Two Cents

Bad times require extremely toxic alcohol. Jade stood up and emptied the mini-bar of all the clearest strongest fluids and mixed up a cocktail with orange juice and cranberry. She slipped out of the room whilst everytone was discussion who goes where. Cass was leaning against the oposite hallway wall smoking.

"You'll set the alarms off." Jade said, offering out the glass. Cass grunted and stubbed out the cigarette into a plant pot, accepting the glass. "I know you'll want to be sharp for the mission, but have a drink now. It'll take the edge off how much it hurts."

"Shut up." Cass half heartedly growled.

"I know what pain, betrayal and fear are like. I've been there. I'm only guessing at whatever went on but. I'm here for you. OK?" Jade enveloped Cass in a hug. A sort of all encompassing 'we are all here for you' hug that was intended to make it all go away. She smiled at Cass, making eye contact. "It'll be ok."

"Whatever." Cass grumped, not really meaning anything by it.

Jade sauntered back inside and sat down next to Katrina, who was brooding a glare aimed at the back of Jay's head. Jade made sure that no one else could hear and began to talk to Kat.

"You know, you can tell a good man by how much he cares for those around him." Jade said, glancing across at Jay as well.

"Yeah." She continued to glower.

"If it'd been you that had gone missing, then he would have just fallen appart." Jade said, her gaze switching to Kat.

"Yeah." The glare tumbled into a frown.

"If it'd have been me or Eve missing, he'd have mounted a rescue plan and gone after us too."

"Lousy no good..." Kat trailed off into a mumble as Jade raised an eyebrow.

"He would have acted the same way for anyone else. He doesn't just care about Cass alone. He feels protective towards all of us. I know there is history between them, but you and him have centuries to fall back on."

Katrina remained stonilly silent. Her pride hurting.

"You have to trust him. You have to believe in him. You know that he will martyr himself for almost anyone he is close to. If you can't trust him to behave around one person then. Maybe you need to think about the future? Bad feelings fester and grow, not good to bring a kid up in that atmosphere." Jade placed a hand on Kat's shoulder as she opened her mouth to protest. "I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just saying that maybe if you feel so bad it's worth thinking about. He is a good man though Kat." Katrina lapsed into silence, her frown depeneing as she looked back to her husband.

*****

Later the stealth team were assembled in the bar, decided so that Boyd had a lot of other distractions and chances to catch the safe code from someone's mind. There were enough people around that it wouldn't be a problem to discuss any secret plans. Besides, as Jade had pointed out, they could jsut bluff it as a script discussion for the upcoming 'Firefly' spinoff if needed.

"So, we need a plan."

<Tag!>