Fic: Earth 2 - Never Easy - General

[tanaquific]

Title: Never easy
Fandom: Earth 2
Rating: General
Warnings: None
Words: 1195
Summary: It's time for Devon and Danziger to discuss: what next? Written for Yuletide for lilly_rose.
Disclaimer: These stories are based on the Amblin Entertainment/Universal Television series Earth 2. They were written for entertainment only; the author does not profit from them nor was any infringement of copyright intended.
Author's Note: Thanks to scribblesinink for the beta.

oOo

Devon looked out across the bustling camp below. No, camp wasn't the right word for what she was looking at. In the time she'd been in cold sleep, New Pacifica had been turned from the collection of tents they'd hauled with them across G889 into a small town. The layout didn't quite line up with the carefully drawn plans she'd approved before they'd left Earth, but there were reasons for that.

For one, though the cargo hauler that had brought the prefabricated parts for the public buildings had arrived when and where it was supposed to, the materials to build private dwellings had largely been lost in the crash. Which meant that the sleek, white-clad administrative block, meeting hall, hospital and school, grouped around the central square as planned, were surrounded by a sprawl of timber-framed houses that looked a little like pictures she'd seen of old towns back on Earth. She rather liked the change.

They'd also found the original site to be wetter than the survey probes had suggested, so everything had been moved up the coast a little and a mile inland. Devon suspected, though, that part of the reason for nothing being built quite where it was supposed to be was the orneriness of the man standing at her side on the top of the small bluff, admiring the view along with her. She wouldn't have put it past John Danziger to change her plans a little, just because he could.

He'd done well by her vision, though. New Pacifica was ready to receive the remaining 250 families when they arrived in a few weeks' time.

"Thank you for looking after my people," she said softly, glancing across at him.

He scuffed the ground with the toe of his workboot. "They're my people, too."

Devon didn't press the point, sensing his embarrassment from his gruff tone. Instead, she took in another breath of the fresh ocean air. It was the first time she'd been outside for more than a few minutes since she'd woken up; Julia had kept her on a tight rein for the past weeks, closely monitoring her to ensure both that she'd successfully come out of cold sleep and that the cure they'd found for her illness had taken properly.

Happy, high-pitched shrieks reached her ears, drifting up from the stretch of grass behind the school. Shading her eyes, she saw Uly and True were playing some kind of chase game.

"And thank you for looking after Uly."

John shrugged. "Blame True for that. Besides, the boy needs a father...." He gave her a worried look, as if afraid he'd overstepped the mark.

"He probably does." Devon was surprised to hear herself say it, but there was no clearer reminder than the sight below that Uly wasn't her sick little baby any longer. And while Yale was a wonderful teacher and mentor, neither of those roles were quite what her own father had been for her.

John cleared his throat. "What did happen to his father? You never said...."

"I have no idea." Now it was her turn to shoot John an embarrassed glance. "I picked him out of a database at a fertility clinic."

"Oh." John shoved his hands into his pockets.

Silence fell between them. Devon went on admiring New Pacifica, thinking about the work that still needed to be done before the other families arrived, about what they were going to do about the Council monitoring station overhead and the Terrians down here on the planet, and about what would happen when the Council came for Uly.

"You never wanted a husband, then?"

John's question startled her. She turned toward him, but he wasn't looking at her. He was still staring out over the settlement, shoulders hunched.

She laughed. "No, I wanted to do things the... conventional way. You know, meet a guy, fall in love, get married, have children.... But it's hard to be conventional when you're running a company worth billions. The guys I met were either only interested in my money, or didn't like the fact I had to spend time on work, or wanted to tell me how to run things."

John chuckled. "Yeah. I bet that one went down well."

"Hey." She lightly punched him in the arm. "I can take advice. When it's good." He turned and arched his eyebrows at her. "Sometimes."

"Yeah, you can," he admitted. He went on looking at her, his expression softening. She looked back at him, reminding herself that he'd been pretty stubborn too in the early days. But they'd learned to rub along, and she knew they wouldn't have survived without his solid pragmatism grounding her idealistic determination. That this whole expedition would have been far harder on her without his friendship—and that, in the end, she'd trusted him enough to leave its future in his hands.

After a moment, he dropped his gaze and, clearing his throat, turned to stare out over the settlement again. Down below, True and Uly were kneeling, heads bent together, peering at something in the grass. He nodded at them. "True needs a mother."

The words hung in the air. Devon looked at him cautiously, putting what he'd just said together with his earlier statement about Uly needing a father. Was he—? Did he—?

"Dammit!" The exclamation bursting from him made her jump. He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "That wasn't how I meant to say this."

She put a hand on his arm. "Say what, John?"

He turned to look down at her, his gaze searching her face. At last, he said quietly, "I need you."

She nodded. She'd known. It hadn't just been trust and admiration that had grown between them during the long trek.

He seemed to take courage from the fact she hadn't backed away. Putting his hands lightly on her shoulders, he said, "All that time you were in cold sleep, I missed you. Not just because it would have been nice to have someone else in charge now and then, but because I missed talking with you and seeing you and—" He chuckled. "—butting heads with you. And I kept kicking myself for not having told you how I felt before... before it might be too late. I don't want your money, Devon, and I don't mind that you spend all the hours you have working hard to make this expedition a success." He gave her a wry smile. "I have to confess, I do sometimes want to tell you how to run things. Because I care about you. Very much. And I want you to succeed. I want us to succeed."

Devon put her hands up to his face. "Are you saying you think you're in love with me, John?"

He choked out a laugh. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am."

Things were never going to be easy with this man. Then again, she wasn't an easy woman to be with, either. But being in his arms... that felt right.

She smiled up at him. "Well, that's just as well then," she whispered, drawing his mouth down on to hers. "Since I think I'm in love with you."