His eyes widened in distress as he finally spotted her, but not exactly in the position he’d have wished. Her back was to him and she was slightly bent over, looking down the edge of a cliff. She was dangling one foot over the edge while cautiously hugging herself.
He wanted to shout out to her, but decided that’d be a bad idea. Even if she was planning to jump, she probably wouldn’t for quite a while, and he didn’t want to spook her in case she’d twitch and fall. Or worse; maybe his presence would make her panic, if she really did think he was there to take her back to the hospital and maybe she would jump just out of panic. So, he had to take it easy, sneak up. His heart was banging so hard he suspected she’d be able to hear it. What if…what if he spooked her and she fell? What if she jumped? She had to know he wasn’t taking her back to the hospital.
His plan was to sneak up as quietly as he could, grab her shoulders and pull her back on the floor. But doubts began to creep up about this plan as well. What if she fell anyway and pulled him with her? He decided to be ready to fall backwards straight away. As he got closer he could see her shivering slightly and hear small sobs as she wrapped her arms tighter around herself. His heart beat faster.
Was she really planning on jumping? If so, why? So her life was a bit, well, absolutely horrible at the moment, but hadn’t it been in the past? He supposed that nurse hadn’t exactly helped the situation, but was it really that hopeless?
Or, he thought, she was just humouring some of her darker feelings, pretending she was going to die when she wasn’t really. He had done this himself when he was a lot younger, on Earth. He’d pretended he was going to die when actually, he didn’t really want to. It just felt like a bit of relief, sometimes.
He’d finally reached her and quickly grabbed her shoulders and fell backwards. With a terror-filled scream, she fell on top of him and quickly rolled off, staring at him with wide eyes. For a moment she looked relieved to see him, then she seemed to remember what had happened and got up again, preparing to run.
“Stop,” he cried, “I’m not taking you back. I promise, ok?” She stopped for a moment and looked at him.
“You’re not?” He shook his head.
“No. I…found out what happened with that nurse.” She blushed heavily and looked away from him, not answering. “It wasn’t your fault,” he continued, “please don’t believe that. Nobody’s blaming you Beka, nobody.”
“So if you’re not taking me back there, where are you taking me?” He paused for a second. He hadn’t really thought that far.
“Back to Andromeda, I suppose,” he said finally. “We could go back to the way things were. It was working for a while, wasn’t it?” His voice got hopeful. “Please Beka, that wasn’t too bad, was it?” She hesitated.
“I don’t know,” she finally admitted, “I don’t know if I could do…I mean, I still can’t believe you lied to me about seeing Rommie and I guess I’m worried that you’ll lie to me about other things, like wanting to stay with me when you don’t and…please Harper, I’d be paranoid all the time.” Finally, he lost his temper.
“When are you going to get it through your thick skull that I did not lie to you?” he cried. “I am not seeing Rommie.”
“But I heard you talking about her, and then you were with her in privacy mode…” Beka started.
“Oh, to heck with this!” Harper cried. “I don’t care what Trance said anymore. This can’t possibly be the best solution.” He stepped up to her and grabbed her shoulders. “I was seeing Rommie for therapy, because I’m in love with you.” She looked shocked.
“But…you were talking…about her?”
“Tell me, when you were eavesdropping on mine and Trance’s conversation, did I ever, once, mention Rommie’s name?” Beka hesitated.
“No, but…”
“I was talking about you. Is that really so hard to believe?”
“But why…you never said anything.”
“Trance said you wouldn’t be able to deal with it, especially not if you didn’t…return my feelings. She said it’d get awkward and might set your recovery back. Right now though,” he sighed, “it doesn’t seem like it can get much worse, does it?” Beka looked awkward for a moment.
“So are you really saying that…” she trailed off, too embarrassed to continue. He suddenly felt embarrassed too. Trance and Rommie had seemed to think Beka returned his feelings, but they could be wrong. Sure, they weren’t very often, but they had been on telling him he shouldn’t have told her how he felt in the first place. They could be again. There was an awkward silence before Beka suddenly leaned forward and touched her lips against his quickly and awkwardly. He quickly grabbed her before she could pull away and kissed her harder, wrapping his arms around her and feeling hers wrap around him as well.
Was it all going to be ok now? He hoped so. It had been going ok before Beka had thought he was in love with Rommie. Maybe they could…maybe it would all work out now.
Or at least that’s what he thought before Beka was grabbed away from him, dragged crying and screaming to a secure vehicle that looked like it was made for prisoners.
“Stop!” he cried, “you can’t just take her away! Stop!” They didn’t listen, but threw Beka in the back of their vehicle and drove away. Just a few moments too late, Rommie and Dylan arrived.
“What happened?” Dylan asked as he saw the vehicle drive away.
“I told her,” Harper said breathlessly. “I told her the truth and it was going to be ok…then they came, and I don’t even know who they are.”
“You told her? And she was…responsive?” Rommie asked and Harper nodded.
“The truth? Responsive?” Dylan seemed confused. “Oh, you know what, just leave me in the dark. We need to find out where they’ve taken her.”
