Does anyone remember this story?! I hope so! ^_^ Sorry it took so long for me to post, things have been crazy what with me becoming a college kid and all! But, here's the new chapter and I hope you enjoy! (I promise I'm going somewhere with this, even if it seems like I'm not!)

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!" The small girl groaned and slowly sat up. She glared at the offending object as it repeated BEEPING, just to annoy her. She hissed and shoved the alarm clock off her bedside table, effectively shutting it up. She smirked in satisfaction and settled back down under her warm covers, sighing contently.

"Taz, it's time to get up now." Taz scowled at the man in front of her. Up was already showered and dressed for the day, and Taz had yet to get out of bed.

"I think I'm having another nightmare," she mumbled as she rolled over, facing the wall. Taz jumped when she felt pressure on the bed as Up sat down beside her. He shook her gently.

"C'mon Taz, time to face the day!" He grinned as she batted his hands away. "Don't be like that!" He tickled her foot that was sticking out of the covers and she sat up quickly. She gently pushed him away from her and he tumbled off the bed into a heap on the floor. He stood up and rubbed his head. "Geeze Taz, you aren't a morning person are ya?"

"I don't have to get up…I'm still recovering," she huffed. Taz then flopped back down into the less-than-satisfactory bed that was provided by the Starship. Giving a sigh, Up kneeled down beside Taz and brushed a hair out of her face. Her deep brown eyes opened and stared at him, still fuzzy with sleep. "What are jou doing, Up?" she blinked. A huge grin spread over his face.

"Hey, you remembered my name, Taz!" He laughed. "That's definitely an improvement…" A slow smile found its way onto Taz's face. She jumped up and hugged Up tightly.

"Things are gonna get better, Up…I can feel it." He nodded and embraced her, not wanting to let her go.

"I know Taz, I know." She hugged him tighter before reluctantly pulling away. Up had a strange smile on his face, it made Taz uncomfortable.

"What is it, Up?" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, not meeting her eyes. Taz grabbed her Commander's chin and forced him to look at her. "What is it?" She asked again, her voice gentler. Up sighed heavily.

"It's just…today is your first day of therapy, Taz." The small woman's hand slipped off his chin and her mouth twisted like she tasted something sour.

"I nearly forgot those hijos de puta think I'm going loco," She quietly remarked. Up's face darkened.

"Uh…there's something else I gotta tell ya, Taz…" Her head whipped up, staring into his deep blue eyes with her own cold, brown ones.

"What is it?" She growled, not liking his tone one bit. The older man sat down beside her on the bed, practically seething. She twisted her torso so she was facing him. "What is it?" Taz repeated, her voice low and dangerous.

"They told me today that I can't be your therapist. That you have to go to a "specialist"," Up spat the word bitterly into the air. Taz's eyes narrowed.

"What?" She must have heard him wrong. She must have. He sighed and put his head in his hands.

"I can't be your therapist, Taz."

Red.

That was all she saw.

Red.

The color of blood.

The color of hate.

The color of RAGE.

Taz pushed herself off the bed and started pacing around the room like a tiger caught in a cage. It was all too much; it was just all too much. She couldn't breathe; she was taking shallow, gasping breaths that made Up wince from where he was sitting. During one of her slow laps around the room, she kicked the wall. Hard.

"Joder!" She screamed, clutching her bare foot with one hand, leaning against the wall with the other. Up went to her side immediately. He guided her over to the low bed and helped her sit. When he tried to touch her foot, she pulled away and practically hissed at him.

Sadness clouded Up's eyes as he was brought back to that night. He was only trying to help, but he had ended up making things so much worse. He withdrew reluctantly, leaving Taz to tend to her bruised foot alone. He winced over and over again as curse words – both in English and in Spanish – drifted through the cracked bathroom door where she had retreated. He winced when he heard slamming. He winced when he heard screaming. When he heard sobbing, however, he couldn't take it anymore.

Up pushed open the bathroom door to find Taz sitting on the floor, curled up into a tiny ball. He had to clench his jaw to stop the steady flow of tears that would surely start if he allowed a few to trickle out. He went over to the small, broken girl and wrapped his arms around her. Taz stiffened and pushed him away.

"Go away Up," she spat, venom in her voice. Up just kneeled there, arms halfway outstretched, not sure what to do. Finally, he settled on pulling the tiny girl closer to him. Taz fought him tooth and nail, grabbing onto the slippery base of the toilet and kicking his hands away before finally going limp and allowing herself to be dragged over to her friend. Up kissed the top of her head softly.

"Taz, don't do this to yourself. They aren't worth your time." Up felt his lieutenant shake in his arms.

It was all just too much.

They stayed like that on the bathroom floor for a good twenty minutes before Taz unfolded herself. She wiped her red, puffy eyes and ran a hand under her nose, clearing up any liquid that was leaking from it. Taz looked up, tears still clinging to her dark eyelashes like the first dew in the spring. She took a deep, shaky breath and Up rubbed his hand soothingly along her spine. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak.

"I…I don't want to go, Up." The man in question usually considered himself a tough sonofabitch, but hearing how lost and broken Taz sounded nearly broke him too.

He had to stay strong, for her.

"Then don't go, Taz." She looked up at him, her confusion evident. "Who says you have to go?" Up nearly laughed, it all seemed so silly now. Taz didn't have to go to therapy if she didn't want to go. Taz eventually smiled and started laughing along with him, the sound was music to the Commander's ears.

"Jou're right, I don't have to go!" She jumped up and ran to get changed into her usual camouflage pants and white tank top. Suddenly, the day seemed a whole lot brighter. She finally tied her lucky red bandana around her forehead and gestured for Up to follow her. He took her hand and the two walked down to the cafeteria, laughing the entire way.

Taz sat down across from Krayonder, who was staring intently at his computer. He looked up as Taz approached and gave her a weird look.

"You're in a better mood today, man," he casually remarked, watching her cautiously. "Don't you have your appointment today in, like, an hour?" Taz shook her head, grinning wider.

"Nope! I'm not going!" Up ruffled Taz's hair affectionately and Krayonder's eyes widened.

"What? But doesn't that go against the Commander's orders?" Taz frowned.

"I'm following my Commander, not that gilipollas who thinks 'e's in charge of de whole ship." Krayonder frowned, making deep creases between his eyebrows. Taz didn't like it when he frowned, it meant things weren't right.

"Taz, man, if you don't get better they're going to send you off to another Starship where there aren't any distractions. Do you want that?" He inspected her face closely as she took in his words. She wasn't smiling anymore. "Do you want to be away from your crew, from your friends, from Up?" Up glared at Krayonder.

"Don't you be scaring her like that, boy!" Taz shook her head.

"What if it's true?"

"Of course it's true!" Krayonder exclaimed, frowning sadly at Taz. "Don't ruin this for yourself. Just get better." Krayonder and Up watched Taz as she thought deeply about the situation she was in. Finally, she nodded. Krayonder sighed in relief.

"Alright, I'll do it. I'll go to the estupido doctor." Krayonder stood and walked around to the other side of the table.

"Let me walk you there myself," he extended his arm, causing Taz to burst out in a fit of nervous giggles. She went to grab his arm, then turned to Up. He smiled sadly at her.

"It's okay, let Krayonder take you." Taz nodded and stood up with Krayonder, smiling at Up as they walked away from him.

Taz and Krayonder eventually reached her doctor's office. The door looked the same as all of the other doors, besides the fact that it bore "Dr. Bard" in small, nondescript, black lettering. Taz glanced at Krayonder nervously before entering. Dr. Bard was a tall man. The only way Taz could begin to describe him is that he could have been on the cover of "Therapists Monthly" (if such a magazine existed) and not look out of place. Bard (or as Taz had decided to call him in her head, Barb) pushed his thick-rimmed glasses up his nose before extending his hand to her.

"You must be Lieutenant Taz, it's an honor to meet you." Taz had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. She grasped his thick hand and shook it.

"I wish I could say the same," she mumbled before sinking down into the black leather chair behind her. Bard/Barb sat down behind his desk and regarded her.

"You do know why you're here, don't you miss…"

"Just call me Taz." He nodded.

"Taz…" He bent down and scribbled something into a notebook that the girl hadn't noticed before. "Now, Taz, you do know why you're here, correct?" She shook her head.

"No."

"You don't know why?" She shook her head again.

"No, I don't." He nodded, wrote something in his notebook, and looked back up.

"Alright, let's start with some easy questions. How are you feeling today?" Taz let out a short, humorless laugh.

"Pissed." A smirk twisted her lips as she watched Bard/Barb swallow whatever he was going to say.

"And why is that?" Her smirk turned into a scowl like the flip of a switch.

"Because I have to talk wit' jou. Because jou won't let me talk with Up," she spat. The doctor nodded.

"Well, I thought it was best, considering the…situation that took place between the two of you." Taz sneered at the man.

"Why does everyone keep saying dat?! I don't even know what happened, okay?!" Bard/Barb put up his hands as if soothing a wild beast. The action just made Taz more pissed. "So stop stepping around my feelings and just tell me what happened!" She breathed heavily for a few moments, glaring at her doctor. When he didn't respond, she spoke again.

"What…happened?" He finally sighed and sat up in his chair.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," was all that he said.

Red. The color had returned.

It was soothing, really.

It meant that she didn't have to think.

Didn't have to be herself.

Was she crazy?

Taz blinked and looked around. She saw the chair she was sitting in laying on the floor, its wheels spinning madly. Books that had been neatly stacked on the doctor's desk were now strewn across the room, some with pages torn out that were still fluttering back down to the grey carpet below. Taz looked up at Doctor Bard/b. He simply remained where he was sitting, but now he was regarding her with interest rather than just pity.

"You may go, that will be all for today." He didn't sound mad, but Taz had the sinking feeling in her stomach that the doctor would be filing this as a report. She nodded numbly and shuffled from the office, stepping over fallen pages and books with broken spines. She walked all the way back to her room with her head down, feeling defeated. When Taz pushed through the door, she felt a guilty jolt as Up strode over to her.

"How did it go, Tazzy?" Her throat clenched at the nickname he had given her so many years ago and she sank to the floor, sobbing. Up rubbed her back. "Shh…just tell me what happened."

"Red…so much, and then…he told me to get out…" She gasped. Up just stared at her, confused.

"What?" Just as she was about to try to make out a more coherent answer, the door opened. Krayonder sauntered in. He stopped suddenly when he took in Taz curled up on the floor. Krayonder ran over and kneeled down beside her.

"Taz, what happened?" He asked, sadly. She shook her head.

"Dat was a bad idea, nothing good came out of it!" She wiped her tears away.

She was so sick of crying.

So sick of being weak.

Krayonder shook his head and grabbed her face between his hands, forcing her to look at him. Up shuffled uncomfortably behind them.

"Hey, listen to me. You're going to keep trying," when Taz continued to shake her head, Krayonder nodded. "Yes, you will. You will keep trying, and you will get better, and you will regain your Lieutenant status, and you will join the team again. But you have to try first." He nodded again. "Can you do that? Can you try?"

Reluctantly, Taz started nodding with him.

"I can…I can try."