Title: Better Days
Author: Harper's Cat AKA Stormchilde
Archive: Beka MP3 and Mercury's Winter, anyone else please ask, you know I'll say yes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Andromeda and I regret that daily.
Rating: PG for implied violence.
Setting/Season: 3ish? I haven't seen much past that.
Spoilers: Spoilers for the novel "The Waystation"
Warnings: Some implied violence
Comments/Feedback: Please, feed The Cat!
Summary: Tag to the novel, The Waystation. After Beka asks Andromeda not to spank Harper for misbehaving.
A/N: I just wondered why Beka was upset by the prospect of Andromeda spanking Harper. What did she know and why would it be a bad thing?

She found him pacing agitatedly in the machine shop, "Andromeda said she felt like spanking you."

"Yeah, so what?" he asked, pacing away from her.

"I told her not to."

That made him pause. "Thanks." He busied himself with some small components on the table. "Did she ask why?"

"No. And I didn't tell her either. Though Dylan thought it was because you'd enjoy it."

He made a scoffing sound, "Naturally that would be the first thing that popped into his mind."

"Well you know, you do have that reputation."

"Yeah and you know better." He snapped.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to open old… I thought you … Crap. This isn't going quite the way I'd intended." She came up beside him and picked up one of the system chips, nervously turning it over and over in her hands. "I didn't want it to come up as a surprise topic in the mess hall."

"Yeah, that could be … unnerving if I didn't know why they suddenly decided to ask me about it I guess." The chip in his hand suddenly shattered under the pressure of his fingers. Bright droplets of blood spattered the tabletop. "Damn." He put his fingers in his mouth.

"Don't do that." She scolded, "Let me see."

He held out his hand, showing her the cuts across his thumb and three of his fingers.

She pulled a rag out of one of his pockets and wrapped it tightly around his hand.

"Ow." He complained, "Do you have to be so rough?"

"Sorry." The sight of the blood brought back unpleasant memories for her. In her mind's eye she could see the flash of metal tipped leather as it tore into pale flesh, blood dripping onto the metal floor.

"You all right?" he asked.

"No." she could hear the strangled screams, taste blood and bile in her mouth.

"Better days." He reminded her, "It's in the past, let it stay there."

"How can you let go of it so easy?" she asked, "I just saw it, you lived it and I can't forget…"

"Don't." his voice was soft, "Don't blame yourself. I deserved it."

"No!" she tightened her grip on his hand, "Never say that!"

He looked straight into her eyes, "She had to punish me."

"That wasn't punishment, that was sadistic torture."

"I broke the rules, if she didn't punish me she'd have lost the respect of the others."

"She said she was going to spank you." She insisted.

"Spank, whip, thrash, we all have different interpretations." He started moving the other chips around on the table, getting them away from the pooling blood.

She shuddered at the sight.

He shrugged, "I should have done as she told me and not mouthed off in front of everybody to boot."

"You were just a kid."

"Nineteen," he reminded her, " I knew better. I've just always had a problem with authority."

"Authority," she huffed, "People like her should never be allowed to teach."

"I leaned a lot and damn quick too."

She smiled and rubbed his spiky hair, "That was because you're a 'freakin genius'!"

"So you admit it now?" His eyes shone with laughter.

She shook her head, trying to hide her grin, "Maybe."