Tamara found herself inside yet another pub, okay, maybe it was the fourth time that day but what could she say? This planet had some grudge against alcohol it seemed because it was all she could do to find any! It was driving her insane at this point, but the more reasonable side of her didn't mind so much for a few reasons. One being, without being hammered, she could easily identify the people she was supposed to keeping an eye out for. Which was good, because it had kept her out of trouble so far. And the other reason being she was allowed to think about things without getting too overly emotional about them.

She sighed, just thinking about thinking about those things made a slide show of memories go through her mind. Was I always so easily triggered? She thought back to when Neo had called her Leora. Yeah, okay I guess I am.

Leora...

Her name when things that happened in her life actually made sense. But that was a long time ago.

It was nearly 30 years ago, and yet as everything replayed in her mind it still felt as if it had only happened yesterday.

The day everything changed... the day when he died.

Leora?

Leora..?

L-E-O-R-A!"

"Huh? What?" Leora turned to see a rain drenched Weisan awkwardly waving at her just outside the threshold of her door. She stared at him for a moment, his onyx eyes, his dark green skin, his dripping black hair, his crumpled white T-shirt hanging around his neck in place of a towel; her eyes traveled lower and mentally devoured him at the sight of his ripped muscles that lead to a striking V line that deliciously dipped into the waistline of his jeans, his black briefs winking her as they gripped his love handles. She forced herself to travel all the way back up to his eyes, with much difficulty, and then realized what had happened.

She burst out laughing which earned her a low whine of protest from the soaked man, his once awkward smile turning into a small pout.

"Leora!" He whined like a child, his shoulder's slouching as he bobbed up and down impatient for her to finish laughing.

"Why are you always soaking wet after work Kevin?" She laughed harder, "You work in a mine for fuck sake."

"Well," he huffed, crossing his arms which flashed his muscles at her. "If you must know the mine is actually in the mountains. So while it may not rain down here!" he emphasized the low part by crouching down and hovering his hand just above the ground. "It sure as hell rains up here!" He stood up bringing his hand just by his forehead, and that's when she felt a tick place itself on her head.

Oh hell no. She thought threateningly. He did not make a short joke just now.

Sensing the dangerous aura that was no doubt growing like a miasma around her, he laughed at the daggers she glared at him and shook his head.

"No, I tripped and fell off a bridge, smacked my head on a rock and kinda free-floated down stream until I was fished out by old Willie." His nonchalant-ness had caught her off guard, anger put aside, she rushed over to him, her previous project of journalism abandoned.

"Oh my God, Kevin!" She exclaimed. "Are you okay?" She asked as she began patting him over with her hands, inspecting everything she could see.

He only laughed at her, slowing her hands to a stop as he grabbed them and pulled them to his face, kissing her knuckles gently. "I'm fine. It was only a bonk, nothing serious."

She stopped her panicking but continued to frown up at him. She hated how scary his job was, hated it even more that he was always joking about things like this. He was everything to her, she would die if anything happened to him, in every way possible until her very soul was tore about. It felt as if it might even tear at the idea of him not being with her.

"Hey. Stop it." As if sensing her thoughts, he brushed his knuckles on her cheek before cupping the sides of her face, placing a gentle kiss upon her lips. "I'm okay. You know how we work, it'll be okay."

She decided to take solace in his words rather than worrying about it anymore for the moment. Closing her eyes she took a breath to calm her thoughts before looking back up at him, giving him a small smile. "You must be cold, c'mon. I'll draw you a warm bath."

She turned, holding his hand, prepared to drag him into that bathroom when she realized he wasn't moving. She turned to look what was wrong but stopped. The sight before her had her knees weak, her body instinctively knowing what was going to happen. It said it all with that cocky ass smirk he gave her.

He walked up to her, embracing her from behind, his cold hands sliding up the front of her shirt as his fingers gently flayed out against her warm skin. He nuzzled her neck with his nose, it felt as if a large muscly ice cube decided to rub up on her, and yet that same ice cube burned wherever it touched.

"I can think a few different ways to get warm again.." He whispered huskily into her ear speaking in a secret tone he knew made her weak. His fingers tickled her skin as they traveled further up, brushing the sensitive skin just under her breasts. She barely had time to gasp when it was all over, he was going to get what he wanted, and she was going to give it to him until she couldn't any longer.

This... she thought to herself, this must be what heaven feels like.

She could still feel his touch across her skin, traveling around her like phantoms as he laid beside her, his breaths slow and deep, the pounding of his heart filling her with a warmth she had never felt before he came into her life.

She had closed her eyes for the briefest of moments when she felt the bed shift at the foot of the bed, a knowing smile slowly grew on her lips.

"Momma!"

Looking down she suddenly wished her camera wasn't in the shop, because before her was her small child, a pair of leggings on his head, his arms within the leg holes, and completely stuck.

"Ryan!" She laughed, "what happened??"

"well.. daddy said we could go to the park this morning but he's still asleep so I wanted to get dressed and-"

Tamara sat up now and placed her hand on the small child's cheek.

"Now now," she whispered, holding back her laughter. "I'll help you and then you can help me make daddy his coffee."

"And then we can go to the park?"

Tamara chuckled, "yes dear."

Ryan proceeded to skip around, laughing and playing as he waited for his father to finish eating.

"I'll be going back to work tomorrow," Kevin said groggily. He was trying to wake up for Ryan's sake, but he seemed to be having some difficulty.

"So soon? I thought you'd have the rest of the week..." Tamara wouldn't hide the fact she was sad to hear this, she somehow knew him having a 3 day weekend was a bit much to ask for. The house felt so much at ease when he was around.

"I did too but my messenger went off in the middle of the night, at least they're letting me leave tomorrow." He rose to his feet and embraced her, "The day is young," he said. Looking down at her he placed a small kiss on her forehead, "we have all day."

"I'd trade just this one day for every day," Tamara whispered.

"I believe you," he smiled and leaned down to kiss her, his lips nearly there when. . .

"Daddy come on! I really want to play on the big slide! You promised!" Ryan whined, pulling on his father's shirt.

"Your son demands your attention," Tamara smiled, giving him a chaste kiss when he threatened to pout. "Go on, I want to start prepping dinner."

Kevin rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat. "Go get your shoes, son."

"Yay!"

Kevin stole one last kiss before rushing to grab his jacket, in case Ryan decided to nag at him again.

"Be safe!" Tamara said, waving as they disappeared down the road.

Tamara hung her head down, the depression she felt nearly overwhelmed her. I can't think of them again... not now.

The sounds of the pub around her faded in, alerting her to her surroundings. I must have dozed off...

The bright digital clock above the bar flashed 8 o'clock. Stephen would be here soon...

"I could of swore you said you would wait until we were done with business before you got hammered." A man's voice said behind her. She knew that voice anywhere.

"If you were to show up on time I wouldn't have had to drink alone," Tamara grumbled, rubbing the sleep off her eyes.

"Forgive me, I didn't think I had to specify AM from PM with you," Stephen scoffed as he sat down next to her, waving at the bartender for a beer.

"What do you have for me?" Tamara figured wasting more time wasn't going to help anything and got straight to the point.

Stephen stared at her for a minute, which made her look at him impatiently, before he said anything. "I have some documents that go over the basic Sonar movements, usual cargo." He shuffled things around in the bag he brought, "and I found some footage regarding what you asked me about that you might be interested in."

Tamara nodded absentmindedly, staring at the base of her empty shot glass.

"There's something else..." the tone in his voice brought her out of her brooding nature, making her look at him. The look on his face made her stomach tighten with worry.

"What?"

"I think I know what happened to Kevin," he said.

Tamara swallowed the bile that came up at hearing her lover's name and put on her best scowl. "What the hell are you talking about? I know what happened to him, you don't need to remind me!" She snapped.

"Do you..?" Stephen's eyes seemed to grow sad. "Or do you only know what they told you."

Tamara paused and chose her words carefully, unsure if she was going to like what she was about to hear. "He died in that accident... in the mines. There were two others who died with him, and that girl who barely managed to escape survived."

As Stephen began to shake his head, his eyes hard and slowly glazing over, Tamara's stomach dropped even further to the point the room was threatening to spin.

"No Tamara... He didn't die in the accident."

He passed a folder over to her.

"He was murdered. He was murdered by the Sonar."