This chapter was written by my friend, and most certainly is necessary to the rest of the story. I edited this one quite heavily because he sent it to me in... Well, a bit of a mess, and he told me afterward that he was writing really fast to try and make sure he didn't forget anything. I'm just glad I have it, this is one of the later ones written even though it falls in about the middle of the second collection, and it was done only very shortly before my friend lost interest.

"Anya? Can I speak to you, for just a minute?" Stock wasn't sure if she would want to talk to him or not, things had been somewhat awkward between the two of them ever since they'd gotten her out of cryo, and what he wanted to ask would make it that much more difficult, maybe even destroy their connection entirely.

"Sure, Stock," she said, "What's on your mind?" Well, that was a start anyway.

"There's something I have to ask you," he said, "If I'm wrong, I'm sorry, I won't bother you again, but I have to know…"

"Connor…" she started when he trailed off. Damn it, why did she have to use his name?

"It's about what happened, after you and the other tenno came back from fighting the sentients," he forced out in a rush, "I keep having this nightmare, everyone is dying, the city is burning… And then… Anya, what happened? I try to remember but all I can see is the nightmare, I remember being shot, then all of a sudden I'm facing you, and you don't remember me… I keep trying to tell myself you would never have forgotten me like that, but I keep seeing you not remember, I keep feeling your sword…"

He stopped, feeling frustrated and slightly foolish. He hated that he couldn't bring himself to even tell her what he knew had happened, never mind what his brain was telling him had happened.

"That's what nightmares do, it's not your fault," she said, her voice soft.

Alright, maybe she didn't need him to tell her anything, it sounded like she already knew. But if she knew, was there a possibility that she really hadn't remembered him? He didn't think he could live with that, if she had forgotten him then what was the point of her putting him in the cryopod? Wouldn't she have been happier and better off with the man who ran the loki class warframe? Ira seemed to care about her every bit as much as Stock himself did, so he couldn't really see what the problem was.

"Stock? Are you alright?" her voice broke him out of his daze.

"I'm fine," he grunted.

"You feel like I really did forget you," she guessed.

"If you didn't forget… then why do I keep having this… this thing?" he couldn't even decide what to call it, he couldn't remember ever having a nightmare haunt him like this before in his life.

"I don't know," she replied, "But I promise you, I never, ever forgot you. I was looking for you, the whole time we let the Orokin nobility go on with their formalities I was looking for you. I nearly lost it when the fighting started and I still had no idea if you were there or not, no idea if you were even alive or not… And then when I finally saw you fighting another tenno and losing, I did the only thing I could think of to keep her from killing you. I shot you… You went down and for a second I panicked, I thought I'd killed you… You were almost dead anyway, I mean she…" She didn't finish, and Stock wondered if he really had been stabbed.

"So, you did shoot me," he clarified.

"I was on the other side of the room, I couldn't get to you in time before she would have killed you, so yes, I did," she answered.

"But I keep seeing you, it's you I'm looking at in my nightmare!" he couldn't help being a little frustrated.

"What about the sword..?" she asked.

"I… I don't know," he admitted.

"Would you like to see mine, just to see if it matches?" the sadness in her voice made him want to trust her, but his mind wouldn't let him. He realized that at this point he really did need to see her sword, to see that it wasn't the blade he remembered piercing his throat and nearly killing him.

"Y-yes," he finally managed.

She slowly reached down, removed the sword from her hip, sheath and all, and handed it to him. Now that he had it in his hands though, and pulled it half out of its scabbard, he realized that the sword in his mind was definitely not hers. That blade had been forged from steel, this one, was something different, although he wasn't sure what. The blade had a distinct golden hue, and then he noticed that there was something attatched to the hilt. Attatched on a chain… he caught it, held it to keep it from swinging, then when he opened his hand he realized what it was.

"You kept this…" he said, unable to hide his surprise as he looked at her.

"Of course I kept it," she said, "You gave it to me." Was she crying? He couldn't see her face, her faceplate was still engaged, but her voice had wavered.

He wanted to hold her, it was all he'd wanted for a long time, but he didn't know if she'd let him. He'd basically just accused her of the worst betrayal one person could inflict on another, and he wasn't certain that she'd want to even be in the same room as him after this. He looked down at the sword again, then pushed the blade back into the sheath. Just the simple knowing that she hadn't forgotten him was enough, even if she never wanted to be near him again after this it was still worth something to know she remembered. Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned to look at her again.

"I… I'm so sorry, Stock," she sniffled, her voice trembling, "I never meant for any of this to happen, I never wanted to hurt you… It was selfish of me and I know I shouldn't have done what I did, but I couldn't lose you again…"

Ok, she was definitely crying now. And this was where he completely forgot what he should be doing, he had no idea how to handle a crying girl. It didn't help that in all the time he'd known her, the only time he could ever remember her crying had been when she was first assigned to his unit, and at that time he hadn't needed to do anything about it. Still, he couldn't let her just sit there and be miserable like that. He went to her, set the sword down, and wrapped his arms around her.

"Anya?" he whispered. The only response he got was another sniffle as her shoulders shook. "Anya, it's ok," he said softly.

He stepped back slightly and gently took her head in his hands, pressing the buttons on the sides of her helm to trigger the disconnect, then at the soft hiss and the pop of the seal releasing he carefully removed it and set it on the floor beside them. She started to put her hands to her face and he stopped her as he straightened, turning her face up so he could look into her eyes while gently brushing her tears away.

"I… I'm sorry," she managed, "I just…"

"Don't be," he said softly, chuckling as he added, "I should have told you this a long time ago, before the war with the sentients, but… Well, you know how us marines are, we don't know what we want until we've already lost it." She closed her eyes and shook her head, a tiny smile on her lips as a shaky laugh escaped her. "Anya, I love you," he continued, "I'm just sorry it took me so long to figure it out…"

"I love you too, Stock," she sniffled, "I love you so much…" Stock smiled, wrapped one arm around her waist, then with his other hand still cupping her face he pulled her close and kissed her.