Summary – Shauna's settled in to her life at Manticore. She doesn't get a long with Lydecker any better and she and Christopher are friends (but for how much longer is in question).
Disclaimer – If I had money to loose I might consider claiming ownership to Dark Angel. However, I don't. Have money, or claim ownership. Dark Angel and it's associated themes and characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee and Fox.
Notes – I struggled with the first few chapters of this. I had an easier time with the next few. I really hope they are an improvement. Read and Review.

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If you live on a river you should make friends with the crocodile. - Proverb
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July 1997

Shauna had just finished her evening work out in the X4 training rooms. She found it a little ironic that although she used the same rooms as them daily, she had never actually seen any of the X4s. Manticore, or more specifically Lydecker, seemed to be trying to keep her away from any of the X-series.

That was not to say that she had not seen any of Manticore's pieces of work. While technically no one was supposed to have anything to do with the X2s or the other 'mistakes', they were not as closely guarded as actual 'successes' (X-series or otherwise), so if they had managed to find the opportunity, most Manticore employees had seen these creations. And to someone whose job it was to sneak, seeing these had been simple. Still, the after images of the creatures had stayed with her a long time. These things were not human, nor did they make any pretence of it.

The X2s bothered Shauna. Many of them had been killed when it became apparent that they were useless and the few remaining had been locked up, presumably to be experimented on as the need called for. If these were earlier experiments gone wrong – what were the ones that succeeded like? Certainly more controlled, but undoubtedly as dangerous. Probably more so. That such a danger existed and she could not assess it fully was a major point of contention between Shauna and Lydecker – who, true to their first meeting, did not get a long.

Beyond the danger the X-series soldiers presented, it was the morality – or lack thereof – of the whole thing that really bothered Shauna, even if the thought of an assassin having a crisis of conscience was almost funny. Her parents had been Christian and, before their death when she was twelve, they had raised their daughter the same. The taste of religion had given her some sense of something, because the thought of what they were doing here left a bad taste in her mouth. This was life they were playing with. She might kill people for money and orders but she did not mess with the way they lived their life. Okay, maybe she did, but somehow this seemed far more perverted. Or maybe that was just herself trying to rationalise.

Shauna shook off her thoughts. You did not start analysing what was going on around you. Analysing usually ended messily, with a lot of guilt and a badly done job. There were documented cases to illustrate exactly what a conscience did to you. A warning of sorts. A cardinal rule of the profession.

She had found that she did not mind working out in the evenings. It gave her more time in the mornings and sometimes after a day of doing nothing more than following her charges around it was nice to let of a little steam. The women currently numbered in five and she was not going to get any more for another six months, once three of them had given birth.

Another thing was that, despite her efforts to the contrary, she was becoming closer to the women in her care. Especially Theresa, who after her initial coolness had worn off had decided that she and Shauna were friends. However, as always, one of the first things Shauna had been taught interrupted: do not get attached. It was harder to kill people you liked or even simply knew. And while she had no intention of killing these women, her friendship with them meant an added distraction, because they were not important. The children they were carrying were the important ones. After the babies were born, who knew what would happen to the mothers.

But Shauna was lonely, and she would be here several more years. Few people seemed interested in knowing her. Not that she was interested in knowing them, but still… the only person who she could truly call a friend was Christopher. And sometimes she caught him looking at her oddly.

Which was why she was surprised to see him waiting for her in the corridor. "Chris! What are you doing here?" Her tone was harsher than she intended and she instantly regretted it – although Christopher never seemed to take offence. In fact usually it seemed to amuse him more than anything, which in turn annoyed her.

"Good to see you too, honey," he replied dryly, his lips quirking in a now familiar smile. "I was coming to see if you wanted dinner."

"Dinner?"

"You know – an evening meal when food is traditionally eaten?"

"Right. And you're asking me because…?" Something fluttered behind her ribs and she fought the urge to catch her breath, knowing it was a silly reaction.

"I figured since you hardly ever got out of this place, you might want a change of scene. And since you only get your evenings and a couple of days a month free you might come into Gillette with me." A date? He was asking her on a date?

"No." This could be a problem, the time was late enough, and if she did not get enough sleep, tomorrow she would be off-guard and tired. Knowing her intimate relationship with Murphy and his law, it would be tomorrow that she needed to be on alert. But some part of her, that she ruthlessly crushed, wanted to go with him.

Chris's smile faltered just a little. "No, what? No – you don't want dinner, or no – you don't want to come to dinner in Gillette? I refuse to believe that I have anything to do with your decision." She was not going to get off that easily. Shauna really hated giving excuses; why couldn't people just simply except what she said at face value?

"I don't want dinner in Gillette. I don't particularly want dinner, but since it's apparently unhealthy not to eat I just want to go back to my rooms, shower, eat and then read until I feel like going to sleep." She valued her free time and she did not like sharing it. Even with Chris, and his very attractive body.

"Okay, how about I cook dinner for you then?"

"You're not going to give up are you?" she asked. He shook his head, his smile a little wider now. Shauna sighed. "Only if you do the dishes as well."

"Deal," he agreed.

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The next day Shauna rose and showered after having slept well the previous night. Dinner with Chris had been pleasant, but then spending time with him was usually not all that unpleasant. The meal was relaxing in a way that it couldn't have been with most people. He had left around 10pm when she had kicked him out.

Her day followed as routine. Until lunch – the only meal she shared with the women – when Christopher sought her out. As she moved over to him his expression was so solemn she wondered what was wrong, but then he flashed her a smile.

"Don't look so worried, Sha' –" his own personal nickname for her – "I'm just here to tell you that Colonel Lydecker wants to see you tonight after you finish." So he had noticed her concern, that in itself was something to worry about. She needed to be able to keep a blank face at all times, because if people could read your expression, you were at a distinct disadvantage – any glimpse at what you were thinking, then they could begin to counter whatever attack you had planned.

"Why? Did I leave a hair in the training rooms last night and one of his precious experiments tripped on it and break something?" She and Lydecker tried to avoid one another at all possible times. He because she did her best to be the pain in the proverbial butt, which she supposed to be fair enough. She because…well, because maybe – if she were very honest with herself – she wanted to avoid thinking about what she was doing. However, while she tried to be as honest with herself as she possibly could, this could be the one piece of honesty she didn't want to consider. It put too much at stake for the future. The value of being honest only in certain circumstances had always been highlighted.

"Well, I see you're sunny and bright at all times of the day." Chris rolled his eyes. "I don't know why. I'm fairly sure it's not to inform you of your 'employee of the month status'." Christopher was well aware of the tension between Lydecker and Shauna. "But he didn't appear to upset when he told me to pass on the message." Shauna was well aware that this meant little. Lydecker could call up whatever expression he liked for as long as he liked.

When she returned to the women, they looked at her expectantly. Although they knew better than to pry into the secrets of Manticore, they'd decided that the relationship between Shauna and Christopher was more than friendship, and certainly worth a little gossip.

When Shauna did not respond to their pointed looks, Theresa decided to prompt her, "Well?"

"Well, what?" Shauna replied mildly. Once again in full control of her own expressions, she let nothing show.

"What did Christopher want?"

She shrugged, disinterestedly. "Colonel Lydecker wants to see me."

This cut of any further questioning. Despite whatever tentative friendship that existed, none of them were willing to ask about the inner workings of the project. For them, they were here to do a job, and when they were done they would get paid. Thinking beyond that led to questions that would be difficult to answer. You simply went with the flow, and hoped – even prayed – for the best.

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