Thanks for the reviews so far! reviewers

The Return (cont.d)

Harper POV

Shut up. What was he 5?

Shut up. Man was he going to get in trouble for that.

How many things could he have said infinitely better than 'Shut up'?!

He wasn't really angry about that though. He was angry at Beka and Dylan for not giving him a chance to explain, angry at himself for finding it so hard to tell them, and angry for letting Brendan die. Beka was still pretty pissed off, now wasn't the right time- she probably wouldn't let him explain again. In a way, he was even angry at Beka and Dylan for not noticing he was in pain. A knock came. It was either Beka or Dylan. It had to be. He envisaged the conversation they'd had to decide which of them confronted him. 'Let me talk to him Dylan I've known him longer than you have...'

"Harper?"

He was right; Beka. He let her in reluctantly.

"Harper...what happened back there exactly?"

What did she want him to say? He just wanted to be alone, think over things.

"Is there even the slightest chance you'll go away right now?"

She crossed her arms. No then.

"Harper, you've just had a week in Infinity Atoll- usually this makes you happier not...snappier. So are you going to tell me what happened?"

Harper felt a lump in his throat. He felt this indefinable reluctance to tell her. Part of him wanted to tell her, but it was as though telling her would give her an advantage against him... He felt vulnerable as though Andromeda was all he had left now, even though he knew she would never use it against him. Now he could never go back to Earth, he had no one attached to him that could call him away...

Before he could properly formulate his thoughts, Beka had given up on him, not comprehending the scale of what he was trying to tell her.

"Harper if you're not going to tell me then sort out the attitude yourself because Dylan is not happy with you right now."

She hadn't even given him a chance and now she was being icy with him. He felt the anger inside of him rise up with ease.

"Whatever, I'm busy ok so just go."

He turned to some device within his reach away from Beka. She sighed in frustration and left. Harper sat on his bed against a wall and stared into space. He was upset, confused, and most of all angry. These were all natural. Unfortunately he was directing this anger in the wrong direction. Wherever it should be directed, it wasn't at anyone who dared to speak to him. He'd even lashed out at a crewman who'd said 'hi' to him. He put his head in his hands and realised just how tired he was. But he couldn't go to sleep. He couldn't re-live what he'd just been through on Earth.

Harper had eventually fallen asleep despite his best efforts, and the next morning overslept his alarm. The exhaustion he felt didn't help his mood when he arrived at engineering. However, he found work absorbing and comforting, which took his mind off things for a while, until that is, ensign Leah Kaye clumsily brushed his arm making the half formed scar bleed again. He yelped and she turned around surprised.

"I'm so sorry chief are you ok?!"

He mumbled something but it was too late. Leah had seen the small patch of blood seeping through and engineering turned into an active hub of concern with Harper the centre of attention.

"Guys, guys I'm fine I'm – look just leave me alone ok?" he snapped impatiently, "Honestly, it's fine, it's nothing."

Embarrassed, Leah carried on with her work, and Harper left engineering, partly to get away from the noise and attention, but mainly because he'd been completely ignoring the injuries he'd sustained up to this point, and judging from the pain, it was now infected. How could he explain to Trance how he'd obtained the injuries? Injuries obtained from a friend, a friend who now hated him enough to want to kill him. Would she understand? He couldn't relate to this Trance as easily...she seemed tougher than his Trance had been. Perhaps she wouldn't have the same sense of sympathy...

Ashamed at the idea of telling her, he turned into his bedroom instead. He cleaned it up as best he could, stuck on another bandage awkwardly and put on a fresh shirt. Looking into his array of medicines he brought out some antibiotics and took them. He felt guilty for snapping at Leah, the whole crew in fact. Actually when he thought about it, he'd been unfairly rude to many of them. Now the fire within him had burned out, leaving him even more tired than before; he could no longer muster the same degree of anger. Exhausted, he rolled onto his bed, trying to avoid any of his injuries and fell asleep.

"Andromeda locate Mr. Harper."

"Harper is in his quarters with privacy mode engaged."

Dylan sighed. Lieutenant Flinte had been working four hours before Harper even got up, then Harper worked for two hours and went back to his quarters.

"Dylan, clearly the holiday didn't work- I think Harper is too stressed being chief of engineering. Maybe he would be better suited working under somebody else..."

Dylan looked at her in surprise...he wasn't the only one who was having these thoughts. Over the next few days he considered the option seriously.

TBC- please r and r.