Whatever John Harrison did for a living, it barely reflected in his home. His guest room had the same layer of dust as his plasma. One laptop sized window briefly showed a panoramic view of London before the curtains automatically shut.

Ophelia sighed heavily and glanced around the room. A twin bed and a small dresser were placed against the right wall. The only source of light came from the outside hall. She continued onward.

John's room was at the end of the hall. His black door was closed and Ophelia almost shied away from it. But she needed to know more about this man. The silver door handle was cool to her grip as she slowly pushed it down. His window gave a larger view of London due to its enormity. It covered the entire back wall and stood about Harrison's height. The light turned on at a dim setting as she stepped onto the grey carpet.

The black shades remained open as she ventured further in. A rather large bathroom and a walk in closet dominated the left portion of the room while his king size bed and a black metal dresser took most of the remaining space. A compact door led to an offshoot room. For what, Ophelia did not know.

Jesus Christ his room is about the same size as this whole fucking..

"It slipped my mind to inform you that there are house rules." Ophelia jumped up a few inches off the ground as she turned to face John. "Do not enter my room without permission."

She nodded and stepped out of his room. Unfortunately, this led her straight into John's personal space. "I'm sorry." she kept her voice low and did not meet his cold blue eyes. "I was looking for..." She paused and motioned to the guest room. "Something to clean the room up with."

It was a lame attempt at a lie and John saw right through it.

"Don't waste time lying to me." she flinched at his displeased tone. "You were curious and wanted to know more about me."

She focused her gaze on his hand. His hand interlocked her fingers with his and tugged. "The guest room has as much dust as your television."
John let go of Ophelia's hand and back tracked to the guest room. He stuck his hand into the room and wiped it against the wall. She could see the displeasure flit across his face.

"You have a fair point." He stated as he reestablished their previous connection. "Come."

Ophelia showered quickly to appease his growing discontent. When she emerged, he had set one of his black shirts and a towel on the sink. They were placed on the very edge so he hadn't entered for very long.

She found it strange but her gratefulness overrode it. John Harrison had more decency than any other man she'd met.

Her mind had processed some of what had happened in the last few hours. She had left her post with the U.S. government in her time and then somehow traveled through time after she had returned home.

Ophelia left the fluffy towel on the rack beside the door and slipped into the shirt. She caught her underwear before it could drop to the ground and it brought an odd smile to her face as she rushed putting them on. There was something funny about the mental image of John washing her frilly red underwear. She chuckled.

"Ophelia." He knocked once. "The blinds are closed. The bedside light will turn off when you go to bed."

She rushed to the door and pulled it open. John stiffened and averted his eyes. "I don't understand."

"I will sleep on the couch tonight." She paused long enough to realize he was trying to maintain his composure and neutrality at the sight of her. She flushed and glanced down at her body. It took only a second to understand why John reacted the way he did. She hadn't caught on to the fact that John's room was several degrees colder than his bathroom. Her nipples pushed at the material of his shirt and showed as she clutched it. The warm material covered her thighs and stopped below her knees.

"Please." Ophelia found it hard to find her voice and her mind screamed in protest. What had happened to her? She could only recall losing her voice and confidence as a child.

Ophelia gently grasped John's left hand with one of her own and could feel his eyes on her back as she pulled him across the threshold of the room to his bed. They did not say anything as she let go of his hand to untuck the sheets.

John's calming breath filled the room after their pregnant silence. Ophelia had taken note of which side seemed to be broken in and chose the other half. She gently patted his spot of the bed. Her hair shielded her face from him as he glided in beside her.

Without touching him she could feel the tension of his body. Ophelia exhaled softly as she brushed her hair out of her eyes. "May I?" John turned and nodded. She slowly rested her head on his shoulder while she allowed her eyes to close. "Thank you."

It was a whisper but Commander John Harrison heard it. He watched the raven haired woman he had accepted as his charge. Ward. Companion. Responsibility... None of the words that crossed his mind fit as the human curled up against him in her sleep. He approximated her height at five four without her shoes on.

His self-control had slid away at the sight of her in his black Starfleet shirt. A fact that he was not proud of.

John lifted her right arm up to get a better look at the ever counting clock. It took him a few seconds to deduce that these numbers added up to seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years.

Her lifespan.

John scrutinized the layer of skin over the clock. His thumb dragged across it and was surprised by the texture. It felt as if he was dragging his thumb across warm glass.

He kept his eyes on her face as his fingers flicked the skin. Ophelia slept through his tests and John frowned at the resounding sound her skin gave.
It looked, felt, and sounded like glass and the numbers had slowed in her sleep. He recalled what happened as Ophelia panicked, the countdown sped up and decreased the amount of time she had at nearly double the rate.

04 .55 .12 .26 .11 .50

And counting.

She would live, at this rate, to be at least seventy three years old. John continued to watch the seconds tick down and caught himself pondering what he would do with the his remaining time. Would his plans change?
The clock did not tick as it counted down but gave off a soft glow in the darkness of his bedroom.

00 .40 .12 .26 .11 .50

John wanted to roll over to prevent himself from seeing it but couldn't due to the fact Ophelia had nearly cemented herself to his right side as she slept. Her right arm had draped itself across his firm torso.

To preoccupy himself, John lightly trailed his hand across Ophelia's back and down her spine. He thought he had seen something fused to her skeletal system as she walked away from him. He was right.

Ophelia's bones were thinner but twice as prominent. Something had altered her bone structure and he wanted to know how and why.

A soft sigh emanated from his right shoulder. His hand ministrations were not meant to comfort her but Ophelia's breath heated his neck as she continued to sleep. Contently.

John suppressed a full hearted chuckle. If only she knew she was in the furthest place from being safe.

He slept for an hour before he slipped out of bed and closed the door behind him quietly. John grabbed Ophelia's bag off the floor as well as her shoes that were still beside the door. He slung the bag over his shoulder once he returned to his bedroom door and moved rapidly across the carpet in his bare feet. Once he was behind the closed door, he placed both items on a steel table and hit the lights.

John had converted his storage space that this Starfleet given apartment had into a highly functioning lab. He returned to the table and flipped Ophelia's shoes over and picked soil out of the treads with metal tweezers.

While he waited for the results, John emptied the bag on the table and began to sort the contents into piles. A folded pair of jump boots, a cellphone, an MP3 player, and a camera were the primary items that piqued his interest. The rest were related to feminine functions and other things he did not care about. He had untraceable access to the Archives and when the results popped up on the screen he rushed through a sample off of her combat boots for comparison.

June 2013. Morrisville, Vermont. June 2013 Concord, Vermont.

John held his breath and reformatted the system to erase his presence in the Archives as a precaution. He almost wanted to wake Ophelia up. To ask her what life was like eleven years after the Eugenics Wars.

an: thank you for your patience here on Fanfiction. I've updated this fanfic faster on my AO3 than here. I think i'm starting to loose faith in Fanfiction after going there. there are also updates and other fanfictions on my tumblr aidenseamus