Day 29
Stupid mushy romanic stuff.
On a side note, I've decided to give this story the title of "Symbiosis".
Something started beeping and Darren looked up at the doctor anxiously.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“Sarah, can you stay here for me? Keep an eye on the computer, let me know the moment we get a response back.”
Sarah nodded and took the seat the doctor had previously been sitting in. He then started going over Vera’s vitals. Vera started gasping for air.
“Hold her,” the doctor said tersely.
He put a mask over her face then started strapping an IV brace to her arm. Before turning it on he put added an extra nutrient pack that had generous portion of the refined native mineral to the mix. After a few minutes the spasms began to subside, although she remained jittery.
“What’s happening?” Darren asked.
“As soon as I know,” the doctor replied tersely.
There was a bleep from the computer and Sarah glanced at the screen.
“Dr Wilkocks from SomeNameHere wanting to speak to you,” she said.
“Ahh, excellent,” said the doctor.
Sarah got up from the chair just in time for the doctor to sit down.
“Just got your message,” said Dr Wilkocks. “What’s happening?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Darren muttered.
“Okay,” said the doctor and began to run off a list of medical terms and measurements that meant nothing to Sarah and Darren (no matter how hard Darren tried to make sense of it).
Sarah tapped Darren on the shoulder and gestured to the door. Darren pulled a face but Sarah insisted and he reluctantly followed her out.
“There’s nothing more that you or I can do,” she told him firmly once the were in the hall. “She’s in the best possible hands now.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Darren grumbled.
They both returened to the party where they both got asked about Vera’s wellbeing. Some thoughtful person had cleaned up her broken glass. Still, Darren found it hard to enjoy the party after that.
As quickly as Vera was stricken, she recovered, although the good doctor didn’t let her return home straight away. As the only unusual thing she had eaten recently was the haringberry wine, all were inclined to believe that this was the culprit and a bottle or two of the batch served were sent off for anaylsis.
Some weeks later, the best they could come up with was that Vera had had an allergic reaction to something in the haringberry wine. As she had had most of the ingrediants before, they were inclined to believe that it was the combination or the form rather than anything specific.
What was really interesting, however, was that Cory’s curiousity was peaked by this occurrence and he tried a drink from the same batch only to have an identical reaction. It however only seemed to be that batch, as he had tasted another batch and had had no reaction at all.
This spawned further testing.
Darren, however, was not about to let the matter go. He realised medically there wasn’t a whole lot that he could do, but he did know that he didn’t want to go on just being friends with Vera.
He sat down with Vera one morning.
“Hey,” she greeted, smiling at him.
“Hi,” he replied, a little nervously.
“Something amiss?” Vera asked.
That was one of the things he liked about her, although Darren knew it unnerved others. She always noticed little things like that. Vera once explained that ti was because of her enhanced sight and hearing that sshe could pick up changes in breath and flushing faces in an instant.
“No.. there’s nothing wrong,” he assured her. “I’m just a little nervous about something.”
“Oh? What’s that?” Vera asked.
Vera was rather pleased with herself. Not only had she gotten into the habit of asking about other people, but she had slowly but surely started to actually get interested in what they were saying. Of course, some people, like Darren and Zeke, were more interesting than others, but Vera was sure that was normal.
Darren was silent for a moment.
“I was hoping that... umm...” he trailed off.
Vera looked at him expectantly, so Darren took a deep breathand tried again.
“The thing is, Vera, I’m...”
Again the words failed him. This would have to be the hardest thing he ever did.
Vera raised her eyebrows, looking perplexed.
“Darren? What is it?”
Darren hesitated again, then finally leant over and kissed her softly on her lips. Vera stopped and stared even as he pulled away. Darren looked down, unwilling to make eye contact.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I just... couldn’t seem to tell you any other way.”
Vera swallowed. Now neither of them knew what to say. Vera hadn’t even thought of Darren like that and now...
Unable to take the pressure of sitting there right then, Vera stood and left.
“So you just left?” Susanne frowned.
“I didn’t know what else to do!” Vera wailed. “He kissed me. Darren!”
“So I gathered. Honey I...” Susanne shook her head. “You just... you just left him hanging?”
“We come back to the whole ‘I didn’t know what else to do’,” Vera replied cynically.
“Vera... Vera you can’t do that. You have to go back to him right now and sort this out. If you’re not interested, just tell him. You can’t just leave him high and dry like that.”
Vera shook her head, pacing around the room.
“How can I go back? How can I possibly do that?”
Susanne sighed heavily.
“Vera, you have got to stop running away from everything,” she told her daughter firmly. “You ran away from me, you ran away from Lloyd and now you’re running away from Darren. It’s not going to work this time, sweetheart. You can hide for a time, perhaps, but these things always come back, and they keep coming until you learn to deal with them. You have to go back.”
“I don’t have to do anything!”
“Oh really?” Susanne drawled. “And what about Sarah? Are you going to leave her and the baby high and dry too?”
“They don’t really need me -”
“Oh indeed? Is that so?”
Vera pressed her lips together.
“You have responsbilities Vera. You’re going to have to return to Panorama Hill, and that means you are going to have to deal with Darren one way or another.”
“But I don’t know what to do!” Vera wailed yet again.
She slumped down in the nearest seat, put her elbows up on the table and buried her head in her hands. Susanne sighed again and sat down next to her.
“Just what is it that you don’t know? How you feel about Darren?”
Vera sniffed.
“I... I thought we were just friends...”
“Relationships have to start somewhere, sweetheart. Your father and I were just friends.”
Vera snorted.
“Yes, but we’re not on Earth any more. Things are different here.”
Susanne gave her a cynical look.
“Yes they are, dear,” she said. “Your potential partner doesn’t have the right to demand a blood test from you before you even start dating to ake sure you haven’t got diseases. You don’t have to be married for three years before you’re allowed to apply to have exactly two children. You’re not stuck living in an apartment barely big enough for your left foot.”
“That’s not what I meant. You and dad just married out of convience.”
“Oh did we now?” Susanne frowned at her.
“Yeah, you told me. You both met at one of the colonist classes, and as couples were preferred colonists.”
“Uh huh, so you just decided it was a marriage of convienice do you? It hasn’t occurred to you even for a moment that I might actually love your father? Yes, it’s true we met at one of the training programs. And yes it’s also true that couple were preferred so every single person wanting to be a colonist was looking for a partner. I would not have married your father if I didn’t love him, Vera Saranin. Believe me when I say that I had plenty of potential husbands to choose from, but ultimately the deciding factor was that Matthew and I loved - and still love - each other. We have our problems, it’s true, but that comes with the territory. We understand each other, we’re each others’ best friend, and I wouldn’t - couldn’t - imagine living without him. It sounds corny, even insane, but I honestly wonder how I managed to live without him before I met him.”
Susanne smiled, more to herself than Vera.
“Perhaps it was only out of ignorance,” she mused.
There was silence for a time.
“Sorry,” Vera said softly.
“It’s not me you need to be apologising to. It’s Darren.”
“I told you! I can’t go back there. I can’t face him,” Vera shook her head violently.
“Well, until you do, you can’t stay here either,” Susanne replied sternly. “And I’m going to tell Tim and Wendy the same.”
“Oh but I -”
“You have to go back to Panorama Hills, Vera.”
“I’m an adult! You can’t tell me what to do any more!”
“Oh you’re an adult now are you? Then why don’t you start behaving like one.”
Vera screamed at her, then stormed off.
“Yeah, sure you can stay with me for a bit,” Cory said. “Come on in.”
“Thanks. I just needed to get away,” Vera replied.
“No problem.”
“Cory?” asked a young woman who entered the room.
“Oh hey, this is Vera. Vera, this is my wife, Rachel.”
Vera froze.
“You’re married? When did that happen?”
“Oh about three months ago,” Cory replied cheerfully. “Didn’t I tell you? I’m sure I told you...”
“Did you tell me about the same time you told me about some new experiment you were trying on yourself?”
“Possibly.”
“Then that might explain why I don’t remember you telling me.”
Cory chuckled and Vera looked at an amused Rachel. She gestured with her thumb at Cory.
“How can you stand a guy who’s deliberately doing stuff like that to himself?”
Rachel smiled.
“Just makes me appreciate him all the more, I guess.”
Vera’s eyes narrowed although a smile stayed on her face.
“You encourage him don’t you?”
Rachel chuckled and Vera threw up her hands.
“I give up.”
“About time,” Cory grinned. “Rach? You mind if Vera stays with us for a bit?”
Rachel shrugged.
“Sure, that should be fine.”
“Thanks. Thanks a lot.”
However, over the following week, Vera grew to regret her decision. Cory and Rachel were both so lovey-dovey it drove her nuts. Addtionally, whenever she had a moment to herself her mind always drifted back to Darren much the same way it use to drift back to Zeke, Lloyd and even Toby.
Finally, Vera decided she couldn’t take it much more and reluctantly, very reluctantly decided to return to Panorama Hills. Besides, Sarah had taken to calling her every day (probably at her mothers’ instigation) and asking about her, and how she was doing, and when she was planning on returning. So return she did and Sarah greeted her with a big hug.
Later that evening, the two sat down over drinks and cake.
“How... how’s Darren been?” Vera asked tentatively, curiousity finally getting the better of her.
Sarah set her mug down on the table.
“Not too bad, considering,” she replied. “It was... it was a very hard thing for him to do. it’s a very hard this for most men to do. To admit to a girl that they like her.”
“I... I didn’t know what to say...” Vera replied, looking down at the table. “I never thought of him as anything but a friend until that moment and now... now I can’t stop thinking about him.”
Sarah smiled.
“I know the feeling.”
“You do?”
“Oh, I do. Andy and I met during one of the colonist courses -”
“I’m having this sense of deja vua - that’s how may parents met.”
Sarah chuckled.
“It’s probably a common story. In any case of all the young single men who were also doing the course, Andy was probably the one I didn’t really think about as a future husband. We were friends, but Andy felt much differently. He once told me that working up the nerve to tell me was one of the hardest things he ever did, but he was so glad he did. I was a little dumstruck myself but... well, here we are. As you see, things worked out rather well.”
Vera smiled for a moment.
“What... what do I say? What do I do?”
Vera shook her head and half closed her eyes in distress.
“You put the poor boy out of his misery, that’s what you do,” Sarah replied. “And be honest, even if that means you telling him that you don’t know how you feel. You could try dating for awhile, see how things go. If it works out, great, if it doesn’t, well, then you’ll know, won’t you?”
Vera was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes, I guess I will, huh?”
Sarah smiled.
Vera tracked Darren down the following day. He was on the family farm, hard at work.
“Hi,” she said softly.
Darren looked up, startled.
“Oh, umm, hi,” he mumbled, looking back down at what he was doing.
There was silence for a time.
“Look, I’m umm... I’m sorry. For running off like that. Apparently that’s what I do. Run away from things. I’m sorry.”
Darren shrugged.
“Hey, umm... see... the things is...”
Vera chuckled a little and shook her head.
“Now who’s stuck for words,” she muttered.
Although he didn’t say anything, Vera caught a slight smile on Darren’s face. She leant against the fence post.
“I guess... I guess I always thought of you as a friend. And then you kissed me and I didn’t know what to think any more. I still don’t. But I... I would be willing... y’know, to try things. See how they go. If it works out, it works out. If it doesn’t well...”
“Vera,” Darren said, looking up at her. “I’m not... if you’re not interested you don’t have to humour me, okay? Just... just say it and be done with it.”
“But... but I am saying it,” Vera protested. “I really have no idea -”
“Vera, you ran off for over a week. I think it’s pretty clear.”
Vera stamped her foot.
“Well, maybe it’s clear to you, but it’s not clear to me!”
Darren shook his head.
“I’ve got work to do,” he dismissed.
Vera frowned. This was not going the way she had anticipated. And oddly enough she found that Darren’s dismissal annoyed her rather than making her feel relieved at not having to deal with it any more. Without thinking, she stepped over and put her hand under his chin lifting his head up. She closed the distance between them and kissed him gently. Darren pulled away.
“Vera... don’t... don’t do that.”
“Why?” Vera asked, putting her arms around him as if to prevent him from moving away.
“Don’t tease me, c’mon...”
Vera nuzzled his nose with her own.
“I’m not,” she replied softly, and knew the moment the words came out that it was true.
She kissed him again.
On a side note, I've decided to give this story the title of "Symbiosis".
Something started beeping and Darren looked up at the doctor anxiously.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“Sarah, can you stay here for me? Keep an eye on the computer, let me know the moment we get a response back.”
Sarah nodded and took the seat the doctor had previously been sitting in. He then started going over Vera’s vitals. Vera started gasping for air.
“Hold her,” the doctor said tersely.
He put a mask over her face then started strapping an IV brace to her arm. Before turning it on he put added an extra nutrient pack that had generous portion of the refined native mineral to the mix. After a few minutes the spasms began to subside, although she remained jittery.
“What’s happening?” Darren asked.
“As soon as I know,” the doctor replied tersely.
There was a bleep from the computer and Sarah glanced at the screen.
“Dr Wilkocks from SomeNameHere wanting to speak to you,” she said.
“Ahh, excellent,” said the doctor.
Sarah got up from the chair just in time for the doctor to sit down.
“Just got your message,” said Dr Wilkocks. “What’s happening?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Darren muttered.
“Okay,” said the doctor and began to run off a list of medical terms and measurements that meant nothing to Sarah and Darren (no matter how hard Darren tried to make sense of it).
Sarah tapped Darren on the shoulder and gestured to the door. Darren pulled a face but Sarah insisted and he reluctantly followed her out.
“There’s nothing more that you or I can do,” she told him firmly once the were in the hall. “She’s in the best possible hands now.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Darren grumbled.
They both returened to the party where they both got asked about Vera’s wellbeing. Some thoughtful person had cleaned up her broken glass. Still, Darren found it hard to enjoy the party after that.
As quickly as Vera was stricken, she recovered, although the good doctor didn’t let her return home straight away. As the only unusual thing she had eaten recently was the haringberry wine, all were inclined to believe that this was the culprit and a bottle or two of the batch served were sent off for anaylsis.
Some weeks later, the best they could come up with was that Vera had had an allergic reaction to something in the haringberry wine. As she had had most of the ingrediants before, they were inclined to believe that it was the combination or the form rather than anything specific.
What was really interesting, however, was that Cory’s curiousity was peaked by this occurrence and he tried a drink from the same batch only to have an identical reaction. It however only seemed to be that batch, as he had tasted another batch and had had no reaction at all.
This spawned further testing.
Darren, however, was not about to let the matter go. He realised medically there wasn’t a whole lot that he could do, but he did know that he didn’t want to go on just being friends with Vera.
He sat down with Vera one morning.
“Hey,” she greeted, smiling at him.
“Hi,” he replied, a little nervously.
“Something amiss?” Vera asked.
That was one of the things he liked about her, although Darren knew it unnerved others. She always noticed little things like that. Vera once explained that ti was because of her enhanced sight and hearing that sshe could pick up changes in breath and flushing faces in an instant.
“No.. there’s nothing wrong,” he assured her. “I’m just a little nervous about something.”
“Oh? What’s that?” Vera asked.
Vera was rather pleased with herself. Not only had she gotten into the habit of asking about other people, but she had slowly but surely started to actually get interested in what they were saying. Of course, some people, like Darren and Zeke, were more interesting than others, but Vera was sure that was normal.
Darren was silent for a moment.
“I was hoping that... umm...” he trailed off.
Vera looked at him expectantly, so Darren took a deep breathand tried again.
“The thing is, Vera, I’m...”
Again the words failed him. This would have to be the hardest thing he ever did.
Vera raised her eyebrows, looking perplexed.
“Darren? What is it?”
Darren hesitated again, then finally leant over and kissed her softly on her lips. Vera stopped and stared even as he pulled away. Darren looked down, unwilling to make eye contact.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I just... couldn’t seem to tell you any other way.”
Vera swallowed. Now neither of them knew what to say. Vera hadn’t even thought of Darren like that and now...
Unable to take the pressure of sitting there right then, Vera stood and left.
“So you just left?” Susanne frowned.
“I didn’t know what else to do!” Vera wailed. “He kissed me. Darren!”
“So I gathered. Honey I...” Susanne shook her head. “You just... you just left him hanging?”
“We come back to the whole ‘I didn’t know what else to do’,” Vera replied cynically.
“Vera... Vera you can’t do that. You have to go back to him right now and sort this out. If you’re not interested, just tell him. You can’t just leave him high and dry like that.”
Vera shook her head, pacing around the room.
“How can I go back? How can I possibly do that?”
Susanne sighed heavily.
“Vera, you have got to stop running away from everything,” she told her daughter firmly. “You ran away from me, you ran away from Lloyd and now you’re running away from Darren. It’s not going to work this time, sweetheart. You can hide for a time, perhaps, but these things always come back, and they keep coming until you learn to deal with them. You have to go back.”
“I don’t have to do anything!”
“Oh really?” Susanne drawled. “And what about Sarah? Are you going to leave her and the baby high and dry too?”
“They don’t really need me -”
“Oh indeed? Is that so?”
Vera pressed her lips together.
“You have responsbilities Vera. You’re going to have to return to Panorama Hill, and that means you are going to have to deal with Darren one way or another.”
“But I don’t know what to do!” Vera wailed yet again.
She slumped down in the nearest seat, put her elbows up on the table and buried her head in her hands. Susanne sighed again and sat down next to her.
“Just what is it that you don’t know? How you feel about Darren?”
Vera sniffed.
“I... I thought we were just friends...”
“Relationships have to start somewhere, sweetheart. Your father and I were just friends.”
Vera snorted.
“Yes, but we’re not on Earth any more. Things are different here.”
Susanne gave her a cynical look.
“Yes they are, dear,” she said. “Your potential partner doesn’t have the right to demand a blood test from you before you even start dating to ake sure you haven’t got diseases. You don’t have to be married for three years before you’re allowed to apply to have exactly two children. You’re not stuck living in an apartment barely big enough for your left foot.”
“That’s not what I meant. You and dad just married out of convience.”
“Oh did we now?” Susanne frowned at her.
“Yeah, you told me. You both met at one of the colonist classes, and as couples were preferred colonists.”
“Uh huh, so you just decided it was a marriage of convienice do you? It hasn’t occurred to you even for a moment that I might actually love your father? Yes, it’s true we met at one of the training programs. And yes it’s also true that couple were preferred so every single person wanting to be a colonist was looking for a partner. I would not have married your father if I didn’t love him, Vera Saranin. Believe me when I say that I had plenty of potential husbands to choose from, but ultimately the deciding factor was that Matthew and I loved - and still love - each other. We have our problems, it’s true, but that comes with the territory. We understand each other, we’re each others’ best friend, and I wouldn’t - couldn’t - imagine living without him. It sounds corny, even insane, but I honestly wonder how I managed to live without him before I met him.”
Susanne smiled, more to herself than Vera.
“Perhaps it was only out of ignorance,” she mused.
There was silence for a time.
“Sorry,” Vera said softly.
“It’s not me you need to be apologising to. It’s Darren.”
“I told you! I can’t go back there. I can’t face him,” Vera shook her head violently.
“Well, until you do, you can’t stay here either,” Susanne replied sternly. “And I’m going to tell Tim and Wendy the same.”
“Oh but I -”
“You have to go back to Panorama Hills, Vera.”
“I’m an adult! You can’t tell me what to do any more!”
“Oh you’re an adult now are you? Then why don’t you start behaving like one.”
Vera screamed at her, then stormed off.
“Yeah, sure you can stay with me for a bit,” Cory said. “Come on in.”
“Thanks. I just needed to get away,” Vera replied.
“No problem.”
“Cory?” asked a young woman who entered the room.
“Oh hey, this is Vera. Vera, this is my wife, Rachel.”
Vera froze.
“You’re married? When did that happen?”
“Oh about three months ago,” Cory replied cheerfully. “Didn’t I tell you? I’m sure I told you...”
“Did you tell me about the same time you told me about some new experiment you were trying on yourself?”
“Possibly.”
“Then that might explain why I don’t remember you telling me.”
Cory chuckled and Vera looked at an amused Rachel. She gestured with her thumb at Cory.
“How can you stand a guy who’s deliberately doing stuff like that to himself?”
Rachel smiled.
“Just makes me appreciate him all the more, I guess.”
Vera’s eyes narrowed although a smile stayed on her face.
“You encourage him don’t you?”
Rachel chuckled and Vera threw up her hands.
“I give up.”
“About time,” Cory grinned. “Rach? You mind if Vera stays with us for a bit?”
Rachel shrugged.
“Sure, that should be fine.”
“Thanks. Thanks a lot.”
However, over the following week, Vera grew to regret her decision. Cory and Rachel were both so lovey-dovey it drove her nuts. Addtionally, whenever she had a moment to herself her mind always drifted back to Darren much the same way it use to drift back to Zeke, Lloyd and even Toby.
Finally, Vera decided she couldn’t take it much more and reluctantly, very reluctantly decided to return to Panorama Hills. Besides, Sarah had taken to calling her every day (probably at her mothers’ instigation) and asking about her, and how she was doing, and when she was planning on returning. So return she did and Sarah greeted her with a big hug.
Later that evening, the two sat down over drinks and cake.
“How... how’s Darren been?” Vera asked tentatively, curiousity finally getting the better of her.
Sarah set her mug down on the table.
“Not too bad, considering,” she replied. “It was... it was a very hard thing for him to do. it’s a very hard this for most men to do. To admit to a girl that they like her.”
“I... I didn’t know what to say...” Vera replied, looking down at the table. “I never thought of him as anything but a friend until that moment and now... now I can’t stop thinking about him.”
Sarah smiled.
“I know the feeling.”
“You do?”
“Oh, I do. Andy and I met during one of the colonist courses -”
“I’m having this sense of deja vua - that’s how may parents met.”
Sarah chuckled.
“It’s probably a common story. In any case of all the young single men who were also doing the course, Andy was probably the one I didn’t really think about as a future husband. We were friends, but Andy felt much differently. He once told me that working up the nerve to tell me was one of the hardest things he ever did, but he was so glad he did. I was a little dumstruck myself but... well, here we are. As you see, things worked out rather well.”
Vera smiled for a moment.
“What... what do I say? What do I do?”
Vera shook her head and half closed her eyes in distress.
“You put the poor boy out of his misery, that’s what you do,” Sarah replied. “And be honest, even if that means you telling him that you don’t know how you feel. You could try dating for awhile, see how things go. If it works out, great, if it doesn’t, well, then you’ll know, won’t you?”
Vera was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes, I guess I will, huh?”
Sarah smiled.
Vera tracked Darren down the following day. He was on the family farm, hard at work.
“Hi,” she said softly.
Darren looked up, startled.
“Oh, umm, hi,” he mumbled, looking back down at what he was doing.
There was silence for a time.
“Look, I’m umm... I’m sorry. For running off like that. Apparently that’s what I do. Run away from things. I’m sorry.”
Darren shrugged.
“Hey, umm... see... the things is...”
Vera chuckled a little and shook her head.
“Now who’s stuck for words,” she muttered.
Although he didn’t say anything, Vera caught a slight smile on Darren’s face. She leant against the fence post.
“I guess... I guess I always thought of you as a friend. And then you kissed me and I didn’t know what to think any more. I still don’t. But I... I would be willing... y’know, to try things. See how they go. If it works out, it works out. If it doesn’t well...”
“Vera,” Darren said, looking up at her. “I’m not... if you’re not interested you don’t have to humour me, okay? Just... just say it and be done with it.”
“But... but I am saying it,” Vera protested. “I really have no idea -”
“Vera, you ran off for over a week. I think it’s pretty clear.”
Vera stamped her foot.
“Well, maybe it’s clear to you, but it’s not clear to me!”
Darren shook his head.
“I’ve got work to do,” he dismissed.
Vera frowned. This was not going the way she had anticipated. And oddly enough she found that Darren’s dismissal annoyed her rather than making her feel relieved at not having to deal with it any more. Without thinking, she stepped over and put her hand under his chin lifting his head up. She closed the distance between them and kissed him gently. Darren pulled away.
“Vera... don’t... don’t do that.”
“Why?” Vera asked, putting her arms around him as if to prevent him from moving away.
“Don’t tease me, c’mon...”
Vera nuzzled his nose with her own.
“I’m not,” she replied softly, and knew the moment the words came out that it was true.
She kissed him again.