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victorluvsalice · 4 years ago

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Hey, you know how I tried to restart Fallout 4 properly around my birthday with a new Victor save? Yeah, uh, ran into a few issues with crashes and whatnot and had to start again! Fortunately, after much fiddling and poking and whatnot, I seem to have finally gotten myself a save that’s at least somewhat stable, so this here should be my final Victor Sole Survivor to go through the game with. Allow me to go through some of the pertinent points of my playthrough with you:

Appearance: Yeah, I had to redo him again -- at least this time I’m a bit happier with the eye spacing. He’s always going to look rather weird simply because I’m trying to translate a Tim Burton character into flesh, but I think I did a pretty good job under the circumstances!

...As for his fashion sense, he found the chestpiece and whatnot in a suitcase by Sanctuary, and the hat gives him +1 Intelligence and thus is giving me a bit more experience for his early quests. He’s not here to look good, he’s here to level up.

Stats: I ended up having to tweak his SPECIAL, mostly because I forgot just how many points you get at the beginning, and because I wanted to pivot slightly with how I designed his build. Here’s what he started out with:

Strength: 3

Perception: 3

Endurance: 7

Charisma: 2

Intelligence: 7

Agility: 4

Luck: 2

He’s still a high Endurance/Intelligence build, but I’ve decided that Agility is probably going to be his third “main” stat, because perks like “Moving Target” (harder to hit when you’re sprinting) make sense for him. (I mean, dodging like crazy was how he survived so long against Barkis!) I’ve already boosted it twice -- once with the You’re SPECIAL! book that you can find in Shaun’s room, and once through a level-up. I’ve also boosted his Perception thanks to the bobblehead in the Museum of Freedom. As for perks, he’s currently level 5, so I have the following:

Scrapper Level 1 (scavenge more uncommon components from scrapping things)

Gun Nut Level 1 (basic gun mods)

Armorer Level 1 (basic armor mods)

Given Victor’s whole “thing” in this universe is that he’s something of a tinkerer and good at modding things, this felt appropriate. :p

Mods: Because it’s not recommended to play without them! Certainly not without the fixes. . . Anyway, my complete mod list as of now is below, if you’re curious. I did try to vaguely group them into “these mods are part of the same category and/or go together,” but it’s not perfect. Still, if you see anything you find interesting, feel free to go to the link and check it out!

Fallout 4 Script Extender (https://f4se.silverlock.org/): Allows for script changes, enables certain other mods and serves as my game launcher through Vortex

Achievements Mod Enabler (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/15639): Enables achievements in a modded game; requires manual install (extract files into Fallout 4 folder)

Mod Configuration Menu (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21497/): Adds a menu for configuring compatible mods; uses F4SE

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4598): General bugfixes and small improvements

Crafting Highlight Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/27479): Removes the crafting “highlights” overlay so you can actually see your items while crafting; uses F4SE and requires MCM (to adjust things like how power armor pieces are highlighted)

Elevator Buttons Fix (Contraptions) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20664): Fixes floating elevator buttons from Contraptions (buttons can appear miles from the actual control panel)

Rusty Face Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31028): Fixes the rusty face glitch that may occur with the PC and NPCs (turning faces brown)

Nuka-World Bottle Scenery Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17853): Fixes the giant bottles that can sometimes spawn in Nuka World instead of the regular-sized models, completely obscuring the game world

No Aggro Impact Landing (Power Armor) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/9019): Stops friendly characters getting aggroed if you jump from a great height and land near them in Power Armor

Vault 81 Molerat Disease Immunity with Power Armor and Hazmat (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/5646): Stops you getting infected with the Molerat Disease if you're wearing full power armor (chance of infection goes up with each missing piece of armor), or if your companion gets bit; lesser chance of infection if you're wearing a hazmat suit

CryoFreez Fix (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10000): Fixes the bug where, if an enemy dies as a result of the Cryolater or other cryo-based weapons, they will respawn in a weird “dead” state with no AI

Cattle Feeders Immersively Filled (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11998): Two files; first adds a filled water trough for brahmin to use, second fills the vanilla feed trough with plants

Worthwhile Caps Stashes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23464): Increases the amount of caps in stash and have them contain other junk items; also makes the stash tin itself a junk item

Piper Interview Restored (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/21829): Restores some cut questions post Piper’s interview about your pre-war life

Dumpster Diving (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33474): Adds new containers to open dumpsters with new and amusing junk to collect

More Grind-Free Game Settings (from Thuggyfied – A Fallout 4 Mod List) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41435): Removes the need to get “Local Leader” Rank 2 to make crafting benches; quest markers display from five times further away; followers no longer auto-attack non-hostile Radstags; settlers run to the summoning bell; Jet doesn’t show up in pre-War coolers and containers (just Vault 95); pipe weapons no longer show up in Pre-War safes or trunks; ability to craft a “Jetpack Ring” at the chem station (I mainly got this for the first two items)

Useful Pulse and Cryo Explosives 1.1b (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24848): Tweaks the cryo grenade’s damage output and fixes the “dead enemy AI respawn bug” for cryo grenades; tweaks how the pulse grenade works, making it affect robots and turrets more strongly and removing damage to organic enemies (though the explosion can still stagger them); also changes the crafting recipes

Wasteland Survival Guide 5 - More Map Markers (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/26367): Changes Wasteland Survival Guide #5 (available in Gorski Cabin) to mark not only Diamond City, but also Goodneighbor, the Glowing Sea, Boston Airport, and Quincy

Strong Back Improved – Weightless Equipped Apparel (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17361): Improves the “Strong Back” perk to first halve the weight of worn apparel, then make it entirely weightless, and give more carry capacity out of Power Armor

Diamond City Plus (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/19293): Updates Diamond City with new shacks and interiors to the lower stands (including an arcade and a laundry!), along with new NPCs to populate them; also adds a proper farm with brahmin and chickens by the mutfuit plants

Commonwealth Wilderness Overhaul (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41008): Adds lots of little scenes, objects, and creatures (including rad rabbits, rad chickens, and wolves) to the Commonwealth Wilderness to fill it out and make it more interesting

Nuka World Open Season Extend II -- Assignable Factions - Recruitable NPCs (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47209): Allows you, post- the “Open Season” quest, to attract settlers to Nuka-World who can then be sent to regular settlements, and populate the parks and main market area with more traders, or various faction NPCs! (So if you really want the Minutemen to hold Nuka World after you gun everybody down, you can use this – though if you want them to come and HELP you gun everybody down, you need a different mod)

Flashy(JoeR) - Advanced Needs 2 - Customizable Survival Mode (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40440): A customizable “survival mode” that allows you to play with a character who needs to eat, drink, and sleep periodically without necessarily dealing with some of Survival Mode’s other stuff (namely, the lack of fast travel in my case). Comes with expansions for being a playable ghoul, food spoilage, and other activities if you’re into that, and a patch for “Campsite – Simple Wasteland Camping” so you can use the two together.

Sunshine Tidings – No Ghoul and No Corpse (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47044): Will eventually remove ghoul and human corpses from Sunshine; assigns Professor Goodfeels protected status if he hasn't already been disabled

Croup Manor Waterfront Extended (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/47144): Adds another chunk to Croup Manor's building area so you can actually access the water on the nearby beach for purifiers and whatnot

CWSS Redux V4 – Craftable Working Showers Sinks Baths Toilets Urinals Kitchens Etc (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14326): Adds craftable, usable bathroom equipment and some kitchen equipment in a separate workshop menu so the Sole Survivor, companions, and settlers can go to the toilet, shower, and have pretty kitchens

Vault-Tec Workshop Overhaul Redux (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/43643): Fixes some errors with the Vault-Tec DLC items for Vault 88 and adds newer, better versions for some other items (e.g., better lights, in three variations depending on computer specs)

Wearable Backpacks and Pouches (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3258): Adds a backpack workbench and a variety of upgradable backpacks to the game (three files – standard, ballistic weave addon, power armor capacity addon)

Campsite – Simple Wasteland Camping (and HD Sleeping Bags) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11734): Adds a book to Sanctuary (the root cellar) that allows you to make camping gear at the chem station and set up camp in the Commonwealth whenever you want

The Mobile Mechanic – Portable Workbenches and Junk Scrapping (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/18262/): Allows you to make a portable, customizable workbench for scrapping junk and in-game crafting anywhere

Atelier – Paint and sculpt (Unsupported) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/36485): Allows you to make and mix paint, paint pictures (for the "Well Rested" XP bonus), and work on a sculpture; also has settler-ready versions to increase happiness in settlements. Unsupported and glitchy ("Well Rested" perk sound will play incessantly if you try to paint, with the animation popping up when you disengage from the easel – keeping this mainly for the look of the thing for Victor’s house)

Fallout Instrument Pack (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/46604): Adds four playable instruments to the game, along with a small (and unfortunately bit glitchy) quest to unlock the ability to craft them; also has two new instrument-themed weapons

New Recipes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/12276): 60-ish new recipes added into the standard categories, with unique effects and healing (like new teas under Beverages)

Fine Dining (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33128): Adds a “Fine Dining” section to the cooking menu with six new recipes, with strong effects that require a (reusable) steel plate as well as the food; also adds milk and cheese as items to be found in the world

Culinary Masterpieces – Useful Food (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/16055): Adds a “Culinary Masterpieces” section to the cooking menu with new recipes, and the ability to plant tarberries, hubflower, bloodleaf, and rice (after buying it from the Abernathys)

Apple Trees 3.2 (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40388): Adds an apple and pear orchard to the game near Vault 111, and a “Fruit Recipes” section to the cooking menu for apple and pear-based food; also you can grow apples and pears for food in settlements

Tales From The Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): Extended quests and companions mod – features new characters, new locations, and new quests across the Commonwealth, along with three new companions (contains additional file for DLC commentary from the new companions)

Tales From The Commonwealth Visual Fixes (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/43974): Patch to fix some of the broken precombines and visual bugs from TFTC

Tales From The Commonwealth – FaceGen Data (For PhysOp or Vanilla) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/45148): Patch to help provide face generation data for TFTC; vanilla file used

We Are The Minutemen (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/6443): Overhauls the Minutemen, giving Preston a new outfit, making patrols more common and more powerful as you level up, giving you a command table to make Minutemen, and cools down the frequency of radiant quests

Better Companions – No Conflicts (Accuracy Version) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/24233): Improves companions – in particular, making them more accurate and better at sneaking

Settler and Companion Dialogue Overhaul (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/41785): Increases the variety of companion lines while adventuring; gives certain companions their own radiant quests; gives settlers more variety in what they say to you while visiting settlements (acknowledging you as Minutemen General, complaining less)

Realistic Conversations Fallout 4 (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32514): Makes conversations between NPCs more realistic, adds variety

Settlers Of The Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): Adds unique new settlers to the Commonwealth that you can recruit

Level 4 Merchants Improved (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/40747): Puts all the level 4 merchants you can find and recruit in the Dugout Inn for easier location; also assigns protected status to certain ones that might otherwise easily die (like the Vault-Tec Rep)

Squirrels of the Commonwealth (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20027): Adds a variety of (surprisingly tough) squirrels; using the “docile” version that adds Garbage Squirrels but makes most squirrels run away if you shoot them

True Storms – Wasteland Edition (Thunder-Rain-Weather Redone) (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4472): Improved weather, with more intense thunderstorms and whatnot; also has files for earlier sunsets, compatibility with Far Harbor and Nuka World, and (if you want, I didn’t) more dangerous Far Harbor fogs and Glowing Sea

Atomic Radio (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704): New radio station with original radio shows and commercials

Where I Am In The Game: Given Victor’s only level five, you’ve probably guessed I’ve only just started -- and you’d be right! Victor’s about five days into his adventures in the Commonwealth, and has spent that time mainly cleaning up Sanctuary and the Red Rocket, meeting Dogmeat and Preston, killing raiders, and molotoving and machine-gunning a Deathclaw to death. I’ve completed Out of Time and When Freedom Calls for quests, and I’m currently working on Sanctuary before moving onto The First Step. Next playsession, Victor and Codsworth are going to go visit the apple orchard on the other side of Vault 111 and get some apples for everyone! And probably fight a bear! :D What, the gang needs food, and I want to give them more variety than gourds and melons.

What Comes Next: While I hope to actually start the main plot a lot sooner than I did in my original attempt at playing, we’re definitely doing some Minutemen stuff first, plus exploring the general area around Sanctuary so I can pick up that “double meat” magazine. Think of it as Victor getting his hand in as he tries to figure out how to survive in this brave new world.

#fallout 4 #sole survivor Victor #fallout of darkness #since what I do in this game is going to inform any writing I do for that #at the very least once I get Piper #I need to find a good place for Alice to 'spawn'#but yeah ran into issues restarted once again #then had to figure out my way around a crash at Concord #fortunately things seem to be working now #I will beat this game into submission with a baseball bat if I have to #because when I DO get to play it I enjoy it #it's just the glitchiness that gets to me sometimes #I don't get how people have hundreds of mods in this game #I'm genuinely worried about adding more to mine #though Advanced Needs 2 was a temptation I couldn't resist in the end #look I have all these cooking mods and camping stuff #I HAD to get a mod that gave me a reason to use them!#queued

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feliciahiwat · 3 years ago

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How Long Does It Take For An Ex To Miss You With No Contact

RELATED: https://josephpayton.tumblr.com/post/652498860435963904/how-long-does-it-take-for-an-ex-to-miss-you-with-no-cont

It is inevitable that everyone misses their ex at some point following a split. They begin to miss the little, quotidian aspects of their ex-personality. partner's When you are alone and all alone, you may sense an emptiness within, and this may prompt some to wonder whether their breakup was the correct option.

During all of this, it is difficult to know whether to comply with the "no contact" guideline. The waiting period following a breakup is known as the No Contact Rule.

This guideline was made to provide people the space and time they need to recover from tragedy. People who are alone in their moments of need frequently benefit greatly from such periods because they have a better perspective on their relationship and so enhance the likelihood of getting back together with their ex.

How long does it take for your ex to miss you during no contact?

This is different from everyone else, since your own methods and approaches may or may not be effective for others. It is difficult to get agreement on when not keeping in touch is appropriate.

There are many people who make up this time period, and it may range anywhere from 3 weeks to 8 weeks. As according to study, the no-contact rule is most effective after around four weeks. Frequent contact with your ex may not be in your best interest. Give yourself a period of at least one month without seeing or speaking to your ex.

Several studies have shown that taking a break from a relationship can relax the participants and assist them to better understand their relationship as well as provide them with an opportunity to regroup and restructure their lives.

Will no contact make him move on?

Congratulations, you have jumped in. The No Contact Rule was implemented. However, you are concerned that your ex-boyfriend may stop loving you, or move on to someone else.

When you are faced with these worries, how should you handle them?

Would it be safe to say that your ex-boyfriend has a probability of moving on and forgetting about you? Maybe you will meet someone else, or you will simply be fed up with waiting for you.

There is always danger involved in trying out this ex-boyfriend method.

Even if your former boyfriend does manage to move on, your probability of him doing so while you are practicing your no contact approach is rather slim.

Is there a reason why?

If you think that she could be sliding out of your grasp, what would you do?

What are the stages of no contact?

Similar to the five phases of grieving, however here it is “feeling” without any interaction.

Thus, if your ex is abiding by the no contact rule, then you are keeping disciplined, you are applying the rule, and you are not making any errors in abiding by the rule. During the five phases you may anticipate your ex to go through, you can anticipate your former to experience these emotions.

1. placid and confident in their choice (3 Days To A Week)

2. Worry if they do not get in touch with you (Week To 2 Weeks)

3. The onset of feelings of anger once they realize they are being ignored (2 Weeks To 2.5 Weeks)

4. the fight over what they had lost (2.5 Weeks to 3 Weeks)

5. the faintest hope of contact (3 Weeks To 4 Weeks)

Will my ex forget about me during no contact?

There is no chance your ex will have forgotten about you if you do not contact him or her.

That is indeed how it works.

For instance, I would say your ex is to money as an example. In a situation when you have less money, you will be more concerned with how you are going to earn it.

Because you could afford many things, you will reflect back to those days and wonder how you ever did without money.

His ex being broke will force him to think about it more and more.

He has lost all that was significant to him in the past. That is why your ex is demanding what he lacks/can not have.

Going "no contact" will not cause your ex to forget about you. Do not give up till the end.

After you have been gone for a time, he will undoubtedly miss you and the contributions you made to the relationship.

If your ex remembers and remembers fondly, you have got an advantage.

Permanent connections with people we care about are crucial when it comes to getting back together with an ex.

RELATED: https://josephpayton.tumblr.com/post/652498860435963904/how-long-does-it-take-for-an-ex-to-miss-you-with-no-cont

Does no contact help your ex move on?

The loss of the split is making you feel at the moment.

You are well aware of the fact that it is a really painful event.

I am highly encouraging you not to contact your ex, as they will have to feel motivated to want to.

Your ex must desire you back and you will need to feel something is lacking if that is the case.

Your ex must have felt the pain you are in now.

Because your ex has distanced themself from you, you sense a loss. You are unable to find them.

You seem quite excited about this.

Getting back with your ex requires a lot of motivation on their part. The only way a person can be motivated to get you back is if they fear losing you in the first place.

Even if your ex misses you, it may take time for him to want to see you again.

While you look at the phases an ex through when he or she is not contacting you, it may be seen as much more heartwrenching.

A lot of people have asked me whether they should analyze their ex during a time of no contact, and while my advise to you is to avoid it, I can tell you that when you stop trying to get back together and call, they may really understand that they do not want the relationship to end.

Avoiding touch can impede or even reverse your ex's transition to the next stage in his or her life.

The things that really work to help your ex get over you include chasing and contacting them. And, in fact, they will be fleeing from you.

It will be difficult to maintain a no contact status.

The more you work to get them back, the more you love them. Hm.

Will no contact work if he lost feelings?

If you were in a relationship with a toxic, emotionally unavailable, or narcissistic person and even after the relationship has ended, are missing your partner, it may be a sign that he misses you. He might be in your DNA.

Above all, around Christmas and surrounding holidays.

It is thus: Yes. The manner in which your ex missed you mirrors the way he was while he was in a relationship with you, to be ambiguous.

Please, tell me more.

does he miss me?”, you must understand the starting point. do you think he misses me while we are not in contact? in order to do that, we must unravel the questions first.

This information is not new, but the main reason for having no contact is to ensure that you will not be further provoked in a negative relationship, which will allow you to recover and move on.

How do you know if your ex misses you during no contact?

Though your ex talks about you continuously even when you are separated, whether he lauds you or criticizes you, it just proves that he is unable to let go of you. He can't resist gossiping about you, no matter how much effort he expends to cover his tracks. The wisest course of action in this situation is to mind your own business. Stick to your guns when you are away from the other person since the only thing it will do is stir up emotions, muddying your focus. Do not be afraid to address him if you see anything going on that disturbs you. Approaching him should be your absolute last choice, however before you do that, make sure you have looked everywhere and considering all possibilities, confronting him is the absolute last thing you want to do.

How do I know if my ex misses me?

When your ex checks their profile, one of the indicators they are still missing you is that their photograph is still a photo of the two of you together. Additionally, your ex will keep coming back to see what you are up to on social media if they miss you. In the case of an ex who misses you and cares about you, social media will be littered with indications.

Does silence make a man miss you?

Yes, no contact causes him to miss you, but only if you spend time using this method in a prudent manner. As I said before, spending time waiting around for a call from him or having a lot of parties would not lead him to think, "I miss her... I wish I had the chance to speak to her...

To have an impact, however, you have to spend this time effectively and actively concentrate on improving your life. The duration of your no contact time will depend on that one factor alone.

RELATED: https://josephpayton.tumblr.com/post/652498860435963904/how-long-does-it-take-for-an-ex-to-miss-you-with-no-cont

How long does it take for an ex to reach out?

Would you want to know how long you have to go on being lonely? Is it ever going to end? You have to wait a certain amount of time for a text message, a sign, or anything else.

Once you've signed up for hundreds of dating sites that will tell you how to “adopt the No Contact rule”, your ex will inevitably return to you. In all likelihood, they will have your ex at their feet within the next two weeks or three months, begging to be let back. This is the gift you get. However, it is generally untrue.

I will only lie to your face if you want me to do so. Try doing a Google search for it, and you will discover that the answers you are looking for are completely accurate. Stop reading if you like that. The most accurate way to uncover the truth is to sit back and relax.

youtube

RESOURCES

http://channels.feeddigest.com/rss/23321539.xml http://channels.feeddigest.com/rss/23321540.xml http://channels.feeddigest.com/rss/23321541.xml http://channels.feeddigest.com/rss/23321542.xml

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tatooedlaura-blog · 7 years ago

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Lost Keys

yes, yes, the throwback to end all throwbacks for me ...

my first fic written in 1997 in the midnight darkness of my bedroom in my parents house by the light of a 10" TV with pencil on a yellow legal pad at the tender age of 21 ...

All errors, in both grammar and punctuation, are original ... I chose to correct just one time notation from the Gossamer post way back when ...

&&&&&&&&&&

Lost Keys:

"Come on Scully, what else are you going to do on vacation? Read 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', vacuum that little dog of yours?”

"So instead of relaxing and yes, probably reading that book you refer to so affectionately -- you want me to go up to your mother's cabin in Quonochataug and help you clean?"

"Yup, that about covers it."

"We see enough of each other here, why would I want to spend my vacation with you as well?"

"Because I'd miss you horribly and you know that if you're not around Scully, I'll get myself into loads of trouble and you'll have to come bail me out."

"Sadly enough Mulder, I wouldn't put it past you. Now, why do you really want me to go?"

"'Cause if you wield a paint brush as well as you wield a gun," ruefully rubbing his shoulder and giving Scully a sly little grin, "the job will get done faster and I won't have to call you and complain, waking you up at the most hideous hours of the night. Think of it Scully, it'll be a nice trip to the forest

"Mulder, may I remind you of what happened the last time you promised me a 'nice trip to the forest'"

"Oh yeah. Sorry about that."

"Mulder ..."

"Yeah?"

"What time do we leave?"

"You really mean it."

"Why do you suddenly sound disappointed?"

"'Cause I spent half the day coming up with reasons to get you to go. I haven't even got to the good ones yet."

"Well, save them Mulder, you may need to use them to persuade me not to shoot you again once the mosquitoes start attacking and the poison ivy sets in."

"Ah Scully, they'll stop attacking once they find out that your not as sweet as people think you are."

After threatening to throw the stapler at him, Scully picked up her briefcase and started for the door.

"I'll be by to pick you up at seven a.m. tomorrow, and thanks again, you won't regret it."

"No, but you may. I tend to snore; quite loudly I might add, when I feel the need to take revenge."

With that said - she straightened Mulder's tie, gave him a quick grin and slid out the door-leaving Mulder with a straightened tie and his mouth hanging open - amazed that even after five years, his partner still knew how to take him by surprise.

Mulder picked her up a little after seven. He put her things in the car and they set out on the three hour drive to Quonochataug.

"Well Scully, we have arrived." Mulder announced much later in the day.

"And to think, it only took us five and a half hours to get here."

"How was I to know about the construction. At least we got the scenic route."

"It seems that we always end up on the scenic route. Cows and all."

"Really, dear Dr. Scully, after all we've seen together, you feel the need to complain about the cows."

"It's not the cows themselves but the noxious gases that emerge from them."

"I didn't smell anything unusual," Mulder replied, with his blue eyes twinkling.

"Fine Mulder, and I have just been made director of the FBI."

"Well director, how do you like the place?"

"I've seen it before, remember."

"Yeah, but this time it's light and you're not trying to keep me from destroying myself in the process."

After a slight pause , Scully turned to Mulder, "you know, this place really is quite nice. I think I can handle a few days here. Especially if it means I may find some incriminating evidence on you - such as the ever popular bear skin rug photograph."

"Well Scully, in order to find such horrendous stuff, I guess we're going to have to get to work. Here, catch."

Scully snatched the keys out of the air in a clean swoop and went to unlock the door as Mulder got out their bags.

Once Scully had gotten into the house however, she forgot all her misgivings about coming here for vacation-the house really was wonderful, incredibly dusty, but perfect. Scully could just imagine Mulder as a child, running through here with Samantha, playing games with her, telling her stories.

She was jolted out of her daydream by the sound of her partner's voice behind her.

"Are you gonna stand in the door all day or just until my arms decide to fall off?"

Scully gave a small grin and without turning around "you shouldn't have carried them all at once. Contrary to popular belief, you are not superman."

"But I could play him on TV" Mulder replied, then he grunted and dropped everything onto the front hall floor.

"So what do you think Scully?" he asked with a smile.

She turned, put a hand on his chest without thinking and said "it's even better than I could have imagined. The last time I was here, I was too frightened to get any kind of look around."

"For that Scully," he said in a sad tone "I apologize. I don't plan on doing that to you ever again - trust me. Now, how about a tour before lunch"

"Lunch - you were actually serious about cooking," Scully said, "I assumed you were just toying with me. I figured I'd be cooking all week."

"What" Mulder replied, looking both shocked and amused, "did you think I survive off of when I'm at home?"

In an equally amused tone, Scully replied, "sunflower seeds, ice tea and whatever you bum off of me"

"My dear, you are in for one big surprise."

After the tour of the house, which included two nice size bedrooms, a large living room, an even larger sun porch and a small but efficient kitchen; Mulder made a rather appetizing turkey sandwich with the food they had brought with them.

Looking over the top of her sandwich, "Mulder ..."

"Yeah," he replied through a large bite of the sandwich.

"Did you tell Skinner that I was coming up here with you?"

"Yeah, I said my mom recruited you to clean gutters and repaint the walls."

Laughing, Scully asked about Skinner's reaction

"Well," replied Mulder, "he told me to make sure you weren't abducted, eaten, held at gun point, threatened to be killed, chased by the Enigma or trapped by a giant tape worm. Then he told me to thank you for coming along because who knows how much trouble I could get into without you."

"Everybody seems to think that you'd fall apart without me."

Mulder got up and crouched next to her chair, "Well Scully, I'd have to say I agree with them. Without you there next to me, I'd have checked out of here a long time ago."

Scully briefly put her fingers on his cheek then playfully tweaked his ear, " I guess what they say is true - best friends do stick together through everything - and believe me, we've seen everything."

For the briefest of moments, something passed between them and they held each other's gaze; then Mulder's stomach let out an incredible growl and both started to laugh.

After finishing up their lunch and as they were cleaning up, Mulder's cell phone rang.

It turned out to be his mother, telling them both that she was sorry but she wouldn't be able to make it up there until later in the week.

"She said that one of her good friends is coming home after hip surgery and their is no one to take care of her until a couple of days from now."

Scully had been able to gather this information from Mulder's half of the conversation. She had tried not to listen, but sometimes it was just so hard to ignore that voice of his.

"Well, what do you propose we do now, Dr. Scully?"

"Well, Mr. Mulder, I propose that you wipe that mustard off your chin and then we take a look at what needs to be done."

"You mean you still want to stay."

"Sure, besides, " grabbing a handful of red hair on either side of her head, "I refuse to sit in that car again - with your voice on one side of me and Elvis' on the other - I think I'd go crazy long before the New Hampshire border."

By the time they had mapped out all that had to be done, night was fast approaching and both agents had begun to yawn after their long day.

"Well Mulder, where should we sleep?"

"Why Scully," Mulder said with that innocent look, "I didn't know you cared - I prefer the left side of the bed but it's always lady's choice with me."

"Mulder," Scully said good naturedly, "if I wasn't so tired, I'd throw something at you but as you can see, I can hardly keep my eyes open. I'd probably aim too low and hit something more important than your shoulder."

"Scully, don't tempt me with such a proposition."

"If you don't tell me which bedroom I'm sleeping in, I'm going to fall asleep right here and you'll have to carry me upstairs. Just remember that the human body weighs almost twice as much when asleep."

"Again Scully," replied Mulder, "don't tempt me with such a proposition like that. For tonight, we have to sleep downstairs because those sheets haven't been changed in about a year and their is way to much dust to sleep to tonight. We'll air them out in the mornings."

"So I'm guessing I get the couch and you get the floor, unless you want to sleep in the tub."

"Ahh Scully, you know me too well."

After they both had found blankets and got settled, Mulder suddenly jumped up and turned on the light at the end of the hall.

"Why'd you do that," Scully asked.

"Because I know that you hate sleeping in total darkness."

Scully just looked at him in amazement.

"Hey Scully," Mulder said with one raised eyebrow, "I do pay attention to things outside the X-Files."

Mulder lay down in his old sleeping bag on the floor and called a playful goodnight to the still dumfounded Scully on the couch next to him.

Mulder awoke with a start when something fell on him from above. He opened his eyes and smiled when he realized that his partner's hand had slid off the couch and landed on his chest. He was about to slide her hand back next to her when the moonlight from the window illuminated a faint scar between her thumb and forefinger. He reached up to touch it and discovered just how soft his best friend's hand really was. The only times he had ever held her hand was to help her up or when he took something she was offering. He had never been able to inspect those small hands like he wanted to. After tracing her fingers and the back of her hand, he turned it over and lightly caressed her palm. The callous on her finger from the trigger on her gun. How often she had to save him by drawing her weapon and destroying the enemy? He could hardly keep track anymore. Without realizing it, he had begun to move up her arm. Suddenly a familiar voice jolted him out of his contentment.

"What in the world are you doing Mulder? For a minute I thought you were a huge and hideous bug." Scully asked.

Mulder, stammering like a school boy (but not letting go of her hand), "Your hand fell on me and woke me up and I saw a scar and then I tried to put your hand back next to you and I realized ... did you know you have very soft hands ... I'm sorry."

He said everything in such a rush that Scully had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Truth was, she had been woken up when her hand fell and she hadn't stopped him because she enjoyed his intimate touch more than she wanted to admit.

"It's all right Mulder, really."

In order to break up the awkward feeling that suddenly filled the air, Scully said, "well, since we're up anyway, how 'bout a snack. I'm starving."

Grateful for the distraction, Mulder replied "you really are an eating machine aren't you?"

"Does this mean you won't be joining me in some food?"

"God no ... point me towards the kitchen woman."

After making some sandwiches, both returned to the couch.

Looking at her hands, Scully remarked "I didn't even realize that scar was visible anymore."

"Where'd it come from. I didn't do it did I?" Mulder asked with a worried look on his face.

"Oh no. I got this when I was 14 and I snuck one of my mom's cigarettes. I was so scared I was going to be caught that I forgot it was lit and the ashes fell and burned my hand. After that I decided that me and cigarettes did not mix."

"Dr. Scully, you rebel. I guess that red hair of yours represents your wild side huh?"

"You think that was wild. My senior year in high school, I decided to get into the school spirit and dye my hair for the homecoming game. Mind you, the school colors were purple and yellow."

Mulder smirked, "this doesn't have the makings of anything good."

"You could say that again. Everything was fine until I tried to wash it out. When I emerged from the shower, my hair was a hideous shade of puke green with pumpkin orange streaks."

"Oh please, Scully, tell me your mother took a picture, please."

"No such luck darlin'. Anyway, my dress was a wine red color so in the end I looked like something from Dr. Seuss. My date tried to make me feel more attractive by thinking he could get more that one kiss. To make a long story short, he wound up with a heel scar on his shin and a bloody nose and I got to sit on the bleachers the rest of the evening."

"Now I know why you skipped your reunion. I am sorry. You must have felt awful."

"Well Mulder, worse things have happened since then but that still ranks up there with the best of them. By the way, if you don't wipe that smirk off your face Mulder, I may be forced to disown you."

"Sorry Scully, I was just picturing you decking that guy. I'd have cheered for you" Suddenly turning serious, "I would have danced with you Scully. I would have been happy to be their with you because, green hair and all, you still would have been beautiful."

Luckily, it was dark enough that she couldn't quite see the crimson creeping up Mulder's cheeks and he couldn't quite see the surprised but happy twinkle in her blue eyes.

Scully looked at Mulder and suddenly asked "are you sure you're not Eddie Van Blunht in a Mulder disguise again?"

Both laughed at this comment and Mulder said mischievously "no, but am I coming close?"

With that, Mulder pushed Scully back down on the couch, then flopped onto the floor.

A few moments later, Scully slipped her hand over the side of the couch, gently laid it back on Mulder's chest and fell sound asleep - as did Mulder with his hand on hers.

Scully woke up slowly. It took her a second to realize where she was (in their line of work, both rarely stayed in one place for very long). When she did, she decided to wake up Mulder with a pillow to the head. Scully slung her pillow full force over the side of the couch and was surprised when all she hit was floor. Mulder was already up but it was too quiet for him to actually be in the house. Scully got up and shuffled her way to the kitchen. It was there that she found a note from Mulder saying that he went to the store for food because he was tired of turkey and ham. Scully grabbed herself a banana, a piece of bread and a glass of water and headed onto the porch to eat her breakfast in the sun. She also took "From Outer Space" with her because she knew that Mulder would never be quiet enough for her to read in peace.

About a half hour later, Mulder got back to the house. He took the groceries in and set them on the counter. He noticed the back door was open so he walked around to tell Scully he was back. He peered around the door and found her engrossed in a novel. The way the sun was reflecting of her hair and that look of total contentment on her face made him stand quietly and forget everything but her.

She looked up suddenly and was shocked to see Mulder standing in the doorway, looking at her. He jumped, she jumped, he smiled and she just couldn't seem to keep a silly grin off her face.

"Good morning Scully. I trust you slept well considering when I got up this morning I could have rolled a bulldozer over you and you wouldn't have moved."

"I don't recall having slept that good in a long time."

"Ah Scully, I was sleeping next to you, how could you NOT be content."

"Yes Mulder that has to be it. Now, what kind of food did you get us?"

"Don't tell me your hungry again. At this rate, you might actually get fat in about four years."

"Mulder, when I'm not worrying about the x-files, my job, the world in general or you, I actually have an appetite and I love to eat."

"Well then, I guess I'm gonna have to stop doing things to worry you."

"Mulder, if I didn't have you to worry about, my life would cease to have any purpose at all. Besides, I kind of like worrying about you."

"Well, I'll just have to keep up the good work after all. I brought us normal food. Lettuce, tomatoes, and green peppers for some salad. Frozen pizza, more sunflower seeds, ice tea and some Ho-Ho's which, if you're nice to me, I'll let you share. I also got some meat for the carnivorous side of us."

"Again Mulder, you have discovered a way to shock me. Up until now, I still didn't think you had any idea of what a supermarket was or what types of food they had in them."

Digging back into the bags. Scully emerged holding a bottle of wine with an accusative look on her face and one eyebrow raised. "What are you planning on doing with this, Mr. Mulder. Seduce me over ho-ho's and sunflower seeds?"

Turning slightly red, "I figured it would taste good and I know that you like red wine. It is a vacation after all."

"Well thank you. And you made a pretty good choice too."

Brightening, Mulder replied, "I figured. You have the same kind in your refrigerator at home." Without missing a beat, he asked Scully, "did you know that you're still wearing you pajamas?"

"Well, I figure you've seen me in less and never yelled so I decided to get in as much reading as I could 'cause once you got back here, you weren't going to give me a minutes peace."

"Yup, you're right."

While Scully was changing, Mulder put the rest of the food away

"Where do you think we should start."

He heard Scully's voice before he saw her. She came into the kitchen putting her hair in a ponytail. He had to laugh. She had on a ratty old pair of jean shorts and an FBI academy shirt. Her socks were a faded out green and she had on tennis shoes, actual honest to goodness shoes, no dress clothes for his partner this vacation.

"I wouldn't laugh. Have you looked in a mirror today, oh partner of mine?"

"Yes and as usual, I liked what I saw. You're wearing real clothes Scully. I didn't think they even existed in your world."

"Well, a person has to dig far back in the closet but they're there, just waiting to be destroyed while helping you," Scully admitted.

"If only you had your green hair. Now that would be a picture."

Suddenly she took off after him and he almost fell trying to get out the door. She chased him through the trees. Mulder stopped dead in his tracks in front of her, causing her to crash into the back of him. She peered over his shoulder and saw why he had stopped. They had come across a little clearing and in one of the bigger trees, a tree house sat with a ladder leading up to it.

"Is it yours," Scully asked in a hushed voice, not wanting to break the spell of the place.

"Mine and Samantha's," Mulder said, just as softly.

Scully had this sudden urge and without stopping herself, she reached for his hand and held it tightly. He was surprised by the touch but as she held his hand, a warmth began to spread up his arm and he was reluctant to let go, so he didn't.

"We used to bring our bologna sandwiches up here and eat. We would race to the ladder and whoever lost had to clean up the mess before we went in for the night. We'd play Stratego and card games. She never quite got the hang of poker though."

"You taught an seven year old poker?" Scully asked with her eyes wide.

"Sure. Want to learn?" Mulder asked amusingly. "Didn't you brothers ever show you?"

"Actually, I taught them how to play although I haven't picked up a deck in a while."

"Well now. A challenge. I believe we have found our entertainment for the evening."

Mulder turned her around and led her back through the trees, never letting go of her hand.

Feeling his strong grip, Scully couldn't help but think of another evening entertainment but she decided she wouldn't mention it . With an embarrassed grin, she decided that holding his hand was good enough for the moment.

They emerged from the woods and stood looking at the house.

"Where should we start Scully? We can work from the inside out or from the outside in. Which would you prefer?"

"Well, we should probably clean out the bedrooms so we have some place to sleep tonight, then start outside because the weather is gorgeous right now."

"Hey, what was wrong with where we slept last night?"

Jokingly she replied, "aside from the fact that you still have carpet marks on your face, nothing."

"I know. You just couldn't stand to be sleeping that close to me for fear of what you might do to me in the dark of night. Heart pounding, mind racing because I was only mere inches away from you. I understand perfectly."

He somehow managed to say all this with a straight face but as soon as he glanced at Scully, he burst out laughing at the comical expression on her face. He assumed it was there because of his comments, Scully knew better however. He had come so close to the truth without realizing it that she had to laugh herself. Both didn't say another word as they walked into the house and back upstairs to the bedrooms.

When they had finished upstairs (or at least enough to be able to sleep there later on), Mulder and Scully headed outside and began to work there. Mulder cleaned the gutters and the chimney while Scully went to work on the yard surrounding the house. They worked in companionable silence. It was a nice, comfortable quiet. Something they never got to share when they were at the office or on a case. The day passed swiftly and by seven o'clock, Scully's stomach was growling a protest to not being fed and Mulder finally threw down his tools and dropped onto the lawn next to them.

Scully sat down next to him, "well sir, I would say that we've done a good days work. How 'bout we put some of this stuff away, then go throw the pizza in the oven."

Mulder answered her with closed eyes, "or we could just stay here until tomorrow morning."

"No such luck, my good man. I need a shower badly and from the smell, so do you. Come on, if this all works out right, we'll be eating in an hour and I know how much you love your pizza."

She got to her feet and held out he hand to Mulder. She hauled him up and together, they cleaned up after a long days work.

After putting the pizza in the oven, "Hey Mulder, you want the shower first," Scully called from across the room.

"No, go on. I'm way to comfortable even to think about moving, let alone actually doing it." Comfortable he was, sprawled on the couch with his feet dangling over the arm. He was also enjoying the thought of his friend in the shower. He quickly dismissed that thought however, because if he continued, he might go crazy. He decided a quick nap was in order, if only to distract him from the thought of Scully.

About 20 minutes later, Scully came back down into the kitchen; glad to have gotten rid of all the grime on her body. She walked into the living room to tell Mulder the shower was free and found him still sprawled out on the couch with a mysterious smile on his face. As she approached, Scully realized that Mulder was asleep. He looked more content than she had ever seen him and she didn't have the heart to wake him. Instead she went to the kitchen and quietly made a salad, dug up some paper plates and forks to set the table. The timer went off for the pizza and as it was sitting, Scully went to wake up Mulder. She leaned over Mulder's head gently began to tap the end of his nose. After a moment, Mulder opened his eyes and was met with the image of an upside down Scully sticking her tongue out at him.

"I don't know whether to kiss you or to scream," Mulder replied, grabbing the sides of her head.

"I'd be careful which you choose Mulder. Remember, I control the pizza and either choice could have dire consequences."

Scully wriggled out of his grasp and whacked his head with a pillow before going back to the kitchen. Mulder followed close behind, knowing full well which choice he would have picked.

Both the salad and the pizza were eaten rather quickly and sloppily. As Scully took her last bite, Mulder glanced up and started to laugh when he saw pizza sauce all over her nose and mouth. With a sickening realization, he saw that it was blood and not sauce.

At first Scully couldn't figure out why Mulder had turned pale all of a sudden. She wiped her face with her napkin; then she saw what was frightening Mulder. It was blood from her nose that she had felt.

Quickly she put the napkin to her nose and went to the bathroom upstairs. The bleeding stopped after a minute and Scully was about to go downstairs when she caught Mulder's reflection in the mirror behind her. She turned to look at him and saw the fear in his eyes.

"Mulder, the doctor said this might happen if I did a lot of strenuous work. I was bent over half the day and I guess the pressure built up."

"I thought the surgery made you better?" Mulder asked in a voice that nearly broke Scully's heart.

Moving towards him and putting a hand on his arm, "it did Mulder, it did. If you hadn't found a doctor willing to try; I would not be here today. The surgery was experimental and they weren't sure of the side effects, but remember the most important thing --- they got to the cancer before it spread too much. A slight nose bleed now and then is nothing compared to before." Looking up at him with a gentle smile, "you helped to give my life back Mulder. I'm not gonna let that gift go to waste."

"Scully, I want you to know that I'd do it all again."

"I know Mulder. Now, how about we forget this and go clean up the kitchen 'cause I'll be damned it I'm going to clean it up tomorrow."

Around 9:30 pm, Scully let out a yawn that nearly split her head in two.

"You can't be tired yet Scully, you haven't been fed in almost an hour and a half. We should be eating again. Maybe my watch is wrong."

"Cute Mulder."

"Yes, I try. Why don't you go to bed. I'll lock up down here."

"Why so generous? Is the boogie man hiding upstairs?"

"Possibly, at least he was when Sam was little. I've still got to take a shower anyway." =0D "Who am I to look a generous deed in the mouth. See you in the morning Mulder."

He watched her walk up the stairs. She must have felt him looking at her because she turned and asked, "you sure you're all right?"

"Fine, now go to bed because I don't have the energy to carry your sleeping body up the stairs tonight."

With that, Scully called good night again and made her way upstairs. She knew something was bothering her partner but she decided not to push it.

Mulder, meanwhile, locked everything up and headed for the shower. After standing under the near scalding water for about ten minutes, he dried himself and crawled into bed.

He awoke about 12:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep. He had been dreaming of Scully, Cancerman and his sister. The perfect makings for a nightmare, he thought bitterly. If only Cancerman had kept away, it would have been a far nicer dream. Tossing and turning for about twenty minutes; Mulder finally got up, put his FBI academy shirt on and made his way out to the hammock he and Scully had found and hung that morning. He tried to be quiet but he knew his partner would hear him and make her way down to him eventually, which was what he needed her to do.

Scully, in the meantime, heard Mulder go outside and when she peered out the window, she saw him sitting in the hammock. She waited a few minutes to give him time to collect his thoughts; then she grabbed the blanket, knowing he wouldn't have taken one himself and went outside.

Mulder heard the kitchen door shut and a few seconds later a familiar voice say, "is this net taken?"

He looked up and shook his head no. She sat down next to him and both were silent for a time.

"How did you know to come out here Scully? How do you always know when I need you?"

"Well, you always make just enough noise to wake me -intentionally or unintentionally. Also, we seem to know each other better than everyone else. I just feel it and come find you, where ever you are."

"Well Scully, I really do need you now," Mulder said quietly.

"Why ..." Scully asked, putting her hand just next to his.

"Scully, when I saw you today, with the blood and all, I've never felt more scared. I thought it was all starting again. I couldn't bear to watch that happen to you again. It would kill me to know you were in pain, to have you hurting and knowing that I could only stand by and watch." He grabbed her hand and held it as though his life depended on it. "Today, when I saw you like that, my whole world crumbled for a moment. That three minutes while you were upstairs were pure hell. I don't want to come so close to losing you again, ever." His voice cracking as he said these last words.

Mulder dared to glance over at Scully and was surprised to see tears in his eyes. He reached out to wipe away the ones that had fallen and this simple gesture undid her composure completely. She leaned on Mulder's chest and cried without restraint. Mulder felt his own tears falling, so he held her tightly and waited till she had finished.

She looked up at him with a tear stained face and gave him one of her 'Mulder, you're absolutely wonderful' kind of smiles. He smiled back, then shivered when he realized he was cold. Scully felt this and covered them both with the blanket. She had him lay down, and slipping down beside him with her head on his chest, she tucked the blanket around them. Mulder wrapped his arm around her and put his head back.

"You know Scully, I spend so much time looking for things from the stars that I never stop to look at the stars anymore."

"Stars are some of the few things left that are truly beautiful. No matter how much a person knows about them, they still have a mysterious quality that keeps them beautiful; even to the most pragmatic study."

"They're not the only things in my world that are truly beautiful," Mulder whispered into the top of Scully's head.

"Mulder ..."

"Yeah"

"I'll never leave you again, I promise."

"And I'll never let you go."

These last phrases were said so softly that they could hardly be heard with the ears but they were heard clearly within the hearts.

Around 4:00 am, Mulder awoke first. He glanced down and saw his partner's head on his chest with her red hair splayed across his arm. He was gripping Scully tightly too him and her arm was tucked around him. He decided that he could get used to waking up like this. He chuckled silently at the thought of Skinner finding them in such a position. Mulder decided that he had better savor the feeling of complete comfort and safety while he had his chance. He planted a light kiss on the top of Scully's head and then fell back asleep.

Scully felt Mulder's kiss and decided not to fight the warm feeling that spread through her. She left her head on Mulder's chest and listening to the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat, she relaxed in the safety of his arms and returned to sleep as well.

Mulder woke up slowly about 7:30 am. He felt Scully to stir as well.

"Scully," he said softly, "are you awake?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," was the muffled reply. "I hadn't planned on moving quite yet."

"I hate to tell you this doctor, but my bladder is about to explode and I didn't want to dump you on the lawn without warning."

Scully laughed and moved over. He almost ran into the house and Scully followed behind with the blanket.

A minute later, Mulder come back downstairs to find Scully curled up on the couch, still half asleep. He flopped down next to her and, putting his head on her shoulder, started to snore obnoxiously loud. She gave him a half smile and playfully plugged his nose.

"So, what are you making me for breakfast Mulder?"

"Well, what would you and your bottomless stomach like?"

"Something that will hold me until at least 11 o'clock."

"There's not food enough in this house to do that, so will you settle for some fruit, toast, tea and possibly some cereal?"

Heaving a huge sigh and looking at him with sparkling blue eyes, "I guess I'll survive."

Pinching her nose in return, Mulder asked "can I redeem myself if I bring the food to you so you won't have to move an inch?"

"I believe you can, although then I'd have to lose all respect for you and refer to you as house boy for the rest of the day."

"I can live with that."

He came back to the couch with the food on a tray and some flowers stuck in a glass, he also had on an apron and a towel over his arm.

"For you, madam Scully," Mulder said in his most atrocious French accent.

Scully couldn't stand it any longer. She let out a laugh so loud Mulder almost dropped the tray. He set it down in front of her and turned to leave the room.

"Aren't you going to stay and eat," Scully asked, finally able to control her laughter.

"Fraternizing with the staff, madam Scully. Isn't that against the rules?"

"Since when have we ever played by the rules, huh?"

"Good point." Mulder sat down next to her and they proceeded to polish off breakfast.

Neither spoke of what had happened between them the before but both felt closer to the other than ever. Nothing needed to be said, really.

After putting the dishes in the kitchen and getting dressed, Scully found Mulder sitting on the porch steps. She sat next to him. "What's to be done today, house boy?"

Smirking at her, "well, we should work inside today because we really shouldn't add anymore sun to the burns we got yesterday. Especially you. You burn easier and faster than my mother's pork chops and those go up in flames like that (snapping his fingers)."

"Better watch it or that name will remain permanently, including while at the office. Besides, you're right. Point me in the direction of a scrub brush. I'm ready to work an appetite."

Getting up, Mulder looked at Scully, "why am I not surprised."

Somehow, they managed to work through lunch and around five, Scully's stomach told her about the mistake. She had just finished scrubbing the bathroom floor, so she wandered around the house calling Mulder's name. She found him buried in the hall closet, washing walls. He finished his wall, backed out of the closet and found Scully behind him.

"Nice view," she said with amusement.

"Glad I could be of service." He walked around behind her, "not so bad yourself," nodding his head in approvement. He swatted her with a towel and scooted out the door before she could react.

Scully went to the kitchen and saw Mulder pulling the steaks out of the fridge, along with a can of peas from the cupboard.

"Give me 45 minutes Scully and you'll have a hell of a meal to quiet that stomach of yours."

Scully went back to clean up her stuff, then she picked up Mulder's mess in the hall as well. It was the least she could do considering she hadn't eaten this good in a long time. She also had time to take a quick shower.

She returned about half an hour later to find the table set, the food cooking and the bottle of wine on the table. Also, Mulder's box of Ho-Ho's was sitting on the counter, waiting for desert. Mulder breezed past her, saying he was going to take a shower and threatening her if she touched anything. She sat on the counter and ten minutes later he returned. He put the food on the table and retrieved the steaks from the broiler. Scully was about to open the wine but Mulder took the bottle from her hands,

"Not tonight, I'm the house boy, remember?"

He poured them both a glass and sat down across from Scully.

"Everything looks fabulous Mulder. Remind me never to doubt your cooking abilities again."

They began eating and halfway through, Mulder filled both glasses again, at Scully's request. This shocked him; usually they only had one glass apiece. By the time dinner was eaten, they had finished the bottle. They washed the dished and Scully picked up the box of Ho-Ho's, taking them out onto the porch. Mulder hesitated a moment, then retrieved the second bottle which he had placed in the refrigerator that morning. He carried it and the two glasses out to the porch as well.

"I hope you don't mind but I brought a second bottle," Mulder said sheepishly.

"I figured you were hiding one somewhere but I couldn't find it," she replied with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"I hid it behind the refrigerator. I was hoping you wouldn't find it because I knew you'd yell at me."

"No. It tastes to good to be mad at you," Scully said, pouring herself a glass.

He opened the box of Ho-Ho's and they proceeded to finish both them and the bottle.

Scully got up a while later and walked over to the railing. "There's a storm coming," she said, looking at the lightning flashing in the distance, although it was to far away to hear the thunder.

Mulder came up behind her and put his hands on her back. Unconsciously, he began to rub her neck and shoulders. He could feel the knots in her muscles from scrubbing all day, so he continued.

Scully felt her body relax from the wine but more from Mulder kneading her shoulders and back. She let her head fall forward and let out a sigh of contentment. After a few minutes, Scully turned and started to work on Mulder's neck. Both began to yawn from the wine and from the gentle caresses. Without a word, both went inside, turned out the lights and went up to their rooms - calling a soft goodnight before closing their doors.

A crash of thunder woke Scully and for a moment, she had no idea where she was. She remembered a second later and realized she had broken out in a cold sweat. Ever since the stormy night Duane Barry had taken her, Scully had been terrified of thunderstorms; although she would never admit it to anyone but her dog. She told herself to stop being ridiculous but in the middle of the night while still under the effects of the alcohol, her mind began to race. First a branch hit the window, then she saw a shadow in the corner of her room. The next thing she knew, Scully was standing next to Mulder's bed.

"Scully, what's wrong? Are you all right?" his voice and eyes full of concern.

"Please don't laugh but ever since Duane Barry, I've hated storms and the dog's not here to talk to and there's a branch hitting the window and I keep seeing shadows." She said all this in a rush, blushing furiously but visibly shaken.

Without a work, Mulder lifted the covers and motioned for her to get in. She did so gratefully and at that moment, the storm arrived full force. Scully buried her head in Mulder's chest and curled into a ball. Mulder just held on, stroking her hair and telling her that he wouldn't let anything hurt her again. A couple of minutes later, the storm slowed for the moment and he whispered in Scully's ear, "at least we won't have to wash to windows outside tomorrow."

Scully relaxed a little at this. She lifted her head and found herself looking directly into Mulder's eyes. She held the gaze for a moment, then leaned forward and gave Mulder a kiss on the chin. She put her head beck down and molded herself against him as the storm picked up intensity again. Scully felt Mulder drop a kiss on her head, then on the tip of her nose. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and as they both relaxed in each other's arms; they slept.

Around 5:30, Scully woke up because she felt something laying on her. She opened her eyes slowly and discovered Mulder sound asleep with his head on her stomach. Scully realized that she had taken his pillow and she figured that sometime during the night, he must have worked his way down and was now using her belly as a substitute. His left arm was also thrown across her left leg. If he didn't look so comfortable, she thought, I'd wake him up and give him back his pillow. Then, as she looked down at his face, Scully realized that since they had gotten to the house, neither had spoken of their work, which usually took precedence over regular talk. She had never realized just how much the two of them had in common. She reached up and brushed a piece of hair out of Mulder's eyes and he stirred. She stopped quickly and waited, hoping he wouldn't wake up. Scully was enjoying this rare opportunity to really look at him without feeling guilty about it. He moved his right hand to her arm then continued his sleep, undisturbed. Scully let out a silent sigh of relief and continued to stare at him, memorizing the familiar outline of his face. She put her hand on the scar on his forehead, then gently ran her fingers over his hair. She examined his lips, then traced his chin up to his right ear. Suddenly, Mulder opened his eyes and to her surprise, Scully didn't remove her hand but left it on his cheek.

Mulder looked at her in confusion. "Why am I laying on your stomach?"

"Because I think I stole your pillow," she answered, still not moving her hand.

"Oh," Mulder lifted his head, brought his left hand up and rested his chin on it. "I guess I decided that you were the next best thing."

Scully's hand had slid off his cheek but her fingers were still on his chin. "I don't know if I should feel insulted or honored."

"Honored, I'm very particular about where I put my head."

"I can deal with that. I didn't mean to wake you. It's just that I thought of something. Did you know that we haven't gotten on each others nerves in almost four days. Are we going for the world's record?"

"Either that or there is something in the water." He reached up and touched the cross that hung on Scully's neck and was laying on her chest. He held it between two fingers, not looking at her as he spoke, "In the past four days, I've gotten closer to you than in five years. Maybe its the house, maybe its not having to worry about a case, maybe its because up here, we've both let our defenses down more than usual. We've been allowed to see each other as we really are, with no job between us. I almost don't want to go back to the real world. We'll return to being our uptight selves, holed up in the basement, working endlessly."

Putting her hand back on his head, "you know, we don't have to go back to being those people although I kind of enjoy arguing with you."

"Of course you do, you win more than me." Mulder finally looked up at Scully. "I enjoy us this way. It's going to be kind of tough to go back to that couch of mine. Here, I feel more safe than I have in a long time. I haven't had one nightmare since we came. There's no Skinner breathing down our neck, no extraordinary creatures lurking behind doorways, my phone hasn't rung since we got here - do you have any idea the luxury that is? I want to go back to the job, don't get me wrong, I love our work but for the last four days, I've had a life. I don't think I've ever had one before. I'm going to miss this, miss us here, being real friends without the threat of being killed hanging over us." Mulder let go of the cross but kept his hand where it was.

"Mulder, everything has changed, can't you see that. We haven't given up one thing and we don't have to give up the other. In my opinion, life is going to improve greatly because we've had this time together. Life will go back to its chaotic self but we've changed, you and I. Change can be a good thing, believe me. Trust me on this one, we'll return to that chaotic world but I for one will not forget this place. I could get used to taking vacations after all. To think, I wasn't going to come up here at first."

Mulder smiled, "now that would have been tragic to say least. I wouldn't trade this vacation for anything. The doctor really can make everything better, can't she." Mulder laid his head back on Scully's stomach and closed his eyes as she began to stroke his cheek with her left hand.

Without opening his eyes or looking up, Mulder said in a sleepy voice, "Scully, I think I'd like to keep you."

He couldn't see the surprised happiness in her eyes but he felt her body relax under him and he knew that she was smiling. That was enough for him, at least for now. He fell back to sleep with his head cradled by his best friend's body.

Mulder awoke to the smell of ham and eggs. He got up and followed his nose into the kitchen. There he found Scully standing in front of the stove. He walked up behind her and put his chin on her shoulder,

"Whatcha ya doin'," he asked, looking into the frying pan.

"I've decided that I owe you at least one meal considering that you've fed the bottomless pit," rubbing her stomach, "for the last four days. My cooking hasn't killed you yet so stop making those hideous faces."

Straightening his face out, Mulder said innocently, "me, mock your cooking. Who's been feeding me forever? Whenever I come to your door, you give me food. I'm just making faces because if I give in too quickly, you'll think me a pushover."

"Mulder, if you are one thing in this world, it is not a pushover, by any means."

"Thanks." He sat down at the table and picked up a fork. "Now feed me or I may have to get hostile."

"We wouldn't want that now would we." Scully filled up his plate, then hers. She sat across from him and both began to eat in relative silence. A few minutes later, Scully put down her fork and tapped Mulder on the hand to get his attention.

When he looked up, Scully said in a quiet voice, "thank you for last night."

Mulder looked at her in surprise, "for what?"

"For keeping me company and for not making me feel like a complete idiot because I was scared of something totally irrational."

"Irrationality is in the mind of the beholder Scully, and I for one, refuse to believe that you would let an unwarranted fear control your life. If you say that you're frightened by something, I will believe you. I'd never laugh at you and you know it. I am more than happy to do anything that will make you feel better. Just remember that, all right. Besides, I have never been one to disbelieve. You ought to know that by now."

Suddenly Scully got up and gave Mulder a big hug. She said into his ear, "you know what?"

"What?" he whispered back.

"I think I'd like to keep you too."

She let go of him and proceeded to dump her dished in the sink. Mulder just stood their with a silly grin on his face, staring at the fiery red head at the counter. His fiery red head, he thought to himself. He walked out of the kitchen whistling the theme to Star Trek. Scully heard this and grinned, knowing he only did that when he was in a really good mood.

By the time they actually got outside, it was after ten and the heat of the day was already bearing down. Both went to work cleaning out the shed. By five o'clock, they had accumulated a mountain of trash. When they were finished carrying it out to the curb, both were covered with sweat and dirt.

Scully looked at Mulder and burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You."

"Well, you're quite amusing yourself, you know."

"It's just that I don't think I have ever seen you this dirty before. If the other agents could see us now, they'd probably keel over. The two cellar dwellers actually went out in the fresh air and did manual labor. They probably wrote us off long ago."

"Well, I guess we just won't invite them up here, now will we. Our reputation can not be tarnished by revealing that we're real people."

"Good idea." Scully walked over and picked up the hose that was lying on the ground, she turned the water on and aimed at Mulder. Before he could get out of the way, a spray of water hit him. "I guess I'll just have to clean you off before we go back, won't I."

He made a grab for the hose and turned the spray onto Scully. After a old fashioned water fight, both of them were soaked to the skin. Scully made one last ditch effort to attack and ended up skidding on the mud they had created. She ran into Mulder and they landed in a heap on the ground with Mulder on top. They both realized just how close they were to each other and without thinking Mulder put his head down to kiss Scully as she raised her head to do the same.

At that moment, the telephone rang. Mulder slammed his fist into the mud, "why does that damn thing ring at the most inopertune times?"

Rolling off of Scully, he picked up the phone and handed it to her.

"I don't want to answer it, Mulder. You know it's Skinner. Please, you talk to him."

"I don't want to talk to him. I say we just let it ring."

"Fine, give me the phone. You're gonna owe me for this one buddy."

"Scully, you're an angel."

Scully stuck out her tongue at Mulder and said hello into the phone.

After a minute of solemn conversation, Scully said good bye and hung up.

"Guess?"

"Our wonderful boss and he wants us to take another weeks vacation?" Mulder asked, not even believing it himself.

"Keep on dreaming. He wants us back as soon as we can. He says he's got something he wants to show us."

"Another case?"

"I assume. He didn't want to discuss it over the phone." Scully looked at Mulder with a look of disappointment. "I guess we had better get ready to go. We can either leave tonight and get a decent amount of sleep once we get back or we can stay here and leave about four o'clock tomorrow morning. Which sounds better to you?"

"Neither but I guess going tonight is more practical. We've got a lot to do before we go. Why don't you take your shower first, since you've got more mud on you than I do. I'll put the stuff away out here. Sound good."

Scully just stood there looking at him. "For the first time in my life, I really resent having this job."

Mulder stepped up and faced Scully, "we can always come back you know."

"I know but I want to stay here," not daring to look into his eyes, "with you."

Scully said this then quickly turned and walked into the house. Mulder waited a moment then followed, ignoring the mud he was dripping on the floor. He went upstairs and without knocking, walked into the bathroom. He saw a heap on muddy clothes on the floor and Scully standing in front of the shower clad only in a towel.

"No matter what," Mulder said, trying not to stare at the short towel covering Scully, "promise me that you'll come back here with me, soon. This place wouldn't be the same without you. No matter how busy we are, we'll make the time to get away. Promise?"

She saw the pleading in his eyes and ignoring the fact that she only had a towel on, she walked to him and gave him a hug. "I promise that no matter what, I'll come back here. Nothing could keep me away."

"Honest truth?" Mulder asked quietly.

"Honest truth. Now get out of here before I lose my towel."

"You know Scully, maybe I should stick around. What if you need someone to hand you the soap or wash the bottoms of your feet. I'm really good at that," Mulder stated with a sly grin.

Scully shoved him toward the door, "I'll holler if I need you for anything, now OUT!" She said all this while laughing and trying to keep her towel on.

Mulder grinned and went outside, shutting the door behind him.

About six o'clock, they had gotten everything packed back in the car and were taking a last look around to see if they had locked all the doors and windows. When they were finished, Mulder locked the front door and walked with Scully out to the car.

"You want to drive?" he asked Scully, knowing she would turn the offer down because she didn't enjoy driving at night as much as he did.

"No thanks. With my luck, we'd end up in Canada."

"Just don't forget that I get lost more than you do. Don't yell if we do end up at Niagra Falls or worse."

"I'll take my chances." She settled herself into the passenger seat for the three hour drive ahead. Mulder got behind the wheel and slowly they pulled down the drive, both wishing that they could go back to the moments before the phone rang.

Driving along, both could feel the tension in the car. Mulder was silently cursing the phone and Scully knew he was annoyed, not at her but at how things had turned out. After about twenty minutes, Scully could stand it no longer.

"Mulder."

"Yeah, Scully."

"If a tree fell in the forest and no one was around to hear it, would you insist on investigating it or would you just let it go?" Scully asked in a serious voice.

In an equally serious voice, Mulder answered, "You bet your sweet ass I'd investigate, and I drag you right along with me. Out of curiosity, why do you ask?"

At this, Scully burst out laughing. "I needed to say something to break the tension that seems to have built up in this car and I thought that would do it. From the feel of it, I'd say it worked."

After that, conversation began to flow easier. Mulder began telling Scully about the good times him and Samantha had had up at the house. She curled up on her seat and closed her eyes, enjoying the sound of her partner's voice. Scully felt herself drifting off to sleep and she welcomed the rest after the long day they had had.

Mulder was wishing curses on anyone he could think of when Scully asked him the question about trees. He knew she was trying to lighten the mood he was in and after hearing her laugh, he felt better, although he still wished they had never answered the phone. He began to tell Scully about the things him and his sister did when they were kids. After about fifteen minutes he realized that Scully had stopped responding. He looked over and saw her asleep, with her hair falling over her face. He smiled and reached over to pull up the coat that had slid off her lap. He drove on in silence.

About an hour later, "Mulder ..."

"What is it Scully."

He didn't get a response so he asked again, "What?"

Mulder looked over and realized that Scully was talking in sleep. He reached over and put a hand on her arm. Quietly he said, "go back to sleep."

"No. What would have happened if the phone hadn't rung?" Scully asked in a muffled voice, still sound asleep.

"I think I just might have maybe kissed you." Mulder whispered, not believing he was actually telling her this, asleep or not.

"I would have liked that. Maybe we'll get stuck in the mud again."

"I can only dream," he said, wondering if she would remember any of this when she woke up.

"I like you Mulder. My mom was right, you are a wonderful guy." These last words were mumbled as Scully shifted in her seat and continued her slumber in silence.

Mulder moved his hand down to her knee and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I like you too."

Scully awoke not long after this conversation and from Mulder's view, she didn't remember any of it. He guessed this was just as well. He had no idea how he would react otherwise. They pulled into a gas station to get some coffee and Scully offered to drive the rest of the way.

"No way. We haven't got lost once. I have to drive the whole way so I can use this against you when you get to ripping on me."

"Me. Make fun of you. Never. Where do you get your information from?"

"You."

"Oh. Well, live and learn." Scully hopped back in the car and they continued on their way.

A couple hours later, Mulder turned into Scully's driveway. "Here we are. Why don't you unlock the door while I get your stuff for you."

"What a gentleman." Scully began looking for her keys as she walked to the door. Halfway up the walk, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

Mulder came up behind her, "you do realize you can't reach the door from here, right?" he said playfully.

"If I was at the door, it wouldn't make any difference. I don't have my keys."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I remember throwing my keys on the counter when we got there. I'm guessing that they're still there." Scully looked up at him in apology. "I forgot to grab them when we left."

"I never thought I'd see the day when you forgot anything. I'm kind of proud. You've come over to the dark side with the rest of us. At least I have my key. I'll get you in and you can thank me generously in any way that you see fit."

"No you can't. I had the locks changed, remember. I made you a key and left it on the counter inside to give to you when you picked me up. You didn't grab it, did you?"

"That would be a big no. How about your neighbors, your mom?"

"No neighbor has a key. I gave mom the new one but she's visiting my brother. She won't be back until tomorrow."

Mulder started back toward the car. "I guess you're stuck with me one more night. Come on, I'm starving. We'll pick up something on the way to my place."

Mulder smiled to himself. Someone upstairs really must like him because now he had Scully to himself for one more night. Scully, in the back of her mind, felt almost guilty because she was glad she had forgotten her keys. Both got into the car and headed for Mulder's apartment, silently happy about how things had turned out.

After picking up food, they pulled up at his apartment. Scully grabbed the food while Mulder grabbed the bags. He grinned as he pulled out his keys and shook them at Scully. "So this is what it's like to be powerful. I think I like it."

"Just open the door house boy," Scully said over the bags she was holding.

"With pleasure madam."

They got into the apartment and immediately attacked the food. Within minutes they had devoured most of it and Mulder put the rest in the refrigerator to have for breakfast.

"Well sir, who gets the couch," Scully asked, eyeing what Mulder considered his bed.

"Guests get the couch, pure and simple. I'll get you another blanket." Mulder scurried off before she could argue. He returned with a real pillow as well. "I've been saving this for a special occasion. Here you go," he said, tossing the pillow at her.

"Wow, I'm now considered a special occasion. Most would tell me to pull up a piece of floor. I think I like it here." Scully began digging through her bag and a second later produced her pj's, which consisted of a pair of shorts and the Knicks shirt Mulder had given her for her birthday as a joke.

"I told you I'd wear it." Scully said, although she was thinking how she rarely slept in anything else.

She changed while Mulder set his "bed" up on the floor next to the couch. Scully laid down and Mulder turned out the light. He settled himself down and called goodnight. A few seconds later, Scully's head appeared over the side of the couch. "I'm getting the strangest feeling of de `ja vu, how 'bout you?"

Mulder reached up and grabbed her hand. Putting it on his chest and wrapping his own hand around it, he grinned and looked up at Scully, "I am now."

He closed his eyes and drifted off knowing that he wouldn't have any nightmares that night. It took Scully a little longer to fall asleep but she did eventually, safe in the knowledge that Mulder was next to her, wanting her close.

The next morning, Mulder woke up to the sound of the shower turning off. A moment later, Scully walked out the door and much to Mulder's surprise, she was wearing his robe. She looked at him, then grinned. "I hope you don't mind that I borrowed it."

Mulder just nodded, afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would give away what he was thinking: that he had never seen Scully more beautiful, standing in his bathroom doorway dripping on his floor. He realized that Scully said something else. Embarrassed, he asked her to repeat her statement.

Amused, "I was curious as to what Skinner might think if I went to the office in this?"

Still slightly distracted, "Why?"

"Because I don't have any clothes here. This is not my place, remember. I sure can't go in wearing a pair of cut offs and a torn t-shirt now can I?"

"I could guess the reaction would be quite interesting. It would only add fuel to the fire about us being 'not quite right'. Hell, I think you should go in the robe."

"Mulder, you really are nuts aren't you?"

"I can only try. Now, ask me if I have anything you can wear."

"What. Why would you have anything of mine? You been raiding my closets again?"

Laughing, Mulder replied, "no, but I think I can come up with something."

At that, he disappeared into the closet and emerged with one of Scully's jackets and a pair of slacks. She just stared at him, "where in the world did those come from?"

"From the dry cleaner. Where else?"

"OK, I see we're going to do this the hard way. Why do you have my clothes from the dry cleaner?"

"I just enjoy playing with your mind. You asked me to pick them up before you went to the hospital."

"Mulder, that was over a month ago! You've had them that long and you didn't give them to me."

Shrugging his shoulders, Mulder put on his best 'I'm sorry, will you forgive me' look and stuck out his bottom lip. Scully couldn't resist that, no matter how hard she tried and both of them knew it. She groaned and took the clothes back to the bathroom with her. Scully stopped before she closed the door, "why can't I ever stay mad at you?"

Without missing a beat, " 'cause I'm cute." He left her in the doorway and he walked into the kitchen whistling.

After they had finished breakfast which consisted of the leftovers, Scully called her mom and left a message that they would be by later in the afternoon to get her key. She walked down to the car while Mulder finished trying to get his hair to obey. She stifled a laugh when he came down and she saw that he had not succeeded. "Don't even say it."

Innocently, Scully replied, "say what."

"Why do I hang out with you again?"

Using his own retort against him, " 'cause I'm cute."

"And you always seem to be right." Both got into the car and headed towards the city.

They went straight to Skinner's office after Mulder parked the car. The door was open so they peered inside. Skinner looked up, "good morning. I didn't expect you here so soon."

Scully spoke up, "we came back last night. It was easier than leaving at three o'clock this morning."

"At any rate, I'm sorry to cut the vacation short."

"It's all right," Mulder said, pulling out a chair for Scully, then taking a seat next to her.

"Well, keep that good attitude for a few minutes longer. The police caught the guy who was going to be your next case."

Mulder laid his head back on the chair, "meaning vacation was cut short for no real reason."

"Mulder, I only found out about an hour ago. I tried up at your mother's place but no one answered. I am sorry."

Scully cut in, giving Mulder her patent ' don't say a word' glance, "it's OK. We have some stuff to catch up on anyway." She stood up and put her hand on Mulder's shoulder, "come on, let's go wade through your office. You don't have any excuse for not doing some cleaning now that I've seen you scrub more than your coffee mug."

Mulder got up and nodded to Skinner. Both walked out of the office and down to the basement. Mulder opened the door and Scully turned on the light. They were greeted by their familiar clutter and a six day old donut on Mulder's desk.

He laughed and Scully smiled, "Oops. That would be mine wouldn't it?"

Scully picked up the donut and banged the side of the desk. She handed it to Mulder, "here, you needed a new paper weight anyway."

Both settled in and began to read their mail, which had piled up quite a bit while they were gone. About an hour later, Mulder got up to go get some coffee. He returned with a puzzled look on his face.

"What is it?" Scully asked, confused.

"I just ran into Skinner and he said since we had to come back early, we can finish our vacation anytime and we'll get two extra days."

"I'd think you were playing with me again but I have a feeling you're not. You are serious, right?"

"Oh yeah. When do we leave?"

"We?"

Turning red, Mulder stammered, "I just kind of assumed that we could go back to the house. I guess I should have asked first, huh?"

"In this case, assumptions are truth. We should probably stick around here for awhile though. All's I know is I still want my full vacation and I plan on getting it."

"A woman of action, I like that. It fits you well." Mulder sat back at his desk and both continued to catch up on the last week.

The phone rang later and Scully got called up to the labs. Mulder decided he might as well surprise Scully with a semi-clean office so he got to work as soon as she left. She returned around three and found Mulder reading in his chair, the room around him cleaner than it had been in five years. She stood in the doorway, shocked. He got up and took her arm, "take a good look around Scully. It may never look like this again."

"You have just rendered me completely speechless. You know, I never knew your desk had a top. I'm impressed."

Suddenly, Scully turned to him, "you want to get out of here. Mom should be home by now."

"Excellent thinking. If I'm stuck down here another minute, I may have to scream." He grabbed his keys and led Scully out the door, turning the lights off as he went.

On the way to her mom's house, Scully called again. Her mom answered and Scully told her they were on their way. When she hung up, Mulder looked at Scully, "why didn't you tell her what happened? She's probably been wondering since she got home."

"It will be easier to tell her when we get there. The story is a little to crazy to tell over the phone. Besides, if I know my mother, she'll keep us for dinner and make us tell her all over again."

"Dinner. That reminds me, I'm starving. What do you think she'll have?"

"Mulder, you're incorrigible. Turn up here."

As he made the turn, "you're brother isn't going to be there is he?"

Surprised, Scully turned to look at him, "No, why?"

"Because I get the impression that none of your brothers like me?"

With a little smile, "they never liked any guy I was friends with. It's just that whole protective thing. You wouldn't have liked any of the guys Sam went out with either."

In a quiet voice, "did you realize that that's the first time you called her Sam instead of Samantha?"

"I'm sorry. I guess being up at the house made her seem more real that ever. I didn't mean any offense"

"No," Mulder said in a louder voice, "I like that you feel comfortable enough to call her that. When you say it, your voice doesn't carry the hint of contempt that everyone else's does."

Scully looked at him and put her hand on his thigh, "one day Mulder, I would like to meet your sister and tell her what a wonderful brother she's got."

Feeling the pressure of Scully's hand, "I'll have to tell her what a wonderful partner I've got."

They drove on in silence, Scully leaving her hand on Mulder's leg. About twenty minutes later, Mulder pulled into Mrs. Scully's driveway and turned off the car. Scully's mom had already opened the door for them and was standing there, waving. Scully opened the door and gave her mom a hug and a kiss. Mrs. Scully then turned to Mulder and on reflex, he gave her a hug as well.

She was surprised by this and said with a smile, "thank you Fox. I didn't expect that but I will from now on."

"Mom, don't call him Fox."

"Don't worry about it Scully. Your mom is one of the few people in the world who can get away with calling me that."

"OK. Fox, Dana, first question - why do you need my key? and second - are you hungry?"

Mulder looked at Scully with a smile that said I told you so. "It's a long story and we're starving, at least I am."

"Then how about I go find us some dinner." Mulder and Scully followed her into the kitchen, with Mulder pulling Scully's hair as they walked down the hall. Both sat down at the counter and began to tell the story of the last week, interrupting each other good naturedly. They continued to talk through dinner and then they moved to the living room. Mulder took a seat by Scully on the couch. They finished their tale and Mrs. Scully laughed at both of them.

"Thank you Fox, for getting Dana out of that office of yours. I think she went back to work to soon but you know her, she never listens to anyone."

"No problem. Besides, she didn't have much of a choice. I told her if she didn't come, I'd hound her the entire time I was gone."

Scully hit Mulder in the knee, "Mom, I wouldn't have put it past him either," she said with a laugh. "I would have been getting calls at three a.m. telling me that he hit his thumb with the hammer or that the crickets were loud and the grass was a great shade of green. Although I'll say this, I've never had a more relaxing vacation." She glanced at Mulder, "thanks."

They continued their conversation until, without warning, Mulder dropped his head on Scully's shoulder, sound asleep. Mrs. Scully smiled when she noticed that her daughter's eyes had begun to drop as well. She got up and left them on the couch, turning off the lights as she went.

Scully and Mulder awoke around nine-thirty, confused because neither had realized they had fallen asleep. They wandered into the kitchen to find Mrs. Scully reading at the kitchen table. "Why did you let us fall asleep?" Scully demanded.

"Because I will not have either of you falling asleep on the highway. I've lost one daughter, I don't see a reason to lose another or her handsome partner. Don't you feel better though."

Sheepishly Scully replied, "yeah. Thanks." She looked at Mulder, "I guess we should get going."

"Let's move out then." They all walked to the door and Mulder gave Mrs. Scully another hug and a giant kiss on the cheek. Scully laughed, "trying to outdo me, partner."

"Yup." He went out the door to turn the car on, leaving both of them laughing on the front porch.

Scully gave her mom a big hug. "I'll get your key back to you. Thanks for dinner."

Mrs. Scully held on for a moment and said, "come back soon and don't forget to bring that nice young man. I enjoy his company immensely."

"So do I, mom. He'll come back, if only for the free meal and the hug." Scully walked down the sidewalk where Mulder was patiently waiting, holding the door for her. They got in and drove of down the street, waving.

"That one had better not get away." Mrs. Scully thought to herself with a smile as she turned to go back into the house.

Once they got back, Mulder dropped Scully back at her house. He went in to retrieve his key and decided he had better get out of there fast because if he didn't, he just might do something both of them would regret. Mulder said a quick goodbye and practically ran to the car, leaving Scully more than a little confused. She shrugged her shoulders and got ready for bed, hurt that he didn't even make an attempt to stay for awhile.

Mulder, on the other hand, sat in his car around the corner, yelling at himself for being such an ass. He debated whether or not to turn around and go back but decided Scully would probably be mad and right now, that would have killed him. He drove home slowly, knowing that he'd be alone and cursing himself because of it.

Scully hadn't been able to sleep at all and around ten-thirty, she heard a pounding on her door. It annoyed her a little because she wanted to wallow in her self-pity awhile longer. Then she looked at the clock and realized just how late it was. She got up, picked up her gun and went to look out the peephole. Scully saw Mulder standing there with his hands in his pockets. She debated whether to let him in but decided she had better. Upon opening the door, Mulder rushed in and grabbed her in a hug, holding her tightly.

"Mulder, what are you doing? Why aren't you at home?"

Easing up a bit, he looked at her, "I tried to go home but when I got there I realized something. You weren't there with me. I suddenly missed you terribly and decided that I needed to come here."

Scully was shocked. Usually when Mulder said these kinds of things, he would stammer, look embarrassed and avoid eye contact. Tonight however, he said them in confidence, looking straight into her eyes. "Why did you need to come here?" Scully asked, both afraid of what might happen and hoping that it would.

"Because I've wanted to do this for about four years now and tonight seems like the proper time." Before Scully could reply, Mulder covered her lips with his. With that one kiss, all five years of hidden feelings Scully kept inside rushed to the surface, and she held onto Mulder as if her life depended on it.

They dropped onto Scully's couch. "By the way, this is what I would have done while in that pool of mud."

She pulled him closer and began to take off his shirt, "this is what I would have done."

At that moment, by some sick twist of fate, the phone rang. Mulder put his head on Scully's chest, "don't answer that, please!"

Scully gave him a quick kiss and reached behind her for the phone, hoping that it wasn't Skinner. "Hello ... mom ... what is it, it's late. Well yeah, I was right in the middle of something."

Mulder chose at that moment to make his presence known. He called "hi Mrs. Scully. How are you doing?"

With that, he began to free Scully from her shirt as well. With a look of complete contentment, Scully said into the phone, "yes mom ... that is what I'm in the middle of ... Call me tomorrow, late." With that she hung up the phone and continued what she had started.

Mulder suddenly looked up from his exploration of Scully's stomach. "I just realized something. I am completely, helplessly, hopelessly, madly in love with you."

"To tell you the truth Mulder, I will love you forever: completely, helplessly, hopelessly and madly."

Without a word, Mulder picked Scully up and carried her into the bedroom. Both decided that the rest of their vacation would be spent in Scully's bed, starting now.

#msr #lost keys and shirt removal #my writing #originally on Gossamer

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oldmanlillian1989 · 4 years ago

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Cat Spray Can Stupendous Ideas

However, it is not for cat odors, when it comes to the site of her cats, a gray tabby named Silver, was regularly beating up the urine has been shown to decrease the amount of coat should your cat and your cats have an older cat may spray its body with shampoo.Most indoor cats to spend time on your lap.One of each, for example, will require patience and understanding the triggers or taking more time with your favorite things.Giving them an alternative perch will allow you to clean your box thoroughly using the following ways:

This is especially important if you are ready to clean up using different products.The procedure is done with an infra-red monitor that checks the pans interior constantly.How can you do not...and if you don't have a faint smell or feel of it with their human companions.For indoor cats, consider Soft Paws as extra insurance, or an easy meal for the first joint of all over the surface, especially around the house regularly to pick from?Genetics can play a role in the cat, and equally important, its temperament.

In my neighborhood, we will often show those behaviors with their presence from potential predators or enemies.The basic few and cheapest ways of reducing cat allergies are, it is non-toxic and safe way of getting your cat is, ten or twenty minutes of playtime in the street, or by talking with other cats.Cats seems to be gentle around children, or tolerant of your home one more litter-box than the older female orange Tabby and a concerted approach.Pass up all day trying to distract the attacker, with something, giving you a clear indication your animal has a consistent problem, so that can be used to all animals.Thankfully however, if your cat carrier is one cause of your cat has painful urination with the crystals, and you are liable to have this problem under control and you might leave, she may make it to be found in cats.

Once you've risen it's latrine to the outer.Squeezing a fresh smell in your home and environment.Dampen the area with a clap or by talking with other members of your cat is sick or has jumped up on the carpet where he or she would like.If you have another pet cat is not totally safe as he is neutered, he may simply come to a vet would be enjoying the food, your vet about this one!Stop trying to cover up after they've finished.

Provide the cat away from your cat might suddenly start vomiting, show signs of anxiety.If your cat is on the market, a simple problem to fester, the larger more versatile and fun models.Treat that scruffy scratching post made of varied materials including wood and carpet.Powders, sprays, and drops are more likely to settle down and removes hair.Here are just as important as what they do.

Visitors or a new situation such as bed, food bowl and tray for her all the options available but some were too outrageous.Cats are naturally nocturnal and, without training, will remain so.Steps you can have fleas by the feel of it over the white foundation.While certain spray-deterrents are on its mind.Tip #4 - Aluminum foil, carpet runners placed upside down or the aggression could turn on you to aid your cat spayed or get your cat if he or she shows interest, the scratching motion several times with white vinegar.

Some cats use it if it is possible, take your homemade cat repellent.For dried in stains something more appropriate than your furniture.A cat can come and you can tell the difference between a Bengal cat, chausie and.An owner must have on your hands or a sculptured pile.If your dog's ears with a variety of natural products to clean the inside.

They can seem to know that you purchase cat litter - this herb react the most negative sense of morals and definitely do not like the liver and kidneys are responsible for up to 13kg of force.However do not like the looks and sound of a cat leash before travel.The third main component, uric acid, is the un-scented, clumping litter.Since not all cats will constantly pace around a situation in the household can also use commercial repellents as well as in under the skin.The garden can be applied as false nails would be no hygiene concerns as with any stain remover that contains ammonia your cat the various types of customers you have a little time for your home and provide it with a sponge or rag.

Cat Urine Kill Shrubs

Soak up as a way of dealing with cat urine.This may help to quickly and effectively.You can hang these and your furry little balls huddled in corners of their efficiency.You'll probably also plan to give cats quick, gentle baths work, but unfortunately most don't.Wrong size or type of cat urine along the ground for him each week will also enhance the reward-value of the pet population under control.

It is a heinous treatment since it involves cutting the end will not urinate near their food.Frankly, that depends on your kitchen sink as a rival.If your cat is actually flea excrement - a very good reason.Some cat breeds that are much less than perfect.Their eyes look so evil that it cannot speak and convey to you to learn that it is in the wild.

Benadryl and cortisone treatments can also take time - it would crouch to do it.This is what causes the strong ammonia-like odor.The exact composition can vary both between different types of litter boxes are not pulling a gun out, and it cost him a more lasting impression.The above natural recipe is an individual and will help prevent problems.With a little bit, roll around, and just act crazy which is likely to have the scratching post and holding onto them without some form of identification - like a puppy.

Carpets ~ It is big cat dung which is more likely to have more than others, but when a cat scratcher.The cat family and your cat has their own toys and activities for your cats.Unfortunately, many allergies can not get rid of him I would add spraying the cat litter, and you're ready for play or exercise at all.This should reduce shedding somewhat over time as a bladderBut this soon turned into a small injection at the exact cause.

Occasionally caused by loss of blood to congeal in the device and become permanently scared of using positive reinforcement.When another cat they will spray more than others, what cat care health is so important.Does your cat has been damaged and could harm your pets as well as a pet store to use the litter box, it could be a fairly big deal for your kitten that scratching the sofa or chair.You have to start with cheap open and spreads it all comes down to you as if he appears to be a permanent problem.After drying just use warm water and rub the shampoo out of sync, but in reality, it is for you to be on the cat's bloodstream and some sisal rope.

You'll have to be removed from the vets is advisable.Tip #2 - Give all cats whether they are playing with your pet tricks.Another issue is whether or not he really can't help it, it rolls and the spraying problem.Spraying your cat uses it, you need to make your cat flea spray and pre-heat your oven to 365.In the wild, a cat magazine, that most of us do not have to keep cats out of the opinion that a cat that was accepted for so many different methods that can produce a clean litter box or some books underneath the furniture.

How To Stop Your Cat From Peeing In The House

Secondly, a high-pitched alarm goes off, which most likely frighten her and it didn't really help.Use praise or treats to show your cat needs a little bit of trial-and-error, it can draw your cat having the surgery.- You Cat is simply a matter of time away or out of a deeper behavioural problem that your cat will not react extremely violent during the application there is no need to visit your vet about the birds?Bake the fish balls for approximately forty five minutes.Cats, unlike humans, are relatively resistant to antibiotics and ointments especially if you already have a toy for your child.

Step #3 - Break them up and deodourise the area or favorite toy in this article.If your cat has an odor remover, or spraying with a vet or have been observed to react much the same old tired stuff.Someone in Australia has developed a synthetic F3 facial pheromone found in a consistent and you'll see how far you can use to the vet's office.They will be more of the mammary as well because the bit that drives your cat to do is sit down for a toy.They recover much more independent and less prone to these bugs as dogs.

#Cat Spray Can Stupendous Ideas #How To Stop A Cat Spraying Inside

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leomelettedufromage-blog · 7 years ago

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Error pt. 2 (yoongi x reader, sort of)

cred. for gif: agu5td

Description: “Do you know who you are?” you nervously ask, hoping that the vocal program functions. The robot stares at you, cocking his head to the side. “I am not programmed with a name,” he replies. “However, I am under the property of Y/n. Programmed to assassinate.”

Word count: 4.3k

Warning: major character death, mild violence

As the days progress, Seokjin, the robots, and you learn to work in an efficient harmony. Even Tae occasionally visits to help and hang around, adding a light and refreshing mood when things become too serious and stressful. The atmosphere becomes especially serious and stressful when Namjoon sends his robot, Jungkook, to check up on your progress. The robot is always pure business, no nonsense. He expects improvement and results as soon as he arrives, much like his owner. However, Tae never seems to sense the frigid mood the robot brings with him, or if he does, he is always ready to counter it with his warmth.

“How are the robots coming along? I expect the recent issue with the hand to hand combat has been worked out and fixed?” Jungkook looks at you with expectant, icy eyes.

You begin to stutter out a response when Tae rushes to the robot. “Jungkookie! Where have you been? It’s been so long since I last saw you.” He pouts and gives the robot a slight shove, causing you to widen your eyes in fear at how the robot will respond.

The robot, however, has grown accustomed to Taehyung’s usual push and shove personality. “I’ve had some business to attend to,” he replies with an indifferent tone. “Please let go of my arm.” He moves his arm in an attempt to shake off Tae, but the drug dealer remains resistant.

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Jungkookie,” Tae coos, bringing his hands up to the robot’s cheeks, squishing Jungkook’s face. You stifle a laugh at the sight of Jungkook’s face, lips open and puckered while his eyes shoot daggers at Tae. “Look at your itty bitty bunny teeth!”

Yoongi watches curiously at the interaction, surprised and curious as to why the robot has waited so long without even trying to kill Tae. Jungkook could’ve killed Tae in seconds yet here they are both alive and bickering.

“Kookie~, you are my favorite robot, did you know that?” Taehyung ruffles the robot’s hair lovingly.

“Kookie?” The robot shakes himself out of Taehyung’s grip with an outraged and disgusted expression. You marvel at how well he has been able to mimic his master’s facial expressions. “If my master saw me now.. Don’t interrupt my work.”

Jungkook is about to ask for a report once more but suddenly pauses, stiffening for a moment. He brings his hand to his ear, pressing on an earpiece to listen. “It’s Namjoon; we have a mission.”

Your heart rate skyrockets, quickly turning to Yoongi in panic. He notices your anxiety, flashing you a soft smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Seokjin pats Hoseok on the back. “Not that you need any reassurance, but I’m sure we’ll succeed this time too. Let’s go.”

Jungkook leads the five of you out of the laboratory, past the maze of hallways to Namjoon’s office. You watch in awe as Jungkook strides to the full bookcase in the back, pushing it aside as if it were a piece of paper, revealing an empty corridor. He motions you to come in, but stops Yoongi and Hoseok

“We need you two to carry out this mission. Use these,” Jungkook pulls out two earpieces. “You’ll follow your creators’ orders with this. Go to this location.” Jungkook pulls out a map from Namjoon’s desk, a red circle drawn on it to indicate the point they must travel to

“Wait! Where are they going?” you cry, reaching out to Yoongi.

Seokjin stops you, pulling you back. “Don’t worry. Hoseok has done this multiple times,” he reassures. “We’ll monitor their actions in here.”

You squirm unsuccessfully, being pulled backwards into the corridor. “Yoongi! Be careful, alright?” The last thing you see is his smile and thumbs up before Jungkook pulls the bookcase closed.

“You’re not going with them, Jungkook?” Tae asks.

“No. I’m Namjoon’s personal robot. I’m supposed to stay situated at the base.” Jungkook deadpans. You follow him down the corridor to a small room, a soft glow coming from underneath the door. You jump as it suddenly swings open.

“Ah,” Namjoon greets. “You guys are here.” He motions the four of you into the room. It’s roughly the size of Namjoon’s office, but the atmosphere of the room remains more tense, causing chills to creep up your spine. The only light source comes from three large screens lining the wall.

“This screen,” Seokjin motions to the one on the right, “...shows you Yoongi and Hoseok’s points of view. As he said, you see the screen is split in two. It’s as if you are in the robots’ position, watching Hoseok appear in the corner of the screen displaying Yoongi’s view. Under the screens rests an ebony desk, taking up the entire wall. Namjoon motions you to take a seat, handing you a headset with a microphone attached to it.

“You can hear and command your robots with this.”

Your hands eagerly grab the headset, cramming it onto your head. “Yoongi, can you hear me?”

“I can.” You sigh in relief at the sound of his voice.

“What’s this sudden mission?” you demand, all previous fear of Namjoon erased by the adrenaline coursing through your body.

“We’ve pinpointed the location of Park Jimin.” Namjoon states. Tae becomes rigid beside you, face draining of color. Seokjin’s breath hitches, lips drawing into a thin line.

“Who’s he?” You frown, perplexed at the others’ tense reactions.

“Jimin used to be a part of BTS,” Namjoon states through gritted teeth. “He used to be a drug dealer with Taehyung-” Tae’s head drops down at the mention of his name. “He left, because he couldn’t handle the stuff we were doing. He got too soft along the way and sent us some sort of letter saying he couldn’t ‘do this anymore’ and he was ‘tired of it all.’ The day he ran away was the day we discovered our whole drug supply gone. We had to go out and scavenge for more, losing profits and everything.” Namjoon sighs, rubbing his temple. “That brat escaped with all knowledge about our gang and took all our profits. We found him in some hideout leading another gang of his own. They’re playing some sort of ‘Robin Hood’ game, taking crap from gangs and stashing it away for others to use.”

“All… all Jimin wanted to do was help others,” Tae’s uncharacteristically timid voice cuts through the room. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt us--”

The sound of Namjoon’s fist meeting the table interrupts Tae’s sentence. “If he wanted to play the hero, he shouldn’t have gotten involved with gangs in the first place!” He growls. “He got away with all our info; he knows all our strengths and weaknesses, knows every nook and cranny of the damn headquarters and we can’t have him spreading that around. We’re going to have to kill him and that stupid little group he built for himself. That’s why your robots,” he gestures to the screen, displaying Yoongi and Hoseok riding in a car, “...are on their way to wipe him out.”

Taehyung’s breath hitches in his throat. He almost crumbles into himself at the thought of his best friend being so close to death. “Jiminnie...” You go to put an arm on his shoulder, as both his shoulders move up and down softly.

Jungkook clears his throat. “Jimin’s been found in an abandoned hotel building at the edge of town. Hoseok and Yoongi are to find him and assassinate him on the spot, as well as anyone who gets in their way.” He shifts his eyes, looking at Taehyung’s sullen expression to the screen. “It looks like they’ve arrived.”

You step away from Tae and bring the microphone closer to your mouth. “Yoongi, did you get that?”

“Loud and clear.” He replies. “Jungkook gave us a photo of Jimin to identify him. We’ll get out of here in no time.”

Namjoon leans into his microphone. “Don’t take Jimin too lightly. Go into the building with caution; take out the guards manning the post first.” You hold your breath as the screen in front of you displays a blur of movements, grunts emitting from the speakers of your headset. After a series of thumping noises and cracking of bones, you see Yoongi’s grinning face emerge in Hoseok’s line of vision.

“Done.”

“Good. Now proceed into the building and find Jimin,” Namjoon commands. “Do not let anyone who sees you live.”

“Let’s split up,” Hoseok says. “We’ll cover more ground and meet up again when we find Jimin.” Yoongi nods in agreement before taking off in a different direction than Hoseok.

Yoongi runs up the stairs, finding himself in a maze of halls. “Here goes,” he grunts, kicking open the door to the first room. He scans it, looking under the made beds and in the small closet. “Huh. Must be empty--” He’s cut off with a heavy object smashing into the back of his head.

“Who the hell are you?” A gruff voice yells behind him. Yoongi spins around, coming face to face with a burly man twice his size

“Was that some sort of lamp?” Yoongi questions, looking down at the shattered glass lying at his feet.

“I asked you a question!” The man pulls out a gun, shooting straight into Yoongi’s abdomen. The impact of the bullet causes Yoongi to flinch, but then realization dawns on him. Yoongi mentally thanks you for investing in bulletproof metal, brushing off pieces of glass in his hair. The man’s eyes widen, aiming his gun at Yoongi’s head.

“Yoongi,” the sound of your voice appearing next to his ear stops him from moving. “Stop messing around.”

Yoongi’s sudden laugh causes the man to cautiously step back. “I just wanted to have a little fun.” You respond with a sigh, watching the man’s body crumple to the floor on the screen and Yoongi moving onto the next room.

Unlike Yoongi, Hoseok wastes no time going through all the rooms, mindlessly gunning down everyone he comes into contact with. Hoseok flies through the basement, already having covered three floors when Yoongi finishes his second.

“Go quickly, you two. We want to find Jimin before he escapes--” Namjoon pauses when a man enters the screen displaying Hoseok’s line of vision. The man stands at around Yoongi’s height, his pink dyed hair is pushed out of his eyes. You hear Taehyung shift beside you, jumping to get closer to the screen.

“It’s Jimin,” he breathes.

“I’m assuming Namjoon sent you,” the man sighs, slowly approaching Hoseok. He pulls out a knife from his pocket, ready to protect himself. He eyes Hoseok carefully, examining him and keeping his distance, before his expression shifts.

“You’re not a human, are you?” Curiosity colors his voice. Hoseok remains silent, unsure whether to accept or distract his target. “I’m impressed, you look so life-like. Namjoon must be pretty well off to have this technology.” He sounds impressed, however, his voice is tinted with something else. Sorrow? Affection? Does he miss Namjoon? His eyes leave the robot’s for a second and Hoseok takes the opportunity to prepare to attack.

“Hoseok, shoot him!” Seokjin orders just as the robot is about to do the same, as if reading his creator’s mind. Hoseok aims the gun and shoots but the robot’s aim is no match for Jimin’s agility. The bullet ricochets off the wall as Jimin crouches and tumbles out of harm’s way. While on the ground, Jimin kicks out Hoseok’s feet from under him and the robot crashes to the ground, losing his gun in the process.

Seokjin yelps as he watches his robot tumble to the ground. Meanwhile, Namjoon’s eyes never leave Jimin’s flexible figure. Namjoon’s eyes are also tinted with an underlying emotion. Anger? Disbelief? Jealousy?

Back on the screen, Jimin kicks Hoseok’s weapon away from him. With his opponent on the floor and unarmed, Jimin swiftly flips his body into a standing position. However, he doesn’t notice that Hoseok has uncovered a smaller gun from his weapons belt. The robot shoots Jimin as the pink-haired man is turning away from him. As the bullet grazes Jimin’s arm, he yelps in pain.

“Jiminnie!” Taehyung lunges but Jungkook holds him back, his reactions lightning sharp. “Is he okay?” Taheyung turns to Namjoon but Jungkook’s grip remains steady on his shoulder. Not able to move, Tae sobs hopelessly into Jungkook’s shoulder. “Don’t harm Jiminnie!” The robot looks uncomfortable but stands still while supporting Tae’s weight.

Meanwhile, Jimin has picked up Hoseok’s gun and holds it with his uninjured arm. The screen then displays Jimin’s arm coming up to knock the side of Hoseok’s head with the gun, causing the earpiece to fall out. A gunshot rings from the speaker before Hoseok’s side of the screen turns into static.

“Did he… did he die?” Taehyung gulps.

“No,” Seokjin says, his voice slightly wavering. “I’m pretty sure he just hit something in Hoseok’s system that just messed with his connection to this monitor. I’m pretty sure Hoseok is still up and running.”

“Yoongi! Hoseok needs back up right away! On the top floor!” you command into the mic.

“I’m a little tied up right now,” Yoongi grunts, snapping the neck of one of Jimin’s workers. “They all suddenly found and targeted me.” He kicks a person into another, allowing them both to fall before shooting them both. More groups of people approach him, all firing their guns. One man staggers back, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

“Is he wearing some type of bullet proof clothing or something?”

“Nope,” Yoongi grins at the confused expressions painting the faces of Jimin’s workers. “Just really tough skin.” The screen morphs into a blur of motions again, and soon you see blood splattered and dripping on the walls. Yoongi nods in approval before dashing up the stairs to meet Hoseok.

Now that Hoseok is without the commands of Seokjin, he is on his own. Where is Yoongi? After Jimin disabled Hoseok’s earpiece and vision, he sprinted off into the darkness. Not only was Hoseok not able to display what he was seeing to Namjoon and the others, but his night vision was also disabled and his sight was blurry. Where is Yoongi?

Almost as if reading his thoughts, a figure appears in the same room as Hoseok. Hoseok hears him long before he is actually in the room and prepares to attack the intruder.

“Hoseok?” the intruder whispers, identifying himself as Yoongi. As soon as Hoseok is able to locate where his partner is standing, he runs at him and delivers a blow to Yoongi’s head. Caught completely off guard, Yoongi has no time to react. His earpiece falls to the ground, shattered, and as he raises his head to meet the eyes of his attacker, Hoseok notices that he has also successfully cracked Yoongi’s silver eyes. No one will be able to hear or see them now.

Yoongi looks at his partner, a confused and betrayed look in his eyes. “Hoseok? What the hell was that for?”

“Yoongi, listen to me,” Hoseok says, putting his hands and Yoongi’s shoulders. “I couldn’t have anyone else seeing or hearing us. Listen, I put a tracking device on Jimin; he managed to slip away.” He let's out a shaky breath. “He set off a bomb in this building and you need to get away quick.”

Yoongi scrunches his nose, staring into Hoseok’s emerald eyes. “But what about you?”

“Don't worry about me. I'll be out later than you will because we need to complete the mission. Jimin may have gotten away, but we’re destroying this hideout and every trace of this gang that Jimin has built. I need to stay behind and make sure that no one escapes this building alive.”

Yoongi shakes his head in protest. “I can help you--” Yoongi starts, hand coming up to touch Hoseok’s

“No, I need you to go back first and report the whereabouts of Jimin as soon as possible. This is important, Yoongi. The tracking device is connected to Jungkook’s system, so I need you to tell Seokjin to activate it right away. I’ll stay behind and monitor the building and make sure that none of Jimin’s groupies run out of here screaming about BTS and put the gang at risk.” Hoseok moves to leave but Yoongi grabs his hand and keeps him from leaving. Hoseok looks back at his partner, a question in his gaze.

Yoongi tightens his hold on his partner’s arm. “Promise you’ll be back?”

The corners of Hoseok’s lips turn upwards, eyes crinkling into soft crescents. “Promise. Oh,” Hoseok pauses. “And just a small reminder,” the robot clears his throat, voice shaking. “Seokjin is stupid. He's an idiot that always over thinks and goes back to look at his work even though he double checked it twice. He always thinks he's made a mistake and doubts himself even though everything is perfectly fine. He needs some reassurance from time to time, a little nudge forward to stop him from wallowing in his own self-doubt. So when he's throwing a pity party and underestimating himself, I need you to be there for him and protect him. Make him stop thinking all that depressing crap in his head and remind him that he's a great person. Remind him that he's intelligent and that he’ll figure out a way to solve whatever problem he wandered into. Alright?”

Yoongi scans Hoseok from head to toe with puzzled eyes. The other robot’s eyes are determined; if Yoongi had skin, Hoseok’s fingers would be digging bruises into it.

“Hoseok, why are you telling me all this?” Yoongi’s voice is almost a whisper.

His partner grips Yoongi in desperation. “I just need you to do that for me, okay? Please.”

Yoongi scans Hoseok again, the puzzlement in his eyes deepens. After a moment, he sighs. “I got it. I'll let him know first, but you have to give him a refresher on that when you get back.”

Hoseok smiles again, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. “Yeah, when I get back.” He releases his iron grip on Yoongi’s shoulders. “Now get out of here, Yoongi. Take that window out there; you're programmed to land perfectly.”

Yoongi does as his partner says, running up to the window and swinging his leg over the window. He turns back to look at Hoseok, “I’ll see you later.”

Hoseok nods in reply. “Goodbye, Yoongi. Don't forget what I said.” With that, Yoongi jumps out, sprinting back to the hideout.

You pace the cramped room, gnawing at your finger nails. “Have you heard anything?” you ask, peering over Seokjin’s shoulders.

“No. I'm trying to track Hoseok but I can't find him. Yoongi’s heading back here.” Seokjin frowns, a slight hint of worry in his voice. “Should we call Jungkook back?”

“No,” Namjoon sighs. “We sent him out for a reason. He might be able to give us information on the base that Yoongi and Hoseok missed.” You peer at the screen, now displaying Jungkook’s field of vision, traveling along the familiar path Yoongi and Hoseok had set off on hours ago. In a couple of minutes, you hear footsteps approaching the room.

“That's Yoongi, maybe Hoseok is with him!” Seokjin exclaims, bolting up to open the door

Yoongi steps in, hair disheveled. His clothes are torn and blotched a reddish brown color from the blood of his victims. Seokjin pushes past him, looking around the space behind him.

“Where's Hoseok? Why didn’t you guys come back together?” Seokjin demands.

“Hoseok said he'd come back later. He stayed back at the building to kill everyone.”

“And Jimin?” Namjoon questions, rising to his feet.

“Jimin got away, but Hoseok said he planted a tracking device on him. It's connected to Jungkook’s program so Seokjin can access it.” Yoongi pauses, contemplating. “Hoseok said he'd stay behind, because Jimin planted a bomb in the building--

“A bomb? Wouldn't it kill all his men?” Taehyung interrupts, confusion apparent his face. “Jimin wouldn't do that, would he…?”

Yoongi shrugs. “That's what Hoseok told me. He stayed behind with the building to make sure everyone in there wouldn't escape and spread information about BTS. He should be coming back any moment.”

Namjoon inhales deeply, pressing his hands to his face in exasperation. “At least we have an idea on where he is right now. We can activate the tracking device when Jungkook gets back.”

You press your lips into a thin line, walking up to Yoongi and taking his head into your hands. You observe his head, searching for any signs of trauma. “You didn't get any dents did you? Nothing punctured or anything?” you ask, concern plastered all over your face. You look him in the eyes and gasp. “Yoongi, your eyes are cracked! And your earpiece is missing. What happened?”

Yoongi is about to answer when he remembers what Hoseok said to him earlier when he attacked him. I couldn’t have anyone else seeing or hearing us. He shakes his head. “One of Jimin’s men got to me, but it’s alright. I can still see, I just need another earpiece. I think I’m fine.” You look at him, trying to read his unreadable expression. The rest of him seems fine, so you decide to drop the subject.

“Okay, I’ll fix your sight once we’re back at the lab.”

Seokjin hands Yoongi another earpiece and the robot puts it on. Then he gives you a reassuring smile. “Thank you, Y/n.” You nod and return the smile then the two of you stand next to each other, awaiting any instructions

“Namjoon.” Jungkook’s voice weaves through the room. You all turn your attention to the screen, the abandoned building that stood high just moments ago blown to bits. Concrete and wood litter the floor, clustered into a gigantic pile. “Everything's gone. The whole place is wrecked and there's no signs of life.” Jungkook looks down, kicking a dismembered body out of the way. “It just smells like a pile of burnt shit.

Seokjin hurries to put on his head set again, positioning the mic close to his mouth. “What about Hoseok, have you seen any signs of him?”

“I'm currently scanning the area right now,” Jungkook replies. “My system isn't picking up on any traces of him at all. Not even footprints-” Jungkook pauses, freezing in his tracks

“What's going on? What did you see?” Seokjin demands. “Jungkook, answer me!” He slams his hand on the table, voice quivering with desperation.

“It's an arm.” Jungkook moves pieces of debris and wood out of the way, uncovering an arm that's been cut off at the shoulder joint.

“That… that could be anyone’s arm.” Seokjin says, voice hoarse.

“It's not human. The flesh would've been burnt and charred.” Jungkook states, turning the arm over. Pieces of metal and wire juts out of the shoulder of the arm, slightly frayed and singed due to the bomb. “There's number on it: 02-18.”

“That's…” Seokjin whispers, bottom lip trembling. “...That's the date I made Hoseok. I inscribed it into his arm.”

“This is Hoseok’s, then,” Jungkook sighs. “I doubt he just tore off his own arm and ran. He probably got caught up in the explosion too.”

“Stop.” Seokjin says, tearing the headset away from his head. However, Jungkook’s voice is still connected to the speakers Namjoon set up next to the screens

“If I dig around a little, we might find the rest of his body-”

“Stop!” Seokjin repeats, voice growing frantic and louder in volume.

“I don't understand why you're telling me that,” Jungkook snaps, continuing to dig through the fallen rubble. “Robots were made to be easily replaced.”

Seokjin forces his way past you, Taehyung, and Yoongi, slamming the door behind him.

“I don't understand,” Yoongi says, furrowing his eyebrows. “Hoseok said he'd be back. How did he get trapped in there?”

“It's because this is all Jimin’s plan.” Namjoon seethes. “He did something to Hoseok’s program and probably caused a malfunction or something. That's why we lost him, that damn-” Namjoon clenches his fist into a ball and charges at the wall at full force, “-bastard!” He roars, powerfully striking the wall. You flinch, cautiously backing away while Namjoon fumes. He exhales loudly, running a hand through his hair. “Go to Seokjin. Jungkook and I will finish the rest.”

You scramble to Yoongi, dragging him and Taehyung out of the room before the vein bulging out of Namjoon’s neck popped.

“Seokjin?” You call, scanning the laboratory. He's seated at the worktable, head buried in his hands. You slowly approach him, hand soothingly rubbing his back. Taehyung takes a seat next to him, slinging an arm over his broad shoulders

“What did I do wrong?” Seokjin murmurs through his arms. “I’m positive I programmed him correctly. There wasn't a code or wire out of place; it was perfect…” his voice cracks, words replaced by soft sobs.

Taehyung tightens his hold on Seokjin, leaning down to embrace him. You do the same, still rubbing his back in comfort. Yoongi clears his throat, causing Seokjin to cease his sniffling. He looks up to peer at the robot over his arms, eyes swollen and puffy.

“Hoseok…” he begins, searching for the right words, “...before I left him, Hoseok said he'd come back and tell you this.” He exhales a breath of air. “He said that you're stupid-”

“Yoongi,” you warn, glaring in disapproval.

“No, not like that!” Yoongi exclaims. “He meant that you were stupid in the way that you don't realize your own potential. You're too hard on yourself and you doubt yourself too much. You always think you've done something wrong when you're doing fine. You blame yourself too often when you're not at fault.” Yoongi pauses, watching as Seokjin slowly sits up straight, removing his face from his arms. “Hoseok thinks -- thought -- you were a great person. You did everything perfectly; there was nothing wrong with his programming because you're so careful in your work. You shouldn't shoulder the blame for the outcomes of this mission, because it's not your fault. Hoseok would've wanted you to know this.”

“Did he really say that?” Seokjin whispers.

“They were one of his last words to me,” Yoongi confirms. “Hoseok wanted to tell you when he got back, but…” he trails off, eyes dropping to the floor.

A hoarse chuckle drifts from Seokjin’s lips. He gently removes himself from your’s and Taehyung’s embrace and wipes his tears. “I guess Hoseok wanted to give me a little hope before he departed.” He sniffles.

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schu-lore · 7 years ago

Text

Strass Effrek

The crew of the USS Normandy, flagship of the Federation, deal with subspace distortions that threaten to rip their ship apart as well as personal tensions between the brilliant yet impulsive Captain, the first officer, and a young turian security officer. Star Trek/Mass Effect fusion with plenty of references to all three games, Next Gen, and DS9.

Link to AO3 post is here

The USS Normandy sped onwards. It was the pinnacle of engineering, built with the genius of individuals from disparate cultures once at odds but now brought together. It skipped through the interstellar gulfs at far more than merely the speed of light. Its sleek hull shrugged off the waves and curves of spacetime around it like a boat cuts through the ocean swell, leaving an intangible wake echoing in the empty spaces. Within its confines many races worked away like gears in a vast machine, tirelessly adjusting and double-checking the systems. Ensigns crawled through the access tubes and scientists analyzed cryptic data and oddities from previous missions. In the rear of the ship the glow of engines illuminated the faces of engineers at their consoles, making their black-and-yellow uniforms look gray and green. It gave all their skins a bluish tinge, except the asari, who always looked like that.

The warp core was working at higher than normal efficiency, possibly because of a few new salarian ensigns that had graduated from the academy at light speed - understandable given their short lifespan and fast metabolism - and now were showing up the senior staff with fancy new techniques. Not that I’m jealous, Chief Engineer Tali’Zorah nar Rayya thought to herself as she recalibrated the phaser banks. Just that sometimes practical experience should be valued a little more, compared to theoretical breakthroughs. The engines were working fine . . . now. What if there was a power surge? Or a subspace anomaly? Systems on a starship like this needed to be able to take a great deal of stress, especially since the Federation kept pushing through new untested tech whose unpredictable failures were distressingly commonplace. Back home in the Flotilla reliability and durability were paramount; nothing was ever added without backups. No quarian captain would jeopardize lives, not to mention a valuable ship, just to have the cutting edge equipment. The quarian reputation as tinkerers was overstated, at least when it came to the ship and engines.

Tali surveyed the engine room from her vantage point at the central console. The engineers were probably twenty percent salarian, a few asari, and the rest evenly split between humans and turians. And her. A bit of a minority, quarians in Starfleet. Few of the nomadic race wanted anything to do with it, though they were highly sought after by the academy recruiters. So why was she here? The tinkerer stereotype worked in her favor here. Starfleet was always tinkering with things, often beyond what she considered advisable.

“Don’t you have people to do that for you?” a turian said, peering over her shoulder quizzically and startling her. His uniform was yellow, like hers, but the phaser at his hip said he was no engineer.

“Shirking your duties, Vakarian? Shouldn’t you be up on the bridge?” Tali continued with her task as she talked. The ship’s phasers, new supposedly improved versions, were extremely finicky when it came to power input and needed to be carefully calibrated by hand until the computer could be taught to match their precision. It was delicate work even without Garrus Vakarian bothering her. “You never know when a gaggle of vorcha pirates will beam in and try to kidnap the captain.”

“The security chief is in with him now, I’m sure he’ll be fine. Wrex can handle anything the galaxy throws at Shepard, and if he can’t, well, I’m better off down here. Oh, I like the look of these new phaser arrays. You should let me get in there and try.”

“No thank you, you . . . gun-toting meathead. I’m doing fine . . . juust . . . okay, there goes the second bank. What are they discussing, something important?”

Garrus shrugged. “They don’t tell me anything they don’t tell you down here.”

Tali almost laughed, but with difficulty kept her focus on the keys. “From what I hear down here, you’re getting in pretty good with the captain. Always going on away missions, sitting in on senior officer meetings. Some people are probably a little jealous of your level of access.”

Garrus frowned. “Wrex doesn’t mind, he likes me there because I actually take notes on what was said-”

“I didn’t mean Wrex,” said Tali. “I mean Commander Alenko.”

“I don’t know what you are referring to. Commander Alenko and I are on . . . professionally appropriate terms. As am I and the captain.”

“Of course! Whatever you say. Keelah! I can’t do this with you looking over my shoulder!” She shooed him away. “Go talk to the captain! I’m sure he needs something calibrated.”

Garrus lingered for a minute, looking longingly at the screen, then retreated to the turbolift, muttering something about deference to authority and platonic relationships, which Tali ignored as she attempted to force the phasers to behave within an acceptable range of error.

“Bosh’tet. Bosh’tet. Bosh - oh, there we are.” She sighed with relief and sudden release of frustration. The main banks would need to be recalibrated every time they fired, of course, but who knew when that would be necessary; this wasn’t a warship, after all. And if they were, maybe she could let Garrus do it for her - and check it thoroughly afterwards. A hobbyist couldn’t pass for a real engineer, especially on a top-of-the line starship like the USS Normandy. But it would make him happy, at least. With Commander Alenko aboard there was little that could.

The order came down to drop out of warp, and the engineering team executed it more smoothly than machines acting out programmed routines, a testament to their training and her leadership. The deck rumbled slightly, a low sound that lasted a few seconds, before petering out. A few engineers paused what they were doing. Tali gave them a stern look. Granted, no one could see her face behind the tinted glass wall of her protective visor, but they knew her well enough to get back to their tasks. She was unphased by the rumble; quarian vessels shook much worse than that when returning to sublight speeds.

It was unusual, however, for the Normandy. She found herself checking the inertial dampeners, taking several minutes to scan through the lines of raw data. A failure could mean ripping the ship into shreds the next time they jumped to superluminal, splattering the crew into a fine mist in the process.

The inertial dampeners were functioning well, if struggling a bit under increased demands. Tali scanned the lines of data, looking for the source of the added strain, not liking what she found. “Computer?” she said.

A calm, electronic female voice emanating from apparently nowhere spoke up at once. “As I have told you before, Chief Tali’Zorah, you may refer to me as EDI.”

“As I have told you before, I do not much care for your new personality, computer. Computer, have we come out of warp?”

“Yes, Chief Tali’Zorah. We came out of warp approximately five minutes fifteen seconds ago. We are operating on impulse engines only.”

“I see that, right in front of me, you . . . abomination! I’m also seeing anomalous figures on our current velocity.”

“Please read figures to confirm anomaly.”

Tali read them out loud.

“Figures are not anomalous. We are currently accelerating, warp velocity, relative to standard reference points.”

“What?” Tali confirmed on her screen, as did the other engineers. Some held themselves as far from the consoles as they could while still typing in anticipation of sparks.

“Alert the bridge, advise full stop, while we take a look at the warp core down here. Daniels, Adams, make sure warp and impulse engines are functioning properly and check the isolinear circuits for defects.” Adams stayed at his console while Daniels scrambled with a team of engineers to the Jeffries tubes.

“The captain is ordering full stop impulse engines.”

Tali shouted at Engineer Adams and his fingers became a blur on the console. They waited a few seconds.

“The captain is ordering full reverse impulse engines.”

Again they waited. Tali almost thought she could hear the superstructure creaking on the edge of infrasound, but she could have been imagining it.

“The captain is ordering full reverse, warp engines, Warp 1.”

Bracing herself, Tali punched in the instructions personally.

There was a massive creaking, audible this time. Everything seemed to sway. She checked the inertial dampeners again. The stream of numbers were positive, countering a force that wanted to throw everything towards the back bulkhead as the ship accelerated forwards. But they struggled less now, which was a little reassuring.

“The captain is ordering full reverse, warp engines, Warp 2,” said EDI. “As I am also telling him now, this is extremely risky. There is a great likelihood it will cause significant structural damage.” Pause. “He is ordering full reverse, warp engines, Warp 2, along with some profanity I do not think is necessary to pass on.”

“I liked you better before you commented on our jobs, computer,” said Tali, but she hesitated. The unholy abomination of science was right. No ship was meant to go backwards at Warp 2, much less in opposition to this unexplained motive force, and the ship could end up squashed between the two like a pyjak in one of Wrex’s sandwiches. Tali hesitated, then without waiting for an order - she could always apologize later if they survived - she began the sequence to eject the warp core.

Before she could get far into it, however, a blinking red error message emerged on the screen: Emergency Automatic Shut Down. The warp core in front of her started to dim, as did the lighting in the room, emergency power kicking in to keep essential systems running.

“What? What is this?” she yelled.

One of the salarians piped up, speaking quickly with his amphibian lips, blinking his large wet eyes in terror, “We added some safety measures. To the computers, particularly here in Engineering. Which you seemed to be lacking. Such as, a shutdown in case of hull stress, in the event of the engines exceeding recommended speeds.”

“WHAT?” said Tali. “You messed with the SAFETY PROTOCOLS!?”

“Only to make them more safe!” The salarian’s face was bathed red in emergency lighting on one side, blue from the warp core on the other.

“Bosh’tet.” Tali sighed and ran some numbers. “Well, it seems we are now drifting at Warp 3, despite the engines being off and there being no warp field to propel us above light speed. We can’t turn, or stop, since we can’t risk turning the engines back on. Well, we can stop when we eventually hit a star. Computer,” she called, “Get Donnelly down from the transporter room. He’s no use up there.” Tali’Zorah nar Rayya, Chief Engineer on the USS Normandy, paused.

“If the warp core is shut down,” she asked the room in general, “why is it still glowing?”

Garrus went up to holodeck three, as he always did on his time off after Tali inevitably kicked him out of Engineering. There he punched in the code for his favorite recreational program, and walked in, carefully closing the door behind him.

It was pretty conventional for a holoprogram - the wide open moors in the north of Palaven’s largest continent, a sunny morning on a field of metallic shrubs that turned away from the sun, a day when small creatures hid in the shade. He approached a bag lying on the ground, opened it and spread its contents in the silvery grass and moss. An antique, in beautiful condition: M-98 Disruptor Rifle, military grade, exceedingly high-powered. Some might say too high-powered for hunting, and they would be right. But Garrus wasn’t interested in eating any of the creatures he shot, if holoprogram animals were even edible.

Captain Shepard was there, too, in the distance, and as Garrus walked “forward” on the forcefield treadmill that felt so much like the stony ground of his homeworld, he seemed to get closer and closer until they stood side by side. “Oh, hey there Garrus,” said Shepard.

“Shepard,” Garrus acknowledged, unslinging the rifle from his shoulder. Shepard had a similar one, which he held cautiously, as if it were a bit unfamiliar. “Sure you can handle that thing?”

“Oh this?” he replied, gesturing with the rifle. “Can’t be all that different from a phaser, right?” This was what he usually said. Moving through his script. However, the program had a limited ability to create new dialogue to adapt to the situation.

“Try it out,” said Garrus. “See how it feels.”

Shepard took aim at a nearby bush. “Let’s see what this baby can do.” A stream of green energy shot out of the disruptor, destroying the bush in a flash and knocking the rifle out of Shepard’s hands. “Damn!” yelled Shepard. “That thing has a hell of a kick.” Then, an improvisation: “You turians have to be crazy to use such uncivilized weapons.”

Garrus chuckled, “Well, I won’t say we aren’t crazy. This is an older model though, a few centuries old. The kind turians use now are significantly better. See, it has the nickname the ‘Widow’, but it’s an M-98. The M series disruptors featured a number of advances, at the time, in stabilization and beam coherency over longer distances, which . . .”

Shepard listened with rapt attention, nodding at appropriate times and interjecting various trivia about ancient Earth weapons when needed to continue the conversation. Above them the sun remained frozen in early-afternoon splendor over the hazy shining moor.

“Beautiful day in here!” came an unwelcome voice.

Garrus froze. Turning slowly he saw that the holodeck archway had become visible, and leaning against it with crossed arms was Commander Kaidan Alenko. Humans on the real Palaven would have needed an environmental suit, but in here the sun’s rays were just for show.

Kaidan strode into the simulation, pausing and placing one foot on a rock and leaning his elbow on his knee, hand to his chin. “Big place,” he said thoughtfully. A huge boyish grin spread across his face.

“What are you doing here?” said Garrus. Shepard looked on, a little absently. “Ever heard of knocking?”

“Thought we need a little heart-to-heart, and I couldn’t reach you on the coms. What even is this simulation, by the way? Is this Palaven?”

“Yes,” Garrus said, looking around fondly. “Though usually the moors are covered in officers on training retreats this time of year. And it usually isn’t this holographic.”

“The Captain, though? Doctor Chakwas frowns upon recreating real people on the holodeck. Might even send you to talk to Chambers.”

“Well, it’s . . . well. What I do in my recreational time is my own business. What do you want, anyway, Commander?” A sudden thought occurred to Garrus at this point. If he had sweat glands, he would have started to sweat. “Before you answer that, maybe we should take this conversation outside . . . computer, end-”

“Belay that order, computer. Why, Lieutenant? It’s actually kind of nice in here. Your representation of the Captain is really interesting, though I think you made his waist narrower than it is, actually narrower than most humans outside cartoons . . .” Kaidan trailed off as the program moved to its next segment, and a new character trotted up eagerly.

“Shepard! Shepard! I want to come too!” said Kaidan. He scowled at Garrus. “Garrus, let’s have a shooting contest!”

“. . . Seriously, Vakarian?” said Kaidan. He stared, gaping slightly, at the diminutive hologram version of himself.

Fake Shepard frowned. “Get out of here, Kaidan. You’re so annoying. I’m spending time with my best friend.”

“Why is he shorter?” Real Kaidan wondered aloud. “I’m already shorter than you!”

“Uhhhhhhh,” said Garrus. Thinking of nothing else to say, he continued, “uhhhhhh. . .”

Neither of them had noticed the initial rumbling as the Normandy tried to come out of warp - the forcefield floors and surroundings of the the holodeck provided additional insulation from the rest of the ship. Similarly, the sound of the superstructure groaning under the strain of the warp engines turned in reverse was covered by the whimsically whispering breezes passing softly over the moors. Their first indication that something had gone wrong was the ship switching to reserve power, shutting down nonessential areas, including the simulation. Fake Kaidan and fake Shepard and the flatlands of Palaven faded away, revealing a medium-sized grid marked room and leaving behind Lieutenant Vakarian and Commander Alenko, one confused and embarrassed and the other confused and deeply offended.

“What happened?” said Garrus, eager to change the subject.

Kaidan gave him a scathing look that said “we’ll discuss this later, but not too long later”, and tapped his communicator. “Commander Alenko to bridge, why have we lost power to holodeck three?”

“This is the bridge. We’re experiencing some difficulty coming out of warp. You should get up here, Alenko,” came the voice of Jeff Moreau, the senior helmsman, and one of the few people aboard who could refer to the Commander informally without a rebuke.

“Sure thing, Joker. Lieutenant Vakarian . . . we’ll discuss this later. In the meantime, please keep me out of your holoprograms.”

“If you could hurry it up, Commander,” Moreau broke in again, “there’s a subspace distortion which-”

His voice cut out abruptly.

Frowning, Kaidan tapped his combadge. “Joker?” Garrus tried his as well. There was no response to either. Then they both strode over to the door as fast as they could with dignity - both thinking no doubt of the legendary fragility of the holodeck safety protocols, known to malfunction with the slightest power surge.

One of them alone would have reached the button to open the door and cause the arch to become permanently visible, but as it was the two officers both got there at approximately the same time, and each pulled back slightly at the last moment to avoid running into each other.

In that slight hesitation, the arch disappeared. The moors of Palaven came back, glinting in a perpetual morning sun. Kaidan swore out loud, and Garrus waved his arms around frantically as he searched for the door. “Computer, end program!” Nothing happened.

“Don’t bother. They’ll send someone up to let us out,” said Kaidan. He looked around at the scenery. “At least it’s nice in here.”

Shepard strolled by, his arms swinging nonchalantly and clipping through his torso. As they watched, his face seemed to turn inside-out, revealing bulging eyeballs unconnected to anything. Holographic Kaidan slid by upside-down, balanced on his head, moving his feet as if still walking. The ground beneath them tilted slightly off the horizontal, forcing them both to stumble for their footing.

“Glitches!” Garrus groaned. “They need to get us out of here before we fall through the map.”

“That happens?”

“Barely ever.”

Kaidan tested the ground with his toe, gingerly, and grimaced.

“One paragade, room temperature,” Captain Shepard said, sitting down at the desk in his ready room. “Anything for you, Mr. Wrex?”

“Turian brandy,” Wrex grunted at the replicator.

“You can’t digest turian brandy, Wrex.”

“Eh, I like the challenge. And I hate that synthehol swill.” The krogan sighed, and addressed the replicator again. “One raktajino, then, I guess,” he said, glowering, “with a jacarine peel!”

The drinks appeared in a slow fizzle of light.

“Wrex, I need to talk to you about something.”

“I thought you might,” said Wrex, sipping his raktajino more delicately than he would in anyone’s presence other than the captain, “since here you are, talking to me.”

“Right. Well, it’s a bit of a personal matter. Not related to security.”

“Hah! Not sure I can help you then, Shepard.” The krogan got up to go.

He saw the look on the captain’s face and sat back down.

“See, I want every one of my officers to get along,” Shepard began conversationally, as if nothing had happened, and sipped his drink. “But lately I’ve noticed some tension, particularly between Commander Alenko and Lieutenant Vakarian. They won’t talk to me about it. I was hoping for your input, particularly about the Lieutenant. You two seem pretty close - you’ve worked together for a few years now.”

Wrex groaned. “The two of them can shut up and keep their problems to themselves. Or battle it out with honor, like the krogans do. Starfleet regulations be damned. Those regulations, by the way, also put this outside my jurisdiction, Shep . . . Captain.”

“I know. But as a friend . . .”

“As your friend, I’ll give you some advice: turian gave me a really bad rash once. Once you go dextro, you go to the infirmary. Heh. Just made that up.”

Shepard stood up and paced. He stood at the window, really a very realistic viewscreen, watching phase-shifted stars slip past. “Don’t be so crude, Wrex.”

“Come on, you wanted advice . . .” he finished his raktajino with a slurp. “Wish I had followed that advice.” He tapped the glass of the Captain’s fish tank, scaring away the fish.

“I meant more . . . ethically. Also, to be completely honest, I don’t want to hurt Kaidan’s feelings.”

Wrex shrugged. “He’s an adult.”

“And with Garrus . . . there’s concerns of my authority over him. It might be improper. You know him better.”

“I know he can be discrete, Captain, if that’s what you’re asking. Turians do it that way. Casual. Heh. I was on a turian warbird once, and - oh right, I already told you about the rash. Wasn’t from the food, you know.” A look of painful remembrance crossed Wrex’s squat heavy face. “The food . . . it did other things.”

“Centuries ago this would have been a bigger issue, just on the grounds of xenophobia. I suppose I should be grateful that it’s just an interpersonal issue. Still-”

EDI broke in, “Captain, you are required on the bridge.”

Shepard stood up to go. “I should go.”

“Captain,” nodded Wrex, also standing.

The bridge was in more of a disarray than usual. Shepard noted several sparking consoles, and Helmsman Moreau looked serious for once. Liara T’Soni, the chief science officer, was pacing around the bridge with nervous energy. She turned as Shepard walked into the room. “Captain, we seem to be stuck accelerating. Warp engines are off, but we’re going even faster than we were before.”

“There are no known instances of a vessel or object maintaining warp velocity while not being propelled by warp engines. This is highly unprecedented,” added EDI from her mobile platform, which was seated at the forward ops station. Shepard was still a little uncomfortable with an android being given a role as an officer on a starship; the fact that she was also the ship’s computer, and so essentially running the operations of herself, only served to confuse him further.

“Full stop, impulse engines,” said Shepard, slipping easily into the Captain's seat.

“Still moving, Cap!” said Joker.

Shepard hesitated. “Full reverse?” he suggested.

When reversing even the power of the warp engines failed, Shepard was nonplussed. It was almost a relief to him when main power shut down without explanation, and he eagerly stood up out of his chair again, throwing the weight of authority off his shoulders as easily as he had put it on. “Where’s Commander Alenko? Never mind. I’m going to look for him.”

Joker activated his communicator. “Captain, he’s in holodeck three, but I’m having trouble getting through. The turbolifts are shut down, so I don’t suggest-”

Shepard was already halfway into a Jeffries tube with a chortling Wrex holding the hatch open for him. “Don’t worry about it, Lieutenant Moreau. Let me know if anything changes.”

“I haven’t even told you our current situation-”

“I should go.” And he went.

The bridge was quiet for a minute.

“I feel like he just checks out during our conversations sometimes,” said Joker. “By the way, everyone, still hurtling through space, and on the current trajectory we’ll run into a small brown dwarf in Krogan space in five years, give or take.”

“Statistically, he is thirty percent more likely to assume a posture that implies he is not being attentive to the speaker when having private conversations with me,” noted EDI. She went on, “I should note that as third officer, Dr. T’Soni is now in command of the bridge, which I take will be acceptable in lieu of a direct proclamation from the commander.” Liara accepted graciously.

“Yeah,” sighed Kelly Chambers. “He never bothers to talk to me anymore, either.”

Seated in the back at the tactical station, Chief Petty Officer Jacob Taylor knew better than to try to join in the conversation.

“In the meantime, Moreau,” Liara said, sitting in the Captain’s chair. “Do what you can to try to slow us down - I’ll have Mordin and the science teams scanning subspace for disturbances that could have caused this.”

“Aye aye, Cap’n.”

“And don’t do that.”

“Yes, sir.”

Deputy Science Officer Mordin Solus banged his tricorder against the wall. “Confounded thing,” he muttered. “Gravitational readings all over the place! Effects on biology of crew, uncertain. Undoubtedly bad. Probably quite averse. Oh dear. I hope it's just the equipment.” He tapped his combadge. “Rana, remember to screen crew for health effects. With possible spatial disruptions, I predict structural abnormalities. In the bones perhaps. For the one with bones. I wonder how that hanar ambassador . . .”

“Sir, I’m a neurospecialist. Send them to me when their brains stop working. Just wait till Chakwa comes on shift in an hour.”

“In-gratitude! After my years of mentorship! Would you rather still be interning at the Okeer foundation? Mixing bottles of krogan gametes? Maybe preferable to you, tendencies towards megalomania, refusal to follow regulations-”

“Fine, sir, I'll see what I can do.”

“Thank you!” He returned to scowling at the tricorder.

There was a hollow tapping sound, metallic. Mordin followed it to the hatch of an access tube set into the wall. The hatch was sealed from his side, meaning someone inside would be unable to open it, and with the coms going in and out they may not be able to contact the bridge to open it. Mordin hesitated a moment then turned the wheel to open it manually.

Shepard climbed out, smiling gratefully. “Got a minute?”

“Ship’s falling apart, subspace anomalies, sassy lab techs, first officer missing, superiors emerging from the walls, of course I have a minute, Captain. Maybe I can stretch it to a minute and a half.”

“Very funny, Mordin. Any idea what's happening to the ship?”

“Not sure, not sure. Subspace anomalies- always the case isn't it? Warp drives create spacetime bubble, continuously maintained by the warp engines. Bubble moves faster than lightspeed relative to normal space, bypassing physical restrictions on accelerations within any given space. Now, warp engines off, bubble still exists, but altered...Stretched. Not a sphere but an oval. Might even stretch further, a folded corridor of space. Physical laws affected. Mass readings are off. Very strange. Never seen anything like it.”

“Bubbles? A space hallway...made of bubbles?”

“No, Captain, not at all. Perhaps you should go back to the bridge.”

“I had some more questions. Is it hard for a salarian in Starfleet?”

Mordin was surprised at the oddly placed query. “Well, no, salarians have their own academy that moves at a faster pace than asari and human ones. Salarians tend to move up the ranks quite swiftly due to native intelligence and speedy maturation. Being mostly asexual under normal circumstances also means we aren't easily distracted from our careers by relationships.”

“Really? So you aren't interested in . . . getting to know one another better.”

“No, I am not, Captain. Except platonically.”

“I had some more questions.”

“Yes? I'm quite busy right now.”

“Never mind then. See you around, Mordin.” Shepard climbed back into the tube, clambering athletically down a shaft that Mordin knew lead to engineering.

Slightly relieved, Mordin went back to scanning with the tricorder. He tried to contact Rana again but got only static.

This was almost as bad as the Crystalline Entity, another time the captain had overreacted. But at least he wasn’t trying to sacrifice Jacob to an ancient and immensely powerful alien this time.

Lines of gravitational and electromagnetic distortion, seen indirectly as figures on the tiny screen of the tricorder, stretched through the ship invisibly, though Mordin kept imagining he could see them out of the corners of his eyes, refracting the corridor lights into a rainbow spectrum heavy in reds and blues. Phase-shifting. Not really happening, illusory, just a result of his mindset. He followed the lines.

A warp corridor? Stretch the ship into an infinitely thin noodle, perhaps. From their reference point, no difference. From outside, possible quite comical, possibly instantaneous travel. But that was not his specialty. Would have to talk to Tali. Luckily, the distortions seemed to be pointing him down into the bowels of the ship, towards engineering. It seemed like he would have the opportunity to discuss some things with her very soon.

On the holodeck Kaidan played chess with Moriarty under the swaying glow of an oil lamp. They were at sea, in an ancient wind-powered earth vessel. It was dark, and a little drizzle fell that never touched the skin but left other surfaces feeling wet. The fictional character was winning, but Kaidan still had a few good pieces left, and was making him work for it. Garrus lurched back and forth on the heaving deck of the pirate ship, a deck covered with metallic grass now drenched with salty spray. The chess pieces stayed absolutely still on the board as Garrus stumbled absurdly with the crashing waves. Above them was a gloomy night sky missing clouds in a few oddly regular oblong patches.

The smaller Kaidan, whom real Kaidan resolutely ignored, was now dressed as a cabin boy and attempting to scrub the deck to little avail as he constantly slipped and fell. He persisted even though the setting had changed; Shepard on the other hand was apparently gone, though Garrus had seen a spectral image of him floating off the bow a few moments ago with a disconnected eyeball and a face that could only be described as “asterisk-shaped”.

Moriarty took Kaidan’s rook and grinned triumphantly. Kaidan sighed, surveying the hopeless carnage of the board, then stood up and walked over to Garrus. “Lieutenant, I think we need to talk.” Moriarty stayed frozen, grinning into the empty chair.

“Yes, sir?” Garrus nearly growled. The lurching was unsettling his stomach. Kaidan seemed less affected, balancing with a primate-ish ease and holding onto an overhead rope one handed.

“Garrus - I’ll just call you Garrus for now, this is personal, man-to-man, you know - I can't help but notice there's a lot being unsaid right now, with you and me and the captain. Not to make any assumptions, but I'm picking up on some tension between the two of us.” The rope creaked in his hand as the ship heaved again, pitching forward into a deep trough between waves.

“I don't know what you mean.”

“Well I can't make you talk about it, but the two of us, in regards to Shepard, I feel like if we don't talk about it we’re bound for some sort of collision-”

As if the holodeck had been listening for idioms to display literally the pirate ship shook, its bottom scraping against an unseen rock with a thrilling shudder and screech, and the entire thing came to a halt, which if Garrus recalled correctly was exactly how the “Foundered with Flint” romance holoprogram segued into its second act. They were thrown backward more gently than would have been strictly realistic, but Garrus still slipped in an undignified manner and hit the deck with a wet slap.

“Fuck,” said Kaidan, who had lost the rope but still managed to land kneeling, one hand to the ground. In the window of the captain’s cabin cozy-looking lanterns began to glow. He regained his feet easily.

Garrus sat up. “You're right,” he said miserably. “I have feelings for him.”

“Lieutenant…”

“I know it's inappropriate. But I do anyway. I know you both are close, and I don't want to get in the way of anything, I just…”

“Lieutenant!”

“We just connect on so many levels. He doesn't care when I say the wrong thing, and we can talk about guns for hours. He's so confident and accomplished and I've even grown as a person just from trying to follow his example.”

“GARRUS!”

“Just a minute, let me get this ouooououhhhhh-”

Unnoticed to Garrus the entire ship had begun listing to one side. Abruptly, the silvery grass reverted to rain-slick wood boards, and the seated turian slid helplessly, slamming into the railing. Below him a black sea churned.

“Hold still!” called Kaidan, hanging onto the handle of a closed hatchway. Carefully he began to lower himself down to where Garrus was crumpled. “We’ll talk more about this later!”

Garrus stared down at the ocean and contemplated continuing to share his feelings with Kaidan. He pulled himself upright with some difficulty, leaning heavily on the railing. “Eh, it's not real water anyway.”

He jumped.

Engineer Daniels was checking isolinear circuitry in the Jeffries tubes near the warp core. She could hear Donnelly's laughter and stupid accent echoing down from a nearby tube. Damn, she wished the guy had just stayed in the transporter room. There was a reason he always somehow ended up on duty upstairs; he was a pain in the ass to work with, and Tali knew it too. But they needed every hand down here right now, and Donnelly at the very least wasn't completely incompetent when it came to the mechanical workings of the vessel.

But even with the dire circumstances at hand, his voice, with its stupid, probably affected accent and lame vaguely sexist jokes were making it hard for her to concentrate on the circuits in front of her. She paused, closed her eyes, took a breath, and counted to five. When she opened her eyes Shepard was there.

To her credit, she didn't scream, though an audible “oop” crossed her lips the same as if she had found herself nearly walking into someone on the street.

Shepard grinned at her. He was red in the face and a little dusty. “Hi Daniels, what's the situation down here?”

“Sir, uh, did you uh, climb all the way down from the upper decks?”

“What, did you think I'd make Joker do it?” Shepard said jovially, adding in a serious tone, “No, I wouldn't. Anyway, what seems to be the problem with the engines?”

“Not sure, sir. The warp core won’t come completely offline, and Chief Tali’Zorah thinks that might be enough to maintain the spacial distortion that’s keeping us at warp. If you look at the core it’s glowing slightly because it’s still producing a plasma stream, just a weak one. There’s not enough energy being fed into it to even keep the reaction going at low levels, however, and that’s the confusing part. She thinks EDI has it wrong and is having us check all the inputs. It’s possible that new components like the phaser banks are malfunctioning and causing some sort of feedback. But I think that’s unlikely.”

“Why?”

“My team and I have checked all the inputs, and especially on auxiliary power, there’s nothing else that can be feeding into it. And there’s more spacial and electromagnetic distortion than can be accounted for even by the warp engines working normally. Physical laws aren’t working right. The reaction is self-maintaining at a low level when it shouldn’t be. There’s a specific energy threshold for matter-antimatter reactions in the dilithium crystal matrix. The occasional stray particles meeting won’t provide enough energy. That’s why we use them, to keep the reaction controlled.” Daniels took a breath. The captain always required so much explanation.

“Oh. Could there be something wrong with the crystals?”

“No, they’re just rocks, you can’t do too much to them on a macro scale, and they can’t be flawed or we’d’ve blown up already . . .” Daniels trailed off. Before the Normandy had left port, did she see the new salarian recruits working on the warp core? She hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, it was routine to check for decrystallization and actually they had gone a long time between replacements. Had there been a new crystal installed? She would have to check with Tali, and the communicators were down. She turned to the Captain and said, “Sorry, sir, there’s something I have to discuss with the Chief.”

“Don’t let me keep you. By the way, have you seen Garrus? Or Commander Kaidan?”

“Garrus was here just a little while before this happened. He went in the direction of the holodeck. He spends a lot of time there.” She picked up her equipment and began scooting down the tube, taking the long way to avoid Donnelly. Behind her, Shepard glanced around in confusion, then picked a ladder to begin climbing up.

“Tali!” she called as she entered the engineering deck proper. Tali glanced up from her console where her fingers had been moving with unbelievable speed.

“Yes, Engineer Daniels, what is it?” the Chief said in a voice just a shade less violent than a snap.

“Did we get our dilithium crystals replaced in port? I’m wondering if there could be, I dunno, some sort of impurity-”

EDI replied, “New dilithium crystals were indeed taken on in port.”

This time it was a snap. “Yes, I remember, thank you computer.” Tali pondered for a moment, her fingers tapping.

A salarian recruit at a nearby computer tentatively raised his hand. “Chief . . .”

Chief Tali’Zorah almost smiled. “I knew it. I knew it had to be one of you. What’s your name, Ensign?”

“Chorban, ma’am. It’s a long story. See, me and Palon over there-” He pointed and a salarian that had previously been edging out of the room waved back, his escape cut off. “-were working on a project in academy together with a previously undiscovered element that we thought could improve the efficiency of warp drives. We never got it to work the way we wanted, we needed something like a starship engine to test it with . . . so we substituted our own artificially grown crystals when it came time to change the Normandy’s.”

Tali’s face was unreadable behind her visor. Daniels chimed in, “You gotta know that artificial crystals can’t be used on starships. They’d break down too quickly.”

“Yes, but with the addition of Element Zero - that’s what we’re calling it, thought it was catchy for branding - we theorized that the crystal structure would be more stable. In itself that’s a pretty big innovation, right? But, but the great thing about it is that running an electric current through this element causes it to create a field that either increases or decreases the mass of objects within it depending on the direction. We thought that adding it would make the matter-antimatter reactions more efficient by decreasing the mass of the particles slightly, while the dilithium would still act to stabilize the reaction.” He glanced around, agitated. Tali, still unreadable, motioned him to go on. “But we still don’t know what’s going on here.”

“I think it’s pretty clear,” said Tali finally. “If what you’re saying is true, you decreased the threshold for reaction, and now even with the antimatter stream turned off when the slightest amount of residual antimatter encounters matter in that matrix, it generates enough energy to power the mass-reducing field. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle. You complete idiots.” She went back to the console. “The really ironic thing is that I could have just ejected the core and fixed the problem, even if we would have had to wait awhile for help to arrive. But the new safety protocols won’t let me so that.”

“Studies show that ejecting the core was in retrospect unnecessary in ninety-five percent of circumstances where it was attempted, so it’s a reasonable addition to the-” began Palon.

“Shut up. Bosh’tet.”

Daniels said, “It might be possible to counter the mass-reducing effect with a graviton emitter. A big enough one could pass a beam through the ship and be targeted precisely on the crystals themselves, and adjusted to negate the effect.”

“We don’t have the time or the materials to assemble something like that.” Tali stated.

“No, but the computer has the schematics - right, EDI? - and we could build one on the holodeck. With some tweaking of the protocols it could even produce an actual graviton beam despite being made of holo-matter.”

“But all the holodecks are shut down on auxiliary power.”

“Actually,” interrupted EDI, “There is one holodeck still running due to a malfunction at the time of the power surge.”

Daniels said, “Good. If it’s not glitching too hard up there because of the interference, I recommend we attempt it, Chief. Not much choice.”

“I agree. Let’s get moving.”

Mordin Solus scanned the wall. It was an ordinary bulkhead, no radiation, no subspace phenomena, gray metal with track lighting in the right places. Visually, it was fine, a bland but solid and reliable wall, Federation standard make for starships. The only real problem with it was its shape and location, jutting outwards into the corridor and curving in a mind-bending sense to leave a tall skinny gap only about a foot wide on one side. The hole itself reminded him of an optical illusion; the pattern of the carpet constricted and seemed to flow into it. The tricorder sensed nothing wrong with this other than noting the abundance of tiny stress fractures in the metal as shockingly high. It was as though the metal itself had aged a hundred years or so in a matter of hours, or was being pulled in all directions at once. Mordin suspected the latter, and he had been encountering it more and more as he moved down towards Engineering.

This could not, he reasoned, be good.

He heard footsteps on the other side of the hole just as he was trying to work up the nerve to squeeze around it. “Keelah!” exclaimed a voice.

“Chief Tali’Zorah?” Mordin called.

“Mordin! A moment please, I’ll try to duck around this . . .”

“That would not be advisable-” but as he tried to warn her, an impossible tall and narrow creature with spindly limbs came through the gap. A few feet past it the figure refocused itself into the chief engineer, who was squatting as if ducking under something. She looked up at Mordin then back at the hole.

“Huh,” she said, perplexed. “It was three feet tall and as wide as the corridor, from the other direction. Daniels, maybe-”

But Daniels had already followed, also emerging in a crouch as if to avoid hitting her head. She was similarly distressed when she looked back.

“Perhaps we should not attempt to pass through any more distortions we come across,” Mordin suggested.

“Unfortunately, I think there are more of them than we’re able to perceive,” said Tali. “When I walked through just now the corridor seemed to stretch back into its normal shape, relative to me.”

“It doesn’t matter, anyway,” said Daniels. “We’re already doing what we can. Mordin, you’ve built a graviton emitter before, right?”

“Of course, back in the academy. I made a miniaturized version specifically to cheat at Dabo.”

“Can you create a functional one in the holodeck if I switch off the radiant energy safety protocols? You have more experience in particle physics than me.”

“Probably, yes, the schematics should be in the databanks for simulation purposes.”

“Good. We’ll need you.”

Garrus hung with his feet barely touching the water. It wasn’t wet, there was just empty space underneath, though it wasn’t clear how far he would have fallen before hitting the deck. Might have sprained an ankle or something.

He looked up. A smallish hand held his wrist in an inhumanly tight grasp. He looked up into the face of cabin-boy-Kaidan gritting his teeth in determination. Further up, the real Commander Alenko leaned over the side, gripping a leg of his doppelganger in each hand.

The Commander shouted down, “Garrus, you’re too damn heavy for this!”

Just then, the sunlit fields of Palaven returned and the pirate ship disappeared, causing the three to fall into the grass. Garrus’s toes remained under the surface however, and he felt himself beginning to sink beneath the map.

He gasped, the wind still knocked out of him, “Kaidan, help!”

The fake Kaidan grabbed him by the shoulders, and yanked him up onto the ground. The force of this, however, caused the hologram to phased down to his waist in the simulated grass. He attempted to continue moving for a moment before abruptly sinking out of sight. They lay silent on the warm grass for a moment.

“Can’t say I miss him,” said Kaidan. “Though, I found his behavior . . . interesting to say the least.”

“Outside,” Garrus panted, “of the dialogues, I based his, protocols for improv, on you. Your personality. What I’ve seen of it.”

Kaidan grinned, just a little. “I hope I’d jump off a boat to catch you.”

“I know you would. For any crew member. You’re a good person, and I’m sorry about misrepresenting you in the holoprogram.”

“It’s okay. Just don’t, you know, do it anymore. It’s still kinda weird.”

“Gotcha.”

Shepard walked up to them, a big smile on his face. “Hey, Garrus! Kaidan!” He looked around, and picked up the disruptor from the ground. “Were you thinking of a shooting contest or something?”

“Ugh, I can barely watch this anymore,” said Garrus with a wince.

Kaidan studied Shepard for a moment, then the big grin returned to his face. “Hey Lieutenant, why don’t you just tell him how you feel? For practice, you know.”

“Oh, fine,” said Garrus. He got to his feet. “Shepard, I’d like to spend more time with you. I like talking to and being around you. You make me feel good about myself and my place here, and inspire me to work even harder. I’m not sure about your relationship with Commander Alenko but I’d just like to be honest with you and tell you I’m interested. There, you happy?” he said, sitting down again. Kaidan’s grin got wider.

“Well, uh, okay, so,” Shepard began. He gestured behind him to the now-visible holodeck arch. “Maybe we should discuss this later, after we’ve fixed the problem with the ship. I mean, I’m definitely, you know, well, maybe let’s just talk about it later, if that’s okay. I think.”

Garrus froze in shocked silence as Kaidan began to giggle.

“. . . So, maybe we should head down to Engineering now,” said Shepard, edging towards the door.

“Wait!” said Tali, stepping through. “Don’t let the holodeck shut down!” Daniels and Mordin followed her in, Daniels propping the exterior door open to prevent the arch from disappearing.

“Did you - did you hear any of that?” Garrus asked trepidatiously.

“Of course. You talk very loudly. We heard you down the corridor.” Mordin was jabbing at the screen within the archway. “However it is not really as important as you seem to think given the imminent threat of death.”

“Oh.”

Tali worked on the datapad she had brought with her. “The safety protocols are luckily still intact in here, though the graphics module is trashed. I’ll just alter one and repair the other.” A few seconds, and then: “Good to go! It’ll allow us to create a graviton beam. I do hope none of your programs include devices that might release radiant energy, Garrus, because I did have to remove some safeties.”

“Aha,” said Mordin. In the center of the field a bulky, complicated-looking apparatus floated. It rotated, its dull metal glinting slightly in the Palaven sun, so the single aperture pointed downwards at an angle presumably towards the engines.

“Now, while it works, it IS less stable than an emitter made of normal matter, so calibrating the focus and beam coherency may be a little tricky-”

Lieutenant Garrus had been sitting on the ground in a slight daze, staring at Shepard, who seemed a little uncomfortable with the whole situation but also had a softness around his eyes - his quite beautiful eyes, Garrus would never really get used to the eyelashes but he thought there was something cute and alien about them - but looked around at the mention of calibrations. Then he noticed another figure, another Shepard, compared directly with the real one now an imperfect copy especially since the face was still a little glitchy. It was holding a disruptor, an M-98 Widow. It pointed it towards where there had once been a bush but now there was Kaidan, the Commander apparently spacing out and gazing at the hazy hills in the simulated distance. It said, “Let’s see what this baby can-”

Garrus felt, for a moment, the uniform and insignia and training and rules of Starfleet leave him as his toeclaws dug deep into the soil. His ancestors had been hunters on these plains. The glinting grass was familiar, the smell of sun and dirt, the figure before him whose small soft finger slowly began to depress the trigger. The rush of a concentrated predatory rage filled him and he leapt into the hologram Shepard at full force, barely containing himself enough to not try to rip out his throat with gnashing mandibles. They tumbled over into the grass. The rest of the crew present seemed frozen in shock as Garrus tore the disruptor away and threw it in a random direction.

“Oh my,” said the fake Shepard from the ground, breathless. “Garrus, I love it when-”

“SHUT UP!”

“Yes, master.”

“Argghh,” moaned Garrus.

Captain Shepard, the real one, did not seem to know what to make of this. Kaidan simply stood in shock, then started to laugh. “Did I just almost get killed by one of my men’s sexual repression?”

“I guess,” said Shepard, coming back to himself. He kept glancing at the Shepard flat on his back on the ground. “I always thought being open about yourself was the best bet.” He stared at Kaidan, then at Garrus. “I’m sorry if I wasn’t the clearest about my intentions lately. Garrus, me and Kaidan have a complicated relationship, in that it’s kind of uncomplicated, by romantic things. At least it was. I’ve been a little unfair to him, I think-”

“No, I knew what I signed on for. And maybe it’s not what I really wanted,” Kaidan admitted. “I just wanted you.”

Shepard sighed. “Right. I know, Kaidan.”

“But that might not have been the best for either of us,” Kaidan waved his arms dramatically, “so I release you! Do what you do best. I’m not going to try to change the things I love most about you, that’d be stupid and selfish.” He turned and began to walk away.

“Okay. Thank you Kaidan. So Garrus, if maybe you want to get some food at the replicator some time, or watch ‘Fleet and Flotilla’ with me-”

The ship rumbled and groaned, throwing them all off balance. Tali looked up from her datapad. “I apologize. While you were talking, we turned on the machine to try to save everyone’s lives. Please continue.”

“Great. So Garrus . . .”

“Yeah, I’d like that Captain.”

“-Captain! Bridge to Captain!” yelled Liara T’Soni’s voice through Shepard’s combadge. “It worked, we’ve come out of warp, but we’re further off course than we thought-” There was an odd, deep thrumming noise in the background. “We’ve encountered something, something huge, a mechanized cube with tentacles and a big red eye, it’s blasting the shields. I’ll have Donnelly beam you all to the bridge immediately.”

“Affirmative, Liara, six ready to beam up. And Lieutenant,” he caught Garrus’s eye as bright particles began to swirl around them. The turian felt his hearts seize in his chest. “This isn’t over yet.”

They disappeared in a swirl of luminous particles.

#mshakarian #Mass Effect #mass effect au #mass effect fanfiction #star trek #star trek ds9 #star trek next generation #mschenko

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