If Jove Stray

Chapter 23: coming home

"I do," Harper agreed. "Though hopefully I won't be in it too long. Maybe I'll upgrade to your fancy crutches."

"If you should be so lucky," Levi laughed. "Winston, get this man a plum! He deserves one."

Winston rolled his eyes, but stopped picking green beans for a moment to bring Harper a dark round fruit. He took a bite, surprised by how sweet it was and then offered the plum to Cameron who tasted it as well.

"Delicious right?" Levi grinned. "Winston thinks I'm crazy. Winston is wrong."

"No, I just don't spend all my credits on food that I grew myself," Winston pointed out. "I like meat better. But we had some hydroponics on the Canary and you only had freeze dried fruit, right?"

Levi nodded, wrinkling his nose.

"So maybe you just appreciate it more?" Winston suggested. "Anyway, I'm sure these two came to buy some food, not just have you force them to try our new produce."

Levi made a face at Winston. "Just put the plum on my account," he told him. "Honestly. Can't a man buy a plum for his friend."

Winston shook his head. "My co-workers are odd people," he said. "What would you like?"

"Green beans, apples and an eggplant," Harper said. "My account."

The other man nodded, grabbing a bag to put the produce in.

"Anything new from the data stream?" Levi inquired.

Cameron seemed to grimace but just as suddenly her face morphed in a smile.

"No," she said. "Though honestly, I haven't checked; I was in a meeting with Dashiell until I picked Harper up from medical."

"Well, if I was helpful, let me know when you need me to come by," Levi replied and then headed back to his office.

Cameron squeezed Harper's shoulders.

"Would you mind if we stopped by personnel after this?" she inquired. "I wanted to talk to Matisse before I'm gone for a couple days."

"You're staying home?" he asked, surprised. He turned in the wheelchair to look up at her.

"I'll still go to meetings I have scheduled, but oui," she told him. "But I've missed you. We promised that we were going to work on being a real couple and I shouldn't be putting work ahead of you."

"What changed your mind?" he inquired.

Harper took the bag from Winston with thanks and they headed to personnel.

"We have our own tekcom at the berth," she said. "The most I have to do is double check payroll. The others can handle all of the archiving and normal work. I have a team for a reason. Wait here a moment."

She left Harper in the front area with Keller and hopped around the counter. Harper gave Keller a wave. Keller was a strange young man. Cameron said that he was terrible with tekcom of any sort, but was very good with people. He was short brown haired man whose curls always were in disarray. Harper wondered who his partner would be. Hopefully she would be better with tekcom.

"How's the earthstorm treating you?" he asked.

Keller yawned. "My little sister is always scared the storm is going to break into our berth and blow us all away. I keep finding her under my bed. I'll be glad when I move out and that can't happen anymore."

"When is that?"

"Three more years," he admitted. "Bell offered for me to stay with her and Emerson in their extra bedroom. It would be nice to be out of my parents' berth. And Bell's a great cook."

"You could learn to cook," Harper suggested.

Keller shook his head adamantly. "Last time I made cookies, I burned all the hair off my arm. Cooking is not in my skill set. How long are you in the wheelchair?"

"Hopefully just a week or two," Harper replied. "Depends on how fast I heal." 

"Are you being nice?" Cameron asked Harper when she came back out of the back.

"Mostly," Harper allowed. "See you around, Keller. I look forward to beating you in baskets."

"Everyone beats me in baskets," Keller groaned.

Cameron rolled Harper out of the personnel bay and back down to their berth. He had never been so glad to see the couch, and flopped onto it the moment Cameron got him close enough. She set the vegetables on the kitchen counter and then sat next to him, curled up against his chest. Harper stroked Cameron's hair, glad to be home.

"Did you eat breakfast?" he asked her.

"If I say no, are you going to make me move?" she responded. "We'll eat lunch soon. I'm fine."

"Babe, you need to eat more," he told her. "Losing weight is not good for you or the baby. I'm home now and I'm not going to let you get away with such things."

"I know," she sighed. She didn't say anything for a moment and then. "I lied about what happened with Lincoln."

"I figured," Harper said dryly. "Especially if people have been saying that O'Keefe shot me. Why?"

"There was too much to explain," she said. "Since O'Keefe was dead anyway, I didn't want you to get into any trouble. Getting shot wasn't your fault. It was mine."

"I think we can safely say that it was Lincoln's," Harper countered. "Regardless, it's over. I'm home, and I'm fine, and I don't want you to dwell on it anymore. The whole base has moved on."

She snorted. "Because we're all obsessed with what Earth could possibly have to say. I'm excited about it, but Dashiell is...fanatical. I thought we'd be more focused on how Earth could make our lives better, easier. I think he may be trying to change the base into what Earth was before."

"I thought you were getting along with Dashiell," Harper questioned. "What happened? Was it this morning's meeting?"

"A bit," she admitted. "Dashiell and I had a disagreement and...I think it's going to upset a lot of people. So he told me to take a couple days off."

"Oh."

Harper had suspected there was another reason Cameron had decided to stay home. He was still happy she was, but wished that she would make some decision because she cared about him, not because it fit into a master plan. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head.

"You're about to fall asleep, aren't you?" Cameron inquired. "And keep me here?"

"Definitely," he replied with a sleepy smile.

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My grandmother sirodanna passed away today. She only got on Wattpad to read my stories and it's just been a really hard day. Thanks for reading.