Behind her eyelids, Starbuck reflected that maybe a few alarms should be going off about now. And then she laughed inwardly at herself, because even if the alarms had gone off, she had a tendency to go against them anyway, just to prove they weren't in charge.

She decided what her limits were. And the further away they were, the better off she was.

Besides, this was really what they had been talking about, wasn't it? You get tired of being switched on all the time. Of having to keep it up. Of being on alert. Not having to do any of that was more of a holiday than all the roller coasters and sunshine you could swallow.

So she smiled a little and flexed her fingers against the smooth skin at Una's wrist.