Page 16 of Tiger on the Prowl

Jay let out a gasp. “How—”

“Phoebe,” Ace said. “The farther along in the pregnancy she gets, the worse she sleeps. She heard you when she walked past your room. She wasn’t prying, trust me, but she’s worried about you. So am I.”

“I’m fine.” Yeah, that was another big, fat lie.

“We both know you’re not. You barely escaped with your life. Nobody would judge you if you took some time for yourself to recover fully. We have everything in hand.”

“Not doing anything makes it worse. What Smith did to me was worse than any physical torture I’ve ever endured. He tried to take my thoughts from me, my brain, the very thing that defines me. Without my mind, I’m nothing. Without my premonitions, I’m not complete, I’m not me. You must understand that. And he was trying to take it away to build a fucking quantum computer to do God-knows what awful things.”

Ace nodded, his expression serious. “And we’ll get him for that. Eventually. Listen, you’ve been through more than the rest of us, so don’t take this the wrong way, but the machine he used to try and scan your brain waves with might have altered your mind.”

“What are you saying?”

Ace sighed. “I’m just saying, maybe your judgment is off right now. Maybe you need to step back to see the bigger picture.”

“Why don’t you come right out with it, huh? Why don’t you tell me to my face that you don’t approve that I fucked Olivia? That for once in my life I took what I wanted without giving a damn about the consequences? I don’t see you living like a monk. So you know what, Ace? Fuck you!”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Ace said calmly.

“What the fuck?”

All of a sudden, Ace chuckled. “Guess Michelle was right. You like Olivia.”

Jay already opened his mouth to tell Ace to shove his opinions where the sun didn’t shine, but his fellow Stargate agent stopped him.

“Hey, I’m not blaming you. I just hope for your own sake that it turns out that Olivia has nothing to do with the evil things Smith is behind. Or if she does that you can get her to switch sides. Now, go and rest for a few hours. We’ll take turns watching the live feed from Olivia’s house. You can take over later.”

Jay took a long breath, before he nodded. “All right.” Maybe after a few hours of rest he would feel better, though he doubted that the guilt he felt about using Olivia would dissipate no matter how long he rested.