((And you all thought I abandoned this... really now! What gave you that idea?))

Disclaimer: Zorg Not mine... Brooke is mine...

The desk that he sat at felt cold and unforgiving. The air conditioning didn't help the situation either and Zorg let his head rest against the chair that he sat in. Closing his eyes, he thought, long and hard about the last few years of his life. Was he doing the right thing, a business of weapons and illegal doings? Of course... that's what brought the money in, even if it WAS illegal. He sighed heavily, looking back down at his desk, seeing the pile of paperwork made him insane, even though most people thought he already was.

"What's wrong?" A small, voice full of authority was heard from across the room. The voice belonged to a female, not very tall and a strong Irish twinge to it that sounded like ringing bells to his ears. The female turned in her chair from the console in front of her, legs crossed, her skirt neatly lain across her knees and pressed.

"Nothin' darlin', just some paperwork." He usual southern accent always sounded odd next to her Irish one. The girl blinked at him and shook her head.

"Not paperwork." She replied back, still blinking in his direction as she awaited an answer. To the normal eye, she looked completely human, nothing out of the ordinary. Yet inside her body was a completely different story and Zorg knew it. He just hoped he didn't have to go through it, that and her temper when she found out about the secrets he kept from her, about her. Ever since she had been reunited with her brother on a low level, her uncle deceiving him and turning... supposedly dead, although not everyone agreed on that.

Zorg hated himself at times, keeping the lies about Brook from her, along with his past life he felt he could have shared with her, but didn't. Brooke deserved better than that, she always did. He turned his body towards hers, letting a slight smile come across his face. "Ah, just some deals went south darlin' ah told ya those Mangalores weren't easy t' deal with..." He studied her more as she listened, already now turned back to her own work. His eyes scanned her body, muscular and sleek, they had enjoyed many sword matches together in the training rooms, many in awe of both their abilities, especially since Zorg had a gimped out leg. "Wanna go to lunch? Mah treat..." He tried to catch her attention, knowing she was dwelling on the subject of his stress level.

"No." The young woman replied back. "Already ate when ye' were out..." She did this time turn her body towards his. "Where were ya anyways?" She asked, although prying, it was an innocent enough question. Zorg had been disappearing at times lately, sometimes not coming back for hours and in a much different mood than before. She only hoped that his interest in her hadn't faded. Any woman in the city would kill to be his right hand, with all the money and wealth involved.

"What's with all the questions? I go out... what I do is none of your concern." He talked to her as if she were one of his minions, yet he did cherish her on a higher level and hadn't realized how stern his voice was towards her question.

"I worry about ye... that's why! Forget it..." She turned back to the console, searching through some of the security files of the building. Feeling somewhat guilty about the issue, he tried to speak again, yet the blaring alarms in the office ruined it. They were frequent, ever since the search for Mr. Shadow's 'special stones' there had seemed to be more and more trouble...

"I..." He began his sentence, yet didn't get the chance to finish, she was already suiting up. "Don't do this..." Was all he managed. "Please Brooke, ah can't do this again..."

Brooke turned towards him, puzzled. "I... always do this... you do too... we suit up and kill intruders. What is your issue lately? I think you're taking the wrong happy pills..." She started to clip the leather on her arm, but Zorg stood up.

"Because..." He gripped her arm, yet not firmly. "I can't go through it again..."

"Go through what!" She tried to yell over the alarms, yet they grew louder and she picked a ZF-1 from a nearby weapons storage closet. "You're too nuts right now to fight. I'll send security up." She looked at him one last time and headed into the hall, down towards the security consoles.

((Sorry this chapter is such a drag... I really had no ideas to get the story moving...))