O didn't bother to sit when the guard left her in the meeting room. She watched Dave pace on the other side of the humming strip on the floor.

Really, if she wanted to, she could reach right across that and choke the shit out of him. She wasn't pissed at him for sleeping with Molly. Hell, she didn't even care about that. Sloane wasn't hurt by his wife's infidelity, otherwise, things would be different.

No, it was his smarmy fake affection bullshit that grated on her nerves. She wanted to squeeze his throat until his eyes popped.

Darling...so much violence...

It's not like he doesn't have it coming...

True, but we have a plan, Brig sent her much-needed calm. If he gets in the way, we'll deal with him...

O took a deep breath and cleared her throat. Dave stumbled to a stop and finally noticed her.

"Ofelia," he smiled. "Honey, how are you?"

O barely stopped her eyes from rolling, "I'm a prisoner. Honey." She snapped. "How are you?"

He swallowed and crept to the visitor's chair. "Well, I'm okay. The kids miss you and Cruz, of course."

"Of course," she muttered. "Why are you here?"

Dave had the presence of mind to look hurt. "Honey, I'm here for you," he murmured.

"You're married to someone else," O reminded him. "So, again. Why are you here? Really."

Dave drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair and stared at her. She stared right back. "They think you know more than you're saying, Ofelia," he said finally. "They wanted me to try to get you to talk about it."

O shrugged. "I do know more than I'm saying," she admitted. It wasn't a secret, anyway. "I just can't give them what they want, not while I'm isolated from the rest of the crew."

Dave rested his elbows on his knees. "That's the thing, baby, they don't believe that," he said. "They think it's just a ruse. I mean, we're all individuals. That's the way the human mind works. Even when we spend decades working closely with the same group of people, we are still our own people with our own minds."

"Yeah, but we are not just human, anymore, Dave," O sighed, "at least not like any other human. We've had retroactive genes activated, and new pathways laid in our brains. The Hive was trying to communicate with us. They thought we were children because so much of our brain was going unused, with genetic markers they considered vital left inactive.

"I literally don't know everything about my engine anymore. It's spread out across the crew. Hell, Yu can calibrate a mercury rod in her sleep and that's not anything she ever knew how to do before, and I didn't teach her.

"When they rearranged us, they did it the way they understood thoughts and knowledge. There was nothing malicious about it, they just weren't familiar enough with human physiology to put us back exactly the way we were. They 'fixed' things they thought were broken."

Dave glanced around and leaned as close as he could. "Maybe you can use that to get out of here," he muttered. "I mean, you can't be responsible for what they did to you, can you? Can't you tell them what you know, Ofelia?"

The bullshit is strong with this one, Kurt muttered.

She eased into the chair across from him and took a slow breath. "I don't know, Dave," she said. "I mean, I'm not sure the others are even aware of what they know."

Dave tapped his fingers on his knee. "I'm just saying, hon, if you give them what you know, all of it, they'll let you out. They've promised me, and don't you want to get out of here? I mean after three years, it's gotta be wearing on you. You never liked being indoors all the time."

"Five."

Dave blinked. "Say what?"

"It's been five years, David. They had the brilliant notion to bring you in three years ago, but that was after two years of intimidation, torture, and experimentation. Not to mention the trauma of fighting to get home only to be imprisoned, drugged, tagged like a wild animal, and held away from the people I care about most." She arched a brow at his slack-jawed shock. "So yeah, it's wearing on me. It's wearing on all of us."

"My God," he whispered. "I had no idea, Ofelia." He swallowed and his hands clenched and unclenched. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Have you seen Brig?"

He sat back quickly and frowned at her. "No, why would I?"

"Well, at one point, we were all friends," she reminded him. "Went out on double dates and stuff. You and I were the Twins' godparents. We were an integral part of each other's lives. You're married to his wife...um ex-wife.. and living with his kids." She shrugged. "I'd think he would love to talk to you if only to get some info on the Ashes."

Dave rubbed his hand over his chin and sat forward. "I can try. Do you want me to give him a message?"

She stared at him and made a show of darting her eyes around the room before leaning as close as she could with the strip between them.

"I just need you to let him know I'm okay. We...got close again on the way home." She lowered her eyes as if embarrassed and heard Kurt losing it in her head before Brig silenced him. "I mean, once we saw your messages, we...needed...some kind of comfort..."

"I understand, baby, I do," Dave hurried to soothe her. "I'm not angry, I mean, hell, I gave up on you, and I can't tell you how much I regret that. I should have known you would never stop trying to get back to me. I should have had faith in you. I should have waited for you."

Should have not fucked my best friend's wife, ya two-faced bastard...

Keep him talking, darling...Brig urged.

"I understand," she said softly. "When we woke up, we knew it was too late, that our families would already be out of cold sleep. All we had to keep us going was the hope that some of you would still be here when we got home. Somebody. Anybody."

"I'm so sorry, baby," Dave had the nerve to reach for her and then stop as if he forgot about the security strip. "Please. All I want to do is hold you. Please give them what you can so you can get out of here."

She laced her fingers together in her lap and siphoned Dave's thoughts for the Collective. He was wide open, and they were getting all the tea.

Not much on security but enough to show them how many checkpoints stood between them and freedom.

"I'll...I'll try. I really will. Dave, please try to see Brig. He was so worried about all of us...and ... I just need him to know I'm okay."

"I will, baby, I promise. Just do what you can from your side, and I'll see you again soon."

She nodded and frowned at the guard that came up behind her. She turned back to watch Dave leave before she slowly stood up.

Her blood was boiling, and Brig was hard at work keeping her calm enough to walk back to her (cell) room.

She slammed into the bedroom and threw herself onto the bed. She immediately jumped out of her body to scream her fury into the cosmos. Brig caught her, held her close to his astral form, and let her rage until she fell back into him.

I hate this...

I know...

I can't do it anymore...

I know...

Two days...

One more, now, darling...One day and we'll be together...

***

"She's psychotic."

"Well, yeah," Dave sighed, "but she's right. Nobody knows Cruz better than Ofelia, not even Molly. If I can get in to see Cruz, I might be able to get him to agree, like she has, to share what he knows in exchange for seeing the Twins again. Once you have those two talking, the rest should fall in line."

Ulster leaned back in his oversized chair and studied the man across his desk from him. David Nichols was a weasel of a man, despite his generic good looks. It was his underlying personality that did it. He wanted everyone to respect him, but he really had nothing about him that would garner more than a passing regard.

The man was boring. Dull. Mediocre and ordinary.

Ulster couldn't believe Munro married the man. He found it even harder to believe that Sloane's wife had had an affair with him. However, outside of the Asimov crew, Ulster could think of no one else that could get close enough to Commander Munro to break her silence.

He suppressed a shudder, remembering his last visit with her. That woman was absolutely clinically insane, and he ruefully confessed -if only internally- that he had much to do with her current condition. He knew she was one of the most brilliant engineers of their time, even over 20 years after her prime. The years the crew spent in space, added to the confinement since their return had broken something in Ofelia Munro. She would never be the same, and her uncontrolled homicidal urges ensured she would never see daylight again.

Ulster suspected every member of the crew suffered a similar break with reality, but none of them were as overtly affected as Commander Munro.

"I don't see how sending you to speak with Sloane would make a difference."

"Cruz and me were never close, but we have similar taste," David admitted, having the grace to look regretful. "I mean, we both loved the same women, and Ofelia spent a great deal of time with him when they broke up and after we were married. I think Cruz would talk to me because I have intimately known the most important women in his life and his children."

Ulster stared at David like he was speaking tongues.

The idiot really thought the fact that he was married to Sloane's wife now created some kind of rapport with the man. Ulster decided he wanted to see this for himself.

"We'll give it a try. I'll take you to him."

***

The last time Sloane saw David Nichols he was laying down to be put into cold sleep to await the return of his wife, Ofelia Munro.

He never liked the man, but he tolerated him because O chose him.

Of course, O selected her spouse based on far different criteria than Sloane selected his. Sloane wanted a nurturing, compassionate woman to mother his children and keep him company. Love wasn't necessary but affection and respect were. Mutual attraction was also in his top five Must Haves In A Wife.

He was still working on forgiving himself for getting some of that so very wrong with Molly.

O didn't care if her husband loved her or even wanted her. She just needed a spouse to calm rumors about a secret relationship between her and Sloane. Dave fit the bill. There was nothing remarkable about him. He was as appealing as vanilla pudding. The sex was adequate, according to O, and he didn't bother her about being away working for extended periods.

So, when Ulster walked into the clinic with David in tow, Sloane tilted his head, and let them see him react.

Jim took notice, intercepting the two men before they made their way to his bed. He sat up, resting against a mountain of fluffy pillows at his back. Jim found an actual book for him, and he was slightly irritated to be interrupted.

Stephen King's It was as good now as it was when he first read it decades ago and it was just getting to the best part.

"It's okay, Jim," Sloane called out. "I'll see them."

Jim frowned at him, but he stepped aside after snapping at Ulster. Sloane watched the two men he disliked most in the world approach and closed his book.

"Captain Sloane," Ulster began. "I'm sure you remember David."

"Yeah," Sloane nodded slowly. "Married the love of my life, then slept with my wife. How's it going, Dave?"

The other man flinched at his quiet words but recovered quickly.

"Cruz, yeah. It's...it's good. I heard you weren't feeling well."

"I don't know why you would hear anything," Sloane shrugged. "You're not married to me, or O."

"Well," Dave glanced at Ulster then moved to sit in a chair near his bed. "The General wanted Molly to come, but, uh, she didn't think you would want to see her."

He just lies like a wet rug under a rusty anvil, don't he?

Shut it, Kurt, O laughed.

"Well, thanks, General," Sloane sighed. "So, why are you here?"

"I just saw Ofelia, Cruz, just a few hours ago."

He frowned. "Okay."

"She wanted me to tell you she's okay. She said you were worried about all of them."

"Yeah, well, I do worry about my crew. We're family."

"General, could I have a moment, please?"

Ulster nodded and turned away.

"Color me surprised," Sloane muttered, watching the man's stiff back as he walked to the other side of the room.

"Cruz," Dave hissed, and he casually turned his gaze back to him. "Ofelia is going to tell them what she knows, everything she knows, and they've promised me they'll let her out. Maybe if you do the same, they'll let the Twins come back."

Sloane held those unremarkable brown eyes, keeping the Collective at bay with effort. "O is telling them what she knows?"

David nodded quickly and glanced at Ulster before leaning close enough to rest an elbow on the bed. "Molly told me everything about what happened. Cruz, I had no idea she was lying to them. I'm so sorry. Since they weren't really authorized to see you, they told us they can't come back. But, if you give Ulster what he wants, that could go a long way toward fixing that."

"So," Sloane frowned as if he was considering this cockamamie bullshit. "They'll let O out, but all I get is limited supervised visitation?"

Way to think it through, buddy...

This time, O didn't shush Kurt. They were both too busy laughing.

"Look, it's all I could get them to agree to, okay?" David snapped. "If you can get more of the crew to play ball, you can work it in your favor. What do you say, Cruz?"

"I say, 'When'."

Fuck yes! O whooped in vicious delight.

David frowned and sat back. "What?"

Sloane smiled when Ulster screamed and clutched a hand to his chest.