Diana got up and went to the bathroom a few minutes later. Not wanting it to look like she is rushing after Nadya.

In the bathroom, she tried to comfort Nadya as much as she could.

Nadya stood up from leaning over the sink as Diana came in, having drank some water from her cupped hand. She tilted her head back as she slowly regained control of her feelings. The gesture made one wonder if the "pain" she talked about using the pain killers for was possibly caused by something more than physical. Already, her face and demeanor was cooling, the only trace of her distress being twin tracks that tears had forged down her smooth cheeks.

Nadya was not the kind of person who was used to not being in control of a situation and now she was face to face with the realization that the object of her desire for so many years did not, could not return the feelings she had.

In a moment, Nadya noticed through the mirror Diana standing behind her.

"I am sorry, Diana. I am being stupid, and I'm not being very kind to you. It's just... Addy was my only friend." Nadya, finally let it out in little pieces and parts, in her direct, no-spare-words kind of way. The little she said hinted at the volumes of history that had been, but are now over in many ways.

Mostly, she just wanted to explain to Diana. From this, Diana learned something about Adelaide, and just why Nadya was certain they would not see her ever again.

Compared to the other prisoners, Adelaide had suffered the worst because she was not the strongest, or the fastest. She was, instead, the one with the most innocent heart.

[Nadya told Diana essentially everything in the background story, Adelaide: Memories.] But this is, more or less, the rest of the story.

Adelaide had a lot of problems dealing with the way the Company treated her. The abuse was physically extensive, obviously to the point of harshly destroying natural parts of her body and replacing them with cybernetics -- always against her will. Bit by bit, it was as if they took pieces of her soul, too. For Nadya, life was much easier. In fact, the hardest thing she ever had to do was watch her attractive roommate suffer. But Nadya was there for her, every time. She'd helped Addy pull herself together.

In time, Adelaide was transformed into exactly what the Company wanted. An assassin. Adelaide can call herself by her official title, "Infiltration Specialist" all she wanted, but everyone knew what she had really been trained to do. She was good at it, too. Ruthless and efficient, she only rarely got in over her head. That's what Nadya was for. She could get in and pull Adelaide out, and the fact that the Company allowed -- no, encouraged -- a relationship between them meant that Nadya would try all the harder to protect the Company's most valuable assassin. Nadya did not say so exactly, but it was clear that she was responsible for keeping Adelaide sane, and never giving in completely to the hard callousness that inevitably envelops every assassin's heart.

Four years ago, that changed. Adelaide went on a mission for the Abwehr, and didn't come back. The strange thing was that all Nadya's inquiries were ignored at best, and at worst she was punished for asking.The Abwehr did something -- something bad, possibly horrific. And Adelaide was at the center of it. Not the cause, necessarily, but somehow the dupe or victim.

A couple years ago, Adelaide had showed up again, apparently finished with her long stint. And she had changed. In some ways, it was a positive change. She had a positive outlook on her life now, and she seemed to value her own life in a way she never did before. She was finally comfortable with herself, despite the things that had happened to her. Her self-confidence had grown immensely. In other ways, it was less than positive. There was, for a long time, a hunted look that would surface and she would seem to jump in fear at shadows.

To Nadya, who had really loved Adelaide and missed her terribly, it was all the paradise a slave to the Company could dream of. Adelaide was back, and she could be hers. But Nadya saw now, that it was not to be. Adelaide may have grown up some how in those years she had disappeared, but her heart had changed, too.

Finally, Nadya told her what she thought Adelaide was doing. "Adelaide will do her job. I think she will do it well. She does so, always. And she will get us what we need. But I do not think she will deliver this personally. I think she will try to escape again." Tears revolted against Nadya's will and made their silent escape down her cheeks once more.

"But this time, she tries to escape from me."

Diana too it all in, what Nadya had said. it was a lot to absorb all at once. She stood there listening, and when Nadya finished, she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She didnt' know what to say.

She turned Nadya around slowly, and gave her a hug. It was more of one of those types of hugs you get at a funeral, then anything else. "Honey, it's okay." She softly whispered. "Nadya, I swear to you, I won't leave you, okay?" She said.

Then, she was silent for a bit. "I know it's hard, but sometimes, you have to let the other person go." She
said gently to her.

Nadya returned the hug and seemed much better for it. She wiped her face and straightened herself up a bit. "I am sorry for the timing of this thing," she said.

"You don't have to do this. People like us... have needs sometimes that others do not understand. It is good to know that I do not have to be alone." She looked down at her hands for a moment, then looked back directly into Diana's eyes. "Thank you," she said softly, and followed up the words with a warm kiss that was from her heart, not lust.

"You are a better person than I deserve," she said quietly. "I will let this other thing go. And you can count on me, da?" There in the eye's of the tall blonde, Diana could see that she meant it, and more. The look there was one of both appreciation and admiration.

"Honey, I will never leave you." Diana whispered into Nadya's ear. "When this is all over, maybe WE should get away, and spend some time .... just the two of us." She whispered, just so Nadya can hear.

But the moment was interrupted by the entrance of a middle aged woman with two young daughters, chatting away about their shopping trip. A small smile flickered at the edges of Nadya's lips and then the two women turned to go.

[And here we leave the two characters some privacy. Suffice to say that Diana was able to find a way to cheer up Nadya.]