AN: The very short shorts, this time from Ro's POV. Some of the shorts reference events from the previous chapter.

The Microcosm Expanded

#01 - Happiness: There are whisker in the sink, shaving cream on the mirror and the toilet seat is up. Things couldn't be better.

#02 - Tears: He's through the door at her first scream, and back out as she starts sobbing.

#03 - Touch: "HUG ATTACK!" It never gets old.

#04 - Midnight: A heavy paw on her shoulder stops Ro from storming down the stairs and putting an end to things, before blood is drawn. "There's truth in the drink," Shiv tells her. "And it might be the only way they'll hear it."

#05 - Name: "I can stop calling you that," she says. "Given nicknames only from here on out." He snorts, a trickle of blood running from his hopefully-not-broken nose. "And deny me my fekking fun?"

#06 - Comfort: "Down!" She's knocked sideways, all the air pressed from her lungs, as he wraps himself around her, just as the missile hits.

#07 - Run: "But, Cookie-" He's got the longer legs; it really isn't fair. "No." "I just wanna-" "I don't kriffing care." She takes a breath, ready for the plunge. "Cookie, I know you're-" He turns on her, teeth bared. "Don't fekking dare finish that sentence." Beneath all that rage isa kernel of fear that's a slap to her face. It shuts her up. For now.

#08 - Soft: He's struggling with his newly grown-out hair, cussing a blue-streak, while she laughs and laughs until he's cursing her instead and she finally relents. Taking a brush, she inducts him into the secrets of a scrunchy.

#09 - Pain: She can't find him. In a sea of cots, bloody bandages and distorted faces….For a moment, they all look alike.

#10 - Kiss: She's muddy head-to-toe, still wondering how she's even still alive, when two angry, gauntleted hands grab her shoulders and spin her about. She's ready for a good shaking; she doesn't expect him to bend down and press the cold plastoid of his bucket against her cheek. "You barvy little fool."

#11 - Box: "What happens now?" She doesn't know why she asks, except she's haunted by a trooper she has never talked to, let alone met. "Body disposal," is Wren's cool answer. She has to swallow before asking, "Where?" He wordlessly points at something over her shoulder; she's too big a coward to glance back and see the garbage incinerators.

#12 - Rain: They're all snuggled up in the library, with a fire burning and the rain crawling across the windows. Shiv and Eda are on the sofa; the old wolf with his head in his wife's lap. Eda scratches behind his ears, while reading her book. Ro glances at them from over the piano, before grinning at Wren. "This is nice." He's staring fixedly at the keys, big fingers trying to walk the path hers have and gives an absent-minded grunt of agreement.

#13 - Music: Her calls her a barvy little Jedi, but she's his barvy little Jedi.