So he keeps going.

"When Illyan met us at the shuttleport I told him fast-penta doesn't work on haut women and he looked really noncommittal and I still don't know if he already knew. The face you made the first time you got a good look at Cockroach Central was amazing. It made Illyan apologize on the spot. Sometimes I still think about calling it 'the enormous concrete dropping of some kind of mythical Bad Taste Dragon' and giggle to myself. I remember you suggested we get some ladders and let the neighbourhood children paint it, and I can't remember if I said so but I thought you might be overestimating the artistic ability of Barrayaran neighbourhood children... I think it was on the walk from there to Vorkosigan House that I told you I'd take a wedding oath capped with 'and anyone who doesn't like it can take a wormhole jump to hell'. I had an urge to say it when the time actually came, but I refrained. I still use 'kitten-tree' as an adjective for especially quirky feats of bioengineering - I thought it when I was buying you that live fur. The first time you met Mother she asked if she was welcoming you to the family or housing an exile or a refugee. Then while you were talking while I screwed around with luggage she let on that I've been known to disable the safety measures in a lightflyer. You're really fond of groats, have been since you first tried them."

Linya takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly, closing her eyes -

and leans forward and scoops him up.

Miles clings.

And Linya, as promised, cries a little into his hair.

"I love you," she whispers.

"You know you only get to do this once, right? You only get to tell me that this is the end of the secrets and there's nothing else to hide once. Zero-one-infinity rule. If it happens more than once I will never know where it ends."

Miles growls doorward, and kisses Linya apologetically on the cheek, and goes to answer the door.

"How urgently is it Destang? Pretty urgently, I have to assume...?"

"All right. I love you."

And he follows Ivan to... wherever Destang is. Probably Galeni's office again.

Destang glowers. He has quite an impressive glower.

Miles attempts to look reasonably innocent without crossing the border into disingenuousness.

"Vorkosigan," says Destang. "To your credit, you appear to have filed a completely truthful report. This does not excuse your failure to obey orders, but it does mitigate it somewhat. Also among your accomplishments: you managed not to get shot or involve the police, and you may have secured your cover as 'Admiral Naismith'. I am reluctantly impressed. However—"

There is a knock on the door.

Destang's eyebrow twitches. He motions for Miles to get it.

It's an ImpSec special courier, who looks mildly surprised to have interrupted whatever he just interrupted, but hands a data packet to Destang and then leaves. Destang sits down at Galeni's comconsole to read the message. He gets increasingly disgruntled as he goes on.

Finally he stands up again.

"You are saved by divine intervention, Vorkosigan. Here are your orders." He hands Miles a data disk marked with the Imperial seal. Miles accepts it solemnly, trying not to bounce up and down or giggle. "In short, you are to take your Dendarii on a two-week journey into Sector IV to deal with a nasty hostage situation. Holding you here on charges of disobeying orders would, alas, interfere with that goal."

"Thank you, sir," says Miles, as modestly as possible.

"Also included: another credit chit for eighteen million marks, for your next six months' operating expenses," says Destang, reluctantly handing over this object.

"Thank you, sir," says Miles.

"And when you're done, you report to Commodore Rivik at Sector IV Headquarters on Orient Station."

"Yes, sir."

"With luck, by the time you and your irregulars next return to Sector II, I will have retired."

Miles chooses another "Yes, sir," out of the many possible responses he could have to that aside.

Destang looks to Ivan and Galeni next, as though trying to decide which to address first. Finally he shakes his head. "I will enclose all of your reports along with my own and send them to Simon Illyan for review. Whatever he decides to do with you then will be out of my hands. I could not be happier about this fact. For my part, you are all dismissed to your duties."

Miles salutes and heads for the door at a decorous pace.