*cries* Thanks, guys. *sniffles* I feel better now. It's like Eriks said… I eat reviews. And now I'm full and happy!!

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"Hmm," she said, elbows on knees as she peered at the altered schematic. A minute passed and she said nothing more, just continued to stare.

"Well?" prompted Knives, still waiting for his praise.

"It almost works," she said simply. "I'm trying to make it work all the way."

"What doesn't work?" he asked, affronted.

"Here," she said, pointing to something on the right edge. "You have more energy going out than the component that it's hooked to is geared to handle."

"I do not."

She shrugged, and continued to stare. He looked closer at what she had pointed out. "I do," he admitted grudgingly. "Damn it."

She smiled and chuckled. "That's what I've been saying for days now. But no, I like this. I think you're on the right track here; you just got sidetracked by this bit of genius down here," she said pointing to the bottom left quadrant. "That's very nice. Elegant even."

"But worthless."

"Stop that. No, what if we move this here…" she leaned a bit forward and shifted something on the top right.

"But then this here is off," pointed out Knives, reaching over her back to shift something to the left of her.

She scooted closer to him to reach something else, shifting its place on the board as Knives fiddled with what he had seen. They finished up at nearly the same time, leaning back. Knives left arm stayed over Anne's shoulders, and she remained pressed up against his side.

Seconds passed like ages. Both waited intently for any clue, any relaxing or tensing that would indicate one way or the other where they stood.

Anne froze, loving the feel of him next to her, body memorizing the play of muscles that she could feel under his shirt. The weight of his arm on her was comforting, but wrong at the same time. He wasn't relaxed, wasn't holding her. His arm just happened to be there. She waited for him to stop resting it on her and start holding her.

Knives felt the same almost panic. The feel of her so close to him was enough to drive him mad, but she was holding herself almost stiffly next to him. Was this an imposition? Did she not want to have anything more to do with him? If only she would give him some clue, some inkling of what she wanted, so he would know what to do.

After a few more seconds he slipped his arm from her shoulder.

"I think we have it," she said simply, looking over the schematic. "I think this will work."

"Will they be able to modify the boards?" he asked, trying to move past the awkward moment.

"Absolutely. Some of the guys in the development lab are sheer geniuses when it comes to modifying old tech. Give them a soldering iron and they're set." She stood up and headed back towards the kitchen, not looking at him as she left. Knives watched her go and wondered what she was thinking, if she had dismissed the incident as completely as her demeanor indicated. If so, he wished he could do the same. He didn't want to admit it, but it was beginning to look like she had moved past wanting anything to do with him. He scowled at the kitchen, not liking how that made him feel.

Anne started to put things in the cupboards and swallowed past a lump in her throat. That had been… painful. Nothing smarted as much as encountering a past lover and having to realize that what was past would remain that way. She bit back a sigh. Figured, really. She should have known that no one was going to pine after her for any length of time. Knives, now… he just completely awoke the mommy instinct, with those sad blue eyes, that lost look that entered his eyes when he looked at Ace at play, the fact that he was so scared all the time. She just wanted to take him in her arms and soothe those fears away, along with a few other things once she had him in her grasp. She coughed and blushed, then pushed those thoughts away as a distraction she didn't need right now.

But her? Wait for her? Guys didn't really have that same need to search out pain and ease it away. Likely, given the time, he realized that she was just a big old mass of messed up psyche, and that he was better off without her.

Yup, she nodded at her reflection in the kitchen window. Probably it. Any rational being, upon looking at their life with her in it, and contrasting it with her not in it, would of course choose the latter. The solemn look on her face agreed with her.

In a way, she congratulated his good sense. The objective part of her could see things from his point of view, and agreed with him. Much better to just let her go her own way, especially if that way took her out of his life.

Then, struck by a thought, she scowled. If that was so true, why hadn't he just left? Was her being a plant so important to him that he would try to keep her alive despite her less sterling qualities, like personality? Racist male chauvinist pig. She'd rather be honestly hated than tolerated because of something she had no control over. She shook her head and kicked the bags into a corner of the room, carefully not envisioning his shins as she did so. She took the pillows and towels off the counter and into the bedroom. Chucking the pillows on the bed, she put the towels on the top of the cupboard over the toilet and turned around.

And gasped. "Make some noise when you walk behind someone," she snarled, taking out some of her frustration on the available target.

He blinked and shrugged. "Sorry," he remarked, not sounding very sorry at all, and not getting out of her way.