Fallen Star
Disclaimers: Voyager and Xena belong to Paramount and Universal respectively. I'm not making money out of this - just having some fun with the characters.. This story contains love between women so if that offends you or it's illegal where you live, go read something else (or move). There's also angst and some violence.
Feedback: is welcome at [email protected]
SPOILER WARNING: You might want to skip this if you haven’t seen the Xena finale.
I’m dedicating this one to Jean for being the best beta reader – couldn’t have done this without you, thanks. :) I'd also like to thank Sonja for the ever so pretty graphic.
****
Part 10
"There it is." Gabrielle pointed the out the barely visible track that would lead to the cabin. It had faded a lot over the decades and was now all but invisible.
Xena nodded, "You're getting better at this."
"I have a good teacher." The bard replied.
The warrior just raised her eyebrow, an indulgent grin on her face. Her hand shot out suddenly and ruffled Gabrielle's hair, effectively messing it up.
"Hey!" the shorter woman laughed, slapping away the hand. Xena somersaulted into the air and hung there, just out of her lover's reach.
"Show off."
"Shorty." This comment was met with an indignant glare from Gabrielle. Grinning, the warrior swooped down and tackled the bard, tickling her unmercifully. They rolled through the leaves, wrestling, until the blonde woman got the upper hand and pinned Xena to the ground.
"Ooh, I think someone's losing their touch." She teased, then blinked as she saw the ground beneath her begin to move away slowly. "Uh... Xena? What are you doing?"
"Levitating."
Gabrielle scowled playfully, "Damned ghosts..."
A grin. "I have many skills." She planted a firm kiss on the blonde woman's lips and, holding onto her lover tightly, Xena increased her speed towards the cabin below them, laughing. "Aiyiyiyiyi!!!"
They had left it 30 years ago with such sorrow and pain in their hearts, but it was with much higher spirits (no pun intended) that the two companions returned.
*******
Cursing, B'Elanna threw back the covers and stumbled out of bed. Another nightmare - the same one, again. Damnit, why does it keep screwing with my mind? So absorbed in trying to dispel the dream's hold on her by cussing it out, she almost missed the soft chime of her door.
"Yeah, hold on." She hollered, pulling on some clothes quickly. She ran her hands through her hair a few times to arrange it into some semblance of orderliness.
"B'Elanna?" A familiar voice called out.
"Tom??" B'Elanna opened the door to find the helmsman standing there, looking every bit like he had six years ago when they'd parted ways. "Um... come in." She stepped back from the door. He smiled the charming smile of his, and produced a bunch of red roses from behind his back.
"What the hell is this?" B'Elanna eyed the flowers.
"It's my way of saying..." he brushed a lock of hair off his forehead, "Well, it's my way of saying that I want us to have another chance."
"Another chance?"
"Yeah. I know we didn't part the best of ways... but you know, I've had a long think about us, and B'Elanna... I forgive you."
"You forgive me??"
"Well yeah, I heard from the other crewmembers that you had an affair with Seven..."
B'Elanna clenched her jaw.
"It really hurt that you left me for that borg. But I understand now that you were probably under very harsh conditions on that planet and-"
"Tom, shut up." B'Elanna cut in, unable to take his insensitive comments anymore; "We're not getting back together."
"Why not?" Confusion filled his face. "Lanna... don't you want us to have another chance?"
"I'm in love with Seven."
"But she's dead!"
An unreadable emotion flared in B'Elanna's eyes. "Get out." She growled.
"But-"
"Get out, Tom."
A sigh. "All right, but think about it... think about what we had." Then he turned and left.
As soon as the doors slid shut, B'Elanna slumped onto her couch, burying her face in her hands, "Great, just what I needed that to start off the day."
It wasn't Tom that had bothered her, but the reminder of Seven - Seven, the woman she had tried so hard to forget lately, was painful. Dreaming of Seven hurt, thinking of her hurt... it was why the engineer tried so hard not to. Despite all her endeavors to close off her heart, however, it was futile - what she'd told Tom was true. She still loved Seven. And it hurt.
*******
The cabin was just as they had left it, although looking a little worn. Gabrielle kneeled down, using the chakram to scrape away the earth that had hardened over the years. She lifted the urn, carefully brushing away the dirt with her fingers.
"Here it is."
Xena nodded, "Lets take it back to Japa now."
"What about B'Elanna?" Gabrielle inquired.
The warrior was silent for a moment, her face impassive. She turned to the other woman and said with a quiet certainty, "She'll come."
*******
It was now or never. B'Elanna took a deep breath and typed in the command to open the transwarp conduit that would take her back to the wormhole - and back to Seven. As the small ship entered the passageway, she leaned back into the chair and forced herself to relax, casting her mind back to the days leading up to her abrupt decision.
After numerous nights of the same dream, the same agony upon waking up to an empty bed and a barren future, the engineer had finally gotten around to some serious thinking. Where was she heading in her life? Would she just continue to work, and work, occasionally going out to dinner with a few superficial friends? Then, eventually, she would die... alone, with barely anyone noticing. How could she go on like this?
She'd promised Seven to live, but that promise had been broken years ago, when her spirit had lost its fiery spark - the passion that had so enthralled Seven was gone, the light from her eyes was gone. No, she was not breaking the promise in doing this - she was fulfilling it. She would return to the cabin, perhaps she would die there... in the only place she'd truly felt alive. Perhaps she would live out the rest of her life in solitude and become a hermit. She grinned wryly at that. Whoever would have imagined it - B'Elanna Torres, once Chief Engineer of the now legendary Voyager, a hermit. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. Surprisingly, once she'd made the decision to return, she'd felt better than she had in years.
In one reckless move, she'd beamed off the other pilot and high tailed it out of there before anyone else even noticed - in other words, she'd stolen the ship. She had requested that she be present for its first test drive in case something went wrong - they'd agreed. So now here she was, in the only Starfleet vessel capable of transwarp travel - a top-secret project they'd been working on for years. Soon, she would exit the conduit, arriving at coordinates a few light years away from the Tambius wormhole. All she had to do, then, was wait for the wormhole to open and fly through it again, just as she had that fateful day six years ago. She had been unsure the first time she had considered returning, but every night her resolve was strengthened by the dreams. Finally, she'd surrendered to the irresistible pull and to what her gut instincts were screaming at her - she would go back.
*******
As if sleepwalking, B'Elanna made her way towards the cabin in a daze. One recurring thought kept entering her mind. Nothing has changed. It was as if everything had been frozen in time - preserved for when she returned. But no, there were differences, just small things, but they were there all the same. The trail looked a little fainter, and the foliage around the river was a little thicker.
Some things, however, were just as she had left it and they brought back pleasant memories of a happier time. There was the riverbank where they'd often watched the sunset together... and the large flat rock, where Seven had lain sometimes, soaking in the sun, while watching B'Elanna fish for their dinner.
B'Elanna stepped into the clearing, so moved by the sight of worn, run-down cabin that she almost missed the figure sitting on the log. The engineer stopped in her tracks, staring at the blonde woman who sat facing away from her. From behind, it almost seemed as if... as if it were Seven. What was this, some sort of joke? She moved closer, hearts pounding, legs suddenly weak and unable to support her. The blonde beauty, hearing her approach, stood and turned around.
"B'Elanna..."
The half Klingon was in shock, staring at the woman before her. The woman she had seen so many times before, in her dreams. Her mouth was dry, and she found herself unable to do a thing.
Gathering her scattered wits together in a supreme effort of will, she voiced the question she had always asked before. "Who are you?"
"Don't you know who I am, Be'nal?"
It was Seven, but without her implants and wearing a simple homespun dress. B'Elanna did not want to respond - always before, it had been in this moment that the dream had changed into a nightmare, spiraling out of control. So she did not say anything, but instead stared into the brilliant blue eyes of the woman she loved, trying to convey all she felt in that one look.
Seeing B'Elanna incapable of responding any time soon, Seven took the initiative and moved forwards, closing the remaining distance between them. Her fingertips touched B'Elanna's and she drew closer until they stood facing each other, her palms resting lightly against the other woman's. Each woman drank the sight of the other, fingers entwined.
The half Klingon felt long arms wrap around her body and she held onto Seven tightly. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the familiar scent of her beloved. She closed her eyes and laid her head against the warm chest, listening to the strong, steady heartbeat. No questions were asked by either woman - they didn't talk at all. For now, it was simply enough to be there, existing. Together.
*******
"Looks like our work here is done." Xena smiled as she hovered in the air, above the treetops near where B'Elanna and Seven were standing.
"Shouldn't we go say hi?" Asked Gabrielle as they began to drift slowly away from the cabin. She was held securely in place by Xena's arms, a comfortable place to be. Small wonder that flying was now her favorite mode of transport.
"Of course... later though. I'm sure they want a little time to themselves first." She grinned, and winked.
Gabrielle looked down at the small figures below them and laughed, "Oooh, I see." A pause. "Uh, Xena? You're going in the wrong direction... the sky is that way."
"Oh. Right." The warrior even managed to look a little contrite.
"So move your leather-clad butt." Gabrielle poked Xena's leathers.
"Yes ma'am." She replied meekly, then flashed an evil grin. All of a sudden their speed increased dramatically, causing the shorter woman to yelp. Laughing, the warrior and her bard flew into the sunset together.
"Aiyiyiyiyiyi!!!"
Below them, the reunited lovers looked up, startled by the familiar battle cry. They waved, smiling in fond remembrance of their friends... before turning their attentions back to each other.
The End