Alek was finally warm. Which was a strangely new feeling, seeing as that he had been in wet clothing for at least two days straight. He kept his eyes closed tight, not wanting to wake up yet. Currently he didn't remember where he was or when he had fallen asleep. He must be back at his bedroom in Prague, waiting for the servants to wake him up for breakfast. Soon he'd be seeing his parents for a quick meal, then off to morning fencing lessons with Volger. But when he finally opened his eyes it all came crashing back to him, like it did every morning since the day of his parents' assassination.

This time though, he didn't recognize the room he was in. It was grand and elegant, like a palace. He noticed sunlight peaking in through large parlor windows and the faint light of a dying fireplace next to him. Then the pain in his side throbbed and he remembered the arrow wound and everything that had happened the night before. It was only an echo of the pain he had felt last night, but it was still enough to make him squirm and moan.

Something moved beneath him and he turned to see that he was lying in Dylan's lap. No wonder he was so warm. The other boy was not only helping him with the body heat from his legs, but he had covered him in a gigantic pile of old blankets.

Dylan himself looked terrible. He must have fallen asleep while watching over Alek because he was leaning up against a couch with his eyes closed. His hair was still wet and frozen in places since the room was the same temperature as it was outside. From the waist up he had nothing on besides the old thin tablecloth. The middie's arms were wrapped around his chest, trying to stay a bit warmer and he was sporting a split lip.

Alek moved to sit up and put the blankets on Dylan, but he quickly fell back down when his side clenched in pain. The movement woke up the other boy who sat straight up and stared at Alek in amazement. His big blue eyes seemed to double in size as he widened them and his mouth fell open.

"OH Alek!" Dylan squeaked. Before he could respond Dylan had seized him in his arms and pulled him into a tight hug. Alek tried to say something but was interrupted when Dylan's lips were pressed up to his own in a sudden kiss.

Surprisingly, Alek didn't push his friend away. He let the kiss linger for a few long moments. It was warm and sweet and Alek was enjoying the tenderness of it. One of Dylan's hands was gently gripping the back of his neck and the other had fallen around Alek's waist. His skin tingled under the touch.

Alek had never been kissed like this. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had been hugged for an extended period of time. Embracing was frowned upon back when he lived in the palace. He remembered that his parents had to sneak kisses to one another without anyone seeing, and it was very rare when he would receive an occasional embrace of affection from his mother or father. And since the assassination there was even less. Unless Volger decided to start hugging him.

Realizing how much he had been starving for human contact, Alek reached his own hands into Dylan's frozen hair and pulled the other boy closer into a deeper kiss. This seemed to awaken Dylan to his senses because he suddenly jumped and pulled away from Alek with a tremendous look of embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry!" He blurted. "I didn't mean to… I mean… I was sure you were…there was so much barking blood…Blisters Alek! I thought I had killed you!" His face was pink with blush and Alek saw a few tears scatter out of Dylan's eyes.

"Killed me? Dylan, you saved my life! If you hadn't pulled me out of that accursed river, I'd be long drowned along with the Demon."

Dylan still looked horribly ashamed. His eyes glistened with more tears and he gave a mournful sniff.

"I just… I didn't mean to, you know…" Dylan couldn't continue he looked so embarrassed.

"You didn't mean to kiss me?" Alek finished. He shrugged at Dylan and gave him an awkward grin. "I don't mind. In fact, I quite appreciated the gesture. It was really…..well… really kind and endearing. I liked it." He looked up into Dylan's face and noticed it turn a deeper shade of pink.

"Oh." He said, looking away from Alek and shivering.

"Besides, you look half mad. I hate to say it Dylan, but you've probably got the start of hypothermia. Not only can it be quite dangerous but Klopp told me it can cause strange behavior. The way you slept like that all night without any blankets and your hair half frozen, it's a wonder that you didn't die!"

The poor boy was practically an ice cube, so Alek insisted he wrap himself in some of the blankets.

"You didn't have to give them ALL to me. Now, I'm ordering you to lie down next to me so I can keep you warm. Don't give me that look Dylan, I mean it. I'm worried about you, just so you know, you look awful."

With some more coaxing, Alek finally got Dylan to share some of the blankets and lie down between him and the fire. Without asking, he wrapped his arms around Dylan's waist and pulled him close. It was like squeezing a bag of icicles, and Alek gasped when the skin of Dylan's arms rubbed against his own.

"Barking spiders Dylan, you feel like death." It was shockingly true. Alek suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. If he had gone on sleeping, who knows how much longer it would have taken for Dylan to freeze to death.

But the image of Dylan as a frozen corpse was luckily wiped from Alek's mind when he heard the middie laughing.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Aye! You've been around me too long you barking Clanker! You're beginning to sound the proper Scott."

Alek laughed too, realizing he still didn't know what a 'barking spider' was. He hoped it wasn't some strange Darwinist fabrication.

Dylan turned over so they were face to face and cuddled into Alek's body. His head nestled under Alek's chin and he could feel the heartbeat of the other boy against his own. Normally it would have been strange, what with Alek wearing nothing but sheets and Dylan in a table cloth. But something made the situation feel right and almost comforting. Alek guessed that it had something to do with the fact that they had both just nearly escaped death.

Alek felt Dylan's shivering slow down and eventually stop. Finally, his skin was warm again and his breathing became deeper and more regular. His body started to relax and Alek could tell that he had fallen asleep.

Alek yawned and closed his eyes. But as soon as he tried to fall asleep, something slimy and hot was licking his ear. There was a bark and Alek looked up to see Tazza standing over him.

"Tazza!" Dr. Barlow's voice rang through the air. "ALEK, DYLAN, is that you?" Alek slowly was able to untangle himself from Dylan's body and sit up with a painful groan. Dylan sat up much quicker and turned his head toward the doorway of the room where Dr. Barlow was standing.

"Aye, it's us." Dylan said. Dr. Barlow emerged from the doorway and stalked closer. She walked very heavily and didn't answer Dylan immediately. Instead she glared at them in anger. Alek had never seen her like this before, she looked different.

Dr. Barlow's hair was down. Her long messy brown curls nearly reached her hips and Alek could see a few strands sticking up straight from her scalp. She appeared to still be in her nightgown which was stuffed under a jacket and her boots were covered in mud.

"You are in SO much trouble!" She scowled. "Do you even realize the mayhem you've caused! Months of work and millions of pounds have been wasted thanks to you two! Congratulations! You've killed the Demon and destroyed any hope of ending the war!"

Alek couldn't help but grin. So his plan had worked. Thank God. He felt a huge weight lift off himself and could finally imagine the gigantic insect dead at the bottom of the river.

Dylan stood up and gazed angrily at Dr. Barlow.

"Well that's awful barking rude of you! Can't you see that…" Dylan began, but the boffin interrupted him and pointed.

"Don't you even start with me, you little lying scum of the earth!" Her eyes flared and Alek could see that she was quivering she was so angry. Dylan just stared at her, shocked.

"That's right!" Dr. Barlow continued. "I figured out your little secret. I'm ashamed that you would keep it from me! Just wait until the captain hears about it. That and your diabolical scheme to destroy the Goliath. He'll be booting you off to Scotland again before you can say….. airwoman!"

Dylan turned white. He didn't say anything, just gaped at the doctor. Alek turned back at Dr. Barlow, and gave her a confused look.

"Secret? What secret?"

Dr. Barlow looked at Alek and snorted.

"As if you didn't know? Please Alek, don't tell me you're trying to play dumb. With the way I just found you two on the floor. You really didn't know?"

Alek looked at Dylan. The boy looked even more embarrassed then he had after the kiss. His hands were balled into fists and held straight down at his sides while he stared miserably at his feet.

"No, I have no idea what you are talking about!" Alek shouted at the doctor. He was quite upset that she was yelling at Dylan so much. It wasn't the middie's fault that the Demon was dead.

"You really are a dummkopf, aren't you?" Barlow sighed. "Well, we might as well tell you then, seeing as that you will find out soon enough, what with Dylan wearing that."

She pointed back at Dylan's outfit and for the first time Alek got a full view of the strange table cloth. Then, with utter horror, he realized it wasn't a table cloth, but a dress. A white lacy dress which was very transparent in the bust. Dylan must have just noticed as well, because he suddenly was trying to cover himself with his arms.

No, not himself, but herself! She was trying to cover herself with her arms. But it was too late. Alek had already seen everything beneath the see-through top of the dress. Obviously this girl hadn't bothered to put a corset on underneath. He stared for a few moments, noting the way Dylan's hips curved and the slenderness of his neck and shoulders.

"Alek, I…" The girl said. Alek suddenly realized he was staring and quickly turned his head away. There was a long pause, and he thought he could hear the girl crying.

"You didn't tell me." It wasn't a question.

"I tried to!" She yelped. "Twice! But, I couldn't Alek, I….blisters…I just couldn't." It wasn't Dylan's voice, but an imposter. A higher, breathier, female imposter. Alek looked back at his friend only to see a completely different person.

"All this time you were lying to me? I told you everything and you continued to lie to me!" He was shouting now, ignoring the girl's teary blue eyes.

"I'm sorry Alek. I didn't want to! I swear, it was only… I only wanted to protect you!"

"Protect me from WHAT, daresay, your impeccable girlish charms? Don't flatter yourself!"

The girl's face suddenly changed to one of pure hatred. Alek continued to rant, and watched as her features began to purple.

"What a disgrace! A woman joining the air service! You must have been quite a strange girl growing up. Were you always that ghastly tall? I bet you joined up because you were too horrendously ugly to find a husband and needed a way to earn a living without one. Or was it because you were so manly that the women were starting to fancy you and you had to get aboard a ship were there weren't any. Although that didn't work out too well for you either, now did it, seeing how Lilit was quite taken by your masculine charms. In fact, I wonder if she'd take you back now that…"

"Alek, that's enough!" Dr. Barlow sputtered at him. She was looking quite purple herself as if Alek had been insulting her instead.

"I did this because I needed to fly." The girl suddenly said. She almost whispered it, but Alek could tell it had taken a lot of strength for her to talk after what he had just said. Something like a twinge of guilt soured in his stomach.

"Da took me up in balloons ever since I was a wee thing, and once he died I had no way to fly anymore. It killed me, you know, not being able to be up in the sky. So I decided to join up. I knew twice as much as any of those clart ninny boys did, but they don't take girls, no matter if they're better or not. So I traded my skirts for army uniforms and by a barking bit of luck I ended up on the Leviathan. And to think I would end up crossing toes with the bloody archduke of Austria. I didn't mean for it to get this barking complicated. Honest."

Alek wanted to believe her, but he was too bitter to try. It wasn't fair. Everything he had told Dylan, shared with Dylan, Trusted with Dylan was nothing now. The boy was gone and replaced by a lying, horrible stranger.

"I can't believe you!" He said, suddenly blushing scarlet. "Last night…you saw…I WASN'T WEARING ANYTHING!" He pulled the blankets tighter around his waist and he watched the girl blanch.

And to think she had the nerve to kiss me! He thought, suddenly smacking himself in the forehead with his palm. Other memories burst into his mind, times when they had shared embraces or touches that had lasted too long. How could he not have realized this before?

There was an unexpected swish of a skirt and Alek looked up to see the girl marching out of the room.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dr. Barlow shouted after her.

"I'm going to find something else to wear besides this awful barking dress!" The girl shouted back. She slammed the door behind her and Alek could hear her footsteps echoing in the next hall.

Dr. Barlow stared after her for a few moments before giving a long sigh and collapsing in the couch next to Alek. Tazza, who had hidden himself behind the boffin during the fight, followed her and jumped into her lap. Barlow gave the Thylacine a few ear scratches but stopped suddenly when she saw Alek's wound.

"Good God Almighty, Alek! What happened?" She hurriedly pushed the animal off of her and rushed to Alek's side.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Alek lied. He didn't want any more odd British women looking at his body, but it seemed he didn't have much choice. Dr. Barlow was leaning over him and examining the bandages. She was so close, that Alek noticed she hadn't put make-up on this morning and he could see a small scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. It made her look even younger than she probably was.

"You're very lucky Aleksander." She finally said, pushing herself a few feet away from him. "I'm glad I gave Miss Sharp that book, she seems to have picked up a few good tips on surgery and the what. It will heal quickly and cleanly."

Alek grumbled to himself. He didn't want to think that anything that girl had done to him had been lucky.

"I'm so glad I found you two. Thank goodness you lit a fire and this was the only house in miles to have smoke coming out of the chimney." Dr. Barlow said. He looked at her and noticed for the first time how tired she looked. "When they woke me this morning to tell me you were both gone, I was beside myself with anger. Later, when we discovered that the Demon was drowned, I was certain that they would find the two of you drowned with it. And after Dr. Higginz explained how he had ordered for them to shoot you, good gracious I thought I was going to strangle him."

She had been worried about them. It seemed she was more angry with them leaving in the night than with the destruction of the fabrication. Alek gave the boffin a sad smile.

"I am sorry about the beastie, Miss Barlow, but I really think it was a terrible idea and I'm glad it's done with."

She didn't answer, but only gave a short nod.

"Miss Sharp sure has been taking a while. Perhaps I was a bit too harsh on her. Maybe I should go apologize." Barlow commented. Alek just grunted. There was no way he was going to apologize to that atrocity of a girl.

The boffin rose from the floor and walked out of the room with Tazza close behind. Alek sat by himself listening to her call for 'Miss Sharp' but there was no reply. A minute later, Dr. Barlow returned with a look of pure terror on her face.

"Alek, she's gone!"

Alek told himself that he didn't care, and he gave Dr. Barlow a uninterested shrug. However, he couldn't ignore the slight hint of guilt once again in his stomach.

No, I wasn't going to kill off Alek. He's my favorite. Besides, this chapter would not have been nearly as much fun to write without him!