Trust
sethoz

Present

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Before Harper trusted nobody. Now he trusts her. Beka. His Boss. Even so, she was the last person he wanted to see or talk to right now. Harper hurried along a corridor, Beka a few hundred feet behind him. She hadn't called him to stop yet, but even so Harper could hear her footsteps slowly increasing. Harper rounded the corner and broke into a run. A little way behind him, Beka did the same.

"Harper! Wait!" she called. Harper sped up instead, tears streaming down his face. He was desperate to get away from her and she was just as desperate to catch up with him. It wasn't really a fair chase.

Harper was still feeling the Magog inside of him move, his immune system was very weak and he hadn't had a proper night's sleep since this all began. In face, the best time he rested was when he had been knocked out on Andromeda and taken down to the Magog world ship.

Beka on the other hand was healthily and fit. She overtook him after about five hundred meters as he stopped, a coughing fit attacking him. For a second she simply watched him before diving forward and grabbing him as he fell. Harper screamed and lashed out with his fists, trying to brake free.

"Harper! Harper, it's okay!" Beka said trying to grab his flailing arms. Harper shook his head, tears flying off his cheeks. It wasn't okay. Beka held him firmly and stared into his crazed eyes.

"It's going to be okay, Harper. You hear me, don't you dare give up. Don't you dare even think about giving up, you hear me? No matter what you may be thinking right now, you are important. You're important to Andromeda, you're important to Trance... you're important to me," she finished and hugged him.

Beka carried on hugging him and after a while his struggles stopped. He simply froze in her embrace, his eyes staring blankly ahead. It didn't matter what Beka or anyone else said. He wasn't worth saving. He was just a mudfoot after all.

Past

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He was just a mudfoot after all. That was the way he was thought of by Bobby. Oh, he never came right out and called him 'mudfoot' but Harper could see it in his eyes, every time Bobby was forced to talk to him. It made him nervous. Harper kept expecting Bobby to sneak up behind him and throw him off the ship. If it wasn't for the fact that Harper had a dataport then he would have been off this ship a long time ago.

So when Bobby left, this time for the last time (or so Harper hoped) he moved around the ship like a ghost. Beka wasn't in a good mood and he didn't want her to take out her anger on a 'mudfoot'.

He had managed to avoid her pretty well for a week until she came storming up to him, her face angry. Harper inwardly gulped.

Look's like the honeymoons over, he thought and nervously looked to the floor.

"Don't look away," snapped Beka. Harper tensed then looked back up, not quite meeting her eyes.

"Yes Boss?" he asked. Beka frowned.

"Why isn't the environmental control fixed yet?" she asked. Harper shifted from one foot to the other.

"Umm... you see Boss, I haven't got round to fixing it yet..." he instantly cringed, well aware that he had just said the wrong thing. Beka stared at him and took a deep breath.

"Boss, could you skip the yelling and just hit me? Because the yelling isn't needed. I know I've done wrong and I'm make it up to you... just... don't yell at me." Harper pleaded. Beka's mouth fell open.

"Why would I hit you?" she finally asked. Harper shrugged his shoulders.

"That's what my last Master did." he said. Beka frowned and Harper tensed again, waiting for a blow that never came.

"I'm not going to hit you Harper." Beka said, sounding tired. "I'm never going to hit you. The last person you worked for should never have hit you and he should never have made you call him master." she smiled and Harper allowed himself to relax.

"'Coz this friendship thing? It's all about trust."

Future

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It's all about trust. Harper understood that now. He stood in front of Beka and refused to let her go past him to the hanger bay.

"Damn it Harper!" Beka yelled. "Let me get past!" Harper slowly shook his head and didn't move. She stepped forward and slapped him, hard, across the face. He spun with the force of the impact and slowly blinked trying to focus his vision. Beka was staring at him, a horrified look in her eyes.

"Harper... oh God." she muttered.

"It's all about trust Beka." Harper said with a faint smile. "You taught me that. I'm not going to let you throw everything away because of one stupid mistake."

"I almost got you all killed." she whispered. Harper shrugged, the smile never leaving his face.

"Almost being the important word there Beka. You didn't know what would happen." Harper pleaded. Beka remained unconvinced.

"You catch me every time I fall. Now it's time to return the favor." at these words Beka dissolved into tears and Harper moved forward, awkwardly wrapping his arms around her.

"Shush." he whispered. Trust. He finally understood. "It will be okay Beka. I won't let it be any other way."

        The End

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