A/N: This Part Four of Chapter Four of Thieves in Time. This one is focused on Vila, much to his distress. Warning: mature content!

The usual disclaimer: I own nothing of Blake's Seven. I just enjoy messing with their lives.

B7B7B7B7B7

It was change of watch, from mid to late shift. Vila stepped slowly down the stairs to the flight deck, where Blake and Avon sat side by side on the lounger, obviously sharing some private joke, from the look of it.

Avon rose and walked around behind the bench. Resting his hand lightly on Blake's shoulder, he leaned down and whispered something to Blake, who burst into light-hearted laughter, nodding in agreement.

"What's so funny, you two?" Vila interrupted them sourly.

"You wouldn't understand," Avon informed him dismissively.

"Not sure I'd even want to," he mumbled, heading for his own station. It hurt him, every gesture, every word, every intimacy between them. And he noticed every one of them.

"Well, at least you're on time," Avon muttered.

Vila ignored him and sat down at the console. "Anything to report?"

"Nothing," Blake answered him. "All quiet, no activity whatsoever."

"Good, then maybe I'll have a chance to catch up on my sleep."

"I don't think so, Vila," Blake said, rising. He waved a hand at the weapons station. "There was an anomaly in the neutron blaster readout during mid-watch. Probably nothing, but if you could check it out, I'd feel much better about it."

"Of course, Blake. Anything you say, Blake," Vila answered shortly, then climbed up to the weapons console.

"Coming, Blake?" Avon called from the stairs where he stood waiting.

The two Alphas left the flight deck together, passing Cally on her way to share watch with the thief. She shook her head as she moved toward the communications console, stopping next to Vila. "Why do you let him do that to you?"

"What's that?" he said, startled.

"Avon. Why do you let him torment you?"

"He doesn't torment me, Cally. Insults me sometimes, but I've grown rather used to it, you know. Wouldn't be Avon if he didn't."

"No, I mean the way he throws Blake in your face all the time. Doesn't that bother you?"

He stopped checking the readouts and turned to her fully, biting his lower lip. "Uh, why the sudden concern for my feelings, Cally?"

"It's because I like you, Vila, just as I do Blake and Avon. And this three-way battle seems to be building in intensity. We have enough fighting on our hands without starting our own private war here aboard ship." Her frustration was evident to the thief. He wondered if she was just good at reading people, or whether she was using some of her empathic powers, picking up the feelings and emotions that, to his eye, flowed about the three of them whenever they were in the same room together. Still, hadn't Avon and Blake both told him to shut up? To NOT discuss anything with anyone else aboard ship?

He tried to diffuse the discussion. "Blake's appointed you ship's counselor, then?" He tried a smile, a laugh, anything to divert Cally from probing into his troubles.

"No, I just don't want to see you hurt, that's all." She put a hand on the thief's arm. "You love Avon very much, don't you?"

A slight hesitation from Vila, then, "That obvious, is it?" He leaned back against the chair. "Yes," he said with resignation. "Have for half my life."

"I never realized," she said, shocked.

"Known him even longer."

"Tell me about it, Vila, please. Maybe it will help you to talk about it. I know it will help me to understand you both better."

Vila considered her request. She could be right. And it would be so nice to have someone to talk to, to ask for advice, to comfort him, maybe. "If you promise to help me recalibrate the weapons system, I will."

"Of course."

He moved from the console to sit on the deck's lounger, where she joined him. "Met Avon when we were both six years old. Saved his life, that's what I did."

"Did you?" she said, surprised.

"Just managed to get him away from some bully boy looking for a nice Alpha addition to his slave pen." Vila seemed lost in thought for several moments, then continued, "We were close friends for the next ten years."

She made a wry face. "Somehow I have a hard time thinking of Avon having or being anyone's close friend. He must have changed a great deal since then," she observed candidly.

Vila nodded, leaning back and closing his eyes. "I fell in love with that impossible man when we were both sixteen years old."

"And did he return the feeling back then?"

"Oh, yes. Those few years together were…memorable, to say the least." He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his head bent into his hands.

She saw his distress, or maybe felt it on some level. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, she said, "Vila, if this is difficult, there's no need to continue."

Vila sat up, shaking his head. "No, Cally, I think I've needed this for a long time."

"But I sense a sadness somehow, even during the happy times."

"You're right," sighed Vila. "You see, I had to leave my home and family because of our relationship. Avon always felt responsible but he never said much about it."

"You had to choose between your family and the man you loved? That must have been hard."

"Yeah."

"And do you think you made the right choice?"

Vila nodded again. "Most of the time."

"Vila, how can you just sit there and watch him and Blake, knowing they share a bed? Doesn't it hurt you terribly?"

He shook his head sadly. "It's not the first time, Cally. Probably won't be the last, either."

"And yet you always take him back."

"Yes," Vila said softly. "When…when we were first lovers, Avon told me he couldn't promise lifelong fidelity. I accepted that. Still do. There were others before Blake, all of 'em wrong choices, just like Blake."

"You think Blake is a wrong choice, then?"

"Don't you?"

Cally didn't know how to respond, so Vila went on. "He'll hurt Avon, just the same as all those others did, and I'll take him back, just like I promised I would."

"You're his lifeline, aren't you, Vila?"

"I suppose you could say that. But it does seem a little ironic, you know? That someone who's as smart as Avon claims to be, can be so stupid when it comes to love."

"Vila," Cally ventured sagely, "intelligence and love seldom go hand in hand. You and Avon are more than proof of that."

"Thanks a lot, Cally," he said, the corners of his mouth pulling down. Wasn't she supposed to be on his side?

"It was not meant as an insult," she said, frowning at him.

"I know," he sighed, standing up. "I appreciate your letting me ramble but we do have work to do."

"Of course." Cally smiled up at him. "But if it's any consolation, I believe that someday Avon will come back to you for good. Just keep being there for him when he needs you. He'll come around eventually."

Vila gave her a sad smile. "If I didn't believe that, Cally, I would have given up a long time ago."

"He's not an easy man to love, is he?"

"No, he's not, Vila agreed, "but every time he comes back to me, I'm reminded that he's worth the pain…all the pain."

B7B7B7B7B7

A/N: Vila's staying true to Avon, no matter what, but he's in for some rough times, as is Avon.

Reviews would be welcome!