Author's Note: The concept for this chapter has been a LONG time coming. (Emie Mac and Wade Wells, you've been warned.) Have a shot of Ciroc for David Rackens...that's all I'm gonna say. This chapter is a little on the long side, but I think you'll find it well worth reading. Also, I'd like to warn everybody that there's a lot of alcohol consumption in this chapter, which makes some of our characters do out-of-character things, so if that offends or strikes a nerve, please bypass. I'll see you in the next chapter.

I live in one of the states that's slated to be hit by that so-called "Perfect Storm" on the east coast. Say some prayers for me, people. And while you're at it, expect a delay in my next update or two as I get everything back together. (Unless those weather forecasters are wrong, in which case expect to see updates as usual.)

To bknbu - Yes, it's coming around to the time where the Voltron Force and their friends are starting to settle down. But not everybody's getting married just yet. It's a surprise!

To FroofyB - We've missed you over on this end! Believe me when I tell you that from the Nicktoons version, I never thought Daniel deserved Black Lion...but Red Lion's a whole different ballgame. And I'm trying to make the cadets a little more grown-up and a little less irritating.

To Sally On - Don't worry too much about Chris & Jeff; they'll be okay regardless. Worry more about Sven & Romelle and the long journey in front of them.

To Craze - I am really glad that you're still enjoying this fic. As for more cadets, I don't have any planned for this book. However, I have a short story in the works about Hunk's retirement and the "passing of the torch" for Yellow Lion. So that would only leave one piloting position open...

To Emie Mac - Christiane's visions always come true eventually. So if they don't have any babies, then they don't have any problems, right? And I like your suggestion of Sven & Romelle living somewhere other than Pollux. I mean, the people don't like him, and Bandor's ruling, so how tough would it be?

To Wade Wells - I am right there with you in the "getting old" department. So I figured, if we're getting old, our beloved old-school Voltron pilots should age with us.

Chapter Title: "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees

Allura had been busy packing and preparing for her weekend on Earth. Keith had told her to stop worrying so much, that all she needed was a cute garden-party-type dress or two, a pair of jeans, a few cute tops, and a few pairs of ridiculously hot shoes. She didn't believe him. What did a man know about packing clothes for a weekend getaway, anyway?

Now, as she scowled over her bed, looking down at the few items of clothing she'd laid down on top of the comforter for further inspection, Keith laughed. A no-holds-barred, full-on laugh that brought tears to his eyes. She wanted to smack him.

"Don't you have perimeter scan to do?" she grumbled.

"You're making me laugh."

She shot him a poisonous glance. "Yeah, I noticed."

"Relax." He dropped his head to kiss her forehead. "Stop worrying. You'll look great, no matter what. You have that certain look about you. You'd make a paper bag look good."

"If you don't stop talking and stressing me out further, I am going to throw you out of my room and make you sleep somewhere else tonight."

Before he could respond, there was a knock on her door. "Don't think I'm letting you get away this easily," she remarked, irritated. "We'll finish this discussion later. And for the record, I'm probably bringing three suitcases with me."

Keith laughed, but only kissed her cheek in reply.

As Allura opened her door, she found Larmina standing in the hallway. Looking embarrassed, she asked, "Are you packing for your trip to Earth? I heard you guys from out in the hallway, and I just wanted to see what you were planning on bringing."

"I'll let you two ladies have this conversation by yourselves," Keith butted in. "More than once in a morning is far too much. Besides, I have to go talk with Coran. See you both later." He swiftly crossed over the threshold and wandered down the hallway, in search of the castle diplomat and strategist.

"Come on in, Larmina." She gestured towards her bed, and the cadet entered the room and flopped down on top of the mattress. As she closed the door behind her, she said, "Okay, spill it. I know you well enough to know that you didn't come here to talk clothes. What's going on?"

Larmina almost laughed. How was she going to ask this question with a straight face? It was outright rude, and her aunt would most likely say no, but still, the worst she could do was say no. "I'd really like to go to Earth with you and Keith, Aunt Allura. I miss Len, and I'd like to see her again. I'd also like to be there when Christiane gets married." She shrugged. "The way I see it, you're probably gonna marry Keith someday, so I can safely consider her my family, too. And I'd like to see one family wedding that's not a royal wedding."

Allura laughed. Sitting down on the bed next to the cadet, she wrapped her arms around her niece and hugged her tightly. "Of course you can come with us. We'll work out all of the details later. But for now, get yourself a dress."

"Great! I'm on it!" She jumped up from the bed and dashed down the hallway in search of the royal seamstress. She needed to find something quickly. She wanted to be ready for Earth and the wedding.

Allura laughed at her niece's enthusiasm. She wished she could muster up the same amount for the trip to Earth, instead of being worried about what to pack and what to wear. The trip would be there before they knew it.

Besides, how could she deny Larmina a trip to Earth? Anything that got her niece that excited about putting on a dress had to be rewarded.

"So, where did you say Chris and Morgan went for the night?" Taye asked David as he leaned against the granite-topped kitchen island, shotglass in hand. "You can't have a bachelor party with women around." He smirked. "I stand corrected. With women who aren't exotic dancers around."

"Oh. Chris and Jeff finally got an apartment together, and they're starting to move in," David explained, pulling bottles out of his liquor cabinet. "Morgan went with Chris to set up and decorate. They'll spend the night there."

"Hey, it sounds better than having them come home to a bunch of drunken idiots." Taye shrugged as he looked through the assortment of hard alcohol. "You've got Ciroc in here somewhere, right?"

"In the freezer. Two bottles." David grinned wryly. "This is going to be a bloody lively crowd."

He was glad that the Red Mecha pilot was there early with him. There would be maybe twenty guys at the most - Jeff had requested his Voltron Force teammates, as well as Hawkins, Sparks, and Newley, plus Taye and Aidan. It was going to be a typical guys' night, complete with cigars, alcohol, card games...minus the exotic dancers. Morgan's directive.

Jeff came downstairs to the kitchen, looking at the spread of hard liquor on the island in front of him. "Wow, Rackens, I always knew you loved me," he quipped, looking over the array. "Hennessey, Bombay Sapphire, Courvoisier, Johnny Walker, Patrón...hey, where's the Ciroc?"

"Freezer," came the in-unison reply.

"Cool."

"There's also Guinness and Heineken in the fridge," David informed him.

"Awesome." Jeff picked up a shotglass and opened the freezer door, pulling out the vodka. Pouring himself and Taye a shot, he asked, "Now, you said earlier that there'll be cigars and card games?"

"Yes." David nodded, pouring himself a tumbler of Courvoisier. "Jon's bringing the Montecristo cigars. Hutch and Marvin graciously offered to bring the cards and chips."

Jeff groaned. "If you're letting Hutch and Marvin direct the games tonight, I can guarantee you it's not gonna end well."

Morgan tilted her head as she studied the queen-sized bed. The one-bedroom apartment that Jeff and Christiane were now renting - in the same building with Aidan and Lisa, no less - was smaller than most of the other one-bedroom apartments in the complex. There was no way they could have gotten a king-sized bed in there, but a full-sized mattress would have been too small for the newlyweds' marital bed.

"I like the blue," she said finally. "The tan comforter looks good with blue sheets."

Christiane nodded. It had been a busy week with finalizing the plans for the wedding, signing the paperwork for their apartment rental, alterations on her dress, buying furniture and bedding, putting the apartment together, her gynecologic appointment...too busy. Now the boys were all at Morgan's house, busy getting drunk and playing poker for Jeff's bachelor party, while she and Morgan were readying her new home and spending the night.

"Hey...I bought something for your freezer," Morgan said suddenly.

"Oh, you're funny. A freezer? You think we'd actually have a fridge in this joint? Jeff and I decided to pull a Ginger and get a mini-fridge."

"Well then, it's a good thing I bought the extra-small size." Morgan opened her purse and pulled out a small bottle of Ciroc. It was the size that Christiane used to keep in her freezer when she lived by herself in the Valley. And even then she'd used a full-sized refrigerator. "Come on, Baby Girl. If you thought I was just gonna let the boys have all the fun tonight while we slaved away in your new apartment, well, you thought wrong."

"Then it's a good thing I've got glasses." Christiane opened a cardboard box and rummaged around for a couple of shotglasses. "'Cuz if you think I'm not gonna do a shot or two tonight, then you thought wrong."

"Excellent." Morgan pulled the pillow cases on over the two pillows as Christiane rinsed out the shotglasses. "Hey, Baby Girl, where are you and Jeff staying the night before the wedding? I hope someone's staying in the house with me."

"That would be Jeff." Christiane poured vodka into the two glasses and brought one over to Morgan. She clinked her glass against Morgan's and downed the shot. Afterwards, she exhaled, feeling the burn from the warm vodka run down the back of her throat. "I'm staying with Len and Jon the night before. We figured that since we're getting married on the terrace, I might as well stay there. The hairdresser and make-up artist will be there, too. And I'm hoping you'll come to help me get ready, as well."

"Of course. I've got some jewelry you can wear."

"Good. I haven't got any of that." Christiane turned to look at the bare walls of her new place. It didn't feel like home yet, but it was getting there. "Now, tell me, how funny is it that the first night I spend in my new married-life apartment, I spend it with you?"

Morgan laughed. "It's very funny, Baby Girl."

Also very fitting.

David was still on his first tumbler of Courvoisier. It was a good thing, because the arguments over the poker games were getting louder and angrier, and someone needed to be sober enough to break up the fighting and call a temporary moratorium.

It was almost surreal, this party. He watched as Jeff sat between Crik and Rocky on the living room couch, the three of them more than a little wasted on shots. Chip laughed in the corner with Wolo and Tangor, playing their own game of cards and sipping their beers. Modoch and Shannon kept Marvin away from Hutch, who sulked in the corner with Zandee, Taye and a couple of shots of Patrón. Jon and Richard smoked cigars in the kitchen with Sparks and David, the captain and the commander randomly raising their snifters of brandy towards their lips.

Somewhere between the smoke and the alcohol, David realized that Aidan and Cliff still hadn't arrived yet. It didn't surprise him that they would be together - they were best mates, after all - but he was shocked that they hadn't shown up. Cliff was Jeff's teammate as well as fellow captain of the Voltron Force. Aidan was the bride's captain and an old friend of the groom. Where the heck were they?

"I forgot how good a Montecristo can be," Richard exhaled as he smoked his cigar, leaning his head back. "Almost as good as a woman."

"Well, Rich," Jon teased, "it has been a while for you, hasn't it?"

"Shut up. Not all of us here are married or engaged, Hawkins." The captain of the Explorer blew a ring of smoke in the commander's face. Sparks laughed, and even David smiled as Jon shook his head exuberantly.

Back in the living room, Taye knocked back his tequila with Zandee and Hutch. "Hey, I know I'm not exactly sober or nothin'," Hutch mused, "but I'm kinda surprised that Cliff's not here yet. I mean, he and Jeff bounce stuff off of each other all the time. You'd think he'd be here by now."

"Yeah...Aidan's not here, either." Taye scanned the room before taking a quick gulp of his Patrón. The Albegas captain was still mysteriously absent. Looking across the room, his eyes met with Modoch's, and he looked away. He didn't want to deal with the guy who'd broken Kelly's heart - he was still trying to put all of those pieces together.

Jeff looked around the room happily. He was on his sixth shot of hard liquor. He'd done a shot of everything, and was sure he'd feel like all seven hells tomorrow if he didn't get any food in his system. Rackens had been gracious enough to get traditional stag-party fare, but he needed more sustenance than a piece of a six-foot grinder. He needed three slices of the "Everything" pizza that Hunk and Rocky used to scarf down together at the Academy.

As he thought about how well pizza would go with everything he'd drunk up to that point, the front door opened. Aidan and Cliff slunk into the party late, with Cliff locking the door behind him. "Jack! Dalloway! Where have you guys been?" Crik shot at them in his Miran accent. "What, were you going to blow the groom off at his bachelor party?"

They were the only two sober people in the house, Aidan realized grimly. He'd have to rectify that immediately. With a shudder, he answered, "Nah, Keats. I was waiting for my Mate's train to come in from Jersey. I needed him to be my bodyguard on the way over."

"What, you needed a bodyguard?" Rocky teased. He was done with shots for the night and had moved on to beer. He was already on his third Heineken. "Geez, Dalloway, you're a tough dude. Why would you need somebody to protect you?"

Cliff placed his hand on his mate's shoulder and shook his head. Sighing, Aidan ignored Rocky and headed into the kitchen, allowing Cliff to mingle with his teammates while he got himself a drink. After greeting David and the bridge crew of the Explorer, he pulled a tumbler out of the cabinet. "Hawkins, what are you drinking?" he asked nonchalantly.

Jon raised an eyebrow at him. "Courvoisier."

"Cool. Black Label for me." He picked up the Johnny Walker bottle and poured until the tumbler was full. Then, tapping his glass against the commander's, he saluted, "Cheers," and knocked the contents of nearly the entire glass back. Not to be outdone, Jon finished what was left in his tumbler, turning his steely gaze to the Albegas captain.

"Need more?"

"You know it."

They refilled their tumblers and drank again. David's expression turned aggravated as he watched his captain and his brother drain their glasses another time. Wiping his lips, Aidan mumbled, "That oughtta be good for now. Watch my glass, Hawkins. I've gotta go give Jeff his wedding present."

As he left the kitchen, David shot Jon a look as he refilled his tumbler with brandy for the third time. "Really? Back in London, we'd call that a bloody pissing contest."

"I can't help it." Jon set down his tumbler on the island, his hand still curled around the glass. "That guy brings out the worst in me. I can't stand him."

Feeling the alcohol hit his limbs, Aidan made his way over to the couch where Jeff was sitting. "Congratulations, Aki. I'm bringing you your wedding present a week early. It's from both me and Lisa, but don't tell her."

"Congratulations on my marriage, or congratulations that you're giving me my gift early?" Jeff remarked drunkenly.

"Don't be a jerk, Aki." He pulled a small, flat box out of his jeans pocket. "Open it and let me know what you wanna do with it."

"Sure. Thanks, Dude." Jeff lifted the lid off the box and stared. Then he blinked. Then he felt himself sobering up. "Um...Dalloway? Are you for real?"

"Shut up, man."

Jeff lifted the engagement ring up from the piece of cotton in the box. It was a round diamond, three quarters of a carat, in a white-gold setting with diamond chips trailing down the sides. "So that's why you needed Cliff to be your bodyguard. Seven hells, man. Seven hells."

Aidan squirmed uncomfortably. "Dude, stop looking like you wanna kiss me already. I just felt like Chris needed a ring, and I happened to have one that I wasn't using. So either give her that ring to wear on your wedding day, or go to the Diamond District and trade it in for something else you think she'd might like."

"Oh my God. Lisa." Jeff swallowed, feeling terribly guilty. "No wonder you don't want me to tell her. This wasn't supposed to be Lisa's ring, was it?"

Aidan shook his head. "No. That ring was never meant for Lisa."

Across the living room, the crack of a brandy-filled glass tumbler on top of a granite-topped island could be heard from the kitchen. Jon had overhead everything. He knew. He knew the woman that the ring had been meant for.

His wife.

"Jon, don't," David pleaded.

Richard and Sparks lunged for the commander, but he was too fast. Drunk and enraged, Jon crossed the living room in few strides, grabbing Aidan by the collar of his button-down shirt. "I should just beat the seven hells out of you right here in front of everyone, Dalloway," he snarled, clenching his hand into a fist. Shannon recoiled. He'd been on the receiving end of one of the commander's blows before, and he certainly didn't envy the Albegas captain.

"No. Not in my house." David wedged himself between the two men. "If you want to fight, take it outside. Respect me enough not to do this in my home." He looked angry, and he deserved to be. He'd wanted to do something nice for Jeff, and now it was blowing up in his face. "Take it outside."

Jon drew in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Dave. Dalloway, I'll meet you outside."

Aidan's sapphire eyes narrowed. "You'd better believe it, Hawkins."

As they stormed out the back door, Aidan slamming it behind him, Jeff shook his head. "My bachelor party," he told his friends. "I'm not dealing with this one."

"Okay," Richard said definitively. "We'll give them two minutes to talk things out, then we'll break them up. Modoch, you and Hutch come with me to deal with Jon. Cliff, you take Taye and Crik to deal with Aidan."

"You got it, Captain Newley," Cliff offered, stunned at seeing the commander so angry with his mate.

"Great. Another bloody party comes to a bloody great end." David plopped down on the couch between Jeff and Crik. "I'm sorry that your bachelor party had to come to such a lousy end, Jeffrey."

"Are you kidding me?" Jeff replied. "I've got a diamond ring for Chris, I've got six shots of...whatever...in me, and I get to watch Hawkins pummel the heck outta Dalloway. This is, like, the best party you've ever had."

From behind the couch, Cliff merely shook his head in amusement.

There wasn't much of a backyard, and it wasn't very well-lit, but the darkness and the small space made conditions perfect for a fight. The tension between Aidan and Jon had been brewing for years, and Aidan could pinpoint the exact start of it: the day the commander took Lenora to Boston to put her into hiding. He felt like he'd been priming for this fight for ages.

"I knew I was going to have to deal with you eventually," Jon growled at him, staring him down with his piercing eyes. "I just didn't expect - or want - it to be at Jeff's bachelor party."

"You really think you're so tough, Hawkins? Because I've been waiting a long time to beat you up. Like, from the day you took my girlfriend away from me."

"Don't you ever refer to her as your girlfriend. She's my wife." Then a drunken grin spread across his lips. "Do you know what she told me about you, Dalloway? She told me that she loved you, but she was never in love with you. So if you had proposed to her, hypothetically speaking, she would have said no."

"And she told me she thought we would have made it. So what do you know?"

Jon's hands were balled into fists, and he stood firm to the ground, ready to punch him. He would have loved to break Aidan's nose and ruin those pretty looks of his. Luckily for Aidan, though, he felt Richard grasp his wrists, and saw Modoch and Hutch physically block him and his view of Aidan. Over Modoch's shoulder, he could see Aidan being being restrained by Cliff, Taye and Crik.

How embarrassing that their fight had to be broken up.

"Dude, Hawkins, I just don't get you," Aidan spat out over Cliff's shoulder. "You hate my guts, and I only dated her for ten months. But you let her go out alone with Sven Holgersson a few weeks ago. What's up with that?"

Jon's eyes widened. He hadn't thought about Sven in weeks, not since he returned to Planet Pollux after rescuing Christiane off Crydor. Yes, his wife had hugged him good-bye in the hangar, but everyone had; he was part of her "family" from the Space Academy. "What do you mean, Dalloway? What nonsense are you talking about?"

Aidan's eyes widened, and he shut his mouth. He wouldn't sell Sven short; he understood the angry Norwegian better than anyone else, and better than he ever would have thought. If Jon Hawkins learned about Sven's engagement to Lenora, well, it wouldn't be through his lips. "Nothing, Hawkins. Forget I said anything."

"Mate, Commander," Cliff addressed them, clearing his throat, "I think we'd better continue this party as usual. Let's forget about what happened out here and go back to playing cards. I'm just glad no one got hurt." Grabbing Aidan's shoulders, he insistently directed his mate back into the house, with Crik and Hutch in tow.

"Modoch," Jon said quietly, "what was he talking about? Why would he even bring up Sven Holgersson in the first place? Is he that drunk?"

Modoch weighed his options, and kept quiet until the others had returned to the house. "Well, Sir," he began hesitantly, "I don't know the story for sure. I only know the stories I heard from Kelly Asimov when we were dating." He looked down at the ground. "That was a long time ago."

"Tell me. I want to know."

The Land Team member sighed. "All right, Sir. If you really want to know..."

Lenora had been in bed with the viewscreen on for quite some time, barefoot and dressed in her Hanro pajamas, waiting for her husband to come home from Jeff's bachelor party. She was glad he'd called Carlo to drive him to and from Morgan's house; if she knew anything about her Wifey and brother-in-law, it was that they had a fully-stocked liquor cabinet and they weren't afraid to use it. So she wasn't surprised when her husband came home drunk and smelling like cigars.

She was surprised at how angry he was.

From the master bedroom on the third floor of the triplex, she heard the front door slam shut. Worried, she jumped out of bed and raced down the two sets of stairs. "Jon?"

"Yeah, I'm home," he shouted.

She wrapped her arms around him, inhaling the stench of the Montecristos. "What's wrong?"

"I need to go upstairs. Come on." He grabbed her hand and yanked it.

Who was this man? This was not her husband. Jon never acted like this. He never drank too much, he never lost his temper like this. Sure, she'd heard old stories from the Explorer that involved Jeff's or Shannon's face on the receiving end of a blow from Jon's fist, but he was different now than he was ten years ago. Wasn't he?

Once they were back in their bedroom, Jon exploded. "I want you to take a good look at the diamond ring Jeff gives to Christiane on their wedding day," he growled. "Apparently, your old boyfriend Aidan had purchased that ring for you."

"What?" she cried out. "What are you talking about?"

"Like I said, your old boyfriend had planned on proposing marriage to you." He scoffed disgustedly. Angrily. "Now, Christiane will wear your ring instead. And every time I see it, I'll be reminded of the way you were almost engaged to Aidan Dalloway." He exhaled loudly, furious and still drunk. "And whenever I think of that, I'll remember how you were engaged to Sven Holgersson and didn't tell me. How you went out on a date with him with my blessing. How another man put the moves on my wife right under my nose." He ripped the shirt off over his head and flung it angrily towards the corner of the room. "And how I was so stupid that I just let it happen."

She felt shock and horror, like her entire world was crumbling around her. "Did Aidan tell you that tonight?"

"No. Modoch did."

She stared back at him, her eyes widening in horror. Blast that Modoch and his need to ruin everything for everyone else, just because he wrecked his relationship with Kelly. Bile rose up in her throat, and she thought she might vomit. "Jonathan James Hawkins," she told him in a shaky voice, "when we went out to the Tea Room, I did not cheat on you. Sven tried to convince me to leave you, but I told him no, that I was in love with you." Had she not been so frightened and angry herself, she never would have said anything to him about it. He didn't need to know what Sven had said that night and be upset by his words. But now he was acting like a madman, so he might as well know. "But let me tell you, he tried really hard to convince me otherwise, and it was extremely difficult for me to tell him no."

Jon looked stunned at the idea that his wife might have actually contemplated leaving him. He sat down at the edge of the bed, shirtless and quivering. Her words had obviously affected him. "Ne me quitte," he whispered uncertainly. "S'il vous plaît."

Lenora felt as though her heart had dropped out of her chest and splattered all over the floor. Nearing panic, she straddled her husband's lap and placed small, frantic kisses all over his face. "Jon. Jon, no. No. I am not leaving you. Do you hear me? I am not." Breathing raggedly, she grasped the back of his head and drew him in, clinging onto him as though her life depended on it. She felt him wrap his arms around her waist, which made her feel better. "You are my husband. I am not leaving you. I am never going to leave you."

"Why didn't you tell me about Sven?" He sounded broken. "That he was your fiancé? That it was his ring you always wore around your neck?"

She sighed. "What good would it have done? Jon, I wanted you to come out with us. I begged you. But you kept telling me how much you hate the Tea Room, and I needed to speak with Sven." Cautiously, she paused. "I love you so much, Jon, but you are so possessive of me. Don't get me wrong, I know it stems from Wade and the hiding, but I knew that if I told you that Sven and I had been engaged, you wouldn't have let me see him. And I don't know if it's because you don't trust me enough to think that I won't..." She let her voice trail off, feeling guilty.

"Oh, no, mon ange, it's not you. It's him." He closed his eyes and laid his head against her shoulder, planting a trail of small kisses along the bare skin of her neck. "I know how I feel about you, and it worries me to know that there's someone else out there who feels the same way, and will stop at nothing to try to win you back."

"You trusted him well enough before you knew he was my old fiancé."

"I know, but just the thought of him with you like that - it drives me insane." Curled up into each other, he stared into her eyes as though he could see inside of her. "It's the same reason I can't stand Aidan. I think of him with you, and I can't handle it. I also think of that one letter you wrote to me when I was on the Explorer, the one where you told me you were seeing him, and I remember how miserable I felt..." He couldn't continue.

A smile crept onto her face. "Were you really miserable when I wrote to you and told you that I was seeing Aidan?"

"Terribly."

"Hmm." She kissed his shoulder. "How would you feel if you knew I told you that on purpose to see if you were jealous?"

"I'd say you were crazy. You tormented me."

"I thought I still did."

"You do." He began to feel much, much better about the situation. He wasn't quite sobering up yet, but talking with his wife had made all the difference. "No one challenges me or drives me crazy the way you do, Lenora. Which is why I can't lose you. I'll fight for you. I almost did tonight."

"You don't have to." She laid her head on his shoulder, finally calming down. "I told you in Paris, I told you on our wedding day, and I will tell you until I die: I am not leaving you, and I will never leave you." She grinned. "You're stuck with me."

Behind her smile, there was guilt. She remembered her trip to Arus, back when she learned of Sven's survival for the first time, and how she'd slept with him. She thought for sure she would leave Jon then. At the time, she didn't consider it to be cheating - in her mind, she had already broken off her engagement to the commander. Then, when she found out that Sven was married and had a child, she realized how stupid and careless she had been. She did not deserve Jon's unconditional love, but she had it anyway. And she was determined not to blow it ever again, which was why she'd said no to all of Sven's wishes. She hadn't even been swayed by the hot tub.

"Come on," she offered gently. "Let's sleep."

He nodded, the exhaustion evident on his face. "Don't leave me tonight."

"I won't." She helped ease him down underneath the comforter, then snuggled next to him. "Je t'aime, mon coeur."

He grinned. "I love that we're speaking in French again."

"Like we did on our honeymoon," she reminded him.

"Oh yes. How could I forget about that?" Suddenly he was on top of her, kissing her forcefully and pinning her wrists to the mattress. "How would you like to do something that we did with alarming frequency during our honeymoon, Mrs. Hawkins?"

"What, drink wine?" she teased. "I think you're drunk enough, mon coeur."

"Not exactly." With that, he closed his eyes and kissed her again, his hands fumbling with her pajamas.

Ne me quitte: "Don't leave me"