Avonescence, Blakes 7
Avonescence, who was the amazingly young and successful leader of the Resistance in Sector 3, meets the crew of the Liberator after the Andromendan War and immediately wins them all over... except Avon, who is suspicious of this gorgeous, dynamic, brilliant young woman who the Federation have stated is more dangerous than Blake ever was, and determined not to fall sway to the trust (and deeper emotions that he is not willing to admit to) he is fighting not to give her. Just because her dark, cascading curls and soft voice, her huge, tawny eyes and generous lips , her slim body wrapped in soft green leather, haunt his dreams...
She joins their crew, proving to be the best fighter, shrewdest tactician, finest pilot, most brilliant intellect, and most winning negotiator they could ask for; swiftly, the Liberator finds rebel worlds falling behind them and combining to force the battered Federation to its knees. Even Vila and Cally agree that they would never have been able to do this with Blake, or without their dearestAvonescence, and cannot understand why Avon is holding out against the friendship and affection - and more, though they don't know it - that she offers him so freely.
As they get ready for the final battle against what is left of Servalan's fleet, after which Avon and Avonescence will - reluctantly, but gracefully, in the face of the whole Rebel Alliance's please - take up joint roles of new and enlightened Presidents of a new and emlightened Refederation, Avon knows he has lost the fight, and that he loves her, more than he ever loved Anna, more than he loved any woman before. He should have known, when he first heard that name, that she would flawlessly combine, in one beautiful feminine package, the best of himself and of his former - and surely now forgotten - Fearless Leader.
She looks up at him from her accustomed place on the flight deck - what used to be the command place (though, as she has always allowed, the Liberator is his, or perhaps theirs -? once she is President) and prepares to give the order -
And he looks down to his console, and Orac is sending a message.
About a place called Gauda Prime, and a bounty hunter he has found there...
~oOo~
Avon shuddered awake, bolting up in his bed, and looking around wildly for a minute before thumping back onto the pillows with a muttered curse. Another night given to nightmares, and he was so so tired of them. He really had to stop thinking late at night about what could have been, had things gone just a little differently, had he been the one to find Orac and the Liberator after Star One instead of Jenna...
For now, he lay back and stares at the pictures on the wall of the Mellanby underground home. Tomorrow, he and Dayna would bury her father, whom Servalan killed, and Servalan, who didn't stand a chance against Dayna and the locals, and then they would find a way off this planet. Tomorrow, he would start the search for Blake.