Efraim was having the dream again – the one where he watched her disappear under the water on the Anacostia and dove in - except that in this dream, he couldn't find her in the swift current and she vanished into the darkness. It didn't matter how often he dove and dove again, reaching out into the inky black water trying to grab hold of her, every time he'd feel her slipping from his grasp, irretrievably gone.

He woke up flailing and gasping for breath as if he'd actually been drowning and realized he'd fallen asleep at his desk again. He looked around carefully, relieved to see he was still alone in the computer room, unsure if he'd actually been yelling her name out loud. He pulled his glasses off and rubbed a hand over his face, trying to slow his heartbeat in the wake of the nightmare.

It wasn't even always this dream that had him waking in a cold sweat, although this one was the worst – sometimes it was the one where Stetson and Billy were hanging over him at this very computer station, haranguing him to go faster as they tried to figure out where Brody had taken her and no matter what he typed, the screen remained stubbornly blank. He didn't need Pfaff to tell him what the dreams meant, but he didn't know why he was still having them, when he had no hope with her at all. Francine had gone off with that ex-fiancé of hers, probably planning to take the "ex-" off that description, and even before that, she'd always made it clear she had no real interest in him beyond his ability to troubleshoot computer problems for her. She had been friendlier lately but… He sighed and leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling but there weren't any answers up there either.

The problem now was that it was beginning to affect his job; this was the second time this week he'd fallen asleep at work after not sleeping the night before. Not only that, the lack of proper sleep was also starting to affect his brain in other ways. For instance, right now, he could smell her perfume as distinctly as if she were actually there. Knowing it was wishful thinking, Efraim tilted slowly forward again and began re-reading the data set for his analysis for the fourth, possibly fifth time.

He yelped when a hand reached passed him and placed a cup of coffee in front of him.

"You looked like you needed this and I figured I owed you a few."

Francine walked around and leaned against the side of his desk, her face changing from a friendly smile to a look of concern when she turned to face him.

"My God, Beaman, you look like hell! When I came in a minute ago and you were asleep, I thought I'd bring you coffee as a joke, but you look like you haven't slept in weeks. What are you working on?"

He stared at her owlishly for a moment before finally managing to say, "It's not work, I've just been having trouble sleeping lately. I'm sorry – I'll still have this analysis done before I leave today."

"Beaman – Efraim – I could care less about the analysis. Look, why don't you go and try and get some sleep and I'll tell Billy I sent you home. He wouldn't be any happier to find you in this state – I'm sure you're not getting anything done properly anyway."

His brain was finally starting to register that she was actually concerned about him and wasn't trying to get him in trouble. "It's fine – I'm fine. I think I'm probably just coming down with a cold or something" he answered trying to bluster his way through it. The way those icy blue eyes narrowed as he talked told him she wasn't buying it.

"Well, that's an even better reason for you to go home and sleep it off – we don't want you here infecting everyone else. Go home – that's an order – and I'll tell Billy I've reassigned this one." She picked up the analysis package off his desk and tucked it under her arm with her clutch before he could stop her.

"I told you I'm fine, why can't you just leave it at that?" he grumbled, reaching over to try and snatch it back out from under her arm.

She evaded him easily and walked around to the far side of the computer desk, then leaned forward to point an accusing finger at him. "I'm not going to leave it at that and I'll tell you why. I have had a lot of very enlightening conversations in the past few weeks and apparently, the universe has been hitting me with a sledgehammer to deliver one single message – want to know what it is?"

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, certain that she was about do her usual stellar job of dismantling any hope he had left. "Sure, why not? What Maharishi Yogi platitude has the universe taught you?"

"Two words, Beaman: support system." Her lips twitched slightly at his confused expression, but then she turned serious again and went on. "This business sucks if you don't have a support system. You need friends and family who believe in you and support you. Lone wolves don't do well – just ask Lee. Nope, wolves are supposed to live in packs and the pack looks after its own. So Mr. I'm-Fine, this is your pack talking: go home and get some sleep and don't come back until you're feeling better."

He leaned back and stared at her – this wasn't a side of her he'd seen before, although Amanda King had assured him it existed somewhere under the sarcastic shell. Curious as to what had brought on this new Francine, he looked for a way to keep her there, talking to him.

"So when did you get back anyway?" he asked finally. "I thought you were on some kind of Caribbean honeymoon or something."

Her eyes snapped with irritation for a moment, so fleetingly that anyone but Efraim with his gaze fixed on her would have missed it. "Well, Billy needed someone to do a meet in Orlando so I'm back early." She stood up suddenly and began rooting through her purse. "Which reminds me – that's why I was down here – I brought you something from Sea World."

She pulled a small box out of the bag and put it down on the desk in front of him with a look of mischief. He stared at in confusion before finally saying, "Okay, I'll bite. Why have you brought me a ceramic penguin?"

"Well, my future husband is a big penguin fan and it reminded me that you were too."

"Your future husband?" He was impressed with how he managed to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "So you and Stone worked it out then?"

"Oh no, Jonathan's history," she answered cheerfully. "Turns out he wasn't suited to having a girlfriend in the intelligence business."

"And you've already found a replacement for him?" Efraim gestured towards the figurine. "What's the penguin guy like?"

"Oh, he's English so he has that sexy accent of course, and exquisite manners but he is much younger than me, so I don't know if it's going to work out."

"Really? How much younger?" Efraim knew she was at least three years older than him – he liked to tell himself that's why she'd turned him down so many times, although the being-drunk part had obviously never helped either.

"He's seven."

"Seven years younger? Is he even out of college yet?"

She smiled at the implied compliment before clarifying. "No, I mean he's seven years old, so he might have to be my second husband. I guess I'll keep dating other people in the meantime."

Efraim could not figure out what this strange new mood was, but couldn't help asking, "Lowering your standards at last?"

"Oh no, I'm raising them. Jeremy is a huge improvement over Jonathan – he gets my Star Wars jokes, for one thing." She straightened up and pointed at the penguin. "Anyway, I saw that in the gift shop and thought you might like it." She looked at him uncertainly and went on, "You have a thing for penguins, right? You're always making jokes about them."

"No, you're right – I definitely have a thing for penguins." He picked up the ceramic figure and looked at it carefully. "An emperor penguin, huh? Well, since you're all hopped on your support system mantra, did you know they mate for life? And the male does all the child rearing?"

"I did know that. It's even more romantic when you think about how they can always find each other in a crowd of a million other penguins." She squeezed his shoulder as she walked past him, headed for the office door and he swivelled in his chair to watch her leave. She stopped in the doorway and looked back at him with a smile that was warm but had something else he couldn't quite interpret. She pointed to the penguin and went on. "That's what every girl really wants, you know. That one guy that understands what makes her the one in a million."

"And can always find her?"

Francine's smile broadened. "That too," she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

Efraim sat staring at the door, trying to decide if she'd meant that the way it sounded "There doesn't have to be a million of them to know when you've found the one," he said finally to the empty air, empty except for the faintest trace of her perfume.