Do I Look Dead?
Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda, Beka, Harper, the Maru, or Rev. Actually, there's a lot of things I don't own. This fic is based on a picture (which can be found at exisle.net) drawn by Beka P., who's frankly the best artist in the world, and who also provided me with a title. Well, and who also bugged me to write this! The actual story, however, is copyrighted to me. Don't steal it. You can archive it if you ask, though. I'm friendly.
Rating: PG-13, because Beka and Harper have dirty mouths.
Summary: Bad days just seem to have a habit of getting worse...
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In retrospect, Beka probably should have expected this, but should have was doing nothing for the situation. "Harper, just put down the gun," she repeated for about the fiftieth time.
"No goddamn way!"
She sighed. This was not what she had wanted to come home to after a very long day--it had started at 6 a.m. to meet a client who "didn't work well after 8 a.m."--and especially not after a long day where she'd ended up with no work, no money, no food, and frankly, no work. Her only little ray of sunshine had been the thought of Rev returning, which would lessen her workload and hopefully, help her with her new crewmember. And Rev had returned, all right, and now Harper was pointing a gun at him.
"Put down the fucking gun!"
Rev winced, and Harper glared and didn't move the gun one nanometer. "Boss, do you know what he is?"
She glared right back and considered pulling her own gun on Harper. "No," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Harper missed it, or else just didn't care. "He's a Magog! You know, the species that paralyzes, rapes, lays eggs in, and then watches as their victims' stomachs explode and then get eaten alive?!"
Beka was glad for the first time that she hadn't eaten all day, but she didn't dwell on that for very long. "Thank you for that very descriptive definition of a Magog. Now, I know anything not involving engineering, food, or Sparky flies right out of your head, but let's try and remember what I told you. Rev is a Wayist and he--"
"You left out the part where he's a fucking Magog!"
"Just because he's furry, ugly, and has horrible teeth doesn't change the fact that he's a Wayist!" Beka yelled. She was just about at the end of her rope, and Rev seemed to understand that, because he started to speak, very, very quietly and unthreateningly.
"Rebekah, perhaps it is best if I simply left until Master Harper calms down."
Beka sighed, anger deflating. She was too tired to be angry for long. "I think that would be a good idea. I'd say you should come back after Harper grows up, but we'd all be dead by then. Would that be okay with you, Harper? Rev's going to leave. Don't shoot."
"Fine," Harper said, glaring at Rev, not moving the gun, but Beka was almost certain he wouldn't fire on Rev.
She was never quite sure how the next few minutes ended as they did. Rev started to move out the door, and Beka started to move towards Harper, and somewhere in the middle of that, Beka heard a gun fire and automatically pushed Rev out of the way. Ending up on the floor wasn't anything Beka was unfamiliar with, and she'd been shot enough to know that the burning pain on her arm was the result of the gun fire, but it was the reason Harper had shot that was eluding her. Concentrating was hard, but she was vaguely aware of conversation going on around her.
"Don't touch her!"
"Master Harper, I simply want to give her medical--"
"Don't touch her, you fucking Magog! Get out!" Ah, that must be Harper...what polite language...
"I won't, I just--"
"Get out!" Beka heard the door open and close, and then Harper dropped down next to her. "Boss? Boss, are you okay?"
"Oh yeah...I'm fine...bleeding, but fine," Beka said absently, wishing Harper hadn't made Rev leave and hoping the Magog was still on the Maru. "I'd really like to get to med bay, and then I think you should go to Engineering."
"Boss?"
"Engineering. Don't ask, just go."
He helped her up and to med bay, and then after a very dirty look from Beka, left for Engineering. Beka sighed and called for Rev, who was predictably just a few feet away. "Is he all right?"
"I sent him to Engineering where he can't hear us, and thanks, I'm fine, too," Beka answered, trying to look at her arm.
"Don't," Rev said with what passed for a smile on his face, turning to get some supplies, injecting her with nanobots first. "How are you, really?"
She sighed and relaxed, letting him do his work. "Did you want the honest answer, or the tasty sugar-coated one?"
"I do not eat sugar."
That made her smile. "Thanks, Rev. I'm...tired. Hungry and in pain. A little upset that Harper didn't even give you a chance. I thought he'd come a little further than that."
Rev shook his head. "Rebekah, you must remember that Harper is from Earth. My people ravaged that planet, raping and killing many. He most likely saw many people die in the exact way that he described, possibly even family members. Give him time...and if necessary, I will leave. He needs to be here more than I do."
"I guess," Beka said, not quite happy about that. She'd really been looking forward to Rev being on the Maru. "You don't need to be on my ship to spread the Way--actually, it would probably be easier for you to spread the Way elsewhere--but the only place Harper is comfortable is here. Well, or on Earth."
Rev nodded, and finished wrapping up her arm. "That will heal nicely. Now, I will go out onto the Drift and buy you some food--do not look at me like that, Rebekah, consider it a gift. You're looking very thin, as is Master Harper."
Beka glared at him. "Harper's been thin since the day he stepped onto this ship, and I am not looking very thin, mister."
"You should talk to Master Harper!" Rev called as he made his way off the ship, and Beka sighed. Yeah, she really should talk to Harper, but that didn't mean she wanted to, or even that she was going to anytime soon.
Instead, she slumped onto the deck just outside Engineering, leaning against the wall and looking up towards--well it wasn't the heavens, because she didn't believe in that Wayist crap, but if she did believe, she would be asking for help right about now.
"Boss?"
The universe really had it out for her. "Yeah, Harper?"
"You okay?" he asked, creeping tentatively out of Engineering and sitting down across from her. "Can I get you anything?"
"You didn't shoot my leg, Harper, you shot my arm. I can walk perfectly fine," she snapped, not looking at him. "Rev says I'll be fine."
"Rev says?" Harper's voice had changed, and Beka glanced at him to see his face had changed to an expression of pure hatred that almost scared her. She had never hated anything that much in her entire life; even her dad's hatred of the big shipping companies, which was something else, was nothing compared to what she saw in Harper's eyes. "You let that thing touch you?"
"Harper, he's not a thing," Beka said, trying her best to be patient and understanding. Ironically, that was really Rev's strong point, and not really an area where Beka usually had much success. But she was trying. "He's a person...who, like I said, happens to be furry, ugly, and toothful."
Harper's look got even worse. "You don't even understand, do you? What it's like to grow up on Earth?"
"Harper...no, I don't. I realize that. But I'm not asking you to like Rev, I'm just asking you to try living with him."
"Magog don't live with people, Rebekah. They kill them."
That whole patience and understanding thing was getting harder. "Do you know how long I've known Rev?"
"No," Harper said suspiciously.
"At least three years, and he's lived on the Maru for months at a time. And do I look dead?"
She could see Harper looking for something to combat that with, and hoped that he wouldn't come up with anything. But it was a hopeless day. "I'll bet he's just waiting. You had Bobby before, for what that was worth. When the time is right, that Magog will attack you and hurt you and--"
That was it. Beka's patience and understanding went right to hell. "With all due respect, Seamus, it wasn't Rev who hurt me. That was you."
The hatred was replaced by shock, and then guilt. He got up, backing away from her, mumbling that he was going to spend time on the Drift and then was gone, leaving Beka with what she'd said.
"That's going on the list of things I never should have said," she mumbled to herself, fingering her shirt where the blood had stained it before looking back up. And even though she didn't believe in that Wayist crap, she asked for help anyway. It couldn't hurt.
Finis