Exits Part 3: Loyalty
3.1
Disclaimer: I own nothing and am getting no money
After the Events Shown in "Be All My Sins Remembered"
Beka Valentine looked in the engine room at the boy who'd become part of her crew. Really, he was her only crew member now. Her only crew member was a scrawny, baby-faced punk. Of course she could see through that act to the kicked puppy he hid from the world. He had the wariest eyes she had encountered. He wasn't just paranoid; he was the cagiest person she had encountered. They were the only two people on the Maru and he still kept his guard up and eyes searching for hidden enemies. The way he ate was the worst, hunched over the plate, fork in his fist, shoveling at an unthinkable rate.
He was a good engineer though; she had to admit that. He spoke the language of machines and was their pied piper. Bobby had found her a clever kid; despite his paranoid quirks. "Ah, Bobby" she sighed very quietly. The kid didn't even look up. He was still sitting cross-legged, leaning back at an incredibly awkward limbo angle under a console tinkering away. Beka shook her head and started walking down the hall.
Bobby. Bobby had betrayed her and now was gone. But she missed him. The rational part of her knew he had to go, he could no longer trust him. But there was a definite, large, and unfortunately loud par of her that missed him. She had loved him and now he was gone. She found herself in the Maru's galley. She found herself at the liquor cabinet with the key in her hand. She shook her head as she pushed the key into its slot. "Just a nip to dull this" she told herself, turning the shard of metal in her hand. The door easily swung open and she brought the bottle of amber liquid to the little table. She had no idea what it was. She didn't normally drink; she didn't drink at all after watching the poisons destroy her father. But she couldn't deal with this right now. She just needed a little break from these thoughts.
She had loved Bobby, trusted him and she wound up betrayed. He was gone now. Before that she had loved her father, trusted him. He was dead because of his own selfishness. He couldn't stop himself, not even for her and he wound up dead. So he was gone now too. She was alone on her ship with a mudfoot who probably would be jumping ship at the next drift. Why would he stay? No one ever stayed. She didn't trust him and she didn't plan to. He was just going to leave anyway and she was going to be really alone.
So she drank. It started out as the one shot she had told herself she would have. Then she had another, and another. She drank until the world was a colorful blur. She sat alone in the galley laughing at the top of her lungs, neck made of gelatin. Apparently her unrestrained merriment caught the attention of her resident handyman because Harper cautiously crept into the galley.
He found his captain ridiculously drunk and banging around the kitchen. "Ah, boss, maybe you should sit down, drink some water or something." Beka proceeded to stumble across the room and hug him. He stiffened in her grasp; he was not accustomed to people hugging him. "Aww kid!" Beka was the first "happy drunk" he had encountered. He was more than familiar with the "Violent drunk", and an occasional "Sad drunk", or "Mad Drunk". He also had some experience with "Incoherent Drunk", which seemed to be where Beka was heading.
"You little—I know you" She attempted to push off him and nearly fell. She was completely and utterly plastered. "You're the mudfoot..."
"OK, very good boss" he told her as she easily caught her and set her back on her wobbly feet. She proceeded to throw up on his shoulder and down his back. It was quite disgusting.
"Sorry" she mumbled. But the trooper that he was he simply slipped out of the soiled shirt and began steering Beka towards her bathroom. If he had a throne for every time he was puked on, well, he'd have 17 thrones.
Beka was really, really drunk. He didn't know why but Harper felt like he had to help her out. Beka was the best boss he had ever had. He mainly did freelance designs and repairs, but that didn't stop his temporary employers from knocking him around or treating him like dirt. Beka was the first who just left him to his repairs, treated him like he was worth the space he took up and she actually concerned herself with feeding him.
He'd been drunk many, many times in his life. He started when his parents died and he still got himself trashed on a semi-regular basis. But his boss, she didn't seem like someone with that habit. This was probably the first time she got really trashed and she needed someone to take care of her. Nothing was worse than waking up gross, hung over and after a night of sleeping on the floor. Well, there were worse things but that really couldn't be called fun.
Normally he might have felt awkward about walking the halls of the Maru topless; his scars clear on his pale drawn skin. But, he was pretty sure in this state Beka wasn't going to remember any of this in the morning.
When then got to their destination Beka threw up some more. "Ah the fun side of drinking, paying homage to the drunk's prime god." He set her down on her bathroom floor and left for a minute. He returned with a glass of water and a tee shirt. He put the glass on the counter by the sink and pulled on the white shirt. What he was about to do required at least a little more clothing on his part. Sitting with Beka on the floor he untied her boots and slid them off. She needed a shower. Beka had stopped laughing and now was just in a semiconscious drunken stupor. "Boss, I am not taking advantage of you. We are just going to take a little shower and get you all nice and clean. Because, well you are pretty gross right now boss." He took off his boots and then pulled off her top without any resistance. Putting an arm around her he pulled her to stand with him. Blushing like a madman he got her pants off. "This is for your own good boss" he assured her. Her underwear remained exactly where it was, he was incredibly embarrassed to be helping his new boss into the shower, but she couldn't just stay gross.
Beka leaned against him and he put them both under the warm water of the shower. Her neck twisted and she rested her head against his neck. "You are going to leave me" she told him, simply, drunkenly.
"Nah boss, this is the best job I've ever had." He managed to lean back and grab a sponge to gently clean her up. Still dazed, she could feel the warm water on her skin, and it was nice. She felt safe; someone was taking care of her.
He pulled her out of the shower, now clean. They made it to Beka's room and he sat her on the bed. Without the support of the mudfoot she simply fell back across the bed.
"Whee" was all she said about this.
"You really are quite drunk"
Rummaging through her drawers Harper came up with some bed clothes and helped her get dressed. She still had on the wet underwear, but he was not going to do anything about that. Actually he was still dripping wet himself and he sloshed as he left the room. Retrieving the glass of water from the bathroom he returned and made her drink it. "You'll feel better in the morning if you drink it" he told her, sure she had no idea he was even there.
"No"
"I think I know a little more about drinking yourself into oblivion than you boss trust me, drink." She complied and even drank another glass when he offered it.
Then Harper tucked in his boss, very gently. He made sure she was all coved up with the big warm comforter and left her to sleep. "Good Night boss" he told her heading down the hall to find some dry clothes before he went back to the repairs these activities had taken him away from.
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Beka woke up the next morning in her bed. The night before was a complete fog. She groaned, she must've gotten really drunk last night. But, she felt better than she thought she would. She rolled out of bed. She was wearing a pajama combination she'd never seen together before, plaid shorts and a sweatshirt. She tried to remember what had gone on the night before as she got dressed for the day. She remembered she had sat down in the galley and started drinking. She looked around for her boots. She remembered being in the bathroom. Going there she found her boots and sat down to put them on. Racking her brain for what had happened while she was intoxicated she remembered taking a shower. But that was all she could recall.
In the galley she found breakfast, as well as the empty liquor bottle next to the sink. She had drunk the whole bottle. She groaned again, hopefully she had steered clear of Harper in this state. If she hadn't he'd probably lost all respect for her. She knew what having a drunk for a captain did to a crew. Her father rarely kept a crewman more than a few runs before they left, sick of Ignatius' habits.
She found Harper in the engine room. "Hey boss" he greeted her. He was working under a different panel this time but still in a position that could only be achieved by the limber mudfoot. "Hey kid" she responded. "How's it going?"
"Not bad, I'll have the environmental systems in tip top condition by this afternoon."
"Good" she turned to leave when she suddenly got a clear flash of the night before. Harper had seen her drunk; he'd taken care of her. It was actually pretty hard to believe. The little hoodlum didn't seem like he had it in him. Then she thought about that kicked puppy beneath the surface. Maybe beneath that was someone who cared.
Beka didn't know what to do now. Harper had taken care of her while she was drunk. She was pretty sure she had vomited on him. Could they possible have a normal relationship now? Could things go back to the way they had been? She turned around to face the engine room again.
Harper was still working. "Anything I can do for you boss?' He apparently could act like it never happened. Could she? Apparently the self proclaimed genius also had ESP because he added, "It was nothing boss, you'd have done the same for me." Then he rolled under a conduit out of sight. Beka was pretty sure they both knew she would have left him right where he fell and thoroughly reprimanded him this morning. But, he had taken care of her. She couldn't remember last time someone had taken care of her. She doubted anyone had taken care of Harper either. But apparently, they would take care of each other.
Beka walked back to the
command deck to check the mail, see if there were any job offers. What she found was mostly bills. But, there was one job offer; it was to
salvage in the Ungari system. She had never been to the Ungari
system. As far as she knew there wasn't
much out there. But, a job was a job so
she sent an acceptance reply and plotted the slipstream course to the Ungari system.
Jerrick paced the halls of his home.