Thanks to everyone for taking the time to make some very kind comments, I am enjoying reading your responses! So here's some more….

Part 5

Beka had been watching over him for a number of hours, and was fighting with her own fatigue now. Blinking her eyes once more, she adjusted her sitting position before noticing that Harper was slowly stirring from his deep sleep. Moving forward, Beka cautiously observed as Harper became aware of his surroundings, and she immediately noticed him flexing his left hand.

"Harper," Beka spoke softly to let him know she was there.

"Beka," Harper wearily spoke as he took a deep breath, and finally opened his eyes. "I feel like crap," he grimaced.

"You're ill, but you've slept through the worse part," Beka smiled warmly, as she crouched down beside his bed.

Harper rolled over and hid his face in his pillow for a moment, with both hands now covering his face. "Beka," a muffled voice was heard from the engineer. "Did I really confront Rev?" he questioned.

"That was you," Beka partially smiled now, hearing his embarrassment. "I got it on flexi if you ever want to see it," she mocked.

Harper rolled onto his back, staring blankly at the overhead. "How's he doing?"

"He's over it, for the most part," Beka informed him. "Dylan allowed him back to his quarters where he's been in eternal meditation ever since."

"Did I catch what he had?" Harper asked, glancing at Beka for the first time since we woke up.

"Not exactly, we think his venom contained traces of the virus, that with your weakened immune system had the effect we all saw," Beka stated. "That whole losing your head and then trying to strangle a Magog with one hand incident," she reminded him.

"Don't remind me," Harper complained, and covered his face again.

"You appear to have full mobility back," Beka observed brightly.

"It feels a bit stiff, my left side still aches slightly, feels sluggish, but I can move it at least," Harper agreed and flexed his left hand to prove his point. "I don't sound drunk anymore, either," he brightened slightly.

"Look, about what happened," Beka began with caution. "No one is judging you, but I need to know one thing," she spoke and waited for Harper to acknowledge her before continuing.

"Go on," Harper offered.

"You know it was an accident, right?" Beka questioned. "The illness controlled Rev, like it partly controlled you, and that's why Rev attacked you."

Harper sat up, and his right hand rubbed his aching left shoulder before he responded. "Yeah," he stated without conviction.

"Seamus, it wasn't Rev's fault," Beka spoke with care.

Getting to his feet, Harper was clearly unable meet with Beka's words and instead moved to the bathroom to freshen up. Beka stood up and followed him, and then she observed his silence before speaking.

"Want to talk about it?" she offered calmly.

Harper let the water run from the tap, occasionally splashing his face before he turned the tap off and grabbed a towel. "I'd rather take a shower," he shrugged.

"Seeing as you've failed to add some smutty line about me joining you, ok, but we will talk about this, you won't be able to avoid me for ever," Beka warned, as she stepped away and left Harper alone.

Harper backed against the wall and slid down, with no intention of taking a shower as he let his head drop into his hands, bringing his knees up close. He still had a temperature, and he could feel the heat of his own skin. The confusion raged inside, even though it had been the illness that had driven him to confront the Magog, the thoughts behind his actions remained his own, he felt like the universe's biggest mug, and it hurt more than anything the Magog could do to him.

"Usually taking a shower involves actually getting wet," Beka's voice broke the silence a few seconds later, and Harper looked up to see Beka stood at the door.

"In a weird way," Harper began, with his voice low and soft. "I always wondered what it must have felt like to be paralysed by that venom," he frowned, his own words clearly unsettling him as Beka moved closer, and his hands rubbed his face as he tried to get a grip, almost losing himself to his emotions.

"Seamus," Beka now spoke with concern as she moved down to sit beside him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "I'm not so insensitive that I don't realise what happened, that it goes a lot deeper than Rev simply paralysing you by accident."

"If just one person from Earth could see me now, happily co-existing on a freaking ship with a Magog and an Uber," Harper then spoke with a hint of anger in his voice. "I'd be shot on the spot, you realise that?" he now questioned with force and his hands nervously fidgeted as he spoke.

"This isn't Earth," Beka answered.

"Blah, blah, blah," Harper dismissed quickly, agitated by her response. "You asked the world of me to trust Rev, Dylan asked another world of me to work with an uber," he stressed. "And I've tried, and I've dusted my entire freaking past under some larger than life rug, and I did that for you, Beka, and for Dylan for the whole damn mission that we're suddenly on, and yet here you are, after my trust has been severely broken, and you are asking me once more to just forget and I'm sorry, Beka," Harper sighed now. "I don't know if I can do this anymore."

Beka had never heard Harper speak so frankly, normally a guy who was hard to really read. This was the first time she had heard him clearly unsettled by something, and she began realise exactly what Rev had done to the human. "I'm not asking you to forget, Harper," Beka returned softly, after some thought. "I just wanted you to recognise the facts."

Harper smirked now. "I know the facts," he insisted.

"If Rev had truly attacked you, Seamus, you'd be dead right now and you know that is a fact," Beka responded with conviction.

Harper got to his feet. "I really do want to shower now and get dressed, I feel like crap," he stated, gesturing to the clothes he had slept in.

Beka stood up and looked at Harper with care. "Please, I'm not asking the world, not this time," she simply said and left him alone as Harper sighed, and prepared for his shower.

She heard the water this time, and Beka left Harper's quarters with a lot to think about. So many times since she had joined the Andromeda she had considered leaving, but for her own reasons without consideration for the rest of her crew. This existence was ridiculous, this wasn't her and Beka now wondered if it ever would be. Harper's words had almost stung her, she was the reason he was here and why he had to deal with so many conflicting emotions, working with a Magog and a Nietzschean yet she had hardly given it a second thought.

Beka sighed as she walked, her thoughts about Rev rapidly conflicting now, but she knew that she needed to sleep and worked out that she had been awake now for nearly twenty hours straight. Deciding to sleep on it, she headed for her quarters, but inwardly she made a pact, Harper just had to say the word and she wouldn't hesitate in leaving on the Maru with him.

End of Part 5