"I cannot believe him!"

Laura Cadman stormed into her quarters, picking up the nearest thing – which happened to be a glass figurine from Evan – and hurling it across the room. It made a sizeable dent in the wall before falling to shatter on the floor below. Immediately she rushed over to the mess, tears welling up as her hands hovered over the destruction of a once beloved object.

She reached down to pick up the largest piece that had remained in tact, only to drop it again when the sharp edge made a slicing cut down her finger. It broke into smaller pieces, causing the tears that had been hovering to spill over.

"Oh, damn it!" she cried.

Stalking over to the closet, she pulled out a small dust brush and pan set. When she poured the remnants of Evan's gift into the trash, a new rush of tears came to the surface. She dropped the dust pan to the floor and stumbled over to collapse onto her bed. Grabbing her pillow, she curled herself around it and thought back the confrontation that had led to her current state.

Evan and his team had returned from their mission with large group of settlers whose world had just been culled. There was one young woman who had seemed particularly attached to Evan, refusing to go to the infirmary unless he accompanied her. He obliged, casting Laura a half-hearted smile as he left the gate room – where, she might add, she'd been waiting for him for twenty minutes prior to his return – without saying so much as a hello.

Eventually she'd tracked him down, still in the infirmary, to find him still with the girl, smiling and laughing at something she'd said. Jennifer was with them, and in a side part of her concentration, it struck Laura as interesting that the two women looked a lot alike.

She'd made her way over, saying hello to Jen and Evan. It had fallen on Jennifer to introduce Laura to their visitor, as Evan didn't step forward and do it himself. Frustrated, Laura had requested to speak to him in private. Unaware of her growing irritation, he had told her he was busy with the settlers and that he'd catch up with her later.

Later had been hours later, when he'd found her sitting outside on a balcony they came to sometimes. When she'd expressed her frustration with his earlier treatment of her, he had immediately become defensive and had eventually reduced the argument to her being jealous and clingy. With a shriek of outrage, she had left him standing on the balcony as she stalked back to her quarters.

Laura's eyes were drooping as her tears tapered off. She barely managed to drag herself into the bathroom to change into her pajamas before she collapsed back into the bed and willingly let go of her unhappy reality for the next few hours.

Averting her gaze from anyone who passed, Laura headed determinedly toward the infirmary. She needed some girl time with Jennifer. Time to complain about the sheer audacity of Evan's accusations from the previous day and have someone tell her she was completely justified in her anger. As she approached the door to Jennifer's office, she heard giggling coming from inside. Laura slowed, and a smile formed on her face as she realized that her friend was most likely entertaining a gentleman caller. Quietly now, she snuck over to the door to see if she could peek in and see who that gentleman might be.

She was unprepared for the shock that went straight down to her toes when she saw that it was Evan in the room with Jen. Evan who had his arms wrapped around her. Evan who held her face in his hands as he kissed her passionately.

He pulled back and looked lovingly into Jennifer's eyes.

"I love you, Jennifer Keller," he whispered, though to Laura it seemed loud enough for the world to hear. She staggered back, her tears from the previous evening coming back in full force as she turned and ran out of the infirmary. She ran the whole way to the balcony she'd taken refuge on the night before. There, she sank to her knees and doubled over, sobbing into her knees. She didn't know how long she huddled there, but suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder as someone shook her gently.

"Laura?"

"Laura? Come on, baby, wake up."

Laura opened watery eyes to see Evan's worried eyes hovering over her. He brought his hands up to her face, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears coating her cheeks.

"Hey, beautiful," he said softly. "You okay? That seemed like a pretty bad nightmare you were having."

Realizing that she had been dreaming, Laura shot up and launched herself into Evan's arms.

"Evan," she choked out, tears coming again.

"Hey now," he soothed, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing her back. "It's okay. You're okay."

This was his fault. After their argument on the balcony, he had immediately felt sorry for yelling at her. Contrary to her hot-headed reputation, Laura was actually a very patient person. She never went off half-cocked, and the one time she had expressed frustration with him, he had jumped all over her. After waiting a few hours to give her time to calm down, he had come to her quarters. Upon entering, he noticed the lights were off, and had almost left, but then he heard her crying. He made his way over to her bed and realized that she was sobbing in her sleep.

"I'm sorry, baby," he whispered now, stroking her hair. "I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I shouldn't have ignored you earlier."

She leaned back in his embrace, wiping the tears from her cheeks for herself this time. When her fingers left streaks of blood behind, he grabbed at her hands.

"Laura?" he exclaimed, examining her fingers. "What did you do?"

She had completely forgotten that she'd cut her finger earlier, and remembering the cause for her injury brought new tears to her eyes. He followed her gaze to the abandoned dust pan by her trash can.

"I broke the figurine you gave me for Valentine's Day," she said tearfully. "I'm so sorry."

Pulling her back toward him, he kissed her forehead.

"Shh. It's okay. I'll get you another one," he promised.

He stood and drew her up out of the bed.

"Come on. Let's take care of that finger."

He led her into the bathroom where he carefully cleaned and bandaged her injured finger. Once the bandage was in place, he pressed a kiss to it and then lifted his head to look into her eyes.

"I am sorry," he said again.

She reached up and put her hand on his cheek.

"It's okay," she assured him. "I forgive you."

He tucked her back into bed and then slid in behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back against him. After a few minutes, her voice penetrated the silence.

"Evan?"

"Yeah, baby."

"You do love me, don't you?"

He dropped a kiss to the back of her neck.

"Of course I do, Laura."

She rolled over to face him.

"I love you," she said. Before he could reply she said quickly, urgently, "Don't leave me."

The moment the words left her lips, she felt like such a sap, but the whole evening had left her exhausted and overly emotional.

"Laura!" he exclaimed. "I would never leave you. I will never leave you. I love you. I'd rather be with you than anywhere else."

He brought her lips up to meet his as he tried to pour all of the love he felt for her into a single kiss. This time, when her tears welled up, she scrubbed at them with a frustrated hand.

"I hate crying," she huffed. "I don't know what's the matter with me"

Settling back down on his pillow, he pulled her down with him.

"There's nothing the matter with you. You're just tired, baby. Come on, let's get some sleep."

As she drifted off, content this time, she heard him whisper,

"I love you, Laura Cadman."