DISCLAIMER: Cleo and all her friends from the TV show Cleopatra 2525 do not belong to me. The are the sole property of Studios USA/Renaissance Pictures. I just borrowed them for a while, purely for non-profit, of course. The following story, however is property of the author. Do not duplicate, archive or link to without the authors' consent.

RATING: PG (please see warning)

WARNING: This is what I'll call a gateway piece...meaning that while there is very little subtext in this story....it's setting the stage for future installments which will be chock full of it! So if the idea of two women together bothers you, you might as well not even read this one. Everyone else...enjoy!

Cleopatra lay awake in her bed, listening to the hum of various machines coming from the lab. She had been having trouble sleeping since she had watched herself die. Of course, it hadn't really been her that had died...but in a strange was she felt as though she had lost a part of herself.

It had been nice for her to have had someone to talk to about her old life. Her family, her friends and her world have been gone for centuries. But for Cleo it hadn't felt like centuries. No, to her it had only been a couple of months. She had been cryogenically frozen and when she had finally been brought out of cryogenic stasis...500 years had passed in the blink of an eye. And now, everything she had known and loved was gone, and there was no getting it back. But for a brief time she had had someone to talk to about life the way it used to be. Someone who understood her, someone she could laugh with about 'the good old days', someone who actually knew what a cow was! She was going to miss her clone...alot.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn....stop crying you big baby. What would Hel and Sarge think"? Cleopatra whispered to herself as she wiped away the tears that streamed down her face.

Cleopatra had grown quite fond of her new friends in the short time since they had rescued her from an unsure fate. She valued their protection and their companionship and she admired their strength and determination. She felt lucky to have them and hoped that someday in the future, they would come to think of her as part of the team. But Cleopatra knew she had a long way to go before she could even compare herself to them. She had been trying so hard to be brave. She didn't want them to know just how frightened she really is or how sad and lonely she really felt. She wanted to impress them, to make them proud of her. She never wanted them to find out she cries as she lay in her bed every night.

"No, I won't cry anymore", she stated firmly for no other reason than to try and convince herself of just that. Then she rolled over and waited for sleep she knew would not come.

The lights from the lab cast an eerie glow into Sarges' sleeping area. She was awake. The nightmares had came, as they always did, and saw to that. But it wasn't unusual...just the opposite in fact, it was the norm for her. Most of the time she only managed to get a few hours sleep before waking in fright. The nightmares were so real, so vivid, she could see.....

"NO!", she said aloud as she sat up in her bed. "Come on Sarge, shake it off".

'The nightmare's over',she thought. 'You're awake and in control now'. She had only been asleep for a few hours but a few hours usually did her just fine. In her line of work she didn't have the luxury of much more. She had always like to use her time productively anyways. Her gaunlets could always use a cleaning and there was always something to help with in the lab. That, on top of the constant fighting against Baileys and Betrayers meant she never lacked for something to keep her mind occupied.

But tonight, instead of getting right up, she sat in her bed...listening. It wasn't the first time she had heard Cleopatra's soft sobs coming from her sleeping area. The young girl cried almost every night. It had been that way since the very first night she had come to be with them but she had always wanted to respect the girls privacy. She didn't want to embarrass her or coddle her like a child. She knew it would take Cleo some time to come to terms with all that she had lost and to accept the way things are now.

Sarge had to admit that Cleopatra had come a long way. At first she had found her annoying as hell. All that damned screaming...Sarge cringed at the mere the thought of it. But Cleo had helped her and Hel out on numerous occasions and had proven herself to be a valuble part of the team. She could no longer imagine the team without her. But she doubted Cleopatra knew that yet. She knew the girl was still trying to prove herself.

Cleo had a most unique sense of humor and alot of crazy sayings and always tried to make her and Hel "lighten up". Sarge smirked. Yep, Cleopatra was certainly different that anyone else she had ever met....but sometimes different wasn't so bad.

Then again, sometimes it was.

The crying she had heard for the past few nights had been different. Cleo had not been the same since her betrayer clone had died while saving their lives.

That was a scene Sarge would not soon forget. She couldn't help but think of how strange it would be to essencially watch yourself die. Granted the double was a betrayer but her programming had not been completed and therefore she was more like the Cleo she knew than an enemy betrayer.

She had watched Cleo beg her clone not to leave her. She had heard Cleo admit her loneliness and for the first time... she actually felt her pain. She had never realized just how hard it must be for Cleo. And she had had another realization that night. Sarge had realized just how much she had grown to care for her young comrad.

Sarge let out a sigh as she got out of bed. Cleo needed help, of that much she was sure. She didn't know what she would say, what she could say to help her. She wasn't good at this sort of thing but she felt she was probably better at it than Hel. Mauser wasn't even an option, he wasn't even human. No, it had to be her...she wanted it to be her.

"Here goes nothing," she mumbled as she shuffled quietly out into the lab.

Cleo knew Sarge was awake. Their sleeping areas were close together. And she knew about the nightmares...but of course she would never say anything. She often heard her cry out in her sleep, then she usually heard her get up and do some sort of work in the lab. She kept her mind busy and Cleo was beginning to think that wasn't such a bad idea. But what would she do?

"Jeez...What I wouldn't give for a Nintendo 64 right about now," Cleo said softly. "Or even a cheesy old Atari."

Cleo chuckled.

"What's a cheesy Oltari?" Sarge asked from the doorway.

Cleo gasped and turned around. "Sarge... DON'T DO THAT!"

Cleo let out her breath as she realized it was only Sarge. "What, are you trying to give me a heart attack? And that's a cheesy old Atari, A-T-A-R-I."

"Ahhhh, OK, so what's a cheesy old A-tari?" Sarge asked as she stepped into Cleo's room. She had never been in there before and her first thought was how bare and sparce the room was. It didn't even look like it was anybody's room...it looked lonely. Cleo had been with them for months and yet there were no personal touches. Just a bed.

"...and that's the difference between Nintendo 64 and Atari. Uh...HELLO? Anyone home?"

Sarge realized Cleopatra had been talking and she had not heard a single word she said.

Hey, Sarge.....you OK?" Cleo asked.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Sarge replied.

"Me, oh yeah, I'm great, yeah...just peachy. Yeah, I thought I'd get a jump start on the day. Maybe do a little Tae-Bo and uh, ....you're not buying this, are you?"

"Not for a minute."

Cleo and Sarge stared at each other in awkward silence until Sarge couldn't stand it any longer. "Cleopatra, I'm sorry".

"For what?"

I'm sorry for what happened to you, I'm sorry for the loss of your double and... I'm sorry you still feel so alone."

I know I'm not alone... you guys are great. I feel lucky that you found me but it's just that..."

"This isn't your home, your time, and we're not your family," Sarge finished the sentence for her and Cleo's silence signaled her agreement.

"I know that none of this is easy for you. Shit, to tell you the truth, I'm amazed at the way you're handling this. I can't imagine how I would feel if I woke up one day to find everyone and everything I had ever known was gone. You're stronger than you know, Cleopatra."

"You don't know how much that means to me coming from you." Cleo walked over and sat at the edge of the bed. "But it's not true," she said as she began to cry. "I want to go home."

Sarge headed towards the door and called over her shoulder "I'll be right back".

"Great",Cleo thought. "She can't even stand to be in the same room with me."

Sarge was only gone for a minute and when she returned she found Cleo still sitting on the edge of the bed, her head in her hands, crying softly. She went to the wall adjacent from the bed and hung something on it, then sat down on the bed next to Cleo.

"I brought you something."

Cleo looked up and seemed almost startled. She hadn't really expected Sarge to return and had temporarily lost herself in a haze of self-pity. Her gaze settled on a beautiful painting hanging on her wall. Sure, it was tattered and faded, but still a sight for sore eyes. The ocean. The sun. The surface.

"I found this a long time ago. I've managed to keep it with me for years." Sarge said quietly. "I want you to have it." She turned to face her friend.

Cleo was at a loss for words. The tears still fell silently and Sarge reached up to wipe them from her cheeks.

"Cry if you need to, we can talk if you want to....but just know, you're not alone Cleopatra," Sarge said as she pulled her in for a hug.

Cleo let her tears fall freely as she nestled into a comforting embrace. She cried until she didn't have any tears left and when Sarge felt her relax she laid her back gently onto her pillow, stood up and lifted Cleos' legs up and tucked them under the covers. She once again sat on the edge of the bed and leaned in to kiss Cleos' tear-stained cheek. "Sleep, my friend, sleep," she said as she stroked her soft blond hair. Then she silently got up and headed back to her room.

Through half-opened eyes Cleo watched Sarge leave. Then her eyes once again found the picture hanging on her wall. A warm feeling came over her as she snuggled deeper into her bed and for the first time since she had awakened in the future she didn't feel so lonely...and her room felt a little more like home.