Epilogue

"Pass me one more o' those, Trancie," Harper slurred.

"I think you've had too many already," Trance rolled her pretty eyes and yanked the beverage out of his reach.

"Y'can never'ave too many o'those..." Harper gave her a goofy smile.

Trance raised an eyebrow.

"Harper, stop pretending to slur. You're not even drunk."

"Uhhh..."

"You just had too many colas," she said.

Harper pouted, "You didn't have to go and ruin the fun like that," he snatched the Sparky Cola from her grasp and swallowed half of it in one long swig.

Trance laughed as she watched him choke and nearly throw it all up.

"Told you..." she smiled.

Once Harper had pulled himself together, which took quite a while, considering that that had been his eighth Sparky Cola in less than three hours, he sat up straight and began to glare at the two other crewmembers who occupied the Mess Hall.

"What is it now?" Trance sighed.

"Them, just look at them, acting all couply and—"

"Couply?"

"Yeah!"

Indeed, Beka Valentine and Telemachus Rhade had grown considerably close in the past few weeks. One would guess that the entire incident with Dylan and his hyper-Beka state would have shaken their relation ship a bit. In which case, one would be correct. Beka and Rhade spent most of their free time together, and much to Harper's dismay, they did so in public quite often.

At the sound of Beka's laughter, which was always a bit more feminine and appealing in Rhade's presence, Harper's glare darkened.

Trance shook her head, almost in frustration.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Me?"

"Yes you. You're the one, who was complaining about Rhade and Beka playing hard-to-get in the first place, and now their finally getting along—quite nicely I might add—and you seem even more upset!"

"Yeah well...well...argh! That Damn Nietzschean!" Harper growled.

"What do you have against him?

"Besides the fact that he's some self-absorbed, physically superior, genetically modified Niet who won't let us forget it?"

She still looked somewhat skeptical. Harper crossed his arms and pouted like a child.

"I just..." his gaze softened, "I've seen Beka get hurt so many times. And after the whole Tyr betrayal thing...I don't think she can take something like that happening to her again. I'm beginning to think that I'd prefer her with Dylan...at least that way...well I mean...Dylan is...y'know, he's Dylan. He'd never hurt her. But I can't tell with Rhade, and well, I don't want Beka to get hurt again. That...that scares me..." Harper's voice trailed off towards the end.

Trance pondered upon what he'd said before responding. She reached out and gently stroked his cheek.

"It's wonderful that you care so much for Beka, Harper, I think she appreciates it very much. But she's a big girl, she can take care of herself. I agree that she's had her share of heartbreaks...but she's strong, and that's what's made her strong."

"I guess..." Harper gave Trance a weak smile, "...Maybe Rhade's not so bad...he was the first one who laughed at my jokes."

"He was being polite."

"Whatever. He laughed."

"Besides..." Trance smiled as she looked at Beka and Rhade, "The future doesn't look all that gloomy for them."

Harper gave her a questioning look, then he quirked an eyebrow.

"Can you really see the future?"

"I don't have to be able to see the future," she grinned.

Indeed, they looked over to Rhade and Beka, who were in the process of attempting to stand up and leave the Mess Hall. Unfortunately, they kept bumping into each other, which only served to illicit giggles from Beka who blushed and clamped a hand over her mouth. After realizing that there was simply no possible way to leave the room without touching each other. They simple turned around and began to walk away.

Hand in hand.

"That's...a little pathetic," Harper stated.

"You're one to talk," Trance smiled and took his hand.

"Do you think Dylan's forgiven me for what I did to him? Where is he anyways? I haven't seen him around as often," asked Harper, changing the subject.

"I think he's on the Obs Deck," Trance replied.

"Shouldn't he be attending to the Commonwealth and worrying his head off about the next Nietzschean attack?"

"I believe he's busy investigating on whether or not androids can actually sing."

Harper gave her a quirky look and then decided to ignore the nagging feeling that usually told him where his dear Rommie was.

"Do you think Dylan's forgiven me yet? For his crazy-spree?" he asked, chewing on an almond thoughtfully.

"Hmm...hard to say. That would imply that he truly believes that you were at fault..." she said.

"Why are you smiling at me like that Trance...?"

"Hmm..."

"You're petting my hair again..."

"Well...let's just say, all's well that end's well? Beka ended up with Rhade anyways so...it worked right?"

"What worked?"

"You know, jealousy is a very powerful tool."

"What are you talking about?"

Harper squinted his eyes at her and suddenly, something in his head half-clicked.

"Wait a minute...Trance...a-are you saying that..."

She stopped petting his hair.

"Harper..."

Trance smiled.

"Would you like a chocolate?"

Harper wasn't sure. Did he? Probably not, judging by the way she was smiling at him. It was a very un-golden-Trance smile. He was reminded of his old purple, sparkly, tail-twirling friend and it tugged at his heartstrings.

For weeks afterwards, she would constantly smile at him that way. And Seamus Harper could only shake his head and smile slightly as he watched Rhade's arm slip around Beka's waist. Perhaps they did owe it all to a certain Trance Gemini.

Or perhaps, instead, it was that one day.

The day, the Captain went crazy.

Well folks! It's finally over and all has been revealed...well, not really. Trance was the one behind everything, but I think it's more in tune with her character to leave some mystery behind, just for fun, seeing as Trance is mysterious character. I've also left and open ending as to where to Beka/Rhade relationship will go, though I think it's a little obvious that they'll be more than friends, it goes along more with their actual relationship in the series, which is what I've been striving for.

Aaaand...I've just realized that I've forgotten a key element in this fic...

The Disclaimer. OO

Andromeda and all related, characters, locations, logos, ideas, etc. plus its original storyline are all © Tribune Entertainment Company. No infringement intended.

I hope no one sues me.

Anyhow, onto the credits.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this fic and to the reviewers who offered their kind words of encouragement as well as their constructive critism that helped me improve the storyline and my overall writing skills. I appreciate all the praise I received for this fic from everyone who reviewed. Thank you to Tribune and all the orginal, brilliant, creators of Andromeda who have given some pathetic writer a life (of her own). Thanks to everyone who took time out of their day to read this fic, and all the fans of Andromeda who managed to restrain their extreme desire to murder me and/or hack my computer and delete all my files, because of what I did to Dylan. Or what I didn'tdo toDylan.

And here the are folks, in no particular order, the wonderful people that reviewed while the fic was being written and boosted my ego! Hail them!

Spectre, Squid 109, RagdollStuffy, prin69, Janet, Jamieson Z, bunny-bot, Thristle, LadyBianca, TranceGemmy, eris86, Troll99, Yay, Nobody, maleck, Beka Rhade, I-luv-PurpleChiX, PeaceKeeper DR,

T'was very fun to write this fic, I really enjoyed it, though, I think I'm better cut out for oneshots...less committment. Anyways, one more great big THANK YOU to everyone who read and supported this fic. You'reall ubersuperwildCRAZYAMAZING!

I'm off to Slipstream now. See you next time.

----Orion