... carr... work. Bein' thrown ou' by you, I'll never be able to do m'job without somebody pointin' a' me an' sayin' 'She's the one Shardik threw out.'" "P'nyssa, you're the best. That's why you I asked you to Alpha in the first place." She looked up again and said "Tha' doesn' help. Ni'er does Mikey, there, keepin' me stinkin' drunk and na' given' me 'nuff to finish it." "Dr. Tr... P'Nyssa, I don't want you to kill yourself. I'm not worth killing yourself over." "Wha' else? Wha c'n I do?" "You can come home with me. Sober up." "I don' wan' soberrup. Ah'm fine." "Come on." "No!" I figured there was no helping this argument, so I left her and went back to the bar, shrugging my shoulders. Mike poured another drink and left it at her table. She drank it down in a few short gulps and keeled over. I walked back and picked her up, carrying her towards the door. "Thank Mike," I said. He nodded. I was just about out the door when I heard "Hey, Ken!" It was the first thing the previously impassive Rhys had said to me all day. I turned and looked at him. "You take care of her. She's my best kid. A little on the high side, but still my best. You hear me?" I nodded and backed out of the bar. Despite the load in my arms, I got back to the Castle with little or no trouble. It took six hours for the Mickey Mickey had slipped her to wear off, and when she came to on my couch she groaned and put her mitts to her temples. "Tell the ogre to knock it off," she said. I smiled and handed her a glass of orange juice. She accepted it impassively and drank it all. "What's in this? It tastes odd." "B-Complexes. Quite a few of them, in fact. You need it." She looked at me, nodded. "I should leave now," she said. "I don't think so." "What do you mean, 'You don't think so?' You told me to leave, isn't that enough? Why do you keep coming back to it, Shardik? Just let me be. |