Arkology Revisited Chapter 6, an andromeda fanfic

Author's Note: Italics signify thought or emphasis.

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"Momma?"

Alura looked across the breakfast table at Drago. Although they had been living at the Valhalla Pride compound for a week and took their midday and evening meals with Cassandra's family, they had followed the tradition they had started on Andromeda by eating breakfast alone in their suite. In the past couple days, though, Alura had wondered if she should include Britta Renier in their morning meals.

The little girl had bonded with Drago the first day they had been on Tarazed, and the two children had become inseparable since then. They played together, more often just the two of them but sometimes with the other Pride children as well, and sat together at school during the day, Britta being only a month older than Drago and in the same class. When Alura picked Drago up from the section of the compound that housed the school each day, she walked Britta back home as well. After the first day, she had begun asking if Britta wanted to stay and do her homework in Alura and Drago's suite and then play with Drago until dinnertime. Without fail, Britta had eagerly accepted every time.

Alura had been worried that Drago would take time to get used to going to an actual Pride school, but he was thriving in the new environment. The only problem his teacher had reported at the end of his first week had been an argument that had almost turned into a fight with one of the older children who had been making fun of Britta. Both the teacher and Alura had decided no punishment was necessary.

Alura had asked Cassandra more about Britta and had learned that even before her father's death Britta had been a quiet, withdrawn child. Because she wasn't a 'typical Nietzschean child', various family members weren't sure what to do to help her, and no one had been chosen to become Britta's guardian yet. So Britta spent much of her time each day with Drago and Alura, but she slept in her room in Cassandra's suite as she had since her father died.

There was an extra bedroom in the suite Alura and Drago were renting in the Renier section of Cassandra's portion of the compound, and although she had originally intended for the twins to have their own room when they were born, Alura was considering whether she should ask Cassandra to let Britta stay with them. Alura didn't want to step on any toes, but she wanted what was best for Britta. She supposed it was a bit self-serving to think she knew what that was, but she didn't think anyone would disagree.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Are we swimming today? There's no school, and me and Britta could practice for a long time if we start soon."

"Britta and I," Alura automatically corrected. Britta had only known the basics of swimming, and Alura had been teaching both children since the second day she and Drago had been living here. Drago and Britta were quick learners and would both soon be as good as she was. Alura smiled at her son, "If that's what you and Britta would like to do."

Drago looked thoughtful for a moment. "Momma?"

"Yes?" Alura asked in an amused tone.

Drago only asked for her attention each time he asked a question when he was at his most serious. When he was simply chatting, he just plowed into and through conversations.

"Do you still do Tai Chi every morning before you wake me up?"

"Yes, sweetie, I have to in order to balance my two halves."

"Oh," Drago pursed his lips. "Could you teach us to do it with you?"

"You and Britta?" Alura asked, surprised.

Drago had not shown any interest in learning Tai Chi when they were living on the Andromeda. She didn't know why that would have changed now or why he would have told the little girl about it.

"We wanna help you," he said quietly as he nodded.

Alura reached across to Drago and clasped the six-year-old's hand in hers. She could feel his genuine concern for her, and it made her wonder, not for the first time, how easy it was for others to tell she wasn't doing that well. Her nightmare Visions hadn't gotten any better, showing her nothing but death and suffering, mostly humans at the claws and teeth of the Magog, and Alura was finding it hard to sleep each night. She often slept for only a few hours at the most before she had one of them, and when she did, there was no hope that she would be able to go back to sleep.

She only hoped she wasn't disturbing Drago's sleep when she woke in the night. Somehow Alura doubted it. If he had been waking up, he would have made his way to her room.

"Only if both of you really want to," Alura finally answered Drago.

Drago nodded again and turned his attention back to his breakfast. Alura didn't have much of an appetite herself, but she forced herself to eat to keep up her strength. For the lives growing inside her, and for the two children she would once again be spending the day with. She was just thankful she hadn't been plagued by morning sickness.

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Trance sighed as Dylan started another argument about Alura and what she might have done before leaving the Andromeda. So far there hadn't been anything that had happened that might have been a negative impact of Alura's actions in those forty-five seconds, but Dylan was unwilling to let something that had to with his ship go.

"Dylan," she interrupted.

He turned from his pacing to stare at her.

"If you no longer want to be with me, that's fine. But stop trying to use whatever it was I thought we had to get information about Alura. I am telling you for the last time that I don't know what she did, and I've stopped caring. She's gone, and I don't think she's ever coming back. I gave up my family to stay here with you. Please don't make me regret it."

Trance left the room before Dylan could react. She didn't let her tears slip until she was in the hall. She had always known Dylan's obsession with restoring the Commonwealth came first, making the Andromeda both his greatest weapon and the only thing that tied him to his past, but she had never thought that the ship would come between them. She had also believed that he trusted her implicitly, but that was evidently not the case. If he did, he would not keep asking her what she didn't know.

She wouldn't leave the Andromeda, at least not yet. Trance knew she still had work to do here. But when it was safe to leave the crew to their collective fates, she would do so. She would find a way to track down Alura and spend her daughter's lifetime in whatever capacity Alura and Drago needed her in. And then she would rejoin the Nebula. Her time as a corporeal being was pointless to her without Dylan to share it with.

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"What just happened?" Dylan mused aloud.

The holographic AI of his ship appeared a few feet from him and said, "You started yet another fight with Trance about Alura, and Trance finally had enough."

Dylan blinked, frowning at the AI. "It was a rhetorical question."

"Captain, permission to speak freely," the holographic Andromeda requested.

"You've never asked permission before," Dylan said tiredly.

When she didn't immediately speak, Dylan waved his hand in a 'go ahead' motion.

"You indicated to me more than a year ago that you trusted Trance without a hint of doubt. And yet now you won't believe that she doesn't know anything about what Alura did. There has been no word from Alura, and everyone onboard, with the exception of Commander Rhade of course, knows Trance misses her daughter. With how busy we've been lately, you haven't been spending much time with Trance, and when you do you're arguing with her."

Dylan sighed. "I know. I think part of me is afraid to be happy with her. That I still think she'll find a reason to leave like Alura did."

"If things keep going this way, I wouldn't blame her for doing so," Andromeda responded quietly.

A wry smile lifted the corners of Dylan's mouth. "I am making the situation into a self-fulfilling prophecy, aren't I?"

The Andromeda smiled back before disappearing. Dylan left his room to go find Trance.

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"I'm sorry," Dylan said when Trance opened her door.

Trance took a step back so Dylan could enter her quarters. Closing the door, Trance followed Dylan to her sofa. When she tried to sit further down the seat from him, Dylan reached out and snagged her arm, drawing her onto his lap. Trance avoided his eyes, not wanting him to see how hurt she still was, but Dylan cupped her face in his big hands and turned her gaze up to his.

"I'm sorry, Trance. I don't mean to hurt you. I never want to do that."

He kissed her gently to punctuate his words, and Trance couldn't help but respond. After a few soft kisses, she pulled away slightly to study the face of the man she loved.

"Deep down I know you're telling the truth," he said softly. "You always do. I'll try not to bring Alura up anymore. I love you, and I don't want to push you away. I don't want to lose you." He admitted softly, "I can't."

Trance pretended to think about it for a minute. "As long as you keep your word and stop asking about Alura, I suppose I could forgive you."

Dylan smiled. "You suppose, huh?"

He kissed her for her insolence, and Trance thought to herself that if this was punishment, she should misbehave more often.

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"You're sure you want this?" Cassandra asked carefully.

Cassandra, Odin, and a few of the other Renier members of the Valhalla Pride were meeting with Alura to discuss the possibility of Britta temporarily moving in with Alura and Drago. Alura had approached Cassandra the same day Drago had mentioned he and Britta wanting to learn Tai Chi, and now two days later the closest relatives of the young girl were here to decide whether to let someone who wasn't even a member of their Pride take care of one of their own.

Achilles was on duty somewhere in space, and the deceased Donar's two full sisters, Electra and Helen, didn't have a problem with the arrangement, they had families of their own, including very young babies, and neither of them really had the time to give Britta the extra attention she needed. But Odin Renier's other living son, Ajax, had been frowning throughout the meeting. It was the first time Alura had met him since he didn't eat with the rest of the family, and she found herself wondering why. She could feel that he was contemptuous of her, but she had no way of knowing how she might have offended him.

"Yes," she answered firmly. "Britta and Drago are already inseparable, and I feel that I have made a connection with her as well."

"No one is disputing that, my dear," Odin replied, smiling reassuringly at her. "We just want to make sure you really want to take on the added responsibility, especially in your condition."

Alura laughed lightly, "I'm pregnant, not impaired." Most of the other adults smiled their approval of her comment; pregnant Nietzscheans were treated with a great deal of care, but to use it as an excuse for weakness was frowned upon. "Britta already spends most of her time with us, I wouldn't be taking on much more than I already have."

"Very well," Cassandra said. "Unless anyone has any objections, I hereby grant temporary guardianship of Britta Renier to Alura Anasazi."

"Thank you," Alura responded.

She stayed in the room a few minutes after the others had left to more personally thank Odin and Cassandra. When she exited the room into the hall, Ajax Renier was waiting for her. Though he had gotten his father's light brown hair and his mother's blue eyes, Ajax did not seem to have inherited either of his parents' warm natures. He stepped close to her, a deep frown marring his brow.

"If I find out you're after something from my family, I will make you pay."

Alura was so surprised by the threat that she was unable to respond before Ajax had turned away and left. She made her way slowly to her suite, where Ariadne had been watching Britta and Drago while Alura was at the meeting. Not wanting the two children's hopes to come to life only to have them dashed, Alura had not told Drago what the meeting was about. When Alura came in the door, still mulling over why Ajax might think she was some kind of threat, Ariadne immediately walked up to her.

"They said no?" she asked in astonishment.

"What?" Alura responded. "Oh, no, they said yes."

Alura smiled to show Ariadne that she was happy about the decision and moved to tell the news to the children. Britta and Drago were both ecstatic, and after both of them had hugged Alura, they ran off to the room next to Drago's to plan where Britta's things would be moved. But Ariadne would not be distracted.

"If they said yes, what's the problem?"

Alura sighed and sat down with Ariadne on the couch. "Your brother Ajax doesn't seem to like me."

She told the younger woman about the confrontation in the hall and how Ajax had acted during the meeting. Ariadne scowled the whole time.

"Ajax is a jerk," Ariadne said when Alura had finished. "He looks down on Terren and I just because we're half-Trillian. My guess is he just doesn't like you because of what you are. Not that it's an excuse, mind you, but I've never really understood Ajax. Odin has no problem with Mom's marriage to my father, so I don't see why Ajax would, but he's always been that way. Just ignore him. Shouldn't be hard since he's hardly ever around."

"I'm sure you're right," Alura said softly.

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"Rhade, your shift ended three minutes ago."

Telemachus looked up and nodded curtly to Beka. She watched, amused, as he finished the scan he had been doing before leaving his console and command deck. But her amusement of his uncharacteristic missing of the shift change faded when she noticed how slowly he was moving. Not slow by human standards to be sure, but he no longer moved with all the energy and drive she had come to expect from him.

Over the past several weeks, Beka had not been the only one that had noticed that Telemachus had become more and more withdrawn from the rest of the crew, even though he always ate his meals with groups of people. He was becoming as gruff and unforgiving as he had been when they had first met him. It made her realize just how much Telemachus really had changed as a member of the crew. What was making him regress? Could it be that whatever had been done to make Telemachus forget Alura was wearing off?

Beka shook her head at her own silent question. If Telemachus had remembered something, he would be making an effort to find Alura. One of the most obvious ways of doing that would be approaching Trance. And Telemachus hadn't done that.

Putting her concern over her Nietzschean crewmate, Beka turned her musings to her once-purple friend. A few weeks ago, about a month after Alura had left, Beka had approached Trance about having a "girl's night" on the Maru, and they had become a weekly occurrence since. Trance laughed and gossiped, slyly avoiding personal questions about sheand Dylan's relationship. All normal Trance things to do, but Beka still knew Trance was worried about her daughter. She had known the Avatar too long to not recognize the signs. It had been almost two months since Alura and Drago had left, and there had been no word from the half-Avatar at all.

Where were they?

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Achilles followed the sound of laughter to the courtyard off the Renier section of his family's portion of the Valhalla compound. He would have been in shock if his mother and sister hadn't already filled him in on everything that had happened in the past month and a half.

When Trance had told him a couple days ago on the Andromeda that Alura had left a little over two months before and not to mention her name to Telemachus, he never in his wildest dreams would have expected to find her living in his Pride's compound, with his family. But his own mother had pulled him aside the moment he was home and explained how it had happened, as well as everything that had occurred as a result.

He was glad. Or maybe ecstatic was more the right word. Feeling the way he did about her and knowing how much she loved her husband, Achilles would have preferred for Alura to be happy with Telemachus onboard the Andromeda, but if she had to be anywhere else in the universe, he was glad she had chosen to stay with his family. But he would have to find out from her exactly why she had left the Andromeda and Telemachus, because Trance had been unwilling to discuss it with him.

The courtyard that was off his rooms (and the rooms Alura, Drago and Britta were now occupying next to his) was one of the smaller ones in the compound, but it did have a pool. And that was where he found Alura, Drago and his niece Britta. Britta was laughing with Drago as they took turns being tossed through the air back into the water by Alura, who stood waist deep in the shallower end of the pool. Britta being that happy was something else that would have shocked him if Ariadne had not gushed so much about how Alura and Drago had drawn the little girl out of her shell, at least around them.

He hung back in the doorway for several minutes just watching them play. Drago was dressed in a pair of blue shorts, his wet curls falling into his eyes occasionally. When they did, he either tossed his head back or swiped them away with a careless hand.

Britta's strawberry blonde hair was in two braids and she was wearing a one-piece swimsuit with a cartoon lion on the front. She looked the happiest Achilles could remember seeing her since long before her father's death. Even when Donar had been alive, he had not been home often, throwing himself into work after his wife died. Britta had suffered for it, never quite sure who would be there when she needed someone. She had not bonded with anyone else the way she had with Drago and Alura.

Alura had her hair down, the heavy mass hanging in wet, curly tendrils down her back. Her pregnancy wasn't yet far enough along to be showing beyond a slight swelling of her abdomen, and she was wearing a two-piece swimsuit that showed off nearly all of the exotic coloring that existed on every inch of her skin. Achilles couldn't help but stare at her. But when she visibly began to tire, not tossing the kids as far as she had been, he moved forward.

"Can I play, too?" he asked as he approached the pool.

Drago and Britta turned back to their swimming after giving him brief waves, but Alura stared for a moment, an almost confused look on her face. Whatever had been bothering her seemed to pass, and Alura moved toward the edge of the pool, smiling at him. He moved closer and crouched down so that they could speak to one another easier.

"Welcome home, Kill." He smiled wider when she called him by his familial nickname; she must have been spending a lot of time with Ariadne. "You may want to change if you're going to get in the water with us."

Achilles nodded. "Alright, but no more throwing them until I get back, you shouldn't be wearing yourself out."

Alura's smile gentled, showing him that she knew he was referring to her pregnancy.

"We're fine," she said softly.

He reached forward with one hand and tucked a strand of hair, made a much darker blue by the fact that it was wet, behind her ear.

"Congratulations," Achilles whispered. "I'm very happy for you."

"Thank you," Alura responded lightly. "Now go get changed, the kids will want to be tossed again in a few minutes."

Achilles stood and moved toward his rooms. He had always enjoyed his work and never minded being away from home, but now he was happy to have a week off duty. He suddenly found himself wishing it were a lot longer.

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Achilles was back in a few minutes, his rooms only a few feet away as were the ones Alura shared with Drago and Britta. The little girl had become so close with she and Drago that Alura wasn't sure what would happen if she and Drago had to leave Tarazed. Alura had no official claim to Britta since the girl had a large family, no right to take her away from Valhalla Pride, but she knew Britta had connected with Drago, and with her, almost immediately and that the connection had only deepened over the past month and a half. Separating them now would hurt all three of them. Alura filed the concern away in the back of her mind. There was no solution yet, and stress wasn't good for her or her unborn children.

Alura smiled as Achilles slipped into the water, a visible shudder shaking his muscular frame when he submerged himself quickly.

"Cold?" Alura teased.

"Mm," Achilles murmured in agreement. "But it feels good now that I'm used to it."

Alura nodded. "Before we came here, I hadn't been swimming in years. I missed it. And, of course, Drago had never been before."

"It must have been hard on both of you growing up. Though you'd hardly believe he had never been swimming until a little over a month ago to look at him now."

Alura smiled again, and the two adults watched silently as Britta and Drago played. Alura watched Achilles out of the corner of her eye, trying to figure out why she couldn't feel anything from him. It had surprised her when she had turned to look at him and seen that the Light inside of him was the same intensity as Dylan's, but the fact that her empathic abilities apparently didn't work on him was a bit worrisome. She had never met anyone in her own reality that she could not get at least a faint reading from, but she couldn't feel anything at all from him. Was it possible that her abilities here were different than they had been in her own reality? If so, this was the first thing that had made her think so.

Achilles noticed her thoughtful glances and asked what was wrong. After only a momentary hesitation, she told him, leaving out the part about his Light being so bright. Achilles was silent for several minutes before he went along with her theory.

"Maybe your abilities are just different now." He looked in her eyes to show he was serious, "If you ever want to know what I am thinking or feeling, all you have to do is ask."

Remembering all the things, big and little, that he had done for her since the first time they had met, Alura asked softly, "Why have you always been so good to me?"

"Don't you know?" Achilles asked. Something sparked in his light blue eyes as he continued to stare down into her dark ones. "I love you."

Alura's mouth fell open in surprise, and Achilles moved away from her through the water to begin tossing Drago and Britta through the air as she had done earlier.

She had known, of course, from the way he had always treated her and the fact that he had told her that he wouldn't mind being her second husband that he was interested in her, but she'd had no idea that he loved her. Nietzscheans loved their children, but feeling that kind of love was rare. When it was felt, it was deep and passionate… and almost always for life.

And although she could not actually feel what Achilles was feeling, there was no doubt in her mind that he was telling the truth. She suddenly felt as if she deserved none of this. The support of his mother and sister, the closeness with his niece, the safe place to live. She had a feeling that all of it was because of his feelings for her. How had she been lucky enough in this universe to have two good men who loved her that way when in her own she had always been alone?

With a strange sense of calm that somehow made her think that everything would turn out alright if she just gave it a chance, Alura turned her attention back to her three companions, gliding silently to the steps that led up out of the water to sit on one that kept the water level just below her chest. Achilles played with the children for twenty minutes before he began to tire.

When Drago and Britta showed no sign of wanting to get out of the pool, Achilles went and got them a small weight. The two children took turns diving for the object. Achilles joined Alura on her partially submerged perch.

"My telling you isn't going to make things awkward between us, is it?" Achilles asked softly, his worry clear in his voice even if Alura couldn't really feel it.

"No," she assured him softly. "I'm glad you told me, I just..."

Achilles cut her off, "I know you still love Telemachus, and I know that won't change. I just wanted you to know. I don't expect anything from you."

Alura smiled sadly, "I hope you'll still accept my friendship."

"Of course," Achilles said quickly, smiling back at her. He studied her for a few moments before turning serious again. "Will you tell me why you left the Andromeda?"

Alura nodded slowly and took a deep, fortifying breath before explaining everything to him. Achilles was silent during her tale, but by the end of it he had wrapped his arm around her in support.

"So you didn't find out you were with child until you had left?"

Alura nodded.

"Are you going to go back and tell him?" Achilles asked. "He has a right to know he's going to be a father."

The blue skinned woman's gaze traveled to her son, her eyes sad. "Someday. When I know he's met up with Louisa and their life together is solid enough to withstand her knowing about me. Luckily the twins are both girls, so he won't have to disown them when they're born."

Achilles frowned deeply. "Why would he have to do it if you had a boy?"

"You know as well as I do what position Telemachus will eventually have in his Pride; you were the one who first told me. Majorem Pride would never accept a mixed blood Alpha after Telemachus. He would have no choice but to disown a son born from me in order for a pure blood Nietzschean to be his heir. And how would I explain that to my child? That he wasn't good enough for a bunch of shallow brained..."

Alura broke off and shook her head, fighting tears.

Achilles tilted her head toward him and gently kissed her forehead. "You're right. The situation is horrible and wrong. I'm ashamed to admit that even though Valhalla Pride accepts those of mixed blood they probably wouldn't accept one as their Alpha. It's something that is too deeply ingrained in Nietzscheans, and it will take time to overcome it. Much more time than just one generation. But, like you said, you're lucky enough to have two beautiful little girls growing inside you."

Alura smiled, "Why do I get the feeling you're a little biased about that?"

Achilles laughed lightly before his expression became serious again. "I know I'm overstepping my bounds, but I want to be there for you when they're born. As well as however long you might need support before you return to Rhade."

Looking up to once more meet his lighter blue eyes, Alura's smile softened. "I'd like that."

Britta and Drago chose that moment to tire of swimming and made their way to where the two adults were lounging. Britta shyly greeted her uncle but stayed closer to the mother and son she had been living with for several weeks.

"Would you three like to join me in visiting the zoo tomorrow?" Achilles asked, mostly to Britta and Drago.

Britta immediately smiled and turned to Alura, "Can we?"

Alura smiled in delight, a matching smile on Drago's face. They both still got excited whenever Britta spoke.

"Of course we can."

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"They'll miss you," Alura observed as Britta and Drago left with Ariadne, who had volunteered to walk them to school so Achilles and Alura could say good-bye. "They've gotten so used to spending almost as much time with you as they do with me."

Achilles had already finished his good-byes to both children, hugging each of them and then both at once. Achilles had easily made his own place in their little family unit. Alura had been surprised but pleased that Drago hadn't been resentful of the other male. She knew it helped that they had been friends before from Achilles' periodic visits to the Andromeda.

"Does that mean you won't?" he asked softly.

Her gaze swung to his. "Do you even have to ask?"

"I'm sorry," Achilles responded. "I shouldn't have been fishing."

"Yes, I'll miss you," Alura admitted. "More than I thought I would. But you'll be back."

A grin lit the male's handsome features. "Not even the Abyss himself could keep me away."

Alura laughed. "I bet you say that to all the women."

The smile faded from Achilles' face. He lifted one hand to cup her face.

"Not even close. There is no one else, Alura, I think you know that."

Alura blushed and glanced away. Achilles let go of her and cleared his throat, making a show of checking what time it was. He didn't have long before he had to leave for his ship. He moved to his bags and took something out of the outside pocket.

"I want you to have these," Achilles said, handing two daggers to Alura.

Alura pulled one out of its sheath to admire the workmanship and test its weight in her hand.

"They're beautiful, but I can't take them."

"Yes, you can," he corrected gently but firmly. "Sometimes it's easier to fight with knives, especially in close combat. I want you to be as safe as possible. Please, for me."

With a soft sigh, Alura nodded her consent.

Achilles smiled. "Good. Now, as far as I can tell, barring complications, I'll be back in a month. The Andromeda is my last stop. Do you have the letter for your mother ready?"

Alura nodded and got the missive from the table a few feet away. When she handed it to him with a sad expression, he pulled her into his arms, resting his chin atop her head.

"You'll see her again," he assured.

Alura nodded against his chest, wanting to burrow into his warmth and strength. But she didn't have the right. Or the time.

"You have to go," she reminded him gently.

He loosened his hold on her only slightly, and Alura looked up at him. Achilles smiled gently.

"When I come back, I'm going to ask for time off starting around your seventh month. Twins are often born early, especially first pregnancy twins. I don't want to be somewhere you can't reach me when you go into labor."

"What if he won't let you?"

"Then I'll quit." When Alura opened her mouth to protest, he pressed a finger to her lips. "I want to do this, Alura. It's not an obligation or anything like that. This is truly what I want. I told you before that I wouldn't lie to you, and I meant it. No arguing."

"Alright," she conceded softly.

Achilles pulled her into a tight hug, "I'll miss you. If something does happen, don't forget that I love you."

She smiled up at him when he pulled back slightly. Raising on her tip toes, Alura pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. He leaned into the light touch but didn't protest when she ended it. His eyes told her how much the small gesture had meant to him, though.

"Try to get more sleep, Alura, you look tired."

After his admonishment, Achilles kissed her on the forehead and left.

"I'll try," Alura said softly, knowing that unfortunately it really wasn't up to her.

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Telemachus sat at the small table in the living room area of his suite. The package that had been delivered with the rest of the crew's various messages and supplies during Achilles Renier's most recent meeting with Dylan was sitting on the table. It had been sitting there for four days already. Telemachus was nervous about opening it. Mostly because he was sure whatever was inside was something he had ordered in one of the spaces of time he still couldn't remember.

Lately he had been getting impressions of faint memories, especially when he was in the mess or on obs deck, which Trance subtly tried to keep him out of as much as possible. Trance seemed unaware that he realized what she was doing, and that her very presence seemed to stir the need to remember in him.

It was the first thing he had noticed was wrong several weeks before. Trance was an intriguing individual, but she had never truly meant anything to him. But now it seemed that something connected to her mattered more than anything ever had. It had taken Telemachus a week to realize Trance's daughter, Alura Anasazi, who for some reason seemed faintest in his mind, was no longer on the Andromeda. That realization more than a month ago had stayed with him and made him all the more aware of the ache inside himself. She hadn't been onboard for a little over three months now.

Sometimes he'd be sitting alone eating and he'd think of something he wanted to share and turn to talk to someone who wasn't there. Telemachus sat with others more often now, but he kept silent, no one able to fill the void he felt both by his side and inside himself. He even tolerated Harper more often than he had before, if only because the young human could almost annoy him to the point where he would momentarily forget his own troubles.

On one of his absentminded morning walks through Andromeda's halls, he had wound up in hangar one, his feet itching to run the perimeter. But the large, empty space had seemed to be filled with whispers, and Telemachus had avoided the hangar since. The few times he had considered working out on obs deck, he had felt strange, phantom sensations, like there was supposed to be someone beside him working out with him, sparring with him. As a result, he had taken to limiting his workouts to the front room of his suite. The sensation was still there, but it was manageable.

And his body knew a new type of focusing exercise he couldn't at first remember learning. He knew, from hours of intense concentration on simply trying to remember, that Alura had been the one to teach him. He also knew it had brought them closer together because it had been something that was important to her, but it had taken a lot to remember even that much.

He knew there was a lot more he couldn't remember. He was pretty sure it had something to do with Alura, but if they'd had more of a relationship than just friendship, why would the crew be hiding it from him, and why couldn't he remember? The more he thought about it, the more he knew it had to be true. As far as he could tell, Trance's daughter had left very close to the day he had woken up in med deck with chunks of his memory missing. Was she the one that had made him forget?

The thought that he might have done something to chase her away haunted him for a day and a half before he had called up all surveillance files of her. It had proven to be a dead end that left him with even more questions. There were very few files of her, and the ones she was in, he wasn't. He knew from what he had remembered that there were many files on her that were missing. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure Telemachus couldn't find out exactly what he and Alura had meant to each other.

The fact that he missed her desperately and that he also missed her adopted son, Drago, made him both elated and furious. That there was someone out there that he felt that strongly about even though he couldn't remember everything that they had shared gave him a hope he had never known before. But no one on the crew talked about her when he was in hearing range, so he knew there was a shipwide conspiracy to hide the truth from him. Telemachus had no idea how to find out the truth without asking, and he wasn't ready to risk them knowing how much he had remembered and maybe making him forget it again.

With a deep sigh, Telemachus turned his attention back to the box in front of him. He opened it carefully, only to find another box snugly packed inside, this one wrapped beautifully. His heart pounding suddenly, Telemachus lifted out the gift. There was a small card attached with a brief message. As he read it, a searing pain filled his head.

'For my beloved wife, Happy Birthday.'

He clutched his head with both hands, shocked when his nose started bleeding for a few moments. Memories flashed by in his mind's eye. Of Alura, his wife. And of Drago, who he had adopted when he mated with Alura. There were only a few memories, and he knew there was still a lot he couldn't remember, most of their life together in fact, but he did recall ordering a necklace he had designed himself to match Alura's helix band. His own left bicep felt bare now that he remembered having worn a helix band given to him by the woman he loved.

Telemachus got up and moved into the bathroom, cleaning the blood from his nose and lip and splashing cool water on his face. He clenched his jaw and fought back the urge to vomit. The pain had eased, but it had left him with the gnawing knowledge of just what he had lost. And he still didn't know why he had lost them.

His reflection in the mirror above the sink caught his attention, and Telemachus studied his appearance. He hadn't cut his hair or done more than just trim his beard since what he was coming to think of as 'the incident'. Liking the way the slightly longer locks complemented the shape of his face, he decided to let it grow out. His facial hair he trimmed a bit more to give his beard a lighter, cleaner look, but it was still more than what he had grown accustomed to during his years in the Tarazed Home Guard and then in the Commonwealth.

When he was done grooming, Telemachus went back into the living room. He stood staring at the present on the table for a few minutes before the holographic version of Andromeda appeared.

"Captain Hunt has finished going through all the information Captain Renier brought him and has called a senior staff meeting in fifteen minutes."

Telemachus nodded. "Thank you, Andromeda."

The holograph tilted her head slightly. "The new look suits you."

"I just hope my wife thinks so too when I find her again," he muttered.

He couldn't think of Alura as anything other than his wife. He knew she must have taken the helix band back, but he couldn't believe that he ever would have agreed to dissolve their union.

Andromeda's mouth fell open slightly at his words, and Telemachus hastened to get her assurance that the rest of the crew wouldn't know about his slip.

"Please, don't tell anyone. I don't remember much and it took a lot to get even this little bit back. I can't lose her again; it might kill me."

The holograph's eyes softened during his desperate plea, and when he was done, she nodded. "Okay."

"Thank you," Telemachus said softly as she disappeared.

With another deep sigh, he moved slowly to the table and picked up the wrapped box. He knew it would tear at him if he let the package sit around waiting for her. Picking up the gift, he unwrapped it and took the necklace out. The starburst pattern made of sapphires was a slightly smaller version of the pattern on Alura's helix band, and Telemachus had ordered that two rubies be set on either side before the platinum chain began.

He deeply needed to feel close to her in some way, to try to fill some of the hollow inside him. He came to a decision quickly and removed the gauntlets that covered his forearms. Placing the centerpiece of the necklace on his left wrist, Telemachus wrapped the chain around his wrist twice before closing the clasp.

He knew none of the gauntlets he owned would sit right on top of the necklace. So he took out two lengths of black cloth from a drawer in his bedroom and began wrapping his hands and forearms, weaving the material around and between his bone blades and making sure it hid the necklace. It was a more casual look than the gauntlets, but if Dylan had a problem with him being slightly 'out of uniform', the captain could go take a flying leap into the Abyss.

The whole crew could. He didn't know how he knew, but he was sure he was the only one whose memories had been stolen.

Telemachus quickly cleaned up the paper and packaging the gift had been in, tucking the card into a drawer for safekeeping. Knowing he had only a few minutes to get to the senior staff meeting, Telemachus left his room, walking taller than he had in quite some time.

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When Telemachus walked into the meeting a minute late, Dylan didn't have the heart to berate him. He dismissed the feeling of guilty compassion, reminding himself that Harper was also running behind so there really was no point in yelling at Telemachus until both men were in the room. Or he could let it go and just start the meeting as soon as Harper showed up. Trance was beside Dylan at the table, and when Telemachus sat down, Dylan realized she was staring at the Nietzschean. Something was going on.

He studied his only Nietzschean officer more intently. He wasn't empathic like Trance, but even Dylan could tell something had shifted in Telemachus. He still seemed withdrawn, but in a way he was also more confident. Telemachus raised an eyebrow when he caught Dylan staring at him, then turned toward Trance and frowned.

"Would you two stop looking at me like I've grown a second head? I thought this was a meeting to discuss the information Renier brought during his last visit."

"It is, but we can talk about something else while we're waiting for Harper to…"

"Harper's here, boss!" the engineer exclaimed as he rushed into the room. "Sorry I was late, I got caught up in something."

"That's fine, Mr. Harper," Dylan nearly growled. He had no excuse to pry into his Weapons Officer's feelings and state of mind now. He'd have to wait for another opportunity to present itself. "Along with the usual updates on the war and our next diplomatic mission, Tri Lorn passed along a rumor heard about Tri Jema's forces. It seems Tri Jema is having more trouble during the war than the other two Triumvirs and she may be reconsidering her position on us."

"Why would she do that?" Beka asked. "If I remember correctly, Tri Jema went along with Pish to keep power. Why would she give up the support of the Collectors to team up with one ship full of outlaws?"

"That's why it's a rumor, Beka. Tri Lorn feels it's a ruse to get something from us, and I think we all know there is something the Collectors want from us very much."

"The map to the Route of Ages," Telemachus said.

"Exactly," Dylan responded. "Now, this morning we received a message from Tri Jema asking that we meet with her representative to discuss what we feel is best for the Commonwealth."

"Who is she sending?" Telemachus asked.

"Indra Xicol."

Dylan's answer made everyone stare at Trance. It was common knowledge that the Captain and Medical Officer were in love and happy together. But could that stand up to Indra Xicol's influence? There were whispers that whatever race she was, and it was known through hundreds of planetary systems that she wasn't a normal human, it must be a race that secreted a high level of pheromones. The mysterious woman was said to be able to seduce any man without even trying.

"Captain," Telemachus said. "Ask her to send someone else."

"I can't do that, Rhade. What possible excuse could I give?"

"Captain," Telemachus growled this time. "Tri Jema has hundreds of ambassadors and diplomats she could send if she were truly interested in forming an alliance with us. Indra Xicol is only being sent to seduce and betray you."

Telemachus watched out of the corner of his eye as Trance flinched at his words, flinching with her in sympathy. He wasn't trying to hurt her, only stop Dylan from doing so.

"And we have exactly one week to find a way to not tip our hand and let Indra know that we know."

The small group was silent for several minutes, each of them deep in thought except for Telemachus. He'd go along with whatever brilliant plan they all came up with, but right now he was more concerned about his mother-in-law. Wherever Alura had gone, he was sure Trance would have gone with her if the Avatar had known the man she loved was willing to betray her just to make sure Tri Jema really couldn't be trusted. He was furious with Dylan for being so nonchalant about it.

Trance noticed his concentration on her and offered him a small, sad smile. He smiled back in what he hoped was a comforting way and could have sworn that for just a moment tears had come to Trance's eyes.

"I think I may have a plan, boss."

Everyone turned his or her attention to Harper.

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Alura almost screamed when she woke in the middle of the night. The Magog attack in her Vision nightmare had been so detailed and real, and even worse, it had featured some of her former crewmates from her own reality as the victims. She swallowed hard to quell the nauseous feeling in her stomach and throat, but even though she had kicked off her covers in her sleep, her room felt stuffy and hot.

Stumbling quietly through her door and then the main room of her suite, Alura ran a few feet toward the pool in the cool courtyard before falling to her knees, sobbing. She dug her fingers into the cool grass, needing something to ground her in this reality and not the images still floating in her mind.

A minute later, strong arms wrapped around her. "Shh, shh, Alura. What's wrong? What happened?"

"Achilles?" Alura peered at him through watery eyes, sinking against him in relief. "When did you get back?"

"Hour ago. Alura, what happened?"

Alura shook her head, ashamed to have worried him. "It's nothing, just a nightmare. I'm sorry I woke you."

"Alura, talk to me," Achilles demanded as he stopped her from pulling away. "This is more than a nightmare. You're shaking, baby."

Alura made a small, surprised noise at the endearment but relented, telling Achilles the reason she got so little sleep. When she told him the details of some of the Visions at his insistence, he pulled her tighter against him and kissed the top of her head gently. Slowly, her shaking subsided, and Alura realized the way Achilles was kneeling beside her couldn't be too comfortable.

"I'm okay now, you can go back to bed," she said softly.

Achilles shook his head and stood, picking her up in his arms at the same time.

"What are you doing?" she asked in surprise.

"It'll help, I promise," he answered cryptically.

Trusting him as she always had, Alura relaxed into his embrace and stayed silent as he carried her through the doors that led directly from the courtyard into his bedroom. Laying her gently on the bed, he told her to stay where she was. Alura watched as he grabbed a pair of cotton pants from a drawer and disappeared through a door she assumed led to his bathroom. He came back out a few minutes later dressed in the pants and nothing else, his shoulder length loose.

Alura drew in a breath when he lay next to her and pulled her body close to his. But all Achilles did was settle her and himself so that they were both touching but comfortable.

"Sleep," he ordered softly.

With a deep sigh, Alura closed her eyes and shifted slightly so that she could be more comfortably pressed to him. The few times she had tried to go back to sleep after waking from a Vision, she'd only succeeded in having it again. So she was pleasantly shocked to wake up the next morning instead of mere minutes later. Alura lifted her head from Achilles's chest to look at him, only to find him watching her.

He smiled gently, "Sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you," Alura answered honestly. "I haven't slept that well in a long time."

"I'm glad I could be here for you," he returned.

"How long are you going to be here this time?" she asked quietly.

"Only four days."

Alura nodded her understanding and started to roll away from him when a fluttering in her belly stopped her.

"Oh," she gasped.

"What is it?" Achilles immediately asked, his tone worried.

Alura smiled and grabbed his hand, pressing it onto the swell of her stomach. Again, one of the babies moved, right under Achilles' warm, open palm. Achilles sucked in a breath. His fingers curved to fit her pregnant flesh better, and they both waited with baited breath for the next kick. In the following few minutes, there were three kicks, and then nothing.

"I guess she went to sleep," Alura smiled.

"That was... amazing. Thank you for sharing it with me."

"There have been tiny flutters before, but nothing like that. You're the first person to feel them besides me."

Her face was only a few inches from Achilles' as she smiled radiantly. A soft groan escaped his shapely mouth before he lightly pressed it to hers. Although she was surprised by the kiss, Alura felt herself respond to it. Achilles had opened himself to her more in his home than he had on the Andromeda, probably because Telemachus was no longer hovering disapprovingly in the background. Alura felt that she knew Achilles better now than most of the people she had ever known. Alura had always liked him, and though she hadn't been able to admit it to herself until that moment, she had felt it developing into something more the week he had been home.

When Alura pressed her body the rest of the way to his, Achilles pulled away. There was a wall up in his eyes, and even though he had told her that she could always ask what he was feeling, right then she couldn't. She didn't want anything to spoil the moment they had just shared.

"I'm not going to apologize for kissing you," Achilles told her. "I'm not sorry. But I won't do it again until I'm sure you're ready for me to do so."

Disappointed but understanding that they both needed time, Alura nodded. She sat up and carefully stood.

"I have to go wake the kids up."

"Alura," Achilles called to her when she had reached the door to the courtyard. She turned to look at him, still sitting in the bed they had been sharing. "I think you should sleep here while I'm home. You need your sleep. For you and for the twins. You'll sleep better with me."

She looked away from him but nodded before leaving the room.

The next three nights Alura didn't even bother going to her own bed at night. She knew it wasn't really fair to either of them, but Achilles seemed unwilling to talk about what was growing between them, and Alura found herself unable to mar their time together, with each other and with Britta and Drago, in order to have something she wasn't sure she deserved. He didn't kiss her again, other than on the head as he had before, but each night as she lay in his arms, she had not only her normal nightmares, somehow made easier by the simple fact that he was there, but also dreams of them together. Those weren't as easy to deal with.

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This time when Achilles left, he said good-bye to his mother and Alura in Cassandra's sunroom. When he was gone, Cassandra asked Alura to stay with her until it was time to go pick Britta and Drago up from the Pride school. The two women made idle chitchat for several minutes until Alura had to give in to the question that had been bugging her for several days.

"Cassandra, I have no right to ask this, and you can refuse to answer, but I was wondering…"

Alura trailed off nervously and Cassandra took pity on her.

"You were wondering if I love all three of my husbands?"

Alura nodded, "How did you know I wanted to ask that?"

Cassandra smiled softly. "I've been watching you when you're with Achilles." Alura blushed slightly even though she knew Cassandra wouldn't have seen them at night. "The first time he came back, your affection for him was apparent, but this last time, there's been something more growing in your eyes. And I know you still love Rhade, so I've actually been waiting for you to ask."

"I'm sure you want better for your son…" Alura began, knowing that attaching himself to someone whose first marriage hadn't exactly worked out but hadn't exactly completely ended either would not be the best thing for any Nietzschean man.

"Nonsense," Cassandra cut her off. "What I want is for my son to be happy. Achilles loves you. And I think maybe you love him as well. If that's true, he couldn't do better if he searched the entire universe."

Alura could do no more than nod, but Cassandra seemed to think it was enough.

"I love all three of them because they are my husbands and they've given me my children, but I'm only in love with Ticon and Odin. My first marriage, to Hector, was arranged. We get along well, but he has other wives he cares more for, and I have my other two husbands. You don't need to feel guilty for loving two men, just pray it works out, that they can learn to share your time."

"Thank you," Alura said softly.

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Telemachus waited from his position beside a still bed-rumpled Dylan as Tri-Jema's ship disappeared into the slipstream maze Indra Xicol had become trapped inside. A few seconds later sensors indicated that a large explosion had occurred in slipstream. Telemachus sighed in relief. It was over.

Everything had gone as they had known it would. Indra Xicol had come aboard, and through a ruse setup by he himself barely making it back to the Andromeda in a damaged slipfighter (which he still had to "thank" Harper for), Indra had been coaxed into traveling with he and Dylan to a planet on the other side of a nearly inescapable slipstream maze. Their "hosts" had provided a distraction for Dylan to have time to get to know the spy, which of course ended with her in bed with the Captain, after which she had stolen the "map". It had been a fake, of course. There was no copy of the map to the Route of Ages.

But Indra hadn't known that until it was too late and she was trapped inside the slipstream maze with a slipfighter she had stolen to ditch Dylan and Telemachus and meet back up with Tri-Jema.

And now they had proof there was no way Dylan could have trusted Tri-Jema. And the playing field of the Commonwealth civil war had narrowed a bit. Things were definitely looking up for the majority of the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant. Telemachus banished the thought that his own personal problems were far from solved and turned his attention back to the present.

"Prepare a report for Tri-Lorn so it's ready for the next time Captain Renier visits." He turned toward the figure of Dylan Hunt beside him. "And you, go to Harper and get rid of that image. Tell him I said good job."

Andromeda, her settings changed to make her look exactly like her Captain, nodded. "Permission to have the memory of… last night… erased?"

"Granted," Telemachus responded, trying hard to hide his amusement at her disgust at what she had been forced to do in place of the real Dylan.

"Oh, and Commander? When are we picking up Captain Hunt and Trance?"

"Scheduled pickup is tomorrow at 0800, but I think we can find a reason to be too busy to pick them up from their vacation for a few days, how about you?"

Andromeda, still with Dylan's face, smiled. "Oh, I think I can come up with a few things."

She turned and left command deck, unable to turn herself off. Harper had come up with the concept of disallowing her to turn off for the duration of the mission, knowing if she had unthinkingly blinked off for even a second the game would have ended before they could win. Telemachus had to give credit where credit was due. Harper had more than proven his worth for this mission.

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"There," Harper said after a few minutes of silent work. "All back to normal now. I think I'll just put this back with the other ones Alura gave me. I just haven't felt right about using them since she left, but it's a good thing we had this one, it would have taken me way too long on my own to come up with all the different algorithms necessary for our little switcharoo."

The holographic Andromeda, now herself and translucent again but still on hard light settings, reached forward and took the flexi Alura had given Harper. She studied it for a moment, a frown on her face.

"This is a Commonwealth flexi," she finally said.

Harper shrugged and said defensively, "So she borrowed a flexi to give me the info, there's nothing wrong with that."

"No, Harper," Andromeda corrected. "It's not one of ours."

Harper stilled and stared at her, "But you just said it was Commonwealth."

Andromeda arched a brow at him. "We're not the only ones who have Commonwealth flexis, Harper, and this one has a slightly larger memory capacity than the most recent grade of flexis."

"You mean this one is from Alura's reality, from the future?"

"Some things that Danny would sometimes say make more sense now... " Rommie trailed off from her place a few feet away where she had been silently waiting. "He was a warship, you know."

"I know," Harper responded. "Alura told us a long time ago that the Dance she had was a smaller, second version of the original."

"What if the original Dance was a Commonwealth warship?"

Harper gaped at Rommie's words. "You mean Alura was a member of the Commonwealth military?"

"It makes sense," the holographic Andromeda responded.

"I wonder why she never told Dylan?" Harper mused.

"I don't know," Rommie commented. "But until it becomes relevant, I don't think we should be the ones to tell him."

Both Harper and the holographic version of the Andromeda Ascendant nodded their agreement.

"And Harper, I think you should check the rest of those flexis to see of she left you any important information."

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Author's Comment: You didn't really think I'd do that to poor Trance, did you?

Preview: Trouble dogs Alura on Tarazed, and she finally discovers the whole truth about what will happen to Arkology and the crew of the Andromeda. A truth she is determined to change. In other words, a very Alura-centric chapter coming up.