Title: Find Refuge In Me
Fandom: Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda
Pairing: Seamus Harper x Kate Nassan
Theme set: Epsilon
Rating: PG-13; non-explicit sex.
Disclaimer: Nassan, Harper, and the universe in which they reside belongs to Robert Hewitt Wolfe. And some other people. Mostly Robert. And I miss them. Also there is a quote from "A Rainy Night In Soho" by Shane MacGowan and the Pogues, and a mangled quote from "She Talks To Rainbows" by the Ramones. Go watch early Andromeda and listen to the Ramones and the Pogues, 'cause all three pwn like mad.
Notes: Set almost entirely within the confines of To Loose The Fateful Lightning. Chronological order, non-numerical. Written for
1sentence, so one sentence each for fifty prompts.
#30 - Ghost
Harper's hand tightens on his gun as the group of kids moves into the light; it's like looking at a swarm of ghosts, the memories of his old Boston crew.
#39 - Torn
Faith is one thing, fear is another, and Nassan is torn between them; regret is one thing, denial is another, and Harper pretends them both away.
#18 - Attention
GeStatCom Kate Nassan pays attention to the High Guard Dylan Hunt; mechanic Seamus Harper pays attention to her.
#41 - Power
Harper sees the power struggle going on between Nassan and Hayek long before Dylan does, and resolves to keep a close eye on both of them before a gang war gets reenacted.
#01 - Motion
Nassan moves slow and careful and painful, awkward movements impeded by malnutrition and sickness; Harper watches her, and it feels like watching every girl he knew growing up.
#02 - Cool
He brushes up against her during the little ones' play, and she tries to distract herself with how cool his skin is compared to hers.
#23 - Child
His eyes blur when he looks at the kids running wild over the station and he sees the kids who ran through the streets of Boston; his eyes blur when he looks at her and he sees girls he knew his whole life.
#44 - Wall
He loves Beka but there are walls between them because of their respective upbringings; he likes Nassan, and there are no walls.
#07 - One
He kisses her softly, softly, so softly she barely feels his lips against hers; she closes her eyes and wishes the moment would stay forever.
#36 - Stop
"Stop it," she begs, voice low and cracked, but now she's the one kissing him, fingers digging roughly into his arms.
#03 - Young
"You're so young," he whispers against her dry, hot skin, and she doesn't understand what he means but grips onto him a little harder.
#31 - Book
The Ship Made Flesh, the flexi says, and Harper grips it tightly because a) freaking shiny and awesome, and b) distraction, very good distraction.
#21 - Fool
"I'm not stupid just because I can't read, Seamus," she snaps, and he just looks hurt and confused.
#33 - Never
"I never met anyone like you before," she whispers, and he half wishes he could say the same to her.
#16 - Need
"I need somebody who understands what it feels like to be hungry and sick and afraid for your life on a daily basis; I need you, Kate."
#27 - Hide
"Dylan doesn't realize, Nassan, okay, but I know what it's like to hide and pray for your life because the monsters can't be bargained with."
#25 - Shadow
They both see too-real monsters, slavers and Magog, in the shadows on the walls.
#28 - Fortune
The records room is a fortune of information and plans; there's a fortune of parts and beer on the station; there's a fortune of familiarity and home in looking at her.
#37 - Time
"I don't have a lot of time left," she says, and presses her lips to his; "I want to spend what I've got how I want to spend it."
#20 - Picture
He takes a picture of her secretly and hides it away in his toolbelt.
#46 - Drive
"You know, you drive me out of my head," he sings, only half-remembering and probably mangling the lyrics, and she just gives him an odd look and laughs at him.
#10 - Learn
The Andromeda is leaving soon and Seamus Harper dedicates himself to learning every inch of Kate Nassan before they do.
#47 - Harm
There are scars on his skin, and they match hers.
#45 - Naked
They don't strip completely for sex, too many memories of needing to run and fast; but they get naked enough to feel each other, and to remember what this is like.
#24 - Now
He draws patterns on her skin and says, "Let's not think about tomorrow, okay?"
#38 - Wash
Her past life is washed out with fear and pain and anger; her future is uncertain and short; her present is a boy with too-loud clothing and a Boston accent softened by time.
#13 - Change
"Things change, Seamus," she says, "So don't bother trying to stop time just to hang onto something that can't happen."
#35 - Sudden
"I love you, Kate," he says out of nowhere, and she laughs at him kindly, because she knows as well as he does that it's not true.
#40 - History
"Tell me about where you grew up," she asks in the middle of the night, and he tells her about the American Revolution and the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill, about Fenway Park and Harvard Yard and the Orpheum; he doesn't mention Nietzscheans and Magog and plagues, but it's all understood.
#34 - Sing
"But there's a light I hold before me," he sings tunelessly, and she laughs at him but listens eagerly to this song she's never heard before but that he heard all his childhood: "And you're the measure of my dreams, the measure of my dreams."
#04 - Last
"The last Boston boy and the last GeStatCom," she says with a faint smile when he gets her to understand the parallels; and he struggles not to cry at the thought that they won't last.
#49 - Hunger
He can't explain how Rev controls his hunger because he doesn't understand himself; all he can say is "I trust him mostly" and that's good enough for her.
#42 - Bother
It bothers him that she is going to die and they can't save her; spacer technology is supposed to be able to save everyone, like it saved him.
#19 - Soul
"Do you believe that my soul will survive my death?" she asks, and he has no answer.
#08 - Thousand
"How long would you stay with me if you could?" she asks, and he tightens his grip on her hand as he says, "Forever."
#05 - Wrong
"Kate, for God's sake listen to me: Hayek is turning this revolution into open war."
#09 - King
She asks how he knows what's going on, and he says, "Hayek wants to be king of his own castle; I've seen it a million times in Boston."
#14 - Command
"He wouldn't dare revolt," she retorts, "I'm in command and he knows that."
#48 - Precious
He carries her through Andromeda like a precious treasure, something fragile and breakable.
#06 - Gentle
His arms are gentle around her as he carries her onto the Andromeda, onto Command Deck; his arms are what she depends on as her world keeps falling out from under her.
#15 - Hold
Held up at gunpoint, in fear for her life, Beka Valentine still manages to notice how tightly her engineer holds on to the dying girl.
#12 - Wait
He hangs on to her, thinking wait wait wait at her as hard as he can, and hoping desperately that the new avatar gets out here soon to save their asses.
#50 - Believe
It's when Kate Nassan stops believing in the High Guard that she realizes that she already believes in Seamus Harper.
#43 - God
He can't find an explanation that satisfies her, so at last he settles on, "God can't be explained; Dylan Hunt can."
#22 - Mad
"I'm not mad at you for what Hayek did," he says softly, and kisses her hair lightly.
#29 - Safe
Hayek is defeated, Rommie works great, everyone is safe, and all he can think about is the fact he's going to have to leave her behind.
#26 - Goodbye
He kisses her goodbye tenderly, not caring that Beka and Trance and Mapes are watching.
#11 - Blur
The early days are a blur of adventure and death and shooting and fear and excitement and shiny new toys, but Nassan stands out clearly in his memory, and he intends never to let that fade.
#17 - Vision
The day she dies, she is focusing on a vision of a streamlined silver warship, and a spiky-haired young man who keeps it running.
#32 - Eye
Her eyes stay with him the longest, dark and strong and piercing.