"Jun… Jun… Ju-un…" I struggle to open my eyes as the sound of my name keeps repeating in the air. Blinking rapidly, I look around me. I'm on the bridge of the God Phoenix and Joe is leaning back on his console, arms crossed beneath his wings, an evil smirk just visible beneath his visor. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he snickers as I stand up, stretching and yawning.

"Funny, Joe, real funny." He just raises one eyebrow and continues to watch me lazily as I glare at him. At this point I realize that we're alone on the ship and I frown in confusion. "Where is everyone anyway?"

"Back on base, possibly even halfway back to Utoland by now, I'd imagine." He shifts slightly, uncrossing and re-crossing his ankles as he turns to follow my pacing.

I stop short and stare at him, not realizing that my mouth has dropped open until he leans forward to gently raise my jaw. "How long have I been asleep?" I finally manage to mutter.

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I think you fell asleep somewhere over the middle of the ocean, so my best guess is about four hours." When I don't respond, he continues, a hint of laughter in his voice. "That last mission took a lot out of you, you obviously needed the rest. When we got back, I offered to sit with you so you wouldn't wake up alone on the God Phoenix and think that we abandoned you. That was about an hour ago, but I got tired of waiting so I woke you up."

"Oh," I respond lamely, lowering my head to hide the blush that creeps across my cheeks. "Well, thank you," I finish quietly as I make my way to the elevator at the back of the bridge. I'm embarrassed, but I can't explain exactly why. It's not the first time I've fallen asleep on the way back from a mission, though normally the boys will wake me when we dock at the base. I can't think of a time when one of them has chosen to babysit me while I slept before.

I'm still a few steps from the door when I hear Joe push himself away from the console and take a few rapid strides to arrive by my side. I can feel his gaze on me as the panel slides open and we step into the elevator together. He takes a deep breath and I glance at him out of the corner of my eye, watching as he chews his lower lip before impulsively reaching out to jab the emergency stop button on the control panel. The lights dim and I have a strange feeling of déjà vu.

"Jun, can I ask you a personal question?" he doesn't turn to look at me as he speaks.

I nod, swallowing hard before finding my voice again. "Sure, Joe, what did you want to know?"

His eyes lift and search mine for a moment. "Do you really love him?"

"Who, Joe?" I ask, confused by his question.

"Ken," he answers bluntly. "Do you really love Ken?"

My mouth opens, but no words come out and I find myself unable to read his expression through the purple and yellow tinted visors we wear. "I think so… maybe…" I stammer, frowning. "Sometimes I just don't know. Why do you ask?"

"You were talking about him in your sleep." When I look up in shock, he flashes me a wry smile. "Don't worry, he was already gone before you started talking. So were Jinpei and Ryu for that matter."

I don't know what to say. It's not exactly a secret that I've had a crush on Ken for years. Jinpei has made a hobby of teasing me about it, but I'm not used to being asked about it so seriously. I've always been able to laugh it off as a joke, but Joe isn't teasing me now. I fiddle with the hem of my skirt, my hands refusing to be still as I stand there under the weight of Joe's searching gaze.

"Jun?" he coaxes, "have you talked to him about how you feel?"

I shake my head, "No," I whisper. "I don't think that would be a good idea. Things already get awkward between us sometimes. I don't want to risk making it worse." I say, sinking slowly to the floor and wrapping my wings around me as much as I can.

Joe kneels down beside me, takes me into his embrace, his own wings engulfing me as he does. I let my head fall against his chest, closing my eyes as he gently runs his gloved fingers along the exposed skin of my upper arm. "Jun, this isn't healthy. You need to do something. Either talk to him or move on and find someone else." There is a husky edge to his already deep voice and I do my best to meet his gaze, but our helmets and visors turn that into an impossible task. As if reading my mind, he gently moves me from his embrace and triggers our transformation process.

I take the opportunity to really look at him. I've known him for as long as I've known Ken, and while I've always been attracted to Ken's obvious pretty-boy looks, I've never recognized just how handsome Joe is in his own way. His eyes, while darker than Ken's, are just as expressive and right now they are looking at me in a way that I've only experienced once before… with Koji…

Joe doesn't flinch under my scrutiny. He meets it confidently, yet somehow hesitantly at the same time. After a minute or two, a small smirk lifts the corner of his mouth and he moves to wrap me in his embrace again. "I mean it, Jun," he says quietly, holding me against him, his body warm and pliant under my cheek. "If Ken won't give you want you want and need, you need to find someone who will. You deserve more Jun. You deserve happiness. You deserve love." As he speaks those last few words, his fingers gently grasp my chin, lifting and turning my face to his. Before I can react, his lips are on mine. His kiss is both giving and demanding, strong and gentle, like him. He may be The Condor, hated and feared by Galactor troops around the world, but those who know the man beneath the uniform, can attest to the depth of his caring and compassion.

The kiss is unexpected, but not unwelcome and I let myself enjoy it. Returning the kiss, my hands wander along his body, my fingers tracing the lines and curves of his muscles. When his lips finally release mine, our eyes meet and he smiles at me. His expression is shy and almost apologetic and so out of character that it's one of the most endearing things I've ever seen. I run one finger along his jaw, my eyes following its path, lingering at the cleft of his chin. We sit there for a minute, unmoving, my mind racing to make sense of what has just happened. At last I raise my gaze to meet his, a question half formed on my lips. "For a while, Jun. I'm not sure exactly how long, but this isn't new for me," Joe confides quietly, answering my question before I can even ask it.

I smile at his revelation, not realizing until that moment that my feelings for him were less innocent than I'd always believed them to be. Not quite ready to try to put any of this into words, I lean in for another kiss instead.