Meaghan put her head down on Dylan's desk. What was Charlemagne thinking? They couldn't possibly be together under his wife's eye, and once the baby was born, she didn't think it would take anyone, most especially Elsbeth, too much effort to figure out that Charlemagne was the father of her child.

Dylan entered quietly and sat on the edge of the desk, and Meaghan raised her head.

"Are you all right, Meaghan?" the captain queried gently. "Didn't Charlemagne take the news well?"

"That depends on how you define the word, 'well,'" she answered wearily. "He wants you to take me there to stay."

"He what?" Hunt's jaw dropped. "Is he crazy?"

"I don't know," Meaghan confessed, "But I do know that I couldn't talk him out of it. He told me that if I went anywhere else he'd find me and drag me back."

Dylan covered his eyes a moment. "Meaghan, I don't know what this says to you, but to me it says that Charlemagne must really love you. He must, to be acting so.., so..,"

"Un-Nietzschean?" she suggested.

"Exactly," he agreed. "And about the baby?"

"Actually, he seemed to be pleased about it," she informed him. "At least once he got over the fact that I hadn't been going to tell him."

The captain's eyes bugged a little. "You told him that?"

"Well, yes," she admitted. "Probably not the brightest thing I've done lately. But at least I know that my son will be loved by both parents."

Dylan looked a little amused. "Aren't you calling that a little soon? It's too early to tell..,"

"It's a boy," she interrupted him firmly.

"If you say so Meaghan." He gave in. "Now I think we need to see to your travel arrangements."

&&&&&&&&

Meaghan's leaving was an emotional one, even Harper was surreptitiously wiping his eyes on his sleeve, but finally all the good-byes were said, and she and Bekka boarded the Maru.

Bekka neatly maneuvered her ship out of the Andromeda's docking bay. "Are you ready for this, Meaghan?" Somehow over the last week, the 'Mom' had quietly dropped out of nearly everyone's speech.

"As ready as I can be, I suppose," Meaghan answered slowly. "But it's a little scary, leaving home for the first time, as it were."

Bekka turned to smile at her, but it was a sad smile. "If things get too tough, you know who to call, don't you?"

"My best friend, Bekka?" Meaghan returned the smile.

"If it's a girl, you can prove that by naming her after me." Bekka patted her hand.

"Sorry, dearie, but this one's a boy," Meaghan said. "And if one more person tells me that it's too early to tell.., Well, I just know he's a boy."

&&&&&&&

All too soon the Eureka Maru was landing at a private spaceport near Charlemagne's ducal palace. His grace himself came out to greet the new arrival.

There was a small entourage waiting a short distance away, but only Charlemagne actually entered the ship.

"Meg," he murmured, folding her into his arms.

Meaghan was scandalized. "Charlemagne," she hissed, trying to struggle free, "someone might see us."

"Not in here," he corrected her. "I had to hold you just once before we had to be formal strangers for the world." He kissed her thoroughly.

"I hate to be a wet blanket," Bekka broke in, "but if you spend too much time in here..," she let her voice trail off suggestively.

"You're absolutely right," Charlemagne agreed with a sigh. "Will you be staying with us for a while, Bekka?"

"I'd like to." Bekka was patently lying. "But it's right back to the Andromeda for me, as soon as we get Meaghan's belongings unloaded."

"There's not much," Meaghan said hurriedly, and went to get the two largish bags that contained all her possessions.

"No you don't, Meg." Charlemagne stopped her. "No lifting, you're pregnant, in case you've forgotten."

"And you're not allowed to fuss over me either," she retorted. "People are likely to talk as it is."

Bekka solved the problem by fetching the bags herself. "Shall we?" she suggested.

Meaghan almost lost her nerve at the thought of meeting so many new people at once, especially Elsbeth, who stood at the forefront of the assemblage.

"Elsbeth," Charlemagne said, "this is Meaghan. Meaghan, my wife, Elsbeth."

"Your grace." Meaghan curtsied, and remembered that this was how it had all started with Charlemagne.

"A pleasure, I'm sure," Elsbeth murmured conventionally. So this was the human who had captured her husband's fancy. And somehow, seeing the two of them, standing side by side, they almost looked as though they belonged together. But Elsbeth was not about to give in without a fight.

For her part, Meaghan saw a tall Amazonian beauty, athletic and exotic, and she wondered how Charlemagne could even think of looking at another woman when he already had this one.

Someone came forward and relieved Bekka of Meaghan's bags. "Time for me to go, Meaghan," the pilot said.

Meaghan felt her eyes begin to tear up. "Good-bye, Bekka. I'm going to miss you." They exchanged a hug, and then Bekka went back the way she had come, leaving Meaghan to face her new situation on her own.