Ananda (1/5)
by Elizabeth Jones
and Maggie C.
The ride back to camp was silent. Devon drove the Dune Rail, Shepherd sitting next to her in the passenger seat. Danziger and True shared the backseat. Danziger was lost in thought. He hated the fact that Shepherd was coming with them. Something about the guy just rubbed him the wrong way. And what was with Devon? One minute, she's terrified of Shepherd, the next, she's in love with him? Danziger immediately grew agitated at his mind's choice of words. Why did the fact that Devon seemed to love Shepherd bother him so much? It had to be because he was so suspicious of Shepherd, right? ~He knows. You're in love with her.~ The Elder's words kept repeating over and over in Danziger's head. ~Give me a break,~ he thought. ~The Elder doesn't know what he's talking about.~ But the thought still stayed. ~I gotta think about something else.~ Then Katrina's image popped into his head. Danziger groaned inwardly. He didn't want to think about her either. He had never actually killed anyone before, and he decided that he didn't like it. ~But if I hadn't killed her, Devon would be dead.~ A feeling of fear and panic rose up in him at the thought of Devon dead. ~Oh no, we're _not_ going in that direction again,~ he thought. John was saved from his thoughts by their arrival at camp.
Shepherd was looking around at what was going to be his home from now on when Devon's voice broke into his thoughts. "Okay, Danziger, why don't you go let Julia check you out."
"Devon, I'm fine. I don't need to go see Julia."
"Danziger, you could have died out there. Go see Julia."
True broke into the discussion then. "Dad, come on, it'll only take a few minutes."
Danziger looked from Devon's determined expression to True's pleading one, and gave in. "All right, all right," he said, and let True lead him to the med tent.
Shepherd watched the whole encounter, and was surprised to find that he was jealous. The first thought Devon had when they returned was of Danziger, not him. ~Stop that,~ he told himself. He knew that Danziger was in love with Devon, even if the man was too blind to see it, but Devon loved him. There was no cause for jealousy.
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Devon watched Danziger leave. She didn't turn her eyes away he reached Julia's work area. I know the bait and switch tactic all too well . . . I've pulled it myself many times. A sigh of relief escaped her lips to see him -reluctantly- go in.
Shepherd watched her watching the departing mechanic and tried once again to tell himself there was no cause for alarm. ~She loves me, and I love her~ he repeated in to himself mentally.
"Shepherd?" There was a world of questions in just the way she said his name. And when she turned to face him, could he see the faintest glimmer of doubt in her eyes?
Devon looked at him, suddenly seeing him as she knew the others would. Graying, scarred, and most damning of all, a penal colonist. ~That encounter with Gaal has hardened us all, made us overly cautious. Will they understand and take him for what he is rather than what he appears to be? And how the hell am I supposed to explain him? Oh yes this is a... friend...he'll be living with us now. Oh I do know him...we met . . . in a dream.~
Better to get it over with. "Are you ready?" she asked softly, knowing what lay ahead.
"Is that a rhetorical question?" he countered. Am I ready to become a part of your life, of your world? I have been waiting for just that the past thirty years.
His rather flippant reply had annoyed her, he could see that. She needed reassuring and this was not the way to go about it.
"Devon" he whispered "you know I am. The others will adapt give them time."
A look of frank amazement passed over Devon's face. His picking up on her unspoken thoughts still exhilarated and unnerved her at the same time. ~Will I ever be used to it?~
"I know I know." she ceded. "But we've seen terrible things here, done by what are -very loosely- called human beings..."
~How will they trust him after all that? How can I expect them to trust him?~
"...and there are those who have become rather distrustful because of those things. They will come to accept you, I have faith in that..."
"It will as you say..."Shepherd added,
"Take time," they finished together.
Devon laughed at the sound of their twined voices. ~Something else for me to get used to.~
"...and I don't want to see you hurt in the meantime."
"Devon" he began. ~I won't let her go, God help me I won't. She means so much to me. More than she knows.~
She silenced him with a kiss, quick and feather light.
"What was that for?" he asked, hoping against hope that he knew exactly what it meant.
Those incredible blue eyes sparkled back at him. "Just for being yourself." Behind the words was an emotion he couldn't decipher. ~I will have the rest of my life to try and understand her...and I don't think that is long enough.~
Together, they walked into the biodome, ready to face the music.
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Danziger had to wait to see Julia. The good doctor was engrossed in a conversation with Walman concerning the merits of caffeine verses sheer panic as a means of stimulant. Then Baines came in with the mother and father of all leg cramps.
"Gee wonder how he got that?" Danziger mused sourly.
It was a good twenty minutes before Heller finally got to him.
Her lovely face only registered a moment of surprise before she slipped back into professional doctor mode.
"Welcome back John" she said by way of greeting, coolly noting that he looked like hell. "Where's Devon and True?"
Danziger grunted something incoherent, then managed to snarl, "True's around and Devon is outside with that raving psychopath. They're perfect for each other."
Oh no John you did *not* just say that.
Yes you did.
Shut up.
I don't know which one is crazier.
You are for not saying anything sooner
Shut up.
It was not until Julia dragged him over and began to search for signs of delirium that Danziger realized he'd had that whole nice little conversation with himself out loud. Fortunately he was spared the indignity of a physical by the timely arrival of Magus. He had never been so glad to see someone in his life.
The woman looked like she'd run all the way there; leaning against the doorframe she finally managed to huff out, "You are not..."she spoke directly to Julia-not even noting Danziger's presence- "going to...believe...what Devon brought back...from the scout."
Julia noted with clinical detachment that Danziger's blood pressure seemed to go up at the woman's words. "And what might that be?"
And oh God if Bess was ever nosey she had nothing on Magus at the moment. The woman looked positively scheming. She looked like she was enjoying sharing her information slowly.
"Not what." Magus smirked "But who."
Danziger snarled something under his breath again. Heller didn't know where to look first: at Magus looking like the cat that ate the canary or at Danziger's slowly rising blood pressure. However she did know what she wanted to do about it. "John" she addressed the irate mechanic. "Think you can calm down long enough so as not to give yourself a stroke?"
She gave him the glare that doctors are so good at using to mollify their most stubborn of patients. Danziger felt about ten again under the blue gaze. He nodded still not trusting himself to speak.
"Good." Turning her attention to Magus, she slowly stood up and asked "I assume there's going to be a meeting?"
"Course" grinned Magus "This is Devon Adair we're taking about. She has to make at least a pretense of democracy."
There was a distinct guffaw from behind the two women; but when they turned to look Danziger had a straight face once again. Saying nothing he rose to join them, and the three made their way to the dining area.
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Shepherd stared out over the faces of those he was to live with. Individual faces came into focus and left their own impressions.
There was a group of people standing in the very back. Shepherd swept his gaze over them dismissively...they held little to no interest to him. Not when there was a much larger group standing so close to him.
The first thing he noticed was that Danziger's little girl was conspicuously absent. I still scare her, and that's all Katrina's doing. Must work on that.
The next to catch his attention was a couple near the front, clasped hands, standing a bit apart from the crowd. The woman is pretty enough but she seems like a bit of a busybody. Just something about the way she watches me, watches the others like she sees everything. And the man with her-her husband?- he looks like a weasel. Only with his own best interests at heart. He will be hard to win over. He concluded.
Feeling his gaze on them, the couple turned to look at him.
Shepherd quickly looked away. His gaze fell on an older black gentleman near the back. Shepherd experienced a flash of recognition. The Yale unit the one that Devon had refused to let be terminated. The one that has practically raised Devon would surely be adverse to all comers, especially me. However surely once he sees how happy Devon and I are he will accept me.
To Shepherd's right was a swarthy looking young man. He carries himself with the assurance of the young...but acts like he's seen so much more than his short lifetime would have allowed. He will be a hard one to convince.
Devon leaned over and whispered to him. "Relax. You look like you're sizing up the enemy, not meeting your future neighbors."
"Force of habit." he whispered back, shrugging.
Devon laughed. "You'll have to tell me your observations and I'll tell you how off the mark you are."
He just smiled ~Oh I will Devon, I will.~
The door banged open and shut, and Julia, Danziger and Magus came straggling in. Devon straightened and turned to fix her icy blue eyes on them. She thought she saw Shepherd tense slightly.
None the less. "Julia, Magus..." pause. "...John..."
~John,~ Shepherd repeated under his breath ~now it's Christian names? Great.~
"...so nice of you to join us." Devon finished drily "Now that we're all here..."
"Why are we here?" interrupted the weasel-man.
//No manners either// Shepherd pondered //whatever do they keep him around for? At least his pretty companion has the decency to look a bit embarrassed.//
"And what's he?" pointing at Shepherd "doing here? More importantly, who is he?"
"Morgan," Danziger called out from the back, "If you shut up and let Devon talk then maybe we'll all get some answers."
There was a general snickering among the crowd, and Morgan ~suits him,~ Shepherd mused ~he's about as pleasant as being woken up in the morning,~ looked put out.
Shepherd raised his eyes to Danziger's and held them. ~I know what you're up to John Danziger,~ the look seemed to say. ~You want to hurry the vote to cast me out and have Devon back to yourself. Well we both know it won't work. Devon Adair always gets what she wants...and what she wants is to have me with her. I will be staying and there's nothing you or any one else of this group can do about it. She's mine now and you've lost her before you really even had her.~
The stare down between lasted just long enough to give Morgan time to regroup. As Danziger broke eye contact and stalked out the door, the bureaucrat once again came at Devon.
"Oh yes and we're limited on space. If you want to convince us to let him stay-which I assume is the objective of this " he mimed quotations around the word "meeting". There's a small matter of space. Assuming we let him stay. "
~I'm gonna hit him,~ the thought burned hot into her mind. ~I'm gonna hit him into next week. Since when does he have the group's best interests at heart?~
Morgan was oblivious to Devon's growing displeasure. "Who is he gonna room with?"
Devon almost laughed. "That's easy," she answered smoothly, "he'll room with . . ." Devon was interrupted by a small voice.
"He's not going to stay with us, is he mom?" Everyone turned to see Uly standing in the back with True.
Devon was momentarily thrown off by her son's question, and it took her a moment to respond. "No Uly," she said, throwing a quick glance at Shepherd. ~Please understand,~ she thought. "I was going to suggest that he room with Yale." Devon looked at her tutor, pleading him, silently, to say yes. Yale hesitated, but agreed. Morgan started objecting again, but Devon outtalked him, and his protests became moot.
Shepherd, meanwhile, was watching Uly and True. Uly was whispering something to True. She caught him staring at them, and whispering something to Uly, they both slipped outside again. //Apparently True is spreading her fears to Devon's son. I hope I can win them over with time. // Shepherd thought. He turned to Devon, who had a worried look on her face.
"Uly needs a little time to get used to us, that's all," she said.
Despite his suspicions, he reassured Devon, "It's alright, Devon, I understand."
She smiled at him. "Come on," she said, reaching for his hand, "I'll show you to Yale's tent."
While Devon and Shepherd left, the rest of the group stayed in the biodome, trying to piece together what had just happened. "This is ridiculous," Morgan said. "She met him in a dream? How much crazier can you get?"
"Actually, Morgan, that's the only part of this whole thing I can understand and accept," Alonzo said. "Trust me, it may sound crazy, but it's true." Everyone seemed to accept their resident expert's opinion on the workings of the dreamplane. Even so, Alonzo was far from happy about the situation. "I cannot believe Devon is bringing him with us. Did anyone else catch the way he sized us up? I felt like a piece of meat."
There was murmured agreement, and then Magus decided to break the tension by saying, "Well, at least now we know why Danziger's so grumpy."
That caused chuckles all around, but the sober atmosphere remained. They had just invited a penal colonist to join them. That was just asking for trouble.
"Well, look at it this way," Yale said, picking up on everyone's unspoken thoughts. "Devon trusts him, so he can't be dangerous. He might even have been falsely accused. And we all know that if he was dangerous, Danziger would never have let him come to our camp, no matter what Devon said."
"Yeah, well, he sure isn't happy about it," said Morgan.
Alonzo grinned in spite of the situation. "Yeah, but that's for an entirely different reason, Morgan."
Julia couldn't control the laugh that escaped. "I was so worried about him, and now, it all makes perfect sense, he's jealous."
Several people added their enthusiastic agreement to that sentiment. "You know, I think he might even be starting to figure it out," Magus said.
"Yeah, but what about Devon? Could we really have been that off?" asked Walman.
Yale shook his head. "Devon does care for John, I'm sure of it."
"Yeah, but what about this guy?" Walman returned.
Silence settled in. No one quite knew how Shepherd fit into Devon's life. Finally, Julia just shrugged and said, "I guess we'll have to wait and see."
End Part 1
Story Notes:
Abandon all hope, Edenites....
Maggie: It's done. The story we've been hinting about for so long now is done. (Plus, we are safe and secure in our safehouse with enough supplies to last us years. *G*)
Ellie: And we're not coming out until you put those blunt objects *down*!
Maggie: ::shoots Ellie a look:: For those of you that are sitting and looking at your computer screens with a feeling of dread, please, don't worry. What could two sweet, innocent, young ladies such as Ellie and myself possibly come up with? ::Ellie starts snickering in the background and I quickly elbow her and smile sweetly at the worried Edenites::
Ellie: ::Ellie stops snickering:: Disclaimer: These characters are not ours; if they were Dev and Danz would be married, or at least have *kissed* by now!
Maggie: The only thing that belongs to us is the plot (not that we're worried that anyone would want *that*)
Ellie: No the only thing we're worried about our readers wanting is our heads on a silver platter...
Maggie: ::shoots Ellie a look:: LOL, seriously, guys, don't worry, it turns out all right in the end.
Ellie: For who, we're not saying, though. *EG*
Maggie: ::shoots Ellie another look:: Don't listen to her, she's just trying to scare you. Please, read, and enjoy! *S*
Ellie: Enjoy!
Note: This story is set directly after The Greatest Love Story Never Told (and _yes_ it involves Sheppard, so Nic, you'll just have to deal with it. *G* j/k)
Maggie: It's done. The story we've been hinting about for so long now is done. (Plus, we are safe and secure in our safehouse with enough supplies to last us years. *G*)
Ellie: And we're not coming out until you put those blunt objects *down*!
Maggie: ::shoots Ellie a look:: For those of you that are sitting and looking at your computer screens with a feeling of dread, please, don't worry. What could two sweet, innocent, young ladies such as Ellie and myself possibly come up with? ::Ellie starts snickering in the background and I quickly elbow her and smile sweetly at the worried Edenites::
Ellie: ::Ellie stops snickering:: Disclaimer: These characters are not ours; if they were Dev and Danz would be married, or at least have *kissed* by now!
Maggie: The only thing that belongs to us is the plot (not that we're worried that anyone would want *that*)
Ellie: No the only thing we're worried about our readers wanting is our heads on a silver platter...
Maggie: ::shoots Ellie a look:: LOL, seriously, guys, don't worry, it turns out all right in the end.
Ellie: For who, we're not saying, though. *EG*
Maggie: ::shoots Ellie another look:: Don't listen to her, she's just trying to scare you. Please, read, and enjoy! *S*
Ellie: Enjoy!
Note: This story is set directly after The Greatest Love Story Never Told (and _yes_ it involves Sheppard, so Nic, you'll just have to deal with it. *G* j/k)