Tying up Loose Ends

A Pink Dormouse Production

Chapter Four

Avon

So much for not becoming dependent on Vila. If I must have one thing worth remaining alive for then it increasingly seems to be him. Without sex, which he seems disinterested in right now, there is no reason for us to share a cramped bunk, as Marianne stays on watch the whole time Vila is in here. Yet sleep together we do. When Vila is here with me for the first half of the night I can sleep soundly, but once he goes on watch any small sound wakes me as if I were back to being on constant alert.

I am becoming concerned about Vila’s welfare once we reach Astbury. I want to know that he can carry on even if I am unable to. I could give him money but he would see it as a pay-off and refuse to take it... Unless I were to stay with him... but then I do not wish to be a burden on him forever.

Then there is the question of Marianne. She and Vila work well together, it would seem. She is not as hard on him as I was, and all he ever really wanted was to settle down with someone. Now why does that bother me?

It was simpler when I had a purpose; maybe tomorrow I should involve myself in the running of the ship. Then I can discover whether these emotional inconsistencies are purely a result of isolation.

Marianne

She glanced up from the circuitry she was working on and noticed Avon standing in the entrance to the cabin. He looked pale and tired, and was leaning heavily on the doorframe.

Nothing physically wrong with him a few decent meals can’t fix so I’ll just have to pay a visit home and get hold of some real food to cook. You can take the girl off of the farm but you’ll never take the farm out of the woman... Now do I ask what he wants and risk scaring him off or do I ignore him and get on with my work? She picked the safer option and tried a different probe on the circuit.

"Need any help with that?" he asked making his way over to her position carefully, then supporting himself on the backrest of the seat behind her.

"Possibly- I’m trying to improve Virginia’s communications-monitoring capabilities. There’s a definite increase in both Federation and rebel group activities in the sectors I pass through most often and I’d prefer to know what’s going on where so I can avoid getting caught up in too much of it."

"Let me have a look." Avon squeezed in next to her, "You want to put another booster in this relay here. I could probably build something more effective when we get back to Base but it would necessitate taking vital systems offline for several days."

"I’d appreciate that."

"It would not be able to decode encrypted messages other than the most basic, you understand, but it should be effective enough for your purposes. What is the situation between you and Vila?"

"There’s no situation as far as I’m concerned- he’s pointedly refused every action of mine that could be misconstrued as making a move on him. Does it bother you?"

"I have no right to be jealous- I feel that I probably forfeited any claim I may have had on his affections a long time ago. More’s the pity. You can probably offer him far more." Avon actually sounded as if he cared.

Powers preserve me! They have to make things complicated, don’t they? "I don’t want a Primary- or a fulltime co-pilot- I’ve survived perfectly well these past twe-ahem years without either. You’re way off the mark about where his loyalties lie as well. Try talking to him sometime."

"Maybe." He returned his attention to the circuitry.

"Havin’ fun, people?" Vila appeared from wherever he’d been lurking, presumably out of earshot and wandered over to look at what they were doing. He rested a hand on Avon’s shoulder and Avon leaned in towards him. Marianne tried to look as if she hadn’t noticed.

Cute... Maybe I should keep the pair of them as pets... Probably need some sort of dangerous animals licence though- best to return them to the wild when I’ve finished observing them.

Vila

He lay on the bunk flicking through some of the graphic novels Marianne had left lying around. Most of them were historical romance or adventure stories involving bikers or pirates, but a few were more explicit tales of improbably good-looking people doing complex (and in some instances anatomically unlikely) things to other equally attractive people.

Avon and Marianne were doing yet another upgrade on one of Virginia’s systems and he was keeping well out of the way. He wasn’t avoiding either of them as such; it was just that lately Marianne had developed some strange idea that he and Avon should talk things over and there was no way he was doing anything of the sort, especially not while Avon had a computer to lavish his attention on.

In some respects the way Avon had come on since deciding to rejoin the living on the flight deck was nothing short of unbelievable. On the other hand he still clung to Vila at night and there was none of the customary arrogance or cutting putdowns Vila had come to expect. Vila worried that any attempt to push matters with Avon would result in him retreating back into whatever headspace he had been occupying before. There was really no need to be discussing some hypothetical relationship, or lack of same when they were still a few days out from their destination and had no idea as yet where either of them was to live or what they were going to do for income.

No, much as I’d like to know whether Avon’s goin’ to be buggering off straight away or stickin’ around for a while, I’ll wait for him to bring the subject up...

Marianne

She had once read that in civilisations where enforced monogamy was the norm, dysfunctional relationships were commonplace. In all her years of travelling she had never quite believed it but now she seemed to be observing the phenomenon firsthand. When Avon wasn’t complaining about not being allowed to do a fair share of the watch rota (regardless of the fact that he was far from up to it just yet), he was complaining to Marianne about how Vila seemed to be avoiding him. Meanwhile Vila was more than happy to complain to her about the major communication breakdown they were experiencing, and to drop plenty of hints that she should pass on to him anything relevant Avon said to her, but he was reluctant to talk directly to Avon in case that made the situation worse.

It would make a fascinating study if she hadn’t come to care far too much about them. As it was she really was beginning to wonder if it would help to just train her crossbow on the pair of them and demand they talk it out. Maybe a sidearm wasn’t the safest option, given Avon’s reputation; she thought wistfully of the hunting rifle that was currently locked in the hotel room that served as her home on Astbury. Given the level of sexual tension on the ship she could have probably got their undivided attention simply by standing it on its stock, leaning it against her leg and wrapping both hands around the barrel.

Avon crawled out from under the console he had been working on, rubbing his neck.

"You’re working too hard. You should take a break, she said in what she hoped was a soothing voice.

"I am no longer an invalid. You and Vila would do well to remember that," he snapped back.

It’d be a lot easier to believe if you weren’t holding onto that console to stay upright. She turned on the tone guaranteed to make almost anyone putty in her hands,

"Come sit over here, surely you’ve got time for me to get your neck sorted." He edged over and sat on the floor in front of her. She placed her hands on his shoulders and started to work on the muscles with her thumbs. He started to relax and moved slightly closer to where she was sitting.

"Deliciously sinful."

"Why sinful? There’s nothing else we need to fix right now."

"You know that wasn’t how I meant it." He tilted his head back to look at her; she considered the possibilities then returned to working on his neck.

"You still haven’t worked out where you stand with Vila, have you? One of you has to say something to the other at some point."

"I prefer to give Vila that option. Judging by how little he has filled in the blanks in my memory much happened that he would prefer to forget. I suspect my actions were more at fault than his."

"Assuming you’re right, he wouldn’t have stayed if he hadn’t found a way to forgive you."

"He could be staying for you- the attraction is undeniably there."

"And he knows I don’t want a Primary. Damn it, Avon, how long are the pair of you going to play pointless mind games with each other?"

"For as long as it takes. End of subject."

Vila

"Chardonay or Chablais?" He had been teetotal long enough and Avon had assured him and Marianne yet again that he was more than capable of keeping watch while they sampled a bottle of wine or two.

"Oh the Chardonay I think." Marianne picked up a corkscrew.

"I hope you’re not letting Vila at the decent wine." Avon was evidently eavesdropping as well as redesigning his plans for the comms modifications yet again.

"Don’t worry: you can have the Chianti later, Avon." Marianne closed the cabin door then poured two glasses of Chardonay and handed one to Vila. He grinned at her,

"Sounds like we’re getting’ the old Avon back. Cheers."

"Cheers. Does this mean the pair of you might turn into rational adults in my lifetime?"

"I don’t know what you’re on about. Sometimes we can be both rational and adult. At the same time even." At least I think we can- have to try it sometime.

"When did you last have a serious conversation?"

"What? He sleeps in my bed and you expect me to talk to him as well?" Vila deadpanned.

"Could be worth a try once in a while."

"But we’ve been not at all involved with each other for more than three years- why change a winning formula?" She’s one to talk anyway- still not seen any sign of her havin’ a serious relationship with anyone.

"So you’re quite happy to go from a not-relationship in which you have sex but don’t talk about it to an almost-relationship in which you don’t have sex and don’t talk to each other either? You two really should figure out where you stand with each other. And don’t expect me to act as go between."

Bloody woman. Does she really expect me to just saunter up to Avon and say ‘Hey guess what- I actually like having you around. Let’s go out and get a cat.’ Cat’s not a bad idea actually. Might be nice to have something that doesn’t answer back.

On to Chapter Five

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