Authors Note: Thanks for the follows. I appreciate them, I really do. Sorry it took so long for an update.


Three days of classes, three days of Sinclair adding on hours of work afterwards for the internship, three days of hell. Leah sat at her desk with just the glow of her small desk light to work by. So far it seemed by all who witnessed the extra classes with Sinclair, Monty was miles ahead of Leah in theoretical scenarios. He was always the first to come up with something, to answer any of Sinclair's proposed problems that they could find themselves facing in their futures as engineers in any given department they wished to focus on. After the embarrassment she had went through today in her classes with him, she honestly felt like simply admitting this wasn't for her, that she wasn't smart enough. The question had been simple, if when working with a large volume of acidic material what is the best way to disperse without endangering anyone. Monty, had an answer within seconds, saying he would counteract the acid with a base and try to neutralize both in which they could be made into a third substance that might actually be useful for the arc in perhaps a study on a better way to maximize the energy storage aboard. Leah had come up with a simple containment mechanism for moving the acid to a suitable container and simply shooting it out an airlock. She admitted it was stupid, and definitely not a suitable answer but it could work and was different option than Monty's, because having more than one option is always better than just going with the first option someone thinks of.

The only good thing that had came out of their class today was that Kyle Wick, their mentor, seemed impressed with her bit about making sure to have more than one mind coming up with ideas. He even stopped them both before they were dismissed from Sinclair's lesson to remind them, that even in they succeed theoretically it is all about the practical application. "Brilliant minds can dream up things, but if they can't be used they are nothing but the imaginations of a mad man." She had scribbled what he told them at the top of her current notes on radiation.

She heard a quiet tap, followed by a second, then a third and knew it was coming from her closet door. She let out a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, "come in." She didn't turn to look as John entered her room instead she simply laid her head on her desk, she knew she looked exhausted and didn't want to be reminded of that by John at the moment.

"You need anything?" He asked simply walking up and placing a hand on her back. She sat up as he leaned down closer to her desk, she turned her head to him and he seemed to be reading her note over her shoulder, her notes of sheer gibberish. "Radish nation?" He asked simply before turning his head to her, his face unbelievably close to hers. "I didn't know the radish's took over a whole nation, perhaps we should tell the carrots to watch their back." He said with a smile, John being that close never seemed to bother her, perhaps because she didn't see him like most boys. The way she looked at him, must have told him she was aggravated by his presence because he grinned and stood back up, before patting her back gently. "Come on Leah, I was just messing with you."

She knew that, and she wasn't trying to look as aggravated as she clearly did. "Sorry, I know. I just..." She didn't have an excuse, more correctly she had so many excuses she couldn't pick just one. She was stressed out over her work load, she was tired from lack of sleep, she felt inadequate because she always felt like the dumbest person in the room when she was in engineering, and many other reasons but none of them seemed like a good enough reason to take that out on a person who told her she did not have to do any of them. John reminded her everyday since her first meeting that she could quit at any moment, but she was to stubborn to do that.

"You're just stubborn. I know." He said simply, he had walked away from her and had walked over to her dresser and began just to pick up the random things she had thrown atop of it. "I thought I'd check on you before I left, I'd ask if you wanted to come down to Arrow, but I doubt I would let you come even if you waned too." It figured he was going to a party, most students had tomorrow off, a day of relaxation for younger students, a day of practicals for those in internships, or a day of work duty for others. John often went to things like parties, in more stations than most, he didn't seem to care about if he was invited or not, because by the end of the night he always seemed to achieve the welcome he might not have had upon arriving.

She looked at him a tad insulted, she stood up and pulled her hair brush from his hand and put it back on top of her dresser. "Why wouldn't you let me go? You're always saying I need to loosen up, its that the point of parties?" She snapped at him.

"Because you're tired and you need sleep." He was right.

"Did you just come in here to tell me to go to bed?" She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him coldly. "I'm not a child you know, I don't have a bed time."

"I know you aren't a child, but you like to behave like one so I assumed you wanted to be treated like one for a while. How much sleep have you gotten in the last few days? A couple hours a night? You can't go on like that or you are going to do something stupid." He snapped at her tone, she knew that's why his cold blood seemed to boil.

She looked away from him, "I don't need you telling me I'll do something stupid. Aren't you the king of stupid ideas?"

"I was just coming in here to check on you. I am not going to let you piss me off." His tone was cold, he was already angry, but he was pretending not to be. When she refused to look back at him, he shook his head and scoffed before making his way to the door. "Good night Leah." He said simply as he opened and closed her closet door behind him. She listened for him to sneak out of the main door, listening for the quiet unlatching and re-latching of the lock. She wanted to let out a shriek of frustration, but instead she simply walked over to her bed and curled up under her covers, before she even knew a few tears had found their way out of her eyes and down her cheeks she was asleep.


"Why did we have to meet at Mecha station if our first practical was in Hydro?" Leah stated, clearly annoyed that Wick had called the two of them to Mecha just to make them walk across the Ark with him. "I could be enjoying a cup of tea, waiting on you both in my compartment instead of having to walk back."

"Just think about when you get done, and you can go run home to mommy even faster alright?" Wick responded coldly to her whining. Monty had found it a bit aggravating as well but he hadn't been stupid enough to complain about it to the man who already expressed his distaste for them almost daily.

Leah was dressed in a basic blue flannel long sleeve shirt and tight black jeans, her hair was falling freely around her shoulders, she had been smart and not worn clothing that she couldn't get dirty in like some of the girls would do when they were just attending classes on certain days. Monty had a simple plain t-shirt on and jeans but he probably should have layered something with sleeves on over top of it, but he hadn't been thinking about his clothing choices that morning. Wick was dressed the same way he was every time they had seen him, a plain shirt under a long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up and jeans.

"So what are you going to be doing? I mean aside from getting to explore the Ark with an amazing tour guide." Leah snarky remark must have finally struck one of Wick's nerves because he stopped dead in his tracks and spun to face her, Monty stopped in time to watch he crash right into Wick's chest.

She looked startled as Wick glared down at her. "Enough, I do not have time for you attitude. I think I've made it clear, I don't want to baby sit the two of you anyways and you wanting to be a pain in my ass isn't making it any better on either of us sweetheart. Now if you want to cut the dramatics and be an adult I'll be happy to show you, I think you are actually going to oddly enjoy this little task I've arranged. Understand?" His words must have struck her with some fear, or maybe excitement, Monty wasn't sure because all she did was nod and cross her arms over her chest, from then until they reached Hydro stations labs she was silent.

"Alright Green, you are on that station, Pentecost that one." He said directing them to two identical rows of tables in the lab. Each table had a bunch of piece and parts laid on them. "This is simple, on the tables in front of you are a bunch of parts, pieces, junk. I expect you to read the card on each table and build something to solve the problem written on the card. First one to complete all of the problems on their side of the room wins. Winner gets tomorrow off, loser gets to help me clean all this shit up."

The instructions were to simple, Leah knew that. "What's the catch?"

"No catch, I just want to see what pages you both are on practically speaking. Sinclair has challenged you to think, but I want to see what you can actually do. Three problems shouldn't take you either more than three hours right? When either of you think you've finished wake me up and I'll judge if it would actually be a viable way to solve the problem." Wick said as he sat down in a comfortable looking chair and propped his legs up on a nearby crate, probably one of the crates he had pulled this junk from. He looked at his wrist watch and then up at a clock at the other end of them room. "Three hours, I'd get moving if I were you."

Leah grinned, he had been right with his threat earlier, this was something she would enjoy. She watched as Monty picked up the first card and began to read the problem, she instead looked at the items on the table, some tubing, some different types of metal brackets and a box of wire. She then picked up the card, which simply read. Using these items create something to store the rest of the items. She re-read the card abut three times, it was to simple. She wondered in all the tasks were this simple, and before starting the first one she moved to the second table and picked up it's card. If you're thirsty, build something you would be willing to drink out of without losing any liquid. After a quick glance at the table she realized again this was extremely simple, she looked back to Monty who was simply following the instructions on the first table, using wire to connect brackets together to make something to store the tubing on. It was a good layout and she she watched him, he noticed her glance and looked up at her, shaking his head at her for not starting even the first task yet. Instead she walked to the last time and picked up the final card. It had two words scribbled on it, in Wick's messy hand writing. Impress me.

Three hours? She wouldn't even need one.

Fifty-five minutes later Leah looked up from the final station, Monty was also on this station, he however was still working. She walked over to Wick and pushed his feet off the crate they were propped up on, startling him awake. "I'm done." She said with a smile.

Wick looked at his watch. "Oh really? What about you Green? Did you finish yet?" Monty looked at them both, stunned. He shook his head, he apparently couldn't believe she had finished already. It seemed like she didn't send more than fifteen minutes on any one table. "Well come over here, lets see what you got sweetheart, maybe you are cut out for this after all."

Leah grinned, and walked over to the first table which she had simply straightened up the wire in the box and made room to fit the brackets and the tubing in their neatly. "Using the items you supplied, I stored them. Why do unnecessary work, when I can just analyze per-existing data and revise it to complete the task." She said as Wick stood across from her Monty at his side, Wick smiling Monty frowning.

He had done unnecessary work, he had read create and assumed the box was just something that was holding the wires so they weren't loose on the table. "How did you solve this one Green?" Wick asked. Monty then walked with him over to his table. The had constructed a simple structure with the brackets and wire that her simply coiled the tubing around. Leah complimented his use of the wire structurally saying the brackets should have collapsed under the weight on the tubing however with how he had ran the and weaved the wire they remained solid. Wick also said it was a clever approach.

Wick wouldn't admit which answer he thought was right just seemed rather impressed by both. "Did you finish the second table?" He asked Monty as he walked over to his second table. He had used some of the plastic sheeting he had on the table and lined the inside of a metal cylinder so that no liquid could leak through, also he assumed the plastic would have less contaminants than the metal. Wick asked how sure he was about that, and pulled a metal flask out of his back pocket. He poured some clear liquid into the makeshift cup Monty had created and handed it back to him, asking if he trusted it enough to drink from it. Monty bit his lip as he took the cup back. He didn't actually look at how clean the plastic was. "You don't have to decide now, its holding up to the first part of the task, lets see if Pentecost's does the same then it will come down to which one of you actually will drink from it." He said with a grin.

Leah happily walked over to her station and handed Wick her design. It was a tube that she had put into the large metal cylinder, the tube sticking directly up. "If you pour a liquid into the cylinder it will store in the bottom, but first it must go throw about five different layers of plastic mesh that I made out of the plastic sheeting, which should theoretically filter out any major contaminants. " She said simply, again Wick smiled and poured a the clear liquid into the cup, it also held the liquid without a problem, and it did slowly collect down in the bottom. She without question put the tube to her lips and used it as a straw. The taste was awful, but she assumed that was whatever the liquid was and not the device itself. "So Green? Are you going to drink." He swallowed hard and also shot back the liquid, however he didn't make the face that Leah made however. "Really? I never would have guessed you take a shot with a straight face like that." He seemed proud of the younger boy for a moment.

"Did you just give us moonshine?" Leah asked astonished.

"Figured you both could use it." Wick said nonchalantly, "now lets see what you came up with for the last station." He said walking over to the final table, her idea was a gutsy move that even if Monty hadn't finished might end up with her losing.

Leah took a deep breath and stood in front Wick and simply handed him the same card that had been present on the table earlier, she had also scribbled something on it beneath his words. Monty looked over Wick's shoulder to read them. No. There is no merit in impressing someone. Leah watched trying to read Wick's expression, but the second he smiled, she knew she'd won.

"I can't believe I'm saying this. Congratulations Pentecost. Maybe you are more cut out for this than I thought."

Monty could not believe it was so simple, everything he had been doing, they were all far too thought out than they needed to be. The only one design that Leah had done that was more complex was the cup and he just hadn't actually thought about using his practically or he also would have done something more complex. Wick had allowed Leah to leave and offered to let Monty stay and clean now instead of having to come back and do it the next day. He didn't question the offer and began packing the stuff back into three creates that Wick had pulled it out of. Wick didn't allow him to pack away Leah's filtered cup however instead he took it with him back to Mecha as he left Monty to clean.

"So I take it they did well on your test? Did Green win?" Sinclair asked as Wick walked into his office. Wick however just strolled over to the desk and put Leah's cup design down. Sinclair picked it up and examined it, admiring the handiwork. "Filtration, the boy is thinking even further than I predicted."

"That's Pentecost's, she didn't even take an hour to finish all three. The two of them are the perfect match, he over thinks, she doesn't think enough. He's theoretical circumstances, she's practical. After today, I don't doubt her abilities at all." Wick said simply, sitting down in one of the chairs across from Sinclair. "I think you owe me an apology, I said she'd make it."

Sinclair leaned back in his chair, still examining the different aspects of the design she had come up with it. "It might be a bit early still, lets see if either of our picks last the month first."