Tal looked up from her hud and motioned for her son. "Going to send you the math QJ, please check it carefully."

QJ nodded and brought up his hud, he noticed Lotte's stare. "Want to help double check?"

Lotte pinched his side, "really?"

He grinned at her but then frowned at his hud before erasing everything. He noticed Naomi watching him. "Very funny, where's the real stuff?"

Dr. Gajendra grinned at him and pointed a thumb at her two a.s.sistants. "It took those two ten minutes to figure out the numbers were made up."

Gin walked over and loaded the real numbers on the lab hud. "Here you go." She stuck her tongue out at him, "you could have pretended to take a bit longer."

"Really? With those initial numbers? Did you think they are splitting atoms?" QJ laughed at the two a.s.sistants. Tal was notorious for creating fake math.

Naomi was setting up a spatial emitter as she listened. "See? That's exactly what I told them."

QJ leaned toward Lotte and lowered his voice, "if mom made a math mistake, I doubt anyone would ever find it." He caught his mom's attention. "Where's Ren?"

"She's waiting downstairs." Tal had invited her to watch, but Ren was too emotional and decided she'd wait in Tal's office rather than risk distracting the team.

Lotte was watching them set up equipment. "What are they doing?"

Gin smirked at him, "yeah QJ, tell us please."

"Well... since this is a virtual procedure, you are using the spatial emitter to set-up a stable field around the crystal. Unless you've managed to reverse engineer the device they used initially, you'll have to manually cut into the crystal." QJ grinned at Gin, he could tell she was someone he'd get along well with.

"That's it?" Gin shook her head in disappointment, "I thought you'd come up with something really helpful."

QJ laughed and shrugged before looking up, "Math looks good mom, at least I can't find anything. However..."

Gin shared a look with Tal and Naomi. "What?"

"What if you fail?" QJ stared at her, not willing to let her off the hook.

"Huh?" Gin returned his stare, "we won't fail."

QJ shook his head and looked at Naomi. "What if you fail Dr. Gajendra?"

Naomi's smile faded, "if we fail, then we will probably lose Lark."

"A virtual person, someone who is loved. Gone forever. Not a computer program or lab experiment." He noticed that Gin looked decidedly scared.

Tal placed a hand on Gin's shoulder and gave her son a stern look. "What would you have us do QJ? There's no way to guarantee success."

QJ smiled at his mom, "isn't there?"

Tal crossed her arms in front of her and frowned, she was about to say something when suddenly her eyes widened. "d.a.m.n it..."

QJ nodded, "More TAP and less Science."

Tal brought up her hud and a moment later a silver-haired woman smiled at her. "Need your help at my lab Mom."

Ella was in Ravenwood, near the Courtyard Fountain. "Give me ten minutes."

Tal nodded, "thank you."

"Did I miss something?" Gin was watching Tal, the tall engineer suddenly seemed less nervous.

"Since this is in TAP. Ella can rewind time in the entire lab." Tal gave her son a thumbs up, "we can repeat it as many times as we have to."

QJ brought Lotte into the observation room that was connected to the lab. It was separated by sound-proof gla.s.s. They took a seat waited patiently.

A few minutes later Ella Riley walked in, she wasn't dressed in her TAP gear but she did have her Timepiece around her neck. She gave Tal a quick hug and waved at QJ through the gla.s.s.

QJ watched with interest as they began. The first three times they started the procedure, the spatial field failed right after they cut into the crystal. Ella immediately rewound time to start over. The fourth time the field remained stable.

"They are using the crystal to bend light, they are breaking the rules but I'm not sure how." QJ scratched his head and noticed Lotte's confused expression, so he continued. "Light is bent or refracted as it changes from one medium to another, but it always stays in a line directly perpendicular to that of the first medium."

Lotte gripped his hand in hers. "It's cute when you get all sciencie like that."

For once QJ seemed to have nothing to say. "I doubt sciencie is a word," he muttered under his breath.

Two hours later there was a bright flash in the lab and Lark appeared next to the emitter. Immediately Naomi shut down the field. QJ brought up his hud and smiled at his sister's nervous face. "She's fine, come to the lab."

QJ made his way back into the lab, a moment later the door was flung open and a slim blonde haired girl ran into the room. She immediately flung herself at Lark who seemed a bit disoriented. He started clapping and the rest of the room joined in.

Gin approached him from one side and tapped him on the shoulder. Without a word, she gripped his face tightly and kissed him quickly on the mouth. The room suddenly went quiet, Lotte was frowning at the Mohawked a.s.sistant while Naomi was secretly giving her a thumbs up. "Sorry for making a dumb comment, thank you QJ."

QJ felt his face turn red, "um... well, I'm just glad it worked out." He glanced up at his cla.s.smate and quickly changed the subject. "Was that a particle flash? How did you get around Snell's law? Did you use sound amplification?"

Gin nodded as she stepped back, it had been her theory that they based the procedure on. "Yes, as long as we set up a..."

"Wait, a mirrored chamber right?" QJ interrupted her as he continued his line of thinking. "Acoustic vibration along with mirrored reflection to bend light. What did you manage? Eight percent refraction?"

"...." Gin.

"...." Naomi.

"7.8 percent." Tal smiled at her son.

QJ escorted Lotte out of the lab a few minutes later, Ren had already left with Lark. They were heading to the Songbird to meet up with their friends. Naomi, Tal, Indira, and Gin watched them leave.

Naomi was going over their notes and discussing the results. "He's handsome right?"

Gin didn't have to ask who she meant, she felt awkward answering the question with Tal looking at her so intently. "Very handsome, and b.l.o.o.d.y brilliant."

Tal laughed, "don't look so frightened, I don't mind you saying the obvious." She didn't mention what she was thinking, 'good luck getting pa.s.s Robin.'

*********

QJ logged off and sat up in bed. It was a bit after midnight. He walked into his bathroom and splashed some water on his face. Seeing his sister smile like that had really been nice. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror, "they deserve some happiness."

He walked back over to his bed and laid down, unable to sleep he stared at the ceiling. Had GnG been up he would have logged in to grind some levels. A movement by the door caught his attention. Someone stood in the doorway watching him. She held a finger up to her lips.

QJ didn't hide his surprise when Robin sat on the edge of his bed. His room had been mapped with a VRP, so she could interact with most of the stationary objects. He quickly got up and shut his bedroom door, since that was one thing she couldn't do.

"We didn't get to spend any time together tonight." Robin reached up and let her hair down. She waited patiently until he sat back on the bed.

Her orange hair hung over her shoulders, she raised a hand toward him, stopping before it touched his chest. She already knew it would push through since he was in his own world's body.

He leaned back on the bed smiling. "That definitely won't work Robs."

"No?" She moved over him, carefully straddling his waist. She made sure not to touch him, sinking through him would break the mood. Being a rogue, she had masterful control of her body.

He couldn't feel the heat of her skin, nor the weight of her body on the bed. That didn't stop him from staring. He gasped in shock when she gripped the hem of her white dress and pulled it over her head. "Robs..."

Underneath her dress, she wore a white lacey slip with thin straps. Her lips curved in a smile as she slid the straps down her shoulders. Slowly her hands caressed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her breathing was loud in the quiet room.

QJ felt like his blood was heating up. Robin was beautiful and dangerously s.e.xy. His throat felt dry, "how far are you taking this Robs?"

"Far," she whispered. She let one hand slide under her slip and past the waistband of her undergarments, she closed her eyes and moaned softly in the room as she touched herself. She looked down at him, surprisingly he had disappeared. The hissing sound of a VR chamber door closing caused her to glance behind her. Her smile widened.

QJ logged directly into his bedroom a moment later, Robin was laying back on his bed, one hand still touching herself. She watched him undress and then reached up when he hovered over her. Their lips brushed softly at first, then became more urgent as their bare skin touched.

She cried out softly when he entered her, her ankles wrapped around his waist. She kissed him deeply, moaning into his mouth while pus.h.i.+ng her hips upwards against him.

An hour later they lay intertwined on the bed, Robin had pulled a blanket from her inventory and they lay together beneath it. They talked quietly, sometimes serious, other times joking. After a while, Robin rolled onto him and they made love again. This time was slower and less urgent, the end brought them both gasping as they held each other close.

Robin watched him, her head propped up with one hand. "So who was the first. Ru maybe?"

QJ grinned at the rogue, "Maybe... it's a bit hazy now. How did you know that?"

She shrugged, "I heard that those Silverleaf women plied you with wine and then took advantage of you."

QJ laughed, "well, that's one way to look at it. All I remember was that it was dark and there was lots of talking. I only remember Belle and Ru being there for sure."

Robin kissed his chest, her hand caressing his face. "Belle? As in Mali's Belle?"

QJ nodded, "I don't think Belle drinks often. That was two years ago, she kinda avoids me nowadays."

Robin laughed at the look on his face, "I'll make sure the Silverleaf women don't come around the Keep."

"Fine with me. I'm surprised none of them are working there."

Robin raised an eyebrow, "oh they applied. I just turned them down."