With Frank outside cleaning up the lightning experiment, it was left to Stella and the four agents to restore their base to its former state. It took over an hour's worth of sweeping, scrubbing and superglue, and, when complete, the agents were permitted to go home. Unfortunately, Stella still had to fill out a stack of paperwork regarding Frank's fiasco from that day.

She sighed, reaching for a pen as she sat down at the desk to fill out the variety of incident forms and risk management assessments.

Somehow, Stella became so absorbed in her work that she didn't even notice the lift doors opening, and a weary Frank approaching from behind her. Later, she would attribute her limited alertness to tiredness.

"I'm sorry about the paperwork." Frank's voice startled her, and her pen scratched a line through her careful description of Aneisha's actions down in the lab.

"Frank!" Stella spun around on her chair to face him. "I didn't realise you'd come back down here. Are you okay?"

The corners of her eyes creased with concern as she observed him. She stood up so that she wasn't straining her neck to talk to him.

Frank seemed confused by the question. "I'm fine..."

"It's not every day that you become a super soldier, then have your humanity restored by Aneisha's mind-reading abilities and Dan's heroic stunt with a lightning cable, then spend hours cleaning up a disastrous lightning experiment," Stella said in one breath. "We don't even know the aftereffects of the super soldier treatment. Are you sure you're okay?"

Frank stepped forward, placing his hands on Stella' shoulders. "Stella, relax, I feel perfectly fine." He paused. "The question is - are you okay? I must have really scared you all today." He laughed humourlessly, picturing himself as a savage monster tearing through the corridors of St Hearts after Dan and Keri.

"Frank, it's not your fault," Stella said earnestly. "I..." She glanced at the floor, unable to look Frank in the eye. All too clearly, she could hear Aneisha's innocent question: 'Frank knows we love him, right?' All too clearly, she could hear her own harsh tone as she mocked him: 'You're right. It's not the time.'

"Stella?" Frank's hands were still resting on Stella's shoulders, concern evident in his eyes. "You didn't finish your sentence. And that's a first for you."

Frank smiled, but Stella didn't. "Frank," she began. "I'm sorry. When you wanted to talk, I'm sorry, I just didn't know what to say. I took it out on you. And then when you fell out of the machine, I just wanted you to wake up, to be all right, and you took so long but then you woke up. And I was so relieved - you have no idea..."

Stella's eyes were glistening as she rambled, and Frank could not help but realise how different she was from the serious and professional chief agent, forever in control of any situation. He must really have scared her today.

Without thinking, Frank released Stella's shoulders and wrapped his arms around her instead, letting her relax into his embrace. He held her as he had never held her for ten years. He held her as he had longed to do so for ten years. He held her as they drank in each other's presence, savouring the fact that they were both alive and well.