Calling Rafe: Chapter 2
Chapter Two: Checking Up On Her
When they arrived in Command, Beka only had to look to see why they had been called up. Dylan and Rommie were in front of the screen, talking to an unexpected caller.
"Please, Dylan," the man on the screen said lazily. He paused, obviously noticing something- probably Rommie’s dislike at the overly familiar use of her captain’s name- and amended, "Captain Hunt, all I want to do is talk to your first officer."
"And I told you, she’s on her way. This is a big ship; it can take a while to get from one place to another." Dylan’s tone was supremely annoyed.
Beka decided to break in. Moving forward, she smiled broadly and exclaimed, "Rafe! We were just discussing coming to look for you."
"We were?" Dylan turned and gave her a puzzled look.
"Looking for me?" Rafe was equally confused.
"Yes, we were," Beka confirmed. Leaving Tyr by the door, she meandered over to the nearest console and slid behind it, covering her stomach. She crossed her arms, as well, covering her left hand. She’d tell Rafe eventually, of course, but in her own time. Tipping him off through the ring and the cling of her tight shirt was not in the game plan. "So what was it you were demanding to talk to me about?"
"Try this." Her brother leaned forward. "I crawled out of my nice, safe hole for the completely insane reason of checking up on my baby sister, only to hear an equally insane tabloid news story that she’s married. To a Nietzschean, no less. It was a very strongly supported tabloid news story, with just enough facts about one of the Valentines to make me a little ill at ease." He eyed her arm. "Since you don’t have a helix, though, I’m assuming that some reporter with a grudge against the Commonwealth decided to cook up a marriage for you. I guess the next story will be a ‘follow-up’ with some scandal. Gotta love journalists."
"You checked up on me? What a remarkably un-Rafe-like thing to do. Actually, though…" She held up her left hand in view of the screen.
Rafe gaped. His wide eyes were darting between her and Dylan- the logical choice for a wedding band. "You mean…what…uh…who…um..." he stammered. "Huh?"
Beka decided to take pity on him. "I’ll explain, but not over a commlink. Where are you?"
"That little ship off the bow."
"Good. Andromeda, open the shuttle bay, will you?" She grinned at her sibling before cutting the commlink. "Well," Beka rubbed a hand over her belly and its resident, "this should be interesting. Anyone else want to come and enjoy the fireworks?"
*****
Beka paced by the entrance to the small shuttle. She had been doing that for the past fifteen minutes, waiting for her brother to come out. Glaring briefly at the airlock, she sighed and turned again.
A few feet away, Dylan and Tyr looked at each other, the former with amusement, the latter with sheer exasperation. After another full minute, Tyr could stand it no longer. "Beka," he said, trying to get her attention. "Beka!"
"Huh? Oh. What?" She paused in her pacing, and he noticed that she had started to bite a nail.
He reached over and pulled her hand away from her mouth. "First, don’t bite your nails. Second, stop pacing. Third, relax. Rafe will be here in a moment, and he’s just your brother, not an army."
"Just my brother? Tyr, remember his last visit?"
"Yes. Remember what you promised about the missile tubes?"
She smiled, slightly. Something occurred to her. "I need to borrow your vest." She smoothed a hand over the long leather vest he wore over his customary chain mail.
He was confused.
Beka kept her hand on his chest, placed the other over her stomach. She’d discovered relatively early on that physical contact and later, mentioning the baby, worked well for getting him to see her point faster, especially when she combined them. "Rafe’s gonna have a hard enough time accepting that I’m married, especially to a Nietzschean ex-mercenary. I figure we could save the news about the baby until after he’s recovered from the first shock, and that’s going to be hard if he sees it before then."
Tyr grinned, taking the vest off and swirling it around her shoulders. After it was safely secured, he leaned down and kissed her. She moved her hand from her stomach to the back of his neck, holding him there. Neither of them noticed Dylan’s not-so-discreet cough.
"Jeez, Rocket. I knew you went for muscular guys, but this is just plain ridiculous."
Beka pulled back. She had to walk around Tyr to address her brother- somehow they had turned so that his back was to the shuttle. It was just as well, though, so long as Tyr made sure to cover his bone blades until she had gotten her brother accustomed to the marriage thing. "Jeez, Big Brother. I thought that after two and a half years and my music collection, you’d have made enough where you wouldn’t have to rent a shuttle."
"Who says it was rented?"
"The logo."
"Damn." He shifted uncomfortably. "By the way… your music’s in the cabin. I only sold one disk- that one Dad gave you as a joke? The Definitive Collection-"
"Of Earth’s Polka Music," Beka finished, starting to laugh. "Oh, god. If you hadn’t taken that one, I probably would have given it to Tyr for target practice."
They giggled inanely together, remembering that particular birthday present, on one of the few birthdays their father had actually noticed. It had been right after Beka had started collecting the music disks; Ignatius, knowing that her taste ran more to rock, had deliberately gotten her the worst music available. It had been a gag of the truly diabolical kind.
"How did you find a buyer for that?"
"Ever heard of the Museum for Antique Atrocities?"
"You’re kidding!"
"Yes, actually, I am." He pulled out a credit chip and gave it to her. "The chinhead who bought it overpaid. That’s your share- fifty percent of three hundred thrones."
"And I thought Persieds were good at math." Beka stared at the chip for a moment, then stuffed it into a pocket. "Here’s to the fund. It’s not much, but it helps."
"Which fund? Maru or debts?"
"Neither. It goes to the ‘Spoil the Ba-’" She caught herself. "‘Beka Rotten Fund.’" If Rafe had caught the slip…
He smirked. "What happened to the other two? Did you happen to land a rich guy?" If he had noticed her error, he didn’t show it. Of course, he was a con man- hiding his emotions was part of his job.
"He’s relatively well off, yes," she allowed. "And he did pay part of the debts, but everyone helped with that. Trance and Harper still have to collect; together, I owe them fifty thrones and dinner at Kavanaugh’s. It’s amazing what people will do when their transportation is about to be repossessed."
"And the Maru?"
"Never been in better repair." Beka decided to end the small talk. "So, ready to meet your brother-in-law now?"
"The man who convinced my sister that commitment isn’t a dirty word? Sure. Hope it’s the guy you were getting really close to just now." So he had seen them.
"Don’t worry about that." She took the few steps toward Tyr. He had turned around at some point during the conversation and was facing them, arms crossed and helix and bone blades prominently displayed. She pulled his head down and kissed him.
She let go and turned back to Rafe. "I believe you remember Tyr Anasazi?"
Her brother was gaping and speechless for the second time that day.
Onward To Chapter 3!
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