Chapter Four: Playing Dumb

"Did you hear that?"

Allie sat straight up in her bed--only she could do that without cracking her skull open, a fact which she repeated whenever Vex sat up, smacked his head, and cursed.  Which he did at that very moment.

"Goddammit!  What, cherry?  Do you know what time it is?" Vex complained, drawing his gun all the same and looking around.  "I don't hear anything."

"I heard something...and Beka's not supposed to be back until later," Allie said.  "Stay here."

Vex rolled his eyes and lay back down, almost falling back to sleep.  Allie knew he wouldn't go totally back to sleep until he knew everything was safe; he wasn't stupid.  Beka would kill them both if anything happened to the Maru.

Allie crept through the halls in bare feet, ignoring the chill of metal, going towards the sound she knew she'd heard.  She climbed up the ladder and saw that she'd been right--two men were rummaging through the cargo.  And not just any cargo, those were the boxes that had the stuff from Beka's mother, Allie's aunt that had died.  "Play dumb, Allie...they'll leave..." she whispered, tring to convince herself as she stepped boldly into the cargo bay.  "Hi."

They whirled around, guns pointed.  Allie jumped, eyes wide.  "What are you doing here?" one of the men growled as they put there guns down.

Play dumb.  "I live here.  Why are you here?" she asked innocently, playing up on the sweetness.

"That's none of your business.  Go back to bed, little girl."

She stepped forward.  "Are you stealing my cousin's stuff?  I don't think you should do that.  That's ill-eee-gull."

"Is it, little girl?" the other man asked, holding up his gun again, and she played along by widening her eyes and stepping back.  "Scared?  Go run to your cousin."

"That's my cousin's stuff you're stealing.  It's very important.  I'm not gonna let you."

"What are you going to do about it, little girl?"

Allie thought she was doing well, and she was pretty sure she could have gotten them to leave after fifteen or so more minutes.  But things went horribly, horribly wrong.  Vex came up the ladder, yelling to her; a gun went off.  She felt a burning pain in her side, and the next thing she knew, she woke up with her head in Vex's lap in a tiny, dark room--and the pain hadn't faded even a little bit.

"Vex?" she said hoarsely.

"Hey, little rose red."  He brushed her hair back a little, and looked more concerned than Allie had ever seen him looking before.  "How are you feeling?"

"Hurts.  What happened?"

He looked chagrined.  "I wasn't sure what happened to you--and Beka would kill me if I let anything happen to you--so I came up to look.  I surprised those two crooks, they shot you, and they decided that taking us with them and ransoming you would be a better idea than stealing Beka's stuff."

Allie smiled sadly.  "Vex, we aren't ever going to leave.  Beka won't pay."

"Why would you say that, tulip?"

"She hates me.  She hasn't said a word to me since Bobby left."  That was because Allie knew that it was her fault that Bobby left.  He hated her, hated that she was on the ship, hated that he couldn't get Beka to kick her out, and so he'd left.  He and Beka'd had a huge fight and then he'd left, and Beka had first locked herself in her room and then stalked around like a dark thundercloud getting ready to strike.  She'd struck just before she'd angrily left the ship to go to a bar and--drink fruit juice, or whatever non-alcoholic drink she was currently into--and yelled at Rev, who'd left as well.  Which left Allie and Vex to get kidnapped.

"She hasn't said a word to me, either, betta fish.  Trust me...I think she'll pay whatever she needs to," Vex said quietly.  He stroked Allie's hair gently, lulling her to sleep or unconsciousness.

It was probably the latter, because she missed the entire rescue.  Vex told her later that it was quite spectacular.  Beka had come in with guns blazing, furious that someone had dared kidnap her cousin, not to mention her general handyman and explosions manager.  She hadn't paid the money, but she had taught both of the thieves-turned-kidnappers a lesson that Vex promised they would never forget.  When she'd seen Allie, according to Vex--who was in quite a lot of pain by that time from the gun wound on her side--Beka's face had paled and they'd gotten Allie straight to a hospital and then back to the Maru.

Allie, on the other hand, had slept through the entire thing, and woke up to Beka's worried face, in Beka's bed, with gauze wrapped around her waist and the pain dramatically decreased.

"Allie," Beka exclaimed, wrapping Allie in a careful hug, who returned it, confused.

"Beka?  How'd you get here?"

"It's a long story--Vex can tell you--what the hell do you think you were doing?  You should have just let them take the stuff!  It's not worth your life, you idiot."

Allie thought she was going to cry, and her eyes teared up, blurring Beka.  "B-beka, don't be mad.  I--I know you hate me, but--"

"I don't hate you!  Why do you think I hate you?"

"Because Bobby left because of me."

Beka shook her head, holding Allie's hand in a death grip.  "No, stupid.  I don't blame you for that...that was all my fault.  We were having an argument, and I lost my temper completely, and kicked him out...and I'm not mad at you; I just want to know why you did it."

"Because they were taking your mom's stuff," Allie whispered, closing her eyes.  "I know they mean a lot to you...I didn't want them to take what you have of her."

"Allie...Allie, look at me."  Allie opened her eyes again, and found that it looked like Beka was the one who was going to cry.  "Allie, those are just things.  Reminders of my mother.  But the real memory of my mother is in my head...I don't need those things.  My mother is dead, and things aren't going to bring my mother back...she's gone whether I have her things or whether I don't.  You...you're right here.  I'd rather have you than anything of my mother's, or even anything of mine."  She grinned suddenly.  "Well, except my ship."

Allie giggled a little, then winced.  "I'm sorry, Beka."

"Nothing to apologize for, Als," Beka said softly, hugging her again.  "Get some sleep, all right?  I'm going to stay right here."

"Okay," Allie whispered, closing and eyes again, falling asleep.  Only this time, it was with a feeling of being wanted, something she had never felt before.  And it felt good...this was the place she was meant to be, and she wasn't ever going to leave.

To Be Continued…