Glancing around the room, Tamara was pleased everyone enjoyed the meal since it was a special occasion…their first wedding anniversary. They would have wished to have Andy and Rad attend the dinner too. Unfortunately, being so far away and with family responsibilities, it was impossible for them to venture off the planet. Though Paula had promised that the next long leave she had, they would go back to Amazon Seven and visit with their old friends…and enemies.

Selina Ralph had spoken with her only two days ago about how well things were going and if she ever wanted to return, there was a place on the council for her. The conversation had naturally progressed to their respective partners. It was clear that Selina cared for Sasha Meredith, although it didn’t come across as quite the big love match that she and Paula shared. Still, from the conversation, it appeared that they were happy. What did it matter, the depth of one’s love? Then again…who am I to judge?

Pulled out of her thoughts, she heard the rumble of voices and her eyes naturally strayed to her wife’s. How wonderful her love appeared…confident and relaxed. Sometimes she tried to pinch herself asking the question…is she really mine, all mine? The answer was always the same… yes, all yours.

“How about we go over Christine and Madison’s encounter?” Rose volunteered. After all, that was the topic of conversation that had been fixed for the evening.

“Yep, good idea sis. Who wants to start?” Paula winked at her kid sister. They had never been close but these days, when schedules allowed, they met up more often.

“I guess I will. I’ve read Mom’s journals and Christi allowed me to read some of Madison’s and her great grandmother Madeline’s also. Did you know that…”

Laughing, Paula wagged a finger at her sister, “let’s stick to the main characters, shall we Rose or we might bore the rest of the guests.”

“Are you sure you want to go over old ground? It was a painful time.” Ben Shaw remarked quietly from his comfortable position in a large worn leather armchair.

Paula quirked an eyebrow in Ben’s direction, she saw the hesitation in his demeanour. He, of all people, knew the two women intimately. More so than anyone else in the room except, perhaps one…and she had been rather young at the time. “Mom was sick Ben, we know that. It isn’t like we are opening a can of worms here. We’re doing a little harmless speculation.”

Rose smiled slowly at her sister’s response; she was becoming quite the diplomat. Clearly influenced by her exploits on Amazon Seven and meeting the woman who was to change her life in so many ways. She was getting to be a very nice person to know. “Yeah Ben, Paula’s right, Mom was sick, we read about it in her journals. She was frank about her time in the asylum.”

“Well, frank is a good word to use when you talk about Christine. She was certainly that, technically insane but frank. If you ask me, totally uncontrollable until she met Madison Smith. For reasons only they will know…it sure tamed the savage beast that threatened to destroy Christine. At one time, Christine said Maddy was the person she had been looking for and the only one who could save her. Towards the end of her time with us, she had me convinced.”

“What was Madison Smith like?” Tamara asked her father. She felt drawn to the story. It rang so familiar to her, calling out to her heart just as Paula had.

“Ah, the wonderful Maddy. She was a different character altogether…caring and totally committed to

Christine from the first day she met her. I don’t know if Maddy was searching for something in her life, maybe Christi can fill in those gaps.

Whatever it was, she appeared to find it in Christine. Maddy was charismatic and had a strength of character that drew you to her immediately.”

Tamara listened intently to her father’s narration. If she didn’t know better, she’d say her dad had had a crush on the woman. Had he? “Did you ask her out dad?”

Ben Shaw looked at his daughter seriously, “Yes, yes I did but she declined my offer…thankfully.”

Paula lifted her eyebrows at the comment, “Why thankfully?”

At the question, he winked at Paula, “Made Kay jealous enough to speak to me on a personal level. I have much to thank them for, believe me.”

“So have I.” Paula’s softly spoken words were heartfelt as she concentrated her gaze on her love.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t be so dense dear. Paula means that if they hadn’t met and married, Tammy wouldn’t be here now, would she?” Nancy Jones smiled at her husband. For an intelligent man, he sometimes had to be led right to x marks the spot.

“Good question. Didn’t you say they loved each other? Why didn’t they get together at the end? No offence to your father Rose, Paula.”

“None taken. Dad didn’t arrive on the scene until later. Maddy was killed in a tragic accident…” Rose didn’t continue as she saw Tamara clasp her father’s hand in understanding.

“How about we take a break and have a drink. Who wants what?”

An hour later, the tension over the accident, which had claimed Maddy as well as Kay Shaw, Ben’s wife and Tamara’s mother, had eased.

“What I want to know is…how did you two connect with the alien life on Amazon Seven?” It had been a question burning in Ray Jones’ mind for some time and now was as good a time as any to ask it.

Paula looked toward Tamara. It had been her wife, after all, who had been overtaken by the aliens not her. At least, not that she knew of. Though, after her adventures on Amazon Seven, several of her colleagues wondered about the dramatic change in her.

“Actually, it was quite an experience Ray…you should try it sometime.” The off hand comment made the rest of the room laugh, many of them seeing the irony of the situation.

“I think the aliens left me a gift,” quietly spoken words silenced the laughter as all eyes trained on Tamara, none more so than Paula’s. Her wife hadn’t mentioned a ‘gift’ before, had she?

“Gift? Please do tell Tammy. Paula, have you been holding out on your sister?”

“Me? Oh come on, when do I…no scratch that, I always did,” Paula recanted holding Tamara closer to her. How she loved this woman.

“I can connect to Paula and feel things that she feels…no matter where she is.”

“Does this mean you can read my mind and know what I’m doing every single minute of the day?” Smiling indulgently into her lover’s eyes. So that’s how she knew when I had a hard day at work and was grouchy.

“You wish. Maybe then you wouldn’t have to keep recruiting new secretaries regularly.”

“Now I wonder why that is?” Ray grinned as he felt the full force of Paula’s glare.

“Give it a rest Ray, I know you go through secretaries at a fair pace as well.”

“Tammy, do you think the aliens still have a direct link with you?” Nancy asked to diffuse the ribbing between the two friends. Ray always said it could and often did become a competitive “pilot thing”.

Settling into the muscled warmth of the arms that held her protectively, she smiled slowly. “Oh, I think if they want to talk to us again, I’m the first one they’ll call…”

“Going back to Christine and Madison’s story for the moment. At the end of the day, what does all this prove with regard to us and any connection with them other than the blood tie?”

There was shuffling around the room yet no one answered immediately.

“Anyone want to hazard a guess?” Rose smiled. She loved her sister-in-law…however it had been a shock when Paula had said she was getting married. Not because it was to a woman but because she was making a personal commitment, so not like her sister! “I’d say that if they had been allowed more time, they would have ended up together…just as you and Tammy.”

“They were never apart.” Ben Shaw stated enigmatically as he picked up his whisky, draining it and passing it over to Ray Jones to do the refilling honours.

“Maybe they were potential lovers and it was passed to you two in the genes.” Christi added as she looked at her watch. She had a meeting early tomorrow and it was almost time for her to leave.

“I think it is a wonderful yet tragic romance, don’t you agree Ray?”

“Sure, sure anything you say darling.” Silently thanking his wife for allowing him to tag onto her conclusion. He really didn’t have a clue.

“Guess its what you and Tamara think, at the end of the day, that matters.”

Paula cleared her voice. Damn, she knew they would say that and she really didn’t know. There were so many parallels and yet differences too, to their situation. At the end of the day, what did it matter? She had everything she needed right here in her arms. “I think they cared about each other…end of story.”

At the rather off handed comment, Tamara looked up at her wife and grinned. “You do huh, well, I think differently.”

“You do, do you? Well, by all means Doctor Shaw, enlighten us. We love a good diagnosis.”

“They were old souls who found each other for a brief time and were unfortunate in that events prevented them from spending the rest of their natural lives together. Actually, they were thwarted by life…the saving of a life. However, it was to hold good for them in the next life.”

All eyes concentrated on Tamara as she spoke. Anyone would think she knew what had happened to Christine and Madison and their next resurrection.

“My life.” It was a solemn observation and spoken in a whisper… as if thinking aloud. This time, surprised heads turned in the opposite direction.

“Yes Christi, your life. How proud they would be to know what you have achieved and how much you are needed in this world. Or should I say worlds now, as the colonies are growing all the time.”

“You think they would be proud of me?” For once Christi Smith-Berlinger sounded hesitant and unsure. A part of Christi thinking Tamara talked nonsense, yet another part of her hoped it was true. When she had learned the details later in life about the accident that had almost claimed her life, she had always felt guilty. Knowing that the hand of fate had given her a future but robbed her aunt and Christine of one together.

“Yes I do, trust me.” The words etched into Christi. She felt a sense of acceptance and for the first time since her family had all been killed when the Earth had literally exploded from within, let go of her guilt.

“Thank you Tamara, I do trust you. Now unfortunately, I need to go. I have a business appointment early in the morning.”

“Okay. Christi, don’t forget the next time we all hook up, when Paula comes back from her next mission, it’s a treasure hunt! You know we love them.”

A groan went round the room. Yeah they did and the two hostesses were the most competitive too. Always trying to out do the other. The others often wondered if they didn’t have a room full of ‘treasure’. There was also a bet between the two to see who could gain the most treasures.

Half an hour later everyone had gone, leaving Paula and Tamara to ponder the interesting conversations that had transpired this evening. Definitely it was food for thought.;

Putting away the dishes and leftover food, they didn’t speak. Each was flooded with their own thoughts. When everything was cleared away, Tamara closed in on Paula and placed her arms around the taller woman. “I love you Paula, did you know that?”

“Everyday in every way Tamara, don’t you know that?” They smiled into each other’s eyes before passion made itself known.

Later, lying on a sofa with Tamara in her arms, Paula softly whispered to her, “do you think we are the same soul mates?”

“Are you going to drag me off to see a shrink if I say I do?”

Grinning at the words, Paula kissed her lips tenderly, “nope, the only place you will be dragged off to tonight my love, is our bed.”

“In that case…”

“In that case?”

Tamara closed her eyes briefly before she spoke, not wanting to have her words misinterpreted. “We are old souls Paula. We have lived many lives together…as lovers, friends and sometimes just brief acquaintances. Through it all, we have never been truly together and at peace. There have always been obstacles to our love. Now I actually think we are being given the chance to live, love and be together for the rest of this natural life and we must make the most of it.”

Paula digested the statement directing a puzzled look at Tamara. “What do you mean, this natural life?”

“Darling, this life. That’s what I meant. This life and who knows…if we make the right choices this time around, we might get together again in the next. So behave with those secretaries, okay?”

Staring seriously at her love, Paula’s expression turned pensive. “You think that could jeopardise our being together again?”

Seeing the forlorn look on Paula’s face, Tamara reached up and kissed her soundly. “No darling! You and I will be together again, that much I know with every fibre of my being.” She watched a very serious expression cross Paula’s face, which inevitably meant that another question wasn’t far away. It wasn’t, coming right on cue.

“Actually, my original question was…do you think that we are the souls of Christine and Madison reborn?”

“Do you?”

“I guess I’d like to think that they got their happy ending after all. Kind of dumb, don’t you think?”
Her cheeks went red as she realised how romantically foolish she sounded. Definitely not like her at all! The truth was, she really did feel that way. The more she learned about the two of them the more she felt the affinity. Though some would say it was because Christine was her mother and obviously there would be an attachment, though she didn’t think that was the reason. Sometimes she looked at Tamara and as if she had a mirror, she could see everything clearly, another weird feeling. Guess her wife wasn’t the only one with strange notions and hers weren’t influenced by aliens, at least she didn’t think so.

“That is one of the most touching things you could ever say love. I also think you could be right.” Tamara was the only one who ever saw Paula Clayton’s true soul lay bare and this was as raw as it came.

“We’ll never know for sure, will we? However, if we think it is, that’s a step forward for them, don’t you think? After all, look at us…we’re together and plan to be forever, right?”

“Absolutely my love, we are and forever is not long enough.” Kneeling to place a tender kiss on her wife’s inviting lips, she prepared herself for her grand finale.

“You know, I said the aliens gave me a gift…umm, they actually gave me two.”

“Two? Oh no! Has it something to do with me?” Grinning as she wondered what else her partner could possibly experience with her.

A tender expression filled Tamara’s features as she stared unwaveringly at Paula, whose features became intrigued as a wry smile crossed her lips. “Are you gonna tell me or do I guess?”

“I don’t really know how. Now that I’ve started its…well it’s very special.”

“My love, anything to do with you is special. From the tips of your wonderful sensual ears to those dextrous sexy toes of yours.”

Paula was rewarded with a smile that lit up her wife’s features. How barren her life would have been had this woman never crossed her path. “You’re a big flatterer.”

“Yep, that’s me but you love it.”

Laughing softly, Tamara nodded her head, “yeah I do, as I love you.”

“Okay, now that we have that small point cleared up…give. What’s the special gift?”

“I’m pregnant.”

The silence that greeted the comment echoed eerily in the room.

Paula couldn’t believe what she’d heard. Her wife was …PREGNANT! How was that possible? Oh yeah, she knew the basic biology but they had never discussed it…ever! Who was the father…an alien? Why hadn’t Tamara talked to her about it? What the hell!

“You’re not happy are you Paula? Okay, I know it’s a shock. We haven’t talked about it but it’s going to be…great.” Her words, even to her own ears, were rambling on as if she were a nervous teenager on her first serious date.

Paula finally pulled herself out of the numerous questions that invaded her mind. She realised that the only important thing that mattered was Tamara, who was trembling in her arms and babbling almost incoherently…so not like her and the baby’s health. She could have severely disciplined herself for allowing her own selfish and stupid assumptions to override the most important thing in her life, Tamara’s happiness.

“I love you Tamara. How could I be anything else but happy? Are you?”

A brilliant and relieved smile crossed her face as she answered. Paula, as always, came to her rescue in every way possible. “Ecstatic! I’m having OUR child! What a miracle that is and we can thank our alien friends for such a marvellous gift. Maybe it was their way to atone for the deaths of so many of our colonists.”

Paula scrunched up her eyes as her mind tried to handle what Tamara was trying to tell her. There wasn’t a third party involved here at all…she was the father!

Suddenly and without warning, she jumped off the sofa and holding Tamara gently in her arms, swung her lovingly around the room. The next best description would be of a kid excited at the fun fair.

“I love you Tamara, I love you! I love the baby we’ve made together and I love every blasted one of those aliens. God bless them!”

Tamara now knew Paula was happy. She was like a child in a candy shop able to have any treat she wanted. “I love you darling. In this life and the rest, yes I do and our baby is going to be the icing on the cake.”

For several moments they touched foreheads and drank in the wonderful situation and what it would mean to them in the future. “I’ll have to give up wandering the galaxy too. I can’t have a child of mine not knowing who I am.”

Hearing the words, Tamara’s heart soared. Her “Warrior” constantly amazed her. She knew Paula had finally accepted her new family responsibilities unconditionally. Although the wistful tone indicated she would miss her old lifestyle. “I think we can work on the wandering, don’t you? Maybe the odd trip where your special skills are needed the most?”

“You are one special woman, have I ever told you that?”

Chuckling at the smile that beamed from her partner, she knew they would compromise over the trips and everything would work out…she was certain. “Yeah but it's good for a girl’s ego.”

“Tamara, how do you know it was the alien influence?” Paula had to ask, although, at this moment in time, she didn’t care if it was by artificial means. A baby was a marvellous addition to their family unit.

An expression of wonder crossed her face before she answered, “I just know. Just as I know when you are away on your trips, I can feel your emotions and in extreme situations can see what you see.” The words were spoken with a mixture of acceptance and pain.

“Tell me, please?”

Gulping back the tears that threatened to fall, she recalled one such occasion.

“You were trying to get the last of the colonists off the planet before it incinerated them. I saw you at the helm of a ship and you were so focused and determined that no one would be left behind. You couldn’t save them all though, could you Paula? Some perished…you ran out of time. I could feel how you cried inside for them and watched on your monitor the carnage, as they burned to death in the planet's molten core. I wanted to hold you and say you couldn’t have saved them, no one could…it was too late. They hadn’t wanted to leave, giving you little option but to watch them die.”

Paula felt the sting of tears as she recalled the episode clearly. It had been her last ditch attempt at trying to evacuate the last ten families from the planet but they hadn’t wanted to go. They had said they would trust in God and He would see them delivered from the torment of the planet surface. Foster, the head of the family clan had been over optimistic and she had told him as much. However, he refused to allow his family to leave. “I tried Tamara, I really tried to get him to change his mind. Do you know there were over twenty children among those families and the stupid son of a bitch let them die needlessly!"

“I know baby, I know. It nearly cost you your life too, remember?” Tamara asked holding onto Paula as if she was about to disappear from her grasp. That had been the worse moment of her life. Seeing a fireball heading for Paula’s ship and there seeming no escape for the special pilot. Whispering into the air, “Remain focused on your task, Captain Clayton.”

Now wasn’t that the truth. Foster had almost sealed her fate to a fiery grave if it hadn’t been for a voice in her head telling her to focus and come home. She had taken her eye off the ball as she saw those poor wretches die a horrible death. Coming to her senses, she realised that she was within a hairsbreadth of death too.

Manoeuvring with dexterity and virtually super human reflexes she didn’t know she possessed, the fireball only clipped the port side allowing the ship to limp to the next spaceport and a safe passage home.

Her reluctance to discuss her trip with anyone, except for a de-briefing session, had always been understood. Anyway, she had more pressing and highly enjoyable prospects to look forward too…Tamara!

“It was your voice, wasn’t it? I never told anyone that episode, not even you. Did you warn me telepathically?”

“Remain focused on your task, Captain Clayton.” She said the words aloud as her tears dripped profusely from her closed eyelids. How things could have been so different if they hadn’t had the connection.

Paula hugged the smaller woman to her as tightly as she dared without hurting her. “I don’t understand how you can communicate with me. If it’s the alien influence or your own honed senses…I owe you my life darling, thank you.”

Tamara was humbled at the declaration. Paula would probably never acknowledge that she herself was part of the conduit of their connection. Maybe it wasn’t as defined in her wife. However, it was there nonetheless. She also didn’t think that it was the aliens who had provided this gift, enhanced it perhaps but it had always been there.

“You’re more than welcome love and anyway, it was a selfish wish on my part. I wanted you back, safe in my arms again."

“Looks like that will never be a problem Doctor Shaw and who knows, our kid might read both our minds.”

Laughter replaced tears and fears of the old memory as they settled once more onto the sofa. Sighs of complete satisfaction and happiness coming from both of them.

“I pledge a promise to love you until the end of time Tamara.”

“That’s one promise I’m going to hold you to and one I know you and I will keep for eternity Paula.”
Snuggling into each other, they lost themselves in the wonder of what it meant to be loved and cherished. Knowing in their hearts that this was meant to be and would be always!

A promise of the heart, binding the soul!