Chapter 17 - A Deal Is Made.

"So, what's your name anyways?" I asked, watching her wolf down a triple decker cheeseburger. It was like watching a chameleon eat a cricket. Blink, and it's gone.

She looked at me for a second. "If I tell you, you better never call me by it. I don't like it."

"Fair enough, I will call you whatever you want me to." I said as earnestly as I could. Something told me that this was important to her.

"My name's Beatrice, Beatrice Noughty, but I really hate it. People around here just call me Bee."

"Bee it is then."

"Umm but, what did you call me, just before we came in here?"

"Oh, umm... Spitfire? Sorry, it's just..."

"No... It's alright... I, kinda like that... Spitfire..."

"Ok, it's settled. Bee, or Spitfire when it suits. My name's Morgan. Morgan Black."

Bee grinned. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Morgan Black."

I gave her a mock glare. "Just Morgan will be fine. Anyways, where are your parents?"

The grin faded from her face. "My daddy's dead. He died about four years ago. He was an engineer here on the station. A bunch of them were working on some kind of secret project for the government. Something went wrong, and there was an explosion." Bee fiddled with the straw in her super, extra large, chocolate shake. "My mom didn't handle it well. She started drinking, and staying out all night. Finally, about three years ago, she didn't come home at all. When I tried to find her, someone said they saw her get on a cruise liner, with some guy. I never heard from her after that."

"Wow, that's pretty rough. I'm sorry Bee."

"It's ok, I can look after myself. Besides, I'm almost seventeen now anyways." SLURRRRP! There went the shake.

Sevent..? "You're sixteen..?! You said you were almost eighteen, and that you could prove it even!" Sixteen... And with that figure! This girl was going to be pure, unfiltered, bloody mayhem in a couple years.

"Sorry?" She gave me an evil little smirk and a wink.

Couple of years my ass... But I couldn't help but like her. Abandoned at thirteen, and managed to survive all by herself. And she didn't take gruff from anybody. Yep, I had to admire the girl. "So where do you live, Bee?"

The smirk disappeared and a thin film of ice covered her pale grey eyes. "Why? If you think we are "going back to my place"..." she said, while making finger quotes in the air.

Life for this cute little blossoming girl obviously hadn't been all that easy the past couple years. "Hang on there Miss Spitfire! All I meant was, with your parents gone and all, where do you live, where do you sleep?"

A long second passed, and then the ice melted just as quickly as it formed. "Oh, I make do." she said. "Sometimes, the pilots let me stay on their ships if I am working on them, or while they go for a little R&R in the station. And there's other places I can crash when I need to."

I got the picture. "I see. Well Bee, are you still interested in fixing Aria?" Her eyes lit up!

"You bet! You'll see, I'm ten times better than those fancy pants engineers. My daddy used to let me help him when he worked on stuff. He and I used to build and fix stuff all the time. He was really smart, and he taught me everything he knew!" The last sentence was spoken around a huge yawn.

I laughed. "Okay then, how about this, you can stay in the crew quarters for as long as I am in the station. You'll have the whole place to yourself, as I don't have any other crew, except for Aria. Tomorrow, we'll talk about getting parts, and how much you're gonna charge me."

"Aw heck, you bought me dinner, you're giving me a place to sleep. You pay for parts, and breakfast too, and I will do it for two credits!" Her eyelids were starting to droop. A full belly, and thoughts of a safe place to sleep were taking their toll on the poor kid.

"Deal!" I held out my hand,and without hesitation, she grabbed it and we shook. For such a little thing, she had a hell of a grip! "Let's go, I want you to meet Aria!"