A/N: I don't know why, I just seem to picture Dylan and Manna living in a big house with lots of rooms and a big yard with a little creek and some woods. So guess where they live in my world (and I can do this because this story is an AU) – Hunt Manor.
If they live in a different house, please tell me. I haven't seen all the episodes yet.
And when you get to Manna and Dylan's cousins, yes, they are both girls. It's too early in the morning for me to go hunt down the Roman goddess's name that I wanted to use, so I just used three that I know.
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Following Big Brother
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Much later, Trance and Kym, who were thoroughly trying to figure out what could be wrong with Manna, had shoved Dylan out of Medbay. He immediately went to Hydroponics to play basketball, only to discover Danka and Rommie were talking about the many adventures Manna had been on and her life on Tarn-Vedra.
"Are you ever going to stop giving up my family history, Rommie?" He asked, not as mad as he was earlier, but still displeased.
"Actually, Dylan, we weren't talking about the stories you told me. We were talking about the things Manna has done since she was unfrozen."
"I don't understand."
Rommie and Danka sighed in perfect unison, "Manna doesn't sit still, you know that Dylan," Danka began, "After we were unfrozen – don't ask how we got out 'coz we don't even know – Manna took some time getting re-oriented. She then broke into the Andromeda's computer while she was busy. Little miss red-head found out you were going to try to restore the Commonwealth, deleted from Andromeda's memory that she was ever there, and decided to go into stealth. We've been following you. At every planet, she stops to talk to people, to get information. She'd pick up a language and store it in the Kem-mari's database. Some people weren't exactly glad to see her, some were all too happy to meet the sister of the famous Captain Hunt."
"She's been following me…us?"
"Yes." Rommie replied.
He looked at the avatar, several emotions – confusion, frustration, anger, sadness – danced across his face before he could open his mouth to speak, "You knew she was here? You knew she was alive and you didn't think to tell me?"
"She asked me not too."
"Why?" He breathed.
"Dylan do you remember what you did to Chuck? I told Beka and the others that you just scared him, I didn't tell them what you really did to the poor kid. I mean he was from an abused home and then you go and slap him across the face. Smart move."
"What does that have to do with her being here?"
Rommie looked at Danka and then back at Dylan, "You are protective of her! You were willing to risk you life in the High Guard for your sister – what would you risk now? Your life? Your ship? Your crew? If you were that protective of her then, how protective will you be now?"
"I was never overprotective of Manna."
"Okay, let me go down the line of boys she dated who you scared off since you first became my captain – Luis, Lucian, Allan, Gregory, Philip, Kevin, Oliver, Gene, Justin, Thomas, David, Christopher, Jack, Matthew, James…"
"Alright. I get it." He interrupted, exasperated, "I just didn't want them to hurt her."
The two avatars nodded.
"Danka-Marie…"
"Danka. Manna only calls me by my full name when she's introducing me or mad at me."
"Sorry. Why did she follow me?"
She smiled at the thought, "She said she had a promise to keep."
Dylan thought back, trying to figure out which promise it was, when he remember the one from earlier that day. He smiled himself, "I didn't think she'd follow me this far."
"Well, if you put the overprotective-ness aside, she loves you. She doesn't love what you did the guys, but she does love you. More today then she did three hundred years ago. She has always loved you, Dylan. She built me to keep her mind off of what happened. She didn't want to forget you anymore then you want to forget her." Danka finished.
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Trance stared at the teenager as she ran yet another test. What they had first believed to be wrong with her wasn't it, and now they were stumped as to what was making her so ill.
"Maybe we should just give her something general. At the very least it might break her fever." Kym sighed.
"Let me just see what this result is. Then we can try that."
Kym nodded, and walked to her friend's side, "Manna. Come on. You're a fighter – you always have been, you always will be. I know you can fight this. You have to try."
"Manna?" A soft voice called
into the darkness.
"Mommy?"
Manna called back into the haze that was her dream, "Mommy, where are you? I need you!"
Suddenly the haze cleared, and she immediately realized where she was – home. Hunt Manor was laid out before her. The whitewashed mansion was set on the beginning of a huge field, woods following the perimeter and a winding creek running from the left side to the right, with it branching off to the northern side of the woods. Two androids, Lin-Mai and Kara were walking on the balcony that wrapped around the entire third floor, opening windows and watering their plants. On the wrap-around porch, Manna's mother, Elyse, was sitting and bouncing Manna's cousin, Gavin, on her knee. Two more cousins, Minerva and Pax-Juno, both wearing their favorite spring dresses, ran out of the back door and into the yard to play tag.
Manna
couldn't believe her eyes. They only
people missing were herself, Dylan, the twins, and their father.
However,
Rhys Owen Hunt soon appeared, carrying a tiny baby. A baby Manna couldn't identify. She edged closer to the home from her spot and was finally able to hear
their voices – ones she missed so very much.
"Is
there any news?" Elyse asked, looking at her husband.
"No. The High Guard are beginning believe that
Dylan and Manna were casualties of the uprising, according to Sara." He replied
solemnly, kissing the baby's cheek, "I wish they could have met their little
sister."
"We
never even got a chance to tell them."
Manna
stared at them, before her hand flew to her mouth in shock.
"If they
had been here when the adoption papers were signed, I know they would have been
happy."
That's
when she couldn't handle it anymore.
Manna's moaning had turned to screaming. Kym tried everything to make her stop, until Dylan walked in. He was immediately beside her, holding her hand in his, and at the sound of his voice, she broke down and cried – still semi-unconscious.
"What happened?" He asked, shifting around to allow himself to sit on the bed and cradle her in his arms as he had when she was young.
"I don't know. She was sleeping one minute, moaning the next, and then screaming."
He looked down at her guiltily. He was so close to having his sister back – and she was so close to joining the rest of their family in eternity.
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Kym and Danka shuffled down the hallway behind Dylan and Rommie, as they led the way to their new quarters.
"She's not gonna like this." Kym grinned, knowing exactly how their beloved Manna was going to act when she was well again.
"She can deal with me if she doesn't like it. It's not safe for her to be alone in the Kem-mari with only you two. I'd very much rather she be here where I know she's safe." Dylan replied, "And she knows it."
They turned a corner, and came to a door. He opened it, and the two avatars looked in at their new accommodations. It was much larger then their room aboard the Kem-mari, but it was filled with enough things to make it seem homier.
"Wow. This is nice. Hey, look, Kymmie – a desk. Now you can sit there and write your stories." Danka pointed out, giddy as a human child of her 'age', "Hey, cool, new clothes. We haven't had a change of clothes in like two months now."
"I take it you like it, Danka?" Dylan asked, smiling.
"Yep!" She smiled back.
"And what about you, Kym?" He asked.
"It's okay. I just wasn't expecting this. I mean you know what I'm used to – a small room with a bed and a dresser and a lamp. That's all I've ever really needed. On the Kem-mari, we had limited space so that's all I've had." She replied, taking in all that new things, "I'm just sorta…overwhelmed."
"That's alright. If you want something else, I'm sure we could find something."
"Where's Manna's room going to be?"
"A few doors away from me."
She looked at Rommie, "Where's your room?"
The other avatar pointed to the door directly across from them, "Right there."
Kym smiled, "Then this will be fine. Just be warned that I might spend a night with Manna. I'm not really used to being far away from her. I worry."
Dylan nodded, "I know the feeling. Remember when she broke her leg trying to 'fly' by jumping out of our parents' bedroom window."
She laughed, "Thank god their room was on the second floor! And it was a good thing your mother was airing out the mattress Genevieve slept on."
"How about when Genevieve had to led us to Manna because she forgot that there was a rotted board in the tree house?"
"You know, sometimes I think that dog was the only reason Manna is still alive. I used to think she had some sort of death wish. Then I figured out she was just…umm…how do I put this…insane to the point of sheer amazement." Kym smiled again.
"I know. She has her moments." Dylan said, as he sat down in the desk chair.
"She's going to be fine, you know. She's got too much of a will to live. She's too stubborn and too much like you to just give up."
"I hope so."
"You'll see. Manna has gotten out of things harder then this. And when she's back to normal, she's going to be so happy that she can finally look at you and tell you she loves you. Of course, then you're stuck with an intelligent weirdo who is more a computer database."
"You mean a second Harper." Rommie cut in.
"Not quite." Danka smiled, "She's more of a well-refined, well-schooled, polite with strangers, diplomatic, intelligent person. And I can really stress the intelligent part enough. After all, she does know twenty-nine different languages ranging from ancient Egyptian to Vedran to Than. She can do any mathematic equation in three seconds to five minutes. She can fight in hand-to-hand combat or with a force lance. She can fly any ship as long as it's not a salvage ship. And Manna can break into any computer, find what she needs, and erase any trail left by her presence in three minutes."
Dylan was astounded – he had no idea she was like that. Of course he knew of her fighting and flying capabilities – he'd been the one to teach her. And as for her computer skills and several of the languages, her mother was very smart and adamant that her children were skilled in more then just what the High Guard taught. But the math skills and most of the languages where something he was surprised by.
However, Manna had always been hungry for any knowledge she could find. Flying, reading, writing, math, English, Vedran, Diplomacy. Anything and everything, she wanted to know how and why and when. Her curiosity was powerful and all encompassing. Something that was useful and hazardous at the same time.
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Cassie Jamie