[And I'm back! Happy Holidays to everyone who has been waiting, hopefully the new chapter will have been worth the wait. Questions? Comments? Review and I'll be glad to answer! ]

The shocks in the old truck were nothing but ghosts of their former selves as it careened and bounced over every damn stump and pothole Jace could hit on their way to Mercy, constantly jostling the two bodies in the bed around much to their owner's displeasure. Whomever had decided to let Stratton get in some time behind the wheel was sick in the head. Sam was the first to sit down with her back leaning up against the cab, she hoped the ride might go a little smoother this way but no such luck. She was feeling just about a hundred times better than when she'd woken up this morning but the constant bouncing was starting to drag back up that uneasy feeling in her gut. Not to mention her ass was starting to get sore, constantly bouncing off the metal bed. Dominic was still standing and enjoying the ride and fresh air a bit more obviously than his counter part. Without realizing it Sam found herself staring at the man and he caught her, the only relief was that he just smiled and bent a little bit at the knee so he didn't have to speak so loudly to be heard over the wind rushing by them. There was another uneasy feeling inside now. The one she used to feel around him quite a lot before he'd made his intentions with her clear and now it was distinctly more bitter sweet than anything.

"I don't like this Sam, you're too quiet," Dominic teased her.

"It's a long way, are you sure you want to get me started yapping now Santiago?" She shouted back.

He took a seat next to her, still smiling. "Better someone to talk to for the trip than enjoying the view in dead silence."

His head tilted to the other truck by their side where Marcus and Anya had seemed to take up the idea of sitting too. They weren't talking very much. They never did. Sam noticed the same thing. Alright, it couldn't really hurt she supposed.

"What's bothering you?" Dom asked.

"I've just been thinking about Anvil Gate. The other night, the weirdest thing happened," she was forced to say a bit louder than she'd liked. Dominic looked interested and because of that she felt completely ridiculous even bringing it up. Still, it wouldn't be fair to her friend to stop now. "Baird was nice to me."

Dom laughed. Sam was remembering again why she liked him. He had a nice smile she found herself thinking.

"Really? Well, I suppose it's not the strangest thing to happen." He said.

"It is to me. He was … nice! He said nice things. I think he even helped me back to the barracks too," Sam was shaking her head in disbelief recalling the events of the night before. They had slowly come back to her throughout the day, at first when she saw Baird in passing before they left and then in large chunks here and there since then. Maybe she should have said something to him that morning.

"Yeah?" Dom found himself in agreement, sort of. It was strange but he had seen this coming a mile away. Everyone had. The fact their mechanic had been so chivalrous as to not try and sleep with the drunk girl while he had a chance only cemented it for Dom. "Why do you think that is?"

Her shoulders shrugged. "No idea. It's probably some new elaborate mind game he's planning. Let's be nice to Sam, she'll never see that one coming."

For such a smart woman, Samantha was oblivious to some obvious things it seemed. Santiago wanted to comment but suppressed it with a knowing smirk. She was young and she deserved the surprises life still had in store for her. He hoped she never did see it coming until it was right there in front of her face. It made him chuckle and Sam gave him a curious look. He decided to throw her off the trail a little longer.

"You're right, I'm sure whatever Baird's up to is no good."

"You know what your problem is? It's not that you don't know how to turn off, it's that you can't even remember what it's like to turn back on and feel any more. You're always off," She had said, her tone hurt. Her words cut deeper than she thought though.

"You think that I don't know what it's like to feel?" He asked insulted with the volume of his voice rising. How could she even say such a thing? Marcus tried to keep his hands from trembling with the anger he felt rising, but she was right. He turned off and tried to keep cool when saying, "You should go."

"Why, so you can sit here and keep bottling everything up? Never talking to anyone?" Anya snapped. "Jesus Christ, Marcus … I'm trying to help you. I love you."

He'd never heard those words from her before. She meant them, but hadn't meant to say them. Anya swallowed the stiff knot in her throat and tried to come to terms with what she'd just done. As always she was met with Marcus' trademark silence and his expression hardened further, if that was even possible. Why were they fighting? Anya tried to recall. She'd asked him to come out with her, to have a drink and feel normal again and he refused. Of course he would and she tried to press him further on the issue, asking again, pulling softly on his hand. That had been when he lost it and snapped at her.

"I don't want to fucking go, drop it."

She was still waiting for his response to her revelation. Nothing. He was looking at her though, expecting one too. Her chest sunk with a bit of a sigh which could have been the precursor to a thought, but she took it back prematurely thinking better. It had been too long having to carry on conversations by herself, she'd said more than what she'd came for. So it was time to leave.

He should apologize, Marcus thought to himself sitting on the darkened sands and replaying the events of an hour before. It wasn't fair what he'd put her through, but she knew how things would be with him that it would only get worse as she stuck around. Didn't she understand everything around him died? He missed Dom. His best friend would have had this figured out all ready and pulled his ass out of the fire. Right now he should have been literally shoving Marcus towards the celebration and Anya until he pulled his foot out of his mouth and made things right. Santiago always been his balance, he was the other side of the coin. Where Marcus was collected, calm and could see things for their black and white moralities, Dom was always the people person and lived for the grey areas. Marcus was aloof and cold, Dom was sensitive and generous. Dom had always made sure he never went too far off the deep end without coming back but now Fenix realized he was losing sight of land and drifting further out than he had in a long time.

Was this heart ache? It felt so utterly literal Sam wanted to grip her chest where the pain resonated deep inside. She didn't cry, she didn't feel worth the tears at this point and was still operating in a state of almost disbelief. The words Baird had said were so cruel and without reason she almost couldn't believe it had happened. It had and in front of several others though. So it wasn't surprising she left shortly afterwards and now strolled by herself across the moonlit Azura beach, a wine glass in one hand and the corked bottle in the other. Sam wore no shoes, she arrived comfortably in a pair of cut off linen shorts and a tank top, with her hair pinned back and wrapped up in her bandana. She definitely wanted to be left alone, but she knew of someone else who had always said as much and sought their company so they could be alone together. If that made sense. There he was. Her glassy brown eyes focused on the giant form cutting a broad silhouette on the beach. She didn't care much about making noise and the glass clinked softly against the ring on her finger with her steps, alerting Fenix before she could personally. He was clearly about to say something but stopped when he looked at her, and let Sam take a seat at his side. At first he was sure she'd come as Anya's noble defender here to berate him, but there wasn't the fire in her eyes for that.

"Wanna drink with me?" She asked like this wasn't odd at all.

"No." Marcus grumbled and turned away.

"Fine. Then I'm just going to sit here next to you and drink by myself until you realize that's a bad idea." She said, crossing her legs. He was uncomfortable but she didn't care.

"What are you doing out here Sam?" He finally asked, tired of this game.

"Better out here then in there." With her thumb she pointed back over her shoulder in the direction of the tower. "I can't believe that asshole…"

"Baird?" He'd heard. It wasn't of his concern.

"Yeah."

Fenix failed to reply right away. Sam sipped from her full glass of wine and settled further into the sand. He finally said, "That's why Gears aren't supposed to fraternize."

"HAH!" Her laugh was sharp and immediate. "That's real funny Fenix. You tell Anya that?"

It wasn't like Sam to wear her heart on her sleeve or have such a short fuse with him. Up until recently he also would have said it wasn't even possible for her to sleep with Damon Baird either but here they were. Marcus growled long and low, feeling the sting of her words. Somewhere he could hear Dom telling him he deserved it too. Her amused look was fading quickly as she noticed his frown.

"I'm sorry, I didn't come out here to give you relationship advise," Sam sighed and took a pregnant sip from her quickly waning glass. "I clearly have no room to talk. I need to ask you something."

"What?"

"I want transferred out."

"What?"

"I don't know, out of Delta at least. Maybe back to Anvil Gate or Vectes Naval Base for a bit, settle my head. I don't feel like myself anymore, I'm not acting like myself anymore and it scares the piss out of me."

He understood her urge. They'd seen so much in these past days it only made sense to want to go far far away now, but that clearly wasn't the only thing driving her to take off now. The wine was probably to blame a bit, but she just didn't want to have to see Baird's face again after what he had done either. Marcus wasn't so cruel as to outright deny her request though, they were in the same boat he'd come to realize.

"The war is over and now you're getting scared? The COG is gone Sam, you can do whatever you want, you don't need my permission." He informed her.

"Shut up, you'll always be my Sergeant, Sergeant." She smiled at him.

He ran a hand back through his sweaty hair, not wanting to say it. "If you feel the same way in the morning then I'll draw up the papers."

She checked her watch to see just how far away morning was, enough she could pack her bags and catch a nap which was a relief. Her cheeks felt warm despite the cool breeze coming off the ocean and the aching of her heart seemed to dull when she set those more painful thoughts aside. Looking at Marcus, Sam suddenly felt very selfish again. He wanted to ask her about Dom, she'd been the last to talk to him but wouldn't prod another's sore wounds, she had enough of them. Sam was still looking at him and he didn't care for it because she seemed to be looking through him at that moment in time. She knew.

"You know sometimes I don't remember he's gone Marcus. I was going to turn around and tell him something today when I finally remembered. He should be here." Sam lifted her glass and bottle of wine to the sky even though she didn't even want to drink anymore. There after the glass was settled firmly to her right and she uncorked the bottle, unexpectedly pouring a small handful of sand into it. Marcus was curious enough to take the wine bottle from her without asking. He noted it was empty, of wine at least. Holding it up to the moon he could see something was in there all rolled up, another something else rattling inside, and now the sand. Looking back to Sam, she was all ready with her explanation.

"It's a message in a bottle. I didn't get to say good bye to him, so I decided to tonight. I wrote the letter in there, put in something personal of mine and now," she let some more sand run between her fingers, "a little bit of paradise."

There wasn't a body or a grave, not even his COG tags. No one had really been bold enough to bring up the word funeral to him, but it made sense. They all still needed to mourn. How was it Sam almost made it beautiful?

"You're looking at me like I'm crazy," Sam chuckled nervously and reached for her drink.

"No, it's … it's nice."

"Mm, I figured a great man deserved a great send off." Sam finished her glass, and handed Marcus the cork to the bottle. Standing up, she started to brush off her legs. "Do you want to do the honors? I can't throw it far enough away from the tide."

It didn't feel exactly right, sharing this grief with her but not entirely wrong either. It wasn't going to be easy finding someone with a set on them big enough to replace Sam's he thought. He stood up too, body aching and grumbled about as much. She watched and nodded as he wedged the cork back in the top of the bottle before hurling it out into the ocean before them end over end. It went too far for them to spot it land but they heard the splash, and then it was silent. For a little while longer, the two decided to just stand there quietly, alone and together.