Note: "The Visit" is sung by Chad Brock.

"She's beautiful." Andros stared morosely into the darkness, broken only by the monitor lights and the eerie glow of the cryostasis tube. "She's like a holostar, you know?

"Stella Quasinella," he added suddenly. "That's who she'd remind you of. In the one with the voyagers and the frontier raids... the one Eltare got all upset about when it came out? I thought they were going to shut Carie-Sun Productions down for good."

The steady, monotone beep of the biomonitor was his only answer. He considered the data displayed there for a moment, not really seeing it but knowing any changes would have caught his eye already. The frost patterns on the plastic casing were thicker than he remembered, but he resisted the temptation to melt them away.

"Zhane..." The name sounded too quiet, even in this chamber of echoes. It was as though the person it represented had slipped too far away to be called back by name alone. "What am I supposed to do?

"She likes me," he confessed. "At least, I think she does. I'm pretty sure. I don't know... when she hugs me, it's like... it's like I'm not alone anymore.

"That's how you used to make me feel," he told the cryostasis tube softly. "I miss that, Zhane. I miss it so much. I know I always wanted to be alone, but never--never like this."

It had been a long time since someone had smiled at him the way Ashley did. It had been even longer since he'd felt someone's arms around him. He had friends, fellow soldiers, people who looked out for him--but he worked alone. He had thought that was the way it had to be, until his partner was strong enough to join him again.

He had thought he could get through this. He had work to do, people to save, DECA to talk to when it got to be too much. His partner would be back, someday. Until then, he would wait.

"Two years," he whispered. He felt tears sting his eyelids as he stared into the ice and time that separated him from his best friend. "How could you stay away so long, Zhane? How could you let me think you'd be back, when you knew all along what you were doing?

"You didn't save my life." He squeezed his eyes shut, determined to keep the tears from falling this time. He had had enough of tears. "You took me with you."

Opening his eyes again, his fingers clenched on his helmet as he told the cryotube, "I want it back, Zhane. I need my life back. I know you're not gone, not completely, but I can't live like this forever."

His eyes darted to the biomonitor, almost daring it to flare in retaliation. But the beeping continued: slow, steady, and unaltered. He wasn't gone. But he wasn't here, either. It seemed like he was here less every day.

The worst part was, he didn't know whether he meant himself or his friend.

"I'm sorry," he said, swallowing hard. He pressed his fingers to his lips, then laid his hand on the top of the cryostasis tube. The ice crystals started to retreat as the warmth burrowed through the frost toward the faint flicker of life trapped beneath.

"I love you," he whispered.

Andros pulled his hand away before the numbness could make his fingers stiff. Turning slowly, he made his way out of the healing chamber without a backward glance.

"I wasn't out there looking, but a month ago last Sunday
I met someone just like you in line at the grocery store
And we've been spending time together, yeah she knows all about you
The truth is she can give me what you can't anymore"