Conversations 2

This is the next in the conversations series. Thanks to Windjammers for letting me borrow her original characters from What's Taken for Granted, and for being my awesome beta! Thanks so much!

CP&CP&CP

Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase looked again at her chrono. It was mid-morning. Over the course of the last several hours, she had alternated between sitting in the only chair in the room and pacing.

The other resident of the room remained completely unaware of her activity. He had been knocked out during a battle with Soaron and had yet to regain consciousness.

She could hear the voices of other medical personnel as they went about their duties outside the half-open door. Doctors came and went into the rooms around them. It had been a little bit of a surprise to find the newly redesigned medward when they had arrived at the Passages late the previous evening. The administrators at the Passages had talked for years about redesigning various parts to better meet the needs of the full time residents as well as those that visit. However with the war being waged it had been extremely difficult getting the necessary supplies and manpower to do the work. The previous Medical Pavilion had gotten the job done, but patients were often tripping over each other and sometimes two or three would have to share a space when it was overly crowded. The storage for medical supplies had been sorrowly lacking. Precious minutes were sometimes lost by supplies and equipment that were stored farther than they should be and maneuvering them back through the crowded area was always a trial. The first phase had included private rooms for recovering patients. Thanks to the talents of some brilliant geologists and demolitions experts, new sections were being blasted out for the use of all who sought refuge there.

They had all been pleasantly surprised to see the first phase of the redesign was complete. The Power Team was at the Passages quite frequently; however, they had not utilized the Passages medical services on a regular basis since they had acquired a live in doctor so to speak.

Jennifer again looked at her chrono. Cheryl had said he was banged up but otherwise fine and not to worry. Cheryl Grissom, the team's doctor and Matt's wife, had been in a few hours before and had assured Jennifer that Jon would be fine. They had had an grueling mission schedule over the last two weeks. Everyone was exhausted. Jon had gone without sleep as he pored over Intel reports until the wee hours every morning, and now, being injured, he was more deeply unconscious than he would have been otherwise. Both mind and body needed the rest. They all did. Jennifer certainly felt the fatigue of the last few weeks, but she did not want to go to sleep until he woke up.

She reached over and took his hand in hers, hoping that maybe the contact would help him to wake up. They had been planning to sneak off for a few hours by themselves later that day. They had planned to sneak off for a few hours by themselves the next time they came to the Passages. It occurred to her that those plans might have to be altered a bit. Jon certainly wouldn't be going anywhere other than their bed when Cheryl decided it was safe to move both him and Matt back to their base. Matt was protecting a small group of settlers who had become separated from a larger group they were escorting when a biomech lobbed a grenade in his direction. The explosion threw him backwards into a trench. Tank and Scout had come to his rescue and moved the settlers to a safe location and Matt back to the jumpship.

Jennifer's thoughts turned back to the man in the bed before her. She and Jon were in the middle of another of their long conversations. The running joke with the team was that Jon and Jennifer could take months to have one conversation while normal people could do so in one afternoon. Jennifer always joked back that they weren't normal, but normal was boring anyway.

This particular conversation began when Matt and Cheryl had announced they were getting married last year. Over the years, Jennifer had attended several weddings with the others. After the first one, she had gone to Mentor with several questions about weddings and marriage in general. Mentor's explanation had helped her understand the defintion of what marriage was. Even having attended several other weddings, she hadn't been personally involved with one until Matt and Cheryl got married. Her participation in their wedding had given her a clearer understanding of marriage and weddings that Mentor had not been able to explain.

Truth be told, she'd learned more from her conversations with Cheryl about marriage and weddings than she could have from Mentor. She counted Mentor as a friend, but he was still a computerized personality and could really only speak to the facts and not the emotions behind certain human ceremonies. Cheryl had moved in a few months prior to the wedding, and Jennifer had enjoyed getting to know the doctor on a closer level than as just their doctor and the woman Matt was involved with.

Jennifer cursed as yet another bolt stripped on the panel she was trying to remove. The team had located an abandoned military base in what had once been the Canadian Forces Cold Lake Base located near the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. They had been surprised to find several mostly intact RX-402s in the hanger bay. The 402 fighter line had originated in the United States over a century prior and had quickly become the workhorse of the air forces the world over. They were structurally stable and had maneuverability that surprised most people given how heavy they were when fully armed.

Jennifer could barely contain her excitement when they found the planes. It hadn't taken much persuasion to get Jon to allow her to transport the planes back to their base. Jennifer had fitted each of the 402s with docking clamps allowing her to transport them on the jumpship just like they did the XT. She was certain she could piece together at least two working fighters out of the five remaining fighters.

Now her problem was that the fighters had been stored for an unknown time in freezing temperatures. The components of the planes were fighting her every step of the way. Wires had snapped, circuits had popped, and now the bolts were stripping. Jennifer was frustrated.

"You know my father used to say that a lady never swears," a voice said from behind her.

Jennifer chuckled. "Apparently your father used to say a lot of things."

"He did, not all them applicable to the times we find ourselves in, I grant you. How are the patients doing?"

Jennifer stepped back from the panel and turned to face her visitor.

"Stubborn and uncooperative, but then I'm sure you know how that is. What brings you down here, Cheryl? I thought you and Matt were working on some plans for your wedding?"

Cheryl walked down the rest of the staircase and sat down on the stool by the table closest to Jennifer. Cheryl sighed as she replied. "We were. Had a little bit of a disagreement."

Jennifer allowed a small smile to play at her lips as she perused her other tools to continue her work. Cheryl and Matt were known for having some major disagreements over the years. The rest of the team had witnessed a few of them. It wasn't like they fought all the time. They didn't. It was just that when they did have an argument, it was a memorable. And loud.

"This isn't your first argument with him," Jennifer gently reminded her.

The other woman returned her slight smile, "No it's not, and I'm sure it won't be our last. We're really good at arguing. I guess it's a good thing that we're really good at the making up part too, huh?"

"That usually helps," Jennifer agreed. "So what's this one about?"

"He wants me to take his name after we get married."

Jennifer had learned about that custom in her research. Up until the twentieth century it was a given that a woman would take her husband's name when she married. With the social changes during that century, more women began keeping their maiden names even after marriage. The number of women taking their husband's names had fluctuated over the last few centuries. Jennifer was not surprised that Matt would want Cheryl to take his name. Joanna had and she knew that Matt was a bit traditional in those views from various conversations over the years. It was also common knowledge among the team that Jon's mother had taken Stewart Power's name when they married as well. From Matt had told her the custom had returned to popularity around fifty years ago but fell out of practice a bit with the war.

"Is there a reason you don't want to take Matt's name?" Jennifer inquired picking up a drill to drill out the bolt that she'd just stripped. She heard Cheryl sigh again.

"I'm not a young woman any more. If I'd married when I was your age, I probably would have taken my husband's name. The custom was very popular then and when I was younger I thought it was so romantic, but I'm over fifty now. I've been a Grissom for a long time. Although my dad would have had a fit if he knew I wasn't planning on not taking my future husband's name."

"Why's that?" Jennifer asked over her shoulder as she drilled out the bolt.

"My dad was very traditional. Both my parents were. I guess you could say they were a throwback to the 1950's. My mom had several degrees by the time my parents married, but once I came along, she wanted nothing more than to stay at home and take care of me. My dad was more than happy to let her. She used to tell me the happiest day of her life after giving birth to me was when she became Mrs. Marcus Grissom. Even after returning to work my mom always said her greatest achievement was a happy marriage and family. Maybe I'm just being difficult. What do you think?"

Jennifer set the panel down that she'd finally gotten loose. "I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask this, Cheryl."

"Maybe, maybe not, but if it's one thing I've learned about you over the years is that your logical, and I could really use a logical unbiased opinion right now."

Now it was Jennifer's turn to sigh. "I'm not sure I'm unbiased though. I grew up Jennifer Chase, but we all know that I wasn't born with that name. I have no real attachment to my last name, not like you do. It was assigned to me not given to me by my father."

"So if you and Jon get married would you take his last name?"

Jennifer stopped working for a moment considering Cheryl's question. "I don't know. I've never considered it."

"Seriously?" Cheryl scoffed. "Wait, have you and Jon talked about getting married?

"No," she replied simply, as she returned to testing the circuits she'd been working on a few moments before.

"I must say that surprises me," the other woman replied.

"Why?"

"I've known Jon a long time. He's always been a bit old fashioned, so were his parents. I just figured that with as long as you two have been together that the subject would have come up."

"Maybe it will one day. Even if it doesn't it's ok. What we have is more than I ever thought I'd have anyway. Anyway, how is the rest of the planning going?"

"It's going okay. He's still hunting for the metal he wants to use to make our wedding rings."

"You're actually going to wear rings?"

Cheryl laughed. "Yes, I may have issues with taking his name at the moment, but I still plan on wearing a ring."

"Hmm. None of the weddings I've been to in the past involved the exchanging of rings, but then again the traditional metals used to make them are quite rare right now."

"Matt just knows he can find enough gold to have Mentor fabricate some. I'm a little skeptical that he can find gold. I told him I'd be happy with whatever he could find. He even mentioned something about seeing if he can't trade for some rings."

"Sounds like everything is coming together," Jennifer replied.

"It is. I just have one last thing to arrange."

"What's that?"

"I'd like you to stand with me as my maid of honor. You don't have to do anything. Jon is standing with Matt, and I don't have any other real close women friends that I'd consider asking to stand with me."

Jennifer was shocked enough that she actually dropped the tool she was using. Quickly bending down to retrieve it, she turned to face Cheryl.

"You want me to stand with you when you marry Matt? Why?"

"Aside from what I just said, Matt and I talked have talked a lot about it. We're too old have children, but you and Jon have become Matt's kids over the years, and I've gotten quite attached to the two of you as well. Those months you were gone, I felt like I'd lost a daughter and I'd love nothing more than for you to stand with me."

Jennifer felt tears sting her eyes.

"I'd be honored," she choked out trying hard not to cry.

Cheryl stood and hugged Jennifer. "Thank you!"

After a moment Cheryl stepped back, "I'll let you get back to work before we become a blubbering mess."

"All right. I'm sure you and Matt will work this out."

"We always do," Cheryl quipped as she headed for the stairs. "And the making up is the best part of the fight. Keeps things interesting."

A thought struck Jennifer and a sly smile appeared as she asked, "You started the fight on purpose just to make up?"

Cheryl returned her smile. "Haven't you ever done that to Jon?"

"I can honestly say it hasn't occurred to me to do that."

"You should sometime. You don't know what you're missing," Cheryl finished with a wink. "See you at dinner."

Later that night Jon had asked her, 'What would you think if I asked you to marry me?' She had never considered getting married like she told Cheryl. She loved Jon and just assumed they would go on together like that for…well, the rest of their lives. She hadn't really thought much beyond that. The struggle just to survive day to day took up most everyone's time. Thoughts of the future were not something she entertained very often, although Jon had been bringing them up quite frequently lately.

A low moan from the bed grabbed her attention.

"Jon?" she said softly.

CP&CP&CP

Captain Jonathan Power heard voices around him. He felt like he was wading through a thick fog. The throbbing pain in his head pounding to the same rhythm as his heartbeat certainly wasn't helping him find his way out of the fog. In fact, it was making him feel worse. Last thing he remembered, they were on a mission, and he was on his sky bike, and then nothing…

The noise continued, but somewhere in all that racket, there were voices. They were far off. Just indistinct chatter that he could only recognize as voices. Only one voice was close. A soft voice. He recognized it. Jennifer. She was speaking to him.

"Now, listen here Jonathan Power, this is not going to cut it. This makes two missions in a row that we've had to rush you somewhere for treatment. Cheryl is not happy with either you or Matt. You do not need to make this a habit. I don't like sitting here any more than you do when it's me in that bed." Then she leaned down and whispered in his ear, "And besides, we had plans the next time we came to the Passages, and you're ruining them."

He heard her whisper and felt her breath in his ear. "I'm not trying to ruin anything," he shared groggily, his voice scratchy. He forced his eyes open, and he could just make out the fuzzy gray figure sitting beside him. He knew that figure well. It was Jennifer.

"Hey," she greeted him, smiling, and running her free hand through his hair. The other hand was already tangled with one of his.

"What happened?" he asked, closing his eyes to the lights around him. They were making his head pound worse. Jennifer saw that the lights were bothering him and immediately turned down the lights.

"Thanks. So what happened? Did we complete the mission?"

"Yeah, we got everyone out."

"So why am I here?"

"Well, Soaron showed up AGAIN, and Hawk was already out of commission from being to close to an explosion." Seeing his worried expression, she quickly added, "He's fine. He's fine, I promise. Cheryl said he's not too banged up. A few bruised ribs like you. He's resting in a room down the hallway. Cheryl, Scout, and Tank are with him. She's been going back and forth checking on the two of you. Anyway, you went up on one of the bikes to distract Soaron to give us more time. We were pulling out when he got in a lucky shot and you crashed, but not before Tank got him."

"I took a bike up? Why didn't I take the XT?"

"Soaron shot at us. Blew out the circuits that released the docking clamps for the XT. Until I fix those, the XT isn't going anywhere. You don't remember?"

"No. The bike?"

"My bike is salvageable, no thanks to the poor flying skills of this captain I keep loaning it to," she quipped.

He chuckled at that. She was protective about the vehicles. The team had learned early on that they shouldn't so much as sneeze around them. Over the course of their relationship though, Jon had learned that her protectiveness didn't stop at the vehicles. He found that she was the same way about her personal items. At the top of that list were her books, her tools , and the souvenirs she'd acquired over the years. He and the others always figured it had something do with not having any personal possessions when she was growing up.

"Oh, I shouldn't do that. Laughing hurts," he said, wincing as pain shot through his chest.

"Well, you do have a concussion which probably explains why you don't remember about the XT and a couple of bruised ribs. And a huge gash in your left leg just for good measure."

"Oh, so now it matches the right one from when we crashed one of the bikes a couple of years ago?"

"We crashed the bikes? I wasn't responsible for that one, remember, co-pilot? Who was supposed to be watching for biodreads? Hmm?" she asked with a barely suppressed grin.

"Yeah, well, I was a little distracted at the time," he retorted, smiling weakly.

She laughed. "Distracted? By what?"

"This cute pilot that I was sitting behind," he returned, enjoying a moment to flirt with the woman he loved.

"You sat behind me on the bikes plenty of times before. What was so different about that time?"

He smiled a little sheepishly. "Those other times were before I fell in love with you. Add that to how we have to ride those things, and you can see why I was a bit oblivious to the approaching biodread."

She let a small wicked smile play at her lips. "No, I don't think I do."

He smiled back, and tried not to laugh. "Hmm…well, seeing as I had to have my arms around your waist to keep us balanced, it was a bit unnerving. I didn't know how you felt yet and I certainly didn't want to make you uncomfortable or embarrass myself."

"Uh huh…"

"You can't expect me not to be distracted a bit by the woman I'm in love with," he replied lifting her hand slowly to kiss it.

"As sweet as that sounds, it's no excuse for not seeing the biodread targeting us," she bantered right back.

"Do I need to remind you of what almost happened the last time you got sidetracked in the jumpship?" he returned with a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"That's not fair. You were going on and on about how long you'd been gone and needed a hello kiss. It's not my fault you cornered me by the console. And it really wasn't my fault when you pushed me back against the thruster handles and made the ship move a little. I think we scared the hell out of Tank and Scout that time. It's not every day you're welding a plate on the jumpship and it suddenly moves," Jennifer joked back. She didn't really care what other embarrassing moments he could have brought up; she was just glad that he was there to do so. Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice from the door.

"Is this what the phrase 'you sound like a married couple' means, Murphy?" a voice interrupted.

They turned to see Erin Sanders and Paul Murphy standing in the doorway. Paul Murphy led a resistance cell located in the Mid-Atlantic region. Erin was a former Dread Youth cadet. She and Jennifer had crossed paths a few years ago during an epidemic when Jennifer had sneaked into Medlab One to retrieve the vaccine needed to stop the spreading illness. Erin was one of the Dread Youth guarding the facility and had tried to stop Jennifer from completing her mission. During their initial fight, Erin had been wounded. Despite being on a tight schedule, Jennifer had taken the time to treat Erin's injury and planted the first seed of doubt about Dread and the Machine Empire. Several months later during a Resistance attack on Volcania, she escaped the fortress. She'd later found her way to Murphy's team. They took her in, trading repair work for food. She eventually joined them.

"Yup, it's a perfect example," Murphy replied, walking further into the room. "We were picking up our supplies and heard your team was here and a few of you were hurt. Thought we'd check in on ya before we took off."

Jon stuck his hand out for Murphy to shake. "We're gonna be okay. Just another day at the office. Where's the rest of your team?" Jon inquired.

"Reilly's off somewhere with his lady friend, and the others are visiting the rest of your team," Murphy informed them. "I heard the words 'poker game' get mentioned. We may not see them again for hours. They want to win back what Scout won from them last time."

Jon tried not to chuckle, "They do love their poker games."

Murphy nodded his agreement. "That they do, but I got the impression that your doctor does not want Matt sitting up yet. He was trying to sweet talk her into raising his bed up a bit more than she wants it when we left them."

"Cheryl is a bit overprotective of Matt when he's injured," Jennifer put in.

"We heard they got married a while back," Murphy stated.

"They did," Jennifer responded. "And Scout and Tank are complaining that they're still acting like newlyweds. They didn't realize Matt was such a romantic but they know it now since all of our quarters are in the same section. It's kind of hard not to hear what's going on."

"We should all be so lucky," Murphy replied.

Jon smiled a bit looking directly at Jennifer. "Agreed."

Jennifer stood and said to Jon, "I need some coffee. I'll be back in a little while." She turned to Murphy and asked, "Think you can keep him company?"

"Certainly."

Turning to Jon, she leaned down and kissed him gently. "I won't be long. Behave yourself."

Public displays of affection were something a little new for Jennifer. It had taken her a long time to get used to even holding Jon's hand in front of the rest of her team, but she was making progress.

Both Murphy and Erin looked away uncomfortably, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Jon and Jennifer.

Jon smiled at her as replied, "Yes, dear."

Jennifer couldn't help but notice Erin's body language. Erin looked a little tense. Something was bothering her young friend. "Erin, care to join me? I've been sitting here for hours. A walk and some coffee sound good about now."

"Yes, I'd love to," Erin replied.

CP&CP&CP

The two women left and made their way out of the busy Medical Pavilion and headed towards the commissary area. It was a little bit of a walk but not too far. It was just enough to let Jennifer stretch her legs.

"They certainly have been hard at work on the medward," Jennifer shared.

"Yes. We were here a month ago and they were almost finished with this section. I'm told that new surgical bays and a pediatric center are next," Erin returned.

"I heard the same thing. So what have you and your team been up to lately?"

"The usual as Ford calls it. Missions on a daily basis. We've been hitting pretty hard at the Dread installations in our region. We've been busy. Elliot and Tempers appeared very excited to realize we needed to make a trip here."

"So just a supply run today?"

"Yeah, mostly. Ford said we needed a break and Murphy agreed with him. Since Reilly's has been talking about visiting Rebecca, Murphy said we'd probably be here most of the day," Erin replied.

"Who's Rebecca?"

"She works down in the computer labs. Reilly's been visiting her whenever we're here. I guess he likes her."

"Sounds like it," Jennifer agreed.

"How were Captain Power and Hawk hurt?"

"Soaron, biomechs, big fight, the usual. They'll be okay. How are things going with your team?"

"Things are better. They've put in a lot of effort to try to understand the way we were raised. I still don't think they get it, but they're trying," the younger woman replied.

"They probably never will. It's as I said last year, they can't know what it's like. The way we were raised is so far from how we should have been."

"It's definitely been a learning process." Erin replied, sounding just a bit irritated.

"You sound just a little frustrated."

"I guess I am. I'm used to learning things at a much faster pace. I always had excellent marks in all my classes, but out here…"she trailed off, sighing. "It's just harder."

Jennifer watched her young friend with sympathy. "Maybe I can help? What's something that's been bothering you?"

"I still don't get some of their humor, and then there are all the references to movies and something called 'television' from a long time ago. Ford and Tempers are completely obsessed with some game called 'football'. They spend hours talking about scores and stats of various players. They try to explain the game to me but I just don't understand the fascination with a sport that is no longer played."

Jennifer laughed a bit. "Matt and Jon have a preoccupation with baseball. It's another sport that was played before the wars. When I first joined the team, I'd sit for hours repairing equipment listening to Matt and Jon talk about scores, statistics, or which team was the best. I didn't really see the point in the sport at the time, but as Jon said, it's good to have a hobby."

Erin gave her a quizzical look. "A hobby?"

"Something you do just because you enjoy doing it. Sports are a hobby."

"Oh! Like reading! I read whatever I can find."

"Exactly. I enjoy reading too, but I've found a few games over the years that are worth learning."

"Like what?" Erin asked curiously.

"Jon and I like to play chess. As a team, we play poker when we have an evening off."

"Tempers taught me how to play checkers a while back. It's fun, although Tempers has been complaining that it's just not right that the student can now outplay the teacher.

Jennifer laughed. "Jon said the same thing after teaching me to play chess."

Erin couldn't help but laugh a bit at that revelation.

"So over all, are things better?"

Erin nodded. "Yeah, they are. Ford says we still have a long way to go, but we'll get there. They haven't given up, and I haven't either."

"I'm glad. It'll all be worth it. Trust me. It's been a long road for me too, but I wouldn't change anything."

"Me either. I've learned so much, and my team has been working so hard to help but lately, I get the feeling they're leaving some things out."

Things? That brought back memories. Jennifer had a sneaking suspicion that Erin's team was omitting some of the same 'things' that her team had early in their association. Part of it was because they didn't know how to talk to her or explain certain things that might prove embarrassing to them because one, she was a former Dread Youth and two, she was the only female on the team. It had taken her a while to understand that some topics made certain members of the male gender uncomfortable when discussed with females. "Stuff? What kind of stuff?"

"A couple of months ago, we were at a settlement down in Georgia. There was this man there. From what Elliot and Ford said, he was 'hitting on' me. He didn't touch me at all, so I didn't understand what they meant. All he did was ask if I wanted to get together sometime."

Jennifer smiled as she asked, "And what did you tell the man?"

"I didn't say anything to him. Murphy was with me and he told the guy I wasn't interested and that it was time for us to go. When I asked the others later what the man was asking, they didn't really want to talk about it. They all found something else that had to be done right then. That usually means that it's something embarrassing for them to explain." Erin replied.

"And?" Jennifer encouraged her to continue while sidestepping some running children.

"And," Erin began, "then I was talking to Elliot a while back, and he said that while I'm one of the team, it is painfully obvious that I'm not one of the guys."

Jennifer was right. Paul's team was still dealing with the fact that their once all-male team was now a fully-included team. "And you don't know what any of that means?"

"Not a clue."

Jennifer laughed as they both had to dodge another group of children as they made their way through the passages to the commissary. Jennifer glanced at her chrono wondering where all the kids were coming from. Then she remembered it was Saturday which meant no school. Ahh, she thought. Time to play. She'd been so preoccupied with Jon, she had lost track of time a little bit.

"Did I say something wrong, Jennifer?"

"No, not at all," Jennifer said, pulling herself back to the conversation. "Unfortunately, it's not a new problem. The same thing happened with me too. The way we were raised, gender is merely a biological difference. To many people out here, gender characterizes a person in a way that's never made any sense to me. Women do this, men do that, and each views the other a certain way. Even after all these years, I don't understand the mindset; I just know it's there. I had a similar conversation with Hawk once. We had just come back from a mission out near the remains of Dallas. We'd rescued some people and taken quite a few things that could be salvaged back to the Passages. While we were here, we'd decided to pick some more uniforms and other supplies. I think that was about a year after they found me. I was going through some of the boxes and containers and I found this dress, only I didn't know what it was." She laughed, remembering…

Flashback

Jennifer was hurriedly trying to dig through the stockpiles of clothes. She didn't want to make the others wait for her, but apparently, uniforms in her size were not very common. With the trouble she was having finding uniforms in her size, she had begun to wonder if the military had had size requirements prior to the wars. She went on to a different box when she spotted something that caught her eye.

It was blue and shimmery and still in relatively good condition. She picked it up and inspected it closely. It had what appeared to be a crisscrossing pattern of tiny circles that reflected the light and two different kinds of materials. The base materials were smooth and shiny. In places, it was overlaid with another kind of material that had very delicate designs on it and was see through to the material underneath.

"That would be lovely on you," a woman spoke, approaching her.

On me? Jennifer wondered. "What is it?"

The rest of Jennifer's team had wandered over when they spotted her inspecting something so closely.

The woman looked at Jennifer with this 'You're kidding me, right?' look. Hawk spoke up before the woman could say something that Jennifer might not like or understand.

"It's a dress, Jennifer. Formal wear for women once upon a time..."

"What's 'formal wear'?" she asked.

"Men and women used to wear formal clothes to certain types of parties, important events like weddings, things like that. Certain events sometimes demanded a more formal dress code."

Jennifer looked at Hawk and then back at the dress, "It doesn't seem like a very functional piece of clothing."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Scout quipped. Hawk elbowed him to shut him up.

"Specifically, that one is a cocktail dress. My mother used to wear something similar when my parents had to attend various dinners at the University and government affairs," Jonathan interjected.

The woman, having caught on that Jennifer really didn't know what it was, decided to step in.

"So you've never seen or worn a dress before?"

"No," Jennifer replied quietly.

"Oh, we've got a whole generation of young men and women who've never seen or even worn a dress or a tuxedo or just a simple suit and tie. Well, then we must rectify this right now. Come with me, dear," the older woman responded, taking Jennifer by the hand.

She ushered Jennifer back to an area they used for fittings.

"Now, you just go in here and try this on. Every woman needs something to make her feel like a woman."

Jennifer was completely confused by that statement but didn't have time to question as the woman was guiding her back to the dressing rooms.

"But I don't even know how to put this on!"

"You'll need to take off your uniform and unzip this zipper here and step into it. If you'll call me when you're done, I'll come back in and zip you up." Her tone left no room for argument. Jennifer knew she'd been outmaneuvered. She started removing her jumpsuit and boots and soon had shimmied her way into the dress. She managed to get the back zipped up. The small mirror in the dressing room was mostly useless as it had multiple cracks running through it. She called to the woman who came back a few moments later.

"Beautiful. It just needs a few tucks here and there and it would fit you perfectly. Here let me show you."

The woman stepped out for a moment and came back quickly with a jar that contained something she called 'sewing pins'. The woman began pinning a few places around her waist.

"We'll just make a few alterations and then you'll have your first dress!" the woman informed Jennifer happily. "It reminds me of the dress I made for my daughter for her first high school dance. Amanda was so excited to be going. Her dress was blue like this. It was a little longer because her father would never have let her out of the house with the hemline above her knees. She looked so beautiful in that dress…" the woman stopped for a moment as tears came to her eyes.

Jennifer didn't quite know what to do or say.

After a moment the woman spoke, "I'm sorry, dear, it's not your fault. Just painful memories."

"Did something happen to Amanda?" Jennifer asked softly.

"She was killed in a Dread raid several years ago."

Again, Jennifer didn't know what to say. She'd met lots of people who lives had been destroyed by Dread, but something about this woman touched her and she couldn't explain why. She thought she should say something but she just didn't know what. After a few moments, the woman appeared to shake herself out of her memories.

"Enough about that," she began. "This dress is beautiful on you. It's perfect. You just need to do one more thing," the woman said, moving to remove the elastic in Jennifer's hair, allowing her hair to fall over her shoulders.

"Now, come, look in the mirror outside."

"Why?"

"This mirror is here is no good. You need to see how beautiful you are, and it wouldn't hurt your friends to be reminded of it either," the woman gently encouraged Jennifer to step out to look in the mirror.

"What do you mean? How I look has nothing to do with being a soldier."

The woman smiled sadly at Jennifer. "Trust me on this one. They need to see it, and so do you. There is more to life than just being a soldier."

Jennifer didn't know how to respond so she allowed the woman to lead her out to the other mirror.

Once she looked in the mirror, she couldn't take her eyes off her own reflection for what seemed like forever. She didn't recognize herself. She didn't even know what she was feeling. A full-length mirror was still something of a novelty to Jennifer. She'd never seen one before she'd joined the team. She'd seen mirrors of course. All quarters in the Dread Youth contained small mirrors to allow the Dread Youth soldiers to make sure their appearance was within the code.

"I told you. The dress is beautiful on you. It brings out the blue in your eyes," the woman spoke softly.

"My eyes are grey," Jennifer said looking at the woman through her reflection in the mirror.

"Not in this dress. The color brings out the blue that's there. It's lovely on you. I'll make the alterations and you can pick up the dress the next time you're here. I'll be right back."

Jennifer turned her gaze back to the dress. It ended just above her knees, showing more skin than Jennifer was comfortable with. The bodice was tighter than anything she'd ever worn before, and the off-the-shoulder sleeves left her with a decidedly naked feeling. It was unusual for her to feel her hair swinging free on her bare shoulders. She heard footfalls behind her and turned to see her team following the woman.

"There you go, boys. Beautiful, isn't she? Bet you didn't even know you had a real lady at your base," the woman quipped to the four male members of the Power Team.

"Is this how I'm supposed to look in this thing?" Jennifer asked, turning to face them.

They didn't respond for a moment. None of them could put together a coherent thought.

"Well?" Jennifer asked a bit nervously.

Scout and Hawk snapped out of it first.

"Uhm...yes. That's what it's supposed to look like," Hawk said, clearing his throat.

"You look good, Pilot," Scout agreed.

"Then why are you all acting like I don't look okay," she asked concerned.

Matt walked to her side before replying. "Jennifer, the dress is beautiful, and so are you. You'll have to forgive us. It's been a long time since we've seen anyone in anything other than camos. We've gotten so used to Jennifer the soldier that we didn't think about you as a woman."

"Is there a difference?"

"Definitely," Hawk answered. "But that's a discussion for another time, little one." He had taken to calling her that lately, and she found she rather liked it.

Jennifer turned back to look at the mirror for a few more moments. Matt turned to look at the guys.

"Tank, Scout, go ahead and finish gathering up the rest of our supplies. We'll meet you back at the ship in a bit," Matt stated. The two men nodded and headed off.

Only Jon stood still entranced by the vision in blue before him.

"Jennifer, get the dress. You never know. You might need it sometime," Matt whispered with just a hint of mischief in his voice.

"The lady said it needed to be altered to fit me."

"Then you can get it the next time we're here."

"Really?" she asked. A small grin appeared on her face."Wouldn't that be unnecessary though? We need items we can trade with. This isn't likely something we can trade with. It's kind of frivolous."

"I don't think it's frivolous. You've worked so hard trying to learn everything that was kept from you. This is just another part of that learning process. Besides, my wife, Joanna, used to say that every girl should have at least one nice dress."

"Why?"

Matt had paused for a moment before answering, "I honestly don't know. I remember she just used to say that it. We can ask the lady helping you or I bet we could ask Cheryl the next time we see her."

"I'll just ask Cheryl if that's all right," she returned, taking one last look at herself before walking back to the changing area to get back into her jumpsuit. Jennifer was still a bit shy around people she didn't know. The team had taken her to Cheryl after they found her and she'd developed enough of a relationship with Cheryl that she felt alright asking her questions from time to time.

The woman returned a few moments later and Matt informed her that Jennifer had stepped back into the changing room. Jennifer stepped out of the dressing room once again attired in her uniform. The woman assured them the dress would be ready in a few days, so Jennifer could pick it up the next time she was in the Passages.

CP&CP&CP

Present

"Do you still have that dress?" Erin asked as the approached they commissary. They made their way to the counter where they each requested coffee from the young man behind the counter. Thankfully, the area wasn't very crowded, so Jennifer and Erin could continue on their walk fairly easily. The commissary would get busier as the lunch hour approached. They gratefully accepted their drinks and continued walking.

"Yeah. Believe it or not, it was one of the few things that we were able to salvage from our old base," Jennifer answered.

"How did it survive? We heard there wasn't much left of your base."

"Jon found it in my locker when they were sifting through the remains of the base. It was buried under quite a bit of debris. We were surprised to find it had survived the explosion. The locker had been singed pretty well. The dress had a few places that needed to be repaired. Jon brought it back to the woman I got it from here at the Passages. She was able to mend it."

"Have you worn it?"

A mischievous small smile played about Jennifer's lips. "Yes. I've worn it a couple of times."

CP&CP&CP

Erin got the impression that she shouldn't ask when or why Jennifer had the opportunity to wear the dress so she decided to change the topic just a bit. "So did Hawk explain the difference to you?

"Yeah. A few days later, we were on a mission by ourselves and I asked him what he meant."

Erin couldn't hide her curiosity. "And what is the difference?"

"Well, Matt explained it this way. People get used to seeing someone in a certain way,and sometimes it takes something drastic to make them see the other person differently. In my case, coming from the Dread Youth, I'd never known anything other than a military life, and since our team operates as a military unit, we all see each other as soldiers first, men and women second," Jennifer replied.

Erin still felt confused. "I still don't understand."

"It's like this...If you look back at history, say back to the early Twentieth century and before, especially in certain cultures, women were not encouraged to be soldiers. That was considered a man's job. Women were seen as wives, mothers, anything other than soldiers. It was toward the latter half of that century that women began enlisting in the military services. Even though they were serving alongside the men, women were still prevented from serving on the front lines in war zones for several decades. Matt said it was hard for men to see women as soldiers. They saw them as women first and soldiers second. The more I read, the more I learned that up until the last century or so, gender still determined a person's role in society to a great degree. It's about perception. That's just one example."

"Hmm…"

"I guess that answer didn't help, did it?"

"No, it did. I'm just still a little confused about something else," Erin began. "A couple of weeks ago, I was coming out of our transport ship. I was angry because someone had adjusted my pilot's chair. Again! I-"

"You're flying for them now?" Jennifer interrupted.

"I did receive flight training while I was in the Dread Youth. The instructors said I showed exceptional skills, but my scores in the sciences and biology were quite high as well. I would have preferred to go into advanced pilot training but I was sent to the advanced sciences and biology classes instead. It was decided I would go the medical sciences route."

"I guess I was lucky that the path chosen for me in the Youth was one I would have picked for myself. Still, when you've never been given the choice, it can be overwhelming to start making decisions for yourself," Jennifer supplied.

"Yeah, that's been a challenge. I've been so accustomed to following orders that at times I wasn't aware something wasn't an order or that I had a choice. My team has worked hard at helping me to learn the difference. I've gotten better at it."

"It's a hard thing to learn. Looking back, I can remember several instances that seem trivial now but at the time were almost paralyzing because I had to make a choice for myself."

Erin was intrigued. "Like what?"

"The first couple of months I was here with the team, I kept putting my hair up the way we were taught in the Youth. One day I just couldn't do it anymore. It occurred to me that I didn't have to either, but I didn't know what else to do with it. So I asked Mentor and he gave me a list of at least a dozen choices on how to pull my hair back. The problem was I had to pick one. I know it sounds silly, but I was completely confused about which was best or what to pick. The team had called over the comm looking for me. I was late for breakfast. I'd been too embarrassed to tell them I was having problems with my hair. I told them I'd be on my way shortly. Matt showed up a few minutes later. He said I sounded like something was wrong so he came to check on me. He called it 'father's intuition'. Anyway, he helped me. He explained how his late wife and daughter had always had their hair in ponytails. I've pretty much kept that style over the years," Jennifer finished with a chuckle.

"I guess that is one advantage to short hair," Erin returned smiling.

"It is, but I've always liked my hair long and so does Jon."

"Does it matter that Captain Power likes your hair long?"

"Yes and no."

Erin was completely confused, but Jennifer quickly explained.

"Yes, it matters because I like that Jon likes it. It's kind of hard to explain. At the same time though if I wanted to cut it short, I would. I wouldn't keep it long just because he wanted me too. Nor would he ask me too. It's just one of those little quirks about relationships. So anyway, you were telling me that you're flying for your team now?"

"Yeah, I started taking turns with Reilly flying for them several months ago, and just recently Murphy told me I'd be the primary pilot going forward. He said something about my ability to fly rings around Reilly. Whatever that means."

"It means he thinks you're a good pilot, better than Reilly," Jennifer informed her with a smile. "Didn't you ask him what it meant?"

"No. At the time,Ford, Elliot, and Tempers were too busy teasing Reilly about losing the pilot's chair to me. At first, I thought Reilly would be mad, but he told me later that it was a good thing. He said that while he was a good pilot, I was better. He said it was a more efficient use of the team's talents." Erin replied as she continued with her story. "I decided to rig the pilot's seat to go back to the position I liked, like you did with yours, but I needed some tools that were in the maintenance bay. I didn't see Elliott's foot sticking out from under the communications console and I tripped on it. I fell right onto Murphy as he was coming up the gantry. He caught me and just held onto me for a moment. It was strange. I had this funny feeling in my stomach, and I haven't felt like that since my first class of hand-to-hand when they paired me up with someone twice my size. And I had some trouble breathing. Reilly said something to us, but I don't remember what it was. I just know Murphy put me back on my feet and started stuttering as he walked away. I didn't know why he was behaving like that, and Elliott told me later that night that it wasn't surprising Murphy acted like that since I wasn't exactly one of the guys.

CP&CP&CP

Jennifer felt for her young twin.

"Has Murphy said anything about it to you since then?"

"No. He seems nervous around me lately. Why would he be nervous?"

Oh, Erin, Jennifer thought. How do I explain this to her? This could be nothing more than, what did Matt call it? Puppy love…that was it, but then again I fell in love with Jon and he was the first one I felt that way about.

"Has any of his behavior changed towards you?"

CP&CP&CP

Jon tried to find a comfortable position in which to lie.. The problem with busted ribs is that there really was no comfortable position, only varying degrees of discomfort.

"Do I need to get the nurse to get you something?" Paul asked.

Jon gritted his teeth before answering. "No, I'll be alright in a few minutes."

From the look on Paul's face, Jon could tell he wasn't buying it but he wasn't going to argue with Jon either.

"So what happened out there?" Paul asked, taking the seat next to Jon's hospital bed.

"The details are a little fuzzy thanks to the concussion, but Jennifer said I crashed one of the bikes. Soaron got a lucky shot."

"He does get those from time to time. So just the concussion?"

"No, some bruised up ribs and cuts on my left leg. Nothing that won't heal."

"That's what Matt said when we stopped by down there. He and his wife were bickering a bit."

Jon smiled. "Yeah, you mentioned he was trying to sweet talk Cheryl into sitting him up some more. So how are things going with your team?"

"Things are good. None of us has been injured recently. We've had a pretty exhausting schedule for the last month, but we finally had to stop for a few days and come out for supplies," Paul replied.

"I've seen the reports from the East Coast. You're team has been doing some damage out there."

"We've tried to anyway. Hopefully, it will make a difference. We've taken out several of Dread's repair facilities and a couple of training facilities for the Dread Youth."

"Casualties?"

"For Dread Youth?" Paul asked.

Jon nodded.

"Not sure, but Erin was adamant that we take them out."

That piqued Jon's interest. "Why? What was important about those facilities?"

"She said they were primarily the sciences and medical schools, but that they also housed some of his research facilities. She said the bulk of the research done there was to better perfect the transfer technology, as well as other experiments she didn't want to elaborate on. All she would say was that while the transfers had willing volunteers from the Youth, the other experiments were not on willing subjects. We took that to mean prisoners. She also said this was the only facility that was charged with the research for the transfer technology. The final applications of the research were usually carried out at Volcania, but the initial stages happened there. Erin didn't know why that was, just that was the way it was. The schools turned out the doctors and scientists that Dread uses to further his research in other areas too. She said that was her next assignment after MedLab One. She wanted to continue in flight school but was told that her career path had been decided. She was to become one of their doctors. Apparently she didn't like that idea very much"

"So she's a pilot, too?" Jon queried.

"Yeah, and a damn good one. She and Reilly had been taking turns in the pilot's seat for several months. She can fly rings around Reilly so I made her our primary pilot a few weeks ago. She's fitting well into the job, and Reilly really prefers to be out where he can blow stuff up."

"Sounds like things are going good then," Jon said.

"Yeah, I think we've finally found our groove so to speak," Paul replied as he stood and started pacing a bit. "I just hope we don't mess it up."

"How would you mess it up?"

Paul continued to pace for a minute before he replied, "By being stupid."

Jon gave him a quizzical look. "Stupid how?"

Jon watched his friend pace a bit; it was beginning to make him dizzy.

"Paul, have a seat. Watching you pace is not helping my head. What's up?"

Paul stopped his pacing. "I'm sorry. I need to ask you something and I'm not sure how to go about it."

Jon's lips quirked a bit. This should be interesting.

"Just put it out there," Jon replied.

"Okay, well…You and me had military training from real military personnel. We know the rules against team fraternization. You broke them. Did it damage team cohesion?"

"This about Erin?" Jon asked with a small smile.

He watched Paul slump back in the chair with a defeated look.

"Yeah," the younger man sighed. "Kind of hit me right out of the blue."

Jon couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Hit you pretty hard too, huh?"

"Yeah, but what's so funny?"

"You are. It's hard to believe given your reputation with the ladies."

Paul smiled. "I seem to remember you had a few flings too. I remember a certain blonde from Chicago and that computer analyst out in Alabama. Jennifer know about them?"

"Not all the details."

Paul heaved out a sigh. "Jennifer's okay with that?"

"Yes. Don't get me wrong, if she asked, I'd tell her. I wouldn't purposely keep them a secret from her, but she's never asked and I don't see the need to volunteer any information right now"

"Has she met any of them?"

A wry smile appeared on Jon's face. "Yeah, she has. She met Athena some years back, and we ran into Brenda a couple of months ago down in the Houston area."

"The computer analyst?" Paul asked.

"Yeah. Her team had temporarily relocated there when we ran into them."

"How did that go?"

"Jennifer was actually amused by the whole situation. I, on the other hand, was not. Brenda wanted to pick right back up where we left off and made that abundantly clear. To make matters worse Jennifer didn't do anything to help me. She just stood there and watched me squirm."

"I can't believe it! The great Jonathan Power flustered by unwanted female attention. What did you expect Jennifer to do? She doesn't strike me as the jealous type," Paul finished in between laughs.

"Apparently she's not. But you go ahead and have your laughs now, Paul, but your history is the same as mine. Your time is coming." Jonathan smirked.

"Yes, I'm aware of my reputation. I've had more than a few girlfriends over the years, but I haven't had one since we took Erin in. She needed our help and I certainly didn't need the problems of trying to deal with a jealous girlfriend because one of my team was a woman. Now I find myself wondering what Erin would think of my past relationships," the other man replied, the humor having disappeared from his voice.

That statement caught Jon's attention. He had to think back. His team had been in regular contact with Paul's team over the last year helping where they could, and he couldn't recall there ever being talk of Paul seeing anyone. Jon marveled at the realization and wondered why he hadn't noticed. Paul's love of the ladies was quite well known. Jon looked at his friend again. He certainly looked miserable. He couldn't help but sympathize. He was in his shoes once upon a time.

Jon took a careful breath trying not to disturb his ribs before he replied. "It hit me hard too. Didn't realize it until I saw Jennifer run into a collapsing building to save a kid. Building came down around her - she was all right, but it scared the hell out of me more than it should have. That's when I got a clue. When I lost her, that's when it was a slap in the face. I kept kicking myself for being such an idiot."

Jon didn't really like thinking about those days. They were a black time in his life. He'd lost the one person who mattered more than anything. He tortured himself mercilessly for not telling Jennifer how he felt before. She had given him clues about she felt for a couple of months before that fateful Christmas, but he'd been too scared to take the chance. In the months that had followed her 'death', he did his job, he destroyed anything connected to the Machine Empire he could find. He sought revenge for her death. Then they'd gotten her back. What she'd been through would have destroyed a lesser person. Along the way, they'd had their talk and he'd gotten to tell her he loved her so much. He didn't want that for Paul and Erin. None of them were promised a tomorrow. He'd learned that the hard way.

"How did you deal with it?" Paul asked somberly.

"I didn't," Jon started. "I knew she was gone, but I didn't move past it. I became angry. I destroyed everything I could that belonged to Dread. I was going to make him pay. I didn't care about anything else other than revenge. We virtually stopped recon missions. I didn't work as hard to rescue settlers from the wastelands. All I wanted was to strike back at Dread for what he'd done. My team tried to reach me, to help me to move on. I just couldn't. Every time I walked out of my quarters, I'd see her door. When we ate a meal, I sat next to her chair. I even got angry at Matt one time for sitting in her seat in the jumpship. Matt told me once they really thought they were going to lose me too, and honestly, I can't say that might not have happened eventually. I wasn't being as careful on missions. I didn't care if I lived or died," Jon paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "It's not a place anyone wants to find themselves. If you really care about Erin, you should do something about it. Don't wait until it's too late."

Paul appeared to be really considering his words. "But she used to be Dread Youth. You know how different their lives were from ours. Every time we think we know how to approach something, we find out that she has no idea what we're doing. So how do I go about it?"

Jon was tempted to ask him if he was kidding, but he recalled after they rescued Jennifer how he struggled with how to go about expressing his feelings to her. He'd had girlfriends in the past, just like Paul, and had certainly never had problems talking to them or anything else for that matter, but Jennifer was special. He found himself considering a future with her that he'd never contemplated with any of the other women he'd been close to over the years.

"It's the special ones that tie you up in knots," Jon quipped.

Paul smiled. "Yeah. She is special. She has this way about her, you know. She's innocent in many ways but in others so much older than we are. She's not exactly sure how old she is. We've figured in her early to mid twenties. She wants to learn everything she can. I've had to chase her off the computers late at night because she wants to read just one more chapter. She's finally starting to work through some of the anger like you guys told us she'd do. When she looks at me, I feel like she can see everything I'm thinking or feeling. I'm rambling I know," he finished.

"You're not rambling."

"I've never felt like this about any woman. I didn't see this coming at all."

"So what happened?"

"What?"

"Come on, Paul. You've been chasing skirts since you were, what, thirteen years old? Now someone's got you on the run. It had to be something big."

"Oh, she was coming out of the ship and she tripped on Elliot's foot. I caught her before she took a header down the stairs, and Jon, I gotta tell you, I haven't been that nervous around a girl since Lindsey Clark and I were fourteen and we snuck a kiss behind the bleachers at school. Me. You know my reputation. The rest of the team isn't really letting me forget it, but they're not saying one word to Erin. She's too special to screw this up, know what I mean?"

Jon knew exactly what he meant. "I do."

Paul let another sigh out. "So what do I do?"

"Before I answer that, do you have any idea how she feels?"

"Maybe. We've been spending a bit of time together lately. I've taken her with me on several missions even though I can't seem to string together two coherent words that don't pertain to the mission. I've caught her staring a few times and then she and looks away quickly, but I don't want to read more into it than it is…" he trailed off.

Jon chuckled a bit. Sounded like him and Jennifer a bit. He hadn't had a problem talking to her on a daily basis but after he realized his feelings had changed it was clear he didn't have any idea how she felt. "Spend some time together when you're not working. Jennifer and I played chess a lot. Play poker. Checkers. Monopoly. Get to know each other before you do anything to damage the team."

"It's a place to start anyway," Paul replied. "Then there is the team to consider."

True, Jon thought, but we find so few moments of happiness in this world. We have to take them when they are presented to us. "When I realized my feelings were changing, I thought about that too. It was one of the main reasons I kept my feelings to myself. I was worried about the team and how they would react. In the end, I was worried about nothing. The team wasn't blind. They'd noticed what was going on between Jennifer and me and were just waiting for us to do something about it. Likely your team has already noticed. Besides, we have so few opportunities for happiness nowadays. We need to take them when they present themselves."

"Yeah. I know they've noticed. Reilly tried to ask me about it, but I didn't want to talk to him about it. I couldn't explain it to him when I couldn't even explain it to myself. The others are worried that Erin could be hurt if I treated her like a plaything. Just like I have with some of my previous relationships. Ford, Tempers and Elliot have made it clear that if I hurt her, they will pound me into dirt."

"Matt, Tank, and Scout did the same thing," Jon replied with another painful chuckle. "But don't kid yourself. It'll change things. As long as everyone's okay with it, I wouldn't worry about it. You know you don't deserve her, right?"

"And you deserve Jennifer?" Paul scoffed.

"Oh, hell no. Every day I wake up thanking whatever god it was that thought enough of me to give her back. I don't deserve her. Not in the least. She survived the hell that is the Dread Youth. She knew nothing about what a normal life consists of, or at least as normal as it can be in these times. I'm her first everything when it comes to romantic relationships. Talk about pressure. Some days, I'm scared she's going to decide that she could do so much better than me and I'm going to be leave me in the dust. I'm keenly aware that I don't deserve her."

Paul was silent for a moments, obviously considering Jon's words. Finally he spoke again moving on to another question. "Do you ever find yourself second guessing a command decision now that you're involved with her?"

"I did the first few times she went back out with us after we got her back. I was terrified to let her out of my sight, but I also knew that if she figured out I was holding her back she would…well, let's just say she was top of her class in hand-to-hand. I've seen her take down overunits twice her size."

"Yeah, we all have bruises from sparring with Erin. She's small, but she can do some damage."

"I'll share something Matt told me when I realized that he and Cheryl were getting involved. He said relationships aren't easy even when there isn't a war going on. The stakes are even higher right now. We all know it's dangerous to care about someone when we're on the front lines of this war. Yet, at the same time if we don't allow ourselves to feel, to love someone, then Dread's already won. At the time, I couldn't understand how Matt could allow himself to love someone again. He'd lost his first wife and two children. I lost my dad. I didn't want to go through that kind of loss again. I was happy for Matt and Cheryl but I didn't want him to lose her too. It wasn't until Jennifer that I understood what he meant. What we're fighting for out here is more than just our right to exist. It's our humanity and all that entails." Jon replied to his young friend.

"True," the younger man agreed.

CP&CP&CP

"Has any of his behavior changed towards you?"

Erin stared at the cup of coffee she had been given and thought for a few moments.

"Yeah, maybe. He's been assigning me to work with him more the last few weeks, but he doesn't say more than a couple of words to me. He hasn't let me go out on my own, and last week he gave me a birthday present. Said it was something of a tradition. They rescued me two years ago last week so they decided that would be my birthday."

Jennifer smiled at that. "I'll bet they got that from Jon. That's what my team did. They found me in January. On the 21st to be exact, so that's when we celebrate my birthday."

"Murphy said that we have to take every opportunity to celebrate so apparently I have a birthday now. The others have birthdays; we just celebrated Elliot's last month. It never occurred to me that I should have one or that we should even celebrate them. It seems odd to me that we should celebrate getting a year older."

"It did to me at first too. Jon's told me stories of when he was growing up about how he couldn't wait for his birthday because of the presents he got, and then as he got older he couldn't wait because he was in a hurry to grow up. Now he says it's about celebrating another year of life with those we care about."

Erin looked around, "I'd never considered my age before."

"There was no reason for you too. Our ages were never a consideration in the Youth. Only our abilities and loyalty to the Machine were important."

"There were so many things that weren't important in the Youth. Music, art, books, relationships…" Erin trailed off.

"Which brings us back to Paul," Jennifer supplied.

Erin audibly sighed. "Any time I look at him now, I get this weird feeling in my stomach. I've read some books about feeling things with the heart but it doesn't make any sense to me. The heart is just a muscle. We don't feel anything with it." Erin returned, "It's all very confusing, and I'm not sure I like it."

"It sounds to me like things are changing a little bit for you and Paul," Jennifer said simply. The wind seemed to fall right out of Erin's sails as she leaned back in her chair.

Staring into her glass, Erin said, "I was afraid you were going to say that."

"Feelings are a big part of what makes us human. They can be scary but they're worth it."

"I'm still struggling to understand so much, but at times, there's still this wall in front of me that I can't quite get over." Erin told her.

"Don't push yourself. Remember what I said last year?" Jennifer asked, referring to the conversation they shared a year ago while waiting to be rescued from a collapsed building.

"It won't happen overnight."

"It all takes time. Friendship, companionship, what we hate, what we like, what we love... out here, we've been able to discover who we are and what we want."

"How do we know that what we want is something we should want or can have?"

"What do you mean?"

"Several months back, Reilly, Murphy and I were at a settlement down in Louisiana, near where New Orleans used to be. We were trading for spare parts and other items. I spotted this thing. It was a small chain, probably not more than twenty four inches around. It had a small piece of rock attached to it by some kind of metal fitting. It was beautiful. Murphy saw me and came over to see what I was looking at. He said it was rose quartz. He told me that if I wanted it we had some spare items we could trade for it. I told him no. It didn't seem important enough to trade our limited supplies for. Apparently, Murphy didn't accept my answer. He traded for it anyway. He gave it to me for my birthday. He said just because something seems unimportant doesn't mean it is and that it was okay to want things, even something as frivolous as a piece of jewelry."

"And do you like the necklace?"

The younger woman smiled. "I do. It's beautiful. When I was looking at it there in the settlement, it never occurred to me that I could trade for it. I liked it but it was a useless item, so I didn't consider it. Then a few weeks ago Tempers was helping me repair the door to my quarters…"

"What happened to the door?" Jennifer cut in clearly curious.

"Ummm….well, I was angry"

"About?"

"We'd been out on recon. We came across some settlers that were pinned down by a biomech squad along with about a dozen cadets and their leader. I knew the Youth Leader from the medlab. We moved in and helped the settlers. At one point, I was trying to help a family that had gotten separated from the group. The youth leader was pursuing us. He and I ended up face to face with guns drawn like you and I did back at Medlab One. The family was behind me. I wasn't going to let anything happen to them. I told Adams I didn't want to kill him, but I wasn't going to let him hurt that family. He laughed at me. I just kept my blaster rifle trained on him. I even fired a warning shot close to his feet to make my point, but he just stood there telling me how I was a traitor to the Machine and that I deserved to die just like all the other organics. The family had been immediately behind me at that point. I motioned for them to take cover behind some of the trees and other debris. As they were moving, he shot at the little boy. I didn't think for a second. I killed him. Right there. I'd never killed anyone before."

"Was the boy okay?"

"Yes, he'd been grazed but he was fine. It wasn't until we got back to our base that I began to get angry. I was so mad. I had taken a life without even thinking about it."

"What was it that made you angry, Erin?"

"The whole situation. That Dread trained us to be killers. Adams was going to kill that family one way or the other. It didn't matter if it was through digitization or shooting them. I was angry that I had been put in that situation where I had to take a life to save lives," she replied forcefully. Then, "I'm sorry. I'm getting upset all over again."

"It's okay. You've got the right to be angry. So what happened to your door?"

"I was too angry to talk to anyone when we got back so I just went to my quarters. Tempers had been passing by mine on the way to his when he heard me toss the chair at the wall. He stopped to check on me. At first, I didn't answer the door. I didn't want to talk to anyone. He wouldn't go away and said he was going to override the door controls if I didn't open up. That made me a bit more angry and before I thought about it, I put my fist through the controls on my side of the door, thinking he wouldn't be able to get in."

"Oh my!" Jennifer exclaimed. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Erin looked down at her hand, rubbing it a bit. "Yeah, I broke my hand. Murphy was not happy when he heard what I did. Apparently destroying the controls on one side of the door does not prevent the other side from opening the door. So Tempers came in a saw the mess I'd made as well as my busted hand. They took me to a medical clinic not far from our base. The doctor chided me for my temper and put my hand in a regenerator for a few hours. He said normally I'd have to live with it and let it heal on its own, but since they didn't have anyone more critical using it, I could. Even though my hand was healed the doc said I should take it easy for a few days, so a couple of days later Tempers was helped me to repair the door controls. While he was there, he mentioned that I didn't have many personal belongings there. It was almost like I didn't live there. I haven't collected much in the way of personal items. It just hasn't seemed important. I spend most of my time working and when I'm not, I'm either with the team or reading something."

"Did Tempers say anything else?"

"He said I should spend some time collecting some things to put in my quarters like books, pictures, or just some little items to make it mine."

"And have you?"

"Not really. I don't know where to start."

"What are some of the things you like?"

"Books!" Erin returned enthusiastically.

"Besides books."

"The stars. I've seen several paintings and pictures in our database of the night sky. I've wondered what it would be like to fly among them."

"Has your team not taken you above the clouds to see a night sky?" Jennifer asked.

"No. Should they have?"

"My team did. Not long after they found me. It was unlike anything I'd seen before. You should definitely go up there. So what else?"

"I like the quartz piece on my necklace. I think I'd like to find some more like it. I read a book a while back about a young boy and his horse, The Black Stallion, I really liked it. I've never seen a real horse so I think I'd like to see one sometime. I'd like to have another necklace or two. I was looking in the computer and I never realized how many different types of jewelry are out there. Necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, anklets, there are so many," Erin finished a bit animatedly.

"So you've discovered you like rocks, horses and jewelry. That's wonderful. It's a place to start." Jennifer said with a big smile.

"Yeah, I guess it is. I was in the control room looking at different photos of different pieces of famous jewelry from the past when Elliot came in to start his shift on night watch. He got a look at what I was viewing and said 'Definitely not one on of the guys.' That was the conversation where he told me that while I'm a part of the team it's obvious I'm not one of the guys. I still don't understand what he meant by that. I tried to ask him about Murphy's behavior. He just laughed and said I should ask Murphy."

"Did you ask Paul?"

"I tried. Paul just stared for a minute then mumbled something about a tight beam transmission he needed to make and left abruptly."

"Well, I'm guessing, and mind you this only a guess, but your and Murphy's reaction when he caught you and his actions since then have reminded everyone that you're an attractive young woman. Something they either didn't consider or purposely ignored because it made the job easier. And apparently jewelry is historically associated with women. I don't understand that myself. From what I've read there have been just as many men who really liked jewelry as well. Matt and Scout were telling me about some man named Liberace from the twentieth century. They said he wore more jewels than the Queen of England."

"Now I'm really confused," the younger woman replied.

"Let me put it this way. In the Youth, gender didn't mean anything. It was just a biological difference. Out here, it means a lot. Emotions are distracting, especially the romantic ones. They make us do some crazy things at times, but as Matt tells me,that's the way it's supposed to be."

"So what do I do about it?"

"You have options. You can keep how you are feeling to yourself until you're more comfortable with your emotions. You can talk to a friend like me. You could tell Murphy about how you feel."

A stunned look appeared on Erin's face. "No! No way. I can't do that."

"Why not?"

Erin couldn't seem to find the answer but Jennifer knew.

"It's scary isn't it? The thought of telling him how you feel?"

"Yeah," Erin replied quietly. "Feeling something this strongly is terrifying."

"Terrified me, too. Right up until Blastarr was shooting up the base, and I knew I was about to die. Right then, my fears didn't matter. All I knew was that I didn't want to die never having told Jon how I felt. So I told him, right there over the comm before I blew the base to hell. I didn't want to die, but I was okay with it as long as Jon was alive and safe and I knew he knew how I felt. That was part of what gave me the strength to fight after I woke up in the lab after I was reintegrated. I knew that I wasn't going to make it out of there alive, but I was strong enough to fight them the best way I could. The one thing I was glad of was that I wasn't going to die with the regret of not telling Jon how I felt. And then I didn't die. After they rescued me from that lab and I recovered, Jon and I finally got to talk about those last few moments. He said of everything he's ever done or not done in his life, his biggest regret was that he didn't tell me he loved me before I died, so to speak. Erin, you don't want regrets like that. None of us are promised tomorrow, and life is just too damn short to not tell someone you love them when you do. But it's perfectly all right to wait until you know what you feel before you do anything about it."

Erin took a few moments to process what Jennifer had said. She knew she cared about Paul and she certainly didn't want to have the kind of regrets that Jennifer had told her about. Yet, she didn't think she was ready to just put it out there. "Is there a way you're supposed to tell someone you love them?"

"Nope. There are no hard and fast rules. You tell them when you're ready."

"There doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rules about anything out here." Erin grumbled. Then a moment later, "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"What?" Jennifer asked.

"Sometimes, I overhear the guys talking about some of the women they've been involved with. Sometimes I hear them talking when they don't know I'm there and their language gets more specific. And I've been reading a few books that I got from the librarian at the Passages. She said I needed more of a literary education than what I could find out of history books and technical manuals. Some of the books she's lent me are very... explicit... about certain things."

"And you want to ask me a question about something... explicit?" Jennifer asked delicately."

Erin's face turned multiple shades of red, trying to figure out how to ask the question without embarrassing herself more than she already had.

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Jennifer watched as Erin reached down to one of the utility pockets on her pants. A second later, the younger woman pulled out a well-worn small paperback book. Erin handed the book to Jennifer. The cover was faded to the point the title was almost unreadable. She gently opened the cover to the title page. The Lady and the Highland Rogue. Jennifer recognized the title. When she'd first starting getting books from the librarian at the Passages the matronly woman decided that Jennifer needed to read something other than what the woman called boring textbooks. What had the woman called them? Oh yeah, a bodice ripper. The books had certainly been interesting reading. Jennifer had had some problems believing some of the stuff in those books but some were fun to read.

Erin's voice broke in to her thoughts.

"Things written in books like that... um... some of the things it talks about that can go along with a relationship. Sometimes. In some of them…"

"You mean the uh…physical side of the…" Jennifer kind of stumbled. Just because she thought the books could be fun to read didn't mean she was comfortable talking about the subject matter.

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"Yeah….that." Erin said cutting her off a bit. With her background in the medical science, Erin understood the technical details of sex, but that was all she knew. She hadn't equated that it was a part of a relationship until the last two years. She'd heard comments from others they'd worked with, even members of her own team that had led her to believe that there was more to it than the technical facts she'd been taught in the youth. Reading the books she'd borrowed had shown her there was a side to relationships that she didn't know anything about. There was an emotional side that didn't have anything to do the procreation aspect of sex. She just hadn't felt comfortable asking any of the other members of her team.

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Now it was Jennifer's turn to blush. Even after two years together, Jennifer was still a bit shy when it came to that side of her and Jon's relationship. She was getting better at the public displays of affection, but she didn't like discussing the physical side of their relationship. Several months into her recovery, she and Jon had talked about not only their feelings but at what pace their relationship would take. She'd wanted to move at a little faster pace but Jon had been reluctant to take the next stepfor fear of aggravating her still healing injuries. She was still not physically up to full-time duty, so she had stayed at the base while the team performed mostly short -run missions. Still, there were times when the missions called for them to be gone overnight. During those, they each took turns returning to the base so that Jennifer wasn't left alone. Medically, she was fine to be left alone but the team went through an overprotective phase for a little while. It was during one of those missions that Jennifer decided she was ready for the next step. Four months had passed and Jennifer was tired of waiting. She'd waited so long to tell Jon how she felt and physically she felt good. Cheryl had said she needed another month before she went back out on missions but she was recovered enough for work around the base. So as far as she was concerned, Jon's time was up. Jon had radioed in that he was returning to the base for the night and would be rejoining the others in the morning. She decided she'd surprise Jon. She'd worn her newly repaired dress, and from the look on his face when he arrived, he definitely approved. It was the boldest move she'd ever made or had made since then. They'd had a very healthy relationship for a few years, but it hadn't been a topic of conversation for her until that moment. She was still a bit reserved when in public; although she was making progress, but talking about it, even with Erin...she and Cheryl had had a few conversations during her recovery, and she was fairly comfortable talking to Cheryl now but still had problems with anyone else.

"Well, umm…I…."

"You've been involved with Captain Power for over two years now. Have you not….."

"Oh, well….yes…the first time was a long time ago, but….." Jennifer stopped and struggled to get her words together. Finally, after a few moments she said, "Erin, I've never been really comfortable with talking about this side of human romantic relationships. Jon says it's one of my hang-ups left from the Dread Youth since we are taught nothing but the basic logistics of it, BUT I can tell you this. It's amazing. When it's between two people who love each other, it is like nothing you will ever experience in your life. It's a very personal and private thing between two people who love each other."

"So it's nothing like what we were taught in the Youth?" Erin asked still blushing a bit.

"No, it's not. Nothing out here is," Jennifer replied.

"And you're happy together?"

"Yes, we're very happy together. We have the occasional disagreement but we love each other so we work through it."

"It sounds like a lot of work," Erin said.

"Relationships are a lot of work. They don't just happen. It's a team effort, just like many other things."

"You and Captain Power have very different personalities. How do you compensate for that?"

"We do have very different personalities, but we're also alike in some ways too. We enjoy some of the same games, and we read together quite a bit. It also helps that we want some of the same things later in life. A home of our own, a family—"

"So you've talked about having children?" Erin interrupted.

Children, Jennifer thought. Yes, she and Jon had talked about having children. They both wanted a family. Someday. They both agreed that now was not the time to have children. The war still had to come first.

"Yeah, we've talked about it," Jennifer informed her.

"And?"

"We both want a family someday. Now is just not the time. Jon has so many good memories of growing up with his parents. He wants to experience those with his own children."

"And you?"

"I don't have any memories of my parents so I'd never considered having children until Jon brought it up. I just figured it would be him and me."

"What did the captain say?"

Jennifer smiled at the memory of the last time they'd talked about children.

It was late. The base was dark and a little cold. The power was turned down at night to conserve on energy. Jon and Jennifer had retired early. They had a long day ahead of them. Their intentions had been to go to sleep, however they'd gotten a little distracted. Afterwards, they were lying there together when Jon spoke.

His finger had been idly tracing circles on her shoulder, "Did you see that set of twins at the outpost earlier today?"

Jennifer opened her eyes to look at him and smiled. "I did. Why?"

"Did you notice that the boy looked just like his mom and the little girl looked just like her dad?"

"I hadn't noticed that. I thought they were cute kids, very sweet. Are you wondering again what our kids will look like?"

" Absolutely. Don't you ever wonder what our kids will look like?" he asked softly.

"No. Not really," she answered. "I wondered more about their futures. The world they'd grow up in. What challenges they'd face because of me."

Jon raised himself up on to his elbow to see her better. "Because of you?"

"Yes, because of me. I don't hide the fact that I was in the Youth. Some people will never forget that. Will our children have a harder time because I'm their mother?"

He smoothed back the hair at her brow. "They'll be fine—"

"How do you know that?"

He chuckled a little. "I know because you'll be their mother. You don't let anything stop you, and they won't either," he finished leaning down to give her a kiss.

She looked into his eyes as he pulled back. She reached up and ran her hand down the side of his face.

"What do you think our kids will look like then?" she inquired smiling softly at him.

"I don't care what they look like, but I hope they have your brains." he began settling back down next to her. "I would like one of each at least."

"Hmmm….I was thinking of a bit larger family," she replied.

"How many?" he asked with a small yawn.

"Three or four," she muttered sleepily snuggling into his side.

"We'll need a bigger base."

She chuckled sleepily, "Yeah."

"I love you," he spoke as he started to drift off.

"Love you, too."

"Jennifer? You okay?" Erin asked pulling Jennifer out of memories.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Just remembering. Jon said that he knew our kids would be fine, because I was their mother. I don't let anything stop me, and they wouldn't either."

"I've never considered children. It wasn't a consideration in the Youth. Now I wonder if that is a possibility in the future."

"Do you want a family someday?"

Erin looked around at the families starting to gather for lunch. She wasn't comfortable around children. She hadn't been around small children much, but she'd seen the other members of her team interacting with them when they were out in the various settlements. She'd overheard Murphy and Elliot talking about wanting to have families of their own on one occasion. She hadn't heard that word before so she'd looked it up in the computer when they'd returned to their base. She'd learned the technical definition of what a family was, but she was convinced that like everything else out here, the technical definition didn't really explain what a family was. The way her team talked about their families there was so much more to it than that.

"I don't know. I've read a few different books that were had families in them. They seem chaotic."

Jennifer couldn't help but laugh at that. "They are according to Matt. He said families are just organized chaos. Families aren't just people related to each other. Sometimes, friends make a family."

"That doesn't make much sense."

"It didn't to me either at first, but after living with my team for the last several years, I think I understand now what he meant. We're a family. We were five but now we're six since Cheryl's moved in with Matt. We're all different people, all with different likes and dislikes and personalities. It makes for very interesting times."

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Erin gazed off into the crowd as Jennifer took another swallow from her cup. It was nearing lunchtime she realized, looking at her watch. She really didn't know what to think. She needed time to think and process all that Jennifer had told her.

"I hate to say it but in some ways, the Dread Youth was easier," Erin said quietly.

Jennifer chuckled a bit. "I thought that for a while too. Emotions and relationships are messy. There is nothing organized or clear-cut with any of it. In the Youth, we had protocols for just about every instance. We had a clear chain of command. We KNEW what was expected of us every day. We didn't have to care what happened to the cadet or youth leader next to us. In fact, it was highly discouraged to think about anything other than absolute loyalty to the Machine, but out here…" Jennifer paused, sweeping her hand around at those around them, "out here is the real world. None of what we were taught was real, especially about relationships and emotions, and most of all, being human. It's chaotic and complicated and completely worth it. I can't imagine my life any different than it is now."

"I can't imagine still being in the Dread Youth either, but this…these feelings,I don't know how to deal with them."

"One day at a time. As I said, you have options. Take some time to think, maybe spend a little time with Paul talking. Not about missions but about life in general. Get to know HIM. Jon and I played chess. That was how we got to know each other so well. The year before we lost the base, we spent a lot of time playing chess. Usually late at night when one of ushad the night watch."

Erin considered her words. "Murphy and Reilly were teaching me to play cards a while back. I started beating them and they said Lady Luck was with me. They've tried to explain it to me but I still don't understand this concept they call 'lady luck'. What does luck have to do with cards? It seems like it should be simple mathematics. There are only so many cards in a deck and only a certain number of each kind of card."

"Being able to count the cards is a skill. It helps but even then, we still can't say with certainty what card we'll draw next. There is still the element of chance in the game."

"Is that how you beat your team? You count the cards?"

Jennifer laughed. "That's my little secret. But seriously, it's just like life, we make our plans, but in the end, chance can change everything. In the end though, like everything else out here, it's not simple."

Erin thought about that for a moment. "No, it's not, but I'll figure it out."

"Yes, you will. You've come so far, Erin. Don't be too hard on yourself. I'm still learning things everyday that I didn't know anything about."

"Really?" Erin asked a little amazed.

"Absolutely. There is so much to learn. We'll never learn it all, but that's a good thing. It means there is always something new to try and to experience."

"I've been trying so many new things at times I feel like I'm on overload, and I can't take anything else. Now with all these emotions mixed in…It's…I don't know…unsettling," Erin stated,looking around again at all the people coming and going. Finally she stood, "I should get back. Murphy's probably ready to go."

"Jennifer stood as well. " I'm sure Jon is too. Cheryl won't let him out of here before tomorrow, so it's my job to keep him in that bed. At least Hawk understands that sometimes you have to stay in the infirmary. I'm sure he's not arguing to leave early." She paused for a moment, looking at her young friend who didn't seem quite as confused. "Did anything I said help?"

"It did. I have to be honest. When we heard your team was here, I pushed Murphy to come see you. I needed to talk to you. You're the only who understands."

"I know. We're two of a kind. We've got to stick together." Jennifer laughed as they headed back to the medical pavilion. "I'm sure Jon is trying to get up and get out of here too. Jon is a terrible patient. He can't stand being forced to stay in bed." Not that I've ever had a problem with keeping him in bed under other circumstances, Jennifer thought,almost causing herself to blush.

Erin laughed lightly at the comment.

Upon arriving back at Jon's room, Jennifer could hear the two men talking but not what they were talking about. She decided to knock and announce her presence.

"Knock, knock. Everybody decent?" she called, remembering a joke that Scout had told them a while back.

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"Well, of course,"Jon replied. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Oh, darn," she responded snapping her fingers and giving Jon a mischievous grin. It took him a moment to realize just what she had saidand the innuendo behind it. His face cracked into a big grin and he tried hard not to laugh too much.

"Did I miss something?" Erin asked Murphy as she followed Jennifer in.

"I think it's an inside joke," Paul said standing from the chair, seeming not a collected as he was a few moments before.

Jon allowed a small smile to play about his lips as he watched Paul's reaction to Erin.

Jennifer tookPaul's place in the chair beside the bed.

"Did you two have a nice visit?" Jennifer asked the two men.

Jon knew his head hurt and he wasn't all there,but he would swear Jennifer either was up to something or knew something. He wondered if it was the same thing he'd just learned.

"Yes," he said tentatively. "Did you?"

"Of course, we did. Always nice to get together and talk shop from our days in the Dread Youth," Jennifer deadpanned.

Even Erin laughed at that one.

"We should be going," Erin said after a few moments, looking to Paul.

"Um…yes…We probably should," Murphy replied stumbling over his words just a bit.

"You okay, Paul?" Erin asked,trying out his first name in front of someone other than their teammates.

"Uh, yeah. Fine. Peachy," was the rushed response.

Erin allowed a small smile. "Okay, if you say so. We going?"

"Uh, yeah. Jon, it was good to see you. Thanks for the chat. Get better soon, and be more careful out there," Paul said,shaking Jon and Jennifer's hands as they left, "Jennifer, always a pleasure."

"You too, Paul. Be careful."

Murphy and Erin left and went on their way, both with a little more insight than they had when arrived.

After the door shut, Jon turned his head back to Jennifer, "You know something?"

"Yup," was her one word response.

"Wanna compare notes?" he grinned slyly.

"Sure."

"Is she in love with him?"

"Is he in love with her?"

"I asked you first," Jon joked.

She laughed aloud. He loved that sound. It had taken her almost a year to really laugh after they'd initially found her, but once she had, he found that he really enjoyed the sound of her laugh.

"Well?"

"Yes, she has feelings for him. She might be in love with him but it's too soon for her to figure it out yet."

Jon thought a few moments about that. "So she's you."

"Hey, I said it first remember?" she reminded him.

"Touché, and yes, he's in love with her. Scared he's going to do or say the wrong thing and totally screw it up. He's a little worried about how it will affect his team and the future. I think I gave him some things to think about."

Jon tookher hand and pulled her up to sit next to him on the bed.

"Want to know what he said?"

"Absolutely," she said, leaning down to give him a kiss.

"Well, it seems a few weeks ago…." Jon began.

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The end…for now