"Psst! Brenda! Pippa!" A nurse who was usually off duty at this time came half bustling-half running towards the other two nurses at the front desk of the hospital ward, who jumped at the sound of her voice, excited at the thought that she might have something to say which was more exciting than their jobs to them.

"What's up, Zoe?" Pippa asked as she approached them.
"And please let it be good; I'm sick of filling in forms all day." Brenda chipped in, moaning.
"Oh no no no girls," Zoe breathed and leant forward onto the desk, making the other two huddle close to listen, "you have GOT to hear this- it's a piece of absolute gossip gold!" the other two looked at each other briefly before turning back to Zoe and gesturing with their hands as to say 'what is it, then?'. Zoe cleared her throat before continuing, "Okay, so you know how I always go to the gym on Thursdays when I get my break?" Pippa nodded and Brenda raised an eyebrow, looking Zoe up and down, "well I was on my way to the snack machi- um... treadmills, when Peter from the rehab clinic came running up to me! And, I know we all hate him, but he does have the best gossip. So he's like, best friends with Chloe from the rehab clinic, and he told me that she told him that she..." Zoe was purposely building the suspense to the irritation of her friends, "...is going out... with... Commander Up!" The two nurses' jaws dropped and immediately they were asking her questions.

"Aww! I knew Chloe liked the Commander! But how did she bag him? They are soooo cute together!" Pippa gushed, and Brenda gave her an odd look,

"Hang on... I thought that Commander Up liked Lieutenant Taz? You were the one who initiated operation 'Get Taz and Up together'. So where's the proof?" She raised an eyebrow at Zoe, who sighed in response.

"Honestly Brenda, stop being so sceptical. Peter saw Chloe and Up holding hands and walking towards one of the rehab clinic offices. They were in there like, an hour or so, and then Peter saw Up come out of the office, and his face was all red, so there's your proof!" Brenda still didn't look satisfied, but didn't question any more.

"Plus, Lieutenant Taz went on a mission about nine months ago, so she obviously doesn't care about the Commander." Pippa nodded and the three nurses gossiped until Zoe announced that she 'had' to go and tell more people. Brenda shook her head and phased out of Pippa's rambling about how 'perfect' Chloe and the Commander were for each other, and thought to herself, What the hell is Commander Up thinking? I always thought... well I always respected the fact that him and Lieutenant Taz could've been together, but didn't show it to the Galactic League. Now him and Chloe are flaunting their relationship around? It doesn't sound like the Commander's quite himself, even after almost twenty months since his injury... Something doesn't add up. Unfortunately, Brenda knew that she was going to be one of the only two people who questioned a good piece of gossip in the G.L.E.E, and Lieutenant Taz was the other one.

Up walked into the mess-hall and made his way over to the table that he used to share with Taz, but had been sitting alone at for the past nine months. He didn't feel like eating; he'd had people whispering behind his back all day and he didn't know why. Eventually he'd settled for the fact that they were laughing at how weak he was; a once strong and tough Commander now no more confident than a little girl. He assumed that they were all still talking about him, as when he walked in he'd noticed a significant drop in the volume of chattering in the hall, so he was surprised that when he looked up from having his head in his hands, he found Lieutenant Tobies, Lieutenant Elliotts and Lieutenant Marks sitting across from him with raised eyebrows and smirks on their faces.

"Uh... alright, Lieutenants?" Up asked cautiously, slightly worried by their expressions. They looked at each other briefly, before Lieutenant Elliotts replied,

"Sure Commander! We were just wondering... if you're allowed to date people in lower ranks than you, then is everyone else?" Up looked confusedly at him. Please don't let them know about me and Taz- the Ambassador would kill me! He thought, though he kept a straight face.

"What are you talking about, Elliotts?" Up asked, not as authoritatively as he planned to. Then it was their turn to look confused.

"Well, we've sort of got our eye on..." Lieutenant Tobies coughed, "I mean, there are a certain three girls who we... wish were Lieutenants too..." Up smiled to put his mind at rest from worry that he might be reprimanded by him for thinking about something that was, strictly speaking, against G.L.E.E rules. He knew who they were talking about, and he looked over at the girls whose conversation he could hear:

"Come on, guys- you said we'd watch 'Herbie- Fully loaded' tonight! I love that film!" Private Eve said to her two friends as she tried to pull them away from the table.

"Okay, but there'd better be snacks! Maybe some cucumber... no-carrot sticks definitely." Private Beth was off in a dream as she talked, and Private Jenna shook her head at her friend and added,

"Yeah... or we could get some sweets! Like haribo, or..."

Up tuned out of the conversation and looked back at the boys in front of him, each with expectant looks on their faces. He sighed and gave them as stern a look as he could in the state he was,

"Look boys, I see your problem here, and I know it's hard, but you'll just have to wait until they're Lieutenants." The Lieutenants' faces fell. "However," they lit up again, "if you agree to work extra hard on missions and no one catches you with those three girls, then I guess I can forget about what you said to me." He winked at them. Why was he going so easy on them? And- hang on- where did they get the idea that he's dating someone in lower ranks than him? Suddenly he was panicking.

"Thanks Commander! We'll definitely, uh... take your advice." Lieutenant Marks said, nodding his head to show he knew what Up meant as they stood up to walk away. Before they did though, Up called them back,

"Uh... can you wait a second please?" why was he sounding so shy? He was talking to people in lower ranks than him for dead-god's sake! The Lieutenants turned back to him and stood, waiting for him to speak.

"Where did you get the idea that I'm... dating someone who's not in my ranks?" He whispered, and the three Lieutenants again narrowed their eyes in confusion. Lieutenant Marks opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by someone behind him, who incidentally answered Up's question.

"Hey commander," Lieutenant Sam sneered from across the mess-hall, "using your Commander's status to pull hot girls is a bit against the rules, isn't it?" There was immediately a roar of laughter from Sam's table and tables surrounding it, and the three Lieutenants in front of him were immediately yelling at them to stop being so childish. Up was still confused- how did they find out about Taz? His question was answered when he tuned back into the conversation that Sam and his gang were having, rather loudly.

"Yeah! And I heard that they... you know... in Doctor Lodge's office the other day!" Sam shouted, oblivious to the irritation of anyone trying not to listen to him speaking. So it wasn't Chloe's office after all.

"OMDG!" a rather hysterical Private Liz giggled, heard over dozens more murmurs and laughs.

"It must be true- Peter's never gets his facts wrong- even if he is a bit of a shadow to Chloe." Lieutenant Jones added.

"Exactly! He follows Chloe around all day, so he'd gotta know what she's... you know... Up to!" Sam's comment sent everyone into shrieks of laughter.

"But how can they be...if Up's," Private Ben had to pause mid-sentence because he was laughing so much, "if Up's... got no balls!" That got the most, and loudest, laughs of all.

"What! How does he even pee?" Someone asked.

"He must have to sit down!" another added. Up wasn't even paying attention what was worse, was that Up just let them laugh. He couldn't even hear Elliotts, Tobies and Marks hollering to them to shut up.

That was when he felt it. The first tiny, damp, salty tear slide jaggedly down his left cheek, criss-crossing over the may scars on the left side of his face. It fell to the table, and was then followed by another, then another, then about fifty more, gushing from his left eye, the other not quite yet developed enough to have an ocular sensor malfunction. He didn't even try to stop, or try to wipe them away. He just let them fall. He didn't even notice that the whole mess-hall had stopped and was staring at him until Lieutenant Sam started giggling again, which of course, lead almost the entire hall into hysterics.

He could sense that the three Lieutenants who'd been defending him were looking at him too, wondering what had happened to their Commander. Up couldn't look them in the eye. He knew that the old him, the one that he was sure was still inside him, trapped, would've turned Sam into a pile of jelly just by looking at him, but he wasn't the old him anymore. He must've sat there for about five minutes while rangers all in lower ranks than him laughed at him as he cried, before he stood up. The laughter dampened on some privates' and the ensigns' part, but Sam and his gang were still wiping their eyes as they laughed maliciously.

He couldn't just stand there- what are you gonna do, Up? He racked his brains for some remark that would completely own Lieutenant Sam, or at least put the fear of dead-god in him. However it was a fruitless search; there was not a single thing in his new, weak brain that would help him, except of course Taz. But she's not here. A torrent of new tears flooded over the drying ones as he realised her absence for what felt like the first time but had been one time of many. It only made them laugh harder, if that were even possible. So he did the only thing he could just about do with his new body:

He turned and walked out of the door. And yeah, his limp was back.