Renegades Part 4

	"Marcus, go away," her tears poured forth as she paused, "Please."

	"All right," he resigned himself to his fate, and walked back through
 the entrance he had just come through.  As he stole a glance across his 
shoulder he thought,   And as he sat down, he began to plot.

	Back in the other room she continued to sob on her pillow, though her 
rainstorm had turned into a gentle shower.  

	About an hour later he joined her in the living area.   he commented to himself as he watched her sleep.  He laid himself 
down beside her on the large bed, the only piece of furniture in the room, 
except for the cabinets.    he secretly 
wished,  laying a hand across her waist, and pulling her in closely to him.  
Fortunately she was tired after the past few days occurrences, and a seriously
 heavy sleeper.   He sighed contentedly as he nuzzled his cheek against her 
hair, and slowly drifted off to sleep himself.

	"Aaah,"  Ivanova yawned as she woke up the next morning.  Her limbs 
were sore from the beatings she had received, but now she had new energy, 
something she had lacked the previous night.  Now if only she knew where to 
find some food.  As her mind grew as alert as her body was beginning to feel 
her entire self went tense.  A large weight was set upon her waist, and she 
could feel where his hand was resting on her stomach.  Turning over she firmly 
pushed his shoulders away, causing him to crumple to the floor as she ranted, 
"I thought I told you to stay away from me!"

	As he looked cautiously over the side of the bed he commented, "Sorry."  
It was sheepish, and he knew it.   It was time for him to try Plan A.  
"Listen Susan, I know what he did to you, and I know that it hurts, but you 
are away from him now," sure it was an all out lie, but maybe, just maybe it 
would open her up.

	It just infuriated her more.  "Marcus, you have no idea what I went 
through.  He raped me!" His heart skipped a beat, "He used me, and then just 
left me there for those creeps to eat at.  You have no idea how that feels, 
do you?"

	 his face went pale as she spoke, 
and then he answered,  "No, I don’t know what  that feels like, but I do know 
what it’s done to you.  Susan, he’s gone, I promise you that he’ll never hurt 
you again.  Please calm down."

	"He may not be here, but I’m the one who has to live with what he did 
to me!"

	"Susan, he hurt you, you’ve been hurt a lot,"  he saw his 
chance, "but not all love hurts like that."

	"Yes it does.  Every time I have fallen in love I have ended up hurt, 
and now this.  Somebody just used me for pure… pure pleasure and then just 
hung me out to dry."

	"Maybe this did Susan, but not every one who loves you will end up 
hurting you."

	"Yes they do.  They all do, and when did this conversation become 
about my love life anyway?"

	"It just did.  And no, not every one who loves you is going to hurt 
you."

	"Oh yeah, my family is dead.  All my relationships have gone to hell, 
the man I love loves somebody else.  Name a single person who hasn’t," she 
demanded.

	 he thought to himself before confessing, "I 
haven’t."

	As realization struck she looked at him blankly.  "What?" she softly 
muttered.

	"I have never hurt you, and I love you.  Susan, why do you think I 
went through all of this to get you?  Why do you think I’ve been trying to 
help you, trying to find out the truth?  Susan, I did it all because I love 
you.  I always have, and I always will."

	"Marcus?" her voice was questioning, and implying of her skepticism. 
 "Don’t lie to me.  On the Whitestar you told me told me that you had somebody 
waiting for you when this was all over.  I don’t need you lying to me, not 
now."

	"I do believe that I also said that I hadn’t told her yet.  Well that 
day I did.  It’s just always been easier for me to confess my love to someone
 if I’m talking about hem in third person.  I was talking about you.  Why do 
you think I offered to teach you Minbari, why do you think I joined you on 
the Whitestar at Coriana, why do you think I even asked you if you had 
someone waiting for you?  Because I wanted to know just what I was up against," 
he glanced at the floor, and then back up at her.

	"If you are telling the truth, and do love me, then why not tell me 
before?  I mean why did it take me getting raped, and beaten to get this out 
in the open?" her voice was questioning, and extremely skeptical.

	"Susan, you should know how hard it is to tell people how you feel.  
Why wasn’t it just yesterday I heard you mumbling about some man you were in 
love with, one who loved another.  Well guess what, I doubt you’ve told him 
how you feel.  It is hard!" his voice level was rising, quickly as he spoke.

	"Well that’s different he," she paused for a moment, trying to think 
of a way to say what she wanted to, without telling him what he wanted to 
hear.  "I though he was in love with another woman.  I thought he was happy 
with her, and didn’t want to cause a problem.  I wanted him to be happy."

	"What’s his name?" he asked encouragingly, hoping that she’d tell him 
the name of the scoundrel who was making her miserable.

	"Why?" she tensed up.   her mind was racing faster than the small ship did in hyperspace.

	"So when we get back to the station, I can track down the bastard, a
nd knock him senseless.  Maybe then he’ll see just how special a woman he is 
passing up," his face became mockingly serious, adding jest to his statement.  
She began laughing, loud in spite of herself.  "What?  Did I say something?"

	She smiled, thinking about what he would look like actually carrying 
out that threat.   she thought in realization at her current 
situation.  "I was just thinking about what you’d look like hitting yourself 
over the head with that big, ugly pike of yours," she couldn’t control herself 
and rolled over, clutching her stomach as she continued to laugh.  

	"Me?" he asked, not yet realizing what she had just confessed to him.  
"Now why the hell would I do that?"

	"Well you said you were going to knock some sense into the guy I was 
in love with right?" she let go of all the restraints she had felt before, 
and finally surrendered her heart to him, completely.

	"Susan, are you trying to tell me that," he paused for a second, 
kneeling back down, and looking her in the eyes.  "Are you trying to tell me 
that I was the one you thought……  Oh bloody hell."

	"Is something wrong," she became serious.  "I thought you would have 
been happy at that."  

	"Oh I ma, honest.  I just feel stupid for not having realized it when 
you said that you "had thought" that the man you were in love with was in 
love with someone else.  I usually pick up on those things, God do I feel 
stupid," he collapsed down onto his rump, and pulled his knees up in front of 
him.

	She smiled at him, and for a brief moment they just stayed where they 
were, caught up in each other’s tender gaze.  Finally she broke the silence, 
"Marcus," she whispered, finally ready to say what had been on her heart for 
months.  Not that it hadn’t already been implied in their conversation, but 
she needed to say it, herself, out loud, to him, "I love you."

	"I love you to," his gaze was tender, and loving.  She could see the 
truth in his eyes, and felt a gentle warmth come over her when he spoke.  
"Now, may I ask you a question?"

	"Of course, anything, shoot."

	"Had I told you the name of a woman I loved, what would you have 
done?" he was chuckling, awaiting her reply.

	It only took her a second to gather her thoughts, and her reply was 
sharp, and yet still somehow amiable, "Tracked her down, and personally 
thrown her out an airlock, and into orbit around Mars, why?"

	"I thought something like that.  And because, well, if you get to 
imagine me knocking myself senseless, I should get to imagine you throwing 
yourself out the nearest airlock."

	Slowly he reached out, and tenderly caressed her cheek with the back 
of his hand.  For once she didn’t pull back.   her mind 
jumped.  What was this awful feeling she got in her stomach every time he 
touched her?   she silently confirmed her own fears, 
 she tried 
to turn her thoughts away from what had happened.  The feel of his hand 
warmed her face, and setting her fears behind her she turned into his hand.

	"Feeling better?" he asked, cupping her cheek with his palm.

	"Yes, I think everything is going to be okay," she smiled at him.  
Placing a hand tentatively over his she asked, "Now where can I get some food?"

End Part 4

    Source: geocities.com/area51/corridor/4875