SquidgeWorld Archive

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and Harper had to agree with them. when he opened the box containing the photo of his most embarrassing day, he had a few thousand words that were not for polite or mixed company.

As he stared in shock at the framed photo and the event pictured there, he thought back over the events that led to the event.

==^==

"I really hate the Dragans, you know that Trance?" Seamus Harper said as he and Trance made their way to an engineering Conduit. "I mean they always break things and leave me to fix it. They don't play well with others."

Trance only smiled.

"Ah, here we are, good old number 47." He looked over at Trance. "46 down, 152 remaining. Not bad for twelve hours work."

Harper settled into a comfortable position as he removed the panel in front of him, Trance settled in behind him with his toolbox in hand. The panel he removed revealed a mess of blown circuits and shorted-out wires.

"Oh man, this'll take hours. Better get comfortable Trance. We'll be here awhile," he complained to her. Trance just smiled and made herself comfortable.

"Well, it won't be all bad Harper. At least you won't be bored!" She said cheerfully, trying to make him feel better.

"I'd take boredom over this anytime formerly purple people eater. Oh well, the company's not bad." He grinned at Trance, who blushed slightly. "Lets get to work, hand me the nanowelder would ya?" With that they got to work on their repairs.

==^==

That was the first thing to pop into his mind as he remembered. His memories were cut short as the door to his quarters chimed.

"Who is it?" He asked, not wanting anyone to start discussing the photo with him. It was a moment he'd rather forget.

"Harper, it's me. Can we talk?" Came the reply from Trance.

"Sure, come on in," he told her as he opened the door.

As she came in he looked down the corridor in both directions, checking for the rest of the crew trying to get another picture. He found no one..

"Hey Trance, what can I do for you?" He asked as he returned to his bed and picked up the empty box and flexi.

"Well, you can tell me why Beka and Dylan made such a big deal out of our kiss," she told him sitting down on his bed.

"Well, they like to play jokes on people, well Beka does, Dylan is just evil." He grinned as he told her this.

"I already knew that. What I want to know is why is it such a big deal? Why can't we be a couple without them interfering?" She asked.

"I don't think they are trying to interfere, I just think they're bored. They need something to do, so they latch onto the one interesting thing that comes their way. That happened to be us, unfortunately," he told her.

"I don't think it's unfortunate."

"Really? Why is that Trance?"

"Well, the image they used of us is so cute. The look on your face is precious, and, if you didn't notice, I'm blushing. I think that's cute," she explained.

"Really? Well, at least someone besides Beka, Dylan, and Rommie find it funny. I sure don't. It was embarrassing to me. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. By the way, Tyr was right," he said.

She was confused, trying to remember what Tyr had said.

"What did Tyr say?" She asked.

"Tyr said, and I quote: `If you are ever going to appear on screen after a romantic interlude, it would be best for all if you removed any evidence from your face.'"

Trance giggled as Harper tried to mimic the big Nietzschean.

"If Tyr heard that he would be happy."

"What do I care if Tyr wouldn't be happy? Is he ever happy? Is he even here? No. So I really don't care what Tyr would think," he told her. "Besides, I'm more interested in what you think."

"Well, I think that Tyr is right. Next time you should check for any lip gloss before you go out in public," she said with a smile.

"Oh? Is there going to be a next time?" He asked her with a grin of his own.

"Well there could be," she replied with a glint in her eye as she looked at him.

"Well, when that happens I'll be sure to check for any incriminating evidence," he told her with a smirk as he leaned in to give her a kiss.

She pulled away from him before he could kiss her.

"Well, next time will have to wait. Right now we're needed on the Command Deck," she said as she got up and stood in front of Harper.

"Why?" He asked her, a little suspicious.

"Dylan will explain when we get there," she told him with out giving any hints.

`Well, what could Dylan have planned? I'd better be prepared for anything.' He thought to himself as he followed Trance to Command Deck.

==^==

On Command Deck, Harper learned why Dylan had wanted him there.

"Mr. Harper, what do you require in the way of new parts?" Dylan asked as Harper and Trance entered Command hand in hand.

The question caught Harper by surprise.

"Boss?" He asked, trying to figure out why Dylan was asking about parts.

"What parts do you need to repair and upgrade Rommie's systems?" Dylan asked again.

"I'm not sure. I'll make a list. Does that include backup parts too?" He asked, his mind already making a list of spare parts that they needed.

"I guess it does, if you need them. What systems can you upgrade with material on hand?"

"With what we got on hand? None. The repairs from the Dragan's attacks ate up most of the spare parts and material. I'll make a list of the stuff Rommie can't make herself," he said a she moved to a computer console and started making the list.

Trance was moving to follow her lover when Dylan's voice stopped her.

"Trance, what do you need for Hydroponics?" He asked her.

"I need some new soil, and a few new hand tools. I also want to get some new plants too," she told Dylan. He just nodded.

"Rommie, add that to the shopping list. Mr. Harper, how is your list coming?" Dylan asked as he looked over at his engineer. Trance had made her way over to where he was working and was leaning against a nearby console watching him.

"It's almost done, only a few more things. There, it's done. I'm uploading it to Rommie now." He explained a he put words into action.

"Thank you, Harper. A very good list, I look forward to having those systems upgraded," Rommie said as she received the upload.

"Hey boss?" Harper asked Dylan. At his look Harper continued, "Why do you need these lists?"

"Well, Beka, Tyr, Rommie, and myself are going to take the Maru and go get the items on the list. You and Trance are going to stay here and finish making repairs to the ship. I also want you to find some asteroids and make the parts that we need. I also want a full inventory of all the spare parts. You also need to make some new droids to replace those damaged by the attacks. The trip should take us 4 days. I expect that you'll be finished long before that, if you are just do the regular maintenance needed," Dylan told the two.

"Yeah, sure boss. I got all that, don't worry. By the time you get back you won't recognize the Andromeda," Harper said with a grin.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Rommie said as she and Dylan made their way to pack for the trip.

==^== One day after the photo event. ==^==

After Harper and Trance had seen the Maru off they went to the mess hall to get something to eat.

"Well Trance, where should we start?" Harper asked as he looked at the list of tasks that Dylan had left them.

"What's the easiest thing to do?" She asked as she started eating her lunch.

"Well there are some power conduits in Hydroponics that have been acting up. We can gather the raw material for the parts and the droids first, then set Andromeda to start replicating the parts. Then we can work on the conduits in Hydroponics," he told her as he too started eating his lunch.

"That'll work," she said through a mouthful of food. Harper just grinned at her.

==^==

As it turned out, the conduits weren't the easiest things to fix. In fact Harper needed to create new conduits to replace the malfunctioning ones. Fortunately, they only needed a few feet.

"Trance, hand me the nano-welder. I need to secure this piece here," he told her.

She handed him the welder and sat back, holding up her end of the conduit.

As she sat watching Harper and holding her end up, she saw a small spark of electricity arc between the conduit and Harper's welder.

"Ow. That hurt, damn power conduit. I thought I turned the power off to this conduit," he said a he looked over to Trance for confirmation.

"You did, it's probably residual stored in the conduit."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he said as he went back to work welding the conduit.

==^==

Two hours later they had finished the conduit repair and were headed down to Hydroponics for a picnic lunch.

They found a large tree to sit under, and eat their lunch.

Trance laid open the large blanket they had brought with them to lay on. Harper was getting the food out and placing it on the blanket.

"I'm glad there're no ants here," he said as he lay in a reclining position eating his sandwich.

"Why?" Trance asked from the spot beside him where she, too, was in a reclining position.

"Well because they'd be all over the food and all over us too. They'd bite us as we'd try to get them off of the food and us. Then we'd have to pick up everything and move to a place where there are no ants." He told her.

"Oh," was all she said as she continued to eat her own sandwich.

When they were done with their lunch they decided to take a small rest, just lay under the tree, letting the food digest.

Trance was sitting up with Harper's head in her lap. He was looking up towards the tree's branches while she stroked his hair.

Harper was reflecting on the things that he'd told Trance in the conduit after the nano-bot attack, things he'd never told a soul before her.

==

"Well, life on Earth was no picnic, as I said before." He sighed. "My life was like that of anybody else on Earth, trying to get enough to fill his stomach. I had to fight to get any little scrape of food, sometimes no bigger than a crumb. I had to learn how to lie, cheat, steal, and be the worst possible person you could ever imagine. But I was lucky; I got off world and met all you guys." He paused to think about his next words.

"I lived in Boston with my family. I went back a while ago to help free Earth in a revolution. I saw my cousin Brendan; he was the leader of the resistance. The entire Earth rebellion was crushed, and Brendan was most likely killed." He paused to remember his cousin and what he died for. "I wanted so much to get away from Earth, but I ended up returning trying to make things better. I only made them worse, I wanted to stay there on Earth and fight and die with them Trance." He had been looking at the floor but now looked up at Trance, tears in his eyes. "But Rommie convinced me that Andromeda was my home now and that you were my family, and I believed her, so I left. But I can't help thinking that if I hadn't gone to help Brendan with the revolution, he'd still be alive now." The look of pain and loss that crossed his face made Trance's heart break; yet she didn't move to comfort him.

"Trance, do you know what it's like to knowingly be the cause of one of your few living relatives death?" He asked her, not expecting an answer. "I watched my parents die at the hands of a Dragan slaver for resisting. I watched as my brothers and sisters died of various diseases and a few were lucky enough to be killed as slaves for the Dragans, instead of wasting away. That, Trance, is what my life was like on Earth."

==

"Harper? Harper!" Trance's gentle shaking roused Harper from the memories of his conversation with her in the conduit.

"Huh? What is it Trance?" He asked, tilting his head back to look her in the eyes.

"I was asking you a question about us," she told him.

"Oh, sorry Trance, I was thinking about something. What did you ask?"

"I asked where are we?" She replied.

"Where are we?" Harper asked confused. "Trance, we're in Hydroponics, on the Andromeda, in the middle of an asteroid field," he said.

"No silly! I mean where are you and I. Are we a couple? Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?" she explained.

"Oh," he said, thinking about her question. "Well, Trance, that all depends on you. What do you want us to be? Do you want us to be a couple? Boyfriend and girlfriend? I know what I want, but what do you want?" He asked in return.

"I don't know. I know that I want to be with you the rest of my life. I want to touch you, caress your face. Tangle my fingers in your hair," she said as she did just that. "I don't want to leave you, and I don't want you to leave me. Does that mean I want us to be a couple?" She asked, showing that some of the old Trance's naivete still remained in this Golden Trance.

Harper smiled.

"Yes, Trance, that does mean that you want to be a couple. It means that I won't leave you and you won't leave me. You can touch me and caress my face all you want. Tangle your fingers in my hair till the big crunch. Yes, Trance, it means we are a couple," he told her happily.

"However, we can't lay here any longer. We gotta go back to work. We've got a lot of work left to do," he said as he got up from the blanket and started putting away the picnic garbage. He then helped Trance get up off the blanket and gave her a quick hug.

"Help me fold the blanket?" She asked him.

"Of course, my golden goddess," he replied as they folded the blanket up.

Having folded the blanket up, they gathered their picnic basket and left Hydroponics to continue working on Andromeda.

==^== The next day. ==^==

Entering the Command Deck, Harper moved to the nearest console to check on the droid construction.

"Hey Andromeda! How's my beautiful ship doing?" Harper asked as he checked the status of material built from the asteroid ore.

"Just fine, Harper. The construction of the droids is coming along well. As is the parts manufacturing. We should be done within 2 hours," the Andromeda hologram replied as she popped into existence beside Harper.

"That's good Andromeda. Since you have everything well in hand, I'm going back to finish the inventory of the spare parts. I'll let you know what we need to make," he told her as he headed towards the doors.

"Ok. I'll let you know when the manufacturing is completed." Andromeda said as he left Command.

==^==

`Well, it took me 3 hours to inventory all the spare parts we had,' Harper thought to himself as he made his way to Command to give Andromeda the inventoried list he'd made.

"Well, Andromeda, it seems as though we're pretty well stocked on parts. We only need," he stopped as he looked at the list, "we only need to make about 20 different parts." He told her, finally looking up from the flexi in his hand.

When Andromeda didn't materialize as she normally did, Harper was curious why.

"Andromeda?" He asked as he moved towards a computer console.

Looking at the console display, Harper could see that Andromeda was running a full maintenance check of her systems, and Harper knew that for that type of check the hologram projection system had to be offline. The check also required that Andromeda's full resources be used to ensure the thorough completion of the check. This meant that Andromeda couldn't reply on the screen in the room. This was the kind of test a ship did while in dock on a safe, Commonwealth planet where it was protected by other ships.

So, unable to just give Andromeda the list he had to manually input each and every figure into the databank. This took Harper a good hour to do considering the amount of parts they had and the few they needed. Harper choose to input the inventory list because he had nothing better to do and it gave him a chance to double check the numbers.

By the time he was done, Andromeda was running the last portion of her check and was able to appear on the screen at the front of Command.

"Harper, I got your list. As soon as I finish my check, I will fabricate the new parts and have the droid put them into storage.," her image said.

"Thanks Andromeda. What time is it?" He asked as he was closing out her database.

"It is 20:50 hours." She replied.

"Thanks Andromeda, I gotta go. I'm meeting Trance for dinner at 9," he said as he was almost out the Command Deck doors.

==^==

On his way to meet Trance at Hydroponics, Harper's mind wandered back to fragments of their conversation from a few days ago in the conduit.

His mental wanderings finally settled on his conversation with Trance about luck.

"Harper, why do you believe in luck?" She asked as they got to work. Besides creating idle conversation, she was genuinely curious to find out about her friend.

"That's a good question, my golden goddess," he said, unaware of the start the term of endearment gave Trance. Reaching half his body into a panel, he continued. "And I'll tell you there's a very good reason behind it too. Growing up on Earth I learned that fate was a fairy tale, it doesn't exist. The only thing that can save you and keep you alive another day was luck. Was it fate that kept the Dragan troops from killing you in your sleep? No, it was luck. Luck that you woke up in the morning, luck that you ate, and luck that you went to sleep at night just to start over again the next day. In short, it was luck that you were even alive, between Magog attacks and Nietzschean slaver raids and death squads, I was lucky to even get off world and find the Eureka Maru." He looked at her with a quizzical look on his face. "That is why I believe in luck Trance." He turned back to his work on the panel. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious, that's all. I want to know more about my best friend, you never tell any one anything about yourself," she said as she gave him a small hug, like two friends who haven't seen each other in awhile.

Harper stiffened slightly, then relaxed into the short embrace, continuing to work. Trance broke the embrace and moved back to watch Harper work.

He smiled to himself at the memory of that conversation. He really didn't believe in luck, it was just something he could latch onto in order to explain how he survived all his years on Earth.

Noticing that he was almost to Hydroponics, he pulled his thoughts back into the present, and Trance.

She was waiting for him outside the doors to Hydroponics when he arrived.

"Hi Trance, ready to go?" He asked as they both turned and walked in the direction of his quarters and the romantic dinner waiting there.

"You bet. I'm starving. When did you find the time to set up this dinner in your quarters?" She asked as they were almost there.

"Well, after I checked the inventory, I ran back here and got everything set up. I put the food in a warmer and all we need to do is heat it up. So we're good to go, babe," Harper told her as they arrived at, and entered, his quarters.

"Wow, Harper! Candles? Where did you get these?" She asked as she saw the setting for a candlelit dinner. She was waiting for the dinner to arrive and the candles to be lit.

"I picked them up on the last drift, I was going to use them for one of Dylan's formal parties, but this seemed a better use," he told her, grinning at her.

"Wow, I'm impressed," she said, he only smiled.

"Well, shall we eat?" He asked her, holding out a chair for her to sit.

"Yes, let's," she replied, sitting in the offered chair.

Moving to the warmer with the food in it, Harper quickly reheated the food and put in on a serving platter. Placing the meal on the table, Harper searched around in his pockets until he found his lighter. Lighting the candles, Harper had Andromeda lower the room's lighting to a soft glow.

"Andromeda?" He asked.

The Andromeda hologram appeared before Harper.

"Yes Harper?" She asked.

"Would you please engage the privacy mode?" He asked her.

"Of course Harper, but I will interrupt you if the situation warrants it," she told him.

"Yeah, yeah. Understood." Harper said, waving his hand in the air, as Andromeda's hologram dissappeared and privacy mode was engaged.

"Well, now that we're alone we can eat." Harper told Trance. She nodded as she began to serve herself from the platter on the table.

They were having a mildly spiced chicken paprika with a mild curried rice. Harper had chosen a meal that was mainly without plants to not disturb Trance. He thought that after caring for the plants she wouldn't want to eat them, he hoped.

To compliment the dinner, Harper choose an old Earth champagne.

"Harper, this is good, and the bubbles tickle my nose. What do you call it?" She asked him as she slowly ate the dinner.

"Its called chicken paprika with curried rice. Both dishes are normally spicy, but I made this mild," He told her, as he, too, ate slowly.

"What is this drink? I've never had anything like it before."

"Its called champagne, Trance. It's actually called Dom something or other, I can't remember exactly what, but it's a very famous champagne. It's from Earth, I managed to find one of the last bottles made a few weeks ago. I figured, hey champagne is good for lots of stuff, celebrations, dinners, romance," he told her with a grin as he returned to his own dinner.

Looking up, Harper suddenly remembered something else he'd planned. Reaching into his pocket he removed a small remote control. Pressing a button, soft music started to fill the room.

Trance looked up from her chicken, and smiled at Harper, realizing what he was trying to do.

"Harper, this is turning out to be a wonderful evening. Thank you," she said.

"Hey, what else did you expect from the Exalted Love God?" He joked to her. "Tonight is only going to get better. Finish your chicken and I'll get the dessert," he told her as he finished his own chicken. Hearing that there would be dessert, Trance quickly finished her chicken as well.

Removing both plates from the table, Harper returned with a piece of chocolate mousse cake and two forks.

"This we can share," he told her when she gave him a funny look.

"Oh, I see." Was all she said.

As they ate the cake together, Trance's mind wandered back to the events that led up to this dinner. She thought back to the conduit and their conversation there.

==

"Harper, my life is empty without you in it, your wisecracks and sarcasm, your pseudo-bragging, your kindness. All that and more make my life worth living, if only to see you in the morning, to touch you once. I love you Seamus Harper, and I hope you love me." She said wistfully.

Looking up at her from where he sat, Harper took a moment to absorb what she told him.

`She loves me? She loves me!' He thought to himself as two battles were fought in his head. One was whether or not to tell her that he, Seamus Harper, did love Trance Gemini. The second battle was whether or not he would allow himself to love her, all those he'd ever loved or cared about ended up dead. He didn't know if he could take another death by proxy.

"Trance," He said slowly, "I don't know how to tell you this but I love you too." At the look of absolute joy on her golden face he went on. "But I don't know if I can love you." This took the joyful expression off her face and replaced it with one of sadness and curiosity. "All my family, all the ones I've ever loved have ended up dead or have left me alone. I don't want you to die from me loving you and I don't want you to leave me. You deserve a long happy life with someone who won't be an albatross around your neck, you deserve better than a sickly, no-immune-system-always-near-death street punk like me." He said as his voice fell more and more into despair.

"Seamus Harper." She chided him. "You may have been a street punk once but now you are chief engineer for the Andromeda and a valued member of this crew, and my best friend." She told him, trying to shake him from his self loathing.

"You always know just what I need to hear and when, I guess that's part of what I love about you. I know that I'm just setting you up for death, you don't deserve that. You don't deserve to be burdened with all the pain and sadness that I've had to live through. You should have sunshine and rainbows and other beautiful things." He told her, looking into her eyes and holding the contact.

"Harper, I want to be the one that decides that. And my love for you as a beautiful thing makes that all moot. If my love for you means that I'll be burdened with your pain and sadness, then I'll gladly shoulder that if you're there with me." She told him with an odd gentleness that the old Trance always exhibited, permeating her voice.

"Your right Trance, the choice is yours. If I am your choice, so be it. I mean what the hey, you only live once, right? So let's give this romance thing a try and see what happens." He said as he moved to get his toolbox from the other side of the conduit.

==

That conversation revealed more of her secrets than she wanted. She now knew as much about Harper as he did about her.

`If we are going to have a relationship I need to tell him more, not all, but more. That can wait, right now I just want to be with him tonight.' She thought as she put another forkful of cake in her mouth.

Finishing the cake, Harper removed all the dishes to be cleaned later. Taking Trance's hand he moved with her to the couch.

They sat down and Trance snuggled into Harper's arms, as he wrapped them around her.

"So Trance, you wanna watch a movie? I have a lot." He asked her as she just breathed.

"What movie do you have in mind?" She asked, using anything as an excuse to stay near him.

"I was thinking about one called `Sleepless In Seattle.' What do ya think?" He asked her.

"Sure, sounds good." She told him, relishing the touch of his arms. She stifled a small cry as he removed his arms to go get the movie. Returning and setting the movie to play. Harper once again wrapped his arms around Trance.

As the opening credits rolled, Trance thought of how happy she was right now and how she never wanted this to end.

==

One hour and 45 minutes later the movie was over. Harper hadn't been paying much attention to the movie, he'd been too rapped up in his thoughts to pay much attention.

During the entire movie he'd had one arm wrapped around Trance, who was laying cuddled into his shoulder, and the other hand was in his pocket. In his pocket his hand kept turning a small ring around and around. Harper's mind was in a jumble of questions.

"Andromeda." Harper called softly, to not wake Trance who was lightly sleeping.

"Yes Harper?" She answered just as softly, shimmering into view beside Harper.

"You can turn off privacy mode now, I'm gonna put Trance to sleep in my bed while I take the couch. Wake me at 0800 tomorrow, I've got to run a few system checks in the machine shop. And try not to wake Trance, ok?" He asked the hologram.

"Of course Harper. Good night." She said as she once again shimmered into the ether.

Gently picking up Trance he moved with careful steps to his bed. During the journey she had wrapped her arms around his neck, and removing them without waking her was not an easy task.

A few minutes later, the task successfully done, Harper went into his bathroom and changed into his `pajamas,' a t-shirt and boxers.

Stopping at the bed, Harper carefully removed Trance's boots and tucked her into bed, kissing her forehead as he did so. She made a happy little sound and snuggled into Harper's sheets, falling into a deep sleep.

Smiling at this, Harper removed a spare blanket and pillow from a cabinet and made a somewhat comfortable bed on the couch. Drifting off to sleep with thoughts of Trance in his mind, Harper wasn't plagued with nightmares, but pleasant dreams of him and Trance.

==^==

Harper woke up the next morning at the metallic touch of one of the ship's droids.

"Huh, I'm up, I'm up." He said a little loud then softer as he remembered Trance was sleeping in his bed.

"Thanks Andromeda." He whispered, the droid nodded and left his quarters.

Moving with all the stealth he'd learned on Earth, he quietly crept to his bathroom and changed into his work clothes.

Returning to the main room, he decided to let Trance sleep herself out.

Exiting his quarters with the same stealth he used entering the bathroom, he made his way to the mess hall for breakfast.

"Boy oh boy, Andromeda! Did I ever sleep well. Not one nightmare, not one!" He told her as he gathered together 2 waffles, bacon, orange juice and a Sparky cola.

Sitting down at a table, Harper waited for Andromeda's hologram to appear.

"Not one nightmare?" She repeated, shimmering into existence.

"Yup, not a one. All I dreamed about was Trance." He told her.

"I don't want to know any more about your dreams about Trance." Andromeda told him as he opened his mouth to continue.

"It's not those type of dreams Andromeda. They were more like .." He paused, trying to figure out an appropriate word. "They were more like sunshine warming you on a beach after you won a huge surfing contest. They were good dreams." He finally told her.

The hologram nodded in understanding.

"She's very good for you Harper. She's changed you for the better. Everyone's noticed, even Tyr." She told him.

Harper smirked at the thought of Tyr noticing something like a change in his attitude and behaviors.

"I know, I've noticed the changes myself. I'm in a better mood all the time, I'm sure Dylan and Beka noticed that." He joked to her, he only received a small smile.

Looking down at his empty plate Harper was struck by a thought.

"Andromeda, can I share a secret with you?" He asked, still looking at his plate.

"Of course, who can't I tell?" She asked as she engaged privacy mode so that she and Harper could speak privately, without any sensors or recorders.

"Trance, you can't tell Trance." He told her pulling a small box from his pocket.

"Harper is that what I think it is?" She asked in mild shock.

"You'd better believe it Babe. It's an engagement ring." He told her, removing the simple piece of metal from its box.

"You're going to propose to her?" She asked, understanding the need of secrecy.

"Yeah, I was going to do it after the movie last night, but she fell asleep. I'll ask her when I'm done with the system checks." He replied, returning the ring to its box.

"Well, I hope you'll let me record the moment for the rest of the crew." Andromeda asked as Harper got up and returned his tray to be cleaned.

"Of course, I wouldn't dream of leaving them out of this special moment." He told her with a grin, as he exited the mess hall and headed towards the machine shop.

==

After an hour of running system checks and not finding any problems, Harper went to the messhall and gather together the same thing he had for breakfast, minus the Sparky, and returned to his quarters.

When he got there, Trance was still asleep. Placing the tray of food on the table he went over to the bed.

"Trance?" He said softly. Receiving no response he gently brushed the tips of his fingers over her cheek. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she smiled.

"Good morning Harper." She said as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Morning Trance, I thought you could use something to eat so I brought you breakfast in bed." He told her going over to the table and getting the tray.

Placing the tray across her lap, he went to the table to get a chair. Pulling the chair beside the bed, he sat watching her while she ate.

When she finished eating he put the tray back on the table and replaced the chair as well. Harper decided to sit on the edge of the bed by Trance.

"So Trance, what did you think of the movie?" He asked her, watching her expression.

"I enjoyed it. Tom Hanks is a good actor. So is that Meg Ryan. They have good screen chemistry together. Where they ever in another movie together?" She asked him.

"Yeah, it was called `You've Got Mail.'" He told her.

"Do you have that movie?" She asked him, at his nod she went on. "Maybe we could watch it tonight?" She asked, a little shy.

"I'd like that, Trance. Really I would. But first I've got a serious question for you." He told her as he moved to take her hand. "Andromeda." Was all he said. When Trance gave him a confused look he just shook his head, a big grin on his face.

"Trance, you're my best friend. You always find a way heal me when I get sick, a lot. You've never let me down. I want you to know how much you mean to me. Remember when I told you that you could run you fingers through my hair and caress my face all you want?" At her nod he continued. "Well Trance I want o make this official. I love you Trance, I want to be with you until I die, until the end of the universe and the perfect possible future. I want you to marry me Trance, I want you as my wife. Will you marry me Trance?" he asked as he kneeled on one knee and looked her fully in the eyes.

As Harper watched her absorb the request, he waited with his breath held. If she didn't answer him soon he was going to pass out from lack of oxygen.

A hundred emotions crossed Trance's face in the few seconds that Harper had to wait for her answer.

"Harper." She said, "I'm overwhelmed, I don't know what to say." She told him as the tears started to pour down her face.

"How about `yes Harper, I'll marry you.'" Harper prompted, releasing his held breath.

"Yes Harper. I will marry you." She told him with tears in her eyes and a small amount of laughter in her voice.

Grabbing Trance out of the bed, Harper lifted her into the air in a show of his overwhelming joy. Giving her the biggest hug he could muster he set her back on the bed. Retrieving the ring box out of his pocket he removed the ring and slid it onto her finger.

"Trance, you have no idea how happy you've made me." He said through his own tears of joy.

"You wrong Harper." She told him, "I do know how happy I've made you, it's the same happiness that you've given to me." She told him as she kissed him.

"Trance, when the others get back we can start to plan the wedding. How does that sound?" He asked.

"Sounds good to me, the sooner the better. You never know when we'll be attacked again." She told him as she continued to cry from joy.

In the end they just sat there for an hour, holding each other and crying. After that hour they had to get to work, and get the ship in tip-top shape for Dylan.

But first they had to find Trance's boots, which Harper had taken off her the previous night.

==^==

The rest of the afternoon flew by in a haze for the two. They had to clean the decking of the ship and log all the repairs made, as well as all the new droids and parts.

It turned out to be more difficult to get the droids to clean the decking than Harper originally thought.

"Andromeda, I need these droids to clean the decking before Dylan gets back." He complained to the hologram.

"I'm sorry Harper, but I need these droids to move some cargo to make room for the new supplies that Dylan bought." She explained.

"Ok, let's compromise. The droids can clean the floor first, which is the longer job, and then move the cargo. I'll even help them move the cargo. Sound like a deal?" Harper asked as he continued to work on his final maintenance check.

Andromeda smiled evilly at the thought of Harper having to move the crates around.

"Sure Harper, sounds like a deal." She told him.

"Great! You send the droids to clean the floors while I finish this check. When they're done I'll go down and help them move the crates." He said without looking up from his diagnostic.

==^==

After the droids had cleaned the floor back to it's showroom shine, Harper left Command to go help the droids move the crates. A promise is a promise after all.

So after 3 hours of moving boxes against the wall and making room for more, Harper gratefully entered his quarters for dinner, Trance was waiting for him with dinner ready.

"I heard about your deal with Andromeda, so I thought that I'd make dinner tonight. Then we can watch that other movie." She explained as the smells of a spaghetti dinner wafted over to Harper.

"Wow! Spaghetti. And you even have garlic bread!" His anticipation of the meal evident in his expression. "Thanks Trance, I haven't had a spaghetti dinner in a long time." He told her.

She just shrugged and smiled.

As they sat down to their dinner Harper couldn't help but thing how lucky he was to be engaged to this woman.

After dinner they once again resumed their places on the couch while they watched the movie. This time they both fell asleep in each other's arms.

Seeing the scene in Harper's quarters, Andromeda lowered the lights and turned off the movie. She'd let them sleep, then wake them before Dylan arrived.

==^==

"Harper, you need to wake up now." Came the call. Harper tried to identify the voice but his mind refused to work.

"Harper, Dylan is going to be here in three hours. Do you want him to come looking for you and find you here like this?" Andromeda asked.

"Oh, Andromeda, leave me alone. Dylan can just ... Dylan!" He exclaimed, sitting straight up from the floor where he and Trance were sleeping. Apparently they had rolled off the couch during their sleep. "Ok, I'm up. Andromeda how much time do we have?" He asked running his hand over his face, trying to vanquish the sleep.

"A little over three hours. That means you need to wake Trance and get cleaned up and eat and meet them at the hanger." The hologram told him.

"Ok, ok. I get the picture." Turning towards Trance he gently nudged her. "Trance, babe, you need to get up. We need to get cleaned up for Dylan's arrival." He told her. When that didn't work he kissed her on the cheek, her eyes instantly flew open.

"Harper? What time is it?" She asked him, sitting up.

"I don't know, but Dylan will be here in about three hours. So you need to go to your quarters and shower and get changed. I need to do the same. I'll meet you in the mess hall in 45 minutes, ok?" He asked as he rose from the floor and offered Trance his hands.

She took them and rose. Then, after giving a back popping stretch, she left for her own quarters, but not with out giving Harper a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks. That was a good movie, I had fun. See you in 45 minutes." She told him, he just watched her walk down the corridor before heading to his own shower.

==^==

45 minutes later they were in the mess hall eating breakfast and discussing the differences and similarities of `Sleepless In Seattle' and `You've Got Mail.' They carried on like that for about and hour when Andromeda interrupted them.

"Harper, Trance. The Maru is on its way in. you should head to the hanger now." She told them.

"Thank you, Andromeda." Trance said.

"Yeah, thanks. We'll continue this conversation later Trance." Harper said.

Picking up their trays and placing them for cleaning, they left for the hanger, hand in hand.

==^==

"Harper! Trance!" Beka called as she made her way down the ramp.

"Hey Beka. Have a good trip?" Harper asked as Beka hugged him and then Trance.

"You guys have no idea how much I missed you. 4 days on a ship with Tyr and Dylan. It's enough to try the patience of a Wayist." She joked to them.

"Mr. Harper, I see that the ship is still in one piece. I can only assume that you've completed your tasks. Hello Trance, how are you?" Dylan said as he came up behind Beka. Tyr and Rommie not far behind.

"Very well thank you. And Harper did get all his tasks done. He finished a day before you got here." The look that Trance shot Harper was one of pride, this made Dylan curious.

"Ok then Mr. Harper, I apologize for assuming the worst." Dylan said as the crew started walking towards the Hanger doors while the droids began removing the cargo from the Maru.

On their way to Command, Trance and Harper asked Dylan and the others many questions about their trip.

Upon reaching Command, Dylan changed the topic with a question of his own.

"Did anything interesting happen while I was away? I find it hard to believe that all you did was work." Dylan said as he surveyed Command.

"Actually something interesting did happen, and all we did was work. This happened after we had finished working." Harper told him.

Rommie's face had been blank but changed the moment she received the updates from her holographic self. Her look changed from shock to joy to just a smile a she struggled to keep the engagement a secret. She wanted Harper and Trance to tell Dylan and Beka.

Harper, seeing the expressions on Rommie's face knew that she had received the updates from the ship. He just smiled in anticipation. He leaned over and whispered in Trance's ear, at her nod he proceeded.

"Andromeda, would you please play the video from my quarters the other night? I want Dylan and Beka to see it." he asked the AI.

"Sure Harper, no problem." Harper could see that even the holographic version of Andromeda was having trouble not telling the secret.

"A video? From your quarters? Harper is this really appropriate to show?" Dylan asked, watching as Harper's quarters appeared on the screen.

"Trust me Dylan, you'll enjoy this video." Trance told him.

Dylan just shrugged as the video started to play, needless to say he was speechless at what he saw. Harper could see that Beka was too, she had her mouth hanging open in shock.

For there on the screen was Harper professing his love for Trance.

"Trance, you're my best friend. You always find a way heal me when I get sick, a lot. You've never let me down. I want you to know how much you mean to me. Remember when I told you that you could run you fingers through my hair and caress my face all you want?" At her nod he continued. "Well Trance I want o make this official. I love you Trance, I want to be with you until I die, until the end of the universe and the perfect possible future. I want you to marry me Trance, I want you as my wife. Will you marry me Trance?" he asked as he kneeled on one knee and looked her fully in the eyes.

As Harper watched her absorb the request, he waited with his breath held. If she didn't answer him soon he was going to pass out from lack of oxygen.

A hundred emotions crossed Trance's face in the few seconds that Harper had to wait for her answer.

"Harper." She said, "I'm overwhelmed, I don't know what to say." She told him as the tears started to pour down her face.

"How about `yes Harper, I'll marry you.'" Harper prompted, releasing his held breath.

"Yes Harper. I will marry you." She told him with tears in her eyes and a small amount of laughter in her voice.

Grabbing Trance out of the bed, Harper lifted her into the air in a show of his overwhelming joy. Giving her the biggest hug he could muster he set her back on the bed. Retrieving the ring box out of his pocket he removed the ring and slid it onto her finger.

"Trance, you have no idea how happy you've made me." He said through his own tears of joy.

"You wrong Harper." She told him, "I do know how happy I've made you, it's the same happiness that you've given to me." She told him as she kissed him.

As the images faded away, Dylan and Beka both turned to Trance and Harper. For the first time they noticed that the young woman was not only wearing an engagement ring but was also holding Harper's hand.

"Oh Trance I'm so happy for you both." Beka was the first to recover, she went over and gave the couple a big hug.

Dylan took a little longer to get over his shock.

"What can I say besides congratulations Mr. Harper?" He asked, shaking Harper's hand.

"That's ok Boss. You don't need to say anything. You face says it all. I know that your happy for us, thanks, thanks a lot." Harper told him. "There is one thing that you can do though."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Dylan asked, thinking that he already knew the answer.

"Could you marry us? You know officiate at the ceremony?" Harper asked him.

"My. Harper it would be my pleasure to marry you and Trance." He replied, putting his hand on Harper's shoulder.

"So tell me more about this wedding?" Beka asked, pulling Trance aside and leading her away to help plan the wedding.

Harper and Dylan just smiled at her.

"You'd think she was getting married what with the enthusiasm she's showing." Dylan told Harper.

"Don't worry Boss, her day will come, you'll see." Harper said as he followed the two most important women in his life, his fiancée and his second best friend.

==^==

Three Months Later...

"Trance! You look, you look beautiful." Beka said as Trance appeared in her wedding gown. "That color brings out the purple in your skin."

"Thank you Beka." Trance said a bit shyly.

Trance was wearing a light peach dress which did indeed draw out the lilac coloring that remained in her skin. Her dress was accentuated by pieces of silver jewelry which complimented the gold in her skin. Her hair was pulled back into a bundle which was covered by a cloth the same color as the dress, and tied with a silk ribbon slightly darker than the dress. The dress was a traditional Earth style that Trance, Beka, and Rommie had found during their search of the databases. The dress was originally cut to show off a pendant or necklace, but was now displaying the star shaped coloring on Trance's throat.

"Trance, if Harper doesn't like this dress we're gonna need to get his eyes checked." Beka joked as Trance moved across the room to sit in a chair large enough to not hurt the dress.

"Thank you Beka, thank you for all your help in planning this wedding." Trance said as she tried to remain calm, resisting the nervousness threatening to escape.

"Relax Trance, you'll be fine. Just like we practiced. Just remember, we have representatives of all the Commonwealth Charter worlds as guests. We need to make sure you look your best." Beka said as she fiddled with the few pieces of ornamentation hanging on Trance. Trance was wearing a pair of earrings that Harper had given her as engagement presents. They were made of silver. There was a matching pendant that went with the earrings, but Trance decided not to wear that.

There was a knock at the door. When Rommie went to see who it was, Dylan stepped into the room.

"Are you almost ready Trance?" He asked approaching the bride.

"Yes I am ready." Trance said standing up and turning to look at Dylan.

Dylan smiled.

"That's good, we're still waiting on Harper. He's late." Dylan said with mild reproach in his voice.

"My sensors show that he's in the machine shop pacing." Rommie told them.

Dylan sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Rommie, would you please ask him to join us so that he can get married?" Dylan asked the avatar.

"Of course Dylan." She replied.

==^==

Harper was in the Machine Shop trying to pace a hole into the next deck. His nervousness had gotten the better of him. He was dressed in a tuxedo that was slightly away from traditional. It had no collar and was styled after an ancient Japanese design that Harper had liked.

The hologram of Andromeda appeared as Harper was beginning his fortieth lap.

"Harper, are you going to get married today or pace a hole to the cargo bays?" She asked him as he continued to pace by her image.

"I'm just nervous, that's all. Can't a guy be nervous on his own wedding day?" He asked the hologram. Seeing the look on her face he stopped pacing and turned to face her. Releasing his breath in a sigh Harper looked at the hologram.

"Andromeda, how does Trance look?" He asked her.

"She looks very beautiful, and she is just as nervous as you are. Relax Harper, it's your wedding day. Thing of it like this, you're marrying Trance, you have no baby Magog in your stomach, and the universe is smiling on you. Cheer up!" She told him with a smile.

"You're right. I'll bet everyone is waiting for me huh?" He asked as he slowly started to walk towards the door.

"Yes and no. Yes they are waiting for you, and no not just for you. Trance is waiting for you to arrive before she'll go out. We can't have a wedding without the groom." The hologram told him.

"You're right, you can't have a wedding without the groom. Tell them I'm on my way and will be there in a few minutes." Harper told her as he began to run down the corridor to the Observation Deck.

==^==

"Harper is on his way up here." Rommie reported to Dylan.

"Good, good. Well Trance, I'm going back out there and will be waiting for you both." Dylan told her, he then surprised her by giving her a hug. "I'm so happy for you both." He whispered in her ear.

"Thank you Dylan." She whispered back.

Dylan released her and left the room, leaving Trance, Beka, and Rommie alone once again.

There was silence in the room as each women tried to think of a reason to speak or words that should be spoken.

Rommie finally broke the silence with a report of Harper's progress.

"Harper is almost here. Trance you should get ready. He'll need a few moments to catch his breath, he ran the whole way." Rommie told them.

And sure enough, opening the door to the Observation Deck a few inches, the three watched as Harper ran into the room completely breathless.

"Hey Dylan." He said as he nearly fell into the other man. "Glad you could make it."

"Nice to see that you made it too. Now, Mr. Harper. If you could possibly stand on your own we can get started." Dylan said as he helped straighten the young man. Harper just grinned.

Dylan signaled to Rommie to begin the wedding march. As the music began to swirl around the guests, Harper's breath caught in his throat as he caught his first glimpse of Trance.

She was walking down the aisle towards her Husband to be and Dylan, the man who would join them together as a couple, forever. Her eyes were focused only on Harper, who looked very handsome in his tuxedo, his spiky blond hair as disheveled as ever.

Passing the dignitaries from the Charter worlds, some of who were smiling as she passed by. Trance didn't notice them, however, her eyes never left Harper's.

After completing the short walk down the aisle Trance took Harper's hand in hers as Dylan began the ceremony.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to day to join these two in the bonds of holy matrimony." Dylan read from the flexi in his hand.

As the time neared for the two to exchange their vows, Harper's mind kept wondering how he'd been lucky enough to get this beautiful, yet dangerous, woman to be his bride. Harper smiled at the thought of being able to spend the rest of his life with this enchanting woman who had captured his heart and soul.

Trance's mind was wondering along the same path as Harper's was. How could she be this lucky? Here she was marrying this man who made her fell as though every breath she took was a special moment. As though every touch he gave her was to be cherished and remembered. When had she first gotten these feelings? She asked herself, but the answer didn't come. Was that because there was no answer? Or because the feelings had always been there since she had first met Harper onboard the Maru? She wasn't sure and didn't care, she was marrying Harper and that was all that mattered.

"Harper and Trance will now exchange their vows, which they wrote themselves." Dylan told the assembled guests.

"Trance," Harper began, "I can't remember when I first knew that I loved you. Whether it was when you were still purple and sparkly, or when you changed into the person before me, I'm not sure. But I know that when I'm not with you I'm thinking about you. When I'm not thinking about you or with you, I'm wishing I were with you. You are the one true thing in this universe that I've been looking for my whole life. You have the one thing I've been searching the galaxies for, love. I don't know if I'll ever be able to give you the amount of love I see shining through in your eyes, but I'll try." Harper had to pause as tears started to fill his eyes. "Trance, I would die to protect you and I would kill to do the same. I will put your life above mine always, for your love is the most important thing in the universe. You, Trance, are the most important thing to me from now `till forever." He managed to finish without crying too badly.

Trance was holding back the tears as Harper finished. It was now her turn to speak, gathering strength from his words she proceeded to speak.

"Harper, I don't' know when I realized that I love you. I do know that I've had feelings for you since we met on the Maru. I do love you, and will do anything to protect you and keep you safe. I have seen many different possibilities, and the worse ones were always without you. All the best possibilities included you in them, happy and strong. From now on our live and destinies will intertwined as one. We will be living for and with each other until the end of our days. You are the most precious thing to me now. You are the piece that completes my soul, completes my life. In you eyes I see a love that others will never know, and for that I am glad. Glad that I will be the only one to see that love, glad to know that I will be the only one to receive that love. Harper you are the love of my life, and I'm not sure if I could live without you in my life." Trance told him. Harper now had tears flowing down his cheeks, as did Trance. Beka and Rommie were the same, even thought Rommie couldn't actually cry.

During the vows they had slipped the rings on each other's finger, completing the joining of their souls.

Dylan waited a few seconds before continuing on with the ceremony.

"Then by the powers vested in me as Captain of this ship, and by the Commonwealth, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." Dylan finished.

Harper and Trance wasted no time in kissing, as soon as Dylan had said 'may' they were already in a passionate kiss. Pulling apart and grinning, Trance and Harper turned to face the audience.

"May I introduce, Mr. And Mrs. Seamus Harper." Dylan said over the applause the radiated from the guests.

Harper and Trance only grinned.

==^==

A little later, after the traditional feeding each other the cake, Trance and Harper excused themselves and left for their quarters.

Reaching their quarter's Harper stopped just before the door. He turned to look at Trance, reaching up and removing the cloth from her hair he smiled.

"There, that's better. You know at first I didn't like your dreadlocks, but now I do." He told her as her gathered her into his arms for a hug that she returned. Picking her up off her feet, Harper proceeded to carry Trance over the threshold.

"It's said to bring good luck and happiness." He told her as they crossed from the corridor to their new quarters.

As the door closed behind them there was a wealth of emotions on both their faces, the most noticeable being joy. They now both had a family, they never needed to worry about being alone, and they had both found their soul mate.

As Andromeda engaged the privacy mode, she couldn't help but wonder what fate had in store for the new couple. She could only hope that their life together would be a happy and pleasant one.