Through the Looking Glass 6/9: Episode 6 - Sanctuary

[tanaquiljall]

Title: Through The Looking Glass
Author: TanaquiSGA
Rating: Teen
Characters: Kate Heightmeyer, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Elizabeth Weir, Carson Beckett
Spoilers: Season 1/Early Season 2
Warnings: Eventual Heightmeyer/Sheppard in final chapters
Word count:5230/c. 38,000
Summary: In which Kate has to deal with some disturbing discoveries....
Author's Note: This chapter wouldn't have been nearly as good as it is (and far better than I originally expected it to be) without some long discussions with sgafan . Thanks, sgafan , for all your insights and support. sgafan  and elena_tiriel also provided the usual beta reading and encouragement. Thanks to both of you!.

***

Survived the evening. But why do I have to make life so complicated...?

Kate reluctantly packed her datapad away. While her fingers busied themselves with the straps on her backpack, her gaze wandered around the lab where she had been working intermittently for the past two weeks. The place had started to feel quite homey, and she was sorry to be leaving it behind again for a few more days. Apart from the fact it was stuffed with fascinating Ancient technology, it was peaceful. No Rodney. No other patients demanding her attention and energy. No John Sheppard.

She hoped the couple of days she was spending each week in the lab would help her deal with the stresses of her counselling work. As well as... other things. Still, she couldn't go on hiding out here forever. She had responsibilities she couldn't duck out of, and questions she didn't want people to ask. Shouldering the backpack, she stepped through the door to where the marine who had been assigned as her guard waited to escort her back to the central tower.

Returning her nod, he fell into step beside her. She felt sorry for him: it must be very dull duty. Although she couldn't imagine anyone actually wanting to spend their days getting their butts shot at by Wraith, she didn't think any soldier signed up in order to stand in a corridor for eight hours protecting a scientist from the very remote risk of attack by an undiscovered menace lurking in the far reaches of Atlantis. If it had been her choice, she wouldn't have had any guard at all, but Major Sheppard had insisted. At least he'd assigned her a marine who seemed blissfully taciturn.

At least she was out here in the first place. Carson had raised his eyebrows when she'd first asked to be assigned some kind of project. More work? Are you sure? If you're already stressed.... She'd tried to explain that what she needed was something neutral, familiar, undemanding, different.... She'd tried not to look too evasive as she gave him enough of the truth to convince him, without letting him probe more deeply into her motives. Because, even to Carson, she couldn't admit what was really going on. Perhaps he'd picked up on her reticence: he'd still looked unsure, even as he agreed to discuss it with the senior management team.

A few days later, she'd found herself in the conference room with Elizabeth, Carson, Rodney and John. Kate had made sure she arrived early and was settled into her seat before the others filed in. This was their terrain; she'd only been to two or three general briefings in here since she arrived. The last thing she wanted was to start the meeting flustered. She also hoped she'd have a chance to judge the mood of the others.

Rodney seemed distracted and, as he often did in public, almost ignored her. It was a habit that irritated her, but she understood his need to pretend that she didn't know more about him than almost anyone else on the base. Carson put a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he passed behind her to take a seat further round the table. Elizabeth looked tired. From the way she nodded at Kate with an absent look, before immediately tapping away at her datapad, Kate guessed she had too many things on her mind and was trying to remember what this meeting was supposed to be about.

John breezed in last, flashing one of his lazy, charming smiles around the room. He looked more relaxed than he'd seemed on their past few encounters, and Kate felt distinctly annoyed. Well, good for him that he's doing OK, she thought sourly. Glad one of us is. Then she noticed how carefully he arranged himself in a casual pose that didn't quite disguise the underlying tension that thrummed through him. Something made her look across at Rodney: he was glaring at John. Irritated at the major's lack of punctuality? Or still angry with the way he'd behaved?

"I'll be honest with you, Dr Heightmeyer....Kate." Kate's attention was pulled back to Elizabeth as the Atlantis expedition leader started to speak. She smiled at Kate as she moved to the more informal mode of address. "I've wanted someone to make a start on this project ever since we found the lab a few weeks back. With your skills, you were the obvious choice. But Carson asked me to hold off. He said you had enough on your plate. So," Elizabeth tipped her head and gave Kate a penetrating but not unkind look, "perhaps you could tell me why I'd be right to trust you with this, when I, when Atlantis needs you to keep doing what you're doing."

Kate's mind raced. It was a fair enough question. Yet when Carson had told her that Elizabeth wanted to brief her on a project, she hadn't expected to have to justify her request in the presence of the whole senior management team. Rodney she could understand being there – he was the ultimate head of the science contingent, after all – but she wasn't quite sure why John was in on this discussion.

She took a deep breath and tried not to become defensive. Instead, she used a technique learnt in counselling to give herself space to think before she spoke. "Why should you trust me with this? I appreciate your concern, Dr Weir. I understand that you need me to keep doing what I'm doing." As she fell into the practised routine of reflecting back what the other person was saying, Kate relaxed a little. "Rest assured, I'm not looking to abandon or even cut back on my counselling duties."

She paused and turned to smile at Carson. "I also appreciate Dr Beckett's concern for my workload." She wondered what kind of desperate signals she'd been giving off to him for the past few weeks for him to give that advice to Elizabeth – and why he hadn't confronted her about them. "But, with all due respect, I didn't request not to be assigned other work. I didn't even realise Dr Beckett had made that recommendation."

She turned back to Elizabeth and fixed her gaze on her, carefully keeping it away from anyone else at the table. "Counseling work can be stressful." She kept her voice firm, strong. She was the psychology professional here, after all. Let them think she'd calmly and rationally diagnosed her own symptoms and prescribed her own therapy – even if that was light years away from the truth. "It can be particularly stressful when it's all you do, when you don't get to do what you were hoping to do when you signed up for a one-way trip through a wormhole, and when it was something you got out of back on Earth because you didn't feel you were suited to it." She sat back a little, her hands clasped on the table and gave a small shrug. "It may sound selfish, but I honestly think I'll be a better counselor if you also allow me to work on something else that's more my field."

Elizabeth was silent while she scrutinised Kate, but Kate read doubt in the way she pursed her mouth. She returned Elizabeth's look steadily, determined to exude a confidence she didn't feel. At last, Elizabeth nodded. "Very well." She turned slightly to her left. "Rodney?"

"What? Oh. Yes." Rodney scrabbled at his laptop.

Kate, turning her attention to him, realised he had been staring across the table at John while she and Elizabeth talked. It looked very much like he was still bothered by the major's actions and attitude. Kate suppressed a sigh. If it hadn't been for Rodney insisting on some impromptu counseling at half past eight in the evening, probably none of them would be sitting round the table right now. She couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. Pushing her memories of the session aside, she focused on what Rodney was saying now.

"We found this lab on the east pier," Rodney waved a hand in what Kate presumed was an easterly direction. "Well, we found a lot of labs on the east pier, but the Ancients seem to have been using this particular lab to develop some kind of system for accelerated learning. Plug yourself in for an hour, come out with a degree in astrophysics...."

"Or," Elizabeth interrupted, apparently wanting to make sure Kate understood the real priorities of the project, "be able to read Ancient perfectly." She smiled at Kate. "Which would be a far more useful skill."

"Yes, yes," Rodney snapped. "Anyway, we need to understand how it works and whether it's safe for humans. Ancient brains being wired a little differently to ours. And that," he pointed at Kate, "is where you come in."

They discussed the details of a project for another half an hour. Whether Kate's own skills reading Ancient were sufficient for her to translate the database without help. If she needed a teammate with medical expertise. What about someone versed in Ancient technology? Kate found it harder and harder to keep her temper in check as she fended off one well-meaning attempt after another to saddle her with a lab partner. Kate knew this project wasn't being arranged simply for her personal convenience, but did none of them understand her need to get away from people?

At last the science seem to be settled. Elizabeth turned to the major who, one arm slung over the back of his seat, the other hand resting on the table, looked slightly bored by the discussion. "John?"

He nodded. "I'll make sure Doctor Heightmeyer has an escort."

An escort? Kate froze for a moment. She'd – finally – successfully managed to head off being accompanied by another scientist. Now she had to put up with a soldier trailing her every move? "Major, I really don't think that's necessary...."

"I do." His reply cut off her protest. He straightened in his chair and leant forward, his voice clipped, his face hardening. "It's standard operating procedure for any team working outside the central tower area to include a military escort. I'm not letting you," he hesitated a moment, "or any other scientist wander around on their own out there without protection."

He held her gaze until Kate had to look away. "Yes, of course," she murmured. Had there been more than concern for mere protocol in his words? She squashed the thought down and looked back at him. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't assign anybody I'm counseling. You have a list?"

He nodded. Elizabeth picked up her datapad and tapped it lightly on the table. "Well, I believe we're done. Thank you, everyone."

There was a scraping of chairs. "Kate?" Elizabeth's voice cut through the noise of people leaving. "Could I speak with you for a moment longer?" She came around the table.

Closer to, Kate noticed how deeply lined her eyes seemed to be. Had those wrinkles always been there, or were there new ones? Had they grown more pronounced since that first long interview, back on Earth, when Elizabeth had been deciding whether to make Kate part of her team.

Elizabeth rested her datapad on the table and waited until the room cleared. Then she turned her gaze back to Kate. "I'm sorry this is such a strain on you," she offered. "I know it's not what you signed up for."

Kate gave her a wry smile. "That applies to all of us." She concentrated on shutting down her datapad before she looked up at Elizabeth again. "I'll be fine. It's just that sometimes therapy relationships can become...," Kate searched for the kindest word. It would be unfair to give Elizabeth the impression this was all the fault of her clients. Eventually she settled for "Unhealthy. I just need... a little time that I can call my own, some distance."

"From Rodney?" Elizabeth couldn't keep the cynical edge from her voice.

Kate looked away. She suspected Rodney had a tendency to crash into Elizabeth's office unannounced and at the most inconvenient times as well. She wondered how Elizabeth dealt with him. She suppressed a sigh. "Amongst others, yes," she admitted.

"If you really want to be alone, I could talk to-."

"No." Kate swiftly interrupted her. She didn't want to have to open that argument again. "John... Major Sheppard is right. I should have an escort."

Kate felt a sudden stillness in Elizabeth, a tension to her. Looking up, she caught Elizabeth's raised eyebrow. Kate cursed herself for the slip as a thoughtful look settled over Elizabeth's face.

"Kate, are you seeing Major Sheppard?"

Kate tried not to jump. For a wild moment, she wondered what Elizabeth was referring to. Then – Kate berated herself for considering any other option – she realised she just meant professionally.

Elizabeth was gesturing at her datapad. "He's not on your list."

"Not formally," Kate forced herself to meet Elizabeth's gaze, and mustered as honest and transparent an expression as she could manage. "We've talked a few times, off the record."

Again Elizabeth arched her eyebrow. "Anything I should know about?"

Kate shook her head. "He just needed a friendly ear once in a while." She gave Elizabeth a penetrating look of her own. "Much like yourself."

A frown creased Elizabeth's forehead; she fidgeted with her datapad. Kate felt like she'd used a low trick to deflect the focus of the conversation onto her, and she tried to soften and disguise the ruse. After all, she didn't want to put Elizabeth off seeking help if she needed it. She wouldn't serve Atlantis at all well if she did that. "You do know if you need to talk, I'm here," she hastily pointed out. "Any time. I'm always available"

"Of course...."

Elizabeth's words sounded distant as Kate's own statement echoed in her head. Stupid... stupid... Why can I never learn?

Elizabeth had paused, watching as Kate unconsciously rubbed her temples and sighed. "What is it?" The Atlantis expedition leader's voice carried a genuinely worried note.

Kate grimaced. "See, that's the kind of stupid thing I say and shouldn't." She shook her head, angry at herself. "Just because you can't sleep at two in the morning doesn't mean you should come and wake me up and expect me to do something about it." She looked up at Elizabeth, and added bitterly. "I'm no good at setting boundaries and expectations." She shrugged. "That's why I need this project. I need people to see I'm not a round-the-clock service."

Elizabeth had laid a gentle hand on Kate's arm and nodded. "I hope it helps."

Making her way back to her office, Kate had hoped it would help too.

Her mind had drifted back to the conversation with Rodney three evenings before. She had been tidying up her notes from the day's sessions when he arrived. Opening the door to him, she found him shifting from one foot to another, shaking a loosely clenched fist up and down in front of him while he waited. She recognised the signs. Her heart sank. She opened her mouth but, before she had a chance to either invite him in or turn him away, he pushed past her.

“Need to talk,” he announced brusquely.

Kate sighed, but stood her ground by the door. “Won't it wait until tomorrow, Rodney? I could fit you in first thing.”

“No! He's out there right now! Jeopardizing the safety of everyone on Atlantis!"

She turned, frowning. "Rodney, what are you talking about?"

“Major Sheppard," he snarled. She was surprised at the level of antagonism in his voice. "He's out there on the south west pier being sweet-talked by some alien woman we know nothing about, except she lit up the internal sensors like a Christmas tree. She's probably worming his security code and all our defence plans out of him right now...."

There was a roaring in Kate's ears and her vision blurred. She put a hand on the door frame to steady herself.

“What do you think? Kate? Kate?” Rodney's voice snapped her back.

“I'm sorry, Rodney.” She flushed. “You, er...,” she caught herself stuttering and took a deep breath. “You've caught me a bit on the hop. I wasn't expecting anyone this late." She gestured to the couch. "Could you run that past me again a bit more slowly?”

He pulled a face, but did have the grace to look a little abashed. “You know we have a visitor?" He sat down. "The priestess," his tone was acerbic, "from the planet we visited today."

Kate sat opposite him and nodded. She'd heard someone mention it in the mess hall when she'd gotten dinner earlier.

“Right now, Major Sheppard is out on the south west pier with her, showing her the best view,” Rodney made air quotes, “whatever that means.... And Doctor Weir seems to think the possibility of Sheppard using his charm to secure us a treaty is worth the risk he'll compromise Atlantis to a woman we know nothing about, except she clearly isn't who she says she is, and she had him wrapped round her finger from the moment he laid eyes on her." Rodney suddenly slumped back in his seat, deflated. "And I don't know if I'm seeing a problem that really exists – since no one else seems bothered by it – or just...." He hesitated, before dropping his voice so that Kate had to lean forward to catch him mutter the word "jealous".

Kate found herself falling back on parroting Rodney's words in an attempt to give herself time to make sense of his tale. Her own thinking still seemed to be somewhat muddled. Images of John were flashing through her mind: smiling out at the spires of Atlantis as the sun set beyond them; letting that wry grin twitch the corner of his mouth as he tried not to laugh; his eyes bright and passionate as he talked about flying or football or his grandparents' ranch; his face shadowed and serious as he turned to grimmer subjects.

"Jealous... of Major Sheppard?" she heard herself stutter.

Rodney, rightly, gave her a contemptuous glare. "Of course of Major Sheppard," he repeatedly heavily.

Kate pushed the thoughts away and focused on Rodney's slight sneer. "And what, in particular, do you think you might be jealous of, Rodney?"

He gave her a pointed, even pained, look. "Oh, I don't know. Could it be that it was Major Sheppard that the beautiful, scantily dressed alien woman was making googly eyes at, and not me?"

Of course she was beautiful, Kate thought sourly. Wasn't there research that said that people naturally sought out partners whose attractiveness was a similar level to their own. The plain stuck with the plain. And someone like John Sheppard would surely be attracted to – and expect to have his interest returned by – the most gorgeous woman in the room. While she and Rodney.... Kate raised an eyebrow at the notion that Rodney, of all people, would value looks over brains.

"Do you want her to be making googly eyes at you?" She couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice.

Rodney sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. It would be nice if just once...." He pulled himself up. "Anyway, that's beside the point. The point is: do I not trust her just because I'm jealous of Sheppard's ability to win friends and influence people, or because I'm right, and there really is something very wrong about her, and she's not who she claims to be?"

Kate battled against the thoughts raging around her head, trying to work out how to help Rodney sort through the muddle of his feelings. After a moment, she countered his question with one of her own. "How would you feel if it was Doctor Weir who was making a new friend on the south west pier, rather than Major Sheppard?"

"Hmmph." Rodney creased his forehead in concentration. "Honestly? I'm having trouble imagining Elizabeth being that ready to trust someone that much that quickly. So, yes, it would still bother me."

"And what if it was an alien priest?" He looked puzzled at the question. "How do you think you'd react if Major Sheppard was behaving like this with an alien man, rather than an alien woman?"

He rolled his eyes. "Apart from being deeply disturbed?" He shook his head to wave away her protest that he take her seriously. "I know what you mean. Fair question. You know," he paused, clearly thinking it through. "Sheppard turns on the charm with anything with a pulse." He shook his head. "I'm not sure he even knows he's doing it half the time. But I've never seen him drop his own guard so completely and so quickly. Even with someone that hot...."

Rodney's voice trailed off. Kate waited, part of her mind, the part that was focused on Rodney letting him make his own connections, the other part sunk in numb misery. Rodney was right: John was equally charming, equally personable to everyone. And meant very little by it.

Breaking into her thoughts, she heard Rodney mutter at last, "It's not right. Even if she's who she claims to be, Sheppard's behaving like a complete idiot, like he's thinking with his...." Rodney checked himself abruptly and looked up at Kate. He turned bright red. "Well, you know. And he's using Atlantis to impress her like it's, like it's his dad's car. Except we're going to end up with more than a dented fender and having his allowance stopped for a month." Again, he cut himself off and shot Kate an embarrassed look. "Well." He puffed out his cheeks, slapped his knees with his palms and got to his feet. "Whatever's going on, it's not good, and someone needs to put a stop to it."

Kate nodded weakly as Rodney, re-energised, strode from the room. She scarcely noticed that he had failed to thank her. Alone at last, she crossed to the window and leant her head against the cool pane, glad she couldn't see the south west pier from her office.

Why should it matter so much to her if John was spending time with someone else? She suspected that, like Elizabeth, he had few close friends. She should be glad he'd found someone to connect with. And yet....

She couldn't deny that the feeling that had welled up in her – assaulted her, even – was jealousy, pure and simple. As she had encouraged Rodney to do, she altered the scenario. What if it were Carson showing this woman around? Would she mind so much?

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. No. The answer was no. She not only wouldn't mind, she'd be happy he'd begun to form new relationships after the loss of Perna. No matter what permutations she ran through her head, it was only the thought of John Sheppard and another woman that troubled her. Was it that he'd met her only a few hours before and yet seemed to have given her the friendship that it had taken Kate weeks to secure? Yes, that hurt, but there was more. She imagined John smiling, laughing, moving closer....

Her eyes snapped open. She pushed away from the window, at the same time fending off the thought of how nice it would be to reach out and smooth his ruffled hair, and to see that grin fade in the moments before he brought his lips down on to hers....

Enough! Transference. It was just transference. Kate paced across the room. She'd mistaken the empathy she felt for him as she counseled him for something else. That was all. Hadn't she got out of counseling years back because she'd lacked the necessary detachment from her patients, and found it too hard to avoid words and actions that seemed to encourage clients to fixate on her. Look at the way Rodney treated her, for goodness' sake!

If only she could step away from it all as easily as she'd abandoned counseling last time. If only she was spending her days doing what she came here to do, and her evenings enjoying normal friendships, instead of this crazy half-life. If only she wasn't in a closed community where there was no escape, nowhere to go. If only...

Kate had stopped dead and taken a deep breath. If wishes were horses then beggars would ride! Whining about what she couldn't change wasn't going to get her anywhere. What could she do? Set some boundaries, get some distance, get some perspective....

Finding herself next to her desk, she sat down and rested her head in her hands while she thought. She never expected John to turn up every evening: sometimes he was off-world, a few times he'd been in the infirmary, the rest of the time, she assumed, he was busy or had something better to do. But he always expected to find her there. Just like Rodney always expected to find her in her office and ready to talk.

Pulling her datapad towards her, she'd called up her schedule. If she shifted a few people around, she could free up a couple of spare days. Days when she could make herself scarce, not be where people expected her to be. That was the answer. The gossip in the mess hall was that they were finding a lot of interesting stuff in labs out on the piers. She'd talk to Carson first thing in the morning about finding her something to work on. And then, maybe, she'd be able to get these ridiculous emotions under control....

Now, two weeks later, she had the satisfaction of knowing she was finally contributing to the research on Atlantis, as well as managing to put her relationship with John Sheppard on a safer footing. Or, at the very least, managing to avoid him for almost a fortnight. Between the excuses of getting back late from the lab or spending her evenings preparing for her next visit, or making sure she only made the trip down to the balcony when she knew he was off-world, she'd ensured they hadn't met again.

She missed it, of course. Without a touch of fresh air each evening, she wasn't sleeping well. What little normal conversation she'd had seemed to have disappeared almost entirely, apart from a few passing pleasantries in the mess hall. Yet she was safe, safe from making a terrible mistake, for herself and for the Atlantis expedition.

Of course, she couldn't avoid him completely. It would be too suspicious. Looked like he might be wondering what was going on already. Only this morning he'd stopped her as she was leaving the mess hall, and first enquired quietly if she was satisfied with the marine he'd assigned to her, and then – even more quietly – asked her if she was going to be admiring the sunset that evening. It had seemed impossible to say anything but yes.

Stepping out of the transporter in the central tower, and saying goodnight to her silent guard, she headed for her quarters, steeling herself for the coming encounter. By the time she'd dropped her datapad off in her office, showered and changed, grabbed some dinner, and gone back to her office to pick up her journal, which she'd forgotten the first time, it was two hours later. She wasn't surprised, when she made the final turn on the stairs, to find him there before her.

A smile lit up his face as she approached, smoothing away the frown lines around his eyes. "There you are. Wasn't sure you'd come."

"Why wouldn't I?" Too snippy, she told herself angrily. Too defensive.

He arched an eyebrow. "Just haven't seen you in a while. Thought you might be avoiding me." He gave her one of his irritatingly disarming grins. So sure of himself.

"I've been busy." She knew she was sounding short, cold, that she needed to relax, but a knot had formed in her stomach at seeing him again. She couldn't quite meet his gaze. Which only directed her attention to the way a stray spike of hair begged to be smoothed back from his forehead. She turned away to lean on the railing and stare out over the city.

He rested his arms next to hers. "So, how's the new project going."

"Good." She seized with relief on a safe, neutral topic. "Mind you, the Ancients weren't much on instruction manuals, were they? I'm trying to work out if our brains can handle the sensory input or if they'll overload. And whether that'll just give you a headache, or create more serious damage. Then, of course, assuming our brains can store the information, can we actually access it? The Ancients seemed to have much more control over their mental abilities." She glanced up and caught a smirk on his face. "What?"

He laughed. "Didn't expect a briefing."

"Well, pardon me for being so dull." The retort was out of her mouth before she had time to think better of it.

He almost took a step back. "Not dull," he assured her hastily. "Sure could have used something like that when I was taking my navigation exams." He frowned. "Is everything OK? If I didn't know better, I'd say you've been spending too much time talking to McKay."

Kate gripped the railing more tightly and tried to find an even tone. "Just tired." She sighed. She was making such a bad job of this. Maybe she should cut it short. "Look, was there something in particular you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Not really, no." He turned to face her, leaning on one elbow, and gave a shrug. "I just missed talking to you. Hanging out together. And it's been a while since we did that."

"Oh." Did he really mean that? Even so, he only saw her as a friend, nothing more. And she'd better be careful to see him the same way. She mustered a smile and tried her best to sound grateful. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not better company this evening."

"It's OK." They lapsed into silence. Kate wondered if she could manage to get away with spending the next hour like that. He was a good person to be quiet with. Unlike Rodney, who was always jittery, most of the time John radiated a stillness, a sense of contentment and containment that was immensely restful. Even now, when she knew he was looking at her, wondering.

"Hey." He broke the silence. "Got an idea. We never did watch that Flutie game. How 'bout we go do that. Kick back for a few hours, argue over who's the best quarterback of all time...? Can't offer you any beer or pizza, but maybe we can rustle up a pot of Athosian tea and some of those seaweed cracker things they make."

She almost turned him down automatically. Then she realised it was a way to get him off her back by spending a few hours with him, while keeping conversation to a minimum, and to safe topics. Maybe they'd even attract some company to reduce the heat on her still further. "Sure." She forced herself to sound enthusiastic. "That sounds like fun." She turned and gestured him ahead of her. "You get the tape, I'll organise refreshments."

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Comments

[trishkafibble.livejournal.com]

Ooh...somehow I'm thinking the romantic breakthrough is going to come in the next chapter, since Kate thinks watching the game will be safe territory...so I'm off like a shot to read it!! ^^

[tanaquiljall]

LOL Well, I'm more devious than that, as I think you found out.... *g* Hope you still enjoyed the next chapter.