Disclaimer in the Introduction. Due to FF (.) Net enforcing the 'no lyrics' rule, I have removed the lyrics from this version of the story. I will keep the original version up on my website.

Chapter 1

Harper was singing off key as he worked on yet another project. Vital or not, it commanded his complete attention.

"Yeah, I saw sparks," he yelped as the project in front of him shocked him.

"Sparks, that's no joke," he said as he sucked his finger while continuing to work.

Trance smiled to herself as she silently approached the engineer.

"Whatcha doing, Harper?" she asked, causing him to literally jump two feet into the air, forcing Trance to start giggling.

"That was not funny, Trance. You could have given me a heart attack."

"Then I would have been here to save you. I do know CPR," she replied, still giggling.

Harper couldn't control the flush that rose to his face at the thought of Trance giving him CPR.

"Well, that wouldn't be all bad," he said in a vain attempt to recover his composure.

"So, what were you working on?" she asked again.

"It's a new toy for Rommie; it'll allow her to use her internal scanners to their full extent," he said proudly.

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning that she will be able to tell what type of intruder it is, rather than just that it's an intruder. It has a link to her special and cultural databases."

"Sounds impressive," Trance said with a smile, causing Harper's heart to skip a beat.

"Thanks, so why are you here? And don't tell me it's just to see what I was doing."

"Um, I came down here to see when you were going to eat lunch. I want to show you a new plant I got," she told him excitedly.

"Normally, I don't eat lunch, unless you or Beka force me to, but I'll make this one exception, for you."

"Thank you so much, Harper, I just know you'll love this new plant," Trance exclaimed as she rushed over and enveloped Harper in a hug, causing him to lose his breath.

"Your welcome Trance, but if you don't let go, you will need to use that CPR, I can't breath."

Trance quickly let go before he began seeing spots.

"Well, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me make a small adjustment to this. There, now we can go," he said as he placed the sensor pack on the workbench and removed his tool belt.

"After you Trance," Harper said with an extravagant gesture towards the doors, Trance led the way out, her tail swinging gracefully behind her.

As they made their way to Hydroponics, they engaged in their usual small talk. How the other was doing, how their various jobs were, how they didn't have much time to do anything anymore, when they thought the 'taskmaster' would give them leave, stuff like that.

Entering Hydroponics, they continued their conversation as they moved as one towards Trance's workbench. Sitting on the tabletop was the most beautiful plant that Harper had ever seen; it had a purple stalk with delicate violet leaves, yellow and pink flowers, and stood about three feet tall. It reminded him of Trance.

"Wow, Trance, it's beautiful. I've never seen anything quite like it. You know," he began growing thoughtful, "it kinda looks like you, Trance."

"Really, I didn't notice, I just thought she was pretty," she lied, knowing full well that the plant looked like her. She knew that he'd take the bait, say what she wanted him to say, consciously or not, and she not only wanted to hear it, but she also wanted to gauge his reaction.

"Yeah she is pretty," he said absently as he examined the plant, this of course drew a grin from Trance. "Notice how the stalk is the same color as your tail, and the leaves are like your skin. The flowers are definitely the same color as your hair."

"Where did you find this?"

Harper turned towards her as he voiced his question.

"I got it from my home planet, it was left for me at our last stop. I got it for you to put in your quarters."

"You got this for me, why?" he asked as he gently fondled the velvety leaves, releasing a pleasant smell that reminded him of Trance, earthy and smelling of nature.

"I wanted you to have a beautiful plant for your quarters. I've been in them remember; they need a lot of help. You could kill yourself tripping over all that junk, and then where would that leave me? Without my best friend, that's where. I just thought your room could use a woman's touch, that's all."

Harper just smiled as she went on about why she got the plant and the chaos of his quarters. His smile turned to mild shock when he heard the phrase 'woman's touch'.

"Uh, Trance?" he asked as silence fell between them.

"Yes?"

"What do you mean by 'woman's touch'?"

"Oh, I just mean that your quarters need more plants and color, that's all. Why?" she asked innocently.

"No reason, I was just curious about your wording. On Earth, when a woman says that to a man it means that they are going out and are probably living together," he tried to explain the term to Trance.

"Don't we live together here on Andromeda?" she asked, once again showing how innocent and naive she was.

Harper just sighed and put his head in his hands, how could he explain the intricacies of human relationships to a purple pixie?

"Follow me Trance, I'll try to explain it all to you," he said as he moved into the Hydroponics garden and towards a large tree set away from the door.

As Trance followed she wondered why they were going to sit under the tree and why did it seem like he was stalling.

The tree was a huge oak that had been planted many years ago by the original gardeners. It provided a nice, quiet place to sit and talk, away from the entrance to Hydroponics.

"Sit down Trance," he said gesturing to the grass beneath the tree.

"Are you going to explain it to me?" Trance asked excitedly, happy to be able to spend any time with he busy engineer.

"Yes Trance, I am. Now where to begin," he said out loud.

"Well, begin at the beginning and when you get to the end, stop," Trance smiled as she quoted a passage from her favorite book, Alice In Wonderland, a book that Harper had introduced her to.

Harper smiled at her mention of their private joke, he had once said that she was like Alice, innocent of the world she found herself in. Trance had then said that he would be the White Rabbit, due to the fact that she'd follow him anywhere.

"When I say living together, I mean two people that aren't married that are living in the same quarters and having …" Here he faltered, how could he explain sex to Trance, let alone even say the word in her presence?

"Having what?" she prompted, leaning across the small space that separated them to place her hand on his knee. Needless to say he jumped a little.

"Uh … um … having … sex," he noticed the understanding wash over her and was glad that he wouldn't have to explain that to her.

"Oh, I guess that we aren't living together then."

Harper just laughed and pulled her next to him, placing a gentle kiss on her head as he enveloped her in a friendly hug.

"Trance, what would I ever do without you?"

"I don't know, but I really don't want to know," she said as she relished the warmth of his strong arms around her.

A moment later, they both realized how this might appear to the others. Breaking apart they got up and left Hydroponics for the Mess Hall and the promise of food.

What neither noticed was that their shoulders or hands would occasionally brush the other's, so close were they walking.

After they had eaten Harper and Trance returned to the Machine shop and his abandoned sensors.

"Thanks for the plant, Trance. Normally I would leave it in Hydroponics, but since you got it from your home planet, I'll put it in my quarters."

Her eyes brightened as he said this, unable to control her joy she threw her arms around him in another hug.

"I'm thinking I'd better get use to all these hugs. If you're not careful, my purple princess, you may spoil me," he said as she pulled away.

"Maybe," she replied cryptically, "I'll have Rommie deliver it to your quarters. Will I see you for dinner?" she asked with her hands behind her back and a shy smile on her face.

"That all depends if you're willing to eat here in the Machine Shop. I gotta finish this sensor pack today."

"Sure, that sounds like fun. I'll bring dinner," she said as she skipped out the doors.

Just before they closed she ran back and placed a kiss on Harper's cheek, shocking the engineer once again.

"Bye Harper," she whispered softly in his ear before once again skipping out.

"Later," was all his addled mind would allow him to say. Turning towards his workbench he tried to focus on the sensors, but found his mind filled with thoughts of Trance.

"Damn, now I'm never gonna finish this pack."

End Chapter 1