Summary: Paul, on the end of his marriage to Simone and his feelings towards Dianne.

Notes: Something that I was very aware of when I started writing these stories was Paul and Simone's relationship was never the healthiest...

Confusion

2098

It was something Paul Metcalfe, aka, Colonel Scarlet, had known for quite a while before his wife died from her illness.

His marriage to his wife, Simone, was over, months before she had actually died.

Heck he knew, that the illness was the only reason why she didn't leave him completely in the end - what was the point in trying to build a new life when you only had a couple of months left to live?

At least Simone didn't suffer for long…

0o0o0

The first signs that his relationship with his wife was in trouble was when Simone realised the he wasn't aging as fast as she was, while this didn't bother Paul in the slightest, he was glad that his wife was still an ordinary human that aged normally, it really started to bother her, even to the point where she began to fear that he would soon leave her for a younger model.

It started to get really bad when their daughter, Clara, reached the age of twenty and started to show signs of wanting to settle down with Kallen Tracy, it was like as if a switch had been flipped and since Clara had someone else to look after her, Simone started to check out of their marriage.

They started fighting more often, Simone would change her duty roster so she and Paul didn't spend time together, she would spend more time at Koala and other Spectrum training bases, avoiding him.

It didn't go unnoticed, Adam, Serena, Rebecca and even Charles, Ian and Elaine had started to ask if everything was alright between them and Kallen had straight up told them, that while their relationship was none of his business, they were upsetting Clara with their fights.

It all came to a head one day, not long before Clara and Kallen's wedding when Simone declared that she wanted a divorce, and that she was leaving Skybase after the wedding.

Paul outraged at his then soon to ex-wife's statement demanded the reason why.

"I will not stay in a relationship where I am constantly wondering if today's going to be the day, that you trade me in for a younger model," she had snarled at him. "So I'm leaving, I will going to Koala to finish off the training of the newest Angel pilots, after the wedding, and then I am leaving Spectrum altogether, don't worry about Clara, I will stay in touch with her, but our relationship is done, Paul, there is nothing that you can say or do that will change my mind."

Paul's heart shattered in that moment, and he knew from that moment the marriage was over, all he could do was try and keep things civil for Clara's, and any potential future grandchildren that Clara may give birth to, sakes.

And Destiny was true to her word, she did leave Skybase after their daughter's wedding, but she didn't stay away for long, her cancer diagnosis, saw to that.

While many affective treatments for the condition had been been come up with over the years the type that Destiny had been diagnosed with was a rather viscous one that had no real treatments, and the treatments that were available only gave her a couple of months at best.

So Destiny returned to Skybase, to spend as much as what was left of her life with her daughter.

But she never returned to Paul, choosing to have her own separate space away from her, still on paper, husband.

Which was a good thing in the long run, while they did manage to rebuild some of their tattered relationship in her final days, they were only friends, not lovers, Paul had absolutely no desire to be with her like that again.

0o0o0

When Destiny left him, Paul had made up his mind not to get romantically involved with anyone out of fear that, any woman he met would eventually leave him once his lack of aging, as well as the whole being a Mysteron thing, started to bother them.

He didn't expect that resolve to be tested within days of Destiny's death.

When he met Lady Dianne Simm's, the pilot selected to take over the role of Rhapsody Angel, and a close family friend to his son-in-law, he felt like someone had shot him with a taser.

The last time he remembered feeling that kind of attraction for somebody, was more than thirty years prior, before he joined Spectrum, while he was still human.

Darcy Silver, had been her name, and had she not been killed after the plane she had been flying malfunctioned and crashed, he would have gone on to marry her and probably never joined Spectrum.

He had been quietly engaged to Darcy at the time of her death, they were going to make an formal announcement later that week, and she was also confirmed to be eight weeks pregnant with his child in her autopsy report.

He never disclosed this information to Simone and Conrad, heck even Adam didn't know how close he had been to getting married before he joined, as this was the few secrets that he only shared with Scott and Piper Tracy, as well as John Tracy's wife, Annabelle, because after losing his fiancé and unborn child he needed someone professional to talk to.

Somehow Charles had also found out about her and the baby as well, but he wisely never brought it up.

And Rhapsody, with her flaming red hair and sweet smile, reminded Paul of Darcy, a lot.

For the first few months Paul knew Dianne, he made it a point to avoid her as much as possible, not an easy feat, considering she was practically Kallen's sister from another mister, and had become thick as thieves with his daughter and Adam's daughter, Karen, aka Symphony Angel.

It was only a matter of time before Adam noticed this, and decided to throw the two of them into an undercover mission, to get the pair to sort out what their issue was, because he couldn't have operatives on Skybase that couldn't work together as part of the team.

Paul had bit back his snarky reply at the time, he didn't have a problem with Dianne as a colleague, and could work with her fine except for the fact that Little Paul got way too excited at the prospect of working with her, and wanted to give her some private dictation.

The fact that Adam had sent them undercover as a couple, nearly drove Paul spare, because the more he found out about Dianne the more he was falling for her, and sleeping next to her at night to maintain the illusion that they were a couple was pure torture.

Dianne for her part, seemed to be having trouble with her feelings for him as well, and while they did manage to reach third base, and could had easily made things a home run, Paul and Dianne somehow managed to stop themselves, because neither of them were truly ready to go that far with each other.

But there was something there, something that Paul and Dianne had to decide whether or not to act upon it, because other important relationships could be destroyed if their relationship turned into an intimate one - she was only four years older than Clara after all.

And what would this relationship mean? He was meant to have sworn off this very thing, for good reasons, and he absolutely refused for it to only be a friends with benefits thing, Dianne deserved better than that - she deserved a ring and commitment.

Paul rubbed a hand down his face and sighed, glad that Dianne was on leave attending a family commitment, he needed to slow down and take a breath, he had the same reactions in the beginning of his relationship with Darcy as well, while the two women had two similar yet completely different personalities, they both had the same energy that drove Paul completely wild and if he didn't ease back and let Dianne meet him halfway he ran the risk of scaring her away…

0o0o0

"Paul…"

"Paul…"

"PAUL!"

"HELP ME!"

"HELP ME, PLEASE!"

Paul woke with a start, to beeping of his room's comm unit, "Scarlet," he growled, into the comm as he slapped it on.

"Scarlet, I need you up at command right now," Colonel Blue ordered. "We have just received a report that the burned out wreckage of the car Rhapsody Angel hired to see her family has been found on the road leading towards the Creighton-Ward estate."

Paul was suddenly very awake, "Adam!" He exclaimed, fear gripping his stomach. "Is she alright!?!"

Adam's face was grim, "We don't know," he answered softly. "There was no sign of her at the car."

"She is missing, Paul, nobody seems to know where she is…"

Notes: I have more to say on Darcy, but that's for another story, but I will say she that she died nine months before Dianne was born...