Beverly lay in the darkness of her quarters, staring up at the white ceiling, a satisfied smile upon her face. She had been so silly to think that Walker's intents were those of betrayal. Now, having cooled off, her actions seemed so rash. Still, something was bothering her.

She had shooed her guests away about an hour ago. They had spent quite some time laughing over each other's private suspicions. When Beverly had recounted her attempt to slay Jack with her innocent looking bedside lamp, the other two girls had howled with laughter. Jack had smiled slightly, just slightly, but Beverly supposed this was to be expected. If he had done the same to her, she would have launched a counter-attack, and Jack would have been lucky to still be breathing. All things considered, he had taken it well.

Jack was on her mind now, though. He had seemed sullen throughout the evening, his smile wry and his eyes sad. Beverly had asked him about when they were saying their good-byes, but he had waved away the question. "It's nothing. Just nervous about handing in my selections." She had let that explanation slide, but she had seen right through his inadequate attempt at deception.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She had asked him, her eyes brimming with concern.

"No. I want to go to sleep. I'm fine," he said in a tone that told her not to push the issue. She had hugged him tightly and kissed him again, her lips touching his for the first time. Their eyes had met, and she had pulled away, her hand lingering on his cheek.

"Sleep well, then," she said. He left, and she had gone to bed, closing her eyes and waiting for dreams to overtake her. So far, none had.

Suddenly the door whooshed open, breaking her train of thought. Beverly smirked to herself, thinking of Walker's dirty little trick. The joke's on you now, Mina.

"Did you have a nice time?" Beverly asked the question in her sweetest, most caring voice.

Mina grinned to herself. So, she didn't know. She had expected Beverly's two pathetic friends to run back and tell her what they had seen transpiring between her and Keel. "Yes," she said. "Walker is such a gentlemen." She said it as though her intentions were nothing but the innocent recounting of her date, when, in fact, she had purposefully let the name slip. She wanted to enrage Beverly. It would be the perfect ending to the red head were she to forget her curfew and stormed down the hall to Keel's quarters. Mina's thoughts rang deliciously in her mind.

"Yes, yes he is," Beverly agreed. "Goodnight, Mina."

Mina was stunned. So she did know, and she didn't even care. She had agreed to go on a date with that pathetic wuss Walker, and Beverly didn't even care? If anything, she sounded happy for her.

Mina spat her toothpaste into the sink and snapped off the overhead light. She was too tired to come up with an explanation for Howard's behavior right now.

Tomorrow she would come up with a new plan.

* * *

When walker Keel returned to his quarters he was surprised to find Jack Crusher sitting at his desk, still awake.

Crusher leered at him as he walked in. "So," he said.

"So," repeated Walker, afraid to turn his back on his roommate.

"Did you have a nice time?" Jack's glare was menacing.

"I guess." Walker was uncomfortable. A thought crossed his mind unbidden. He knows. But there was no way to be sure, and certainly no way he could ask. He decided to proceed with caution, and let Jack steer the conversation. He walked over to the sink and splashed cold water on his face before stripping out of his uniform and donning the shorts he wore to bed. How could he have found out? I was careful not o let anyone notice. Walker was confused.

"Interesting choice of ship assignment you've made. Did you consider what these postings entail? Things like honor, duty and a sense of loyalty?" The question, which wasn't really a question hung there. Jack scowled when Walker offered no reply.

"Jack, what is going on?"

"Nothing, Walker. I'm just seeing things clearly for the first time. It's interesting when you discover who people really are, don't you think." He leaned forward conspiritally and spoke in a low, hushed voice that sent chills down Walker's spine, for it sounded as though his friend were speaking from beyond the grave. "Tell me, Walker, what do you think? Can any of us be trusted? Does anyone really know who anyone else is?"

"Jack, if you have a problem with me, I think you owe me the courtesy of…"

"I don't owe you anything, Walker. You're the one that has a debt to pay, to Beverly. You dared to call yourself a friend."

So, he had found out. Walker proceeded carefully. "Jack, what happened tonight between Mina and I was a means to and end. There was nothing to it but me trying to find out what she had done, exactly how she had done it, and why. Don't you see? That's the problem with our whole investigation. We don't know why she would do such a thing, and without motive it's hard to convince anyone of the truth."

"Well, Beverly had no motive, and it was easy enough to falsely convict her."

Walker sighed. "Beverly did have a motive. If what Mina's scenario insinuated was true, Beverly would have been cheating on a difficult test. There are plenty of motives for cheating, so many that no one would even bother to ask her why she would do such a thing. Mina on the other hand would have to want something beyond cheating. Her idea was brilliant, but why not just answer the questions and wait to answer the last couple for a few minutes? She had to want to cause Beverly to become and outcast, or even be expelled."

Jack looked slightly less hostile now. "So, what did you find out?"

"Well, a lot of things. The reason I went on this 'date' in the first place was because I couldn't find a reason for Mina to have behaved in the way she did. Don't speak, just listen. That was why I was having trouble accepting Beverly's story at face value. We all twist things so that we look perfect when we relate them to others. I thought if I could get to Mina, she would shed some light on things for me, and she did, in a big way." Walker stopped, drinking from a glass of water on the sink.

"Okay, assuming I believe what you're saying," Jack said cautiously, "How did you get Mina to agree to date you." He still felt wounded from the way Walker had spoken of Beverly, even though what he said was true enough. The more fallible aspects of human nature didn't apply to those you were close to.

Walker grinned. "It was easier than I thought. I had this big story concocted about how Beverly was such a whining self-righteous baby, you were an immature moron who never got things done, Tafton was a loudmouthed self-serving jerk, Korbin was a pathetic bimbo, Lennie was an arrogant half-wit, and Scott was a total nerd. I was going to tell her that I wanted to break free of you guys, to set myself apart because I felt like you were dragging me down. All day, I thought of you guys in that way, so I would be believable when I told Mina my story. That's why I was so short with you earlier." Walker grinned. "I had to make myself believe that you were an immature moron coming to the defense of a whining, self-righteous baby."

Jack didn't smile.

"Ohh, tough crowd." Walker grimaced and continued. "Anyway, I saw Mina this afternoon and asked her to go out with me tonight, and she waved me away, telling me she already had plans. I begged her to listen to my story, and she did. after that she got this wicked grin on her face, and told me her plans had just been canceled. It was actually easier than I thought. After I picked her up, we made some small talk and I told her that I wanted to help her with the trial. I told her I would tell Parsons everything there was to know about Beverly. By that time, she was getting pretty cocky."

Jack said nothing, he just raised his eyebrows and waited. The descriptions Walker had provided of himself and their friends had hurt, even though Keel hadn't meant for them to. Jack wondered if it was because they all had a grain of truth to them.

"I thought that this was my opening, and I moved in for the kill. I decided to do some ego stroking. I told her that I admired the way she had played Beverly for a fool, and that I wanted to do the same thing to you. I asked her exactly how she had done it, and she explained it all to me in vivid details, including when she changed her access codes, and how. Now I know where we can tell Parsons to look for the change." Walker looked satisfied with himself.

"Did you find out why she did it?"

"Well, I guess." The smug look melted away. "She wasn't ever very clear on that. She just seems like the cruel, vindictive type. I guess Beverly wouldn't let her have the bed she wanted when she first arrived, and that set her off. If you ask me, the girl's got some serious anger management problems."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Walker sighed again. "Jack, I didn't want any of you to know, because if you did you would have followed me around and spied on me. Believe me, Mina was waiting for you to."

Jack said nothing. He wouldn't have spied. Maybe.

"Good night Jack."

"Oh, Walker," Jack said, snapping the bedside lamp off, "You're not really planning on duplicating Mina's little trick, are you?"

Walker laughed. "Jack, you're paranoid."

Just the same, Crusher slept with his PADD tucked securely beneath his pillow.