Author's Note: Don't hurt me! I'm working! I'm working, I swear it! It's REAL LIFE's fault! OK, so seriously, it's my other commitments, my computer's circuitry and the fact that I share said computer with four other people (one of whom loves fiddling with it).
Now, big deep breath, thank you's in tons to: Yullia, D. Lerious, JA Baker, Snazz, Makura Koneko, Rainbowscape, darkshadow-23, Lady Parcifal, Johnny K, Desert-Rose, Persephone, and Pocky (whew, that's a lot of names; not that I'm complaining!). Thank you again, so much!
See you next chapter (and hopefully all of you won't have to show up with wet noodles to beat me with for being late).
The Child
Chapter Twelve: Return
By B.L.A. the Mouse
Carmen refocused her attention from the captain to the android. "Rommie. You might want to check that your captain isn't sleeping with his eyes open."
Hearing that, Dylan blinked, but said nothing. This was Rommie's show, as far as he was concerned.
"What are you here for?" She stepped down from the platform, coming around to the front.
Carmen adjusted something on her end before straightening, flipping her hair back carelessly. In Rommie's opinion, that seemed to be indicative of how she acted as a whole. "I don't do negotiations over a commlink. Can I come aboard?" The question was perfunctory, not really expecting a negative answer.
Keeping her eyes fixed on the screen, Rommie tilted her head toward Dylan. "Captain?"
"Excuse us," he told Carmen, pressing a button to keep the commlink on hold, as it were. "It's your call," he decided, leaning over the console to look at her, "since you're the one who has the most to deal with her about."
"I can't accidentally fire on her, can I?"
"No."
"All right, put her on." She turned back to the screen as the connection activated.
Carmen looked like she could care less about what had transpired. "So I can dock?"
"Yes." Dylan was surprised at the decision, but let it pass. Carmen obviously was as well, but didn't say anything as Rommie continued, "We'll start the docking procedures. Five minutes."
Carmen cut off the connection right before one of the crewmen piped up, "Andromeda, it doesn't take five minutes to dock."
"I know that." When she left Command deck, Dylan followed.
Once outside, she stopped at the first wall screen she came to, opening a line to her quarters. "Jenkins, I need to talk to you."
"Give me one minute."
Dylan leaned over her shoulder. "What are you doing?" he asked in an undertone.
"Attending to something," she replied in kind.
"I'm here." Jenkins sounded a little ruffled, explaining it in her next comment. "I had to get Ash away from the computer first."
Well, that sounds reasonable. The one thing they could count on with Asher was that he would get into anything that sufficiently caught his attention, and the computer display coming on would count. "Your shift ends in a few minutes. I may need you to stay later. If you can't, leave Ash with Trance or Harper."
"Understood."
"Good." Rommie shut it off. "Andromeda, ask Commander Carter to report to the landing bay. I want someone with us."
Dylan laughed- a little. "Do you think she's going to try to take over the ship?" He got a sort of déjà vu with the words; the return of Carmen had triggered a lot of memories, among them what he had said to Tyr a year and a half before.
"No." She started walking, keeping her tone calm and factual. It was a façade- her equivalent of a human stomach felt twisted and wrenched in every direction. "But she isn't here for a social visit, and I'm almost certain it has to do with her maybe taking Asher back."
"Why?" He kept up with her, even as she quickened her pace.
"Because, analyzing all cases available where the birth mother returns, she's there to take the child back."
"Rommie- Rommie, stop." He caught her arm. "Why would you even analyze that?"
"Because it's relevant!" She knocked his hand away, fuming with anger, fear, and incipient pain.
They stared at each other, time slowing to a crawl. Their eyes never wavered. Finally she breathed, voice unsteady, "I'm scared, Dylan."
"I know," he murmured.
"Do you remember," she whispered, the tears not falling from her eyes but flooding her voice, "when you told me that you were my heart, and always would be?" When he nodded, she finished, "I don't need you as a heart. I know I have one, because it hurts, right here," she laid a trembling hand over her breast.
He silently pulled her into a hug, For her comfort, he told himself. He shied away from the thoughts that she had raised, focusing solely on soothing her.
When they reached the bay, Commander Carter was already there. He saluted sharply. "Sirs."
Rommie, poised and polished to external examination, nodded, and Dylan muttered a word of acknowledgement before they turned their attention to the woman exiting the small craft.
...dark smoke billowed out...
She looked up. "The royal welcome, I see. Captain, avatar, and security."
Dylan had to suppress the urge to shake his head. This wasn't Carmen the Mystery Woman, in labor and her ship damaged; this was Carmen Lark, returned and reinvented.
"...an engineer. I need a doctor..."
The voice sounded a lot alike, though. "Welcome aboard. Again." Since he was forced to be diplomatic, he extended a hand, but it fell to his side when she ignored it, stepping past him to face Rommie, only a few feet away.
The android stared at the woman, thinking briefly and fleetingly of the last time they'd stood like this. Then Rommie had been holding a borrowed baby, and Carmen bags. Then she had never taken care of a child before. Then Carmen had been a blond. "You were on Poetry, weren't you?" she asked, knowing the answer already. "You were watching Asher and Spark and I."
A single nod answered. "It was the hair, wasn't it? He warned me it would get noticed."
"It did. You were the only red-haired person around at the time. Did you do it intentionally?"
"The hair and the watching, yes. The getting noticed, no."
Dylan observed the exchange, mystified and fascinated. The conversation was puzzling to anyone other than the two of them.
At this juncture, Carmen cleared her throat and straightened, throwing back her shoulders in a burst of confidence. In that moment, she looked only superficially like the woman who had arrived and left, nervously aloof, a year and a half ago. "I'd like to see my son."
"I'm surprised you even remember that you had a boy." Rommie's voice held a faint strain of bitterness, undetectable in her manner, and the faint stress on "had" did not go unnoticed. "Wouldn't you prefer to have a few hours to get your bearings first?"
"You don't want me to see him yet. All right. So you're the one taking care of him?"
"Yes. Someone has to." Rommie let her eyes slide up to meet Carmens. "You left, after all."
Carmens lips quirked into an unpleasant smirk. Dylan saw it, anticipating the fur that was about to fly, and intervened. "Carmen, are you going to be here a while?"
She considered a moment. "Probably."
"Well, then, why don't we just put you in crew quarters until we get this sorted out? Commander," he called over Carter before she could get a word in, "take Ms. Lark here to one of the empty crew quarters, would you, and just make sure Andromeda knows which ones to tell me. She can return for her things later, if she needs them."
"Sir!" The officer jumped to attention, taking Carmen firmly by the arm and guiding her out of the bay, ignoring her unlawful oath.
Dylan turned to Rommie again now. "What was that? I know this is hard, but you have to keep it together, at least in front of her."
"I'm sorry." She crossed her arms. "But sometimes, I think of Carmen, and how she just... left him here without even an explanation. I get angry then, but now that she's actually onboard it's even worse."
Okay, time to delegate. "You go back to your quarters, explain the situation to Lieutenant Jenkins, and take care of Asher. I'll let the rest of the senior staff know." She nodded. "Go!" As soon as she'd left, he asked, "Andromeda, where is everybody?"
The hologram flickered in on her avatar's heels, looking unnerved and impeccable, as always. "Beka and Tyr are in his quarters, Trance is in Hydroponics, and Harper is on the Maru."
Dylan decided to tackle Beka and Tyr first. After only a moment's wait outside the latter's quarters, the door slid open. Tyr- who else?- stood on the other side. He glanced at the captain, then stood aside. "Come in."
Beka was sitting on the sofa, legs tucked under her. "What's up?" She was pretty sure he wouldn't interrupt them off-duty, at least nowadays, unless it was dire. There were always eager people to do someone's bidding.
"We have a problem." Dylan looked around the room- there were a couple of bags on the bed, with clothes spilling out. They'd spent at least some of the time they were in here sorting out the mixed clothes, even he could tell that much.
"That would be obvious. What is it?" Tyr closed the door, coming around to where he could talk directly to both of them, making almost a triad shape.
Dylan took a very deep breath before speaking. "Carmen's back."
"What?" Beka exploded, getting to her feet faster than either of the other two would have thought possible. "She's dead! Isn't she?"
"That's what I thought."
Tyr frowned. "And how exactly has she accomplished the miraculous act of returning from a fiery death?"
"I don't know." Dylan rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling a little helpless. "She's back, and Rommie thinks she wants Asher. We've put her up in crew quarters for the time being."
"So we don't know why she's here, whether she wants Asher, or why she isn't dead, and you gave her quarters?" Incredulous, Tyr shook his head. "This is idiocy."
"Tyr, a wise man once said to keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
"And exactly how long did that man live?"
Beka stared up at the ceiling, commenting idly, "This isn't helping." When they both backed down- metaphorically- she put her hands on her hips and continued, "So we know she's back, despite the fact that she died over a year ago, and that's it?"
"Two weeks ago, while we were planetside, Rommie saw Carmen watching her and Asher. She didn't report it to anyone because she didn't know it was Carmen at the time." Dylan waited a moment, through somewhat stunned silence.
"Dammit," Beka finally sighed.
Tyr completed the thought, muttering, "This is a problem."
Trance looked up as Rommie entered, very shaky. The android had checked with Andromeda when neither boy nor officer were in her quarters, and was told that Jenkins had had to leave him with the golden girl. "Something come up?" she asked, already knowing that something had- part and parcel of feeling the time-streams. Something directly involving the Andromeda crew had been approaching for some time now, and had almost come to a head. A few more twists and turns and it would be resolved, she hoped; she had a feeling that that was what Rommie was distressed about.
Rommie explained, shedding a great deal of light onto the matter, but still not enough, "Carmen's back."
"But she's dead, isnt she?" Trance kept her features carefully controlled as she trimmed a twig off Gracie before adding some water to the soil.
Shaking her head, Rommie leaned on the edge of the table Trance was working at. "How often do we see people who are supposedly dead?"
"A lot?" she suggested, getting a black look that didnt quite make it.
"I'm sorry, it's just been a long day," Rommie sighed, straightening. "Lieutenant Jenkins left Asher here?"
"Yeah, he was right-" Trance turned to find empty space, "-here?"
"Ash? Where are you?" she rose her voice enough to make herself heard. She knew he was in the room, and was pretty sure where, but sensors only went so far.
A small giggle betrayed that he was behind a planter, like she thought. She decided to make a game out of it and went down on her hands and knees, crawling toward the planter. "You know, Trance, I can't possibly think where he might be." Another giggle escaped. "Wait, I might know where he is. But when he's so quiet, I can't be sure." Following the trail of another titter, she went around the corner and came face to face with the grinning wraith. "I found him!"
Trance smiled, watching as the avatar picked him up, getting a sloppy kiss in return. She had always enjoyed watching them together, and now she set aside her tools and observed them as they laughed together. It was a good sight, a little spot of happiness in a too-often-troubled universe. She could see the wisdom in her younger self's perfect possible future more often when they were around, wanting to promote more such scenes of harmony.
Her train of thought was interrupted when Harper stormed in, waving a nanowelder. "Where is she? I'll kill her!"
"Harper!" Rommie scowled at him. Asher, still up in her arms, stared at him; hed seen the engineer mad maybe once before.
"Sorry, babe," he muttered, somewhat chastened.
Dylan was obviously pursuing Harper, as the doors opened just then. "Would you calm down!" he bellowed, then realized that he had four people staring at him. In a belated attempt to save his dignity, he cleared his throat and said, "Since I see you already have, I guess I'm a little late." The suppressed smiles sent a wave of heat to his face, and he attempted to change the subject. "Since we're already here and know, now would be a good time to see what our options are... Or most of us, anyway. Where are Beka and Tyr? They were right behind me."
Andromeda's voice resonated through the room. "They're right outside, but I wouldn't advise interrupting them!" Her voice rose dangerously on the last few syllables, but the warning came too late.
The captain punched the controls and the door slid open in just enough time for Beka to fall onto him, knocking both of them over. Tyr nearly added himself to the pile but managed to stumble to a stop.
"Ouch! Dammit, Dylan, why'd you open the door?" Beka accepted Tyr's hand and got to her feet.
"Why were you leaning on it?" he asked, then his eyes widened as he thought about it. "Oh, never mind, I don't think I want to know."
She crossed her arms stubbornly. "We were talking before we came in." She glanced over at Tyr, who merely shifted and twitched his hair back over his shoulder.
Harper commented, "Rommie, don't you always say that Dylan is 'in conference' when- Ow!" He rubbed at the arm she swatted at.
Tyr glared at him, then stated, "I believe we're all here."
Dylan swallowed, still looking like he thought they were lying through their teeth. "Yes, we're here, and we all know what's going on, so what do you think?" Rommie had set down Asher, and now Dylan picked him up. The child had picked up on the general air, and now clung tightly to his hero, especially since Blob was still behind the planter.
"I'm all for sending her out a missile launcher," Beka offered.
"That's reasonable," Tyr added. "We'd eliminate her tendencies to abandon people from the gene pool."
The captain eyed them as if they were crazy. He did agree, actually, but... "That isn't an option. We're not allowed."
"Too bad," Harper remarked, then his eyes lit up. "Hey, maybe I could rig up something to send her into another dimension or a few galaxies over or something! Maybe use the teleporter- no, that wouldnt work, no black hole- or... Yeah! Where'd I put the rest of my tesseract machine? I mean, time, space, it's all relative, right?"
"No, we shouldn't play with time now," Trance decreed, staring fixedly at a point in the middle distance, one that only she could see. Beka, Tyr, Harper, and Dylan got a simultaneous shiver down their respective spines when she did that, as they always did.
"So we're entertaining Carmen onboard until we can find out what she's here for?" Tyr was not enthused about the prospect.
Beka swore volubly, fluidly, and with wonderful timing.