Dylan was in Command thinking when Andromeda popped up." Dylan, Harper and Valerie have completed repairs to the ship."
"O.K. And since we're just about done recruiting here I guess that means we take them back to where we found them."
The hologram nodded. "It's time for that, I suppose. I know they should go home. I know they will go home because of Beka and Harper. I'll just miss them."
"Yes. I guess we should prepare ourselves. And that won't be easy, I admit. I've gotten fond of most of them. Even Beka got won over. But we'll go through with your plan, Andromeda, because it has to be done. At any rate, that's all." She disappeared. Dylan turned back to the stars. His mission was clear. He knew and accepted that. Funny, though, about the things you could encounter. Meeting a bunch of Earth kids from a time long gone had certainly proved quite a ride for him and his crew. One in particular.
Andromeda had given the same information given Dylan to the rest of the crew. Beka and Tyr in the gym heard it. "So that means they'll be leaving soon. Wonderful. I'm very happy."
"Are you quite sure of that?",Tyr asked her.
"Of course I am. You know how I feel about that Valentine."
Tyr studied her. He recalled their conversation and how her attitude had changed towards Melody because of it. It was subtle. Beka wasn't a cruel person so if you didn't know her well you wouldn't think the DNA thing bothered her. If you did (and Tyr did) you'd see that it did but the talk had helped. Naturally Beka still had an attitude about it. She was still who she was.
"I just think that perhaps your attitude towards her changed a bit." 'As did mine.' There was something about that Melody Valentine. Of course it just might have been that she begat Beka. No it was she. She was unusual and Tyr suspected he had been right. Genes starting off in a flawed place and then becoming better was a great thing. He still wouldn't want to spend too much time with her. That would be too annoying. On the whole, the bunch of kids was not too bad. He could still do without the Cabots.
"Maybe it did", Beka said, suddenly. She got up from the weight bench. "Family is family after all." She sighed and sat down again. "Whatever else she is, she's certainly a very loving person. It might have been nice to..."
"What?"
"To have her as a grandmother all right! God, I'm talking about a stupid seventeen year old here. She's younger then I am for the Divine's sake!"
"Technically, no", Tyr pointed out. "At any rate, you are correct. Melody Valentine is incapable of giving anything but love. That kind of thing appeals to you humans." It kind of appealed to Tyr as well, however, he saw no reason to bring that up.
"Yeah, it does." Beka had a sudden fantasy vision of herself as a child visiting Grandma Melody. Except because she had no idea how Melody would look old, in her vision was a teenage Melody with gray hair and wrinkles. It made her laugh.
"What?" Tyr was curious.
"Nothing, Tyr. You're right, you know. I have changed." The vision changed too. She'd seen one picture of Harper as a little boy. Now she saw her child self bringing along her younger maybe cousin Harper as a little boy to visit Grandma Melody too. And Melody was happy to welcome them both with open arms. "Yes, Tyr. Things are different since I found out where I came from. And I don't think that's so bad. In fact, it may be a very good thing."