Chapter Fifteen: As Per Norm

For the first time in over a month, life aboard the starship Andromeda was beginning to return to normal.

As normal as jumping around the universe and blowing up bad guys could be.

Trance Gemini observed her crewmates fondly, taking the time to realize how close and how important their relationships with each other had grown. It occurred to her that perhaps that was part of the reason she was here, not the entire reason of course, but a good portion of it. Primarily her mission had been to guide Dylan to, in simple speech, save the Universe, and of course, their precious Commonwealth. But in the process, she realized that they had made other great accomplishments as well. Although none were as great as defeating the ultimate evil that was inevitably approaching them, they would surely have a hand in helping them achieve their goal.

She turned her head to gaze more closely at Captain Hunt and wondered if perhaps he had served to guide her more to understanding than she had done for him. Trance wasn't sure. She smiled as he punched at controls, which he chose randomly. She could tell because of the grin on his face that said he was just happy to be Captain Hunt again, flying around in that big-'ol-whoop-ass-warship of his, saving the universe one abyss-infested bad guy at a time.

"Beka," he said.

"Yes Dylan?" she rolled her eyes towards him, equally as happy that things were falling back into their proper places.

He sighed contentedly and gripped his console, "Transmit to slipstream."

"Aye."

The ride through slipstream---Trance pondered---was supposed to be the only way to travel faster than light without...well, corrupting the flow of time. The ride was relatively smooth—give or take the frequent, sudden jolts that they had all grown so used to that no one ever really cared anymore. But somehow today's ride was different. Trance frowned as she tried to identify the missing element. Perhaps it was that this was the first time in what seemed like an eternity that Dylan, Beka, Rhade, Harper, Rommie and herself had all ridden together in slipstream since the Nietzscheans had unleashed their brain-disorienting weapon.

Or maybe it was that...

"They're doing it again."

Trance smirked and tilted her head upwards to see Harper above her, staring in a different direction, from a raised platform. She marched up the steps to join him.

"After all this...and they still are—"

Trance cut him off; she placed an arm around his neck and wound him closer towards her, just tight enough to make him squirm.

"I should think that you of all people would be glad that things are returning to normal," she said in a low tone.

Harper untangled himself from her grip and crossed his arms over his chest, staring intently at the ground.

"Yeah but...it's just, I thought that maybe, after seeing how Rhade could lose Beka to Dylan any minute—"

"I don't think that's true."

"Well she almost did."

"Dylan is..." Trance's voice trailed off for a minute, "He's kind, and gentle, and strong and brave, and he owns one of the most powerful—"

"The most powerful."

"Sorry. The most powerful warship in the known worlds," she gave him a quirky smile and went on, "He's out fighting for what he believes in every single day. Plus, well...he's not particularly ugly either so..."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Harper's serious expression vanished and he broke into a grin, "You think he's dead sexy don't you, Trancie?"

"Harper!" she frowned momentarily and gave him a signature Beka-punch to the shoulder, "As I was saying...it was not inhuman for Beka to have responded to his approaches, however...impulsive, they may have been."

Harper nodded and Trance gave him a knowing look. The stared in opposite directions for a few minutes before Harper decided that he'd elicit another exasperated look from Trance.

"So...then you don't think Beka and Rhade will ever get it on?"

Exasperated she was, and perhaps a little disturbed as well.

"That depends on them I suppose..." Trance replied, despite the crudity of his question.

"Depends on what?" Rommie entered the conversation, looking a little more...cheerful than usual.

"Hey! Romdoll! You're back to normal again!" Harper grinned.

"What do you mean? I was always normal," Rommie frowned slightly.

"Like, y'know, about a week ago, you were practically green with—"

"Harper..." Trance warned.

"...motion...sickness...?" Harper tried to save himself, and readied his body to flee if Rommie had already predicted what he was actually going to say and what it would have implying about.

Surprisingly, Rommie reacted with a half-playful, half-edgy smile and gently patted Harper shoulder.

"Well," Trance shrugged, casually changing the subject, "It's nice to see the Command Deck bustling with life once again."

"And synthetic life," Dylan added, popping up behind Harper.

"Indeed," Rommie smiled, and turned to hide an invisible blush.

Even Harper managed to grin, despite his constant desire for Rommie in all her synthetic glory.

The idle chat continued between the four of them, with Dylan and Harper leading the conversation and Trance and Rommie occasionally commenting or whacking the engineer for saying something stupid.

Over by the piloting consoles, Beka was happier than ever to be operating Andromeda's manual flying controls. Her smile widened as she heard laughter and conversation coming from the four crewmembers huddled together by the Weapons Console.

"It's nice to see things getting back to how they should be," Rhade's voice only semi-penetrated Beka's positive thoughts.

"Yup," she replied.

"You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself."

"I certainly am."

He watched her. But only because she let him, he could tell. She broke the silence before long.

"How about you? Enjoying yourself?" Beka said voice that told him not to take it at face value.

Not that he'd been planning to anyways.

"Very much so," he gave her confident smile.

It was an actual smile for once, which Beka found quite refreshing—a break from his usual cocky, Nietzschean smirk, and more like a familiar Rhade-trademark. Beka found that she'd missed that smile and felt oddly proud that he'd given it to her. Probably because she sensed something more in his eyes when she turned to look at him. It was so intriguing, that she told Andromeda to switch to autopilot so that she could turn her body towards him. Rhade went right on smiling whilst Beka studied his expression with expertise that she often underestimated in herself. But even as she continued examine him, she could not seem to decipher that one particular element in his eyes.

"Beka?" he said her name calmly.

And suddenly her knees felt weak.

"Yes?" she asked.

He kept smiling.

And it hit her.

Respect.

He respected her.

It had never seemed like such a big deal to her, she realized, but the reality of the matter was that respect was extremely important to her. After Tyr, she'd felt like a used object to everyone. She was just the...progenitor. Even Harper had looked at her a little different after the whole ordeal was over and Tyr had died that lonely death that went along with the whole 'King of the Nietzscheans' scam...thing. Whatever.

Slowly Beka became aware of his smile once again. He wasn't forcing it on her, as crazy at is sounded when she played in in her head, he was offering his respect. His...feelings...?

"I'm a little..." her voice trailed off, and she tilted her head.

He let out a throaty chuckle and rested his hand on her arm gently.

"A little..." he encouraged her with his eyes as well as his words.

"...I'm...confused...at least...I think I am..." she began to feel a little ridiculous as she stumbled over his words.

After all, it was just Rhade.

...right?

Beka wasn't sure anymore.

"You're not as confused as you think you are Beka," he patted her forearm.

"Am I?" she whispered, "I don't even know anymore."

She blushed, wholly unsure of what she was saying...why was she complicating things unnecessarily?

That was Dylan's job. Beka wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

She shook the hair out of her eyes...or at least she would have if Rhade hadn't reached out to gently swipe away the unnatural golden strands. The minute his fingers accidentally brushed her skin, she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks, and what was worse was that she knew he felt it too. What she didn't know however, was that heat had risen to somewhere else as well, and it was creating a dull sense of longing within her.

"Maru?" she said, once again looking to the ground because she feared of what she might do if she were to look in his eyes again.

"Sure."

And then they were gone, but they left behind something that ensured the four remaining crewmembers on the Command Deck that perhaps not everything was going to be the same as before.

But perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing.

A/N: Eh...sorry, I'm not a great romance writer. I tried my best.

Happy Holidays to everyone!