My HSC is over! I'm freee! Haha. Now I have five months between school and university to do nothing, so hopefully I'm gonna be writing a lot. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time, and thanks for all the birthday wishes :D

This one's a bit of a filler, but more plot is around the corner.

It took a while for things to settle , but soon the rowdy behaviour of the other crew members died down, and they went from teasing the Commander and Lieutenant about their relationship to congratulating them- after all, they had been anticipating this for quite some time. That didn't mean, necessarily, that Krayonder and Criss were going to give up their wager, and every milestone event the couple shared was inevitably followed with the muffled cry of aw, man! from somewhere in the vicinity. Krayonder had lost nearly six months' worth of wages within a few weeks, and the ranger was determined to get some of it back- not just to save himself from financial ruin, but to save his self-respect too. This losing streak was getting humiliating, and in all honesty he couldn't understand why Up and Taz, now they were together, still hadn't done anything.

'Hey, dudes,' Krayonder grinned obnoxiously as he sat down with the rest of the crew one lunchtime, 'I got a riddle for you guys. What do you get when you add Taz, Up and a bottle of whiskey?'

'Oh, I love quizzes!' Tootsie said. 'Now let's think…' he furrowed his brow, his simple mind straining to come up with the answer.

Specs frowned through her glasses. 'What did you do?' she demanded.

Krayonder shuffled his feet guiltily. 'I just thought I might…help 'em along a bit …with the bet.' He looked at the faces all glaring at him, 'oh, come on, man! I'm almost outta money! I gotta win it back somehow!'

'Cheater!' February sulked.

Bug's compound eyes widened. 'Did it work, then?'

'Well….' Krayonder's face fell just a little, 'not quite...'

Tootsie, who'd been tapping his forehead the whole time, suddenly spoke up. 'I give up…what do you get if you add Taz, Up and a bottle of whiskey?'

The sudden crash and cry of 'But Taz, that's my moustache!' interrupted their conversation, and the blur that was Taz flitted through the room, buzzed out of her brain and trying frantically to attach a small strip of gray to her face. Up, moustache-less and equally legless lumbered through after her. 'I need that to be Commander!'

Taz paused in the doorway, waggling the moustache at him. 'Aww, jou want it?'

He made to grab it and she snatched it away from him , sticking it on her upper lip and grinning evilly.

'Jou come and get it!' She danced out of his reach, laughing manically and they were off again.

The rest of the crew stared after them, a little speechless.

'That,' Krayonder said to Tootsie, by way of an answer.

Awkward silence ensued for a couple of moments, until Specs finally spoke up.

'Don't ever give them vodka again. If you do you're out of the bet- that was highly embarrassing.'

'Aw, man!'

The failed mission in the ruins, during which Up had nearly died, was a mere decoy. It had taken place on a planet far across the galaxy from where the actual plan was to take place, and its sole purpose had been to distract the G.L.E.E. while the slowly rejuvenating army of robots took down two planets, getting a foothold. Two planets closer to earth. Once they got to earth there would be no question of their supremacy.

It had been far too easy to mislead General Holden. For someone so smart, he was incredibly naïve when it came to the orders of his superiors. He hadn't questioned the mission, but had sent two of his best commanders- Crawford and Up, down on a pointless escapade at a moment's notice.

A few more incidents like that, Space-Claw thought, and the robot army would be sufficiently built up, and ready for a full-scale, and unexpected, assault on planet earth.

And hopefully, by that time, Commander Up would be out the way. The second reconstruction was drawing near, and that would make him weak and vulnerable for quite a while afterwards- if it didn't kill him.

And if it did, well, everything would be so much easier. Space-Claw wouldn't have to do it himself.

Taz pushed the door release to Up's room, smiling as she beheld his slumbering form, the rays of morning sunlight illuminating him, curled up on one side and the covers drawn up to his chin. Slowly, she crossed the room, climbed onto the bed beside him and shook him.

'Up.'

Up mumbled something in his sleep but didn't stir. She shook him again, with the same result.

'Up! Wake up!'

Taz shook him, hit him, thumped him with a pillow, but to no avail. Frustrated, she stood on the bed, assaulting him with her foot.

'Huh?' At last, the Commander emerged from the blankets, sleepy-eyed and confused.

'Oh, good, jou're awake,' Taz said, as though she hadn't just attacked him to make it so.

Up rubbed his temples. 'Did you just kick me?'

She disregarded his question, and consulted her nonexistent watch. 'It is past eight- jou have ignored me for nueve horas now. Kiss me at once!'

He raised his eyebrows. 'Ask properly, Taz!'

Taz narrowed her eyes at him. 'No. Kiss me- or I will kill jou.'

Her threat had far from the desired effect; Up merely chuckled.

'Aw, Taz, you couldn't kill me. You'd be havin' withdrawal symptoms within five minutes.' He produced a fake yawn. 'Now if you want a kiss, be nice to me, or I'm goin' back to sleep.' Up turned over, pulling the blankets around him again.

Taz glared, and in a series of swift, violent movements she'd jumped off the bed and yanked at the bedclothes, dragging both them and the bed's occupant onto the floor.

'Hey!'

'Get up, idiota. Holden wants to see you in his office.'

This actually was true, but Up gave her a suspicious look as he stood up.

'You sure?'

'Is about dat ridiculo reconstruction.' Taz kept her tone the same, but she felt a shiver run through her as she said it. The dangerous one. She wouldn't dwell on it now. 'He wants to talk details.'

Up sighed, gathering up his blankets from the floor and tossing them back onto the bed.

'Okay, I'd better have at it, then.' He moved towards the door, leaving Taz staring crossly after him.

'Oy!'

'What?' Up said, doing a pretty passable imitation of innocent- which would have worked had he not been unable to suppress his smirk. Teasing Taz was too much fun to resist- he'd been doing it a lot lately, amused more than he should have been by her anger, and the fact that, although it started off directed him, in their early-romance haze she could never keep it up for long.

'Where's my kiss?' Taz demanded.

'Well, I dunno, Taz, I dunno if you deserve one…'

It was at this moment she slammed him against the wall and took one anyway, and Up was late to his meeting with Holden.

'Now, Commander,' Holden sat back in his chair, 'I trust Taz told you why I wanted to see you?'

'Yeah,' Up grumbled, ''s about the reconstruction.'

'Well, as you know, your crew are scheduled to take their planet leave at the end of September- but Space-Claw's just informed me that he's scheduled your reconstruction for the 29th…'

Up involuntarily shuddered at the idea that it was so soon- the dangerous one…no, it was not dangerous. Just a little risky- but every time he went on a mission there was risk, he should be used to that by now, he was tough…

'As such, I've changed your schedule- you will now take your planet leave next week, until the 20th. Taz too, as I suspect she'll want to assist you with your recovery…'

The idea of a long vacation – just him and Taz- would have been great news, if it weren't coupled with the date of his reconstruction being pushed forward. Holden went on to explain that this meant he could recover while the rest of his crew were on leave, and be back up to scratch, hopefully by the time they returned, but all Up could think of was the daunting possibilities of what might happen to him. The pain in one leg had been bad enough- this was almost the entire right side of his body- he wasn't looking forward to that part at all. Not to mention the fact that there was a significantly higher chance this time that he might not walk away from it…

No. He couldn't think like that. He was Commander Up, he was strong. True, he wasn't invincible, but he survived being cut up by robots- he could survive this too. He would have to try. For Taz.

Criss wondered if it would be in his best interests to get a hair straightener. As best-looking Lieutenant in the League, he felt it was his responsibility to look amazing at all times. He looked in the mirror again, twirling a curl around his finger and picturing again what it would look like.

'Hey, man, great news!' Krayonder's voice issued from the doorway, and Criss turned to find both him and February in his room.

'Oh, hey, guys. Do you think I should get a straightener?'

'Don't worry about that now, I've got an update on the bet!'

'Oh yeah?' Criss said absently, gazing again at his reflection. 'What's that?'

'Up and Taz are going on planet leave early- together!' February squealed. 'Isn't that the cutest thing ever? It's totally gonna be, like, a honeymoon…'

'No way, man!' Krayonder said in alarm. 'If they get married the bet's off! But the good news is, some time alone together…who knows, we might be winnin' our wages back! Whadja think?'

'I think…' Criss pondered for a moment, 'I look cool enough as it is. I don't need to straighten my hair.'

'What about the bet, man?'

Criss blinked. 'The bet?'

'Yeah, we were just totally telling you about Up and Taz…'

'Oh.' He shook his head a little. 'Right.'

February launched into the whole story again, and Criss nodded, but his thoughts were still with himself and his hair.

Up glanced across at Taz, head on the arm of the sofa, asleep as the credits of 'the Karate Kid' played for the umpteenth time. It was hard to believe, watching her so peaceful and asleep now, that only half an hour ago she'd been shouting at him at the top of her lungs. They'd been fighting ever since he came back from Holden's office, Taz furious that he was acting like 'such a bebe' about the second reconstruction, insisting that if he even thought about dying, she would kill him. Pointing out that if he was dead, she wouldn't be able to- as he would already be dead thank you very much- had just made her angrier, and she'd thrown a shoe at his head.

Now being hit in the head with a shoe, especially if it was a steel-toed combat boot, Up had decided, despite his unmoved reaction, really did hurt- not that he'd tell her- she was mad enough at him being 'soft' as it was. They'd argued all day, all throughout the meeting with the rest of the crew, all through their daily sparring match, and all through their training of a group of recruits, which had frightened the young rangers and caused them to receive some concerned looks from the other officers.

He didn't even know, in all honesty, how they'd ended up watching a movie this evening- neither who had put it on nor whose idea it was were still clear to him, only that she hadn't spoken to him once throughout it, leaning against the arm of the sofa instead of him, and giving him dirty looks whenever he'd tried to say anything.

He wondered if she was still angry in her dreams, the frown had faded from her face as she dozed, but Up didn't dare wake her up.

Sighing, he stood, switched off the TV and the lights and walked over to the bed, climbing in and vowing tomorrow he'd try and fix things up.

It wasn't until after nearly two hours, during which he'd lain awake, that he heard soft footsteps, and felt the bed lurch slightly. An arm snaked around his shoulders, followed by another, and a pair of lips that stopped at his ear to whisper affectionately 'silly idiota,' before touching his lightly.

He didn't move, just in case if she thought he was awake she might resume their fight, but as he felt her settle down beside him he knew she'd forgiven him.

Taz heard Up get up off the sofa and walk around. She kept her eyes shut, stubbornly pretending to be asleep. She'd overreacted, she knew that, but she didn't want to talk to him right now- she knew if she did she would have to apologise. Truth was, Up's fear mirrored her own- what if the doctors made a mistake- what if he did die during the reconstruction? She couldn't let him know she worried about it. She had to fight all signs of weakness- if Up knew she was just as concerned, he'd be even more afraid, and she couldn't bear to see that. By acting like he was making a fuss over nothing and everything was fine, she was trying to make it so. By furiously insisting nothing was going to go wrong with the reconstruction, she was trying to will Up to survive no matter what, to show that it shouldn't get him down. If it meant having to cold-shoulder him for a while to get the message home, she'd do it.

Taz opened one eye just a crack. The room was darkened now; Up wasn't here, he'd gone to bed. She wanted more than anything to go and curl up in his arms, but she forced herself to remain where she was, to not move- not yet, anyway. Not while he was awake- that would look like grovelling, and she wouldn't give him that satisfaction. She refused to become one of those girly girlfriends who resorted to sickening apologies in falsely sweet voices to gain forgiveness. She would wait, and make peace with him after he'd had time to stew in her anger at him.

The boring, lonely minutes ticked by at a snail's pace.

Oh, screw this.

Up's breathing was slow and even when she entered the room- whether he was asleep or just lying there she neither knew nor cared. Slowly, she eased herself into the space beside him.

'Silly idiota,' she said softly, kissing him once, and resting her head comfortably against his shoulder. She wasn't sure if she was referring to him or herself.

Up wasn't surprised to find Taz still in his arms next morning, but it did surprise him a little that she was willing to forget about their little fight so easily- from his experience, whenever he and Taz had argued in the past, she would pretend to be angry for at least another few days, even when both of them knew full well there was no longer anything to be mad about. He wondered whether he should attribute this to the fact that they were no longer friends, but something more, or whether she was concerned about him, or what, but he decided not to push it. He wanted these upcoming weeks with Taz to be pleasant ones- if this was the only time he got with her before he died, he wanted it to be good.

No. She was right. Nothing was going to happen to him- the risk was minimal, and anyway, he should forget about Space-Claw and the reconstruction for a while, and just appreciate the fact that Taz was here, that she was in his life.

They were back on the best of terms by the time they left for planet leave, comfortably holding hands as Up waved goodbye to his crew and Taz gave them her own, one-fingered 'wave'.

They had four weeks ahead of them to forget about everything except each other, and Up intended to make use of them. After all, they might be the last of his life...