Good. [This is weird.]




Uh...she orders me to not feel too guilty, or to wallow and brood--her words.

There's a letter for you, too, but I didn't open it.

I'll come look at it. [He leaves to go to Dylan's room.]

[He walks over and picks it up.] I know it's difficult, but if you could be here for any flood, I'm glad it was one where you could hear something from her.

It's funny, part of me is pissed that I couldn't be here, too, and talk to her. And part of me is grateful. It makes it a little easier.

I hope you're able to remember it. [He opens the letter to read it, turning away from Dylan for a moment.

What's it say?

[He figures if it's private, Rhade will tell him to buzz off.]

I didn't expect her to leave you a letter...since... [Since as far as Dylan knew, Sarah thought Rhade was a traitor to the Commonwealth who tried to assassinate Dylan.]

I told her the truth. [He says as he reads quietly, and then mutters something about people bringing him alcohol all the time. Though in this case, what she comments on isn't an incorrect conclusion to come to.]

It's not important [He turns to Dylan.]

How did she take it? No violence, I hope.

Just a minor threat of violence. [He makes a small space between his fingers, and folds up the letter. It really doesn't matter anymore, he realizes. Not unless their times line up again.]

Not bad, then. She gives me minor threats of violence all the time. [Very minor, and never very serious, but that's what happens when you date the favorite niece of Admiral Constanza Stark. When she says she knows ways to make a person hurt, you believe her.]

How's your daughter?

She's healthy. She's fine. [She's teething.] Thank you for staying, by the way. Even for a short time.

No problem. I just wish I'd been able to be more useful and...here.

I hope Ben didn't get into any trouble while half the ship was someone else.

Not that I know of. [He hasn't heard about the teeth yet. He sites down beside of Dylan quietly.] I brought you a bottle wine.

She saw me bringing you the bottle of wine. She thought it meant uh... exactly what it meant.

[Dylan's eyebrows go up a little.]

She's a smart and observant woman.

That explains a couple of the things she hinted at in my letter. [And if he's reading those hints correctly, she doesn't disapprove in theory although she's not entirely sure of his choice of person.]

[His smile is a little mournful, because he knows what comes next.] Funny how things work out. [She just wants him to be happy.] Let's share that wine together, though. Like you said, you didn't want to leave with me feeling angry and violent and I'm not now.

[Funny and unfortunate. And he can't even blame it on chance or bad luck anymore. Because of Trance. When he's not careful he can get angry over the feeling that something else is directing his life. But he doesn't want to be angry now.]

I'll go get some glasses, you open the wine. And tell me all about your daughter. I want all the details Let me have some vicarious fatherhood.

[He smiles a bit.] Sure. I can do that. I always thought you would get sick of hearing about my children, though. I didn't want to talk about them that much with you.

Yeah, that was back when I'd get jealous about not having some sprouts of my own to talk about. Whenever anyone mentioned kids, I just wanted to get on making some of my own and then I'd get frustrated that I couldn't because we were on a mission in deep space or something.

[He shrugged. He still wants children of his own, but he's accepted that it's not going to happen any time in the near future.]

But things are different now. So, tell me about Anisette.

[For a moment he doesn't know where to begin.] She's still small. Her other parent is psychic, and part of the genetic arrangement was to introduce empathetic genes to my people. But it means sometimes when I'm having a nightmare, she wakes up crying.

She's not like most Time Lords, though. She likes being held.

I guess the only solution to that is to make sure you never have nightmares. [His smile is a bit sad. Making the nightmares go away isn't that easy, as well he knows.]

Does she have boneblades?

She will. Any genetic test would identify her as a Nietzschean, just with a few specializations in her existing genes. She won't regenerate, not like a Time Lord. Her life will be long, but there will be only one. [And he sounds oddly proud of that.] Her boneblades haven't come in yet. But I think they're starting to.

A super-Nietzschean. Paul Museveni would be proud. She's going to have the best damn genes this side of the three galaxies.

Although those boneblades coming in must itch something fierce.

[He smiles faintly.] I'm certain she'll take it out on me when I go back. The only peculiarity anyone will notice with her lineage is the sudden appearance of the Clan name "Braxiatel".

Yeah, how does that work? Since technically speaking she didn't come "out of" Braxiatel.

[Although Dylan doesn't actually know all that much about Time Lord physiology or how this genetic blending worked.]

At least I hope not.

[Because the image of that grey-suited man with a pregnant belly is too weird even for a well-travelled space farer like him.]