Riko (Miles/Bel):

So, in the end I wonder: what do I see in the little fucker? Blood and guts and pain, apparently. And hope. Maybe that's it really. Hope.

Riko (Aral/Ivan):

"Shit, shit, shit!" Ivan swore, tearing into Miles' room and slamming the door behind him.

Miles, lying on his bed, looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Ivan. You're an idiot. Get out of my room."

But Ivan didn't move. He turned, eyes wide, to look at Miles and said: "Dude, Miles, I think your dad just HIT on me."

Aral wobbled a bit, coming to stand closer to Ivan and resting his arm on the wall right above Ivan's head. "For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright, Who art as black as hell, as dark as night."

Lianda (Gregor/Cordelia):

Cordelia walked in with a bemused look on her face. Aral raised his eyebrows, "What is it, Dear Captain?"

"Gregor just sent me flowers. I think he has a crush on me.."

Riko (Illyan/Cordelia):

"Do you think he knows?"

"No."

"He can't know. What it would do to him..."

"I know. Trust me, I know. Better than you a wager."

A kiss in the dark.

"I don't want to hurt him."

"We neither of us do, Simon."

A smile in the darkness.

"Dear Captain..."

Lianda (Taura/Ivan):

She purred and leaned down, revealing sharp claw-like teeth in what seemed to be her version of a seductive smile. "I can be very female when I want to be..."

Ivan flushed, then paled, then began to whimper as a clawed hand crept up his thigh.

Riko (Dono/Ekaterin):

Ekaterin pressed a petal between her thumb and index finger until the warm rose scent coated her fingers. She smiled a little sadly into the garden, ignoring the man behind her.

"I had a bad marriage," she confessed. "I'm a little afraid of men right now."

"That's alright," the man said in a voice that SOUNDED like a grin. "I used to be a woman."

Lianda (Ivan/Laisa):

"What you're doing is high treason, you know."

"Don't care...love you...love your eyes...so blue-green..."

"IVAN YOU IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?

"....oh shit."

Riko (Mark/Laisa):

"You should lose weight."

Mark started and looked up. "Uh... no?"

She tapped her finger on the table between them and nodded. "You should. This isn't healthy. Trust me," she poked her own belly and smiled a dimpled smile. "I know."

"There is a reason for it," Mark replied slowly, trying to ignore the way her eyes sparkled at him.

"Mark, love, think of at as a request-and-require situation."

Lianda (Aral/Ekaterin):

Ekaterin blanched. "I'm..I'm..flattered, really. But I really couldn't..It would not be PROPER..."

"Do you not think that I am a better...choice, perhaps? I am THE Vorkosigan, in a sense. Don't be satisfied with a mere shadow of the real thing."

Riko (Bothari/Cavilo):

Cavilo dreamt rarely, but when she did it was always the same.:

He would run her back against the wall and hold her hands above her head and push between her legs, his hooked nose pressed against her throat. She'd wake unsure whether to scream or purr.:

She only wondered who he was. And why, every time, he looked ready to cry.

Lianda (Gregor/Illyan):

"I can't believe you have a file of that."

"It's under my personal access code, sire. No one else can get access to it."

"Yes, but you have a vid. Of me. Doing that. In the Impsec files...not to mention that blasted chip of yours."

"I love you..."

"You're fired."

Riko (Serg/Gregor):

REDACTED. BECAUSE I CAN.

Lianda (Miles/Piotr):
Miles crept into the room when no one was looking. His father had gone down to the library for a stiff drink, and his mother had followed. He crept up to the bed and looked down at the hollow husk before him. "I finally killed you, hmm? Never good enough. Never never never. You never loved me. And I loved you so...loved you so very much..." Miles placed a gentle kiss upon cold, lifeless lips.

Riko (Elli/Mark):

Miles is gone. She can't quite grip it, but it does float in the back of her mind when she tries to sleep. Miles will never again kiss her or smile at her or try to convince her to go planetside and marry him. A hand touches Elli's shoulder, and she tries not to hear the clone's voice tell her he loves her.

She tries to hear Miles'.

Lianda (Aral/Illyan):

"Do you have to record this conversation, too?"

"Ezar's orders."

"Let it go. This once. I won't hurt you, you have my word."

"Aral..."

"Ssh."

*random kissy noises*

Riko (Gregor/Ivan):

"I'm relieved."

Gregor smiled. "I'm sorry if I've been such a pain these past years."

Alys laughed. "Don't be silly. It's hardly been YOU. But, I must say, I will be RELIEVED when she's emperess." Alys frowned. "Then I can concentrate on Ivan."

"Ah," Gregor nodded slowly. "Good luck."

He carefully refrained from telling her that Ivan didn't like girls. That wasn't really something she needed to know.

Lianda (Ivan/Enrique):

"Oh Ivan. I don't know what you say. You mean more to be than my phosphodiester-triglucoside medication!"

"Yeah..yeah..whatever." Ivan backed away from the love-starved man slowly. "I don't mind you, exactly...just get those putrid looking cockroaches away from me!"

"My love for you is greater than the rate of enzyme decomposition!"

"....it's shitting green curds on my hand."

Riko (Ges/Gregor):

ALSO REDACTED

Lianda (Ekaterin/Rian):

"Miles, I'm leaving you."

Miles sat there, stunned. "Ekaterin...please...don't be so hasty. I can change. I can quit my job. I can..clip my toenails, whatever you want."

"There's someone else.

Silence. Then rage. "WHO? Ekaterin..who could have stolen you away from me?

"The Empress of Cetaganda." And with that, Ekaterin marched out of Vorkosigan House to a bubble waiting on the street.

Riko (Gregor/Kareen):

Infidelity was something that happened to other people, he would have sworn he'd seen to that. He'd always promised he would never marry someone he didn't love entirely, promised he wouldn't force someone to live the life he'd had to live without the love to make up for it. He -loved- Laisa. It had been so easy to believe that.

Until he saw Kareen in her new job, Mark's wife.

-end-