Far away, deep in the underground base of the Radam, Darkon hissed in frustration. He had been close that time, very close.

The next time Slade woke up, he actually felt rested. Coming out from behind the hay-bales, and looking out over the edge of the hayloft, Slade saw Cassie approaching. It looked like she was carrying a bag. Slade smiled fondly, remembering that Cassie would bring him breakfast.

Good morning, Cassie.

Cassie could literally hear the fond smile in Slade's silent voice. The first time Slade had used his telepathy to speak to her, Cassie had been a bit surprised. When she had asked him if he was in morph somewhere, Slade had said that he hadn't tried out his morph yet. Since she'd had a lot of prior experience with thought-speak, Cassie wasn't as surprised by Slade's telepathic powers as another person would have been.

Knowing that Slade was probably looking down at her from his perch in the hayloft, Cassie smiled up at him and waved. Climbing the ladder up into the loft, Cassie looked around. There were two stacks, both made up of two hay-bales each, positioned to hide something without being too obvious about it. Slade himself was just rising from a crouch, turning and walking away from the edge of the hayloft.

"Hey, Cassie," Slade said, smiling warmly. His eyes flicked to the strap of the bag slung over her right shoulder. "So, what's for breakfast this morning?"

Cassie swung the bag off her shoulder, dropping it down onto the inside of her elbow before handing it over to Slade. "Cinnamon sugar oatmeal."

Slade took the bag without comment. "Same thing as yesterday, then. Cool."

"I'll see you later, Slade," Cassie smiled at him again as she turned away.

Have a nice day, Cassie, Slade said, just as he lost sight of her over the edge of the hayloft. Ducking back behind his little fortress of hay-bales, Slade took out the smallish Tupperware container and the spoon that Cassie had always provided for him.

Halfway down the ladder, Cassie remembered that Slade didn't have anything that could even be considered a combat morph. Okay, so I'll have to take him to The Gardens today, but I can do that just as easily after breakfast as before, Cassie thought as she climbed down.