Well, it took two days before they could attempt the blood transfusion. When they were done, I passed out for about a week. When I woke up... Ryan was gone. After freaking and almost killing myself with panic, Erik came and told me he was all right; he was awake and walking around again.

But...there was something in his eyes... something was wrong. even more than before... When I was let out of hospital, I went to find him. When I did, I realized he was smoking again.

"Erik, can I talk to you?"

"Sure. What about?" I sighed, watching as he took another puff... then I couldn't take it anymore. I stepped forward, yanking the cigarette from his lips, throwing it on the floor and stomping on it. He barely flinched.

"Okay. What's wrong with you"

"What's wrong with me? ME? Erik, what's going on with you? You're all. jittery.. definitely not leader-like... not like you were before. What happened?" He avoided my stare. I stepped forward, grabbed his face in my hands, and turned him to look at me. "What. Happened?" He tried to look away from me... he was strong... but, then again, so was I.

"I... um... do you remember... oh god..." he started to cry, and I let go of his face, taking his hands instead.

"Take it easy... remember who?"

"M-Melissa Chapman?" I thought for a second. Then I remembered her. I had a class with her when I first came to America. But... she was in another camp, wasn't she? "Yeah. What..." "She... she... was with me in the last... she was killed in the last attack..."

"Oh my god" I gasped, watching as Erik covered his face with one hand. This was... I was shocked when Erik's knees buckled, and he fell. Glad no-one else was around to see this... still shocked at what he'd said... Melissa was... I'd known her... she'd... I reached forward and put a hand on his arm. Seconds later his face was against my stomach, and he was full on sobbing... hugging my waist tightly.

I hadn't seen him like this since... since... Since Karen died. And all I could do was put my arms around him... stroke his hair... reassure him that I was still here for him... After a few minutes I felt him calm.

His breathing became slower. Finally, he stood up to face me. His face was as hard as steel again... his leader face. He leaned back on a tree, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it.

"Erik, you know... I'm here for you"

"I know. Ditto" he said nonchalantly. He seemed embarrassed... I smiled, leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then walked off. If he needed to be alone, then I'd leave him alone...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

June 13th 2009

1223 hours

US Space Force Military Base

"You'd better be careful. I'm walkin' like an old granny now" I grinned as Marco picked me up and put me on the table, kissing my neck.

"I know. God I missed you..."

"Me too but... can we not do this here?" "Why not? More exiting" I pulled his face to mine, kissing him. He responded almost instantly. Pushing his chest on mine... hands exploring... Then I heard someone clearing their throat. I broke the kiss with Marco, looking around him to see Robert. He shook his head.

"Get a room"

"This is a room" Marco replied cheekily. I slapped his shoulder. "Sorry. We didn't think anyone would be in here at this time of day"

"Whatever. Take it somewhere else" I hopped off the table, and we did take it somewhere else. One of the conference rooms in the base, with a table. Not so bad, actually. (we found out later that there was a security camera in the room.) When we were... uh... done... we went back outside, then back into the city. We were all going to eat at some fancy restaurant to celebrate Ryan's recovery.

I kept my new little gun handy by my side (I'd lost my dagger indefinitely) in case of any problems. Marco did the same. We got to the restaurant at the same time as the others. We had a good meal, but before they brought dessert we were interrupted. A man wearing a space force uniform approached Robert.

"Sir!" He said. "Permission to speak privately."

"DE-nied!" Robert said, I was getting used to hearing all of the military tones around me but it was still weird. "Anything you can say in front of me you can say in front of my colleges."

"Very well, General Kessly, we have received a message from the Andilite high command. A communications unit going on a mission to set up a radar tower was ambushed en route to the target site. The unit was scattered pretty badly and…"

"Get to the point Lt."

"Sir, Warrior Thornton was among the unit…" I saw Erik's face fall, Robert murmured a string of curse words.

"What, does that mean?" I said glumly.

"It means Becky's MIA" Erik said, and he kicked over his chair.