"Tea?" Sheena asked, sniffing the cup. "What kind of drug is that?"
Angus shrugged. "I don't know exactly. It's some sort of powder in packets that they keep restocking next to the kitchen cooking box. The drink provides a good kick to yer system. We don't really know what it is. Erin and I just call it tea."
Sheena took a sip. "It tastes like a stimulant with some healing herbs."
Angus shrugged. "Calling it tea sounds better."
Sheena chuckled and smiled at him over her cup. "I agree. Thank you for the tea then, Angus. I'm feeling much better."
Angus patted her shoulder as he stood. "Good. That's what I came for. Pop next door when ya get hungry. I'll make ya something in the cooking box. There's a blue wrapped sandwich in the refrigerator that's not too bad after heating."
Sheena watched him walk to the door and almost let him go. In the end, her anxiety won. "Angus … wait."
When he turned around, she swallowed the knot in her throat and what was left of her pride. "Are you planning to tell Bri that Nate spent the night with me?"
Angus tilted his head and smiled. "Why would I say something like that? I never saw him."
"Of course you did," Sheena said firmly, running a hand through her tangled bed hair. "I heard you talking to him when he left. I just didn't know who'd climbed out of my bed until then. I thought I was in my apartment in Arizona."
Chuckling, Angus leaned one hand against the doorjamb. "Ya know, I lie so much here that one more isn't going to kill me. Though in this case, it's more a matter of just being discreet. Don't ya worry, lass. I'll not be spreading yer business around … or fecking Nate's."
Sheena snorted. "Fecking Nate? Does your swearing mean you don't like him?"
Angus chuckled. "Oh, I like Nate just fine. I just don't trust the secret-keeping bastard."
"Despite whatever happened last night, neither do I," Sheena said firmly.
Angus nodded, biting his cheek so he wouldn't laugh over Nate striking out so badly. "I think ya are being smart. Ya obviously have a power over the man. I say use the smug bastard for yer own purposes, then kick him to the curb."
Sheena choked on a drink of her tea trying not to laugh. She had no idea what Angus was talking about really, but it sounded funny.
"Well, I best be going next door again. I have to go report so Erin and Bri won't be rushing over here. I'm sure I can hold them off a wee bit longer."
"Let me finish my tea and pull myself together."
"Right then-see ya in a bit."
Sheena waved back when Angus waved goodbye. She heard him humming again as he walked to the front door.
As requested, she'd gone over and had some breakfast with the group. Now she and Bri were back in Bri's quarters. A grinning Bri watched her disposing of the DNA test vials and their frustrating contents.
"I can't believe you drank four ales last night. Angus said Nate put him in the rejuvenator after he'd only had three."
Sheena snorted. "My extreme tolerance is why I don't drink habitually. The last thing I need is to start losing brain cells to alcohol."
"I thought maybe it was because being drunk makes you smile and laugh so much. I can see why someone as serious as you are would hate being in that state."
"Screw you, Brianna. I smile, just not at my irritating sister. And I'll have you know that I laugh at you all the time," Sheena said tersely, startled when her snickering sister threw her arms around her for a hug. She had to set down the rest of her cleaning to hug her sister back. "I've missed you, Bri. I'm sorry I didn't come home when Mom died. She asked me not to and I was trying to honor that last wish."
"I know," Bri said softly, pulling out of Sheena's embrace. "She told me about your deal."
When Bri walked a little away, Sheena reluctantly turned back to her cleaning. "You can talk to me, Bri. For however long you stay on this planet, and even after you leave, I will always be your sister. You mean everything to me."
"I want to talk to you, but it's like … no, never mind. How can I make you believe something that I can't even make myself believe?" Bri asked, shaking her head at her own crazy thoughts.
Sheena nodded at her sister's serious tone. "Let me guess then. You can't believe Mom and Dad somehow knew about the Angus and Erin we've met."
Bri nodded. "Right. There's only one way that can be possible. They have to be clones that were made while our parents were still alive."
Sheena nodded as she scrubbed the last of her testing equipment. "Or they could be extremely sophisticated replicants."
Bri stiffened, her body going on alert at the idea. "Replicants? You mean androids made to look like them?"