T'Son blinked his eyes open to see a stark grey ceiling staring down at him. He blinked and instantly wished he hadn't as pain shot through his forehead. "Ow," he moaned. Suddenly more pain was driven through his temple like a knife and bright colors flashed before his eyes as someone smacked his head and shouted, "You idiot!" "Ow!" T'Son moaned, and listened as Mara started her long and well-rehearsed speech: "You idiot! You friggin', absolutely stupid idiot! You are the dumbest, most absurd imbecile I have ever, and will ever, most likely, know!" "That's because I'm a politician," T'Son said. "A very sick politician. Do you have anything that will stop the pain? Doctor?"

"Do I like as though I have any medical supplies?" Mara shouted at him, and he winced, ears ringing and the room spinning around. "I am wearing a friggin' bathrobe and fuzzy slippers for Hera's sake! Although I must admit, the fuzzy slippers are nice, fluffy and warm, but that's really beside the point right now!"

"What is your point?" T'Son groaned. Silence. T'Son opened a slit of an eye to see Mara looking thoughtfully at the wall. "Hmm. I think the point was being able to yell at you and you not being able to do anything about it."

"How are you able to yell and not kill yourself while doing it?" T'Son asked. "You still look sick." "My throat is fine," Mara explained. "I developed an immunity to sore throats while at Veritas-there were so many going around that eventually I had them all." "Veritas…?" "My old high school." "Oh."

They were both silent for a moment and then T'Son realized something. "Why are you standing up?" "Because you're lying on the only cot available." "Oh. Did she do that on purpose?" "That would be the most logical assumption, yes, I suppose she did so." "That's my line." "So what?"

They were silent again, and T'Son ventured, "Are you sure you don't have anything that will help?" "Nope," Mara said, sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the cold, slightly damp floor. "Not even a Cookie Monster Band-Aid. Sorry, I know how much you love those." T'Son wanted to glare, but it hurt too much. "I have a lollipop, though." T'Son opened his eyes again as Mara looked in her bathrobe pockets and pulled out a slightly smushed orange lollipop and handed it to him, pulling out a grape for herself as well.

"You have these things everywhere," T'Son said, unwrapping it. "Don't think I didn't see the stash of candy inside your desk back at Starfleet. That's where I got my Snickers bars." "I knew you had taken them!" Mara exclaimed. "Thief!"

They were silent again, sucking on their lollipops and thinking their own dismal thoughts; T'Son's laced with the opposite of reason, being fever-ridden, Mara's the opposite of reason, being herself.

"Look at that," T'Son said softly. "What?" Mara asked. "We knew each other." Mara paused and looked over at him. "What are you talking about?" "We knew each other before this," T'Son said. "You're delirious," Mara said.

"No," T'Son said. "I think…I think we met before we did. We…we went into a house together. Do you remember?" Mara got up and put her hand against T'Son's head, trying to see how much fever he had and finding it hard to tell as her own hand was hot as well. "Shut up, T'Son," she said. "Go to sleep."

Mara didn't hear much from him as he dropped off to sleep, muttering something about someone named Hank and a girl named Natalia. Exhausted herself, Mara nodded off against the wall, shivering with cold and a strange sort of fear.

"Are they locked safely in the brig?" Toreth asked Vokar as they walked down the hallway of the RIW Kaleh. "Of course," Vokar smiled. "By the way, are we on for dinner tonight?"

"Wouldn't miss it!" Toreth grinned. "Of course I'll be there. I just have to check on our prisoners first." "See you there," Vokar kissed her and headed for the bridge while Toreth walked down to the brig.

"NO!" Mara was startled awake when T'Son screamed. She scrambled up, clutching her head and wishing the room would stop spinning so fast. "T'Son, what's wrong?" she shouted, shaking him awake. T'Son looked at her, eyes wide. "We did meet before," he breathed. "I know." "T'Son, we have never met before you came to New York," Mara persisted, trying to cover him up with the blanket and keep him warm, but failing because it was so thin.

"Mara, we met before!" T'Son said, surprising her by pulling himself up and grabbing a hold of her shoulders. "T'Son, whatever it was, it was a dream," Mara said sternly. "No!" T'Son said. "It's not! Don't you remember? Natalia, and Hank, and the phone calls…and the house, you were so scared of that house, and-" "It was a dream!" Mara shouted, shoving him down. "Don't you remember Carolyn?" T'Son yelled at her. Mara froze, having no idea why that name struck such dread in her. "You were so concerned about her, remember?" T'Son said. "You thought she had been hurt."

Mara just stared at him. A memory stirred, but she shook it off. "You're delirious," she said flatly. "Go back to sleep. I don't remember anything you're talking about." "Yes, you do-Rachel." Mara turned around from where she had been bending over to get water from the bucket they had so graciously been given and stared at him. "How did you know my given name?" she whispered. "I told you!" T'Son said impatiently, starting to cough. "We've met before!"

Mara's gut wrenched and a shiver chilled her spine. "But we couldn't have," she said slowly. "I don't remember you." "I remember you," T'Son said. "Your hair was a lighter brown than it is now, and it was always tangled. Your eyes were a bright blue, and you wore dog-tags and a pink shirt all the time. One of your favorite words was 'rocking', as an exclamation. You were in love with Hawkeye Pierce from MASH, and you swore you would never date or get married, and you were born in Ames, Iowa."

Mara turned a stark white, and all the blood pooled down in her feet. "I never told anyone that," she whispered. "No one. No one knew I swore I wouldn't date. No one." "But me and Valerie!" T'Son said. "We knew, because we have met before!"

Mara stumbled and fell to the floor, backing towards the door, her eyes wide and frightened as she stared at her friend. "Think, Mara," T'Son urged, coughing violently.

"If indeed we did meet, and we somehow forgot, how could you remember and I forget?" Mara asked. "I just now remembered," T'Son said as earnestly as he could. "I remembered-I looked over at the wall and it wasn't there…I saw an old house and Valerie, you, and me were going into it. And…I remembered." "That's…that's impossible," Mara said. "I never lived near an old house." But as she said the words, an involuntary streak of fear shot through her and she shivered.

"No, you remember," T'Son said, laying his head back down again, his momentary strength gone and the fever taking over again. "Your mind just won't let you." "I'm the one who studied psychology, not you!" Mara snapped. T'Son looked at her, eyes intent. "Try to remember," he said. "I think it's important." And he fell asleep, leaving Mara wondering about whether or not he was right.

"Hello, Mara." Mara awoke with a jerk, lifting her head from her hand and squinting through her bangs at the door, where Toreth's voice had issued from. "Hey, Val," she said half-heartedly to the Romulan. "How did you get to be Romulan?" "As long as you have the right humility, guile, and cunning, anything can go your way," Toreth said briskly. "How is T'Son?" "Concerned?" Mara said with a half-mocking smile. "Yes," Toreth said. "It won't do for my prisoner to die halfway to Romulus, would it?" "Oh, well of course not!" Mara said, acting offended. "Wouldn't want that to happen. He could use warmer blankets, though. I think he's delirious and getting worse."

"I'll send some down immediately," Toreth said, and paused as she turned to leave. "Are you sleeping on the floor?" Mara gave her a look that could kill. "You expect me to sleep next to him?" "Preserves body heat," Toreth said realistically. "I'd rather die," Mara said. "I'm sure he feels the same way. Plus, he snores." Toreth laughed and started to leave again, but was stopped by Mara saying, "Have we met before?"

"What do you mean?" Toreth asked, turning around again. "I mean…" Mara fought to find the right words. "Before we met each other at the coffee shop, did we meet before? Because T'Son said all three of us have."

"I don't see how that's possible," Toreth said. "I had never seen you before that moment." "I know, it sounds crazy," Mara laughed. "But…I don't know, T'Son knew things about me that I had never told anyone: the love of my life, where I was born, my favorite shirt and necklace, almost everything! The only thing he didn't was why I wouldn't marry, and I…" her voice trailed off as her hand fluttered at her shoulder. "He said…we had gone into an old house, and something about a girl named Natalia and a man named Hank, and Carolyn…" She shuddered, and suddenly an image of a young girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a broad smile and a pink sundress appeared in her mind's eye-and everything came flooding back.

"Oh…" Mara gasped, hyperventilating. Toreth frowned, and reached through the bars. "Mara, don't die on me. You're my prisoner." "He was right!" Mara gasped, grabbing Toreth's shoulders and pulling her towards her. "T'Son was right about everything, Val! We did know each other, and we went into that old house, and oh my God, Val!"

Toreth wrenched herself away from the bars as Mara started to get hysterical. "He was right! The…the house, it wasn't lived in by a man named Hank…it was a demon who we named Hank! And Natalia was part of our group, and Carolyn was a little girl, and she was-" "MARA!" Slap! Mara stumbled back, holding her cheek where Toreth had slapped her. "I'm sending a medic with an anti-psychotic," Toreth said shortly, and started to leave. "Toreth! Try and remember!" Mara pleaded with her. "You have to remember! We called each other every day and talked for four hours! Please, try and remember!"

But Toreth turned a deaf ear as she walked away, but as she thought about whoever Mara had named, Hank, apparently, a chill ran down her spine.