He couldn't help the smirk at her comment. Grace knew how upsetting the results were (even if he knew in every fiber of his being that he was a scientist and could never be a politician; could never be like Harris).

In truth, Darius was already taking the carrot approach. He hadn't done anything that was particularly deviant. Unless LACUNA counted exploration and propping one's door open as deviant behavior. He'd helped Obi-Wan to clean his wounds and the clean the space that they were apparently going to be living for the foreseeable future. He'd participated in their tests and hadn't made waves. He just needed to work harder to get through to what they were planning and how to keep them all safe.

He continued to brush his fingers through her hair, partially because he could. All the freedom they had here to be together, to touch and hold was still new, and he doubted that the magic of it would ever end. It was the nature of being desperately in love with someone. In love enough to refuse to give them up for anything except their own choices. "Until then I suppose I'll have to make sure we have plenty of bricks, in case we lose one somehow."