Tierney spent the rest of the day in a fog. Nelle gave what would likely be her last broadcast to the few Americans remaining on Earth, but Tierney hardly heard a word of it. Even Jonas, who was scheduled to leave with them the next day, could tell she was out of it when he tried to corner her, and surprisingly left her alone, although she likely wouldn't have put up much of a fight if he'd persisted. All she could think about, all she saw, was Tausson.

Commander Arrat said that he had been on the Eklan, helping with conveyance repairs at the time of the explosion.

Now he was gone. Tausson was gone.

Finally, in the middle of a conversation with the last remaining governor, watching the last sunset she'd ever see on Earth, the reality of it caught up with her. With tears burning to be released, and a strangling lump in her throat, she quickly got off the phone and gave in to the sorrow.

But even as she sobbed, she tried to understand why she was feeling so distraught. Tausson had only wanted her body. She knew that. So why did she feel like she'd missed out on something? Why was there a gaping hole in her heart that called out his name?

With no answers and little hope of ever finding any, Tierney went to bed. She was so exhausted, the thought that this was the last time she'd sleep in this office, in this city, on this planet, didn't even occur to her.

* * *

She was dreaming about Tausson again. She could feel his hands on her, massaging her breasts, sliding down her body until they rubbed between her thighs, his fingers rubbing her from the inside. Moaning with delight, she reached out, felt his strong body above hers.

But something didn't feel right. Instead of the smooth mechasuit, his shirt had buttons. She heard the jingling of a belt buckle, the buzz of a zipper. Tausson didn't wear any of these clothes.

Tausson didn't wear anything anymore. He was dead.

Tierney's eyes popped open to see Jonas's face hovering over her. His pants were already on the floor, and his erection pointed angrily at her as he reached to pull down his underwear.

Without a word she brought her knee up hard. She missed her mark, getting his upper thigh instead of his crotch, but it was enough to catch him off guard.

"Ow!" he cried out.

She started to slide off the couch, but he threw himself on top of her, falling to the floor with her.

"That's more like it," he said, grabbing her arms and pinning them above her head. "You weren't yourself earlier. Now I've got your full attention."

"Get the hell off of me!" she shouted as she flailed, trying to squirm out from under him.

He leered at her jiggling breasts, jamming his still covered erection between her legs. "There's no way I'm spending my last night on Earth without you on my dick."

"Jonas!" she screamed, hoping someone would hear her. Nelle was on the other side of the building, but there had to be at least a few Secret Service agents still around? "Stop!"

"Don't act like you don't want this too," he said, "leaving your door unlocked. I remember how you like to sleep naked -- you're always ready for a good screw."

Had she left her door unlocked? She was so distracted all day, she didn't doubt it was possible.

He leaned down, pressing his lips on hers while sliding her wrists together so he could hold both of them with one hand and lower his underwear with the other, grabbing her breast along the way.

Tierney bit down hard on his lip and he jerked back, crying out, but not loosening his grip. Then his eyes darkened with a mean smile. "You wanna play rough, bitch?"

Still clutching her hands, he leaned back on his knees, and even though she resisted, he managed to flip her onto her stomach. He threw himself on top of her, his rock hard erection jabbing into her back.

"Jonas!" she shouted again. "Stop this now! Stop, please!"

"I've been waiting for years to do this," he said. She felt his underwear slide off, his hot dick bare on her back. "You wouldn't let me when we were together, but you'll thank me after."

Suddenly he cried out, and his body floated completely off of her. Tierney scrambled across the room and hid behind her desk.

"Hey! Put me down!" Jonas yelled.

"You will regret your actions."

Tierney's heart leapt. Was that the voice she thought it was? But it wasn't possible...

Peering around her desk, she saw Tausson, holding Jonas high above his head. "Tausson!" she cried. Her nakedness was the only thing keeping her from running to him.

He looked furious -- even angrier than when she said no to being his mate. "Are you harmed?"

"No," she said, still in shock at seeing him alive. "Are you?"

His expression softened for an instant, but Jonas was still struggling, and called out, preventing Tausson from replying.

"I wasn't doing anything she didn't want. Let me down!"

Without a word, Tausson did as Jonas asked, dropping him on the ground. Tierney laughed as he landed with a hard thud and slowly curled up, moaning in pain.

Tausson tapped on his sleeve and spoke into his transmitter. Tierney couldn't understand the words, but when Commander Arrat's sleepy voice answered, even Tierney could tell she was happily surprised to hear from him. After their transmission ended, Tausson lifted Jonas to his feet, locking his unyielding arm around his prisoner's neck.

"Tausson, wait!" Tierney cried as their bodies began to vanish. She couldn't let him just disappear from her life again. She needed to see him, to touch him, to prove that he was real.

"I will return," he said, his voice rippling through the air as he dissolved into nothing.

* * *

Tausson delivered Jonas into the confused arms of Carterra. After only the briefest of explanations, he said, "I must return to confirm Tierney's wellbeing."

Carterra gave him a gentle smile and nodded her assent. "Take as long as you need," she said as he began to convey.

He hadn't even opened his eyes before he felt Tierney's arms around him. He returned the embrace, keenly aware of how natural it felt to hold her, how perfectly their bodies seemed to fit together.

"They said you'd died," she said, her face buried in his shoulder.

"I began to convey back to Earth a few moments before the Eklan exploded," he said. "I saw the flames begin, even felt the heat, but I was far enough along for it not to harm me."

He ran a hand down her waterfall of hair, all the way down to the middle of her back. The motion made her stiffen, and suddenly the doubts that had vanished in her embrace returned, the questions he needed to ask resurfaced.

Slowly she pulled away, giving him an awkward smile and stepping back. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" she asked. She had dressed in the short time he had been gone, wearing one of her sheer blouses and a skirt, but judging from the way her breasts hung lower and freer than normal, he guessed she wasn't wearing the undergarments he had read about in the Culture Report. He forced his eyes to remain on hers, though his seed organ was already growing at the thought of such a thin barrier between him and her skin.

"I needed to ask you something first."

Tierney took another step back, then walked over to the couch, fixing the fallen sheets and pillows. "What do you want to know?"

Watching her now, so graceful even in such a mundane action, so dignified even after such an indignity was wrought upon her, Tausson was overwhelmed by admiration and awe for this woman. The need to understand her, the need that had caused him to ignore his own people and secretly travel across this country, grew even sharper.

"Are you and the President a pair?"

She straightened up abruptly, narrowing her eyes at him. "You let the whole world -- the whole universe -- think that you were dead because you needed to ask me if Nelle is my girlfriend?"

"Yes."

Rubbing her face with both hands, she gave a weak laugh, but when she looked back at him he was surprised at her anger. "Why the hell would you think that? And why does it even matter?"

"On the cart, the day of the inspection, Jonas said --"

She held up her hand to stop him. "Say no more. He and I dated several years ago, and he's never been able to get past the fact that I dumped him." She sat on the couch and gestured to the floor where Tausson had found them, adding, "Obviously."

Looking up at him abruptly, she asked, "If the explosion was this morning, why did it take you so long to get here?"

He turned away from her, hoping to hide his guilt, and knowing instantly that he'd already revealed it. "Site to site conveyance over great distances is traceable. I was traveling in short hops to avoid detection, and would have arrived in a few hours, but then I... I saw what was happening and couldn't let you face him alone."

Her confusion, and then the dawning understanding, pierced him like a burning spike.

"You saw? You mean you were watching me?" She brought her arms across her chest and looked around the room.

"I was just checking to make sure you were here," he lied. She didn't need to know that he'd watched her sleep almost every night since his communications privileges had been returned.

"How?" she asked, still scanning her office. Her eyes landed on her phone, and she quickly looked back at him. "My phone?"

He nodded.

The betrayal in her face nearly brought tears to Tausson's eyes. The last time he'd cried was after Yarkinda, when nearly an entire population had been lost. This was only one woman, but it felt like the end of the universe.

Miraculously her fury subsided as she stared at him, and when she lay her head back, there was even a faint smile gracing her lips. "Well I can't say I'm not glad you did it," she said, "just don't do it again."

The spark of hope that Tausson had carried with him all day flared, but he still hadn't been satisfied regarding his original question.

"The President..." he started, hoping Tierney would let him return to the topic. "She is gay?"

"Yes, but that doesn't automatically mean she has to sleep with any woman who comes near her." There was a sharp defensiveness to her tone that told Tausson this wasn't the first time she had battled ignorance on this subject.

"That day," he said, taking a few cautious steps toward her, "the President was touching you intimately, and you secluded yourselves in a dwelling. When you emerged, your were flushed."

She closed her eyes, letting out another breath of laughter. "The President and I are close friends, and close friends often touch each other like that as a comforting gesture. I was..." She glanced sideways at him, then looked at the floor. "I was distraught, and she helped me hide until I could regain my composure."

He was standing at the end of the couch, only a few feet away from her. From this angle, he could see the curve of her breasts through the gaps in her buttoned shirt, and he wondered if they were bigger than his hands. Though he had never seen them in person, he'd seen images of Relican women's breasts, and they were barely more than nipples, even when gestating. To be able to fill his hands, to have her overflowing in his grasp -- the mere thought of it was almost enough to make his seed burst forth.

"Why were you distraught?" he asked, once again reminding himself to focus on Tierney's face.

She glared at him. "No. You tell me why my sexual orientation matters so much to you. Then maybe you can ask me questions."

Her sharp reply somewhat quelled the storm raging behind his shield. He sat on the edge of the couch, as far from her as he could be.

"As a Relican commander," he started, "I had the right to choose my Asteroid Mate."

The corners of Tierney's mouth turned down in disapproval, but she didn't speak.

"Now that I'm not a commander anymore, I no longer have that right. I can't even choose not to be paired -- I'll have to accept the selection Control makes for me."

"Why do you have to have a mate? Is the population level so low that they force people to couple?"

"Men and women can submit to be omitted from the pairing cycles, but a sense of duty often prevents those who may want to from doing so. I am a special case, however."

He got up from the couch and crossed the room, looking up at the stars that were so different from his own. "Before I left for Earth, I requested reprieve for my next cycle, but was denied."

"Why? What gives them the right to do that?"

Her indignation made him smile, but he continued watching the sky. "The history of our people that I shared when you and the others were on the Irral -- do you remember it?"

"Of course."

She had come up beside him without him hearing, and he was startled by the nearness of her voice. He turned to look at her and was momentarily speechless, struck by the beauty of her face, framed perfectly by her luxurious hair.

"What was the name of the ship?" she asked, bringing him back to his explanation.

"The Erral," he said, returning his gaze to the night sky. "The commander and the Quincaña he impregnated had only one child: my grandmother of six generations."

"You're a direct descendant of the Erral commander?" asked Tierney, her eyes brightening with understanding.

Tausson nodded. "Because of my lineage, my seed is considered too valuable not to procreate. Even though I've produced thirteen --"

"I don't need to hear about all your previous conquests," she said.

"Conquests?"

"Never mind," she said, shaking her head. "I get it. They won't let you stop making babies because you've got important DNA."

She looked out the window also, and Tausson wondered what she was thinking. Did she understand yet? Had he said too much? She was offended when he mentioned his previous mates -- was that already cause for her to stay away from him?

"What does all this have to do with me?" she asked finally.

"When I realized that the fleet would presume I was dead, I felt a liberation unlike any I've known before. I could do as I wished, go where I want..." Heart racing, he dared to take her hands in his, although he couldn't lift his gaze from them, terrified that he would see rejection in her eyes again. "...be with whoever I want."

She said nothing, but she didn't let go. Tausson stared at her hands, memorizing them, but it wasn't enough. He wanted to feel them with his own skin, not through his mechasuit gloves.

"I don't want to be a mate, Tausson," she whispered. "I can't be just a mate to you. I want to be more than that."

She wants more. The words echoed in his soul, lifting him higher, raising his spirits until they touched the stars that flickered above them.

Gently releasing her hands, he looked in her eyes -- those stunning, captivating eyes -- and began removing his gloves.

"I want more too," he said. Dropping the gloves on the floor, he raised his hands to her face -- tentatively at first, hardly daring to breathe as a single finger traced the curve of her cheek. That light touch clung to his flesh even after he pulled away, begging to explore, to feel more.

"But now they know you're alive," she said, sorrow blooming in her face as she finally understood. "What does that mean for us?"

"I don't know." He laced his fingers with hers, the sensation somehow causing his entire body to become both more relaxed and more tense at the same time. "But I do know that I cannot imagine ever being without you. I know that I cannot stomach the thought of leaving you for another woman. And I know that there is no Relican word to describe how I feel for you."

Though she smiled, her eyes shimmered with tears as she said, "Love. It's love." A single teardrop fell, and Tausson wiped it away with his thumb, relishing the feel of her tender cheek.

"How can you know?" he asked, his own eyes burning.

She raised her hands to cup his face, saying, "I feel it too."

Her touch was like fire, sending a pulse of heat roaring through his body that he couldn't contain. The need to have her, to be as close to her as possible, was too much. Hoping he was doing it right, he pressed his lips to hers.

It was his first kiss.