A gentle knock sounded from the door this time. Joshua didn't wait for a response before he opened it and stepped inside. A long line of servants entered, shoving a caravan of food along with them.

"Lydia, sweetheart, you'll be so pleased—" Joshua began, but paused when he spied Midge and then his twin, Queen. "What in the Colony's going on here?" he was quick to add, "You have no right to be here, absolutely none. So if you've come to bring up charges...."

"He came to see me," Midge said, finally.

Joshua nearly shrieked. "I knew it. I knew it was you, Midge, and you were just having a romp. I knew it. Didn't I tell you it was Midge, Lydia? I said it, didn't I?"

Midge didn't respond, and Lydia couldn't find enough composure to focus on them. The next twenty minutes faded in a blur. The only thing coming into focus was Midge.

The E sat, still naked with the robe in his lap, while Lydia was 'dressed' in underwear that hid absolutely nothing. She could only stare at him.

Joshua put two diskettes down and sat back as servants shared the food for them. "We'll talk business after we've had something to nipple." He chuckled, and corrected himself, "I mean nibble. Won't we, my love?"

Lydia wasn't entirely sure Joshua was talking to her like that. She didn't care; she didn't dare look. She wasn't going to lose sight of this E. She refused to sit there without knowing which one was involved in the greatest humiliation she'd ever suffered.

Midge wouldn't return her gaze, while his brother, Queen, or whatever his name was, looked embarrassed for both of them.

"If it's all the same to you," Queen said, gesturing to the two diskettes. "Let's talk business now. My brother and I have several appointments to keep today."

Not once. Midge didn't return Lydia's gaze, not even when that asshole muttered a half-assed apology, saying, "I apologize for how things have gotten out of hand."

"Apologize?" Lydia said, finally. "Apologize? Is this something you two do? Toy with people because you two look the same?" She waited for an answer, and sat up when none came. "Huh? Tricking someone into taking pity on you and then not even looking them in the eye when you spew some weak-ass 'sorry'?" Nobody moved. Lydia kicked Midge's chair, nearly sending the man toppling over. "Huh? You don't even look me in the eye!"

"Lydia," Joshua warned. "Sweetie, you should calm down. Don't take it so seriously. It was all in fun. It just got out of hand. Come on, aren't you relieved that he was really okay. And woo-wee, the way you just charged that force-field...."

In the last twenty-four hours, Lydia hadn't eaten much, but every bit of sustenance she consumed threatened to come back up when she remembered how terrified she'd been. How utterly torn in two she'd been at the thought of the man's injury.

"What the fuck do I know?" Lydia asked, a shiver running through her. She replayed that stupid, stupid decision over and over again. "Was that for fun, too?"

Midge's blue eyes stayed fixed on the table. He didn't talk.

Everything about that fight had left Lydia reeling from the emotion. She thought of the fear, the guilt, and then the absolute and total relief when she'd entered that shower and seen the big giant in one piece. And that touch....

Fighting back a gag, Lydia gripped the table cloth, willing herself to breathe.

"Lydia, dear, are you all right?" Joshua asked.

The worst mistake Joshua ever made was to put his hand on Lydia's shoulder. A slap across the face, so forceful that Joshua cried out, gave him a hard lesson.

"Do not touch me. Don't any one of you fuckers touch me." Lydia trembled. "It's one thing...it's one gaw-ro thing to play a game, but one that...for sport—"

"And what the fuck do you know about it, huh?" Midge sat up. The fury in his eyes mirrored Lydia's own rage. "What the hell do you think you just put me through?"

Lydia kicked Midge's chair again, sending him crashing to the floor. It had been a knee jerk reaction. Midge kept his hunched posture where he landed, the bathrobe still clenched at his groin.

It took some time for Lydia to stand, not for any injury done to her physically. She suddenly found it hard to breathe.

"It wasn't like that." Midge whispered. His body reddened as he confessed. "That was my first real sexual encounter, and I promise you, it's one I'll regret till the day I die." At the silence which followed, he said, "And...I only want to apologize. I want to apologize now."

Queen stood and waited.

Lydia stared down at Midge, her jaw working as all anger faded from her body, replaced instead with a sense of self-hate and disgust.

Joshua stepped forward, maybe to help Lydia sit, but Lydia shrugged the man-puppet off and flopped down on her own.

"Like I said," Queen muttered, "let's talk about business now, because I'm not sure we can all make it out of here in one piece."

Holding his cheek, Joshua winced. He tested the bruise and gasped at the sight of the blood.

"Has she cut me? Has she cut me?"

"Calm down, sir. We can repair it," Queen said, looking at Midge. "I mean...I can."

"No. Don't touch me," Joshua said. "I'll have my private doctor look at it. Let's just get this thing resolved."

Midge wouldn't meet Lydia's gaze as Queen ushered him up. He refused to sit down again.

Joshua's concern for his own perfect face faded with a soft, yet awkward, chuckle. "Sexual encounter? What was that all about? Did I miss something? Some sort of celebration that goes into nearly dying?"

No one had anything to say.

Joshua gestured to the diskettes. "I assume both amounts are ready for immediate release? It's not a bad amount. Fifty seems so cheap, though," Joshua drawled as he looked Queen in the eye. "You E's require no living quarters or food from the Colony, so I imagine you've got much more saved up. I'd never even paid Midge with credits. That's how useless he finds them. So fifty...that's really such a trifle, isn't it?"

Midge, holding Lydia's bathrobe before him to guard himself, muttered to Queen under his breath, "Give them more."

Queen looked from Joshua to Lydia then back again. "You aren't getting more. That's it, take it or leave it. And we'll see ourselves out."

The robe took up Midge's attention as he didn't seem to know what to do with it. He tried to put it down on his chair, but hesitated.

Queen wore a look of disgust. "Take it with you. You don't want to leave any of yourself anywhere, and definitely not in the Lower-Levels."

Midge's breathing seemed labored as he whispered, "It wasn't...me. She...was the one to react, so...."

Feeling queasy, Lydia gripped the back of her chair.

"Well are you planning to walk to the transport site nude?" Queen asked.

Midge chewed his bottom lip as he mulled it over.

"Don't worry about this misunderstanding," Joshua said with a chuckle. "One hundred and twenty-five years of credits can make nearly all bad situations disappear. Consider it absolved. And go ahead and keep that robe. We won't have to speak of Lydia's ill-fated attempt at saving dumb-dumb-Mr. Osbourne. It was a romp. We'll all laugh about it one day." Joshua looked placid when talking to the twins. He picked up the diskette and flashed Lydia an excited smile. "You're welcome." He took the bathrobe and shoved it into Lydia's direction.

Another gag came, and this time, bile came with it, shooting from Lydia's mouth before she could stop it. It was followed by a second heave.

Joshua shot to his feet, quite vocal in his revulsion. One of the E's was equally as annoyed.

"Oh, gross."

The naked one, Midge, that bastard, rushed Lydia head on, fighting to keep her upright.

"Easy. Easy. Oh no. Oh please, calm the hell down. Calm the hell down," Midge begged. He called back to his twin. "Can we get her something...? Anything?"

Queen snorted in derision and turned to the open door.

"Oh, this is ridiculous. Call me when she's cleaned up," Joshua grumbled as he hurried out.

The other twin left, too. Half an hour later, Midge lowered a washed and cleaned Lydia into the bed. Lydia turned over when she heard the feet patting the floor. Somewhere during her break down she'd lost track of which one had stayed behind. It was Midge. It had to be.

Joshua was gone at least. Although Lydia was disheartened at being seen like that, she was thankful for the silence that followed.

Warm, calloused hands running along Lydia's forehead brought her back to reality. Midge stayed behind and tended to her. That provoked both distress and comfort. No, Lydia didn't really want the man's company, but if she'd been left behind, distant fears of turning out uncared for, like Dizzy would rear its ugly head.

A tray rested beside the bed. The E dragged it close, and went to work separating the food.

Lydia risked focusing on him.

Osbourne...Midge...was still bare from the waist up. The small size of the clothes he wore made him look silly; it might have come complimentary with the suite. Lydia cursed the man. From his strong features, his wrinkled brow to the pout of his full lips, all of it. From this distance, his cropped green hair suited him. It still looked stupid, though.

Midge glanced at her. He opened and closed his mouth again and again.

Finally, he let out a sigh. "I'll earn your forgiveness. I want you to know that."

My forgiveness? Lydia repeated the words to herself.

"Which one are you?" Lydia asked, her shaky voice sounding foreign, even to her own ears.

"My name's Midge. We call the other one Queen." Midge said, cutting into a pastry with care.

Lydia's gut ached. "Which one are you? The one from the shower?"

Midge's face reddened. His entire upper body took on a blush as he nodded. "Yes."

Lydia closed her eyes. She put her forehead against Midge's knees. Her own response confused her. In all honesty, everything inside her told her she should claw the man's eyes out. But Midge had given her something she appreciated. Despite being made into a fool, despite the lie and the betrayal brought by it, Lydia felt at ease. She felt at peace, safe and secure.

That's why she dragged Midge's chair closer, why she turned to rest her right cheek in the man's lap. Another person might have done something selfish or strange when Lydia was like this. It wasn't the first time she'd had a break.

"I need my inhaler," she said, but Midge didn't respond.

She turned her head to meet Midge's gaze.

"We both know...we both know you don't need that. You're best without it." Midge wrinkled his brow, pleading. "Just for a little while longer, till you come back to yourself. Please, just try to last without it."

The way they stared at one another was reminiscent of a cheesy love story. There was no love here, but Lydia did feel at peace.

"What'd I do to deserve all that? Did I just come off as funny?" Lydia whispered.

"No," Midge gasped. "Didn't you notice? You get an E and suddenly everyone's on ya? I figured they'd lose interest if I was damaged. It was stupid of me to think that; it just made everything worse."

Lydia eased up to stare at him. "So you hadn't intended...."

"No." Midge caught his breath. "No Never. But we can...we can touch. In the theater we couldn't, but we can touch now. I've...." His gaze cast low, he muttered, "I've never touched anyone in my life—not like that." He met Lydia's gaze. "But don't think for a minute any of that was my intent."

Neither of them seemed to have anything to say.

Midge's expression held anguish, and something Lydia mistook for a hint of admiration.

"You took on Ruckus for me. Do you know how utterly insane that is?" Midge smiled with affection until it dissolved "And I'll make amends. The list of wrongs I've gotta right is huge, but I'll apologize. I'll find a way."

Lydia took the man in. Midge was large, a big menacing looking brute at first glance. This was the first time in Lydia's life that she'd encountered a big man who didn't frighten her. Even Milton, who was rather tall, terrified Lydia to a point.

Midge did have an edge to him, but it wasn't ravenous or predatory.

Eyes settled on Midge's small trousers, Lydia supported herself on her elbows as she undid the buttons.

"Take this off. It looks ridiculous."

The confused expression Midge wore deepened. He didn't resist or struggle when Lydia finished her task, pulled herself up, and revealed Midge's thick cock.

"So that's what's caused all this?" Lydia muttered. She had to be sure it wasn't a fluke, that there was something between them to explain why she'd gotten such a reaction with this man, and no one else. Lydia closed her eyes and asked, "How are you doing this to me?" She looked Midge in the eye. "No one's ever caused that reaction; not even once. Not genuinely."

Midge's cock stiffened within seconds. The uneasy expression on his face worried Lydia. She assured him, "I'm not mad about before. I don't like being toyed with—not without my permission." Taking hold of Midge's right hand, Lydia tugged it close, guiding it under the sheets. "Come here."

"What?" Midge studied her. "Why?"

"How about a repeat performance?"

The warm dick in Lydia's hands throbbed and Midge's heavy breathing betrayed the larger man's appreciation. Her body lit up in response, awash with a pulsing sensation she couldn't recognize. It was nice and she wanted to see how long it could last.

"Wait," Midge shoved her back.

The grip on Lydia's arm was so strong her skin burned in pain.

"Wait. You're a noble. Hasn't anyone ever warned you about fooling around with E's? Trust me, I'm the last self-destructive thing that you think you need."

Lydia's body blushed, but the look of worry, then pity, which Midge wore, cut her in two.

"I'm not like the inhaler," Midge warned. "I'm not like the other stuff. An Elemental'll hurt you. I'll hurt you for years to come. So please, calm the hell down."

Frozen, Lydia looked from Midge's stern expression to the wilting cock, and lamented. "No."

"Stop it!" Midge barked, holding her at distance. "You don't like to be toyed with and neither do I. I'm not some curious experiment. I said stop."

But how could Lydia stop? Even now, as stupid as she knew it was, as shameful as Lydia knew it was, she still longed to climb into the man's lap. She longed to feel Midge explode into her. The look of terror the man wore told her those actions weren't sound desires.

"This is a bad idea," Midge confessed. "Just calm down."

Lydia ached for him.

"You have to sleep this off," Midge insisted. "You have to sleep it off and we'll figure it out later."

"I'm not drunk or high. I'm horny," Lydia confessed. "I'm gaw-ro horny, and for the first time in my life, I'm actually horny for someone."

"I won't be kept or ruined by anyone. I...I have someone I love. So I can't do this. I really can't."

Lydia stared back at him, at a loss. She honestly didn't care. On any other day, she would have, but today, at this moment, she didn't care.

"I have someone...someone I love. So please, just stop."

Midge was slow to push her back, but it might have hurt a lot less if he didn't act so sympathetic.

Unable to meet the E's gaze, Lydia lay again and turned over.

"About...about the money," Midge began as he took the diskettes from the little table. "If it's a good enough amount of credits for—"

An awkward silence lulled between them.

"The credits...." Midge said again.

The man wasn't going to leave without getting the answer he wanted. Her stomach tight, Lydia nodded. "Just leave it there. It's a great deal and I appreciate it. Thank you."

Lydia waited for Midge to leave. The man was so still that she wondered if his trousers were still undone. Was he still sitting there with his dick hanging out?

"You'll take it with you?" Midge asked, finally. "Because the emotion I'm getting from you is that you want to jump into a pit."

Upset threatened Lydia so she closed her eyes. "I'll take it with me."

"All of it?" Midge asked.

That answer took a lot longer to form. "Yes, of course. It's a fortune. Who would leave it behind? My mother's in a bad way, it'll help us so much. Thank you."

Just leave already!

"Is it because I didn't earn it for you? Not properly?"

"No," Lydia said, but a sob came with it. "Please, just leave it there. You can go."

"Because I can earn it for you, I know it's only one hundred's worth but it's not a bad amount," he insisted.

It was a fortune. Maybe E's couldn't value credits, but even being in the same room as that much money must have had Joshua sporting an erection, too.

"Thank you very much for the diskettes. I.... Honest...thank you," Lydia whispered. "Please give me some privacy."