A/N: I'm starting to get slightly annoyed at myself for taking so long between postings. I know that there are many of you who are patiently waiting for each new chapter and for that, I am grateful of your patience. I have some good news for you all, though. Even though I am taking a wintermester course in school, I will have a week and a half of free time, starting this Thursday and going all the way past New Year's Day. I don't have any assignments due, since we are on break during that time. My plans during that time are to focus on studying my precalculus, working my part-time job, and getting some goddamn writing done! I hope to have one or two chapters finished up during this time. Plus, I will have another week between the end of my wintermester class and the beginning of the spring semester to also work on whatever I choose! That means that I should be putting up a few chapters between now and January 18th.

As far as the school thing is going, I had a very successful semester in the fall, earning A's in all five of my classes. This spring semester will prove to be a bigger challenge for me, since I am planning on tackling 19 credit-hours during this time. If you include my wintermester class (which counts as a spring course for transcript purposes), I will have completed 22 credit-hours for just this semester alone. Also, I did so well in my trigonometry class, that they are skipping me into calculus I, under the stipulation that I take the time to study the precalculus course in extreme detail. If any of you are wondering, and I hope you are for the sake of being able to gloat about it, I actually got a 100 number grade in trig for the semester. I'm a math PIMP! :D I will be taking History 2, Government 2, Calculus 1, Physics 1, and Chemistry 1 this spring. I'm looking forward to it!

Okay, enough of my asinine bragging. I just wanted to get that off my chest and to bring you all the good news that is my upcoming slew of free time that will be wisely used for writing. There are still a handful of "character interaction and development" chapters left before the next climax in the story. However, there will be the occasional foreshadowing of the conflict to come here and there. Hope you enjoy it! I should be posting another chapter within a week and a half, so don't wander off too far. Happy holidays to everyone! -(12/22/10)


"…It looks like we are going to be getting our first taste of the Aimo winter season tomorrow," the news meteorologist said, "I'll have more details for you a bit later in the program."

The camera transitioned back to the news anchors behind their newsdesk. "Thanks, Jerry," one of them answered, "First, our top news story. President Mulcahy spoke today at a press meeting and formally confirmed the rumors that the deployed NUNS fleet had come under heavy attack and sustained massive casualties."

A pre-recorded video of the press meeting now played on the screen, with President Mulcahy speaking from behind his Presidential podium. Several advisors and NUNS officers stood behind him with their hands behind their backs. His face displayed a feeling of remorse and pain as he empathized with those citizens who had been stricken with the news of their loved ones' deaths. "Yes, it istrue. Our fleet was attacked by a massive coalition fleet of Galaxy and Vajra forces." He stopped for a moment to let the press attendees murmur amongst themselves. "I want to start out by honoring the countless brave souls who gave their lives in the name of protecting this colony from enemy aggression. Their sacrifice will be remembered by all of us and we owe them and their families an enormous debt of gratitude." Everyone fell silent to pay respects to the deceased soldiers. After another moment, President Mulcahy pointed over to one of the journalists who had raised their hands. "I'll take a few questions from the press."

The journalist stood up and asked his question, "Mr. President, our sources say that the battle occurred well over a week ago and only now are we getting to hear about it. Can you explain to us the enormous delay in making an official statement?" A lot of the other journalists grunted in agreement to the question.

President Mulcahy had seen this question coming. He cleared his throat and fixed his suit before responding, "Unfortunately, all I can say is that it took time to compile a list of the KIAs, formulate a response plan, and then censor the results of our findings to tell our citizens exactly what they need to know." Again, he pointed out another member of the press who also had their hand up.

"Mr. President, this 'response plan', can you tell us more about it? The people want to know what it is that our soldiers are dying for."

Mulcahy turned to one of the military personnel behind him. The officer simply shook his head. After turning back around, he responded, "Unfortunately, that information is classified. We ask that the people remain patient with us while we work to resolve the situation. I can assure you that you will be immediately notified of any new information that doesn't compromise the military's strategy and put our soldiers at further risk." He pointed to another reporter.

"Mr. President, rumors are swirling around that you chose to deal with our resource shortages by deploying a large force of Zentraedi soldiers to reinforce the fleet. Can you clarify your position behind dealing with the Zentraedi problem?"

The President was actually slightly shocked by this question. "What Zentraedi problem? If you mean that allowing the Zentraedi fleet to join our colony has put a strain on our available resources, I have no idea why you see that as a 'problem'. Every member of that Zentraedi fleet has been made aware of what it is that they need to do to become productive members of this colony. Each one of those Zentrans is ready to do what it takes to pull their own weight and help build our colony. While many of those Zentrans have assimilated into our colony as civilians, most of them chose to continue to serve as soldiers. Would you consider the Zentrans who lived with us on the Frontier colony ships to be a source of the 'problem' as well?" Mulcahy hunched forward with both of his hands on the sides of the podium to prop himself up. It was a menacing pose as he waited for an answer from anyone who dared to respond. Nobody spoke up and he followed up his response with a bit of a taunt, "Yeah, I didn't think so..."

The newscast then switched back to the anchors for a bit of perspective. "While President Mulcahy seems to be confident in his stance, his constituents continue to dog him at the polls. Mulcahy has taken a bit of a beating in his approval ratings over the past several days as news of the fleet's near-destruction began to trickle in to the colony. A recent poll taken shows rising support for the implementation of a mandatory micloning statute, in order to deal with the dwindling resources that our colony has been experiencing."

The other news anchor then took over the dialogue. "We took to the streets with our reporters to find out what the mood of the people is. Here's what we found..."

Another video played a montage of interviews conducted on the streets. "I'm Zentraedi," the first respondent on the video said as he pointed at his ears, "...and I have no issues with living as a miclone. I've lived as a miclone all of my life and I don't see what the big deal is. Those other Zentrans don't understand that they consume a far larger share of the resources available to this colony. I don't think it's fair that we have to make concessions just so they can live their lives however the hell they want."

"President Mulcahy obviously doesn't care about his own people," another respondent said, "I think he's hiding the truth of things so he can pander to the sudden explosion in Zentraedi population. He's obviously positioning himself to grab their share of the voting so he can be re-elected to his office when his first term is up. It just sickens me what politicians will do to save their own hides..."

Cal laid on the couch in Will's apartment while he watched the newscast playing on the television set. His face had been slowly transitioning from apathetic to annoyed before he finally sat up on the couch. "What about the goddamn soldiers? I thought we were talking about the NUNS and the lost lives, but now we're talking about some idiot's disdain for the Zentraedi?" he exclaimed. Unfortunately, nobody else was in the room and Cal was simply yelling at the television set. The newscast continued to play while he spoke his mind to deaf ears on the other side of the signal.

"We'll be back with weather after this commercial break!" one of the anchors stated with a forced smile. The program cut out and an advertisement began to play.

Cal calmed back down and sighed as he reached forward to grab his PDA, which laid upon the coffee table in front of him. Checking for any messages and finding none, he sighed again in disappointment. He put the PDA back down and began to stare at it, hoping that it would automatically come to life with any kind of incoming message.

After a moment, he heard Nene's voice coming from directly behind him. "What's the matter? Why are you looking at your phone like that?" she asked.

Cal was startled by her sudden words. He lurched backwards and turned towards her with an incredulous look on his face. "Nene! How long were you there?"

"Long enough. So, what's with you? You look like you're expecting someone to call you or something..."

Cal turned back towards the TV and quietly responded, "N- nothing... I'm just bored, that's all."

Nene smiled and walked around to the other side of the couch to sit down next to Cal. "You should know by now that you can't get any of that by me anymore. Come on... What is it?" Nene waited for Cal to respond, but he wouldn't even flinch in response. "You're thinking about her, aren't you?"

Cal dropped his head, knowing that he had been found out. "It's been almost a week since I last spoke to her. It seems like an eternity, though. No phone call, no message, no text... Why do I get the feeling like she's avoiding me?" he asked with desperation in his voice.

Nene clicked her tongue and began to rub his back. "Ohh, I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you, but I honestly don't know what's going on with her, either. She hasn't been home much lately. Even I've only seen her a couple of times this last week, and we share a place together. I wouldn't take it personally, Cal. I think she's just been really busy with her new post, that's all."

The news did help Cal feel a bit better, but he still couldn't help but worry about things. "I don't want to make it look like I'm expecting anything, but you know how it is... I just wanna know what she thinks about 'us'. I just want to know how she feels, that's all."

"Well, if you want, I can ask her to call you next time I see her."

"No! Please, don't tell her about this. She did make it clear to me that she's not going to have a lot of free time for awhile, and I don't want to impose. It's just that it's really hard to sit here and not get any kind of attempt to contact me. It can't be that hard to send a text message every once in awhile, can it?" Cal rhetorically asked.

"I thought you said you weren't going to get your hopes up. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"It's not that I had a change of heart... it's just that it's far more difficult to deal with than I had imagined. I still have the same doubts, but it's like I get my hopes up and then something happens to dash them to pieces. That's the story of my life..." Cal sulkingly said. He rested his chin on his hands, which were propped up on his knees.

"The story of your life?"

Cal sat back up and made himself a bit more comfortable on the couch. "Every time things start to go well for me, something comes along and takes it all away. You only know of my fiancee, but that wasn't the first time I had lost something close to me." Nene slightly opened her eyes upon realizing that Cal was really about to open up a part of his past to her. "You never hear me talk about my parents, and there's a good reason why. That's because they were taken away from me..." Cal paused for a moment before continuing, "They died when I was still very young. They told me that it was some kind of accident. I was at school and got called into the office so they could tell me what had happened. I honestly don't remember a lot from that time of my childhood, even much of my parents or the details of their deaths. They didn't even have the bodies for the funeral, so the morning that they died was the last time I got to see them alive or dead. I then became the property of the Frontier government and I got bounced around from orphanage to foster home and back several times, never really able to grow my roots anywhere."

"What about other family members? Didn't you have anyone who could take care of you?" Nene asked.

"Nope. As I know it, my parents left their families to join the Frontier fleet before it left Earth. I was just a toddler then, so I don't remember anything of the Earth," Cal replied.

"Oh..."

"Then I met Marie at one of my schools when I was about twelve. Even though I didn't have a permanent home, her parents sympathized with my plight and grew quite attached to me. They became the closest thing I had to real parents and after several years, they took me into their own home. By then, Marie and I had almost graduated from high school and we were ready to begin living our lives together."

He had already pulled his engagement rings out of his pocket and held them in his hand. Cal looked downward at them in his hand and laughed. "It's actually amazing how quickly things can change. You already know what happened to Marie, and you'd think that that was all I had to go through... Well, even after her death, her parents and I helped each other get through that rough time. Unfortunately, that time of healing didn't last too long... The Vajra had come."

Already, Nene knew what he was about to say, but she couldn't help her reaction. "No...!" she whined.

"Yep, her parents were killed during a Vajra attack on Island-1. With nothing left to lose, I threw myself at the mercy of the service. I hoped to at least make myself useful by becoming a combat pilot. I said goodbye to my former co-workers and took up arms; not even fearing for my own survival... the perfect soldier. In combat, I found solace in the fact that I knew I was protecting people whom I had never met before. That was all I needed to keep on fighting... Then even that was taken away from me. I was crippled by the injuries I sustained during the final descent operation, taking away my ability to fly and fight." He paused for a moment before finishing, "...but at least the fighting was over then; I wasn't so sorely needed anymore. The next couple of months in the hospital were spent wondering what was going to happen to me. What was I going to do with my life? If I wasn't able to recover, I wouldn't be able to fly anymore. I couldn't let that happen... Perhaps that's why I made a full recovery to the shock and surprise of my doctors."

"Damn! I can't imagine how you managed to keep on getting back up after being knocked down so many times. Was there something that you were trying to prove?" Nene asked.

Cal looked at the floor to answer. "I don't know... The best way I can describe it is that I refused to let the universe push me around and get away with it. Even Marie's dying words to me supported my defiance. She knew me better than anyone else and I think in a way, she was telling me to never give up, no matter what. She knew that I had the desire to defy the will of the universe and that I should just keep on fighting." He looked back at Nene to gauge her reaction.

"That makes a lot of sense," she said with a slight laugh, "Now I know where you get your hard-headedness from. You've gone through so much, and yet you're still fighting to prove that you will control your own destiny." Nene looked away with a smile. "I can tell that's why she likes you..." she softly stated.

Cal quickly whipped his head to Nene's direction. "Wait! What was that?" he demanded.

Nene casually turned her gaze back to Cal and wore a sly grin. "She's never actually said anything about it, but I can tell... The very fact that she tolerates you should be worth a thousand words. That's all I'm going to say..."

Cal got a little upset at Nene in response to her words. "You're a tease, you know that?" he yelled. Somehow though, he felt a little bit better.

Nene laughed a bit at his reply, but she was also laughing about what was going through her head. "I'm thinking about the image of you standing up to my mother the other day. It didn't matter that she was several times larger; you refused to yield. From my point of view, that's you standing up to the universe and defying it. You don't know how stubborn my mother can be."

Cal buried his head in his lap, "Oh god... don't remind me. I really don't want to have to deal with her too..."

"Well, I actually talked to her yesterday and she asked about how Will was doing," Nene said with a slight pause between sentences. "She actually asked about you too..." Cal sat up and looked incredulously at Nene. "I think she sees in you exactly what Klan does."

"That woman is intolerable!"

"Yes, but I bet you felt the same way about Klan when you first met her, didn't you?" Nene retorted. Cal didn't respond; he only smiled in embarrassment. Nene picked up his tell and continued, "Then don't worry about it."

Cal stopped smiling and looked back at the floor. "That's just the thing, though. Things were starting to take off for me again and then I started to fear that 'it' was happening again. Sure enough, at the moment of truth, she was taken away from me. Thank God it didn't involve her death, but it came damn close!"

She wanted to argue, but Nene couldn't help but agree. "That's why you were so hesitant to throw yourself at the mercy of your emotions, huh?"

Cal nodded. "If it's one thing that life has taught me, it's to be careful to whom I attach myself. I wish I didn't have such apprehension about things like that, but it's just a defense mechanism to keep myself from being hurt again." He shifted in his seat before continuing, "Now we're back on Aimo and after a quick initial meeting, she's basically gone again. That'll teach me to get my hopes up, huh?"

Nene was dumbfounded; she didn't know how to respond. She wanted to give Cal a response that was laced with rainbows, sunshine, and "things can only get better" rhetoric, but she knew that he was too smart to believe any of that.

Cal continued the subject before Nene could say anything. "I've never had much in life. Everything keeps getting taken away from me," he said as he pointed to his duffel bag in the corner, "Everything I own fits neatly into that bag. I've been used to living on my own with nothing to lose... maybe that's why I used to not care whose toes I stepped on."

"Used to not care?"

"That's right. I used to not care, but all that changed when I met you guys. All three of you... but especially Klan. You two have been there to keep my ass out of trouble, but her... I guess I just had to appreciate that she always went out of her way to keep me from getting out of control. It takes a special kind of person to put up with me like that. Every foster family that I lived with couldn't deal with me for very long. That's why I couldn't stay in one place. However, the only other person who cared enough about me to put up with my crap was Marie. When we were together, she cared enough to make sure I stayed on the right track in life. Without her, I wouldn't be where I am today."

Nene stared blankly towards the television still playing inaudibly across the room. "It all makes sense, then..." she said under her own voice.

Cal didn't quite hear what she had said and he was still too busy continuing his monologue, "Regardless of what happens, at least I know that I can depend on you guys to be there for me when I need a little bit of a 'course correction'." He sighed and looked at Nene before grabbing her shoulder. "I intend to break the cycle... I won't lose you guys too." There was only sincerity on Cal's face as he said that to Nene.

She couldn't help but well up a bit before lunging towards Cal to hug him. "Aww! We're not going anywhere, okay?"

Although the nearby ocean usually helped to regulate the temperatures in the city, the incoming cold-front defiantly blew in from the direction of the bay and swept over the boardwalk on the shore. It didn't do much to stop patrons from taking care of their usual business, though. Alto patiently waited at the edge of the boardwalk, leaning against the railing while he watched the lazy, walrus-like creatures sunning their bellies on the docks nearby. He was reasonably-dressed for the weather, wearing a light coat and sweater.

Eventually amongst the dull roar of the patrons walking to and fro, Alto could hear his name being called out. "Alto!" He looked in the direction from the voice and saw a figure waving to him from down the boardwalk.

Sheryl approached him with quite a bounce in her step and she laughed at his reaction to her outfit. "What do you think?" she asked, quickly spinning around to show off her outfit. Already, Alto was put in a bit of a bind to say the right words in response, or he feared he would be in for a scolding. Sheryl wore a pink turtleneck sweater and actually wore mittens, even though it wasn't terribly cold yet. Her hair was divided to each side and braided all the way down, topped by a French beret. Her braids were tied off at the ends by an elastic band with two fake cherries. She stared upwards at him from behind her sunglasses, but wore an innocent smile.

"Umm... It's different," he stammered, "Looks nice." It took a lot for him to say that, for some reason.

"'Different', how?"

In his mind, Alto was thinking something along the lines of "Damn! Why can't she just be happy with that answer?" Unfortunately, this wasn't going to get him out of having to expand on his answer. He shrugged as he answered, "It's just different than I'm used to seeing you. I guess you could say it's more of a 'cute' look for you. You're usually wearing, um... more elaborate outfits." He mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that it was enough to get by.

Sheryl briefly pursed her lips, following his answer. However, she quickly smiled again and hopped slightly as she spoke. "Good! That's exactly the look I was going for. I'm glad you like it!"

As she gave him a hug, you could tell that Alto was thinking "Whew! Thank god!"

Their little get-together quickly led them to a small seafood restaurant on the wharf, where they took a seat at the front of the restaurant. The view of the ocean was clear from their vantage point and Sheryl made it a point to verbally display her approval. "Wow!" she exclaimed as she leaned against the glass with her hands. She looked down below to where there were quite a few people fishing from the pier.

Alto simply chuckled and used his fork to dunk a piece of fish into the sauce on his plate. "I've been meaning to visit this little restaurant since before we went on deployment duty. One of my old friends from school recommended it to me." His attempt at small talk quickly ended, since Sheryl was busy looking at all of the scenery outside of the window.

She eventually sat down and made herself more comfortable to eat the delicious seafood sitting on the plate in front of her. Before she even picked up her utensils, she carefully placed her mittens on the table and removed her French beret. Under the cap, she wore a couple of flowery barrettes to keep her hair straightened. Again, Alto was a little surprised at her outfit motif, but he tried hard not to stare.

He was quick to break the silence, since Sheryl was no longer distracted by the goings-on outside of the window. "So, how's work been treating you?" he casually asked.

She answered while she unfurled her napkin to place it on her lap, "It's going just fine. I think we'll be able to successfully organize something big soon, too." Sheryl stopped talking for a moment because she realized that she was starting to hint at something that nobody else was supposed to know about; even Alto. She smiled again as she continued, "Hmm... No hints, though. I can't give away any of the surprises."

Alto didn't seem to mind her secrecy. After all, she's usually vague with whatever it is she's talking about with him. For some reason, she always seems to want him to chase her and he's grown accustomed to not falling into her traps. "Oh, okay. That's good, then! I'm looking forward to it," he cautiously replied with a smile.

The urge to interrogate Alto for his apprehensiveness was almost irresistible to Sheryl. However, she quickly shook the feeling from her mind, promising to herself that she was going to try and make this day as enjoyable to Alto as she could. She calmly began to partake of her meal while they continued making small talk with each other. It's been a couple of months since they'd been around each other, but it seemed to be difficult for them to really engage in any kind of real conversation.

Having whetted their appetites, Sheryl and Alto returned to the boardwalk to investigate shops of notable curiosity and to just enjoy their surroundings in general. Sheryl's outfit appeared to succeed in hiding her identity for the time being, so at least they didn't have to worry about her getting mobbed by fans while they were out together.

Eventually, they came upon a series of amusement games, like those seen at a carnival midway. The inner-child within Sheryl seemed to come out in full force as soon as she saw the games in their flashy splendor. She grabbed Alto's wrist and dashed towards the stands on the boardwalk, "Ahhh! Come on, Alto! I want to win something big... like a stuffed animal or something!"

Alto had no choice, and his head seemed to nearly fall off from Sheryl yanking his body into a completely different direction than he was originally traveling. "Oi, Sheryl...!"

Dragging him behind her by his wrist, Sheryl slowly walked down the boardwalk, looking to each side at the games and prizes inside of each booth. Every turn of her head was followed by a surprised gasp; it was as if she'd never been to such a place before in her life. Alto just let himself be dragged around, trying to not be embarrassed about being tugged every which way Sheryl went. Fortunately for him, nobody really gave his predicament a second glance.

Finally, she saw something that she absolutely had to have. "There! I want that one!" she demanded with a child-like demeanor. While bouncing with joy, she pointed into one of the booths, where there were several rows of stuffed animals lined up on the shelves; each row's stuffed animals were larger than the ones on the row below it. The top row had a label on the shelf with the item's redemption value on it. Obviously, it was a seemingly-unreachable number and Alto didn't really think it was worth all of the time, money, and effort it would take to gather that many tickets.

"Oh, come on. It's going to take forever to earn that many tickets," he replied.

This wasn't a very good reason or excuse for Alto to attempt to use. Sheryl leaned into him with her shoulder and began to push him towards one of the ticket redemption games nearby. "Let's get to work, then! Don't worry, I won't let you do all of the work!"

During the time that they spent playing games, Alto couldn't help but look at Sheryl while she busily played the games right beside him. It was as if she had the disposition of a child; but a child who was having the time of her life. This was a side of Sheryl that he had rarely, if ever, seen. It was refreshing to see that she was not being confrontational with him, as she always is. Somehow, he did feel like there was something... "different" about her. The words which she wrote to him in the letter he was given before he left Aimo a few months ago did start to show some value. However, there was something about all of this that seemed out of place to him.

Some time later, they emerged from the crowds on the boardwalk carrying the spoils of victory. Alto carried a plastic bag full of various trinkets and toys, while Sheryl carried the enormous stuffed animal on her shoulders. She also wore several leis of fake flowers around her neck and some brightly-colored bracelets on her wrists. Several passers-by smiled at the sight of such a large object being carried by a very happy individual. Alto was also pleased at how happy Sheryl seemed to be.

"I had so much fun! Now, I just have to find a place in my room to keep my new friend here," Sheryl said rolling her eyes upwards as if she was looking at the stuffed animal on her shoulders.

Alto slightly sighed as he responded, "I have to admit, I did have more fun than I thought possible. It's amazing how the things we enjoyed as kids can still mean so much to us as adults."

"See? You don't have to be such a stick in the mud all of the time! This is what happens when you just let your inhibitions loose and enjoy the moment. It's like being a kid all over again, isn't it?" Sheryl finished up her response by bumping Alto to the side with her own body and giggling.

Initially, he wanted to complain about her aggressive gesture, but then he realized that she was just harmlessly flirting with him. He had already taken in a quick breath to speak out, but then he exhaled and smiled as they continued walking down the boardwalk. Alto looked forward to reflect on the past few hours he'd spent with Sheryl. Although her personality was easy-going and bubbly, it just seemed out-of-character for her. Even though he happily continued to chat with Sheryl, he wondered why this whole situation felt out of place.

"Do you have everything you need out here?" Will asked of Cal as he stepped out onto the porch of his apartment to hand Cal an opened bottle of beer.

Cal closed the lid of the grill upon which he had been cooking and turned around to take the bottle out of Will's hand. "Yep, now it's just a matter of waiting a bit. I got a couple of spicy bratwursts to snack on while we wait for the rest of the meat to cook. They'll be done in just a minute," he said just before taking the first sip of his drink. He swallowed and asked a question of his own, "Oh, is Nene coming over tonight, by any chance? I should probably know if I'm cooking for two or three."

"No, but I actually have a favor to ask of you," Will said while looking slightly downwards, "Is there any way you can find a place to stay just for tomorrow night? I'm planning on spending some personal time with Nene, but she won't stay late while you're here. She says it wouldn't be very polite with you sleeping in the living room, ha ha..." He really didn't feel right about having to make such a request, seeing as how he had invited Cal to stay at his place, but his petition wasn't unreasonable.

Cal widened his eyes for a moment, but then smiled in return as Will finished his request. "Heh, why are you so embarrassed to ask? The last thing I want to do is to impose on you while I am here. I have no qualms with helping you out; it's the least I can do to return some of your generosity."

"No, no! You're not imposing at all! I just figured that we have limited time for some R&R before we have to return to duty. I might as well get some alone time with Nene while we have the chance."

Will's response reminded Cal of their finite time on Aimo. His memory quickly flashed the image of the model of the Quarter in David Nguyen's office and the mathematical equations sprawled all over the white-board above it. These pieces of evidence were signs of things to come for the Quarter and its crew. "Yeah, you're right about us not having much more free time." Cal hung his head as he came to a certain realization. "You know, maybe I should just see if I can find somewhere else to stay, since you guys certainly could use some more privacy. I don't like the thought of you guys having to walk on eggshells around me because I just happen to be staying in your living room. It's like you said, we won't be off-duty for forever."

Will had been leaning on the porch bannister, but he stood up when he heard Cal's suggestion. "No, it's okay really! I don't want to force you out because of petty selfishness. I just wanted at least one night to ourselves, that's all."

Cal chuckled as he himself leaned back against the bannister nearby. "I know, dude... I know. Look, you have to see it this way: I'm sleeping on my best friend's living room floor. You can't put it more succinctly than that." Cal looked to the side and downwards towards the people walking up and down the street in front of the apartment building. "Honestly, I kind of need a bit of privacy of my own. It's kind of tough when you are living in the common area of someone's apartment, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Will realized the point that Cal was making, but he still felt bad about having brought this whole subject up in the first place. "I just want to be sure you don't shut yourself out from everyone else." Cal perked up since he had no idea why Will was saying this to him, but Will continued speaking before Cal could respond, "Nene told me what you told her last night. ...and she's right. We're not going anywhere and you're not going to get rid of us, either!" Will smirked as he said those words.

Cal shook off the urge to get a little upset that Nene shared their conversation with Will. He sighed as he responded, "I didn't have any intention of doing such a thing. I just think that it's better if I get into a more 'normal' living situation until we're called out to duty again." Cal shifted his posture before continuing, "Commander Lee actually offered me a place to stay several days ago. He says he has an extra room at his place that doesn't get used and I was welcome to it if I was interested. At the time, I declined the offer, but he told me that if I changed my mind..." Cal trailed off and stood back up to open the lid on the grill that was next to him. Smoke billowed away from the cover, once it had been removed.

"Oh... well, that sounds like quite a setup, then! Maybe you'll get a chance to do some kissing up to the Commander while you're there!" Will said as he approached Cal to nudge him from the side.

"Whatever," Cal mumbled while he worked over the grill. After a moment, he turned to hand Will a plate with a bratwurst on it. He dropped the other brat on another plate and replaced the cover onto the grill. After quickly looking around him, he muttered to Will, "Mustard."

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, right here," Will replied as he leaned over to open the mini-bar next to him. He pulled out a yellow bottle and tossed it to Cal.

"The rest of this stuff will be done cooking in a little while," Cal said. He squeezed some mustard onto his plate and cut off a piece of the brat before dipping it into the mustard and taking a bite. "So..." he struggled to say with the hot piece of brat in his mouth, "I'll give the Commander a call and see if his offer still stands. For now, we'll just enjoy this gorgeous evening with some of my famous outdoor cooking, here."