U'kaiah's Worst Nightmare (1/2)

Writers: Eimi, Suzee
Date Posted: 22nd June 2012
Series: It takes Time to Love

Characters: U'kaiah, Tavia
Description: This is strange
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 18 of Turn 6

Tavia

U'kaiah passed between the curtain and the stone wall of the ledge. His
eyes quickly readjusted themselves to the dimmer light of the weyr.
Tavia was nowhere to be seen, but the baby lay quietly on a soft furry
rug, surrounded by brightly colored toys to catch his attention.
**She's probably just using the necessary,** he thought as he bent down
to pick the child up into his arms. It was rare for him to have a
moment alone with his son like this.

"Hello little man," he said softly, kissing his cheeks. "Your Da has
missed you, you know." U'kaiah was feeling much more confident holding
Kaiavin now and expertly shifted him onto his shoulder. Patting the
little back, he rocked the boy back and forth, humming as he nuzzled the
little ear with his nose. **Shards, have I ever been this happy,** he
wondered, smiling to himself.

She heard the humming as she came back into the room. "Oh!" she said
with a little surprise wiping the smile from her face. "Hello U'kaiah.
I was expecting someone else."

"Oh?" U'kaiah was amused rather than upset that she would forget what
day it was. "Why? Who did you think I would be?" he asked as he moved
a little closer and bent down to give her a kiss.

Her brows twitched together and she dodged around him avoiding the
kiss. "I was expecting N'vanik actually. Turns out I made a
miscalculation." She shrugged and went to straighten the baby's
blanket and toys.

"What?" He was as much surprised to hear the bronzerider's name as he
was that she maneuvered away from his kiss. "What would you be waiting
for _him_ for?" And miscalculated what, exactly?

"Well," she said going to U'kaiah to take the baby from his
arms."Because of the miscalculation." She turned away again to cross
to the chair. "It turns out I counted wrong and N'vanik is really the
baby's father. Sorry," She sat down preparing to feed the baby. "So
he's been coming by regularly." It was all delivered very matter of
fact. I could happen to anyone after all.

U'kaiah looked around the room helplessly, waiting for someone to jump
out and explain this cruel joke. Maybe N'vanik was behind this,
thinking it would be funny to see his former Wingleader's face when she
told such an outrageous lie. Well, he was not amused. "Tavia, stop
this. You aren't serious. There is no way that this is true."

"Yes it is," she said patiently as she rocked her son. "I check the
timing with Vandor and I was off by a couple of weeks. Loseth had won
Sawauth's flight so... he's really the baby's father." She looked up
puzzled at the way his face was turning red. "It's a Weyr U'kaiah.
This happens."

The bronzerider was taken aback for a moment. It did sound plausible.
And those things did happen. But, no! It couldn't be N'vanik. "Look
at him, Tavia. Look at that hair. That's not N'vanik's hair, it's _my_
hair. Kaiavin is _my_ son, not his!"

She sighed and looked at him like he was a child. Lifting her own hair
she showed it to him like he hadn't run is own hands through it many
times. "He has _my_ hair U'kaiah. Honestly! I don't know why you're
making such a big deal. You're not here most of the time and you have
to make the time to come by. I'm sure you have women back at
Dragonsfall. Isn't this just better all around?"

"No!" he protested vehemently, a painful wrenching in his gut. "It
wouldn't be better for _me_! And after all we've been through together,
I would sharding hope it wouldn't be better for _you_ either!"

"Look," she said evenly. "N'vanik is _here_. Every day. He wants me
and he wants his baby. Are you really that blind? You expect me to
just wait for you in case you have _time_ to come for a visit. He's
_here_ and you aren't. That's better for me and better for Navin."

"_Navin_?" No... She wouldn't _dare_...

She gave him an arch look. "Well don't you think I should recognize
his _real_ father's name?"

"U'kaiah... U'kaiah?"

"Not now!" he snapped back at sound of his name. U'kaiah's eyes were
fixed on Tavia's face and were beginning to burn. "And what about you
and me, Tavia? Did I mean nothing to you? After everything we have
been through this last Turn, you could just tell me to go home and
forget about it? What was I, a bit of fun on restdays and a means to an
end?"

She gave a heavy sigh he was becoming so dramatic. "Of course you
did... Wait! What _end_ exactly are you talking about? We had some
laughs and I thought it was a mutual decision to keep things light. No
strings remember?"

U'kaiah could hear his name being called again. "In a minute!" He
turned back to Tavia. "Shardit, Tavia, you know things changed. Our
_feelings_ changed! We came to care about each other long before
Kaiavin was born. Don't you deny it now, Tavia. Don't pretend that it
was all nothing! I sharding love you, and I cannot believe that you
don't feel something for me, too."

She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again they
were like ice. "Were we together? Were we ever going to be? Whether I
did or whether I didn't doesn't matter now. N'vanik is here and you
aren't. The baby is his son and that is that."

"U'kaiah." This time, he turned to face the speaker. Her hair was
white blonde and eyes a deep grey. This woman was very familiar to him,
a painful shadow from his past.

"Trae?" he whispered in disbelief. His gut twisted into a knot of
sadness and longing as he drank in the site of his old lover. "Trae,
I..."

Before he could say anything, a man wearing only a towel stepped up
behind the goldrider, slipping his arm around her middle with a
triumphant sneer. It was her brownrider, B'ram. He was taunting
U'kaiah, his head turning to run kisses possessive kisses along her
neck.

"U'kaiah," the goldrider said with a tone that was both pitying and
accusing. Her fingers reached up to curl into the brownrider's red
spiky hair. "What were you thinking? Nothing's really changed, has
it."

"U'kaiah..."

This time the word offered him an escape, a path through the painful
fog. With sound somewhere between a groan and word, the bronzerider's
eyes flew opened, and he would have bolted straight up if a weight
hadn't stopped him, keeping him laying on his back and blinking up at
the stone ceiling. Confusion rushed in and he looked around wildly for
a few seconds, trying to figure out where he was, who was there, and if
this was real, or just more of the same nightmare.

"U'kaiah," Tavia said again urgently trying to shake him out of
whatever this was. But then the baby started to cry like she'd feared.
"Are you awake?" She pulled the covers from behind her and swung off
the bed to go to her son. "What's the matter little guy," she cooed as
she brought him back to the bed.

"Bad dream?"

The bronzerider watched her sightly for a few moments as she comforted
the baby. Finally he managed to sit up, pushing himself back against
the headboard. U'kaiah motioned to her to hand the child to him. "Can
you get me something to drink, please?"

"Sure," she said and handed the baby to him. She came back a moment
later with a glass of water and perched on the side of the bed next to
him.

Last updated on the June 29th 2012

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