That horrible, jarring sound of Amy's alarm shocked her awake, as if she had been zapped by an electric prod. Seven o'clock a.m. already? She felt like she had just gone to bed. She began sorting out her thoughts, figuring out what was a dream and what was reality. Where was she? Let's see... Cot, tent, somewhere on Dezolis... Wait, didn't she sit with Rudo last night? And now she was in her tent? But how? Oh, no. She realized she must have fallen asleep while... Oh, no. She was in his arms! Did he really hold her, or was that a dream? No, it most definitely was real, she recalled. She had turned into a crybaby over something ridiculous and he was cornered into comforting her. How embarrassing.

Her heart sank. She wondered what Rudo would think of her now, as an oversensitive fool, and one who couldn't even stay awake during a chat! She had enjoyed their time together so much lately, of him being more open to her than the other team members. It made her feel special and needed, not as a doctor, but as a friend. She was angry at herself for putting pressure on Rudo to step outside his comfort zone and embrace her. Was he outside his comfort zone, though? He didn't seem bothered by holding her. Really, he seemed content with it, even. Was is it a problem? The only thing Amy knew was that she felt like she belonged in Rudo's arms, like she'd been held by him a thousand times before. That wasn't appropriate, though, was it? She felt herself needing to see him as soon as possible out of desperation for some answers.

Without gathering her belongings for the day's mission, she hastily left her tent and headed straight for Rudo's. Oh, but he might still be asleep, since he was on guard duty last night. Rolf wouldn't need him awake until their journey through Guaron, which wouldn't be until Shir and Hugh came back from pulling reconnaissance. Still, she felt unable to stop herself from at least walking by his tent. Maybe she'd be able to hear if he was awake or if he was still asleep.

She wrung her hands anxiously as she made her way to Rudo's quarters. Would he even want to spend time with her anymore? This was all her fault, for making things awkward and confusing, and for...

Suddenly Rudo emerged from his tent, right at the moment when Amy was walking by it. She put her hands up and tried to step back, but couldn't stop her forward momentum and landed smack into his front, bouncing off him like a pinball off a bumper. Amy grabbed him by the coat with both hands as she bounced away from him, and Rudo grasped her shoulders to keep her from falling down. Why did she have to be so clumsy? She had all the grace of a Dezolian elephant, and it showed, too.

"R-Rudo, I..." she fumbled, her eyes flickering nervously.

"Ah, uh, good morning, Amy," Rudo's voice cracked.

At least he's nervous, too. That's a good thing, right? Amy wondered.

"Sh-shouldn't you be asleep?" stuttered Amy. She noticed she was still gripping his coat and quickly removed her hands from him. She didn't know why, but Rudo continued to hold her by the shoulders. She no longer needed him for support, and being held by him again was causing her head to spin.

Rudo briefly shook his head. "I slept for a few hours after Anna relieved me at three this morning, and I'll rest for a couple more before we head into Guaron," he answered, staring Amy over. "Are you all right? You look like something's worrying you."

Amy gulped at hearing his words. She wished she wasn't so animated all the time; she'd never have a career as a poker player, that was for sure. "Well, I..." she paused to cough, "I'm... it's just that..." she tried to form a complete sentence, but Rudo's hold on her made her lose focus. However, when she looked into his eyes she saw the same Rudo from before the previous night. He wasn't annoyed with her; it was only in her head that she had built up this image of being a burden to Rudo and causing a rift in their friendship. She suddenly felt a calm about the whole situation.

"Thank you, Rudo," she sighed in relief.

"For what?" he asked sincerely.

"For putting up with me last night," she replied, then added in a whisper, "I'm sorry for crying, and I'm sorry for falling asleep."

"No," Rudo murmured, moving one of his hands to her cheek and brushing it, "don't apologize. Never apologize for being in my company. If I could have it my way, you..." his voice broke off.

Amy stared at him for what felt like an eternity, waiting for him to complete his thought. She could tell just by looking at him that he was having his own internal struggle. She wondered if she should move or change the subject, but at the same time she realized he was beginning to slowly lean down towards her.

Though she hadn't had as much life experience as Rudo-she was almost 12 years his junior-she wasn't so naive not to realize that his current movements would end with his face meeting hers. She could feel each individual finger of Rudo's hand grace her cheek. They were rough from constant labor and exercise, yet his touch was so gentle against her skin. Unintentionally, Rudo had frozen Amy so that whatever was about to happen, she would let it happen. No, she wanted it to happen. A dozen different feelings danced around inside Amy's head and drew her into reverie.

She didn't have time to bask in those mixed emotions, though, as Rudo pulled away suddenly, startling Amy back into reality. What now? she thought as her feet remained glued to the ground. Rudo took his hands away from her and turned around to his tent. Amy gasped but hoped he hadn't heard her as he disappeared through the tent flaps. She stood there with her jaw hung open, still unsure of what to do. Move, dammit! she cursed herself, but she couldn't budge. Was she only imagining that he was about to kiss her? That must be it. Why would Rudo want to do that, anyway? If she couldn't make herself move, then she would just talk about other things.

"I-I thought we could have breakfast together," Amy called into the tent, still fixed where she was standing, "but I wasn't sure if..."

Just then Rudo reappeared, holding equipment for water filtration.

"Oh," Amy was surprised. "I'm probably bothering you; I'll just..."

"Walk with me," Rudo interrupted, motioning with his head for Amy to follow him. "You can carry these," he said as he handed her a few folded up water bags. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

Amy didn't like the tone of his voice. It was far too serious for the kind of rapport they had built between each other over the last few months. She knew it. Something was wrong. All the mixed signals Rudo sent her just now were to stall for time, to let her down easily. Oh, what a horrible day this was turning into!

Both of them walked in silence towards the camp's water source. Amy kept her head down to avoid making eye contact with Rudo. To take her mind off things, she observed the different tracks in the snow and played a game in her head of guessing which footprints belonged to each of her teammates. She recognized the imprints of Anna's knife boots making tracks towards where Amy had been sitting with Rudo the night before. That certainly wasn't putting her mind to ease, so she followed another set of prints that looked like Shir's. Of course, Shir must have been walking to the...

"Amy!" Rudo called out, grabbing the young doctor by the arm and jerking her suddenly towards him. Amy looked up and saw the back of Kain right where she had been walking. If it hadn't been for Rudo's quick reaction, she would have plowed right into Kain. While she was lost in thought-and her silly game-she had forgotten to look where she was going. Now she was up to two klutzy moves for the day and she hadn't even had breakfast yet. Well, this is just fabulous, she criticized herself.

Kain turned around and let out a chuckle. "'Mornin' strangers," he greeted, nodding at Amy and Rudo. "Looks like Ah've been denied the pleasure of havin' a pretty lady bump intuh me."

Amy halfheartedly laughed at Kain's comment, still embarrassed about being such a clod. "My apologies, Kain," Amy replied. "I'm not quite awake yet, and we certainly have a long day ahead of us, huh?" Her words were mostly a stall, and felt awkward coming out of her mouth. She must have sounded like an idiot to Rudo.

If Amy's words sounded weird to her, Kain hadn't noticed. He turned back around to his pile of tools, picked up a wrench and began loosening the bolt of a somewhat familiar looking mechanism Kain had taken apart in several pieces and had strewn out on a tarp. Amy figured he was probably up to no good, as every time he tried to "fix" one of the mechanisms their group had successfully attacked and taken offline, he ended up electrocuting himself, nearly severing an appendage, or needing some other form of her assistance as a doctor and healer.

Rudo cleared his throat. "Uh, Kain? What is that?" he asked with reservation.

"Ya mean this here pile o'circuits?" Kain gestured at the robot with his wrench. "It's one o'them twiggies! I's wanted tah get mah hands on one fer a long dern time! I's gonna fix it so it'll be our pet. It'll be our scoutin' dawg!" He turned his head to Rudo and Amy and gave them a proud grin.

Amy heard Rudo unsuccessfully suppress a groan. She herself tried to feign a look of interest at Kain's project and took a hard swallow.

"Wow, Kain," her voice cracked slightly. "We'll sure look forward to having a... pet to help us track... things."

"Now that's the spirit!" Kain happily replied. "Ya need tuh git yer buddy Rudo on board!" He waved his wrench at Rudo, but then had to turn around again as sparks started pouring out of the robot's eye sockets. The sparks caused the circuitry behind the robot's metal skull to burst into flames, and Kain's attention was now totally focused on the burning mechanism as he batted at it with a rag and spewed a barrage of profanities.

Rudo quickly moved Amy out of range of Kain's disaster. She was snickering as she covered the grin on her face, trying not to laugh out loud at poor Kain. As they moved farther away from Kain, Rudo let out a disgusted sigh and shook his head.

"That kid," he grumbled. "Too bad none of his tattoos are warning labels."

Amy couldn't hold back anymore and burst out in laughter. She looked up at Rudo as she laughed and noted him chuckling as well. Ah, now this was the Rudo she liked best: One that she could share a joke with.

Rudo took in a deep breath after they were done laughing and beamed at Amy.

"There it is," he told Amy in what seemed to her like great relief over something.

She was still grinning from ear-to-ear, but she didn't understand what he meant. "There is what?" she asked.

"Your smile," he replied. "I've been waiting all morning for it."

Amy's heart skipped a beat. "Oh?"

"Yes, which reminds me, I was going to tell you something, right?"

"Um, I think so," Amy answered, dreading the impending conversation.

They came upon the area where Hugh had found an underground water supply the evening prior, and Rudo unceremoniously dumped the equipment out of his arms. He then took the bags from Amy, and not the least bit carefully tossed them onto the ground. There wasn't another soul near them, yet Rudo could only whisper his next words to Amy.

"We're friends, right?" he asked, leaning near her ear.

"Y-yes, of course..."

"No." he interrupted.

"...What?"

"I don't want to be just your friend, Amy," he barely managed to mumble, breathing heavily.

Amy was too shocked to reply. She felt her body swaying, like she would pass out. Rudo put his arms around her and brought his face down to where she could feel his breath.

"After what happened last night, I want..." he broke off.

As Amy waited for him to go on, she took a moment to observe Rudo's appearance at this moment in time. He had changed quite a bit since before they were fugitives of Mother Brain. His hair was long enough now that Amy could tell it had some natural curl. It occasionally fell in his face, and there was something she found rather attractive about the way he'd push it back while he was working. He had lost some of his bulk and had taken on a more lean, athletic build. He still shaved, though less often, and currently he had a fair amount of stubble on his jaw and chin. His eyes appeared more of a crystal blue while they were on Dezolis, and though there was always a certain amount of sorrow behind them, lately they seemed brighter and more inviting. Really, everything about him was warmer and more open now. How ironic that on this ice planet Rudo had finally warmed up to someone, and with that, Amy realized what he really wanted.

She brought her hands up to him and let her fingers run through his hair. "Rudo, I think I want the same thing, but..."

"I know," he said, drawing her closer.

A lump began to form in Amy's throat. She didn't want to cry again; she'd had enough of that and wanted to enjoy this moment. Still, the feeling persisted.

"Then... what's the right thing to do?" Amy asked, her voice trembling.

He guided her hands around his back and tucked her into him the way he had the night before.

"I wish I knew," he whispered softly into the top of her head.

Amy leaned her head on his chest, closed her eyes and envisioned a world where she could be with Rudo, free from danger, free from tyranny and free to love him openly. It was only in her head, but it was the most beautiful place in the universe.


Note: You may be wondering what kind of robot Kain was working on. One of the mechanisms that the PSII team encounters on Dezolis is a robot called a "Twigtall." Hence, that's why Kain called it a "twiggie." They look like mechanical dogs standing on their hindquarters and their attack involves shooting a laser beam out of their mouths. They're not particularly ferocious looking, especially when compared with some of the larger robots in the game. Personally, I think it would be fun to have one as a "pet" and hope Kain can get this one working the way he wants it to. I seriously doubt that will happen, though, knowing Kain.