Cam had slipped quietly into the low-gee gym. She stood against the wall listening to the echoes of the equipment and the soft slap of feet on the mats.

She felt hallow as she looked up at the tall ceiling, she wasn't even sure exactly why she was here. She had completed her workout in the weight room, working her shoulder to regain its strength and flexibility after being broken in her fall. Now it ached. She watched the gymnasts working on various apparatus, floating and spinning gracefully. Null-gee was an art and those that were very good made it look effortless.

Cam finally headed for the locker room. She sat on the bench debating whether or not she should shower here or head back to her temporary digs in the crew quarters.

As she sat she thought about the gymnast flying with grace. A tear meandered its way down her nose and plopped onto the towel in her hands.

"Hey Cam," Jesse said spotting her on the bench. "What gives?"

"Nothing," she muttered, folding the towel.

He sat beside her, "Its not nuthin'"

"Yes it is." she grumbled glancing at him. He was sweaty. His short hair spiky with sweat. His thick arms rippled and the veins stood out. He was the picture of masculine power, and she realized that she had been watching him in gym goofing off with a redheaded woman. Their presence scarcely registered as she watched. In fact she had been kissing him and as Cam had observed them she only saw a couple. They had been playing some kind of game between turns on the apparatus, enhanced by the null-gee. All that had registered was a guy in maroon tights and the redhead. Cam realized her eyes were still bad. She could not make out faces at a distance yet.

She stood up suddenly and threw her towel into her duffle. Without saying anything further to Jesse she stomped out of the gym.

"Oh shit," Jesse grumbled seeing all the signs that Cam was in a temper.

"What's wrong?" The Redhead wondered as she glided over. She was tall and graceful, a very elegant woman from Alpha Centauri.

"Nuthin'" Jesse grunted watching Cam's retreat.

Karla Thompson slipped beside him and put her arms around his neck. She nuzzled him and whispered,"How's later?"

"I'll meet you in Jake's, maybe we can get something there." he said without thought.

"Alright," she smiled heading for the showers.

Jesse glanced at her. She was definitely attractive, but there was something wrong. Something just wasn't clicking and it seemed to start when he saw Cam here in the lockers.

He got up and slipped his sweats over the tights and headed out . He didn't have the nerve to say anymore to Karla. Not when he thought about Cam sitting there crying and the realization that Jake's was closed with civilians off the ship.

* * * *

A cloud of cigar smoke encircled Jesse. the only light in the room was the one over the desk. He sat going through some files on several padds. A half filled pint glass sat on the table next to him. his cigar was poised in his fingers. It was easier to focus on work rather then the seething emotional sea that women dragged around.

Cam let the doors slip closed behind her as she dropped her duffle bag to the floor. She had been walking and had never gotten to her shower.

Jesse glanced at her taking a drag on his smoke. His gaze returned to the data before him. "What's wrong?" he wondered, "Why'd you run like a scalded cat?"

"I don't know," she muttered looking at the pattern in his carpet.

"It just seems as if the closer things get the more you push. That's all. You avoid--"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't admit to what your really feeling. Its no wonder you've never had anything last."

"I don't--" She leveled a finger at him. she let it drop, "I don't want to fight."

"Fine," He said, settling back in his chair.

"I guess I was wrong." She shrugged. "I don't know."

Jesse placed his cigar in the ashtray and stood up.

Cam glanced at him feeling small. She had been feeling small and weak all afternoon. Defeated. Depressed. He looked big and strong as he rested his rear-end on the edge of the desk. His t-shirt looked strained as he crossed his arms.

She shuffled her feet and sort of turned towards the door.

"Cam," he wondered stopping her. "What ever it is stop beating it around the bush. You've been positively miserable."

"It will wait," she sighed.

"Wait?" he wondered sipping his beer. "For what this time? No I'm tired of waiting for you to decide the time is right. Because, it never is."

She stood in silence isolated in the dark. She finally spoke in a timid voice, "Jesse do you hate me?"

"No I don't hate you." he said flatly. "I'm sick of this childish denial that you've fallen into. I'm tired of being your emotional punching bag. What happened to that rather fun-loving woman I kissed in a bar? What are you so afraid of? You always claimed that Kate had this wall around her but no its you that has built a wall. You don't want any man to pass through its gates. You used St. Jean, I see it now. A fling, a whim. Used and discarded like yesterdays uniform. You didn't let him in the wall."

"I didn't use him," she insisted sharply.

"Your a right bitch you know that?" He said coarsely. "And here I thought that Kate was the one with the attitude. No its you. All you want is men to worship you, and when they don't then its sayonara. You don't want them to see the real you. Well I'm tired of it and I'm not going to feel sorry for you. I am not playing the game. I tried to talk, but you just turned away and that hurts more then the Khynah."

"It was YOU that turned away!" She screamed at him. "I wanted to tell you something important and you just walked away."

"I did not." he denied sharply..

"Bull @#%!" she spat. "Don't you remember right before we got to the station?"

"No," he replied . "I was rather preoccupied at the time."

"All I wanted to tell you was I loved you, that's all." she whispered harshly, her eyes brimming with new hot tears.

He picked up the cigar and took a long slow drag. The smoke trickled out as he slowly exhaled. He remained silent studying the curl of the smoke. His mind was racing in chaotic circles, more then it had when he was confronted by Khynah. He looked at her, studied her.

"Cam, " he concluded with a sigh,"You are all talk."

She suddenly snarled and launched herself at him. He swiftly pinned her with her arms over her head against the wall, the cigar remaining firmly clenched in his teeth.

"Go ahead and hit me," He goaded.

"You really know how to hurt someone you know that?" She snapped back.

"Well what good is it doin'?" he wondered, "I was just tryin' to get you to see what yer doing, and how others might look at it."

She turned away sourly, her eyes looking past his shoulder. She avoided his piercing eyes.

"Cam, calm down," he urged gently . She struggled for a moment but gave up. He relaxed and let her go, placing the stump in the ashtray. It afforded him the luxury of a moment to think. He dabbed and flicked the powdery ash off the cherry. He then took a drag and watched the glow. His thoughts drifted into words like the smoke, "I turned away because I didn't want to hear it. I had to focus on the situation. I didn't need to hear that I was leaving....someone I care about...I had enough worries. I had to shut out everything but the situation."

"That's...cold." she sniffled. A tear trickled down her cheek.

He stepped over to her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, his voice equally as soft."I know that's maybe not what you wanted to hear, but its the truth."

She looked up at him finally, her eyes wide and face streaked. He leaned closer his breath gently caressing her face. His lips touched hers tentatively.

"I'm sorry," he whispered . She sighed as Jesse touched her cheek, flinching slightly as his finger touched the reconstructed arch of her eye socket. Her vision in that eye was still distorted, she was still squinting at things. Dr. Montgomery was waiting until all the irritation to the optic nerves had subsided before she attempted further treatment. There was the distinct prospect that the eye would be permanently distorted and that Cam face wearing corrective lenses that would allow her vision to be distortion free. Her blood work indicated antibodies for ratinax-v making conventional treatment impossible. She was not taking this bit of news well at all. In fact it was becoming yet another thorn in her side, one more irritation to an already irritating situation.

"What about her?" She finally asked, feeling a mix of distress and confusion. She was having another pang of self doubt. What had he meant by 'caring' about her?

"Who?" he wondered.

"The redhead."

"Oh that," He sighed. "Unfinished business."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that women are illogical pains in the ass."

"Now what...?" she wondered, now thoroughly confused.

"It means, Dammit, that I didn't know what was bothering and why the whole situation seemed wrong." he looked at her squarely. The realization of what was going on hitting him like shields failing. Too much had been happening. Too much too fast. He fought for the right words to express the feelings he had, but couldn't find the right ones. Finally he picked up his cigar again and said, "Look either the time comes that you stop talking about things or you give up. You cant be sitting on the fence. That's what I meant by you're all talk. You don't put your money where your mouth is. You'll talk something to death."

Cam left a few minutes later, feeling numb and spent. Sitting on the fence, trying to understand how she really felt. It was going to be a long flight home, to Earth.