[MikeJaffa]

TITLE: Just the Way You Are
AUTHOR: MikeJaffa/MikeJoe/Michael Gallagher
SUBJECT: Playing with how to handle Lexa’s pregnancy.
DISCLAIMER: Don’t own DROM, just having fun. And yes, it is set in early S5, and assumes everyone will be back!

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So, Lexa’s having a baby, and I was thinking about how the show could handle this. And then my silly muse whacked me over the head with a wet noodle and took over. Put the food and drink away, people.

====

“Beka?” Dylan fought down panic as he looked left in right in the *Maru’s* main corridor. After the tumultuous events at Arcology, Dylan hoped for some semblance of normalcy in his life, anything to off-balance what had happened and what he had learned. Beka’s being more than an hour late to stand a watch in Command -- unusual even for her -- didn‘t contribute to that. “Where are you?”

Something touched his shoulder and Dylan jumped, yelping in spite of himself.

“Calm down,” said Beka Valentine, standing therewith a smile on her face, clad only in a white bathrobe and white bunny slippers. “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a woman with her hair in curlers before?”

“Yeah, my mother .... but, uh, Beka, I mean, you have the nanobots, do you have to .... ?”

“No, I don’t *have* to, but I like to. A permanent is a time-honored tradition, passed down from mother to daughter from the dawn of history. And besides, it’s relaxing.”

“And that’s why you’re an hour late for your watch?”

“It’s that late?” Beka looked at a nearby monitor, and grimaced when she read the time. “Eeeyuuuuh, it’s THAT late!” She began to hustle Dylan to the airlock. “Ok, Dylan, just get going. I‘ll see you later---”

“Are you sure? Do you need--?”

“MOVE!”

Dylan moved.

****

“Dylan? I need your help,” Trance Gemini said as, catching up to Dylan in the corridor, she grabbed his arm and steered him towards and abandoned crew cabin.

Dylan cringed inwardly. What now!? Hadn’t recent events been apocalyptic enough? “What’s wrong now, Trance?”

“I have a big personal decision to make.”

Once in the crew cabin, Trance had Dylan and herself face a large, full-length mirror.

“I was thinking of tweaking my current look,” Trance explained, “staying with the gold but adjusting the highlights. But I’ve also been thinking it’s time for a change.” Trance closed her eyes. Her skin turned purple and her dreadlocks turned blond. “Now, I guess you could call this a ‘back to basics’ look, but it doesn’t got with the armor, and besides, it looks ‘bouncier’ than I feel, if that makes any sense.” She closed her eyes again; her skin turned blue and gray, and the dreadlocks turned white. “Now, I have a good friend who’s people go for this look, and it works for the most part, but I don’t think the dreadlocks work well with this--”

“Trance, I am sure that whatever decision you make will be right for you without violating standards of decorum. I have complete faith in your ability to handle this matter. Whatever you go with will be fine with me.”

Dylan left as fast as he could without running.

****

“Mr. Har---” Dylan cut himself off at the entrance to the slipstream core. For a moment, he thought he’d blundered into a mannequin factory: the room was filled with immobile female forms in various clothes from various cultures, some tall, some short, and some not totally human. “Harper!?”

“Over here, Boss!” Harper poked out from behind a ridiculously tall android.

“Mr. Harper, what are all these?”

“Rommie prototypes.”

“Rommie .... what?”

Andromeda’s core AI filled one monitor. These extreme close-ups were a new habit of hers, and Dylan was getting sick of them.

“Allow me to explain,” Andromeda said. “Since Harper had to build a new body for my avatar’s consciousness, to replace the one lost on Arcology, we decided to give several new physiognomies a try.”

“I see,” Dylan said, feeling annoyed. “And did you finally settle on one, or will I have to take all of these to Command?”

“There’s no need,” said a female voice with a British accent, slightly deeper than Rommie’s had been. “I’ll give this one a try.”

Dylan turned to face the figure behind him. She had fair skin, blue eyes and long blonde hair, and she wore a pink version of Dylan’s blue suit.

“Rommie?” Dylan said.

“Rommiana,” the android corrected. “For the duration.. Until I decide whether to keep it.” She looked down at herself. “It’s not much longer than my old one, but still---”

“It’s fine. Are you ready to report for duty?”

“Aye, Captain.”

“With me. And Harper, what are you going to---? No, I don’t want to know. Just make sure I never find out. That’s an order.”

As they headed down the corridor, Rommiana easily kept pace with the larger starship captain. “You look like you’ve had quite a morning,” she said.

“You have no idea.”

“Well, it’s my duty to try and help.” She reached into an inside jacket pocket and pulled out a rumpled paper bag. “Here. Have a jelly baby.”

****

When Dylan and Rommiana got to Command, they found mannded by a frizzy-haired Beka, a Gold-Skinned Trance, and a Rhade who looked little different from the day before.

Dylan found that comforting.

“Good morning, Rhade. All’s well?”

“Ship’s status green, Dylan, however I find myself grappling with an important personal decision. It may even impair my efficiency as an officer under your command.”

“How? What’s this decision?”

A mischievous gleam entered Rhade’s eye as he struck an effeminate pose and ran his fingers through his hair. “Honestly, Dylan, do you think I’d look better as a blonde?”

Dylan chased him all the way to the slipstream core.


THE END

[ElJay]

MJ You are so lucky I haven't got my coffee yet this morning! Otherwise, I'd be sending you the bill to have my keyboard dry cleaned.... That last bit with Rhade was a nice touch. Poor Dylan--just when he thought his crew was sane!

[Echo]

Quote

“There’s no need,” said a female voice with a British accent, slightly deeper than Rommie’s had been. “I’ll give this one a try.”

Where's this going?

Quote

“Rommiana,” the android corrected. “For the duration.. Until I decide whether to keep it.”

Ha ha!!!
and then...

Quote

Honestly, Dylan, do you think I’d look better as a blonde?

BWAHAHA!

Ahh, thoroughly amusing... I'll be giggling for hours at that.

[MikeJaffa]

ElJay, on Jun 16 2004, 11:54 AM, said:

MJ You are so lucky I haven't got my coffee yet this morning! Otherwise, I'd be sending you the bill to have my keyboard dry cleaned.... That last bit with Rhade was a nice touch.  Poor Dylan--just when he thought his crew was sane!

Thanks, Eljay. Y'know, among the changes to Dylan since "Ouroboros" is he has a slightly shorter fuse, and more of a tendency to get impatient, if not mad, at the world around him. I'm pretty sure some don't like it, but I've learned to have fun with exasperated!Dylan.

As for whether the crew is sane, when since the Fall has the Andromeda not been a flying insane asylum?

[Anastashia]

Now that one was cute Mike, but Rhade doesn't work for me as a blond.

Ani

This post has been edited by Anastashia: 16 June 2004 - 12:32 PM

[Mercurys Winter]

Quote

Now, I have a good friend who’s people go for this look, and it works for the most part, but I don’t think the dreadlocks work well with this--”

LOL I bet I can guess who her friend is

Quote

These extreme close-ups were a new habit of hers, and Dylan was getting sick of them.

LMAO

Quote

And Harper, what are you going to---? No, I don’t want to know. Just make sure I never find out. That’s an order.”

ROTF *snicker*

That was great MJ

This post has been edited by Mercurys Winter: 16 June 2004 - 04:32 PM

[Shell]

I must say I have to agree with everyone else. I really enjoyed your story MJ.

Quote

Mercurys Winter Posted on Jun 16 2004, 03:29 PM
  QUOTE 
Now, I have a good friend who’s people go for this look, and it works for the most part, but I don’t think the dreadlocks work well with this--”



LOL  I bet I can guess who her friend is

I think I know who this is too, MW!

Thanks again MJ.

[Norville]

Quote

“There’s no need,” said a female voice with a British accent, slightly deeper than Rommie’s had been. “I’ll give this one a try.”

Dylan turned to face the figure behind him. She had fair skin, blue eyes and long blonde hair, and she wore a pink version of Dylan’s blue suit.

“Rommie?” Dylan said.

“Rommiana,” the android corrected. “For the duration.. Until I decide whether to keep it.” She looked down at herself. “It’s not much longer than my old one, but still---”

I see Echo asking where this is going, but I can tell that it's a take-off on Romana's oddly well-directed regeneration scene in "Doctor Who", in which she models a variety of bodies for the Doctor before finally settling on a blonde with long, straight hair.

[Echo]

Yup, figured that one out when she said "Rommiana".

[MikeJaffa]

^^ Bingo! Echo and Norville, you guys got it. And also in that ep, "Destiny of the Daleks" (I think), Lalla Ward (that's her name, right?) wore a pink version of Tom Baker's costume. So that's why Rommiana where's a pink version of the kind of blue suits Dylan has been sporting lately. (What, she's going to model herself after HARPER!?) Cool; I'm not the only one who remembers that one!

[MikeJaffa]

Anastashia, on Jun 16 2004, 05:29 PM, said:

Now that one was cute Mike, but Rhade doesn't work for me as a blond.

Ani

You wanna be the one to tell him that?