Nesert

1.23

Nes had to endure several hours of reprimands, but they did seem to believe her excuse even as she refused to share any details about the mystery man she'd spent the last several days with. It was the first time she was grateful for the horrific lies depicted in every made-for-tv movie and docudrama they'd made about her and her black widow ways. Apparently female serial killers also had to be sex addicts according to public opinion, but Sekhmet had firmly believed that the idea of sex gave a woman power while acting upon that idea gave some of that power away.

She only gave away power when it furthered other purposes.

They kept an even closer eye on her in the following weeks, but as no body turned up nearby, they began to relax again. Hailey's disgust increased with the episode, but it appeared to be out of Nes' lack of focus on schooling and running off with a man she hardly knew. The lieutenant liked everything neat and orderly, including people, and Nes was chaotic and unpredictable to the younger woman. Fortunately, Nes was able to redeem herself slightly as their classes grew more intense, providing valuable contributions to their study group.

Their days fell into routine and Nes' calm persisted into the fall, but she started noting her need was becoming more of a distraction. It was harder to focus on her peers' words without her hands wrapping around an invisible knife, annoyed to find only air in their grasp. She wouldn't be able to stretch out the time, especially needing her time away to fall on a weekend so she didn't miss any classes. She was glad she had scheduled the car and houses for the time she did and again used the same techniques to sneak out of town without her surveillance team following.

The weekend was similar to the last one, this time meeting Greg at a club as he pushed drinks at her. Nes played along, though Sekhmet's residual presence in her blood dampened the effect of alcohol for her. She still had to be careful as the lack of symbiote meant she still could get drunk, but that was well past the number of drinks she'd had that evening. She let him drive her car back to the country estate, but didn't enjoy kissing him nearly as much as Tommy, so she moved him to the cellar quickly and revealed her true purpose. He was rather pathetic with his begging, but he still provided decent screams and she soaked it up. She called her management company the next morning and scheduled everything for seven weeks from now instead of the nine she'd just done. Greg's death would never last her those extra two weeks and that would put her timeline at getting a kill in over winter break.

She had to deal with similar lectures upon her return, but again, no one questioned her weekend trysts and a few days later all of her antics were forgotten when terrorists turned planes into weapons. The entire country paused and her Air Force guards became both pensive and angry. Only Nes seemed to be fairly unaffected and Hailey couldn't stand her relative apathy to the national tragedy.

"How can you be so cold?" she finally asked one morning as she ate breakfast with a cheery Nes.

"Excuse me?" Nes was genuinely confused.

"People died. Everyone else is upset and you...you don't give a damn."

Nes folded her hands and leaned towards the lieutenant. "I have memories of more wars and deaths than you could imagine. I personally watched an entire fleet of tens of thousands of jaffa and slaves incinerated by a sun Major Carter exploded earlier in the year."

"But these were our countrymen."

"I suppose and of course, it's sad and a tragedy, but I only have so much sympathy to spread around."

"Some of our classmates lost parents or siblings, Nes!"

"Then it is their tragedy, not mine." She closed her eyes. "You'll understand when you start going through the Stargate. There's so much out there and you have to learn to protect yourself or you'll burn out." She looked at Hailey again. "And it's hard for me to feel anything anymore after the things I've seen and done."