Later when he and Aleksa are alone, he sits down with her for the talk he's been dreading.

Taking her hand in his he begins laying it on the line. "M'lady, I'm not a perfect man. Done things I'm not proud of. Before either of us could really get hurt, I want you to have the choice. The choice to say no or to be able to move on with me after what I've done. Will you give me your word that you'll hear my whole story before answerin'? I'll understand if ye need time before you answer. I just...I can't play at love. It's all or nothin'."

She nods but says, "I may need a drink first."

He squeezes her shoulder and asks the servant outside the room. When Stinger delivers her drink in a squishy glass she gives it a funny look. His hand goes to the back of his neck as he explains, "There's a point you might want to throw somethin'." When he sees her eyes squint and her lips purse, he downs his own drink before losing his nerve.

Sitting across from her, he pours out his life - what he remembers of his short childhood, the Legion, the court martial, being stuck as a marshal for the Aegis because that's the only job anyone would give him and he had a daughter to feed (though this marshal grade wasn't one to watch over a harvest - he couldn't ever do that), Caine bringing Jupiter to his house where they discovered she's royalty, and Kalique abducting her by turning the kidnappers to her advantage - likely saving Jupiter's life. Here he pauses to get them both a drink, "Because the rough bit's comin' up. Do you need anything else first?"

Before he can return to the story, he has to take a deep breath to calm his nerves. His stomach is all tied up in knots and he's got a wicked headache. But plow through he does - feels he's obligated.

When he gets to where he turned Jupiter over to Titus in trade for the treatment to heal Kiza, Aleksa is justifiably livid. He'd planned well when he asked for the soft tumblers. She throws what's left of her drink at him — then the glass and his empty glass and the couch pillows and every little decoration within arm's reach. As she reaches for the floating candle stick, he grabs her wrists tight enough she can't do him harm. He'd never be able to trust her if she'd hit him like that. But he lets her scream yell and swear a blue streak at him and spit in his face until she starts to wind down. Then he lets her go, guiding her back to the couch as she sobs, drained emotionally. Damn, he wants to hold her through this, but he's the last person she'll want to provide comfort.

"I deserve it. All that and more. But I'm not done with my story... though the worst is done," he rasps. Deserving or not, it still hurts to be called every nasty name in the book plus quite a few new ones. What's worse is he hurt her so much she won't even look at him. His head falls to his hands.

Nino comes charging into the odd doorless chamber after hearing her sister so upset. Seeing her big sister weeping and Stinger averting his eyes, she rushes to Aleksa's side and glares at the man who hurt the only immediate kin that she has left.

"What did you do to her?!" Nino demands.

Shit, this is hard. He was really starting to like this family. Before answering he sucks in his bottom lip, "I told her the truth… about what I'd done."

In the confusion of the situation all Nino can manage is, "But…"

Aleksa wails as Nino holds her, "He betrayed our Jupiter…"

Nino's jaw drops practically to the floor before she recovers and turns her back on him. Mentally she starts reviewing his horoscope trying to figure out where she went wrong in trusting him.

Kneeling on his haunches with his hands clasped in front of him he croaks, "Every day I serve her is penance for what I've done. In a wisdom beyond her years, your daughter forgave me and provided the gene recode that fully cured my daughter, instead of the temporary one I'd been originally offered. Unlike every other entitled I've met, she values my kind equally with humans and has proven it over and over. Splices are flocking to her in droves and I will serve her even with my last breath."

Aleksa's red rimmed eyes look into his regretful ones that flash from green to yellow. For a moment he thinks he may have a chance as they connect. But when she breaks the connection, he gets up to leave. He's never felt more miserable in his life and his shoulders slump as his head hangs and slow steps lead him to the door. Bloody, stupid fool. Why'd you ever think this would work?

Now that the wave of hot anger is exhausted and her emotional level is more sane, Aleksa sits up and gripes, "Why'd you make me promise to hear your whole story, if you're just gonna leave? Get your ass over here and tell it. I can't handle more than one session of this."

His face lifts skyward and he mouths a quick gratitude.

Returning to his seat he finds his throat is still tight and dry, but he's got to get this over with. So he picks up at turning himself in and helping Aegis get a location on Jupiter. Then Caine coming to his cell and asking why he'd done it, Caine's understanding and need of his help to get through a field of warhammer mines, Caine's rescue of Jupiter, and her obtaining Caine's and Stinger's pardons so they could get their wings back.

"Wings?" Aleksa and Nino ask in disbelief at the same time.

He waves them off with both hands, "Aye, but that's not important right now."

Aleksa whispers, but not out of Stinger's range of hearing, in Russian to Nino, "That's my girl thinking of others."

The emotional process is wearing him down and his voice is getting pretty gravelly from all the talking. Wiping his hand over his face he begs off for a moment, "Can I get you ladies anything?"

When he returns with a glass of ice wine for each of the trio, he leans back in the chair and sips for a few moments as he processes. "This next part is going to sound a tad barmy - because you don't remember. Your memories were wiped because it was rather traumatic. But you can ask Her Majesty to verify."

Nino interrupts, "My sister or both of us?"

"I'm gettin' there. Can you just listen?" Stinger fusses.

Zipping her lips, she scrunches down like a scolded puppy.

Gathering his thoughts again, he shares how Jupiter just wanted to return home and that she and the Aegis crew found the Bolotnikov clan had been kidnapped by Balem, Jupiter's agreement to go with them, the portal closing, Stinger's talk with Caine, Caine diving into the largest hurricane in Earth's solar system to go after Jupiter, the portal finally opening, the Aegis ship going in after them for rescue, and holding out as long as possible as Caine brought each of the family members to the ship.

Stinger interjects a comment to Aleksa, "Remember when I delivered the message at your house — you said you remembered my voice?"

She nods and leans forward on the couch.

"You were brought in first and I watched over you. We believed you unconscious but couldn't be absolutely sure. Looking back I think you had some awareness because you kept shaking and responded to my voice. For some reason when I spoke, you'd calm. So I stayed with you until I could further sedate you for portalin'.

"Your rescue is when I first came to have feelings for you. I hated to have to let them wipe your memory, but it was for the best. Evidently your subconscious still held a few of them anyway. Her Majesty told us what she was put through and the threat to your lives. If you had kept your memories from that time, it could have been very debilitatin'. You were all returned to your house after the repairs and things returned to normal, as far as you knew.

"You know or can piece together everything from there."

After the baring of his soul, he's completely exhausted. Putting a hand on hers and seeing she doesn't shrink away, he ventures, "Thank you...for hearing me out." Knowing better than to press his luck, he reluctantly lets go and rises to leave. "I expect you'll need some time to think it over."

Reaching the doorway he hears Aleksa call, "Stinger…"

"Aye?"

"I did need to hear it… all of it."