Gaeta's quiet for a long moment. The incessant beeping of the heart monitor continues.





"I asked them to take me back before it got worse." Tiny, and with a trace of helpless bewilderment. "They couldn't."

Didn't.

(An ugly thought that's been creeping around the edges of his brain, fogged as it is: if the roles had reversed, and he'd shot Anders, would they have aborted the mission for his sake?)