"Erm, it's a long story…" It was lunchtime in Valhalla and the blues were sitting together, eating the meal Ala had made for them. She wasn't a really good cook, but as they had the agreement to alternate regularly between the four of them making dinner, Alaska couldn't just back down. Wasn't fair. But what she heard during this lunch, simply was killing all her hunger or appetite.

Caboose was sitting beside her and already done with his second dish, just listening to the conversation, which now was turning around the A.I.s. And where they were. North and South had told her lots of things as she had been living with the Dakota-Twins. Also about the A.I.s. North also introduced her to Theta. They had gotten best friends soon. And she also often helped Theta sleeping when she was silently telling him stories or sing a little song when North was too weak to walk around and Theta too scared to sleep.

Bizarrely Wash suddenly got extremely evasive to questions around this topic. About the place where the A.I.s where. But it was Caboose who took over the task to tell Ala the truth. "Agent Washingchurch-"

"Caboose! I'm not Washingchurch, I'm Washington!"

"Don't distract from the subject Wash." Made Alaska the Freelancer shut up. Turning to Caboose she asked: "What did Wash do, Caboose?"

As fast that the black haired had trouble to understand it, Caboose said: "He deleted them." Obviously not in the mood to be corrected or interrupted again.

There was a moment of silence on the table, everybody had stopped eating. The air between them was so thick that you could actually cut it in pieces with a knife. Slowly Ala turned around, while she had to proceed the information, until her eyes landed on Wash, who was looking straight at her.

"What?" Her voice was low and threatening, but higher than usual.

"Caboose's right, I deleted them."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" With a strong jolt, Ala shot up from her seat. The chair was falling over, landing on the floor with a loud clattering. The dinner table was pushed away from Ala about ten centimeters, only to be stopped by Tucker, who was hit in the stomach by the table. Washington who already expected that kind of reaction had gotten up in the same moment as Alaska.

"I deleted them. The Meta had them. And besides, since Maine became The Meta, there would have been no chance for the A.I.s to live in peace. He would have found them and tore them away from their partner, if the fragments wanted or not."

"That's no excuse for what you did! It doesn't mean only you and Epsilon didn't work that it always had to be like that!" Snapped Ala. She knew those words were harsh and not true. And that she wasn't supposed to know it, but she was angry with Washington for doing that. Theta simply hadn't deserved this fucking fate!

Spinning around on her heels Ala snatched her helmet and left the blue base with a stomping pace.

The three guys of the team were still in these positions they were as Ala left, as if the moving only of a finger would cause Ala to return and shoot them. Only Tuckers occasional coughing was to be heard as he still was struggling to get air in his lungs and keep the meal in his stomach. As he finally seemed to be able to breathe halfway normal, he looked to Wash who still had his eyes glued to the door and seemed deep in thoughts. "Shouldn't you go after her?"

"At the moment I only risk to be shot. I'll wait until she cooled down a bit and returns herself."

"Wow, she really must hate you now."

"Shut up Tucker."

Late in the night, Ala returned. The sun never set here, so it still was sunny although Ala felt tired.

After walking through the caverns, occasionally hitting a boulder or something else and then sitting on the ground and just remaining there for some hours, she returned to the base. She was tired and she felt her right knuckles swell up. As she had been sitting there, she had slipped out of the gloves and the helmet.

She also didn't put it back on as she returned. What seemed to be a fault because she hit again a rock as a flash of anger suddenly sparked up. It made her knuckles burst open and swell up. So her right hand was hanging limb beside her body. But she didn't care. If you were too much of an idiot to look for protection when hitting something hard, then you had to live with the consequences.

Wash had seen her return; she was coming out of the caves, her white armor only being visible when she was walking past a dark boulder. Otherwise you could have thought of her as another spot of snow on the grass. He was sitting on the roof of the base, everyone else, reds and blues, were asleep.

Getting up with a sight, knowing that he would have to clear that with a stubborn, hurt and angry Ala, he went down the ramp to the entry of the base, where Ala just disappeared. He already saw that one of her hands was hurt, as she wasn't wearing neither her helmet nor her gloves. But as he got to know her until now, she would simply refuse medical treatment and act as if nothing happened. That was often like that. Because she didn't want to end in the sick bay. She was a Special Force trooper after all – Just like Wash.

"You should wash out the wounds at your hand out."

"Get lost, asshole!"

Wash sighed. She still was angry. But that didn't stop him from his determination to talk to her. Okay, then the other way around. Quickly getting the first aid kit out of the bathroom, the leader of the team went to Alas room. There was no real lock, or to say it better no unbreakable lock. So it didn't take long for the Freelancer to get in the room of the white soldier who was slipping out of the rest of the armor. Obviously, it took longer with the injured hand.

"What the fuck?! Did you lost the last piece of decency?!" Alaska had shot around, staring at Wash with obvious anger. Obviously, she still hadn't calmed down. At least he didn't seemed to get shot by her anymore just because of that.

"We need to talk." Stated Wash, staring directly in her eyes, ignoring the fact that he just bluntly stomped into a girl's room while she was pissed and undressing. Before getting to her room, he had quickly slipped out of his armor into his comfortable sleeping clothes. Outside the base, he was never to be seen without armor. However, talking to someone was less threatening when you weren't wearing your armor.

"Couldn't you have waited until I at least changed my clothes?"

"Feel free to do it now, although I doubt you would be able to take off your suit without feeling the pain in your hand."

"Asshole!" Cursed Ala, obviously not in the mood to talk as she began to peel herself out of the suit. Wash at least was decent enough to turn around and look away.

Once as she was out of the top part, she slipped into her sleeping shirt before taking out the rest and slipping in her training trousers. Biting back a painful hiss, she opened her braid and brushed her hair before braiding it again. Using her hand as if nothing happened. But it wasn't like Wash wouldn't notice the slightly stiff way of using it, the slightly slower way her hand moved.

As she then turned around, she looked at the soldier who was still standing there, the first aid kit still in his hands. His back was still turned towards her. Well, if she would, she could strangle him right here and now. But that wouldn't be fair. She wasn't that angry anymore. Just hurt. "Haven't got lost until now?!" She snapped, crossing her arms and looking at her leader with an angry glare. Said guy turned around with an obvious serenity what tempted Ala almost to punch him for that.

"Not until we talked about what happened today at lunch." In addition, his voice was so fucking calm, what made Alaskas anger rise even more.

"Don't know what there should be left to talk about."

"To me it seems there's a lot."

"As if I would talk to someone who was pretending and playing along and exactly knowing that it wasn't like that. You're a liar."

"I know that. But that's exactly the point why I came to explain why I did it."

"Oh I know. You did it because of mere mercy, deleting the A.I.s. Have you ever asked them if they wanted that?"

"Did the Meta ask them if they wanted to join him after he took them away from their former partners?"

Now Ala went silent and only looked at Wash who still was standing there. On the first sight, he seemed relaxed, but she could see in his grey eyes that he wasn't as relaxed as he pretended to be. He was right. The Meta had taken away the A.I.s from their initial partner, if they were dead or alive, if they or the fragments wanted that or not.

Ala exhaled deeply. "Okay, see your point, perhaps it was better. But that didn't change the fact that you lied to me."

"How should I have acted then? Tell me?" Now also Wash seemed to get a bit unnerved as his tone got slightly snappy. "Should I just come by like, oh hey Ala nice to meet you! Oh by the way, I deleted the A.I.s., including Theta."

"I'm not suspecting you to act like that. But there were enough moments where you could have told me that." Again Alaskas face darkened.

"In those moment I had other things in mind. Like getting Epsilon back in that damn unit or making sure you survive." Snapped Wash, throwing the first aid kit on the bed and throwing his hands in the air. "I'm sorry okay? I didn't tell you. But I simply didn't knew how to bring over that message without making you upset like you are now. So how the fuck am I supposed to bring that over?" Now also Washs patience was over, his tone irritated.

Again, the black haired stopped for a brief moment, taking the braid over her shoulder and playing with the loose end of it. It was a sign that she was thinking and/or was embarrassed. That she was considering the facts they were discussing right now. "Okay, you're right. There's no way to bring it over smooth. But that didn't change the fact that I'm pissed and sad about the fact that Theta and the others were gone."

"You were really clinging onto Theta weren't you?"

"North had been my best friend. And so it's only natural that Theta soon got it too."

"I see. I'm sorry for that. But I had no other choice to weaken the Meta. Also Alpha had sacrificed his life for that. It wouldn't be fair if I wouldn't have fired the E.M.P. and make his sacrifice go to waste."

"Yeah." Alaska seemed tired. She often cooled down as fast as she flared up. Now she was only tired and sad about the loss of her friends. She always had hoped to at least see Theta again after she got to know that North had been killed by his own beloved sister.

"I only hope he's on a better place now. Together with North." Letting herself flop onto her bed, she stared up to the ceiling, one hand under her head, and the injured one on her belly. She believed into the live after death.

Even for A.I.s. Because they lived too, they made a memory in the head of several people, and that's why they also earned a life after death. And mostly for Theta she hoped he would be again together with North. He really was clinging to him and North was looking after him just the way the little insecure fragment had needed it. They were a perfect team, not only on the battlefield.

"Yeah, I hope too."

"Liar."

"I know. Now let's treat your wounds." Replied the blonde in a matter-of-fact-voice as he sat down beside Ala.

"I don't like being treated."

"I know, but you can't fight or even trigger your machine-guns when your fingers and knuckles won't get fixed the right way."

Without any more word, the black haired sat up and gave Wash wordlessly her hand. Cautiously he laid her hand on his lap where already was a towel located to catch up the blood. Silently she observed how he gently and carefully cleaned the wounds, fixed the fingers and the knuckles and gently wrapped the hand up in bandages. It hurt like a bitch, but Ala didn't whimper or curse. She was responsible for the injuries so she wouldn't cry now.

After Wash was done and had given it a last examining look, he gave Ala the ok. Carefully she laid her hand on her lap, together with the sound one. She knew that Wash was thinking. She could see it in his eyes. She didn't know him for long, but that she already knew. She just somehow knew it. But she didn't say a word to Wash. He wasn't the type who needed to be pushed to get out with what he was thinking. If he wanted to tell that.

"I'm sorry."

A bit taken aback, Ala only blinked and looked again at Wash. She had looked on her hands as she noticed that he was thinking. "What?"

"I'm sorry I said. For not telling you that I deleted the fragments. I didn't know then how important Theta had been for you."

Again Ala sighed. "It's okay. I overreacted too. How had you been supposed to know it when you didn't even know me. I'm sorry too. I think that that what you did was the best possibility then. It's just… I patched South and North together as I found them. Then, suddenly, they left. I had no chance to tell them goodbye, as I had to escape from South. Otherwise I would be dead too. That's what saddens me. I always hoped to, at least, have a chance to say good-bye to Theta. To tell him that everything is okay and that North is okay where he is. That I'm okay…"

Wash, who was putting away the stuff from the first aid kit, now came back and sat down beside her. He laid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She didn't fight against the comfort he was giving, instead she closed her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder. After some moments, she could feel him leaning his head against hers. "I know now how important they had been for you. And I'm sorry. I just had no other possibility."

"It's okay. I think they're better off where they are now than here in this world."

"Yeah, that's true."

Ala could feel him nuzzle his face in her hair, but she didn't react or say anything. She just sat there and let herself get comforted by Wash.

After some moments more, the blond lift his head and straightened a bit up to make Ala sit up too. She didn't want to sit up, but otherwise she would have fallen to the bed fucking ungraceful. Or on Wahs lap. So she just looked at Wash who was taking the First Aid Kit. "It's already late. You should sleep. And I think I'm going to bed now too."

"You don't stay?"

This only brought Alaska a puzzled look from Wash. Seems like he wasn't able to classify this question. Well, he had never seen her personality when she wasn't wearing her armor. When she was wearing her armor, she was a soldier. There was no space for private emotions – Or at least almost no space. But when she was out of her armor, she often showed her private side. But as she was out of her armor only to be crashing out in her bunk two minutes later, nobody except of her had ever really seen this side of her.

As Wash was doing nothing, Ala just sat there, slightly disappointing before grinning awkwardly. "Then go get lost! Don't stand here and put down roots!"

Now there was realization in Washs grey eyes as a small smile appeared. Putting the kit on the bedside table of Ala. It was most likely that nobody of the others would use it just now.

"Rather not, but I guess you need some comfort."

"You will know." Alaska only replied. She wasn't so sure any more about him staying with her, but she wouldn't be able to back down. She had to go through. Even though it felt fucking awkward.

Crawling on the bed and laying down, he let Ala snuggle close to him. It had been long time since she lastly had been huddled up so close to a man, who was gently stroking through her hair whilst she was listening to his heartbeat.

Although it had been so long ago, and they 'only' were good friends, it felt so normal to Ala. Like they would already have done that before. Feeling Washs lips against her forehead, she only giggled lowly. Soon after, she was fast asleep. And listening to the quiet and regular breathing of her, Washington fell asleep some minutes later.