Summary: When Harper starts upgrading Rommie's systems, things start to change onboard.

Codes: Beka/Rommie

Disclaimer: Tribune owns all rights to Andromeda. I just borrowed them for use in my twisted little tale.

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: None specifically, but I cannibalized everything before "Soon the Nearing Vortex."

Feedback: Please! I love praise and constructive criticism, but flames will be reserved for clearing snow off the driveway.

Archive: Ask first and I'll probably say yes.

Authors Note: I was in a mildly weird mood, and felt like writing Beka/Rommie just to get away from the Beka/Tyr I'm working on at the moment. Throw in some wondering on exactly how advanced her systems are, and you get this fic.

For Want Of An Organ

By B.L.A. the Mouse

Beka was surprised to see Rommie pouring coffee first thing in the morning. For that matter, she was surprised to see her in the mess, and she was really surprised to see her pouring the coffee for herself. "Uh, hi."

"Good morning. Do you want some?" Without waiting for a response, Rommie filled a second cup and handed it to her.

"Thanks" She accepted it, bewildered, but didn't start drinking immediately. Instead, she watched as Rommie took a sip of hers. "Um, I thought you didn't have a stomach."

Rommie walked over to the nearest table- her choice, as the room was otherwise deserted- and sat. She gestured for Beka to do the same. "Harper has been gradually rerouting my circuits and creating a few of the more pertinent human organs for me, so I can have a more human experience. He finished my stomach last night."

Beka nodded, slowly. "Okay, I get it. But what qualifies as a pertinent organ?"

"Stomach, primarily. A primitive circulatory system, so I can more easily see if my dermis has been breached, as well as to make my skin warmer to the touch. My skin itself being slightly less stiff. Harper's the only one whos mentioned it, but apparently it doesn't feel quite like a humans." She jumped as Beka reached over and ran a hand down her arm.

"Sorry, feels normal to me. I'm surprised he didn't suggest sex organs first."

She grinned, but nearly spit her coffee out when Rommie told her, matter-of-factly, "He did. I informed him that I wanted a stomach before I wanted a vagina."

Beka bent forward, coughing and spluttering. After she'd gotten the fluid out of her lungs, she wheezed, "Have mercy."

"Sorry."

There really wasn't much to say to that. Silence held for the next few minutes, until Rommie said, "Incidentally, we're going to be docking at Haukin Tau Drift today. Dylan's decided to let the senior staff have the night off, as well as tomorrow with the rest of the crew." She stood, staying close but looking like she wanted an escape route. "I heard from one of the crew that there's a decent restaurant there. After what happened last week, I thought you might be interested in a good dinner. Would you like to come?"

Beka considered. "Well, it's food, in a restaurant, it'd be stupid to turn it down. Sure." She deliberately avoided all references to the week before. "What time?"

"Nineteen hundred. I'll meet you at the airlock."

Rommie waited patiently by the airlock, but smiled when Beka arrived, walking so fast that one of her boots literally skidded to a stop. "You don't have to hurry so much, you're on time."

"Yeah," she said, breathing a little hard, "but I figured that since you'd probably tell me to go change..." She shrugged.

Rommie glanced over her. While hardly dressed up, she had added more makeup and rings than usual, and had pulled one of the shirts that she only wore when she was going off the ship for a date- one of the non-cleavage-exposing shirts, anyway. "This restaurant isn't that upscale. You look fine."

"I feel so flattered," Beka remarked, but grinned. "Are we supposed to be waiting for anyone?"

"No, we should go."

The walk there was noisy from the shops, kiosks, eateries and clubs surrounding them. Neither of them tried to talk much; if they had, their voices would have been drowned out.

The silence held until they were sitting in the restaurant. After ordering, Beka relaxed slightly. "You're right, this is pretty good."

"The food itself, however, remains to be seen." All the same, she smiled. "I'm glad you agreed to come. I've never done this before."

"You'll be fine," Beka assured her. She glanced up and stopped when the waiter arrived with drinks and assurances that their food would be there in a minute. "You've got the basics of eating down, right? It's not that hard."

"Yes, I know, but that doesn't prevent me from being tense, does it?"

The conversation lapsed at that point, and it wasn't until after they had been served that either of them spoke again. Beka asked, slowly but curiously, "Why did you tell me you thought that I should do this after last week?"

The question startled Rommie, to the extent that she set down the fork that she had been fighting with. "You were on Med deck for three days, and then you went straight back to duty. You didn't even get a day off. I thought that it was unfair and that you deserved a break."

Beka had, last week, been running a message to Terazed in a slipfighter. It was supposed to be an easy trip, two days tops. On the way back, she'd been attacked by a stray Nietzschean fighter; the fighter was destroyed, while the slipfighter was badly crippled, to the point where it was barely even a shell. It had drifted for days before Andromeda had been able to find it.

When the slipfighter had been towed aboard, they'd found Beka onboard, starving, dehydrated, and three-quarters asphyxiated. It had taken them an entire day to bring her back to full consciousness.

"I appreciate it," Beka said finally, twisting her fork through the pasta she'd ordered. "To tell you the truth, I was scared, more than anything else."

"Of what?" Rommie inquired.

"My brother taking the Maru, or someone selling it for scrap. Breaking promises to Dylan and Harper. Uncle Sid doing something even more criminal than usual without someone to keep him in check, or Dylan going off the deep end." She took a bite. "I think the regrets were worse though," she added thoughtfully.

"Like what?"

"Probably what everyone else thinks when they think they're going to die." She shrugged. "Missing the big score. Not finding the right person. Doing things differently, especially back when Dad was alive and on Flash." She laughed- shortly. "I even made a list of people that I'd have propositioned if I met them in a bar instead of onboard. Tyr, of course-"

"I've noticed," Rommie marked dryly. "It was rather obvious. Who else?"

Beka shrugged. "Some of the Lancers, some of the fliers." After a moment, she quickly tagged on, "You made the list."

She... stopped. She hadn't expected to hear that. "Thanks." She grinned at Beka's surprised look. "What did you think I was going to say?"

"Well, I was hoping for something that included 'Take me now!'..."

Rommie started giggling. "Sorry. I can't do that, remember?"

"Too bad." Beka was laughing, too; it escalated to the point where the people around them were giving them funny looks before they managed to stop.

Beka was still holding her aching stomach when she managed, "Actually, I wouldn't be exactly put out if you said that."

"Actually," Rommie leaned forward conspiratorially as she echoed her words, "I'd answer 'Take me now!' if it werent for the fact that I can't yet."

"Ah, possibilities."

"If you want possibilities, we passed enough clubs on the way here. Do you want to go to one?"

Rommie started to worry, the way Beka stared at her, until the latter said, "Did you plan this?"

"Only the dinner."

Harper was waiting impatiently for Trance to finish examining a plant at one of the kiosks when he saw Beka and Rommie coming down the main hallway of the drift, chatting animatedly. He practically dived in front of them- anything to get away from the ferns. "Hey! Where're you guys going?"

They glanced at each other, and for no reason he got a very nervous feeling down his spine. Then Beka said, in her normal tone of voice, "We're thinking of going to one of the clubs. You gonna come?" and the nervous feeling went away.

"Yeah, lemme get our resident golden girl and we can go. Long as it's got wine, women, and song, I'm happy." He darted back through the crowds to Trance.

Within short order, they'd managed to get inside one of the establishments. Rommie and Trance had winced slightly at the music's volume and elbowing crowds, but Beka and Harper were in their element. The four of them took over a booth in the back; they had to scrunch a little, so Rommie and Trance were squished at the back.

Once they were settled, Beka commanded, "Pool it. Do we still have enough left for a round?" The entrance fee had been steeper than they anticipated, and he and Trance at least had bought a few things before they ran into the other two.

One by one they dug into their pockets and tossed the money to the center. Credit chips and coins clinked into the pile. When they'd finished donating, Harper poked through the heap, assessing as best he could. "Ten... fifteen... twenty... One, two, three... Twenty-five thrones," he declared. "I got a peek at the drink prices. Beka, Trance, your usual?" When they nodded, he went on, "That means... Rommie, as long as you get something under three bucks, we have two rounds." He added, "That means beer, water, or straight alcohol."

Beka looked over at him, and they chorused, "Beer."

Rommie's gaze was flickering between them. "Why beer?"

Beka patted her shoulder. "Trust me, it's good if it's your first time drinking."

"All right, you'd know," she assented.

Harper, being the guy on the end and the one least likely to be accosted, molested, or have difficulty carrying four bottles at once, was kicked out of the booth and given a handful of change and a number of orders. Left to his own devices, he darted and elbowed his way up to the bar.

After that effort, he squirmed his way back. As he set the bottles on the table, he reeled off, "Near-beer for Beka, beer for Rommie and yours truly, and water for Trance. I-" He noticed that there was only one other person at the table. "Uh, Trance, where did Beka and Rommie go?"

"Dancing," she chirped, reaching for her bottle. "I'd be with them, but someone had to stay here."

He sighed. "Fine, go. I'll stay here and guard the fort."

"I can't make you stay here alone."

"Trance" He slitted his eyes as he looked at her. "Do you know something?"

"No more than you do."

He kept glancing at her for a minute, then gave up. "Ah, whatever. We'll keep the seats warm." He slid over next to her and stared at the mass of dancers. "Where are they?"

Beka opened her eyes, just enough to see where Rommie was undulating only a few feet in front of her. They were in the thick of the crowd, being pressed in on all sides by heated bodies. Beka reached out and pulled her closer, essentially sandwiching herself between Rommie and the man she was dancing with. "Stay near me," she shouted over the music, "or you'll get lost in this crowd."

"That's easy," she heard Rommie reply, but wasn't sure to which part of the statement. Rommie shifted even closer, till they were flush against each other, and continued dancing.

Over the next song they synchronized, moving together in time to the rapid heavy beat as the man behind Beka slipped away. Rommie leaned back and fit her form against Beka's; in response Beka slid an arm around her waist and held her there.

The next song was slower. Beka hesitated, not sure what to do. Rommie paused a moment, then turned and yelled, "I'm not sure how to do this." She must have figured it out, as she stepped closer and put her arms around Beka's waist. Taken by surprise, Beka froze, then relaxed and slid her own around Rommie's shoulders.

As they swayed to the music, not able to do much else in the crush of people, Rommie put her head against Beka's shoulder. She jumped, not expecting it, then let it go, inclining her forehead against the android's hair and moving.

By the time they got back to the table, Beka was sweating, and Rommie herself was feeling off-balance. They slid into the booth; Beka immediately picked up her bottle and started gulping. After she finished about a quarter, she set it down and said, "I needed that, but damn, I wish it was real beer."

Rommie heard her, barely, as she examined the stuff in her own bottle. After taking a quick sip, she pushed it away, wondering why humans liked it.

Harper was halfway through his already. "What happened to you guys?"

Beka shrugged. "We got caught up dancing. You can go if you want, and we'll do penance here."

"Fine. Come on, Trance."

Rommie watched the other two disappear into the crowd. "Beka, why did you tell him to leave?"

"Because he wanted to, and I think Trance did too." Beka drained some more of her bottle. "Besides, I wanted to talk to you, it's too loud on the floor, and Harper hanging around could be awkward."

"What do you want to talk about?" Rommie intentionally stared at her drink and played dumb.

"Hmm... Let's start with dinner and cover up to the dancing. So what are we doing?"

"If youre willing to try something, I am." Rommie stared intently at the bottle until she heard Beka answer.

"Sure, as long as it means I can do this."

Surprised, she turned her head to look at the other woman, but didn't even have a chance to frame the first letter of her question before she was unable to. The kiss was very long and slow. Beka had leaned so Rommie could push her away if she wanted to, but she didn't want to. Instead, she went on impulse, tilting her head and sliding a hand behind Beka's neck.

Beka coaxed her mouth open, not doing anything else, but Rommie could taste her drink on her breath and lips. They stayed that way, for a drawn-out moment, until Beka pulled back reluctantly. "I'm sorry, but I have to breathe."

"That's all right." Rommie sat back and studied her as she took another swig. "Why did you want real beer? It's not that impressive."

"It's not the taste, Rommie, it's the whole thing. It's getting buzzed once in a while. It's going a little crazy and having a ready excuse the next day. Besides," Beka leaned forward confidentially, "it tastes much better when you're drinking it out of someone else's mouth."

Rommie wasn't quite sure how to take that.

"Look, you've never had to worry about just day-to-day surviving," she explained. "The best way I know off to take the edge off is to go out, get blitzed, and spend the night with someone once in a while."

"So is this taking the edge off?" Rommie was a little fazed.

"Not exactly. I'm not getting blitzed, and Im not sure whether you want to do more than just one night. If you don't, great, we'll forget it tomorrow. If you do, then we go from here." She sat back and waited.

She was starting to get the feeling that Beka was evading her gaze, exactly like she had earlier. "I think I should be insulted. Still..." and the other woman jumped as she slid a hand over her thigh, "I think I would like to do more than one night."

"Are you really as inexperienced as I thought, or are you just a really good liar?" Beka was staring at her in disbelief, probably because her hand was currently tracing patterns over her knee.

"I have a very big database," Rommie explained. "So how long do we have before Trance and Harper show up?"

"Half an hour, maybe, and then we can either send them for more drinks or we can go back on the dance floor."

She considered a moment. "I like the odds," she decided. She moved to kiss Beka, grinning as she did.

Harper opened one eye and winced against the light. "Ow..." He groped blindly at the bedside table for the painkiller he'd put there before going out the night before. He also knocked about five things off, cringing as he heard them hit the floor- partly from the idea of damage, but partly from the assault on his senses.

He gave himself a dose from long practice and waited a minute before getting up. By the time he was dressed, the hangover was almost entirely gone. He began to pick up what he'd knocked over.

One flexi hadn't been there the night before. He picked it up, activating it as he sat on the bed.

It was a standard High Guard requisition form, signed by Rommie with Beka's authorization stamp. It seemed typical that she would ask for something in that form, even though it was for her next organ system.

It was the next line that made him pause. "Sex organs?" They'd agreed that he would work on her skin and circulatory systems next. Still, it was her prerogative, so why not.

The specifics, though, made him glad he was sitting down- what part of him was still thinking, anyway.

"Flavored?"

Beka looked up from her holonovel as Rommie walked in. "How'd it go?"

"Which part?" Rommie sat down next to her. "He approved of Harper building me better body parts. He did not approve of us being involved."

"It's Dylan, what did you expect?" Beka really wasn't surprised. Theyd thought Dylan at least should have a head's-up, and didn't plan on it going well. "He'll get over it."

"Eventually." She moved over enough to just wedge her knee behind Beka.

She was about to protest until she felt Rommie's hands rubbing at her shoulders. She looked back at the holonovel, but could tell that Rommie was distracted- she kept stopping and starting again. "What's up?"

"Harper informed me that he has finished most of the work already. He can install everything tomorrow."

"Finally," Beka gave up on the holonovel and shut it off, "it's only taken him four months."

"It was a surprise," Rommie reasoned. "And I don't mean just the sex organs, I mean everything. He's finished all the organs and systems and can install all of them."

"At one go?"

"Yes, even some nanobots for the circulatory system for self-repair."

"Wow, he is thorough."

"I'll be done by tomorrow night, except for basic maintenance." Rommie's hands tightened significantly.

"Oh." Then she jumped as she felt those hands slide down her back and start doing... not-unpleasant things. "You know, sometimes I wonder about that database."

"It's just basic schematics of the human body, pressure points, nerve endings..."

Beka jumped again as she demonstrated one of those nerve endings. "You are way too good at this. I'm almost scared." She turned and kissed her.

"Don't be." Rommie pulled away and pushed herself up. "I have a duty shift tonight. Harper'll start early tomorrow, so I won't be able to see you until late."

Beka grinned and watched her walk out; she would have sworn that there was a deliberate swagger there.

"Beka," Rommie said softly. She studied her; her eyes were closed, but brainwaves suggested that she was still awake. "Beka." Nothing. She pursed her lips and blew across Beka's stomach.

"Mm, what? I was nearly asleep," she mumbled, not even opening her eyes.

"Not much." Noticing that Beka was still on the verge of falling asleep, she kissed her stomach and started in a line up to her chin.

Now she stirred. Opening her eyes enough to look down, she argued, "I know you don't have to sleep, but I do. And I'd like the bruises to fade before you give me new ones."

"I left bruises? Where?" Slightly appalled, Rommie crawled up beside her.

"My shoulder." Accordingly, there was a perfect black-and-blue set of fingerprints on one shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She rested her head on the other pillow. "I didn't mean to."

Beka was almost fully awake now, and fighting to stay that way. "It's all right. Believe me, I've had worse."

"How?"

"Grating burn."

Rommie winced.

"Yeah." Beka smiled at her reaction, then shivered and reached for the blanket at the end of the bed. Rommie stretched an arm over and helped to pull it over both of them. She didn't technically need it, since she was an android, but decided that it was probably the best idea.

Beka was asleep within minutes, but Rommie lay there for a long time. Finally, she wriggled close to Beka, careful not to disturb her. "I thought you might want to know," she breathed, watching as the air she exhaled stirred the fine down over Beka's skin, "that I promise not to bruise you tomorrow. And I'm going to talk to Harper about a program so I can sleep." As a last thought, she moved her mouth close to Beka's ear and added, "I'm glad you made the list."

The End