(june)

[letitbetrue]

It's not that Demelza doesn't love her husband or that she seriously entertains thoughts of straying, but she's an eye for attractive men, and there are days when one may cross her path that is truly difficult not to look at. Given Ross and his lingering affection for Elizabeth, which Demelza doesn't exactly like, but has perhaps grown to understand, given how lovely Elizabeth truly is, how beautiful and genteel and wonderfully kind, she doesn't think he'd fault her a glance or two.

For that's all it is. A glance.

Yet the problem arises when a glance becomes a distraction and Demelza, now quite visibly and uncomfortably pregnant and nearly into her third trimester, has not the balance or grace she usually possesses. All it takes is a lingering look that lasts perhaps a touch too long -- though she can hardly be blamed, she's never before seen a man with such a thick beard and is imagining what she might have to do in order to convince Ross to grow one -- and she's stumbling her way around a corner she hadn't realized was there. Stumbling straight into someone she's never met before.

"Judas God," she curses, reaching for his arms to steady herself. It wouldn't do to fall all over herself with the baby having grown so much in recent weeks.

"I'm that sorry, sir, I weren't-" But her words trail off abruptly when she glances up, finding she's wandered directly into another terribly handsome man.

Comments

[to_survive]

He can imagine that sort of life, but only just barely; living in and around the drop ship on the ground was much the same, though the family they'd created kept being torn apart with every new challenge they had to face. At least he hasn't lost Clarke or Raven here, and for that he's grateful.

"Bellamy," he responds, tone apologetic as he realizes he's been speaking to a stranger without introducing himself either. "Where are you from?" he asks, curious about her accent. It's not one that had survived easily on the Ark; they'd only heard such strong accents in old videos watched while in school.

[letitbetrue]

Bellamy. She's never heard a name quite like that at all and she turns it over thoughtfully in her mind before giving him a shy smile. "I'm from Cornwall," she tells him. "Tis in England. And I'm from a very different time than this one."

Most people can tell just by looking at her that she isn't a modern woman. The dresses here are different, as are the undergarments, but while Demelza has made the shift toward lace camisoles and more practical undergarments, she's stayed within her comfort zone when it comes to dresses. Pants are appealing to her, but she isn't sure she can wear them. Not yet.

[to_survive]

"So am I," Bellamy says, though with the way Demelza is dressed and with the way she speaks, he suspects she's from a much more distant time. "From a different time than this one, not from England. Obviously."

[letitbetrue]

"No, you certainly don't speak as we do in England," she agrees cheerfully enough, but she likes his accent. She likes all the accents she hears in Darrow, likes noticing how different they are, wondering where they all come from.

"What year was it for you?" she asks curiously. "Twas 1789 for me, so much further from this time than most people." But she's adjusted fairly well, she thinks, and she does enjoy everything Darrow offers her.

[to_survive]

"Oh, you weren't kidding about a different time," he says, blinking. It's hard to even picture that sort of time in anything other than a generalization; they hadn't focused on much in history classes, and Bellamy's interest tended to lean toward ancient history anyway.

"I'm in the other direction. It was 2149."

[letitbetrue]

"Are 'ee from space?" she asks eagerly. "I'm sorry, tis only just that all other people I've met from such times have lived in space."

And space is fascinating to Demelza, the sort of world she can only ever imagine, having absolutely no context for what people have described to her. The books in the library help, but there's really only so much one can learn in that situation without having been there themselves.

"I'd so love to see it," she says. "But I know it ent possible."