Free Center of Gravity by Ian Douglas

life, Trev,” she told him. “By getting me to the medical center. And by agreeing to join the military, so they’d treat me. I never thanked you.”
    He shrugged. “Nothing to thank.” In fact, he’d not realized at the time that he had agreed. The events of that horrible night five years ago were still blurred in his mind. He did remember the terribly icy fear, and knew he would have agreed to anything, anything to get treatment for Angela.
    Later, Navy psytherapists had offered to clear up those memories… or to remove them. He’d refused on both counts.
    He did find it interesting, though, that modern nanomedical science could fix a broken brain, but had very few ideas when it came to fixing a broken heart.
    “I’ve missed you, Trev.”
    He didn’t answer.
    “Trev? Goddammit, don’t be like this!”
    “And how am I supposed to be, Angela?” he demanded. “We had a good life together—”
    “As squatties! Grubbing about in the Manhat Ruins like… like animals!”
    “I don’t recall any complaint about it on your part at the time! So maybe life wasn’t so good. We had each other. We had our life together. I thought we were happy.” When she didn’t say anything to that, he pushed ahead. “You turned it all upside down, wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t even agree to see me! One meeting, one meeting with a counselor… and all you give me is an ultimatum. No discussion. No compromise. An ultimatum. You won’t live with me anymore.”
    “Trevor…”
    “By that time, I was already signed up for the service. They’d already tested me, found out I would make a good pilot, scheduled me for flight training. So it wasn’t like I was able to go back to the Ruins anyway.”
    “Trev, if we’d gone back to live in the Ruins again, we’d both be dead now. You know that, don’t you? That impactor surge wiped out all of the Old City.”
    He kept his face impassive, but… gods. What she’d just said hit home like an impactor in its own right. No. No, he’d not thought about that.
    He wondered how he’d missed that small fact. For a long time, he’d thought Angela was dead… before realizing that when the impactor had sent that tidal wave smashing north through the Narrows, she was already living with her new family in Haworth, beyond the wave’s reach. For a time, he’d not even been sure where Haworth was; it might have been a part of Morningside Heights, all of which had been washed away.
    He’d never stopped to think at the time that if things had worked out the way he’d wanted, he and Angela would have been on Manhattan when the wave struck. They might have survived—part of the TriBeCa Tower where they’d lived was still standing even yet—but there would have been no guarantees.
    “Look, it’s no good talking about what might have happened,” he told her. “We’re here, and we’re who we are now. And to tell the truth, I don’t know you anymore. You’re not the girl I fell in love with any longer.”
    “I’ve grown, Trevor. And I’ve healed .”
    “Yeah, they cured you of me, didn’t they?”
    “That’s not fair!”
    “Well, well,” another voice said, interrupting Gray’s retort. “What have we here? A couple of sweet monogie pervs?”
    Gray blinked and looked to his left. Collins was there, smirking at them, with Kirkpatrick looming behind her. “Go to hell, Collins,” he told her. “This is private.”
    “That’s right. Private . Just one partner at a time, and you mate for all eternity.” She made a face. “Disgusting.”
    “Do I know you?” Angela asked. She would be checking Collins’ military id through her own implants. “Lieutenant… Collins?”
    “No, honey. We’ve not met. I’ve heard a lot about you, though, from your monogie lover here!”
    “Damned squattie,” Kirkpatrick muttered. “Thinks he’s good as real Navy… .”
    “You’re obviously drunk, Kirkpatrick,” Gray said mildly. “How the hell did you manage to bypass your