And A Happy New Year
By: Thought
Disclaimer: Um….no.
A/N: This takes place pre-'Drom. And…yes, I know that technically for Trance to be there, Fred has to be dead, but…um…blame the Toyota Pixies!!!!!! And, uh, yeah, I kinda screwed around with the timeline, ok?
"I still want to know why we still use the old Earth calendar," I told Harper as he downed something that was probably alcohol, and was also probably unnaturally expensive.
"Because they haven't come up with a new one yet," he answered, still, incredibly, sober after the three or four bottles of that stuff he'd been drinking.
"Uh huh…" I rolled over on my bunk and stared at the wall. Somewhere off to my left I could hear as Harper fiddled with something mechanical on the floor near by.
"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas," he sang softly. I pulled a pillow over my head, and tried to ignore him. "…And a happy New Year!" he sang loudly.
"Seamus?" I lifted the pillow.
"Mmm?"
"Shut up."
"I'll have a blue Christmas without you, I'll be sooo blue thinking about you…" The pillow returned to its rightful place over my head, and I desperately tried to ignore him.
I heard the hatch of the Maru opening, and footsteps entering. A lot of them. Rolling to face Harper, I told him "The gang's back."
"And there goes the rest of our restful evening off," he took another drink.
"I'll pay you to make them go away."
He grinned, and then, as loud as he could, he began making some rather inappropriate noises. "Oh…Beka! Oh!"
I through my pillow at his head. "Shut up!"
Trance poked her head in the door. "Um…We're not interrupting anything, are we?"
"No!" I exclaimed, flopping to the floor to hit Harper with the pillow as hard as I possibly could.
"Violent!" Harper shoved me away, and we both looked up inosently at the group now standing in the doorway.
"Hi, guys…" I waved.
"Oh, Seamus, molesting my sister again?" Rafe asked, smirking. Harper choked on his drink, and I had to smack his back to get him breathing again.
"Ok…Ok, Bek, you can stop hitting me now," he told me. I pouted.
"Just trying to help out my favorite engineer," I told him in my best Trance imitation.
"We're officially stuck on this planet for the next week," Fred told us.
"Damn, damn and double damn!" I bounced to my feet. "Harper…"
"I'm going, I'm going…" Harper got to his feet as slowly as he possibly could. "What did we do to Beka's baby this time?" he asked Fred.
"Well, we pretty much destroyed half the outer hull, and our slipcore needs to be replaced…really soon."
Harper flopped backwards onto the floor, dragging me down with him. "Ouch! What the hell, Seamus?" I disentangled myself from him, but decided that the floor was as good a place as any to berate my little engineer.
"I'm not starting something like that on New Years eve," he told me. "Besides, we're gonna need a lot of supplies, that we don't have, and that we probably won't be able to acquire tonight, anyway."
"Seeeaaaammmmuuuusssss…" I whined. He ignored me.
"So, what are we gonna do tonight?!" asked Trance, her tale swinging excitedly.
"I dunno," Harper looked thoughtful. Then, as if by magic, an idea must have hit him, because his face just lit up. "I say we go partying!"
"Um…" I poked him.
"Sounds good to me," Fred put his two cents in.
"Same here," Rafe agreed.
Trance bounced up and down. I looked to Rev. He wouldn't go partying, but, as I looked at him, I knew that he wasn't above encouraging them, just to make me suffer.
"I have no wish to drag your drunk asses back to the ship at some ungodly hour of the morning," I informed the four others. "Therefore, I'm not. You can't get back to the Maru under your own power, you're not getting back at all."
Harper grinned, and was up and out of the room, ostensibly to get changed before anyone could say anything. Trance, still with that unnaturally perky grin, followed after him, for the same reason, I was guessing. Rafe reached out a hand, pulling me to my feet and spinning me around the room.
"Go," I shoved him off. "And don't think that just because we're related that I won't leave you out on the streets tonight, too."
He smirked at me. "I had no such thoughts, my darling sister," he assured me.
I grabbed Fred's arm before he could go anywhere. "Please tell me that your old enough to drink responsibly and assist me in dragging people out of sticky and potentially dangerous situations?"
He just gave me an idiotic smile. "Sure, Beka, whatever you say."
When they were all out of the room, I turned to Rev. "I hate you with unparalleled intensity right now," I told him.
"I didn't do anything," he objected, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.
"You're as bad as Harper sometimes," I told him.
"You've…um, severely damaged my self-esteem," he said blandly.
"Out," I rolled my eyes.
He obeyed, disappearing through the closing door. I still had to decide what to wear.
"Ok, everybody ready to go?!" Harper called.
"Unfortunately," I stood beside him, glaring at the back of Rev's head from where he was reading something off a screen.
"This is gonna be soooo much fun!" Trance sang, spinning around in a circle to show off her pink sparkly dress. I looked down at my black pants and silver mesh shirt, and felt mildly underdressed.
As if reading my thoughts, Harper looked pointedly at the gun I had strapped to my hip. I looked back at him with a 'so what?' expression. He shrugged, and returned to complimenting Trance.
"Ok, now I'm here, now we can leave!"
I sighed. "Shut up, Rafe."
Harper turned, and pulled on the hatch. It…didn't move. I arched an eyebrow.
"Need some help opening the door, Harper?" I asked sweetly. He glared at me, and pulled harder. Nothing happened. I joined him, and we tugged together. Still nothing.
"You people are pathetic," Rafe told us, and he attempted to open the hatch. Trance sighed, and wrapped her hands around the handle.
"Well, this is interesting," I observed.
"We're locked in?!" Harper demanded of the room in general.
"No," said Rev. "It appears that the doors have…frozen shut."
I couldn't help myself. The expression on Harper's face was priceless. I leaned against the wall, shaking with silent laughter. They all gave me dirty looks.
"We can have a New Years party right here!" Trance exclaimed suddenly. "And we can tell our favorite memories of this year, and eat candy, and drink, and play some games, and it'll be lots of fun!"
I closed my eyes. "I need to go do that…thing…in that…place…" I made a dash for my room. I was restrained by Harper and Trance, each grabbing one of my wrists like I was an unobliging parent that wouldn't play house with her three-year-olds.
"I'll get the alcohol," Rafe said cheerfully, and disappeared off into the main bunkroom. That's where him, Trance, Harper and Fred sleep. Rev and I share the other cabin. I used to share it with Bobby when we were together, then with Harper after he left Earth because of the nightmares, and then with Trance for a while when we were on our anti-men kick.
"I'll get the food!" Trance bounced off happily. Fred popped a toothpick into the side of his mouth and chewed on it, watching my futile struggles with Harper in amusement.
"You find this entertaining, don't you?" I demanded.
"Uh huh," he answered. Sometimes it amazed me how much a man who's at least four years older than me can act so immature at times.
"What kind of games do you think Trance has in mind?" I wondered out loud.
"I don't know if I want to know," Harper muttered. "But hey, we'll all be too drunk to care, anyway!"
I closed my eyes. "Oh…God…"
We all settled on the floor of the galley in a circle at Trance's insistence. Somehow, my brother and the sparkly purple one had come up with eight bottles of assorted alcohol, shot glasses, and four large bags of junk food. "Um, do I want to know where all of this came from?" I asked.
"No," they chorused.
"Right then." I nodded.
"Ok, I think we should play charades!" Trance told us.
"I don't," I said quickly.
"Yes, you do," Harper patted the top of my head.
I turned to him. "I will end you," I warned.
He smirked back with fake sweetness. "Love ya two, Bek!"
"Ok, Trance," said Rafe patiently, "Why don't you go first?"
She bounced up, grinning. "Ok, this is two words." She began flapping her arms around, and dancing about in circles with a huge smile on her face.
"Uh…bird?" I guessed.
She shook her head. "Uh…ship?" Harper asked.
"Dancer?" Rev tried.
"Angel?" Rafe asked.
She sighed, and obviously deciding that it was a lost cause, went on to the next word. She started making little shaking motions with her hands, as if she were spreading something.
"Shaking?" Fred asked.
"Spreading?" I asked.
"Dropping?" Harper tried.
She sighed in exasperation. The timer beeped, and she pouted.
"What was it?" Harper asked.
"Fairy dust!" she told us. I blinked.
"Ooookkkkk, then," I nodded and smiled.
"Who wants to go next?!" Trance asked excitedly.
"Maybe, let's try another game," suggested Rafe.
"Ok!" she said happily, and pulled out a box. The box held a bunch of flexies, and a timer.
"Scategories," Rev read. We all looked at Trance expectantly.
"Ok, here's what you do," she said. "We'll divide up into teams, and we roll the dy for a letter. Then we each get a flexi with a bunch of categories on it, and we have to fill in a word for each that starts with that letter!"
"Oh God," I muttered.
Me, Harper and Rafe ended up on one team, with Trance, Rev and Fred on the other.
We flipped the timer, and the race was on.
"Ok, what do we have?" I asked Harper.
"Our first category is 'Animal'," he told us. The letter that had been flipped was B, and I had a bad feeling about this already.
"Bat," Rafe supplied. Harper wrote it down.
"Four letter word."
"Buck," I answered right away.
"Candy," Harper continued.
"Uh…Bar of chocolate," Rafe hazarded.
"'The hell?" I stuck out my tongue at him.
"Can you come up with anything better?!"
"Uh…buttered popcorn! That actually starts—"
"That's not candy!" Harper objected.
"Yes it is!"
"No, sis, it's not," Rafe supported Harper.
"Damned good-for-nothing sibling," I muttered.
"Black lickerish!" Harper grinned.
"Shhhh!" Rafe and I chorused.
"What?!"
"They'll hear you!" I told him, sending the other team a suspicious glance.
"Ok, next?" Rafe asked.
"Excuse for being late…What is this game supposed to do, screw up your brain?"
"Broken head," I tried.
"Broken head?!"
"What?!" I demanded.
"If we can't use bar of chocolate, we sure as hell can't use broken head!" Rafe snapped.
"You suck," I informed him.
"Breakfast?" Harper asked.
"You can't use that as an excuse!" I told him.
"Ok, Beer, then," he tried.
"Oh my Lord…" I dropped my head into my hands.
"Bloody death by large guns?" asked Rafe.
"Breaking and entering?" I suggested.
"Burned down house?" Harper said.
"Betrayed by my brother," I muttered.
"How about broken leg," Rafe said.
"Fine. Great," Harper scribbled it down. "K, sport."
"Baseball!" I said.
At the same time, Rafe said, "Basketball!"
"Let's just say ball," Harper suggested.
"What's wrong with baseball?" I demanded of Rafe.
"What's wrong with basketball?!"
"I never said there was anything wrong with basketball!"
"You implied it!"
"I did not imply anything!' I retorted.
"Next!" Harper coughed pointedly.
"Yeah, go ahead."
"A main part of the Commonwealth," Harper read off.
"Whoa. Uh…battles!" I grinned.
"Wouldn't bottles be a little more appropriate?" Rafe asked dryly.
"I can think of a few other words to describe them that start with B," Harper muttered.
"Bureaucracy," I suggested after I had got my giggling under control.
"Works for me," Harper wrote it down.
"Ok, we're around half done," Rafe commented. "Next?"
"Cartoon character," Harper read.
"Beauty," Rafe said. "Or The Beast."
I stared blankly at him. "What the—"
"Don't question Disney, Beka," Harper cut me off. "Name of a Madonna song."
"Beautiful Stranger!" I said right away.
"Uh…Who's Madonna?" Rafe asked.
"I'm surprised you don't know," I told him. "You kinda stole my CD."
"Oh." He shrugged. "I just do that to torment you. I don't actually listen to any of them."
"I really, really hate you," I told him.
"Type of ship."
"Uh…" Rafe looked at me.
"Don't look at me!"
He rolled his eyes. "Uh…bad-ass Nietzschean fighter?"
"Benjamin Class Slipfighter," I told them, snapping my fingers.
"Uh…I'm just gonna take your word on that," Harper said, writing it in.
"We're running out of time," Rafe observed.
"K, k, type of alcoholic beverage."
"Brandy," I said right away.
"No way, beer!" Harper said.
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes.
"Ok, an occasion for celebration."
"Birthday!" Rafe and I chorused dully.
"Uh…right then!" Harper nodded. "You know, that could be a really hard one. I mean, what starts with a X that's worth celebrating?"
"Yeah…What candy starts with an X?" I wondered.
"Our freakin letter is B, here!" Rafe pointed out.
"Right…right…"
"Ok, two more!" Harper said excitedly.
"Tell us, damnit!" I exclaimed in annoyance.
"Character from a film."
"Beverly! From the Beverly Hillbillies!" I said.
"Um…Was Beverly actually a character?" Rafe asked.
"Sure," I shrugged.
"K!" Harper scribbled it down.
"Last one! Last one!" Rafe chanted. Can I please add that we'd all consumed a little more alcohol than is probably healthy by that time?
"One word to describe the Commonwealth," Harper finished.
"Broken!" Rafe and I burst into hysterical fits of laughter.
"I second that," Harper took a long gulp straight from a bottle, and wrote down the last word as big as he possibly could.
"Done!" we shouted together. The timer went off five seconds later.
"We rock!" Harper cheered.
"Okaly dokaly, now we compare answers, and whoever has the most wins!" Trance said happily.
"We won," I told her.
"Yeah, we filled in all of the little blank thingies," agreed Rafe.
"I think we should have some music," Harper told the world.
"I think we should do karaoke!"
I honestly don't remember who said that.
"Right-o, then!" Harper jumped up, and entered his selection into the computer. A slow song began to play.
"Love me tender,
love me sweet,
never let me go.
You have made my life complete,
and I love you so."
"AAHH!!" I was shaking with laughter.
He dropped onto his knees in front of Trance. "Love me tender,
love me true,
all my dreams fulfilled.
For my darlin' I love you,
and I always will!!"
"Somebody please stop him before he totally humiliates himself," Rev pleaded.
Harper grabbed Trance's hand and kissed it. "Love me tender,
love me long,
take me to your heart.
For it's there that I belong,
and we'll never part."
"I'm getting very, very disturbed by this," I told the room at large.
"Love me tender,
love me dear,
tell me you are mine.
I'll be yours through all the years,
till the end of time."
Trance was giggling, and her cheeks were blushing a deep shade of lavender.
"When at last my dreams come true
Darling this I know
Happiness will follow you
Everywhere you gooooooooooo." He grinned, and leaned up to kiss Trance. I think he was aiming for her mouth, but he hit her cheek instead.
"Is it over?" I asked.
"I think you should go now, Beka," Trance said, giggling.
Great."
I looked through my disk collection for my Aretha Franklin CD so I could do Respect. I couldn't find it.
"I'm gonna rip your head off, Rafe," I called over my shoulder.
"Love you too, sister mine!"
"I pondered doing Tori, then Queen, and finally decided on an old CD that I barely remembered buying. Punching it in, I turned to them.
"I'm gonna embarrass myself," I called out.
The music started out, and I took a deep breath.
"Do I stress you out
My sweater is on backwards and inside out
And you say how appropriate."
They were all looking a little surprised. I danced closer to Harper, grinning wickedly.
"I don't want to dissect everything today
I don't mean to pick you apart you see
But I can't help it." I spun, my arms high up in the air.
"There I go jumping before the gunshot has gone off
Slap me with a splintered ruler.
And it would knock me to the floor if I wasn't there already
If only I could hunt the hunter."
"Who sings this?" Fred asked in an aside to Rafe.
"And all I really want is some patience
A way to calm the angry voice
And all I really want is deliverance.
Do I wear you out
You must wonder why I'm relentless and all strung out
I'm consumed by the chill of solitary." I decided I needed more to drink.
"I'm like Estella
I like to reel it in and then spit it out
I'm frustrated by your apathy." I grabbed Rafe's drink, and swallowed a good portion of it.
"Hey!" he objected.
"And I am frightened by the corrupted ways of this land
If only I could meet the Maker
And I am fascinated by the spiritual man
I am humbled by his humble nature.
What I wouldn't give to find a soul mate
Someone else to catch this drift
And what I wouldn't give to meet a kindred
Enough about me, let's talk about you for a minute
Enough about you, let's talk about life for a while
The conflicts, the craziness and the sound of pretenses
Falling all around...all around."
I twirled, lost my balance, and landed half on top of Harper, and half on top of Rafe. I looked up at them as I sang the next line.
"Why are you so petrified of silence?
Here can you handle this?" The whole room froze for that long second of silence in the song. That gave me time to jump to my feet.
"Did you think about your bills, your ex, your deadlines
Or when you think you're gonna die
Or did you long for the next distraction
And all I need now is intellectual intercourse
A soul to dig the hole much deeper
And I have no concept of time other than it is flying
If only I could kill the killer
All I really want is some peace man
A place to find a common ground
And all I really want is a wavelength
All I really want is some comfort
A way to get my hands untied
And all I really want is some justice…" I finished, and took a bow, before returning to the floor between Harper and Rev.
"There," I said. "I've done my turn, now I think my dear brother should go."
He stuck out his tongue at me.
"Oh, that's mature," I rolled my eyes.
He jumped up, and studied our music selection. And then this insanely evil grin broke out over his face, and he pushed in a CD, and turned to us, holding up his hands grandly. As soon as I heard the intro, I buried my head in my hands.
"Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay.
Money, it's a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four-star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Rev muttered.
"Because my brother is a lying, self-serving, cheating, greedy…" He continued singing before I could finish that sentence.
"Money, get back.
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack.
Money, it's a hit.
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit.
I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet."
"What's a leer jet?" asked Trance.
"Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.
"HuHuh! I was in the right!"
"Yes, absolutely in the right!"
"I certainly was in the right!"
"You was definitely in the right. That geezer was cruising for a
bruising!"
"Yeah!"
"Why does anyone do anything?"
"I don't know, I was really drunk at the time!"
"I was just telling him, he couldn't get into number 2. He was asking
why he wasn't coming up on freely, after I was yelling and
screaming and telling him why he wasn't coming up on freely.
It came as a heavy blow, but we sorted the matter out"
Everyone burst out laughing at his imitations at the end of the song.
He finished with a flourish, and sat down. "I think you should go now, Trance," he told her.
She agreed, jumping up excitedly. The intro music wasn't at all familiar, and I guessed that this CD must belong utterly to Trance.
"Sometimes, the feeling is right..
You fall in love for the first time..
Heartbeat, and kisses so sweet..
Summertime love in the moonlight.." She grabbed Harper's hand and spun him around with her.
"Now the summer is gone,
you had to go back home.
Please come and see me again,
I never felt more alone..."
Harper fell back to the floor, the combination of alcohol and dizziness apparently catching up with him. Trance didn't seem affected by this, and kept right on dancing.
"(Baby, I am missing you,)
I want you by my side,
(And I hope you'll miss me too.)
Come back and stay. I really want you too.
(You swept my feet right off the ground, you're the love I found.)
Doctor Jones, Jones,
Calling Doctor Jones.
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones,
Get up now."
She grabbed Rafe, and danced him around for a bit as she sang. "Doctor Jones, Jones,
Calling Doctor Jones.
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones,
Wake up now.
All I think of is you,
and all of the things we had,
Doctor, what can I do?
Why does it have to be like that?
(Baby, I am missing you,)
I want you by my side,
(And I hope you'll miss me too.)
Come back and stay.
(I think about you every day,)
I really want you too.
(You swept my feet right off the ground, you're the love I found."
I buried my head against Rev's shoulder, trying to block out the annoying song. Then, I decided that Rev made a very nice pillow, and curled up leaning against him.
"Doctor Jones, Jones,
Calling Doctor Jones.
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones,
Get up now.
Doctor Jones, Jones,
Calling Doctor Jones.
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones,
Wake up now. Please, please cure me..
Please, please cure me..
Please, please cure me..
Please, please cure me..
Doctor Jones, Jones -
(Wake up now) Doctor Jones, Jones -
(Wake up now)
Doctor Jones, Jones -
(Wake up now)
Ah-yippie-yi-yu
Ah-yippie-yi-yeah
Ah-yippie-yi-yu-ah
Ah-yippie-yi-yu
Ah-yippie-yi-yeah
Ah-yippie-yi-yu-ah
Doctor Jones, Jones,
Calling Doctor Jones.
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones,
Get up now.
(Wake up now)
Doctor Jones, Jones,
Calling Doctor Jones.
Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones,
Wake up now.
(Wake Up Now)."
She had dropped Rafe near the end, and collapsed herself, giggling like she was on way too much sugar. I glanced around at the candy. A lot of it was, in fact, gone.
"Hey, it's almost 12:00!" she cried.
"Oh no. Does that mean we can end this party?" I asked, feeling relieved.
"Everybody get ready for the countdown!" Harper said from his place on the floor. We all fixed our eyes on the crono on the table, and started counting down at ten.
"10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!!!! Happy New Year!!!" we all chorused. We all cheered and laughed, and hugged.
"Wow. It's really 304," Fred said.
I grinned. "Here's to a better year than last one!" I said, holding up my bottle. Everyone held up theirs as well.
"To me finally getting a date!" Harper called.
"To not breaking the ship once a day," Rev added.
"To blowing things up!" said Fred.
"To my darling sister who is gonna let me borrow her—" Rafe began, but I cut him off.
"Trance?"
She sat, pondering for a long moment. Finally she smiled, and said, "To the perfect possible future. Where ever it may be."
We all drained our bottles. Harper reached over, and pushed in a CD. A very familiar song burst forth, and I laughed. The guitar rolled over us like water, and I smiled up at the ceiling.
"I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it till my fingers bled
Was the summer of sixty-nine…"
End
A/N2: I'm sorry. None of the songs belong to me, but I'm waaaay too lazy to go look them up. And yes, I know reading lots of song lyrics is annoying, but I couldn't resist. And the thing about the Commonwealth being broken actually was said at a very recent New Years party. And it's a new record! I didn't use a single Tori song in this, nor did I even make mention of our favorite Nietzschean coughTyrcough!
As always, review please!!!