"Trance? What are you doing?" Dylan cocked his head as he watched the young woman replace the access tunnel's panel.

"Well, I found this setting on the floor, and I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to leave it like that. It could fly into someone if we made a sudden turn." Her tail twitched nervously.

"A good precautionary measure," Dylan said, not appearing to fully believe her, but walking on down the corridor anyway.

She let out a sigh of relief. It had been less than twenty-four hours, and already their relationship was becoming problematic. Her stress level had skyrocketed. All she wanted was a little bit of solace, some assurance that this would be worth all the hardships. She knew when she could catch Harper on Mess Deck, and planned to talk to him then. But until that time, she needed to attend to her duties.

Hydroponics needed her attention again, and she headed there to see her plants. They seemed to perk up the second she entered the room. "You're so much easier to understand than this whole love thing." She sighed. "I wonder what Harper's doing right now."

She imagined him in engineering fixing some machine that was impossible for her to understand. He would pick up his welders and other tools, whistling or talking to himself the whole time, and bring the broken piece of equipment back to life. Much like she healed the sick or helped her plants grow, she realized. They had more in common than anyone probably thought.

"Slacking off on the job?" Beka's voice asked from behind her.

She shook herself out of her daydreaming state. "No, I was just checking these roses."

"Of course you were, Trance, dear." Trance didn't like the other woman's tone a single bit.

"Why are you doing this, Beka? I haven't done anything to deserve this. What happened to me being your 'good luck charm' and our friendship?" Trance asked.

Beka stood aback for a moment. "You don't know what you're doing, Trance. You don't know what Dylan will do when he finds out."

"I know very well what I'm doing. It's not wrong when you or Dylan or Tyr or anyone else on this crew does it. Just me because you think I'm some kind of little kid or something."

"It's not you. It's Harper. He's a player, Trance. You know what that is? He can't tie himself down to one woman, but he'll make you think he is. Once a prettier girl comes along, you'll be cast aside for a week or two. Then, he'll be all sweet to you and apologize, telling you he didn't mean to do it. I know what kind of guy he is. It doesn't make him a lesser engineer or friend, but making him more than that is a mistake."

"Harper isn't like that." The tears started pouring down her face. She didn't want to believe what Beka was saying, but Beka had known Harper longer than she had. She could see it happening in her mind, Harper running off with a woman like Andulasia from the Albequerque Drift for a little while. She didn't want Beka to see her crying, so she ran past her and into the corridor.

"Wait!" Beka followed her.

She eventually lost Beka and sunk to the floor. 'It can't be true, can it?' she thought. 'He said he loves me. He wouldn't lie to me, would he?' Nothing was certain anymore.

"Hey sweetheart," she heard Harper's voice say. It's tone changed to a more concerned one. "What's wrong, Trance?"

She wasn't sure if she could ask Harper if what Beka said was true. What if he yelled at her or told her he hated her for even thinking he'd do something like that? On the other hand, she needed to know. "Harper...are you a...ummm....well, a player?"

She saw him trying to stifle his laughter. He turned around and composed himself. "You've been talking to Beka?"

Trance nodded, and Harper sat down on the corridor floor besider her.

"Right after I started out on the Maru, Beka and I went into a kinda competitive mode. For every guy that she was with, I would pay a girl or two to go into my quarters. We'd just talk or I'd show them some cool stuff you can do with a nanowelder and certain types of elements. Then, they'd mess up their hair and make-up before they left so it looked like I was winning this stupid competition thing. I'd never do anything to hurt you, Trance. Ever."

"So you wouldn't leave me for a prettier girl?" She believed Harper's story when she thought about how Beka had been with him right after she joined the Maru's crew, but she just wanted to be sure.

"There is no prettier or more wonderful girl than you in the entire universe, babe. I love you so much more than everything else." He kissed her gently.

The compliment made her blush a deeper purple, and she smiled, forgetting completely what she had intended to talk to him about. "I love you, too. And I'm sorry for ever thinking that you would do anything to hurt me."

"Don't worry 'bout it. Why don't we take a little break from work and go down to my quarters for a while."

"Mister Harper, you aren't going anywhere," Dylan's voice commanded from behind them.

"Oh crap," Harper muttered as he stood and helped Trance to her feet.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Ummmmm...let's see...I was getting ready to leave this corridor, and I think I'll do that now." He started to walk away, but Dylan grabbed his shoulder.

"How long have you been having this relationship?" Dylan's blue eyes stared deeply into Harper's, asking for the truth and only the truth.

"Since...ummmm....last night." Harper was nearly shaking in fear.

"How far have you taken it? And don't lie to me."

"As far as it can be taken and back again."

"Trance, please go to your quarters. Harper and I need to talk. Alone."

"You don't understand, Dylan. It's not what it seems to be," she began, desperately trying to tell him what happened.

"Trance," Dylan warned.

Trance hurried away to the corner, turning on it and appearing to have left. She had good hearing, though, and listened to what was being said.

"Trance is naïve. She doesn't understand what a real relationship is," Dylan said, his tone backing down from what it had been before. "When you started this with her, you put your friendship and the entire crew's relationships on the line. Most infatuations for girls like her don't last very long. You'll end up breaking up, and who knows what will happen from there?"

"But Dylan...I've been with other women in the past, and it's never been like this with any of them. I love her, and I'd do anything to make her happy. You might be right. Our relationship may end, but we'll always have that friendship. I know Trance pretty well, and she wouldn't just break off all ties with me, y'know?"

"Maybe it would be best if you ended it now. To keep either one of you from getting too attached. On a starship like this, you don't know how long you're going to live or what's going to happen."

"We're already too attached. Please don't force me to do this. I love her, and I hope that's something that you can understand..."

"Sometimes we must be cruel to be kind. Does she really know what she's getting into? Can you tell me with all certainty that she loves you?"

"Well, no, but," Harper began.

"You haven't been with anyone in a while yourself, Harper. This could be your physical need for a relationship manifesting itself in what appears to be love."

"We both care about each other more than anything. She knows what she's doing and so do I. Isn't that all that matters?"

"Does she really know what she's doing? Has she been with anyone else before?"

"Not that I know of."

"In some respects you're taking advantage of her, then."

"We didn't have any choice last night, Dylan."

"Oh?"

"It's not really my place to tell you this, but she would've attracted a whole lot of hostile whatever-she-is's to Andromeda. She was ready to leave on the Maru and get herself hurt to save us."

"What does this have to do with you?"

"Well, I fixed what was wrong with her. I haven't just loved her since last night. I've loved her since...for a very long time."

"Will she still attract those hostile people?"

"I don't think so."

"We can all have relationship outside of this crew, and most of us have. But having one within the crew is risking a lot of heartache and damage in the future. Do you understand, Harper?"

"I understand." By his tone, it was evident he didn't.

She heard them part ways. She had admired Dylan in the past, thought he knew almost everything that a captain needed to know and had her there when he needed a push in the right direction. But what he had just said completely defied that. It made her hurt inside to know that he didn't support their relationship or trust what Harper had told her. It had all been true, every last word. It hurt even more to know that Harper was being forced to break up with her. If it was at his own accord, she would have understood. Things sometimes didn't work out as well as they had the potential to, and that was a part of life that she had come to accept. But to never even give it the chance to work out was something that she just couldn't bring herself to accept. She needed to show Dylan and everyone else what she and Harper already knew, already saw easily within themselves.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked herself. "How do I make everyone believe that I love him?"

'Do you even really love him?' the back of her mind asked. 'Is he worth all this?'

'Yes!' her heart screamed, and who was she to deny what her heart was saying?

She just needed a plan now, and one was beginning to peak out from under her confusion...