"Jorry... are you drunk?"

Jor gave Lei a charmingly innocent smile; at least, he thought it looked charmingly innocent. It was actually more like a cross between a leer and grimace, and he hiccuped halfway through, which ruined any chance he had at appearing sober. He thought about her question for a long moment, searching for a witty reply, but his voice was slurred and he only managed to grin. "Aaaaagain?"

She laughed at him. Wick wouldn't have laughed, he didn't think, but Lei wasn't like Wick. She was like him; boisterous and insubordinate and entirely too much fun, and he looped an arm around her waist and tugged her to sit in his lap. "Have a sheat, Leilei."

"A sheet?" She mimicked his lisp and everyone at the table roared, which made Jor scowl and spill his drink. Taunts immediately started. "Yeaaaaah, Jorrypoo, are you drunk again?" "You can play in my sheet, Lei." "Better stop drinking, Windhaven, or your mommy's going to take you home."

"Fffuck you guys," Jor slammed his fist on the table and spilled everyone's drinks, and there was a chorus of shouts and threats that made the rest of the bar turn and look at their table. Lei smiled winningly and wrapped a hand around Jor's wrist, trying unsuccessfully to make him stand up. "C'mon, cupcake, you've had enough."

Jor resisted, Lei was insistent, and everyone laughed again. "Ooooooooooh, cupcake, she's tryin' to take you to bed. Better git on before she spanks you." Lei made a face at the comment, but Jor waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her, and she had to smile. It wasn't until he'd drained his mug that he finally consented to leave, and they both waved at the trainees as they stumbled from the bar.

The next morning, Jor was miserable.

"Ungggggggggggggggggggggggh," was the only thing he managed to say when Lei woke him up with a sharp pinch to his side, and he swatted blindly at her. "G'way, Leileeeeei."

"No, I ain't going away. You're in my bed, and I'm tired. Get your fat ass up." She'd been unable to drag him further than her own private quarters before he passed out, and the last few feet had been a test of strength and skill. Jor was a big, tall man, and Lei wasn't that big herself, but she somehow managed to get him into bed and take his boots off before he was snoring loudly and drunkenly on her pillow.

Now it was nearly noon, and having spent the night sleeping in her chair, Lei was feeling less than charitable. She gave his leg a kick, but he surprised her by grabbing her foot and tugging her off balance. With a muffled grunt she fell on top of him, and Jor hugged her tightly and buried his face in her hair.

"Gerroff, Jorry! Jesus, man, you stink." She hit him a few times to try to fight him off, but he was too hungover to notice. "Nrrrrgh, cut it out, Leilei." He started muttering to himself. "Ijustwannacuddle."

Cuddle?

Lei scowled but stopped struggling. "Y'know I don't like boys, Jorjor." She tried again to squirm away, and this time he sighed, but still didn't let her go. "I know, Leilei... but you're my besssssssst friend, c'monandcuddle."

"You're still drunk. Listen to you!"

"I ain't drunk, I'm lonely. Cuddle your Jorjor."

She relented, huffing to herself but curling against his side. He'd been this drunk before, more in the past few weeks than usual, and it worried her. Granted, he was still as loud and obnoxious and irritating as ever, but when drunk he often got into these moods, and this wasn't the first time he'd made the attempt to snuggle.

After a few minutes of lounging in silence, she had an idea. "Y'know what you need, sweets? I got a plan."

"Whazzat?"

"You need to get laid."

"I don't need laid," Jor mumbled sullenly. Looking after females hadn't appealed to him at all, not since he'd arrived on Elisabeta. They were trouble, plain and simple. Didn't do anything but make his life difficult. He conveniently forgot all the good times he had with Wick, and in typical male fashion focused only on the problems. It made coping easier, if anything, and he hadn't felt the need for anything having to do with relationships. After all, he had Lei, and she was all he needed. Right?

Lei snorted. "Fuck, yeah you do. Sweets, even I get laid; 'tis what keeps your Leilei all sunshiney happy. You ain't gotten puss since your wife, and that's been what? Two months since you got here? No wonder you're pissy and drunk all the fuckin' time."

Jor thought about that for a moment. Maybe she was right... but it seemed like too much trouble. His head hurt, anyway, and he didn't want to think anymore. Tomorrow. He'd think tomorrow, when the room wasn't spinning, and so to keep Lei happy he waved a hand and grunted. "Fine, I get laid. Now shut up 'fore I get sick."

Triumphant, Lei tugged a blanket from under him and curled up to sleep. "Good. I'm gonna nap. You sleep off last night and keep your hands and appendages to yourself. hear me?"

"I hear... night, Lei."

Five minutes later, Jor was snoring uproariously again, and Lei hunkered down and did her best to ignore him. Good. Once he gets laid, he can snore somewhere else. Now I just have to find someone who'll put up with his shit.

She was almost feeling charitable, until her captor started snoring, and finally it was too much. Lei grabbed a handful of hair and tugged, and Jor came awake with a muffled grunt.

"Hmmrrrgh."

"Five days, Jor. You can't stay in here forever. People will start to talk."

"You're gay," he pointed out sleepily as he turned his back to her and settled further under the covers. "And I don't find you sexually attractive."

"Jor..."

"Leave me alone, Lei." A moment later and he was snoring again. Lei took one look at his back and gave up. It was no use.

Jor refused to leave her side, day and night. He clung to her like a small child attached to his mother's skirts, and while Lei didn't like the comparison, she couldn't turn him away. He had no one else, no one but her anymore, and Lei couldn't desert him, not when he needed her.

Really, though, she knew it wasn't herself that he needed.

It was Wick.

Nearly a week had passed since he'd finally broken down, and neither of them had spoken of the incident after he'd explained it all. It still baffled her at times, to think of all he'd been through, and at first she'd questioned the validity of some of his stories. A little snooping in the I.F. records had proved him right and proved her wrong, and every night when he slept in her bed, muttering Wick's name, she lay beside him and understood why Jor was who he was.

Now he was snoring again, and Lei stared at his back and lightly touched around the brand between his shoulderblades. She'd heard that story, too. Her fingertips traced the fourpoint star of the International Fleet, and just like the mornings before, she began to think.

There must be something I can do, to make him happy again. Something. Anything. Wick.

After telling her his story, they'd sat together in the darkness of their office and she'd held him close and asked about Wick. They could transfer, she said. Earth was always looking for M.E. officers. She would go with him, gladly, and she would help him find his wife. It would work. It would make him happy again.

"I can't, Leilei. I've done enough. Just... just let me move on."

"No. You still love her, and it's breaking you up, can't you see? You think it's all better now, but I know you. You're not happy, and you won't be happy. Even before, with Heather, I could see it sometimes. At least try. You have to."

"She hates me."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"She should."

"But if she doesn't, shouldn't you know? Shouldn't you try? If she really loves you, she'll forgive you. Don't let it go, just because you're afraid to try."

"I am too afraid to try."

"I love you, Jorjor. I just want you to be happy. Isn't it worth just one chance, just to see?"

"I can't do that to her, Lei. I can't do it."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes. Which is why I can't go back."

In Lei's mind, can't and won't were two very different things, and she kissed his shoulder while he slept and knew what had to be done. That morning, after they'd finally gotten out of bed, she left for work early to arrange it.

He would be angry, but Lei wasn't afraid. She'd make him happy, whether he wanted to be or not, and it would work out. He'd see.

She waited in their office for him to arrive, and tried not to smile.