Blood is thicker than water

By Natta

Beta-reading by Ashley

Summary: Someone unexpected turns up on the ship and makes Dylan think over his feelings for Beka. But what will happen when something is uncovered, something none of them could have known? Beka/Dylan, set somewhere in the first season.

Disclaimer: I own my little sisters. *mom says something* Okay I don’t. But I do own Andromeda. Okay, so I don’t. All I own is a half bag of really good chocolate. But that’s always something.

Rating: Um...PG...this far...lol

Prologue

Beka and Dylan was standing side by side in silence, staring at the stars. None of them wanted to start speaking, the tension between them was too strong and they were afraid that if they said anything now it would destroy the beauty of the moment.

They were both afraid, afraid of listening to their inner voice, afraid of getting hurt again.

So they blocked it out.

They were both scarred, scarred for life from losing people, scarred by love they hadn’t been allowed to keep.

So they wouldn’t let the scars heal.

They had both lost, Dylan had lost Sarah, Beka so many people she couldn’t count them.

So they wouldn’t lose again.

And they remained quiet.

Chapter 1

‘Dylan, we’re receiving a distress call,’ Andromeda, the ships AI stated in her normal voice, completely deprived from emotion. Rommie,
the avatar, looking identical but with more emotion and more human seemed shocked.

‘Dylan,’ the ship, it’s...it’s high guard!’ Dylan rushed over to her station and confirmed what she already had told him.

‘It seems to be in a bad shape though. Beka, Tyr, you’re with me.’ He quickly took off toward the hangar bay, where the Maru was waiting for them. Beka rushed up to the pilot’s chair and the others waited for her to start. Or rather, Tyr was calmly waiting, leaned against a wall while Dylan paced restlessly, watching the ship accusingly as if blaming it for not getting closer quicker.

‘Take it easy Dylan,’ said Beka with an amused smile as she gracefully took the ship out of the Andromeda. ‘They’ll survive a few more seconds, don’t worry.’ Dylan didn’t answer as they now had reached the ship. Apparently, someone had seen them, cause the hangar doors opened and they could dock. Dylan rushed off the ship. Beka and Tyr caught up with him as he ran toward command.

‘Don’t get your hopes up,’ Tyr warned. ‘With the condition this ship is in, most of them might be dead.’

‘But then again,’ Dylan panted, ‘maybe they’re not, and they could be in need of medical attention. Besides, someone opened those doors.’

‘Medical attention. So that’s why were running,’ Beka commented. ‘How do you know your way around this ship?’ she asked. ‘It’s not built the same way as the Andromeda.’

‘I’ve been here before,’ Dylan answered. ‘This is the Aphendix, I served here in the early years of my career.’ When he had finished, they reached command and stopped, out of breath. There were people on the bridge, and a man in a high guard uniform approached them.

‘You heard our distress call, our ship is...’ But then he stopped and his eyes grew wide. ‘Good heavens, it’s Captain Hunt! I thought you were lost!’ But Dylan barely heard him. His whole attention was turned to another person in the room, someone who now also looked up and acknowledged him.

‘Sarah!’ was all Dylan could say, eyes wide as if he didn’t believe it could be true. The dark-haired woman rushed up to him with unshed tears in her eyes and kissed him deeply. He returned the kiss, but something felt wrong. It wasn’t like before, not as it had been. Suddenly, he heard the doors open. He broke the kiss and looked up. Beka was gone and Tyr looked at the closed doors. Dylan scratched his head.

‘Tyr, where did Beka go?’ Tyr just gave him a glance and left too. Confused, Dylan turned to the man who seemed like the captain.

‘Did you see where my first officer went?’

‘Your first officer?’

‘Yeah, the blonde, black clothes,’ Dylan explained.

‘Oh. Well, she left. Captain Hunt, I’m requesting permission to take what’s left of my crew onboard the Andromeda. Most of them were killed, there’s only six of us left. The AI was deleted as well, and the ship is in a very bad condition.’

‘Of course,’ Dylan said with a strained but warm smile, ‘I’ll bring you to the Eureka Maru and we’ll take you there. We’ll also try to repair your ship the best we can, but we need to get back to the Andromeda first.’

****

When Dylan and the small crew entered the Maru, Beka and Tyr seemed to have a quiet discussion, but stopped as soon as he came in. Tyr left his sitting position next to the pilots chair and instead watched their new passengers very closely. They seemed a bit uncomfortable in the Nietchean’s company, but none of them said anything. When they had started to go, Sarah smiled at Dylan.

‘It’s so wonderful to see you again. Honestly, I thought I’d lost you forever.’ Dylan smiled at her, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

‘That child,’ he said and pointed to the five-year old who was sitting quietly in a corner, ‘Is he an orphan?’

‘No,’ said Sarah and her smile grew wide. ‘Dylan, he’s your...he’s our son!’

Beka heard the conversation from the pilot’s chair and flinched when she heard what Sarah said. A single tear escaped her eye and she quickly wiped it away, praying that no one had seen it.

‘A Valentine doesn’t cry,’ she reminded herself. ‘Whatever you do, don’t cry. Besides, he was never yours anyway.’

~TBC~