The door drifted closed with a soft clunk, muffled by the extra foam weather stripping they'd installed. Rebecca sighed and started washing the guests' mugs, which Sam passed over to her one at a time, and then dried in turn. They didn't say much during the comfortable interlude of domestic routine and when they were done, Sam shooed Rebecca to settle on the couch. She topped up her own cup with the mint and lemongrass green tea that she knew was her girlfriend's current favorite and brought it over to share.

"So..." she sat sideways next to Rebecca, tucking her feet under herself and pulling a blanket over their laps while Rufus settled on the floor in front of them.

"Penny, right?"

"Uh-huh. I saw all those different wheels turning at once."

"Well, first off, holy shit. I'm still kind of at that."

"Fair enough. I'm somewhere around 'pinch me'. But don't, I don't want to spill this."

Rebecca smiled, appreciating Sam's well-honed balance between gentle probing and alleviating humor. "The possibilities are... actually a little scary. Sure, we haven't been living the easy life or anything, but I was starting to feel like I had it under control, you know? A lot could change."

Sam nodded acceptingly. "For sure. Just remember that some of it could be really good, you know? Imagine if Allie only needed to send Leonard across the street for diapers or formula in a few months."

Rebecca leaned closer so their shoulders met. "I know, really. It would probably be for the best, if we can do it without attracting trouble. We gotta talk to everyone about it."

"Of course. As far as trouble is concerned... it might come looking for us anyway, and if we're well stocked up, dug in, and have friends in the area because we're where they come to get their food and socks and propane and whatever else... maybe we're better positioned to punch them in the face and take their stuff." She offered the cup to Rebecca, who closed her eyes and breathed in the fragrant steam for few seconds before drinking. Meanwhile, Sam used her newly free hands to tuck the hair sticking out of her hat behind her ears. "We don't need to solve all the problems right now anyway. This was just finding out what they're here about."

"Right, I know. But hey, that lady really is the polar opposite of Lassart, huh?" Rebecca passed the mug back to Sam and reached for the quarter-finished baby blanket she was fumbling her way through knitting for Allie. She'd already started over three times, but it was a good way to keep busy, and she wasn't messing up as much.

Sam nursed the tea and watched Rebecca's hands while she ran amperage numbers in her head and pondered how she could tie a generator into their grid as an occasional "booster". Powering loads directly off a gennie was more efficient at a watt per gallon level, but... there was guaranteed to be surplus generation capacity that wasn't being utilized while fuel was still being burned, just at idle. Maybe running a generator at a steady sustained load, and dumping that all into battery storage would get more usable electricity out of each drop of fuel, even with transmission and storage losses? She was "going to have to science the shit out of this..."

**

Rhonda stopped by close to an hour later, by which point Rebecca had moved back to the bed to stretch out while she knit and dozed off several rows later. Sam looked up from the couch as Ronnie entered after a tap on the door — they'd long ago encouraged her to just enter after knocking if the door was unlocked — and held a finger to her lips and pointed to the bedroom. The old sergeant nodded and propped her rifle against the breakfast bar carefully, picking up one of the freshly washed mugs from the dish rack and ladling out some hot water at Sam's hand-waved invitation and encouragement.

Sam closed the notebook she was sketching and scribbling in and moved the calculator at her side into her lap to clear the other half of the couch. "Hey Sarge, take a load off, I can bring you up to speed."

Ronnie sat slowly, giving Rufus a couple of affectionate thumps as he followed her. She was still stiff from the cold outside, and welcomed the opportunity to visibly relax somewhere out of the public eye. "It's okay, Epstein filled me in. He's actually up on the roof watching for ne'er-do-wells in my place."

"Huh. He seems like a good guy."

"Yeah, he's pretty solid. I'd have been happy to have him in a squad back in the day. How's our girl with all the excitement?"

Sam looked to the bedroom, and then back to Rhonda. "I think she likes Amira. I think she's alright too, like one of those people who's a good politician because she doesn't want to be one. Like you told me about officers once. Something made Remy think about her man, though." Sam gestured at herself like she was pointing at a necklace.

Ronnie looked up from the cup she was warming her hands around. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. I'm not sure what the trigger was, she kinda drifted off for a moment, but seemed alright after. Stunned by the potential implications of the plan, and the news of the fuel stash, which anyone would be. And, she wanted to talk to you about all the tactical stuff. I'm not patient enough to wait for her to wake up though, I'm curious what you think... especially if she's not gonna like it and I have to be ready."

Ronnie gave her an amused look. "Always the engineer. Contingencies and readiness. Not that I disapprove." She looked towards the bedroom, and then the living room window. The kids had done a nice job with those curtains, probably kept the warmth in too. "I'm tentatively in favor. My guess is that any major threats, like BT, are already going to be way better stocked than we are. And, when it comes to smaller groups, like her buddy's little group of nomads... well, she already made friends with that one, and we've got enough hardware to wreck similar levels of troublemakers. Cat's group hasn't mentioned anyone else wandering around, and they're good ears to have out there, they'll get intel the official patrols won't. They're probably tough enough to turn into a pretty good group of irregulars too, now that I mention it."

"You mean more irregular than the rest of us?" There was laughter to Sam's voice, which she self-consciously damped down after she realized it, wanting to be considerate of Rebecca's nap. "Hey... umm, different topic. I don't want to pry too much into anything that's just her business, but... did Remy ever mention Cat to you before? I know there was a bit of a spark between them back when."

"Worried, are you?" Ronnie looked at her appraisingly for a moment, and Sam shrugged. "Don't be. I don't remember any mention of her before, and she's different now than she was then. Your girl, I mean. Cat too, I'm sure. I don't think they'd connect — I didn't even know they were a thing in the past."

Sam nodded, looking at the bedroom, and seemed mostly satisfied. "Well, they didn't... okay. Thanks. Just... you know. I don't know how much of us is... not having many options."

"Sammie, that is literally the dumbest thing I've ever heard come out of your otherwise very smart mouth, and I've made a career out of hearing dumb things from people who should know better. If you're having doubts yourself, you need to talk to her. Sooner than later."

"No, no. It's not like that." She gestured around the apartment, and then looked at the bedroom. "I love this cozy thing we've got going here, and I love her. I was wondering more about the weird circumstances around us and their role in bringing us together, I guess." Sam was suddenly keenly nervous Rebecca would wake up and get worried overhearing this.

"Fair enough. Look at this way. What do you know more about than the rest of us? Electricity, chemistry, all that. Those work off of molecular and atomic bonds, attractive charges and all that, right? Lots of those are products of their surroundings, when the right two things come together in whatever circumstances. Is the fact that the two of you found the best thing to happen to either of you recently..." (Ronnie waved her hand towards Sam next to her, and then towards the bedroom.) "...in each other at all lessened in any way? Who's to say the two of you didn't happen despite all the shit, not because of it?"

Sam was uncommonly quiet for a moment. How people's heads worked was Rebecca's thing, not hers, at least until you got down to the electrochemical level inside of neurons and all that. But picturing it the way Ronnie described... "Okay." She smiled at Ronnie. "Thank you, Rhonda. I can see why she looks up to you so much. I guess... when you don't have very many nice things, maybe you worry more about what you do." She thought for a moment more. "Hey, give me a minute? Don't leave though..."

"Sure, kid." Ronnie nodded, so Sam rose.

Setting the notebook and calculator down on the counter, she padded quietly into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. Rebecca was either still asleep, or really good at faking it, and Sam didn't think she'd have her mouth hanging open like that if she was pretending. Sam watched her for a moment, and then took her hand and caressed it gently. "Hey doll. Ronnie's here. Did you want to talk to her?"

"Mmm... what?" Rebecca lifted her head (and closed her mouth...), blinking awake.

"Ronnie's here now, hon. You want to talk to her about stuff? Or maybe later?"

Rebecca leaned her head back and closed her eyes again for a moment, then sat up, rubbed her face with the hand Sam wasn't holding, and ran it through her hair. "No, no. Now's good. Just gotta... get my brain back in gear." She blinked her eyes clear and made eye contact with Sam. "Hi, Rosie."

Sam patted Rebecca's hand. "Hi Remy. Rise and shine, take two." She helped Rebecca scoot to the side of the bed and stand up into a hug. "Do you need s'more tea or anything?"

"Three, technically."

Sam stepped back from the embrace, still hanging onto one hand. "Huh?"

"Take three. I got up to start the fire so you wouldn't be a popsicle." Rebecca stretched her neck and squeezed Sam's hand.

"Ah, yes. My toe-warming hero." Sam kissed Rebecca on the cheek and stepped aside to let her go through the door first... taking just a moment to enjoy the unexpected pleasant view as she followed. In the other room, she collected her notebook and calculator from the counter and coaxed a capering Rufus up on the beanbag with her so the other two could catch up. He was a bit of an oaf, but almost as good a source of body heat as Rebecca. (She definitely smelled better, though.)

Ronnie smiled at Rebecca's rumpled hair as she joined her on the couch, sitting cross-legged where Sam was just a few minutes before. She had a brief image of a Charlie Brown-esque "The corpsman is in" sign before Rebecca spoke.

"Hey, Ronnie. Sorry, I hope you weren't waiting long. I didn't know when you'd be able to make it, and I guess I dozed off."

"Ah, it's okay, kiddo. Sammie and I just talked a little shop until she decided you'd had enough beauty rest."

"What would I get done without her. What a task driver." Rebecca looked over to the beanbag with a teasing grin.

Sam looked up from her notebook and pointed the rear of her pen at Rebecca. "That should just prove I don't only like you for your looks. Also, I'm merciless. Just ask Rufus. You only did like three more rows before you passed out." She fluffed the pup's ears before going back to her work, her expression returning to a half-frown of concentration.

"Yes dear, thank you dear." Rebecca watched her for another second, shook her head a little, and turned back to Ronnie. "So... crazy morning. Did Sam catch you up a little?"

"Actually, Epstein did, after getting the councilwoman settled."

"Oh, good. Pro tip, call her Amira if you don't want to hand her an opportunity to verbally outmaneuver you."

Ronnie chuckled. "Noted. So, their plan... go all eminent domain, requisition and expropriate the leftovers of the old world, try to keep people convinced it's for their own good, keep would be looters at bay, try to avoid getting on any bigger fish's radar. Does that about sum it up?"

"You forgot plop it all on our doorstep because we're on desirable real estate. Gentrification is real." She had a brief flashback to how her dad's cabinet business had been priced out of town after Mom sold it to his best worker. Not that it mattered now...

Ronnie might have misunderstood why she sighed. "Yeah, it seems drama keeps finding its way to our doorstep, doesn't it?"

Rebecca smiled wistfully at her. "I guess Fairbanks and ...Tierman, is it? ... think we have a good track record at handling it when it does? May you live in interesting times? But... what do you think? I'm worried it would make us a big target for looters, or thieves, or raiders, whatever we'd call them."

"Well, I would hope we'd address them as first name 'tango', last name 'down', if they showed up. I was telling Red over there, honestly, I think trouble is going to find us again at some point. Our stability already makes us a bit of a target for small-time unsavory types, but we're also above a particular capability level where it would take someone pretty organized to be a really, truly significant threat. The truth is, if some bunch of shitbirds like Black Tusk comes along again, with their act together, they'd give us real trouble. We've got teeth but we're not unassailable."

"I'm not sure this is a very reassuring line of thought, Ronnie..."

"Bear with me, I'm getting there. Yes, this notion of theirs, and the increased cooperation with them, exposes us to an amount of risk. But, the resources and support attached could put us on a more even footing with a threat level we potentially have to face sooner or later anyway. I'm sure there's something in The Art of War or one of those other books you like to reference about controlling where and when your fights happen, right? And being prepared for them?"

Rebecca sighed and looked across the room for a minute, her gaze unfocused. "Yeah, probably more than once. I just don't know what to do, this decision affects so many people."

"Are you feeling sympathetic for Peter Lassart now?"

Rebecca's eyes snapped back to Ronnie's. "Fuck no!"

"Good. Because I know what you're going to do about this."

Rebecca held her hands up and open in front of her. "Please, enlighten me, because I don't yet."

Sam looked up from her notes with a quirked eyebrow while Ronnie replied.

"You don't claim to run this place. You're going to talk to the people this effects, not even just Allison and Leonard, and make sure they have an opportunity to have a say in the matter because you know you don't have to make this decision for everyone, even if you think you do."

Sam made an amusedly derisive sound, likely meaning she could have told everyone that.

Rebecca sighed. "Great. You two haven't ganged up on me in a while..."

Ronnie held a hand up in a shrugging gesture, and Sam waited until Rebecca looked her way, and winked at her.