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Wash had told her that he was going to talk to Jerry - and he had. Sasha had been expecting the meeting to go poorly, and she was half-cocked and ready to strike if Wash returned with one hair on his head out of place.

She was shocked as all hell to hear that their talk had gone as smoothly as it could - and to hear it from Wash, Jerry had seemed .. not at peace, but better. As if he were trying to take the steps necessary to deal with things.

It had put Sasha in a better mindset about talking to Jerry, herself. She hadn't been kind to him - she knew it - but being rational about everything hadn't been a huge priority for her when the contents of the box had been made clear. It was easier to deal now. She had someone level-headed, competent, in Wash - and she had someone to focus all of her irrational fury on in Rep. It made things easier when she compartmentalized them as such.

Pulling out her phone, Sasha stared down at the screen for a long, long time before deciding to send a text off to Jerry. Not the cafeteria. Not the labs. So where should they meet?



Snapping her phone closed, Sasha made her way there. She'd wait all day, but at least she could work while she waited - on the off chance that he didn't show up.

She was surrounded by thick tomes, seated at a table far in the rear. It was a method she used to dissuade chatty hunters from approaching her looking for idle conversation. The books were ones she actually applied to her research, which was what she was doing when she happened to look up, sweeping her pale eyes across the room as she'd done every fifteen minutes since arriving at the library.

Five hours ago.

She caught sight of Jerry. Before calling out to him, quietly, she eased the creaks and cricks in her shoulders.

"Jerry." Her voice was a low whisper, though hopefully loud enough for him to hear.

Sasha leaned back in her chair, using her foot to push the opposite chair out so that Jerry might take a hint and sit down instead of hovering. She lifted a brow and waited, straightening in her own seat as she watched him fidget with his jacket.

"Hello, Jerry."

Sasha made a satisfied little sound when Jerry sat.

"Yes. A personal project."

She met his eyes. This was awkward.

"I, ah."

Her mouth formed a line. She tried again.

"You spoke with Wash. He said that.. it went.. well."

Sasha wet her lips.

"I thought we should talk."

She wasn't nervous in the least, but there was a part of her that was a little worried. Jerry could be volatile, and that made her nervous.

"About things that were said, on both of our parts."

Sasha knew that little nervous gesture for what it was, and she rolled her lips in over her teeth as she contemplated his response. It wasn't what she was expecting.

"Things got complicated fast, Jerry. From my promotion mission, and then coming home to you on my bed.. and then the ordeal with Rep. The .. the torture."

She smoothed her skirt over her thighs, crossing her legs.

"I'm not sorry for the way things have ended up. And I don't want any trouble, either. I just.. I guess I feel as though you deserve an apology - for the way I treated you when ah.. when you got home after the last mission."

Sasha watched him closely, head tilted just so. Every little gesture he made was taken in, quickly analyzed, filed away. The deep breath. The tapping fingers. The tone of voice. The way he didn't meet her eyes.

"I needed time. Space. I needed to think things through. Everything has changed."

She was growing frustrated at the lack of eye contact. There could be so much conveyed between a simple meeting of the eyes.

"Why won't you look at me, Jerry?"

Sasha clasped her hands in her lap, watching him closely. There was a pang of something in her chest - it wasn't regret, but something similar to sadness for the man that sat across from her.

There were certain things that she had to refrain from thinking about. The closet. The way he'd shrieked at her in the midst of the labs. More than anything she wanted to do her best to make things right between the Sun and his Moon. Her own relationship with Jerry would take time, she knew it. It wasn't going to simply change overnight, or after a stilted conversation.

How could she respond?

"You and I," Sasha paused, "I think we were broken from the start, Jerry."

She was silent for a long time. It was so difficult to reconcile the girl she had been, the emotions she'd felt then. It felt like forever ago.

"I did, I think."

She took a moment to try and pinpoint the moment where things changed. It didn't take long. The bunkers had taken their toll on many people. The list had caused a change to come about in Sasha's life.

It is what it is, cher.