It was morning, even though it was still dark out, she knew that it was morning. They, Winston and Yuri, along with Dimitri and some armed men, had escorted Aleksandr Markus out of the house. She had watched what had happened from the window of the room that they had placed her in, they had pushed him and shoved him to ground. one or two of them had hit him with a club type device and he had laid there for far too long. She put her hand against the window, fresh tears falling from her eyes as they shoved him to the ground again and again, and he shook his head as if to say don't worry about me.

But she did worry, these men that she knew were all bullies, and she hated them. The moment that she returns to Earth she will distance herself from Yuri and the others, and hopefully Aleksandr Markus will arrive soon after she does and he can move in to their home. 

"Our home," She says out loud to herself, "It will be our home."

"Whose home?" Elizabeta asks.

"Our home, Earth is our home, is it not?" She replies, "All of my friends, my coworkers, we call it our home and I am looking forward to returning home."

"I see," Elizabeta eyes her suspiciously, "This," She holds up a small device," is a tracker, and the men have decided that you wear it."

"Wear it, where?"

"It is like an earring, it will poke a hole in your ear and attach itself there."

"No," She shakes her head vigorously, " no way in hell am I piercing my ear with that ugly piece of shit." She looks at the grayish square  monstrosity that she is expected to place in her ear. It was probably two inches by three inches and had no design or elemental look to it, it was just plain and ugly.

"We can always hold you down," came the reply from the doorway, and Laurel turned to see Winston and the others standing there.

"Well then Sir," Laurel felt angry, "I will kindly tell you to kiss my ass." With that last part she felt damn near violent, "I will NOT put that ugly fucking thing in my ear. I do not and will never ...pierce my ears, it is against GOD."

"But we are God." 

"Fuck you Winston. You are not, nor ever will be God." Laurel tells him and turns to walk to the fireplace.

"It's alright," Dimitri assures them, "When she is placed in cryostasis,  we will have the healers tag her." He talks softly, thinking that Laurel could not hear them.

But Laurel had heard that and rises from the warmth of the fire, "I am NOT A FUCKING HEAD OF CATTLE! YOU WILL NOT BRAND ME OR MARK ME AS IF I AM NOTHING MORE THAN A THING TO BE KEPT AS A POSSESSION! IF I wake up to find that THING in my ear or any where else upon my body, I will cut it out! My ear? Remember the stories of Vincent Van Gogh? I will CUT OFF MY ear! Just like he did!"

"Sanlio!" Elizabeta calls and the man enters the room, "Laurel cannot go, she is too emotional, please help."

Sanlio crosses to Laurel, "Leave us, I will see to it that she is ready for the jump to Earth." 

"Very well, " Yuri agrees.

"Do what you need to ensure that we are on this flight in an hour." Dimitri tells him.

The others walk out and leave Sanlio and Laurel alone, it was then that Sanlio takes her into a hug and allows Laurel to cry out all of her emotions. He had seen what the others had done to Aleksandr Markus, it damn near broke him, but he could not give up his hand in the making of this.

"He is alright," He whispers to Laurel, "We have procured a jump ship for him and Draco."

Laurel looks up, "How far behind?"

"A day, maybe two?" 

"Thank you!" She hugs him tight, "thank you so much."

"I would do anything for the two of you," he assures her, "Now, let us get you cleaned up and ready to return home. Do not worry about the tracker, I will take care of that."

Laurel nods and together they talked until time to go, she had calmed greatly but upon seeing the others she could feel the seething hate begin to boil just under her skin. Sanlio takes her arm and talks soothingly to her, assuring her that all would be well, and that he would personally be watching over her as they jump to Earth.

The last thing that she sees before she is shut within the cryo chamber is Yuri and Winston,  staring at her as if she were a piece of Kobe steak. They were nodding and making hand gestures that she did not like, and then her mind went off on a tangent. How? How did they not know that Aleksandr Markus had already bonded with her.

"Sanlio," She whispers, "How do."

He knew what she was going to ask, "They are twins, they smell close enough, along with other things ..." He glances over at Yuri, "That they think the smell on you is Yuri."

"Oh!" 

"You are going to be fine," He tells her louder than he should have as the men approach, "It is time to sleep and dream of home."

"When you awaken next, you will be back on Earth and then you two," Winston points to her and Yuri, "Will be wed."

The door closes, and she takes one last look at them before she closes her eyes and begins to dream. Pleasant dreams at first, of Pharents and dragons and all manner of strange creatures and then....well then it becomes chaos.

 

"Shit!" Tahla proclaims loudly as Laurels pod begins to turn red. Shortly after, the whole ship hears a warning alarm go off.

"Warning, warning. Pod number four hundred and thirty seven is in failure. Pod number four hundred and thirty seven is in failure, please check all main branches."

Winston, Yuri and Dimitri were all still awake, none of them had opted for Cryostasis due to the fact that they wanted to keep an eye on Laurel. They were in the cafeteria when the alarm goes off, and as soon as they hear it they launch from their seats and dash for the pod.

"What is going on?" Yuri asks.

"I don't know," Tahla replies, "I have never seen this happen before."

Dimitri grabs her by the arm, "Go get Sanlio."

"No need, I am here." he pushes past Tahla, and glancing into the pod, clearly sees that Laurel is in distress. "She is in distress, she should be on her back," he presses some buttons, "We will have to open it and realign her."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Dimitri asks.

"It is that or she could die." He tells them, "Lying on her side, she is not getting as much oxygen, nor is she getting supplements that the pod offers, and she could die...."

"Do it," Yuri looks at him, "Open it."

They open the pod, Laurel is drenched in sweat and she is talking in her sleep. She is afraid, something is scaring her and it was clearly visible on her face. 

"MISHKA!" she shouts. 

All gathered pause, glance at each other and then at her. 

"What was that?" Tahla asks.

"I don't know," Sanlio replies, "But I think ..." He tries to form the words, "I think your eldest son is in trouble."

Laurel had so many dreams, dreams of her and Aleksandr Markus, of racing cars and then.... Mishka. Her dreams had become nightmares that she could not get free from.  Strange monsters trying to eat her, Yuri killing Aleksandr Markus, war ...famine... disease... it was all too much. 

"NOOOO," She screams. 

"Can't you give her something?" Winston asks. 

"Hold her," Sanlio tells Tahla. 

"We'll help." It was Kasdac and Trusk.

All four of them got Laurel onto her back and spoke soothingly to her, it was then that her voice split the silence and let out a scream so blood curdling that it raised the hairs on the back of everyones neck. Her eyes opened and she looked at them, but nothing came out. The look of horror on her face said it all. 

"You must go back to sleep Laurel, it is important for you to ..." He began, but she was shaking her head. 

Trusk gives her a sedative in the pods tubing, a mild sedative that would help ease her back into slumber, but she was fighting it. She did not want to close her eyes again, never again. Not unless Aleksandr Markus was beside her, not unless they were together in the same space on the same planet. 

" I saw...." She begins. "He's dead." 

"No, no it's ok, I assure you." They gently push her back and close the pod. "Everything is fine."

"Who's dead?" Yuri asked.

"I don't know, maybe she meant Mishka? She screamed his name, so perhaps she meant him?" Dimitri replies, "it is hard to say, I think perhaps it was just a dream."

Winston looks at the pod and the young woman who was beginning to fall back to sleep, he felt very uncomfortable at the moment and he could not tell why. He turned quickly on his heels and headed for the communications room, he had not intended to call his son....but damn it.

Winston meets the others later in the lounge, wringing his hands and hands rummaging through his hair, he looked worried as hell. He could barely sit still as he tried to think of all the scenarios as to why his son would not answer. Car accident? At work, no, they were repairing the garage. What the hell!

"Is there anything wrong Winston?" Dimitri asks.

"Yeah, yeah there is," He looks Dimitri in the eye, "He isn't answering." 

"Shit."

"Exactly."