Disclamer: I still dont own Andromeda.

Feedback: Yes, of course.

Rating: PG-13. Maybe not in this chapter, but later.

Spoilers: None. Season 1, maybe. Trance is purple and Harper is not infested with magog.



It started as a calm day. The crew had been working hard lately, and Dylan had decided to give them the day of. He was gonna spend the day with Rommie, since he was feeling like he only talked to her when he needed something. She was his ship, but she meant more to him than that. She was his friend, and the only thing he had left from his time.

Harper was in his quarters, sleeping. This last few days had been much worse for him than any one else, and everyone knew in. As the only engineer on Andromeda, he did the work of 10 men, probably more. But he never said a word about his workload, because he enjoyed it. It gave him some time to be alone, and he knew his work was apriciated. Even Tyr said he was a superior engineer, and that meant a lot to Harper.

Trance was in Hydrophonics, caring for her plants. She didnt have to, but she liked it. It was so peaceful, and pretty. She couldn´t understand why Harper didn´t want any plants in his quarters. They were so beautiful. It didn´t matter if Harper wanted plants or not, she liked him just the way he was.

Rev was praying in his quarters. He felt he hadn´t prayed as much as he should have lately, but knew the Divine would forgive him, considering he had helped to save a world from destruction.

Beka was practicing unarmed combat with Tyr. She enjoyed these lessons, and he enjoyed teaching her. He told her that it would benefit his survival if she could back him up, but he knew that was not the reason he did it. He liked her company. He caught himself thinking what a remarkable woman she was. And Beka had great admiration for the lonely Nietzechean. He had once chosen Andromeda over membership in a pride. That must have been a hard choice, she wondered why did he did it. Time will tell I guess, she thought. No reason to think about that now.

The day slowly passed, and during dinner Dylan anounced that they would be passing Jaxa Prime, a planet that had joined the new Commonwealth recently. And since there were no emergency, he thought it was a good idea to go down to the planet, for a short vacation. After dinner everyone went to their quarters.

Harper was almost asleep when someone was at the door. He opened, and Trance came in.

"What can I do for you, my purple princess?" he asked.

"Do you remember you told me once that you and your cousins went camping, sleeping in a tent and all that?"

"Sure I do, why?" of course he remembered, it was one of the few happy memories he had. They had gone to a deserted place by a lake, and spent the day fishing, roasting marshmallows and playing games.

"When we are on Jaxa Prime, would you like to go camping with me? It sounded so fun when you told me. I have never done that." She looked at him, and he woundered if he could refuse her anything. He hadn´t thought about camping, but it did sound like a good idea. "I would like that wery much. We are going to have a great time." He smiled, and forgot that he was tired.

"I know we will" she said and smiled too, and then she hugged him, kissed him on the cheek and went to her quarters. Harper didnt move a muscle for five minutes. 'What happened?' he thought. 'She has never kissed me before, not like that' he touched the place where Trance had kissed him. "This is going to be an fun camping trip." he said out loud to himself, and went to sleep.

The next day everyone gathered on the Maru to go down to Jaxa Prime. Rev was going to a Wayist temple to help them in trying to convert the population. Tyr was going hunting, and had asked Beka to join him, and she had gladly accepted. Dylan and Rommie had been invited to a dinner with the leaders of the planet to discuss matters concerning the Commonwealth. The Jaxans offered to help more, and Dylan was thankful, hoping this would encourage other worlds to join.

Harper and Trance had started their camping trip as soon as they had landed. They said goodbye to the others, and started walking, following a map they had been given by the Jaxans, who had ensured them a nice location by a lake, untouched nature and privacy. While walking, Harper kept looking at Trance and thinking about last night. He couldn´t help but noticing how cute she was. 'No, not cute, beautiful' he thought. He had always seen her as a friend, his best friend, never as a woman. She was his 'purple princess'. He knew, that for her it was probably just a good night kiss, nothing more. 'I have to stop thinking about it' he thought, and said to Trance "Tired yet?". "No, i´m ok." she answered, and smiled at him. 'Why does she keep smiling at me?' he asked himself. She was always happy, he had almost never seen her sad, but this was something else. It was like she knew something he didn´t.