The hologram was too perfect and it was hard to keep her feelings bottled up. Caspara looked so much like the child she'd left behind, but it wasn't a perfect replica. Johnny's plan had worked so far, Aneela had replied saying that they could meet up and bring the child to her ship. No weapons, which Dutch wasn't at all surprised about. This would be the first time she'd come anywhere near face to face with Aneela and Delle Seyah in nearly a year...and it was making her feel ill as all she could think about was how manipulated she felt in so many ways.

"You okay?"

"No."

"Well, at least we've gotten to the honesty part of our friendship."

Silence.

Johnny sighed. "I hope you're not mad at me...I know you and D'av seem to be-I don't even know the right words for it. I'm not trying to be offensive, but-"

"I know, John. It's just harder than I expected."

"I want to say something that'll make it better for all three of us, but I know that's not going to happen… I just want us to be a team again...because the three of us working together on the same plan...we're the best kickass team there is in the Quad."

"You're not wrong."

Johnny smirked. "I try."

"I just don't know if I can do this right without screwing it all to hells."

"You're going to be fine. You're a badass, remember?"

She smirked at that. "I don't feel like one right now."

"You got Aneela to agree to meet us."

"So, I can still pull off some acting, that won't be enough."

"Maybe not," Johnny said. "But i need Dutch."

"I'm here."

"Then we're good." He sighed. "But we need D'av's head in this...and I can't believe I'm saying this...but you two have got to figure out how to make that work… I've tip-toed around his broodiness for months now...and I thought he'd be good with you back, but-"

"But he's having a hard time."

"And he responds way better to you, especially since there's that thing between you two," Johnny said with a vague hand motion.

Dutch tilted her head to the side and tried to figure out what the motion was for. "Are you asking me to sleep with your brother?"

"Whoa… I just said for you guys to figure crap out." He paused for moment. "Now, I'm not saying don't have sex...but I'm also saying...don't worry about me, because I just want us back...and I want us all on the same page. So, if you guys have to take things further than talking…"

"Wait, are you giving us permission?"

"You know what? I'm just going to walk away," Johnny said with a shake of his head.

"We there yet?"

"Another hour."

She just watched him as he worked. D'avin had seemed like he was constantly trying to work on some project since she'd gotten on board, well in between their moments together. Dutch didn't know if it was merely because he was trying to keep himself busy or if it was merely because this was what he'd brought himself to do to fill time while she'd been away. When he didn't turn or look at her or say anything else, she moved towards him.

"Can you stop for a minute?" she asked gently.

D'avin stilled.

"When we get there, it's going to be wrong...and difficult...and-"

"I really don't want to talk about it right now."

She was thrown off by his semi-harsh tone. Dutch wondered if maybe this was a bad idea. They'd had moments since she'd gotten back, but the fact that she'd kept so much from them...maybe that was hurting them more than anything-

"I'm sorry," he immediately apologized. He sighed and then turned to her. "I hadn't meant-"

"It's okay," she told him immediately.

D'avin got up from the floor where he'd been working and move to her. "You're right, it's going to be hard-"

Her hands moved to his face, her palms holding his cheeks and that alone seemed to silence him. She leaned in and kissed him, he seemed unsure at first as she pulled back. His hands came up to her waist as their eyes met. "I keep thinking that in a way...Aneela made our child like she made me…"

"Not exactly."

"No," she said with a smile. "Because it's our child." She paused. "But our child was willed into existence and we had no hand in the making…"

"Are you trying to tell me you want to have another child?" he asked in confusion.

"No," Dutch said. "Well, no that's not what I meant...I don't know if another child is in my future." She kissed him again and this time he kissed back. "All I'm saying...is that I missed you...and that maybe...maybe we should allow ourselves to give in to our desires and let the world fade out around us…"

"For an hour?"

"Are you going to complain about our time limit?"

He grinned suddenly. "No." He leaned in this time and kissed her.

Dutch honestly didn't want to stop, but she did. "Perhaps we should move this somewhere less…"

"Less in the way of where Johnny might find us?"

"Remind me later to tell you about how I'm fairly sure he was trying to tell me to have sex with you...and also somehow giving us permission to do it on the ship with him present," she said as they headed for quarters.

"Weird…"

"Yeah, really weird…"

Though at the same time, she knew that it was a relief for both of them to know that there wasn't going to be any complications within their team because of what they were about to do.

"Have I mentioned how much I missed you?"

As they disappeared into her room, she pulled him in for another kiss. "I've missed you."

"Who should be holding the faux-baby?"

"Her name is Tamsen, remember?" D'avin said far too seriously.

Dutch just laughed. Maybe Johnny had been right. Maybe they had just needed to let themselves go and somehow reset things. Maybe it was just that having sex had actually made them feel more connected after being so disconnected and apart for so long.

"I think the big question is going to be who can get the closest to Aneela with the needle," Johnny asked as he entered the space with them. Lucy was doing her thing and they were waiting to couple with the ship.

"I'll do it," Dutch said even though she was unsure about it. She didn't know if the baby would make her appear less threatening or not. It was weird, though, as she picked up the emitter that was projecting the far too realistic baby and then grabbed the needle and tucked it inside of her top. As she stared down at the baby once again, she found herself slightly bouncing unconsciously. There wasn't the weight there, but she felt the need to do it anyways.

"Hey, you okay?" came John's quiet voice.

She looked up at him and then she felt it. Tears falling down her face. Dutch had been trying to hold everything down and inside and here she was...unable to control her own feelings. "Let's just go," she whispered and then looked back down at the holobaby they were calling Tamsen. When the doors opened, they moved together, the boys keeping her in the middle and headed willingly unarmed onto Aneela's ship.

There were guards everywhere and as expected, Aneela wasn't alone when they stepped into where she was waiting...Delle Seyah was also by her side but the child Caspara was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps it was as a precaution or perhaps they just feared they were there to grab the child and run. It was at that moment that Johnny's programming really took effect as the holographic baby started to cry and fuss. "Shhh… It's okay, Little One," she whispered as she bounced the baby a bit. She looked towards Aneela, which was still weird...especially now really knowing how they were connected. "It has to be something really wrong with her...she's been almost completely unconsolable."

"Come with me," Aneela said. When the three of them started to move a the same time, the guards immediately started to move in. "Only you, Yalena, and the child."

"Her name's Tamsen," D'avin said with far more angry emotion that Dutch had been prepared to hear. "And you're not going anywhere with my daughter without me."

Aneela sighed, it seemed like they were killing her with frustration. "So dramatic… I'm waiting for Johnny Blue Eyes Favorite to start his rant about how he's the uncle and so protective...and blah...blah blah blah."

"Actually, I was just going to wait here," Johnny spoke up. "I want my niece well, so I'm going to stay out of the way."

"Please, Aneela," Dutch tried her best at pleading as the hologram continued to cry.

"Fine," Aneela said after a moment. "Yalena and D'avin can accompany Tamsen to my lab."

They moved together, Delle Seyah at Aneela's side as well as guards escorting as they moved through the ship. The holographic child screamed the whole way and Dutch knew that she was crying, Johnny had done too good of a job and the hologram was tugging at her heart. This holographic child, Tamsen, might not be hers and D'avin's...but it was triggering memories and all she wanted to do was to hold her own child again.

Upon entering the lab, she felt her insides twisting. The last time she remembered being there was when D'avin had suddenly gone quiet and she'd feared that Aneela had done something awful to him...and the only reason that she'd cooperated with Aneela was to keep them safe. Now here they were willingly walking into the lion's den and hoping that it would all work out.

"Set her down," Aneela said motioning to the table.

This was the tricky part because they could transfer the emitter, but they needed to be careful...and she also needed to get the needle out and ready. "She's just so upset," Dutch said as she slowly transferred the emitter about in her arms. D'avin moved towards her in an effort to help, they both knew that they needed to be careful.

"See Jaqobis, you did get to play daddy in the end," came Delle Seyah's snotty chime from the other side of the room.

Dutch could see D'avin's face twist up. "Don't let her bait you," she whispered. They knew that this was going to be hard, but Delle Seyah being there with her mouth likely made it more difficult. Carefully, they transferred the emitter to the table but stayed around it, trying their best to be the worried parents who didn't want to move too far.

Aneela moved to the other side and that was their chance, their only one, because as soon as the hologram was touched it would all be over. Dutch grabbed Aneela's arm and jammed the needle into her head. She and D'avin were immediately yanked back as Aneela teetered, Delle Seyah grabbing her.

"What did you do?!" Delle Seyah said and as her hand moved out, the fact that the child was merely a hologram was clear to everyone.

Dutch and D'avin fought, though. In that moment, she didn't think it was going to work. All she could think was that she was never getting back to her child. She and D'avin had a child out there that would never knew its parents and that would grow up surrounded by love just the same...maybe raised better than they would have ever been able to do.

"Yala," she heard Aneela whisper. Her attention turned towards the other woman and Aneela was on her feet again, pushing Delle Seyah away. "I'm okay. It's okay."

Delle Seyah looked beyond pissed, though. "No, we should have never allowed them-"

"I remember," Aneela said and looked from Delle Seyah to her suddenly. Her eyes looked different and Dutch wasn't sure what to do with that. Maybe Johnny's plan would work...though she wasn't sure she was actually ready for it. "Let them go," she ordered the guards.

"No, wait, what?"

"Shh…" Aneela turned to Delle Seyah as the guards obeyed. "You don't yet understand, but you shall."

"Tell me."

Aneela moved towards her and reached out to stroke her cheek. "He hid you from me...took you from my memories…"

"We need your help, Aneela," Dutch said bravely.

"Is that why you gave me the memories back?"

"Among other reasons," she said. "But now you remember me...how I was made…"

"The green… The Lady cannot know-"

"If you can pull me from the green, then can you pull others?"

Aneela took a step back and blinked, seeming to really take that thought in. "I-I don't know… It was my green…"

"Could you pull Khlyen from a memory like you pulled me?"

"Wait, what?" Delle Seyah asked.

"Aneela pulled her baby self from a memory in order to make Dutch," D'avin quickly told Delle Seyah.

"Her name is Yalena, after our mother," Aneela said.

"Could you do it? To fight the Lady?" Dutch pushed.

"To fight the Hullen, you mean?" Delle Seyah queried. "And where's your child?"

"As far away from this hells as I could send," Dutch said looking to Delle Seyah. She looked back to Aneela. "You sent me away...thinking Khlyen would look after me...he didn't...not in the way that you had hoped, but my child will be raised with people who will treasure them."

"Why do you make it sound like your child will never see you?" Aneela asked.

"Because if I'm made from your green, then if you die...I die...and the odds of you dying is high."

"Are you going to kill me?"

"I don't know."

"But you want me to pull Papa from the green?"

"He could help us...all of us," Dutch pointed out. "And wouldn't you like to actually say goodbye?"

TBC…