Author's note: Please, please, please review! I love comments! (And a great big thank you to everyone who's reviewed already!) This should be done soon, this and one more part to finish it up.
Just to clear things up: No, nothing happened between Beka and Tyr during the night (she still had a fever and was asleep. He just held her hand). And Tyr doesn't know what happened when Beka was locked on the Maru, that's why he wants to talk to her and find out.
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"Hey, Tyr."
Beka's soft voice startled Tyr out of his thoughts, all the more so because he had been thinking, once again, about her. "I didn't know you were awake. You shouldn't be up."
"Like hell. One more minute in that room and I was going to go crazy! I have no clue how Harper stands it," Beka retorted. Tyr shook his head, grabbed her arm, and pulled her down on the bench next to him.
He missed.
"Gee, Tyr, are you going to spank me for getting
out of bed?" Beka asked mischievously from her rather undignified position
on Tyr's lap. She could have sworn he blushed as he pushed her out
of his lap.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, helping her sit up.
"Don't mention it," Beka replied, still grinning.
Don't worry, I won't, Tyr thought as he looked at her, trying to figure out a way to start the conversation he was dreading.
"Hey, Tyr? Hello? Anybody home?" she asked, waving a still bandaged hand in front of his face. "Why're ya starin' at me?"
"How's your hand?" he blurted out.
"What? Oh, you mean this? Doesn't hurt any more, I don't know why these things are still on," Beka replied.
"Let me see," Tyr said, aware that he was stalling but didn't care. He pulled her hand closer to him and started unwrapping the bandages. Unfortunately, that also brought the rest of her closer to him...which suddenly reminded him of the last time they had been alone on the Andromeda.
"Tyr? Why'd you stop?" Beka wondered.
"I...umm..." he stuttered out, still very aware of her close proximity.
She pulled away from him, becoming equally as aware of him. "It's okay, I can wait for Trance."
"Speaking of Trance, there's something we need to talk about before the others get back," Tyr told her, jumping on the only opening he had found so far.
"Look, if this is about what I said to you the last time we were in here together, I can-" she started, alarm bells going off in her head. Or maybe it's just my headache?
"No, it's not about that," Tyr assured her quickly, cutting her off. Although I would like to talk about that. "I'm talking about you locking yourself on the Maru for two days without food or water and refusing to come out or even talk to someone!" He realized he had ended up shouting the last part, and said softly, "Everyone was worried about you and I think we deserve an explanation."
Beka drew away from him, shaking her head. "No, Tyr, I don't think we have to talk about that."
He grabbed her wrists and prevented her escape. "Yes, we do."
He was surprised more by the fact that she freed one of her hands than by the full-on slap in the face that left his ears ringing. "You take your hands off me, Tyr Anasazi!"
"Beka-" he warned, getting angry.
"If you ever do that again, I'll-"
He reclaimed his hold on her wrist and pulled her close to him. "You'll what, Beka Valentine?"
She looked like she was going to say something, but then she got an odd look on her face and her body went limp. As she started to fall, Tyr had to let go of her wrists so he could manouver her body back onto the bench. This time, when the slap came, he was surprised.
"I'll do that!" she told him, sitting up, crossing her arms, and giving him a glare that he could swear should melt walls.
He returned it with one of his own, and mirrored her position. "Now, may we talk?" A small inner voice was telling him to give up, and let her deal with her problems on her own-after all, she just hit you twice-but the other part of him admired her act and decided to stay.
"No," she said simply and slumped against the wall,
all pretense of being tough gone.
"I think it would be a good idea," he told her,
moving closer, and putting a hand on hers.
"How do you know, Tyr? What makes you think you can help me? What makes you think you can understand what I'm feeling?" she asked angrily, not acknowledging the touch but not moving away, either.
"I don't, but I would like to try," he replied quietly, looking into her eyes.
"You'll just leave me," Beka said, so softly that he wasn't even sure she had spoken.
"Please, Beka. If not for you, then for the rest of the crew. They need a first officer with a clear head, who can deal with her problems, who doesn't lock herself in her own ship," Tyr tried, knowing her fierce desire to protect her crew would override anything else.
"Do you want to know what's wrong, Tyr? What's wrong is that I can't trust anyone. What's wrong is that anyone I ever loved in my life has left me. What's wrong is that I'm afraid that you'll leave, and Dylan will leave, and Rev, and Trance, and Harper, and Rommie will leave, and I'll just be left alone again because I'm too naive and stupid to realize that everyone will just leave in the end but I try anyway. What's wrong is that my entire life, I haven't had anyone I can talk to, not really, and now I'm just a screwed up person who has no life and no family, and no friends!" Beka burst out. "So there, you happy? I don't know why I'm telling you this, because you're probably going to leave tomorrow or the next day! So why don't you just leave now, since you're going to anyway? You probably don't care anyway!"
"You're wrong," Tyr stated simply.
"About what?" Beka yelled in frustration. Great, I pour my heart out to this guy and all he can say is 'you're wrong'? Way to go, Beka, you did it again.
"I do care," Tyr told her, and wrapped his arms around her as she cried once more.
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Author's Note again: So, what do you think? Too sappy? Please
review!