Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Earth 2.

Summary: Things take an unexpected turn for Bess.

Waterfall–Chapter 4

Bess glanced into her tent after she finished hanging out the laundry, only to be greeted by the unpleasant and increasingly familiar sight of Morgan, lying on his back atop their bedrolls, wearing his VR headset. Her heart sank at the sight, but she tried to dismiss her concerns. He'd had a couple of good days where he hadn't even touched the headset, and he was a sensitive man who hadn't experienced the hardships growing up that she had. It was understandable that he needed some temporary escape from his current situation. Still, it bothered her that he spent so much time in VR. She covered for him as much as she could, but there was a limit to the lies she could tell. The unbidden thought rose up that her father wouldn't have needed to dodge reality that way. Life on G-889 would be a vacation in paradise for him. Then she squelched that disloyal thought. Sometimes it was hard to stick up for him when she compared his efforts to the rest of the people in Eden Advance.

Her hand moved up to her shoulder, brushing over the patch of tender, bruised skin. Most likely it was as Morgan had said: he'd been too rough with her when they made love the night before, and the hickey had resulted from that. But, try as she might, she couldn't recall Morgan kissing her shoulder at all. The only thing she could remember with perfect clarity was that damned dream. A shiver chased over her skin as she flashed on Danziger's biting her while she squirmed with ecstasy in his arms. How in the world could a dream–a dream, mind you–supply better sex than she'd had with her real live husband in a long time? Earlier she'd seen him passing through camp, and his physical presence had hit her like a wave of warmth. Sensual awareness of him filled her to overflowing, her skin tingling at his proximity. When Morgan had touched her on the place where the dream-John had marked her, a bolt of repulsion had shot through her. And Bess knew that Danziger had overhead his comment on their activities the night before. Why did it bother her that he knew she and Morgan had made love last night?

When True appeared at the entrance to her tent a few hours later, Bess was desperate for a distraction. Searching through her belongings, she retrieved an antique guide to Earth herbs that had been handed down in her family for years. It had purely sentimental value, of course, since any native herbs had turned poisonous due to the pollution levels, but Bess cherished the book as a symbol of her family's endurance in the face of hardship. She knew that information contained with in the guide would most likely be inaccurate, but G-889 was an Earth-type planet, so some of their plants must be similar. She might even be able to find some with medicinal value, an idea she liked. Anything that kept her away from Dr. Julia Heller was A-OK with her. Her betrayal still rankled many members of Eden Advance, but she tried to push away those unpleasant thoughts. Lately, it seemed she'd been refusing to think about a lot of things. "True, would you like to help me go hunt herbs? I'm going to take samples and bring them back for analysis."

The girl's face lit up. "Can Uly come too? His mom's doing something with Yale and he's bored."

"Let him check with her first. If she says it's okay, he can come along."

"But you didn't ask me to check with Dad first." Before Bess could open her mouth, True smiled and said, "But he's gone scouting, so I couldn't anyway. He'd let me, though. He likes you." Then Danziger's daughter was gone, hurrying to find Uly so he could get Devon's permission to come with them. Not for the first time she wondered about the relationship between Devon and Danziger. Were they lovers? She doubted it, since the conditions here were such that they couldn't hope to conduct even a semi-private affair without becoming the talk of the encampment. But even their apparent celibacy didn't stop the gossip inspired by the tension between them. Several members of the party even maintained a betting pool on when they would give in and sleep together. She never listened to the gossip, walking away when the subject came up, but it upset her. The logic in it was obvious, but that didn't make her like it better and she felt ungenerous for being grateful that Danziger and Devon had not yet found happiness together.

True returned, Devon's son right behind her. "She said it's okay as long as we don't get too far from camp. And Uly has to be back by dinnertime."

"I don't think that will be a problem." Bess and the two children headed into the forest around the campsite.

Two hours later, she wondered why she thought this would be a relaxing outing. True and Uly both competed for her attention, shouting out that they'd found an herb and needed her to come identify it. The only reason she hadn't run both her legs off already was that she'd insisted everyone stay in sight of everyone else. But it had been productive; already she'd found several herbs that looked identical to some she'd found in the guide, and, best of all, they had medicinal uses. Who would have thought G-889 would harbor chamomile, pennyroyal, foxglove, and four different kinds of mint? When Uly found the goldenseal, or a close cousin of it, Bess decided they'd had enough. "Let's head back, gang. I think we've done enough for one day. We don't want to pick the area dry."

"Will we come back?" asked Uly.

"If we stay here long enough. Even if we don't, after we analyze the herbs we'll have a fair idea what's available to us on this planet and can look for them as we travel. Different herbs grow in different climates, so we'll find new ones later." Bess added the goldenseal sample to the bag she was carrying and they started back toward the camp.

"Do you think Dad's back from scouting yet?" True wanted to know.

"Probably not. You said he took the 'Rail, so–" Her words cut off with a gasp as someone stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed her, hurling her against the trunk of the tree. She fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. True screamed and ran to Bess, but the man's focus was now on Uly, who'd begun backing up.

"Stay there, boy. We don't want anybody hurting your mama, now, do we?"

"She's not my mother," Uly said before he broke into a run. Bess prayed he'd make it to the camp before this man could kill her and True. The man chased after him, but the little boy was too fast and he gave up.

"Just be the two of you, then. Can't say I'm sorry. Haven't seen a woman in years on this ball of dirt." He jerked Bess to her feet. "I would have liked the other one better, the thin one who's in charge, but you'll do."

True hit at him. "Don't touch her!"

The man backhanded her casually, and she fell to the ground. Bess struggled to go to her, but her captor wrapped a hand on her hair and jerked her head back. "None of that, now. You and I and that little girlie are going to be a family for a while, so it's best you just settle down."

"You planning on letting us go at some point?" She knew anything he said would be a lie, but she wanted to know how bad things would get. True would not suffer physically for trying to protect her again, she promised herself.

"Sure, girl. When I get tired of you." He jerked True to her feet and fastened leather collars around both their necks. Bess almost gagged when she realized what he was doing. He'd put them on leashes, for God's sake. When he saw her anger, he smiled. "Just a little precaution in case you decide to run. Can't have my new family running off." Due to the collars, Bess couldn't even give a last look in the direction of the encampment before the man dragged them deeper into the forest.

They'd been traveling hard for hours when the man finally decided that they could rest. It was well after nightfall when they stopped. Long ago Bess had lost her sense of direction, and anyway she had the feeling he'd been leading them in circles for a while to confuse them. Her hopes for a rescue party from Eden Advance had dimmed, but she was sure they knew what had happened by now. Danziger would be insane with fear and fury. True was all he had, and she'd let his daughter get kidnapped by one of the convicts that had been dumped on G-889. Would he ever forgive her?

The convict began moving brush, and the mouth of a cave was soon revealed. He shoved Bess and True through the entrance, then left them in darkness while he replaced the concealing screen of foliage. "Don't think they'll try to follow you at night, but it pays to be careful. You know how to build a fire, girl?"

She nodded, and he unsnapped the collar from her neck. "Then get to it. I'm hungry." Bess knelt to the pile of brush in the center of the cave and hoped there was enough ventilation so that she and True didn't suffocate from the smoke. But the man had picked his cave well. The smoke lifted upward and disappeared out a natural vent at the top of the cave. In the daytime that would serve as a signal flare to any rescue party, but she sensed he wasn't stupid enough to let that happen. In the dancing light of the fire, she noticed four skinned animals she couldn't identify on a mat of leaves nearby. He saw where she was looking and grinned. "They make good eating." A spit already stood over the brushpile, so she began cooking the dead animals.

When she was done, he tore the cooked animal apart with his fingers, tossing some to her and True. Bess ate as little as possible, giving the little girl half of what she had. If the feeling she had about what was going to happen was accurate, she didn't need food on her stomach to vomit. Bess just hoped the man wouldn't decide to rape her in front of True.

But her worries on that proved groundless, as all he did was secure them to the wall before lying down on his meager bedroll. They kept silent until they heard him snoring. Then True whispered, "I'm scared, Bess."

"I know. So am I. But we've got to be brave. Devon's sent a rescue party after us by now and we just have to bide our time. They'll find us tomorrow. I'm sure of it." But inside she wasn't sure of that at all. "So until then, we just stay calm and don't do anything to make him mad. We'll be back at camp before you know it."

The talk seemed to cheer up True, who curled up next to her and fell asleep. Bess didn't go to sleep for some time because of her worries about the situation. The last thing she wanted was to wake up to this convict raping her or, worse, the girl. Danziger would literally kill her if that happens, and she wouldn't blame him a bit. Eventually exhaustion overcame her and she slept.

Bess sat up with a scream, flailing about with her arms, trying to hit the man who'd touched her. She felt strong hands lock around her wrists and press her back into the bedroll. Wait a minute–bedroll? She and True had gone to sleep in the cave on the bare earth floor. Her cries of terror eased enough for her to hear the man's voice, speaking to her in soothing tones. "Wake up, Bess. You're having a nightmare. It's okay. Just wake up, sweetheart."

"Morgan?" she murmured.

"What? What are you talking about, Bess?"

She opened her eyes and it was Danziger lying across her, her wrists held in his hands. Sunlight brightened the tent, which she recognized as his. "Danziger? What's going on?"

"You were having a bad dream. Belted me right in the nose when I tried to wake you up." He chuckled as he released her wrists and put his fingers to his nose. "You got a hell of a swing on you. I like it better when you use it on other people, though."

"True! Where's True?" Bess tried to roll to her knees, but he kept his weight on her and she had to lie flat.

"Take it easy. She's outside playing with Uly. Devon said she'd watch them so we could get a little personal time to ourselves. Even gave me a day off from mechanic duty, if you can believe that."

Had the whole world gone crazy? The last thing she remembered was getting kidnapped, and now she had woken up with Danziger, who behaved like everything was normal and fine. "I can't believe any of this. Where's Morgan?"

"Who?"

"Morgan Martin, my husband!" She felt perilously close to tears.

Danziger didn't bother trying to hide his shock. "Bess, I'm your husband. We got married just before we left Earth with the Eden Advance party. Don't you remember that?"

The tears broke through her resistance and she began sobbing. He gathered her close and rocked her, making little shushing noises. "I want to call Julia. You're scaring me, Bess. Why do you think you were married to Morgan Martin?"

Ignoring his question, she looked up at him, her face pleading. "Don't call Dr. Heller. I don't want anything to do with her. I'm fine. I just had a nightmare."

"Okay, but I want to know. Were you having a nightmare about being married to him?" A sharp chuckle escaped him. "In my book that would be grounds for hysterics."

Bess let the insult to Morgan pass. It was the least of her problems. "I dreamed True and I got kidnapped by some convict and he was holding us prisoner in a cave. The entrance was hidden behind a lot of brush. I don't know where because I think he led us around in circles for a while."

"What else do you remember?" Danziger rubbed her bare arms, and she felt herself beginning to relax. Just a nightmare. How could it be anything else, even if it had been so vivid? "The cave had a natural vent in the top to let smoke out. I thought you could find us that way, if he lit a fire in the day."

"Okay, that's enough for now." He eased them back into the bedroll and she fitted her body against his. Her arms went around him as he pulled the blankets up over them. "You're going to have to start having good dreams now, Bess. Ordinarily I'd feel insulted that you were married to Martin in this one but judging from your reaction, the dream was bad enough without me chewing you out."

"No chewing out, please, Danziger," she murmured. Warm and safe, hadn't felt this way in so long...

"Promise, if you stop calling me Danziger. It's John, remember? Husband, wife. John, Bess. You'll make True think we're fighting."

"We don't fight much." A thought occurred to her and she spoke without thought. "Did you ever think you'd rather be with Devon than with me?"

Laughter racked his body. "You get the weird notions, don't you, sweetheart?" She felt his lips brush against her forehead as he wrapped her tighter in his arms. "Whatever you ate before bed last night, stay away from it from now on."

"But did you?"

He shook his head. "From the moment back on Earth when I saw you, I was gone. She's a good-looking lady, but arguing every day isn't my idea of a marriage. You and I, now–we have our fights, but mostly we get along. Besides..." He let his lips fall onto the side of her neck and she felt his tongue slide over her skin. "If we didn't fight, how could we make up?"

Bess welcomed his touch with everything in her. Her arms went around him and she rubbed her cheek against the top of his head. "We weren't fighting, but can we make up anyway?"

She felt him smile against her skin. "I think I could arrange that." Danziger shifted against her until their faces were level and kissed her deeply, his tongue caressing her lips until they opened and she groaned into his mouth, digging her fingers into his shoulders to pull him even closer. But her sound of passion turned to pain instantly as she felt a blow to her head and a wave of the worst pain she'd ever felt in her life–as if her brain were being ripped in two–and she screamed.

"Thought you wasn't going to wake up, girl." The convict who'd kidnapped them hit her across the head again and dragged her to her feet. True, who'd awakened during the attack on Bess, tried to get to her feet but the man shoved her into the cave wall. She hit with a hollow thud and collapsed to the ground, motionless. Bess screamed and tried to wrench herself away from him, go to Danziger's daughter, but the convict just gripped her throat in his other hand and said, "Alive or dead, girl, it's all the same to me. You'd still be a woman."

The tidal waves of pain through her head all but blotted out clear thought, but she knew she had to protect True. If all he wanted was a woman, well, she was that. "You don't need to hurt us," she whispered. "I'll do what you want."