"Okay, new rule," Dylan said when he saw a tired, 4 month pregnant, Beka the next morning. She just stopped and looked at him. "You are not allowed to take any more night shifts. For some reason, she keeps asking me all the hard questions."

"Oh please, let's review." she said. "I've had to convince her that Tyr isn't going to kill her on quite a few occations, explain what parents are, where her sibling is, how it got there and I'm waiting with baited breath for the 'how will it get out' question. Now what was your big trauma?" she asked him as she found the still sleeping Cassidie something to wear.

"I had to explain why I wasn't there when you got her from Odan." he said quietly. She gave him a sad smile.

"Okay, I now only have three up on you."

"Come on, last night was worth 2."

"She started crying and gave you that look didn't she?" she asked.

"Yes and she wouldn't stop asking for you."

"Ah, that's becuase I'm her hero. You're just some guy that hangs around," she said with a smile.

"What ever," he said as he walked into their room to wake her up. With in five seconds she was in Beka's arms, pouring out all her nightmares and telling her how mean Dylan was becuase he wouldn't let her go and see Beka. Beka just smiled at him and picked Cassie up and started to reasure her as she got her dressed and ready for the day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What's all of this for?" Cassie asked Trance as the two of them were decorating the obs deck.

"Harpers birthday is soon." she answered.

"Oh." she answered. "Is every one gonna be here?"

"I don't know. I think everyone's going to try to be here."

"Even Tyr?" she asked, doubting that the Nietszchean would show up.

"Oh, Tyr will surprise you. It's what he does." Trance answered as the two of them kept decorating.

"When's Beka's birthday?"

"Not for a long time."

"And Dylan's?"

"We celebrated his birthday before Christmas." Trance answered.

"Oh yeah. What about you and Tyr and Rommie?"

"Well, I don't know about Tyr. Mines a secret and I don't think we've ever had Rommie's birthday." Cassie thought about this. The fact that Cassie hadn't asked when they were going to celebrate hers wasn't lost on Trance.

"We should give Rommie a party. Everyone should get a party." she said with a smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harper's party had been a success and everyone had had fun. Tyr popped in simply to get something to eat, but before he left, he pulled Harper over and told him something. A smile lit up his face and a "Thanks Big Guy!" was heard in the room. Cassie had quizzed Rommie on when her birthday was and they decided that they needed to have two for her, one for when she was first brought on line and one for when her Avatar came on line. Cassie seemed satisfied with that and went to ask Trance to tell her hers. When that failed, she asked Harper, Rev and Beka if they knew. They didn't and she announced to Trance that she was being mean by not telling and that she wasn't going to share any more secrets with her. Trance, to save her self, then whispered something to her and made her promise not to tell. Cassie immediately took back all that she had said and started beaming again. The party ended much to Cassidie's dismay, when Harper declared Happy Hour. Beka told Dylan to stay and enjoy it while he could and she, Cassie and Rev left.

"I wanna stay for Happy Hour!" Cassie announced.

"No you don't."

"Why not?"

"Because all they're going to do is drink and make fun of each other for a while." Beka explained as they made their way to the Eureka Maru for a while.

"Can I fly us some where?" she asked when they got on the Maru.

"Maru, activate programme: childproof."

"Programme active."

"Go ahead. Where are we going?" she asked as Cass made Beka strap her in.

"Ummmmmm . . . . . . Starlight Drift!" she said as she started moving the controllers.

"Okay. I'm just gonna be down the way. Tell me when we get there, okay Captain Valentine?" she asked. "Okay!"