Dark Blood

Chapter 21

"Nope. Nuh uh. Nope. Noooo."

Stephens shook his head as he paced around the room, waving his hands in denial.

"You're joking, right? Tell me you're fucking joking." Kara's silence and sympathetic expression gave him the answer he didn't want.

"Of course you're not. Well, that settles it. You've completely lost your mind. Off the fucking rails!"

She sighed. "Stephens, I'm quite sane. I've thought it over a thousand times."

"Well think it over a thousand more!" He stopped pacing and looked at her, eyes wide and furious. Actually, he looked a little scared.

"A whole world with those things running around!? That is beyond fucking dangerous, Kara! There are a million ways you could die and there's no one who'd protect you besides yourself. I'm sorry, your alien sidekick doesn't count because he can just as easily decide not to be your friend and eat you on the ride over!"

"I know, Stephens," she said as she stood, walking over and placing her hands on his shoulders. "But I'd rather risk my life fighting for the chance of a new one, than stay here and pick up the pieces of my old one."

He gave up, his face crumpling in defeat. He hated that she made sense. There were plenty of distractions on an alien planet to keep her from reliving it every day; might even make it easier to move on. But god damnit he was scared; scared of her being somewhere where he couldn't keep her safe. Ever since the Hive, if seemed like Kara had become his little sister. He felt strongly obligated to stay by her side, show her the ropes, and keep her happy and safe no matter what. To say he had grown attached to the little stranger he'd picked up from that hotel would be a bit of an understatement. Now here she was, telling him that she wanted to be lightyears away from this place. From him. It hurt to say the least, but as always, he only wanted what's best for her.  Even though this was a far cry from what he expected "best" to be.

Smiling sadly through pursed lips, Stephens pulled her into a tight embrace that she gladly returned, resting her cheek on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the closeness that the future threatened to separate. At this point, Kara didn't need words to see that her friend understood and accepted her choice, albeit begrudgingly. The hard part was over; now all that was left was to see if this would actually go through.

Finally, Stephens loosened his grip and the two parted. He tried rubbing his eyes to disguise their redness, but Kara saw them before he could. With a little sniffle, he took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders.

"So," his voice cracked. He cleared his throat and continued. "When are you going to ask him?"

"Right now." She turned and started rummaging through the desk. "But, I need to get something first."

Kara's timing couldn't have been more perfect. Dhi'ki-de threw down his tools with a frustrated growl, glaring menacingly at his helm. He had fixed most of it, but there were just some things that refused to function despite his best efforts, so he decided to leave them for when he got back. They required someone with a more skilled and patient touch. He had just started to pack everything up and rebuild his helm when there was a knock at the door. Pausing, he debated about roaring and scaring off whatever Ooman wanted to intrude on him right now. He held it in, though, surprised to see that it was the lou-dte kale once again. This time, she was on her feet and without the stitching, her wounds beginning to scar nicely. Resilient little creature.

She nodded in greeting and made her way around the table, paper pad and pencil in her hand. She didn't know any hand signals for "I want to go to your planet with you" that would come across easily, so she figured drawing was the next best thing. Hopefully this would be quick; seeing that most of his things were packed, he was obviously in the mood to go. Pulling a chair closer to him, she sat down and rested the pad on the table, her nervous fingers twiddling with the pencil. She didn't know what she was waiting for, but she saw him glance curiously between her and the pad. She had his attention, so she began.