Author's Note: This is also known as the sappy chapter. You have fair warning. And THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who reviewed!!!

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Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home.

-Bill Cosby



Chapter Nine: Homecoming

"She says she can't remember when she slept last. She thinks it was before she left Andromeda five days ago, but she must have slept at least a little since then. But still, she needs to sleep, Dylan," Trance told him in a quiet, worried whisper. They turned to look at Beka. She was sitting and simply staring at her brother. Dylan shook his head.

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"He's in Flash withdrawal, Trance, he just collapsed!"

"All right, Beka, calm down, he'll be fine. Now let me look at you."

"Like hell! I don't want your purple hands anywhere near me!"

"Beka! I...I...should look at your hand....and your face..."

"I'm fine. I'll be fine. Concentrate on Rafe. Now."

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That had been all. No explanation of where she had been, no apologies for having left so abruptly, no wanting to talk about what had happened, and no reason at all for Rafe being with her or being in Flash withdrawal.

"I'll take care of her, Trance," Dylan told the purple one. "Go rest." Trance nodded and slipped silently out of the room.

Without any warning, Beka started to cry. She just put her head down on her arms and sobbed. After a moment's hesitation, barely even a second, Dylan sat down next to her, pulled her into his arms, and let her cry.

When he felt her shaking cease, and her breathing slow and deepen, he knew she was asleep. He picked her up, laid her on the bed nearest to Rafe's, and covered her with a blanket.

He kissed her forehead. "Pleasant dreams, Beka."