I got this idea when I was working on my other story, and had Garibaldi and Susan thinking death would kinder for Talia than turning her over to Psi-Corps. I had to try to write out the idea of what if they had decided to kill Talia instead of just throwing her off the station and to the Corps "mercy." This is the result.

He couldn't believe he was doing this, but what other choice had the Corps left him? Thanks to them Talia was dead, but her body was still roaming around about to end up as Bester and company's plaything unless they did something to stop it. And as much as he had hoped to find some other solution, this was the only one he could think of. Garibaldi slowly moved through Down Below, looking for one of the lurkers he had heard rumors about. Nothing had ever been proven against anyone, but the story in the wind was that there was something available, completely undetectable, a poison that could kill painlessly within heartbeats. A quick, painless death. That was the least that they could do for Talia now.

Suddenly there was a noise behind him and Garibaldi spun to find a man standing there. "Looking for something for a fair lady are we?" He asked in a funny, high pitched rhyming sort of voice.

"Maybe." Garibaldi said cautiously.

"The lady was perhaps hurt by a Mister Bester, then?"

How did he know about Bester? But before he knew it, for some reason he didn't understand, he replied. "Bester destroyed her. I want her to be at peace. Do you have something that can give her that? Final peace?"

"I have exactly what you need." The odd looking man said with a smile. He waved for Michael to follow him down a corridor. A moment later he stopped at a doorway that Garibaldi couldn't remember seeing there before and opened it, pulling out a bag and extracting a gleaming red apple with a flourish. "Here. Exactly what you need for your lady."

"An apple? No offense, but I'm not trying to keep a doctor away here. I'm not sure an apple is going to cut it, Mister…."

"You can call me Gold, and this is no ordinary apple, oh, no. This is exactly what you want if you wish for peace for your lady. One bite, and I promise that her troubles will be over."

"One bite?" That did sound like what he was looking for. "Pain?"

"Just like a baby falling asleep. She won't feel a thing. Interested?"

"How much?" Garibaldi asked before he could have time to think and second guess himself. Talia would be off the station and back in Corps control soon. If he was going to do something he had to move fast.

"Normally these things come with a price, but it so happens that I've met this Mister Bester who harmed your lady. He will be very displeased indeed if your lady finds her peace. Very, very displeased. Take it. It's free."

The next thing Garibaldi knew, he was in his quarters, not remembered quite how he got there, apple in his hand.

He dropped down into a chair and stared at the apple, half in horror and half in hope. Could he actually do it? Kill Talia? But it wouldn't be killing her, would it? Bester had already made sure that their Talia was dead. If anything he would be killing a Psi-Corps created monster. How in the world could they do something like that, and Talia wasn't likely the first. How could they do that and keep getting away with it? He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again, fixing his look on the apple. One bite, no pain. How could he not do that for Talia? The alternative was to send her back to an organization that had terrified her, where they would do things that he didn't want to think about to her. If Talia had ever imagined something like this happening, he was sure that she would want someone to show her kindness and end things before that could happen.

He would do it somehow for her. He debated for a moment calling Susan but then decided against it. If the poison wasn't as undetectable as Mister Gold was claiming or it didn't work the way he said, he wasn't willing to bring anyone else down with him.

How to get Talia to take a bite. That was going to be the tricky part, the part he was going to almost have to leave up to chance. He couldn't force the thing down her throat. Not only would it leave marks, but it would completely negate the no-pain aspect of the poison that he was going for. But would leaving the matter to chance really be so bad? If he tried to poison Talia and she didn't take the bait then maybe…. No, he wasn't even going to let himself think there was a chance this could end well. He would find something else if the poison didn't work. And the apple did look tempting, tempting enough that he almost couldn't look away from it. Earth fruit, especially something that looked like this was rare out here. It would surely do the trick. He headed for the door, apple in hand. He would have to make a few adjustments to the security monitors and then he could slip the apple into Talia's quarters while she was sleeping.

It didn't take nearly as long as he thought it would. Alone in his office he watched the monitor showing Talia's quarters, installed to keep an eye on her until they could get her off the station. She hadn't stirred when he had entered, and as he watched, she picked up the apple, a blank look in her eyes. He wanted to turn away, but he couldn't. He had to see this through to the end. Something was seriously wrong with the control personality. She didn't seem in the least suspicious, was moving like a robot as she brought the apple to her lips. Was the personality breaking down, and where would that leave Talia if it did? Effectively a vegetable? That made what he had done easier to take. She bit into the apple, and for a second there was a light in her eyes, an expression so like the real Talia that he almost jumped up in alarm. But before he could move, she swayed on her feet, and crumpled to the ground, apple falling out of her hand and rolling across the floor.

Nothing, no movement, no breathing. It had happened faster than he expected. "Good-bye, Talia. Rest in peace.