“Flex it for me again.”

Tessa’s eyes drifted up, crossed her arm. Fingers folded in easily, gracefully, formed a soft fist, opened again. The doctor made a silent scratch in her silicon pad.

“Good.” She looked up, regarded Tessa with a soft smile, olive eyes under bobbed, orange-red hair. “And the implant lacings?”

“All seem to be working fine.” Tessa reached out, palm open, and caught a laser scalpel as it flew toward her, collapsed into a glassy ball of chrome before it even touched her hand. She grinned. “You do good work, Doctor.”

“The biotank does good work. I just feed it the variables.” The doctor sighed, watching Tessa turn the hovering ball of liquid chrome into a dozen playful shapes, the look of a tired parent watching a child build a tower out of pots and pans. “What time is your meeting with the people from Seindrive?”

“Ten AM.” The major said absently, turning the liquid lump over in her hand and then tossing it to the doctor. The other woman caught it reflexively, almost marveled at the cold, glossy surface of the solid metal sphere as she held it between her fingers. “Sorry about the scalpel.”

“It’s nothing.” The doctor studied the sphere for a moment longer before she looked up, half smiled. “I’ll just fax up another one.” She stashed the sphere in her pocket, glanced back at her silicon pad as Tessa nodded absently. “Well, Major, I think we’re done here.” She glanced up again, held Tessa’s eyes for a moment. “If you have any problems, strange pains, tingling, sudden failure in implant functionality, let me know.”

“Sounds good.” She grinned back, pushed off the table. “Any care instructions besides plenty of bedrest and fluids?”

“If it hurts, don’t do it.” The doctor grinned. “Unless it’s a good hurt.”

“Always good advice.” Tessa’s grin turned wry. “Hey, Ben and I were wondering if you would be up for a drink later in the officer’s lounge?”

“Maybe.” The doctor smiled back, set the notepad down. “How late are you thinking? My shift ends at eighteen hundred.”

“Eighteen thirty then, if you can make it.” Came Tessa’s playful response. Nodding, the doctor turned away, crossed to the nanofax module that printed up all the disposables, all the needles and tools medical went through during the course of a given day.

“Eighteen thirty.” She turned back, smiled. “Okay.”

“Great, well I’m off to change back into something more formal than these regulation skivvies anyway, so I’ll tell Ben its on.” The major grinned again, stretched, flexed bare toes, pulled absently at the fabric of her grey tanktop. The other woman waved in silent response. “Later, Doc.”

Back in the quarters she shared with Dimitrov, Tessa hurried through her dressing, worked quickly, excited about meeting with a representative from Seindrive, eager to impress. Buttoning up the uniform that marked her as Ultima Thila, she grinned at herself, checked every edge of flash, of gold or chrome that went into her uniform, made her into a monolith of authority, the elite, the best of the best, someone with the power to move fleets, worlds. Light caught the golden sigel rune pinned at the neck of her dark uniform, flickered as she moved, turning in the mirror.

“How do I look?” She asked.

“Gorgeous.” Dimitrov smiled softly, hands coming to rest on her shoulders. “You truly are beautiful, Tessa.”

“I was going for authority and responsibility, but that works.” She turned toward him, eyes closing as a sultry smile crawled across her lips, merged into a soft kiss. Eyes met as they broke away a little after th contact, her hands rising to connect behind her lover’s neck as he kissed her back, passionately. “Mmm, careful.” She placed a finger on his lips, grinned. “Get me too excited and I might be late for my meeting.”

“That’s a bad thing?” He grinned back quietly.

“Never.” She kissed him gently, chuckled quietly as she tucked her head in against his chest and closed her eyes, sighed. “Believe me, I wish there was time for it now.”

“There’s always later.” He hugged her closer, smiled softly, his voice a pleasant vibration in her ear. “I can wait.”

“You’re so perfect, Ben.” She looked up, smiled back. “I love you.”

“I love you more.” He grinned, and they laughed together quietly, Tessa resting her head on his chest again for a moment, hand pressed against his heart, feeling the pulse there. She smiled, soaked in the moment, allowed it to fill her, to radiate out through her. This is good. She told herself. This was worth coming back for.

But it isn’t Izzy.

Tessa swallowed as a familiar cold settled into her again, chilled her to her core and left her almost gasping for air, eyes suddenly wide, staring. Her spine stiffened, and as she pulled away, Dimitrov caught some of the chill in her eyes, the pain. Hands touched, rolled across each other, squeezed. Tessa forced a smile.

“I– I have to go.”

Dimitrov closed his eyes, sighed, nodded.

“I know.”

Tessa turned and kissed him gently, tentatively, then turned away again and crossed to the door, hurrying on into the corridor beyond without another word, without a goodbye. Ben’s words echoed true on so many levels. He did know. He knew intimately, and he knew what his part in the equation was. He knew Tessa’s heart, the damage and the pain that festered deep within her, spiking into her personality, the things she did, the way she reacted to everything. He knew how often she thought about Izzy, about humanity, all the people the Commonwealth had lost to the Coralate, all the innocents, the civilians, the noncombatants eviscerated by Cygnan weaponry. He knew how much it hurt, knew the ways that Tessa chose to deal with the pain. All he could do was close his eyes and sigh, watch from the sidelines and be there, be there when the walls broke down, when she truly needed him.