-.-Miles and Miles-.-

She was setting up her camera to record another video log - she had some thoughts she really wanted to record before she lost them. She was back at base for her weekly visit, and was currently in Miles's quarters.

"I'd prefer it if you did that somewhere else," he said, noticing what she was doing.

"It's just a quick log."

"Still."

She understood what he meant: if someone else were to watch it, they would see she was in his quarters. She understood what he meant, but at the same time was having less and less patience for this BS. Would that be so bad, if someone were to see it? Apparently to him it would be.

She snatched the equipment up and headed for the door. "I'm just going to leave."

"Phoenix-"

"No, I know when I'm not wanted, and it's been that way for quite some time." She didn't know where those words had come from, but they'd been said, brought up from deep within her, and there was truth to them.

She had thought having him around would be an added bonus to this amazing experience on Pandora, but it was really turning out to be a pain in the ass more than anything.

She plopped down in the lab, re-setting up her equipment. When her camera flashed on, her red, watery eyes met her gaze from on screen.

Oh, no, she wasn't going to cry. No, no, no...

She wiped her face, drank a glass of water, and sat back down, somewhat refreshed.

Click. On went the camera. "Okay, now where was I? Oh yeah, Na'vi mating rituals..."

The next week, when she was leaving the shack for her visit back to base, a different Scorpion landed outside their camp.

"Captain Chacón is busy with other duties so I'll be taking you," the smiling woman who stepped out of the cockpit told her. "Captain Socorro - call me Paz."

"Nice to meet you Paz," Nix said, shaking her hand. "Thanks for doing this."

"No problem. Hop in."

Nix took the co-pilot's seat. "Who's this cutie?" she asked, nodding to the photo of a baby on the control board in front of the pilot's seat.

"My son, he's just six months. First human born on Pandora."

"No way. He's making history."

"He sure is, my little Miles."

"Miles?"

"Yeah, after his dad."

"His dad's name is Miles too?" Popular name. "Nice name."

"Yeah," agreed Paz. "That's what I thought."

That was Nix's first introduction to the boy who would change her life.

Tap tap.

Phoenix was in Miles's quarters when there was a knocking at the door. He looked at her.

"I know, I know: hide so no one sees me," she huffed.

He waited until she was tucked into her corner before opening the door. She couldn't see, but she could hear.

She heard the surprise in his voice. "Paz?"

"Miles."

Paz? Her pilot from earlier? And she was on a first-name basis with him?

"I need to talk to you about him."

Curiosity overtook any guilt over eavesdropping. What else was she supposed to do while in hiding?

"The doctors say you're making no effort to connect with him," Paz said.

"Been busy," came his reply.

"Too busy for this? Miles, he's your child too-"

"My son... First human born on Pandora... My little Miles... After his dad."

The realization, like pieces of a puzzle finally clicking together to form a complete picture, settled upon her with sudden, crushing weight.

"You have a kid?!" Suddenly, before she even really realized it herself, Phoenix was jumping out of her hiding place and striding over to the parents - the parents of the first human child born on Pandora.

"Ms. Vallencourt?" Paz looked startled.

But Nix wasn't looking at her, she was looking at Miles. "Paz told me about her kid, 'Miles', named after his dad - oh my god..."

Miles was a popular name, she had thought it was a coincidence.

"Were you ever going to tell me? Seems important to me." And if he was six months old, plus nine months of pregnancy... "All this happened a year ago, when I was still on my way here..." So what, while she was in cryo they were sleeping together? "I take it this kid wasn't exactly planned?"

"It was a surprise yes," Paz confirmed. "But a wonderful one."

"You wanna know if I cheated." Finally he said something.

"Seems pretty obvious to me."

"I never realized you were involved with someone," Paz admitted.

"Of course not," Nix said, because she was meant to be a secret. "And he lives here on this base, we all do. You didn't think we might cross paths as he gets older, or were you planning on hiding him away from everyone like with me? And I would probably be a distant memory by then."

"He'll he sent to Earth." His cool calmness was really getting under her skin.

"You can't put babies in cryo, dumbass!"

"And we never agreed on that," Paz broke in.

Nix could feel the telltale heat rising in her face that meant tears were not far away, and willed herself not to cry. "I'm going to wait for Trudy and then I'm going back to the shack. I won't be coming to visit next week."

"Phoenix-"

"You have a son, and that's amazing - maybe you should focus more on him."

She just started walking, and walking and walking, her feet leading the way. Soon she found herself in the lab.

"Max, fire up a link."

"Whoa whoa, you're in no state for a link-" He could see she was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Just do it, please."

He hesitated, but gave in. "Firing up Link Five."

As soon as she linked she sucked in the fresh forest air, gulping it greedily. It helped ground her somewhat, helped clear her spinning head, but not fully.

She had left her Avatar at the base of a tree between the shack and Hometree, and almost as soon as she was on her feet she started running, just tearing through the trees, no desintation in mind, just go go go-

By the time she skidded to a stop, she was heaving heavy sobs. She didn't want to cry, but clearly her body had other ideas.

Coming to this new place, she thought she would find a comfort in the familiar: Miles. She knew he awaited her arrival on Pandora. But it was in the new connections she had formed that it felt like she really belonged. Like Grace had said herself, she was an important part of this team, and she really felt it too. With Miles, she was feeling more and more like a hinderance, a burden, and it really sucked.

Part of her was curious, she wanted to meet this baby, the first human born on Pandora. It's not like she could be angry with him, he was the result of cheating, but that was on his parents, not him.

By the time she came out of link, Trudy was close by. Nix was more than happy to leave the base behind and return to the shack.

"Kid, you look awful," Grace noted as soon as she arrived back.

Grace wasn't really a hugger, but boy could she use a hug right now. "Rough trip." She forced a smile. "Glad to be back here though."

"Well we're glad to have you back. Go on and get yourself settled."

"Thanks Doc."

She thought it couldn't get any worse. And then the bulldozers came.

I really want to know more about Spider's mama Paz, and what happened with her and Quaritch! And why she chose to name Spider after his dad... Hopefully we'll learn more with Spider and Q in the movies! A flashback please, James?

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed ! :)