Escaping the Pyre, Part 6
by Jayel
"Yep, this is definitely a forest," Danziger said to no one in particular as he gazed up at the massive trees rising majestically all around him. By all rights, he should have headed back to the group with the good news--even if they couldn't reach the mountains before the first snow flew, these trees would provide ample material for perfectly adequate winter shelter. If he started now, he would be in communications range by dark and the rest of the group could meet him by nightfall tomorrow.
But . . . Throwing the rail's controls into park, he got out and began to make camp for the night.
***
The entrance to the medtent was almost the scene of a collision when Tara started in just at the moment Bess was coming out. "Sorry," Tara said, stepping nimbly aside.
"It's okay," Bess assured her with an anxious smile. "See you later, all right?"
"Sure," Tara agreed, watching her hurry off. "Hey Doc," she said,going in. "Is something up with Bess?"
"Funny you should ask," Julia answered slowly. "She actually came by to see a video of she and Morgan's baby."
"How cool!" Tara enthused. "You can do that?"
"Of course," Julia said, going to the computer. "Here, look at this." She called up the image she had recorded earlier.
"Oh wow," Tara breathed. "Is that--?"
"That's Valentine," Julia confirmed.
"Julia, she's gorgeous," Tara said, lightly touching the screen with reverent fingertips. "How are you and 'Zo standing it? He's losing his mind, isn't he?"
"We're both pretty excited," Julia admitted.
"I know you are," Tara drawled, smiling with more sincere happiness than Julia had seen in her face since the EVE ship. "And you're really going to name that poor sweet child Valentine?"
"What else?" Julia said with a smile of her own. "Your accent's back, by the way."
"Is it?" Tara asked absently. "Maybe that means I'm better . . .
although it never really was mine." She turned away from the monitor with a sigh. "That's one of the quirks of being a gnat's nose away from a cyborg," she explained. "A tendency toward nearly-total self-identification with anything or anyone you find profoundly interesting."
"You're nowhere near a cyborg," Julia objected.
"Whatever," Tara said dismissively. "So why is it funny I should ask about Bess?"
"She's worried about you," Julia ventured cautiously.
"Why? Oh . . . " She sat down, her knees splayed childishly apart as she fidgeted. "She told you about the other night."
"Yes," Julia admitted, sitting across from her. "She also said . . . " She couldn't imagine the best way to approach such a subject. "She said she saw you and Alonzo together last night during his watch."
"We had the same watch," Tara agreed. "So . . . ?"
"So . . . she said you seemed sort of . . . intimate," Julia continued, blushing furiously. "She was concerned after what you had told her--"
"Great God on a goat!" Tara swore, springing to her feet. "If this isn't the buzzingest little hive of hornets in the universe, I don't know what is!"
"Tara, don't be mad at Bess," Julia pleaded.
"Why the hell not?" Tara demanded, blue eyes flashing. "Doc, listen to me," she said, sinking to her knees in front of her. "You are my only girlfriend, the one person I feel really close to--you're like my sister, for heaven's sake. Even if I had the slightest romantic interest in Alonzo Solace--which I absolutely do not!--I would never be 'intimate' with him, particularly not sitting around the communal campfire."
"Tara, I believe you," Julia promised truthfully. "But I think she just meant you were . . . I don't know, hugging or something."
"What?" Tara asked, seeming mystified. Then suddenly her expression cleared, and she began to laugh. "Of course," she managed. "Oh, Doc, I wish I could tell you how funny this is . . . "
"Why can't you?" Julia asked.
"Because I promised 'Zo I wouldn't," Tara explained, sobering somewhat. "Ask him about it, Julia, please. He really needs to tell you about it himself. We *were* hugging, but I think he ought to be the one to tell you why."
***
Danziger had piddled around with the details of making camp as long as he reasonably could--he had even installed one of Baines' famous laser security systems around the perimeter. Now or never, big guy, he thought in half-conscious imitation of Tara as he fitted the VR tube into his gear with trembling hands. Taking one last look around to make sure no Grendlers were watching his folly, he fitted the gear on his head and flipped both eyepieces into place . . .
. . . And found himself standing in the tiny station unit he and Elle had shared. He had thought that every detail of this room was permanently engraved on his memory, so he was shocked to see how much he had actually forgotten. The brightly-colored painting of a flower-strewn field on an Earth neither of them had ever seen tacked to the cold gray wall over the bed. The filmy silk scarves draped over the harshly efficient lighting fixtures to create the illusion of softness. The "Ecology Before Economy" sticker pasted to the side of the scratched computer monitor. How did she do it? he thought, afraid to move a muscle for fear the spell might be broken.
Then he caught sight of Elle's nightshirt lying in a heap on the unmade bed, and his paralysis broke. Crossing the room in two strides, he snatched it up and buried his face in the soft synthetic cotton, drowning in the spicy-sweet smell that lingered there. "Elle," he whispered, the tears suddenly overwhelming him.
"What the hell are you doing in there?" a sweetly familiar voice demanded. Looking up, he found Eleanor standing in the doorway of their tiny bathroom wearing nothing but a tattered towel knotted expertly under her arms. "Are we having a breakdown?" she teased, coming over to him.
"Maybe," he admitted, his usual deep voice cracking with emotion.
"Hey . . . " She drew him down beside her on the bed and enfolded him in her arms. "It's okay, baby angel," she soothed, stroking his hair. "What happened?"
Even overwhelmed with grief and loss, he couldn't help but smile at that. Alex had always said that only a mind like Eleanor's could make the leap of imagination necessary to label a guy like Danziger "baby angel." "Nothing happened," he promised, kissing her delicately perfumed shoulder before he looked up. "You're just here, that's all."
"Ah," she replied, caressing his stubbled cheek. "And I haven't been, have I?"
"No," he admitted, remembering what Tara had said about her being "self-aware." "Not for a really long time."
"That is bad," she agreed, climbing into his lap and kissing him deeply, her mouth as sweet and warm as the rest of her. "But I'm here now," she said huskily, meeting his gaze with eyes the same shape and color as her daughter's. "Did you miss me?"
"You can't even imagine how much," he answered, crushing her to him in another kiss more passionate than the first.
"Oh, I can imagine," she teased, nipping at his lower lip with her sharp, white teeth. "As a matter of fact, unless I'm very much mistaken, I can feel it." She lay back on the bed and drew him over her like a favorite blanket. "That is for me, isn't it?"
He ripped the knot that held her towel closed loose and bent to inhale the scent of her skin the way he had breathed in the smell of her nightshirt. "Oh yeah," he growled, forgetting the entire concept of VR in his growing want. "Definitely for you."
End of Part 6.
Author's Chapter Notes:
For anyone young or sensitive enough to care: There is some sexual activity in this section of the story. For a non-suggestive synopsis of all plot-necessary action, e-mail me.
-Jayel
-Jayel