Kidnapped (24 page)

Her husband looked at her thoughtfully, "I don't think he's that man anymore, and I don't think you do either. He came to me for help. He cut off his own arm to protect his girl. You've seen them together."

Shrugging, he continued evenly, "Right now, he's just a poor schmuck trying to protect his family, just like the rest of us."

Isabela sighed softly and ran a hand through her long blonde hair. "Yeah, but how are you going to get Garth on board with this? He wanted to kill
her
earlier, remember."

William glanced thoughtfully through the window. Garth would be a problem, they all knew it, but it was up to him to solve it. "You know what? That is one tired and frightened girl in there. Why don't you go take care of her, and I'll talk to Garth?"

His wife bit her lip as she thought about it for a moment and she was very cute. Then, she squeezed his hand and shook her head. "No, you're good at that sort of thing, and she trusts you."

She smiled a little, "You go take care of Patricia, and I'll go distract Garth. I'll have him help me with some heavy lifting."

*****

When William entered the room, he emanated calm and peace, and she jumped up from the chair to throw her arms around him. He ran a hand over her hair, and said softly, "Patricia, everything's going to be alright."

He held her for a moment, took her by the hand and led her back to the chair where he crouched down next to her, still holding her hand. It almost disappeared between his.

The rebel leader was tall and large, had long brown hair that he usually held tied back in a loose ponytail, a short beard, and kind eyes. He reminded Patricia of a religious leader proclaiming peace and friendship, and it always surprised her that he could actually plan to put explosions in buildings, occasionally hurting and killing people. His voice echoed the same serenity as his appearance, and his presence was exactly what she needed.

He dried a tear away from her cheek, and said in his usual no-nonsense manner, "Travis is going to be just fine. Have faith, Patricia."

She nodded, thinking this was a person who wouldn't try to hide the truth from her. If something was wrong, he'd know, and he'd tell her. It reminded her of Travis asking her to have faith in him a few days earlier, and she smiled a little in spite of all.

Having someone to talk to made time pass more quickly, and eventually, she saw Madison put the last instruments down. All the calm she gathered since William entered the room disappeared into half panic when her friend turned around and turned off the energy field. She was afraid to hear the news. What if she came out there just to tell them he died?

Madison winked at Patricia, which made her feel slightly better, but approached William first, dropping three small objects into his hand. He nodded a little as he turned them over, examining them, and stated calmly, "I'll go take care of this at once."

They watched him leave the room, and Patricia wondered what it all meant. Her friend smiled and gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. "Your boy is going to be just fine. His body had produced a lot of toxins that were getting into his blood stream, that's why he was in such bad shape, and it took a while to clean it up. I had to pump it out and clean it."

Patricia stared, not comprehending, and Madison flashed her a smile. "His blood. I pumped it out and cleaned it. He'll be fine."

The very idea seemed bizarre, and the world around her seemed very soft around the edges. Madison didn't seem to find anything wrong with it. She continued as if talking about a stroll in a rose garden,

"I got the transmitters out too, that's what I gave to William, so he can destroy them. They were exactly where he said they would be. It was tight, especially with the one in the neck; it was somehow integrated with his nervous system. This is just speculation, but I think it's a measure from the Alliance to try to keep their people obedient. He must have been in a lot of pain for a long time."

The words seemed to come from a great distance, and the only ones Patricia really heard was, "lot of pain." She looked down at her floor, trying not to think about it.

"He's going to feel weird for a couple of days while he's adjusting, maybe have some problems with his balance, but he'll be better than new."

Patricia felt tired, weak, and relieved, all at once. She tried to say, "Thank you Madison, thank you so much," and it sounded like a sob. "Can I... Can I go to him?"

Her friend looked at her thoughtfully and asked, "Sweetie, when's the last time you slept?"

Shaking her head dismissively, Patricia answered, "I don't know. A couple of days ago I guess, I mean, I've napped a little. Why?"

Madison's mouth twitched a little. "You two might seem an odd couple, but you're so much alike. Stubborn until death. Now, you're carrying a baby, and you need to get some rest. Your old room is still here, go kiss your boy goodnight and get some shuteye."

Patricia shook her head more fervently. "No. I'm not leaving him. I can't leave him."

She didn't know exactly what would happen if she left sickbay, but she was superstitiously certain it would be something. She expected Madison to argue, but her friend just nodded and answered gently, "Okay. You don't have to go anywhere, but you do need to get some rest. If not for your own sake, for your baby's, and if you don't try on your own I will make you sleep. Am I making myself clear?"

Nodding, Patricia wiped a tear away with the back of her hand. She felt so deeply moved by her friends' support and help it was difficult to handle.

Madison had already marched over to Travis and pushed another bed next to his. "Come on, girl, get up here. You can even hold his hand if you want to."

She did want to. She climbed up in the bunk and took her lover's hand, happy to feel it warm and dry and somehow right, and she was sleeping even before Madison turned the lights off and closed the door.

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was late next day before Patricia woke up. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, yawned, stretched and tried to get her body going. Travis wasn't awake yet, but he looked so much better, and only now did she see Madison had done something to his face. She got up and walked around the beds, touching the disfigured side carefully. The scars and burned tissue were still there, but so much less visible. She bent forward to kiss his cheek tenderly, and didn't even hear Madison enter until her friend spoke, "Good morning."

Coming up next to her, Madison looked down at the unconscious man with her slightly purple eyes. "I hope he won't mind. I figured the two of you would be more inconspicuous if his face didn't stand out as much, he's almost good looking now, don't you think?"

Patricia smiled. She had always found him good looking, even if the scars had scared her that first day.

Her friend was leaning her head to the side, pulling a finger over his chin. "This part was badly burned before, but he should even be able to grow a beard now if he wants to. It would make him difficult for them to recognize."

Patricia listened and nodded. She hadn't even thought of what might happen after they met the Redeemer. They were fugitives now, just like this crew, but not until now did she realize they couldn't stay. Travis was one of the most hated people in the galaxy, and even if people here were lenient, everyone else wouldn't be as forgiving. Where would they go? Where
could
they go? These thoughts were frightening, so she pushed them away and hoped he had a plan. Her fretting over it wouldn't do any good anyway.

"You go get a shower. You can take some of my clothes. I have some things that should still fit you."

A shower did sound good, but Patricia wasn't sure about leaving him alone. She had been too tired the night before to verbalize her fear, but now she knew exactly what her subconscious had tried to tell her: Garth.

Madison seemed to read her mind. "Don't worry, I'll stay here and keep my eyes on him, he's not going anywhere and no one is getting to him."

Nodding, Patricia went for the exit. She had worn the same things for days, and maybe warm water on the tummy would make the baby happy.

It didn't take long for her to return, clean, with her hair still wet, and wearing one of Madison's dresses. It was long on her, and tight over the belly, but definitely better than what she had been wearing. Her friend smiled encouragingly, "That's better, that's more like the girl I know. Hey, do you want to see the baby?"

The words didn't make any sense at first, but then she nodded. Maybe it was something like an ultrasound, and that would be neat to see.

Madison took her hand and pulled her over to the other side of the room, gesturing towards a bench, and she laid down obediently, watching curiously as a mysterious console sunk down over her midsection. Her friend was whistling softly now, a happy sound that made Patricia smile, and when she started pushing buttons on the console, a picture appeared in mid-air in front of Patricia's astounded eyes. It was an image of the developing infant inside of her, and she exclaimed, amazed, "Oh my God! Oh I wish Travis was awake and could see this!"

Both girls had been so busy with their project they hadn't noticed he was waking up, and now they heard his voice from the other side of the room, "Wish Travis could see what?"

*****

He felt better than before, much better even. Pains he'd had for so long he'd forgotten they were there had disappeared. He was dizzy and somehow unstable, but that didn't change the fact that Patricia's wish was his law, and he was getting out of bed before anyone could stop him.

The room spun a full three hundred sixty degrees around him, and he almost fell over, but he steadied himself against the bed and pressed stubbornly forward, towards where his girl's voice had come from. He sank down in a chair with a sigh of relief, took her hand and followed her gaze. Seeing this made the struggle of getting up and over there well worth it.

"Is that... Is that ours? Mine? Did I really do that?"

Madison grinned, and Patricia answered, "Yes, Love, you did that."

It became so tangible when he saw the image of the little body. Up until now, it had been an abstract idea. He kissed Patricia's hand, and watched the tiny human put a thumb in its mouth, its entire hands put together smaller than one of his fingernails.

*****

Even under Madison's care it took a few days for Travis to regain his strength, and they stayed on the Redeemer in Patricia's old room. She was reluctant to leave her lover on his own, so she mainly stayed in the room too, resulting in everyone coming and going, hanging around to chat and eat and play games, and it was a difficult transition for him. She knew he was used to being all alone for months or even years at a time, and now there were people around him constantly.

At least he looked healthier, both compared to how sick he'd been when they came aboard, and to how he always had been. Madison's words about his implants causing pain were starting to make sense, and she suspected she had everything to do with it. If Madison was correct and they were programmed to suppress any disobedience, setting the Alliance to the side for her must be the ultimate insubordination.

She
thrived on all the attention, and he accepted it stoically, but she suspected he was grateful each evening when everyone left to go to their own rooms. One night he brushed his fingers over her temple and murmured, "You've been alone for too long."

She didn't agree. The time alone with him had been excellent, but she didn't want to argue.

Garth wasn't happy with them there; she knew that much without anyone telling her. She bumped into him accidentally, and the look on his face when he saw her made her want to sink through the floor, preferably to some conveniently Garth-protected place. She asked Aaren and he shrugged, "He's crazy. Stay out of his way and don't worry about him. Don't listen to him either."

Patricia understood. Garth's imagination was filling in gruesome details that might or might not have been real. If she listened to him she'd start to second-guess Travis, think too much about the atrocities Garth accused him of, and whether they were true or not, wondering about them couldn't be a good idea.

It got out of hand after little over a week. Patricia and Travis were sitting in the comfortable chairs in her room, talking to Aaren about computers, life, and everything. Both men, as different as they were, were making an honest attempt to like each other, for her sake, and they got along fairly well for having been life-long enemies.

When the door slid open and Garth entered, all conversation came to a halt. He had never been there before, and neither of them were surprised when he pulled a weapon from his pocket. They were surprised when he pointed it at Patricia, who tried to sink into the chair and become invisible.

Aaren, exclaimed, irritated, "What the hell do you think you're doing," and Travis got to his feet, slowly. Garth waved the gun in the air, exclaiming on the verge of tears, "Don't move, you Alliance... scum!"

As hard as she tried, Patricia couldn't become any smaller. She hoped the chair would cooperate and just swallow her whole, but it didn't happen. Travis said calmly, "Any grudge you have is with me and not her. Why don't I just stand over there, away from them, and you can shoot me all you want."