Emotions-Part 5
Okay, I changed my mind. I just can't make a 'Dylan' chapter long enough, so I'm not going to do one. I'm sorry if you were looking forward to it; I don't have any ideas for him and I just don't like 'Captain Idiot'. So, here is Beka's chapter, then the last chapter; who Harper will be paired with and the end. Okay, go read!
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Beka chewed her food, her head down, but her eyes watching the young man sitting across from her. His plate was still pilled high with food, even though he had been sitting there for ten minutes. She bit her lip in worry as she watched her little brother slowly starving. He was skinnier than he had been on the Andromeda, and was almost getting as skinny as he was when she had picked him up off of Earth.
His eyes were staring off into the air, as his mind wandered. She couldn't help but worry. The kid had grown so close to her, that he was like a little brother, and her 'mother hen' act was fighting to take control. He took tiny sips of Sparky Cola every few minutes, but it looked like he was doing it automatically.
Beka didn't have a very good family. Her mother had run off when Beka was young, her father had been a flash addict, and her brother, Rafe, was a very skilled con artist and liar. She didn't want people getting close, because she just kept getting hurt. Bobby's abusive behavior had just been the icing on the proverbial cake. She had half-heartedly taken a chance when she had let Harper fix the Maru. He was just a poor mudfoot, eager for a job. He had been quiet and quick, but after talking to him while he was fixing the slipstream drive, she had seen a deeper part of him. He had cracked a joke, and that famous lopsided grin had surfaced.
She found herself getting attached to him, eventually letting him become part of the crew. She had put down her defensive shields to help him. She hugged him when he had a memory nightmare, and helped the Harper they knew today come out. He had cracked past Beka's cover, and became closer to her than most anyone ever had been or will be. She couldn't lose him. Not after so many had left her. Her mother, father, brother, Bobby; so many countless people who had abandoned her, and were now gone. She couldn't bare it if he left, by his own will or not.
She blinked to keep back tears, as she stared at the shell of the man that she loved. She knew he hated pity; looks, tears, words of any sort that seemed like you felt sorry for him. But it was so hard to keep them in when you saw your best friend, practically family, get slowly killed by his own worst fear. He looked so brave around everyone. He would keep his head high, a positive outlook on the whole thing. Lately, though, he seemed to have lost that spark. His eyes were always diverted down, he hardly talked, and the flirting comments were lost.
She flinched when she saw him clench his eyes closed, and his hand go defensively down to his stomach. She could almost feel Magog pressing up against her own heart. She had promised to keep him safe. The only thing he ever asked for was to be kept safe. Didn't matter from what; Nietzscheans, slave holders, Magog. It was the unspoken agreement between them that she had kept as if her life depended on it. Until now. Now, she couldn't help him out of the scrape. He was basically on his own, even though everyone was there, offering moral support. No one knew what it was like to go through what he was going through, maybe except Tyr, but he had gotten it out early.
Beka was ripped from her sympathy and self-pity when Harper took a sharp, deep breath. His eyes were clenched shut, like any stray lights would fry his eyes, as a few tears silently slipped out. He was clutching his stomach, groaning.
"Shorty? Are you okay!"
"I'm fine, Boss. I just got a bit of a stomach ache, that's..." His sentence was violently cut short as a sudden stab pain emerged. He gasped, then fainted on the table, with a hysterical Beka right by his side, tears running down her own face.
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Sorry it was short. I thought I had drained the idea dry. Yay! A cliffhanger! Don't get those much! Well, the next chapter is the last chapter, so I hope you liked this story so far! The waiting will soon be over, when we find out who Harper's paired with! And I know exactly what I'm going to do, so the wait shouldn't be too long.