The Beauty of Love
This story takes place the evening of the Space Beauty contest. John and Maureen have returned from their "expedition" and the family is having dinner.
I don't own any of the Lost In Space characters, I just borrowed them for this story.
The family was seated around the dinner table talking after dinner. John and Maureen had returned from their outing to the next canyon looking for new source of fresh water and was updating everyone on what they had found.
"I think that the new supply of water we found will serve our needs nicely. Luckily it's on this side of the canyon." John stated.
"That's great John. We can get to work on a pipeline to get it to the ship in the morning." Don stated enthusiastically.
"Sounds like work that would ruin my delicate back. " Smith stated. Don rolled his eyes.
"Everyone will pitch in to help Smith. " John tersely stated. "And I do mean everyone!"
Maureen noticed that Judy wasn't saying much and was fidgeting in her chair. "Is anything wrong Judy?" she asked.
Judy immediately responded with "I'm fine."
But she wasn't fine. She was dreading the subject of the Beauty Pageant coming up. She knew she would get a lecture from her parents on letting Dr Smith conn her into being in the pageant.
"So, anything happen while we were gone?" John asked.
Dr. Smith decided that now was the time to make his exit as he knew where the conversation would eventually lead. "My back is giving me fits tonight. I think I will retire for the evening." Don gave him a look of disapproval for running away.
Everyone was looking around when Will offered "Mr. Farnum was back and ran a Beauty Pageant. His Sponsor lived on that dark planet we have been seeing lately." He paused before continuing.
"Mr. Farnum wanted Judy for the Beauty Pageant, but she refused until Dr. Smith got her to enter and she won. The sponsor was a knight who was made of fire and wanted Judy to come with them. Don got the weather machine to work and saved her!"
John and Maureen looked at each other. They both couldn't believe that their oldest child would follow Dr. Smith on one of his fool notions.
"You should have seen Judy. She looked so beautiful in her dress. " Penny added after seeing that familiar look on her parent's faces.
"Judy is this true?" Maureen asked with a tone of disbelief in her voice.
"Yes Mom it is." Judy quietly answered. Don shot Judy a sideways glance and noticed she was very uncomfortable.
"Judy, what were you thinking? How could you do such a thing?" John sternly asked trying to reign in his emotions. Judy didn't answer.
"Judy, I'm waiting for an answer." John's voice was a little more insistent.
"I don't know. I said no several times, even when Mr. Farnum tried to give me jewels and furs. Dr. Smith came up and asked what they were for when Penny and I were admiring them and the next thing I know, I was so mad I signed the form."
"What did Dr. Smith say to you that would make you so mad?" Maureen asked. This was definitely out of character for Judy.
"He basically said I had no chance. Then he said..." Judy's voice trailed off.
"What did he say?" John asked. Judy could feel the tears start to flow uncontrollably. She
answered between the sobs.
"He said...that Don...forbid it and was laughing at the idea."
Maureen and John looked at each other again and nodded. Now they were getting to the bottom of the matter.
"Judy, you know I would never laugh at you." Don stated.
"You said the idea of me being in the pageant was silly."
"No, I said the idea of you parading around was silly. I think you're the most beautiful woman in the universe." Don winked at her for good measure, or so he thought.
"Don't patronize me!" Judy could feel that she was losing control of her emotions.
"I'm not patronizing you!"
"Ok, let's all calm down." John stated. "So let me get this straight. Farnum tries to get you into his pageant, you say no until Dr. Smith insinuates that Don is laughing at the idea and forbids it." Judy nodded her head.
John could feel his anger rising and was formulating what to say when he felt Maureen's hand on his arm. He calmed down a little.
"First of all Judy, you know better than to go along with anything Dr. Smith says."
"But Dad..."
"Let me finish."
"Don was in charge while your Mother and I were gone. He had the right to tell you no to being in the contest and I would have expected you to abide by that." " It sounds like to me that you got your feelings hurt and you acted without thinking about the consequences of your actions. You placed yourself in danger in the name of vanity and not only that, you jeopardized everyone's lives because of your actions. I'm very disappointed in you Judy."
Her Dad's words stung more than she wanted to admit. The tears started streaming down Judy's face again. "I knew you would blow it out of proportion!" She couldn't take anymore lecturing from her parents. "Everyone expects me to be the perfect daughter and be staunch and stalwart at all times and bury my emotions and feelings. Well I can't. I'm just like every other person who needs to feel attractive and appreciated every once in awhile!"
With that, she got up and ran off with her parents calling after her.
John and Maureen looked at Don. "You didn't laugh at the idea did you?" Maureen asked.
"Are you kidding, I told her what I thought, but I never laughed at her. I just don't get her sometimes."
"What do you mean Don?" Maureen asked.
"Doesn't she know how beautiful she is? Did she think that entering that contest would prove anything to anyone here? We already know she's gorgeous." What happened now seemed very clear to Maureen.
"Maybe I ought to go after her and talk to her some more." said John.
"No, I think this is a cry for attention...from Don. I think he needs to go after her." Maureen stated.
"A cry for attention from me?" Don asked. "I pay attention to her."
"When was the last time you took her for a walk, or told her she looked nice?" John asked and thereby acknowledging that he, too, now understood.
"Well...I've been really busy lately with the weather machine and fixing the Chariot and everything else that needs to be done around here." Don paused as he thought for a moment.
"I guess I haven't paid as much attention to her as I thought I have..."
Don got up and started walking away from the camp. He knew exactly where Judy had gone. It was their special place on a cliff overlooking the valley. It's isolated and great for star gazing, or better yet he thought, gazing into Judy's incredible blue eyes.
-------------------------------------------------
As he neared the cliff, he heard sobbing. It pained him to think of Judy as being so unhappy. He rounded the corner and saw her sitting on the rocks staring out over the valley.
"Mind if I join you?" Don asked.
"Its' a free universe." Judy stated. Don noted the hurt in her voice.
"Can we talk about what's going on?"
"What's going on? You don't get it do you?"
"Judy, this isn't all because I haven't paid a lot of attention to you lately is it?" Don asked.
She just shrugged her shoulders. "It's about how I feel."
"Tell me how you feel. I want to understand."
" I feel like..." tears flowed freely again "you don't care about me...that I'm just another member of this expedition to you." Now Don understood as well.
"We've been really busy lately, trying to get the weather machine going, looking for a new supply of water, just really trying to survive. You know how it is."
"But Don, you used to take me for walks and we would talk and I felt like even with everything else going on, that you still cared about me. And even if its vain and selfish, you told me how beautiful you thought I was. You don't do any of those things anymore." She tried to stifle her sobs but was unsuccessful.
She softly added "I need that every once in awhile." Don didn't answer, but just moved closer to her and put his arms around her. He noticed how tense she was.
"Judy, I do care about you. More than I can ever tell you. What I don't understand is why you would enter that beauty contest. You don't need to prove to anyone how beautiful you are."
"I wanted to feel appreciated and I wanted you to pay attention to me. Most of all, I hated the idea of you laughing at me and telling me what to do."
"That was Dr. Smith manipulating you. I would never laugh at you and I would tell you what to do only because I want to protect you." He ran his hands through her silky blond hair and pulled her a little closer.
"You do know that don't you?" Judy looked up at him and he wiped away the tears on her face. Don then leaned down and passionately kissed her.
When the kiss ended, Judy looked at Don "I guess I do..". She pulled him towards her and kissed him again.
Afterwards, she snuggled against Don's chest and they stared out at the stars. Don felt her loosen up. They sat there for a few minutes in silence before Judy spoke.
"Don"
"Hmm"
"Try"
"Try what?"
"To tell me how much you care about me." After another minute of silence, Don answered her.
"Judy, I...I love you."
"Oh Don, you don't know how long I've wanted to hear you say those words to me. I love you too."
They kissed again to solidify their admissions Then they talked for what seemed hours.
Suddenly Judy shuddered. "It's getting cold. Time for us to go back. " Don stated. He helped Judy down from the rock and they walked back to camp arm in arm.
-------------------------------------------------
When Don and Judy arrived back the Jupiter and went inside, they could hear John in the Galley reading Dr. Smith the riot act for involving Judy in one of his so called hair brained schemes. Don started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Judy asked.
"Smith getting his just reward. Promise me something."
"Depends on what it is."
"The next time you want attention from me, don't let Smith manipulate you. Just hit me in the head with something to remind me."
Judy laughed "I don't think I'll need to go that far. Believe me, I'm cured. Just promise to tell me you love me every once in awhile."
"I promise."
"I just need to figure out one thing though..." Judy stated.
"What's that?" Don asked
"Like I said earlier today, I did enjoy having you rescue me...How do I get you to do that
again?" Don just smiled.
A kiss goodnight at her cabin door told everyone on the ship that life had returned to some semblance of normal on the Jupiter 2.