Disclaimers and such in part one.
Over
The Borderline
by
Estirose
part
7 (31-35)
31. Beautiful
"Katie, what the hell is going on?" Jen asked as Katie reached the ground floor.
"Um," Katie said, trying to reconcile explaining things to her commanding officer while wanting to go comfort Trip after he ran screaming in terror. "Wes can explain."
Because she really didn't need this right now. Trip needed to see the beauty that was within him, and it wouldn't happen if Jen insisted on going with her, wanting to know what had happened to two of her officers.
"You can explain," Jen said pointedly. Katie briefly wondered if her commanding officer was avoiding their twenty-first century teammate again.
"Trip... um..." She was sure she was usually more coherent than this. "I don't know. I think he accidentally violated some Xybrian taboo or something, and assumed I'd take offense." She hoped that the explanation would satisfy Jen. "I just want to assure him it's all right."
Jen seemed to consider this, and Katie held her breath. Trip needed this discussed now, fixed now.
"Right," Jen echoed finally, with a look that indicated she'd rather not have her teammates run up and down the stairs all day.
Katie ran out the door. It was a beautiful day.
Now to find Trip, who was beautiful as well.
32. Color
The trouble with finding Trip, Katie decided, was the color of his hair. He could blend with the foliage if he wasn't careful.
She'd never thought of his hair that way before; she'd never even really thought of it, past the first meeting. She'd seen people with much weirder hair, both in her century and this one.
She wondered briefly what color part-Xybrian, part-human kids had naturally. Of course, in her time it was up to the parents (and Katie could well imagine a bunch of non-asian green-haired kids running about), but she still had to wonder.
Katie paused. Did color really matter?
Apparently to her, it did.
She continued looking around, aware of the futility of calling out. If she did, he'd spook and she'd lose him.
Rounding the corner, she looked at the wall... and found him.
33. Reaction
"Trip?"
Trip peeked up as Katie settled down beside him, almost touching him skin-to-skin. How badly had he hurt her, that she wasn't willing to touch him?
She was smiling, but that could have meant anything. Anything at all.
He was afraid, he realized. Afraid of her reaction. But, in a way, best to get it over now. "I'm sorry," he bleated.
"Sorry?" Katie asked, her tone incredulous.
"Yeah, sorry," he said, repeating himself. If he said it enough times, they both might believe it.
"Trip, look at me."
Trip involuntarily looked up. He tried to steel himself for whatever was coming.
"Did I break a taboo or something?" she asked. "Because I didn't mean to."
Trip felt the sudden, insane urge to laugh. Katie thought she'd broken a taboo?
"No... it's just... it's just..." Trip tried to force the words to come out of his mouth, impart his own shame.
"What?" Katie asked, obviously humoring him.
"I broke my own promise to myself. I forgot humans don't like to be telepathically contacted. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"Trip!" Katie exclaimed. "It's okay. I wasn't upset at all. Just startled. You're the first telepath I've ever known."
Trip blinked. "So you're..."
"I'm fine, Trip. No bruises, no broken bones, no scarred mind." She smiled at him. "Don't worry about me."
She took his hand. "See? Fine."
Trip stared.
34. Fight
It had been like all the fight had gone out of him.
Katie had been glad to see Trip seem to come to his senses. The last thing she and the others needed was a bout of shyness and insecurity about his own abilities. She knew how important confidence was in the fight against Ransik.
"Let's go in... and explain things to Jen," she said, getting up and holding out her hand.
Trip, somewhat surprisingly, took it. Katie was relieved; it meant that Trip wasn't going to go into a self-pity session, which meant that the day might turn out normal.
No, not normal, she realized. Not after today. Not after all that had been said- or not said - today.
Trip looked in the general direction of the office, no doubt trying to figure out what he was going to say to Jen.
"I'll explain things," she said, and relief appeared on his face.
35. Dream
All she'd had to say was, "It's all right, we got it figured out," to Jen, and the other woman had nodded and left them alone.
"See?" she asked Trip.
He merely nodded as they headed up the stairs.
"Trip," she said on the way up, "Do Xybrians dream?"
"Yes," he said, looking at her wide-eyed. "Why wouldn't we?" He looked at the stairway, as if he doubted it would ever end. "Sometimes we dream other peoples' dreams..."
"You do?" Katie asked. "Trip... do you dream our dreams?"
He shook his head. "Sometimes," he admitted. "I mean, I'm not a very powerful telepath, but you guys... this world... nobody here has any shields."
"I didn't think Xybrians did, either," Katie said, "At least from what I read."
Trip gave her a small smile. "We don't, at least much, but it's accepted on Xybria. Expected. But when I came to Earth, I installed a shield in my room, so I wouldn't dream like that."
"Does it make you feel lonely?" Katie asked.
Trip smiled a little more, but there was a sheepish element to that smile. "Sometimes," he admitted. "But on Earth, everybody has a right to their own dreams."
"Maybe, sometimes, we want to share them," Katie said.
Trip responded by smiling wider, the touch of sheepishness gone. "Thanks, Katie."
"You're welcome," she murmured. Maybe they had a future together. A future where Trip would be finally accepted.
She hoped so.
tbc...
