeak as she opened the door.
It was dusty, as if it hadn't been touched in years. A white bassinet that had yellowed over years was in the corner. The bed wasn't made, as slightly rumpled sheets were also yellowing. Several pictures sat on the nightstand. Beka leaned down to look at them.
It was her father, Rafe and herself. "This is my mom's room," Beka realized aloud.
"Yes, it is, Beka...and it hadn't been opened since the day of her death," Rebecca said from behind her.
"Oh, I'm sorry-"
"No, you have all the right in the world to be in here. She did love you very much and would want you to do this if you wanted to." Rebecca lifted a jewelry box from the dresser and blew the dust off of it.
"It's beautiful," Beka said, looking closely at the box her great aunt held.
Rebecca opened it, holding up a small locket on a golden chain. "She wanted you to have this when you grew up."
Beka watched as Rebecca placed the necklace around her head and fastened the clasp. "She wanted me to have it?"
"Yes, very much. When you were born, she was so happy she had a daughter. She wanted to teach you how to be a girl, like most mothers do. Only, she never had the chance."
"Did I turn out okay without her?" Beka asked.
"You turned out much better than 'okay,' my child." Rebecca smiled.
*****
After a large breakfast and chat with her relatives, Beka returned to her room to check on Harper. He was still asleep with the dachshunds.
"Harper, it's past noon! Time to get your lazy butt out of bed." Beka threw the sheets off of him.
"Try hungover butt, and you've got it right," Harper said groggily.
"You're still not feeling well?" she asked, concerned.
"Actually, I do feel better. I'll get up." He pushed himself to his feet, putthing the dachshunds on the floor.
"I'll be downstairs waiting for you," Beka said as she left the room.
Harper sighed and pulled his clothes on. The asprin had taken the edge off of his headache. "And you get to party today anyways, Harper," he told himself.
He combed his hair and made himself look halfway decent before going downstairs, followed by the dachshunds, to join Beka. She was sitting with some relatives, a three adults and two children, he hadn't met yet.
"Harper, you sure took long enough." Beka smiled. "Sit down. We were just talking about you."
"All bad, I assume." He grinned.
"Are you really an engineer?" the little girl asked.
"Yep, that's me." Harper sat down.
"What do you fix?" the little boy asked.
"Whatever breaks. And I do upgrades to make things easier for me and Rommie, too," Harper replied.
"Who's Rommie?" the little boy asked.
Harper went into a long detailed, but simple, explanation of Rommie while Beka talked with the adults. Their conversations carried well into lunch time, until it was practically dinner.
"We're going to start the grill. The food will be ready in half an hour. You can come out now and watch if you like," Nate said as he walked into the room.
"Wanna go watch?" Harper asked Beka.
"Sure," Beka replied.
They went outside to find that everyone had gathered around a lake about half a kilometer behind the house. Everyone was sitting on blankets, chatting and waiting for their dinner. As the barbecued ribs and hamburgers were being finished, more of the relatives brought traditional cook-out food by the bucket.
"This is great, Beka!" Harper said he was hungrily eating his hamburger.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Beka said.
He stopped and swallowed, grinning. "'Kay, Boss."
After they had stuffed themselves, Harper and Beka exchanged stories with Nate and Vicky. Life at the Ronin Estate was much more interesting than either Harper or Beka had originally thought. It became very late afternoon when a small group of musicians in the family began playing some old Earth music.
Various couples started dancing. Harper watched Beka's foot tapping along with the beat. "You wanna dance?" he asked.
"Sure, why not?" She stood with him, and they started dancing with the fast paced music. Beka was surprised by how well Harper danced. "You're really good at this."
"Happens when you get a girlfriend that's a professional dancer," Harper said. "She demands no less than mediocre dancing so I don't make a fool of her by making a fool of myself."
"Know how to swing dance?" Beka asked.
"My favorite." He grinned.
A perfect song for swing dancing had started to play, but few couples were still dancing. Beka and Harper were the best dancers out of all the couples, and soon they were the center of attention without even knowing it themselves. With each flip and spin, everyone was more amazed. The song ended, leaving them both out of breath.
They were applauded by everyone. They bowed appreciatively before they plopped down on the grass to rest.
"I can run for an hour shooting criminals with my forcelance, but five minutes of swing dancing wears me out like I'd been doing it all day," Beka complained.
"Yeah, it tends to do that to me, too..." Harper said between breaths.
After several more songs and a lot of recooperating silence, it had grown dark. Everyone started to head to the edge of the lake. Harper and Beka followed, wondering what was to come next. They hadn't ever been to a Fourth of July celebration before.
Fireworks started shooting up into the air over the lake, reflecting beautiful bursts of color and light over the rippling water. Beka and Harper found a quiet corner for themselves to sit and watch the spectacle above them.
"I've never seen anything like this from a planet's surface," Beka said.
"Me neither. It is really pretty." Harper stared at Beka out of the corner of his eye.
The band started playing music again, this time a particularly slow song. They both turned to look at each other and wordlessly stood. They danced in the dark as they watched the fireworks over the lake. They were soon staring at each other discreetly, though. After they realized the other was also staring, they locked gazes in the dim light.
Before they had realized what was happening, they leaned forward and their lips met. It was a surreal experience for both of them. One kiss led to another, and long after the slow music had ended, they were still kissing and dancing to the same tempo.
Eventually, the music had stopped completely and everyone else had headed back to the mansion, assuming Harper and Beka were among them. They were still completely disconnected from the rest of the world. They sat down where they had been before and stared at the moon reflecting on the lake.
"Seamus?" Beka asked barely above a whisper.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For making me come here after all these years and coming with me. I'm really glad I finally did do this..." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Nothing is more important than your family. And I'm lucky enough to have two of them."
"Oh?" Harper asked.
"I have Andromeda and everyone there. And I have these people," Beka replied.
"If we're family...what am I to you?" Harper asked.
"Well...you're really special, unlike anyone else," Beka eventually replied.
Silence took over again until Harper decided to break it. "So, was this all a one night to never be repeated thing?"
"We'll see. As I said, you're special, and a different set of rules applies to you." She smiled in the darkness.
He took the initiative and kissed her again. "You're right. Our family, if you want to call it that, is most important. But something bothers me..."
"What bothers you?" Beka asked.
"Well, if we're family, and I'm kissing you...well, some things are just so wrong, Bek..." he kidded.
"Harper." She paused and laughed. "You're definitely a one of a kind deal."