"Beka? Beka?!?" Harper's eyes widened in distress. He crouched down next to his friend, who was laying on the floor unconscious. He looked around, but couldn't see anything that might have caused her sudden collapse.
"I have to get her back to the Maru," he thought desperately. "But how?" Looking around, he spotted a woman running towards him, working herself through the small flock of viewers that had collected around Beka.
"I'm a nurse, let me through," she stated in an annoyed voice, and Harper reluctantly took a step back. She glanced at him. "Are you with her?" Harper nodded quickly. The woman started scanning Beka with a little device she got out of her pocket. She shrugged.
"It seems like she's just suffering from lack of energy." Harper frowned.
"You mean she hasn't been sleeping properly?"
"More like malnutrition, or dehydration. She might just be sick. Has she had any problems with her health lately?" Harper slowly shook his head as he tried to think.
"She hasn't quite been herself lately," he admitted, "but she never said anything about being sick." The woman nodded.
"I'm sure she'll be fine," she said. "Do you live around here?" Harper shook his head.
"No," he said. I'm going to take her back to our ship. We've got a medical officer there." He was sure Trance would be able to work out what had happened. The woman nodded, and a man stepped up.
"You can come into my store and contact your ship," he offered. Harper smiled in gratitude. He then glanced at Beka, laying still on the floor. What could possibly be wrong with her? He only hoped Trance would know.
Beka slowly opened her eyes with a groan. The last thing she could remember was shopping in the mall with Harper, then suddenly…she groaned louder. She'd passed out, hadn't she? She looked around her. Med bay. Oh shit. Oh shit, shit, shit. How was she going to get out of this one? Trance stepped up to her, her purple face looking worried.
"Beka," she said softly, "do you know what happened?" Beka thought for a second, and decided to play dumb, shaking her head. Trance sighed.
"Well, you passed out in the mall. I've found out that it's due to malnutrition. Beka, what's going on?" Beka desperately tried to think of a good enough explanation that Trance might fall for.
"I'm, uh…" she smiled at her friend, trying to stall her. "I haven't been feeling well lately." Hoping the medic would leave it at that, she tried to sit up. Trance moved around the bed, staying in front of her.
"Really?" she said. "You should have come to me Beka. What's wrong?" Beka sighed, trying to think of what could have caused her to pass out.
"Um," she said, "well I haven't been sleeping well for the past few days, and I've been throwing up a lot. It's probably just a tummy bug." Trance smiled.
"Oh well, I can easily fix that! If you'd only come to me earlier, none of this would have happened. Oh well, no point in dwelling on that, just sit down and I'll…" Beka paled, shaking her head vigorously.
"No!!! I mean, no Trance. I think it's over now anyway. I'm just going to go have…some food." She quickly left med bay before the purple girl could intervene, sighing in relief. She hoped Trance would leave it at that. As she walked out of med bay, she saw Harper, sitting down on the floor, leaning against the wall. As he spotted her, he immediately jumped up and gave her a big smile.
"Hey boss! You're all right!" He looked as if he was about to hug her, but changed his mind at the last second. She gave him an uncertain smile.
"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, uh, I was just…not feeling too well. Sorry about that." Harper shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Um," he said, "I brought your stuff with me back." He gave her a shy glance. "It's all on the Maru." She smiled. Though it hadn't been on her mind, she was glad she still had her stuff, if nothing else it spared her another shopping trip. She scratched the back of her head, feeling awkward. Since when did she feel awkward around Harper? When she looked at him, she noticed he seemed to be having the same problem. Pain struck her somewhere in her chest. Was this…thing driving them apart? And if it was, was it worth it? Beka suddenly felt like running a mile. She cared a lot about Harper, and it made her feel guilty. Her dieting had caused her upset.
"Stop assuming he was upset," she reprimanded herself. "Maybe he wasn't upset." She shook her head, trying to get all those thoughts out of her head. After all, just because…she'd be upset if there was something wrong with him, which there always was, didn't mean he would have been. But then again, he'd been sitting there waiting for her, hadn't he? She imagined Trance had thrown him out of med bay. The mental image nearly brought a smile to her lips. Suddenly, she wanted to rip her hair out. All these thoughts, they couldn't possibly be good for her! She shot Harper a quick grin.
"I better go…have a rest or something. Thanks for…you know. See you later!" She gave him a little wave and quickly set off for the Maru. He didn't follow.
Harper's arms fell limply down his sides as he saw Beka's retreating back. Maybe what she said was true - he had no reason not to believe her. But…something made him feel uncomfortable about the whole situation. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Her actions, her appearance, it all added up to something. Only, he didn't know what.
"Maybe I should go talk to Dylan about it," he thought, but shook his head straight away, dismissing the idea. "She'd kill me." No, talking to Dylan would be bad. After all, it might be nothing, but Dylan could be such a sucker when it came to these sort of things. He'd just make things worse by introducing his suspicions. "Maybe she's telling the truth," he thought. "Maybe she really just is a bit under the weather. After all, why shouldn't I believe her?" But the gnawing thought wouldn't go away. What if she wasn't telling the truth?
Beka's feet were hitting the Maru's floor hard as she walked in, making a loud noise. She banged her fist in the wall.
"Great going Valentine," she thought angrily to herself. "I have to be more careful. Maybe I got away with it this time, but I won't keep getting away with it again and again!" She went over to the mirror and cringed.
"I look so pale," she thought. "Maybe I should start using make-up or something?" She didn't usually, but it seemed like a good idea. She knew she had some somewhere…it normally just didn't seem worth it. But if it could hide her sunken cheeks and the dark circles under her eyes, it might be a good idea after all. She leant closer to the mirror and frowned.
"What the hell is that?" she mumbled. She'd never, ever had it before, but it seemed she was growing facial hair. Small, blonde hairs were coming out across her cheeks. She made a disgusted grimace. An ignored part in the back of her head knew that what she was going to herself caused everything bad in her life. But when she looked down at her body, she knew it would all be worth it.
No matter what it took.
