Kidnapped (14 page)

The people in the corps weren't supposed to drink, but he didn't care anymore. He was sitting at the bar, taking some grim satisfaction in the way all the other customers stayed at the other side of the room. He was staring into a glass of golden liquid, as if he hoped to find the secrets of the universe in it, and he didn't expect anyone to approach him. Even the bartender stayed as far away as possible after simply leaving a glass and a bottle, and he was more than surprised when he heard a soft, well-known voice next to him. "Hello, stranger."

Even hearing her voice, he didn't quite believe his ears, and he closed one eye and squinted at the glass with the other, wondering if there had been something in it causing him to hallucinate. He poked it with a finger, and mumbled, "Not there, she's not there."

When he felt a little hand on his arm, he decided he should at least turn his head to look. If he saw nothing but empty air next to him, he'd know she only existed in his head. He looked, and the surprise when he saw his girl's smiling face left him dizzy. He smiled back, and answered, "Well, hello, beautiful!"

The bartender's face was a vision of surprise, and Travis didn't blame the man. The old him would just have shot anyone approaching. He couldn't ruin his reputation though, not now, so he leaned over the counter, grabbed the bartender's shirt with his gloved hand, and pulled the man closer. He paled and seemed about to cry, and Travis frowned. "Do we have a problem?"

The man pleaded, "Please don't kill me. I know it means nothing to you, but I have a wife and three children, and they're all depending on me. You can have anything you want in the bar. Uh, it goes for the lady too."

Travis pretended to think about this and glanced back at Patricia, asking casually. "You want anything?"

She was biting her lip to keep serious, and shook her head. He couldn't help but smile and wink at her, "Okay."

Returning his attention to the man behind the counter, he asked sternly, "Are you trying to bribe me? You must realize the punishment for that would be... extensive."

The bartender shook his head ferociously, and looked as if his legs were getting weak. He stuttered, "No, Sir. Not at all. I'm just trying to be friendly. You know."

The man's eyes sought out Patricia's, pleading for help. She shrugged, and the little gesture made Travis feel oddly content; she trusted him. He pulled the bartender even closer, his metal fingers a grip no one could escape. Flashing a smile, he patted the shaking man on the shoulder with his other hand. "That's good. I was just checking. I need a room."

*****

Patricia was incredibly happy and relieved to have found Travis. He looked more tired than she'd ever seen him, and she had to fight with herself not to throw her arms around him and kiss him. He seemed to need it, and she had longed for him so much. She must be glowing with happiness, and it was impossible to hide it.

When they left the bar, he was still completely in character. He held the key out to her, took the bottle in one hand and the glass in the other, wrapped an arm around her waist, and kicked some chairs down for good measure as they left. When people looked at them, he glared menacingly, and Patricia didn't know what she wanted to do most; roll her eyes or laugh. As it was she couldn't do either. She tried to look blasé instead.

The elevator was crammed with people, but when the doors opened and revealed the couple wanting to get in, everyone else hurried out. The doors finally closed, and Travis looked into her eyes. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but she was afraid to. She had learned anyone could be listening at any time, and she stayed silent. After a few long moments, he bent down to press his lips against hers, kissing her hungrily, and she finally allowed herself to wrap her arms around his shoulders.

When the elevator stopped at other floors, people peeked in and saw an apparently drunk Alliance officer waving dismissively at them without even breaking free from the girl he'd found. That sight was enough to discourage anyone from entering, and everyone except for one alien with eyes protruding on long antennae decided just to wait for another lift.

The alien entered, and stood timidly by the wall farthest away from them. Travis glanced over Patricia's shoulder and pulled back from the kiss, reluctantly. He stared at the creature, with an expression of, "what the hell do you think you're doing," and when the being still didn't move, he reached out to stop the door from closing. Nodding towards the exit, he growled in a suitably irritated voice, "Beat it, I'm busy."

Outside, someone mumbled, "Oh my God, that's Commander Travis, he'll kill Bluey."

Someone else answered, "He doesn't understand this, we should do something."

The first voice replied, "I'm not going in there. I mean, I like Bluey, I really do, but I like to live too."

Travis rolled his eyes, and stared threateningly at the small crowd, "Will you people just shut up and come get this moron before I shoot him?"

Speaker number two gathered courage, hurried up to the lift, gave Travis and Patricia a terrified glance, grabbed Bluey by the arm, and pulled him back out. Travis muttered, "Idiots," and threw his glass in the general direction of the crowd, spilling the golden liquid all over.

When the door finally closed, his mouth twitched into a smile, and he whispered in her ear, "Can you see how much hard work it is to keep up a reputation like this?"

She smiled too, and leaned her cheek against his, breathing in his ear, "I missed you so much."

The elevator was slowing down again, preparing to stop at their floor this time, and when he took the key from her, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "You trust me, right?"

She didn't answer; she just glanced longingly into his eyes, and he winked at her before hauling her off the ground and tossing her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. Patricia yelped and laughed, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

Every time they met someone on their way down the long corridor, he slapped her butt and grinned, telling people it was a good day. They all ran for their lives as soon as they thought he wouldn't know, and he suspected they all felt extremely sorry for the girl he'd found, thinking she'd never see the dawn of another day.

When they finally reached the room, Patricia giggled as Travis dropped her carefully on the bed. This reunion was better than she had dared dream of. She had spent months fantasizing of him coming to get her, but no scenario from her imagination had been this romantic and exciting.

He looked at his iPod that wasn't an iPod for a second and nodded, and she assumed the room was secure. She was still silent as he put the tool back on his belt and sank down on the bed next to her. Only now did he seem to realize he was still holding the bottle. He looked at it for a second and tossed it carelessly to the side as he dropped down, half-laying on his back. Patricia curled up next to him, feeling more content than she'd been for quite some time. She still poked his chest with a finger and said accusingly, "You didn't come for me."

He wrapped his arms around her. "I know. I was going to. I've just had some... problems."

She let the subject drop for now. They had better things to do.

*****

Neither of them fell asleep until morning, and they didn't even think about getting up until late the next day. By then, the Redeemer was long gone, and Patricia wondered if they'd discovered she was missing yet. She shrugged it off. She was much too happy to be back by his side, where she belonged, to care about little details like that.

Travis didn't seem too worried either, but when he pulled his boots on, he sighed and explained, "Okay, I'm drunk and abusive, right, you showed me a good time, and I've decided to bring you. If we see big groups of ordinary people, it might be a good idea to scream a little and beg for mercy or something."

She stared at him and exclaimed, "
What?
Are you kidding me?"

Travis sighed in return, "Sadly, no. Do you have any better ideas?"

She had to admit she didn't, and she watched quietly as he grabbed the nearly full bottle and took a couple of good swigs, grimacing, and poured a little over himself, to make sure he smelled.

Travis paused when they got to the door and stared into her eyes for so long it made her uncomfortable. She wanted to look away, but it was almost hypnotic, and her voice sounded faint when she asked, "What?"

His answer seemed no less strange, "Your eyes have gotten me through so many hard times. I want to make sure I'll never forget them."

Shaking his head a little, he seemed to make an effort to lose the strange mood. "I don't know how you found me, but I'm so happy you did. I'm just going to kidnap you, and then we'll be home for a while, okay?"

His choice of words made her giggle a little, even though it really wasn't funny. She must be nervous. She nodded and giggled more as he hauled her up in the air, holding her legs with one hand, staggering out the door, pretending to be feisty and drunk.

He carried her like that through the entire station, and made a point of bumping into people, spilling on them and being generally obnoxious. She yelped, "Help, he's crazy, someone, please help me," every time they met groups of people, and as predicted, not one person moved a finger to do anything.

As soon as the door to the ship closed behind them and Travis put her down carefully on the floor. Being back there, hopefully soon on the way out into deep space, felt just like coming home. She couldn't remember ever being so grateful for being anywhere before.

He leaned his back against the wall, looking very tired, and Patricia asked softly, "Are you okay?"

Taking a deep breath, he answered with a little smile, "I'm fine, don't ever worry about me, Sweetheart."

She didn't believe him, but he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulled her with him through the corridor, heading for the bridge, and added lightly, "I'd rather just forget about the past couple of months. Why don't you tell me what you've been up to instead?"

*****

Travis was relieved when she didn't press the subjects of health and history. There wasn't one single thing that had happened to him during their time apart he wanted her to know about. Isabela hadn't exaggerated, he had indeed been dying when the Redeemer's crew left him, and it had taken him a long time to drag himself to the infirmary. He'd been bleeding from his nose and mouth as well as internally from numerous organ damages, several ribs had been broken, his eyes had been swollen shut, he'd had a concussion, and a broken leg.

Funny enough, things like this happened frequently to Alliance personnel, and the ship was stocked to deal with it. Once he'd made it the long and arduous way to the medicine cabinet, he hardly felt a thing when walking back to the bridge on the broken bones in his leg. He managed to take off, and to request assistance from a medic ship, and they eventually found him drifting in space, unconscious.

The following week or so was a blur to him. He'd spent most of it sedated, lost in the vivid nightmares of his mind, and when he eventually reached Central, he was still doped up on the Alliance's best and most dangerous medications. That had been a good thing, though. It had helped him get through the days on the station and everything Supreme Commander Veronica asked him to do without caring too much about it.

He paused in his thoughts and corrected himself; almost everything. There had been things he'd had to try to get out of even in that state. The old him wouldn't have cared, but the new him simply couldn't do it, no matter how high he was. After meeting Patricia, he had adopted her sense of what was right and what was wrong, and that was a real problem when trying to accommodate to the Supreme Commander's wishes. 

When it had been time to leave, he had plotted a course to intersect with the Redeemer's last known coordinates as a good servant would. He told the computer to lock him in the room, and not let him out for two weeks, unless there was a real emergency. If he was ever to find a way out of his dilemma, and if he was ever to be able to reunite with Patricia as he had promised her, it wouldn't be like this. He suffered the withdrawal symptoms and physical cravings stoically, in a way no man not conditioned by the Alliance could have been able to. It had worked, eventually, and when the computer finally let him out, he was himself again.

Chapter Fifteen

Travis didn't know if meeting Patricia again was a lucky coincidence or fate, but he had gotten another chance, and intended to make the best of it. He knew he wouldn't get another opportunity like this, and he had a very specific destination in mind. It was a long journey, but that didn't bother either of them. They were just happy to be together, and used each moment of time to the fullest. He was hoping Central wouldn't be keeping too close an eye on him at the moment; he had after all just been there.

He was too happy to have her back to want to hurry anywhere, but as much as he stalled, they eventually reached their destination, and once docked, he frowned and paused inside the airlock door before opening it, not entirely sure of how to explain what he needed to say.