Anna took one look at Matt and gasped, shock written all over her face. Matt almost dashed to the mirror, surely he didn't look any worse than when he'd gotten out of the hospital. What he had failed to take into consideration was that the ship's med-bay hadn't just fixed the damage in the fall, but had repaired every injury he had ever suffered as if it had never happened.

Anna's eyes rushed towards the ceiling as she collapsed. Matt stared at her for a moment in confusion before he positioned himself so he could pick her up. After a few false starts, he managed to pick her up and slung her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He moved her over to the lounge and carefully laid her down. He then took his dinner plate into the kitchen, washed and dried it before putting it away. While he was doing this his mind whirled on why Anna would have fainted at the sight of him. Matt then cautiously ventured into his bedroom to look in the full-length mirror.

What he saw caused his eyes to bulge, the man in the mirror was alien to Matt. He hurriedly stripped off his shirt and fingered the now well defined muscular structure that started at the top of his neck and went all the way down. Matt had been about 10 kilo's overweight, not bad for a third-year student who only did 2-3 Kilometres running three times a week. Now he was literally a gun, not an ounce of fat remained on his frame. Not only that, but all his muscles were toned and defined. As he looked at the changes in the mirror he also noticed that every scar he'd ever received was gone. It was like someone had taken the generally undefined clay that was his body and sculpted it into the image of a god.

“Sam” Matt whispered, “what did you do to me?”

“I am unable to answer you, Matt, without further data.” Sam's voice replied through the communications device implanted in his ear.

“My appearance Sam, I'll never be able to pass for what I used to look like now. Why did you do this?” Matt groaned.

“Muscle strengthening and general conditioning are apart of the sick bay's protocol. It takes any injured individual and restores them to the peak of their physical capability as written in their genetic code Matt. I did not realize this would cause you distress.” Sam replied.

Matt silently groaned, there was no help for it. He would just have to stay as he was now. “Very well, but can you alter the sickbay's protocol to simply return them to healthy status without causing such fundamental alterations? At least not without consulting the patient?”

“Very well. Is there anything else Captain?” Sam inquired.

“No Sam, goodnight” Matt signed off as the comms' device closed down.

Matt walked over to the recliner which was close to the couch. He moved it so it faced the lounge and the passed out Anna. He sat down and waited for her to regain consciousness, which would happen all too soon.

Anna stirred on the couch, her eyes opening as she took in her surroundings. This wasn't her house, she looked around confused until she saw Matt and in a flash, she remembered. The door opening and her very own Apollo standing before her. She feigned disorientation for a few more seconds as she struggled to look around the house, her eyes zeroing back to Matt as she hungrily devoured his new body with her eyes.

A flutter in her stomach and then a tingling spark of electricity which arced lower warred within her mind as she tried to make sense of how Matt looked before the incident and now. She couldn't reconcile the two images, but she definitely approved as the tingling spark which was rummaging around down below was causing all kinds of interesting warmth.

“Matt, what's happened to you?” Anna asked in a voice that was subtly sultry and almost a shade off husky. She mentally cursed and nearly blushed bright red.

Matt glared at her and Anna shrunk in on herself as he said in a very tight and controlled voice. “What do you mean what's happened to me, I had the living crap kicked out of me by your idiot boyfriend and his moronic mates. I spent nearly a week in the hospital with cracked ribs being the least of my problems and I've spent every moment since I got out working on my fitness......”

Anna sat still for his verbal tirade, remembering the last time they'd argued before this. That was the night she'd told him Scott had asked her out. She remembered the hurt and the outrage on his face as he'd told her what would happen if she dated Scott. They hadn't spoken since then.

Anna looked down towards the floor and said in a quiet voice, “I know it was Scott. I knew the next day.” Her quiet words and her almost ashamed tone of voice halted him completely as he collapsed into the chair, the wind knocked out of him by that one statement.

Anna walked over and curled up in his lap as she hugged him and sobbed into his chest, “I'm so sorry Matt, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when we first started dating. I knew he had a temper but it was always hidden. I'm leaving him.” She cried herself out on his chest, and Matt was taken back at this level of closeness, so he put his arms around her to still her sobbing.

As Anna reached the end of her tears, she realized where she was. She fit perfectly in the arms of this sculpted version of Matt. She looked up from his chest, a mess of emotions and hormones at war within her. As she gazed into the eyes of this angled and muscled god. She gave in to the maelstrom of confusion and desire and reached up and kissed him tentatively on the lips.

The explosion of power from within him as she sailed back through the air to land on the couch startled her. As he reached his feet and stalked around the lounge room cursing. Anna was at first bewildered and shocked that he'd refused what she'd offered him. This then turned into shame and grief as she realized she'd left Scott for nothing. The grief racked through her as the sobbing which had only just abated returned in full force.

“What the hell!” Matt growled at her, “You can't just do that Anna, all through high school we were friends. You made it very clear that night you came to tell me you were dating Scott that there would never be anything between us. You can't break my heart and flaunt it in my face for three years and then walk in here with a few tears and break me inside all over again......” Matt ran out of words as he stalked around in an agitated state.

To Anna even though she was hurt and grieving, he looked like a lion on the plains. A predator contained by nothing more than his own will. The violence leashed behind an iron wall of self-control. His raw masculine power was dominating, and yet she felt serenely safe. The wonder she felt dried her eyes, and her desire for him rose another notch as she felt her panties soak with apprehension. She needed him, and she knew he needed her but they were both stuck behind barriers of past hurts and old mistakes. She knew what he needed to hear, but the thought of saying it froze her tongue. What if he rejected her, no more then she deserved after all things were considered.

“I was scared, that day you asked me out. I knew how you felt about me, and that you didn't want to push me into anything. Especially with my dad two steps away, a constant scream in the background. I was too scared of losing the one safe thing I had then....” She trailed off, thinking that she had blown the one chance she'd ever had with the only person who had ever known her for who she really was. Who had cared for her during the long years of her father's drunken rage at the world? Lost in her own internal process she didn't notice Matt kneeling in front of her until he touched her cheek with one hand. Then it didn't matter anymore as they kissed fiercely and passionately.

Lost in that first embrace, which broke off only for a second every time one of the two needed air, they stumbled and giggled and murmured apologies as they groped and grappled with each other's clothing as they moved sidelong towards the bedroom. By the time they hit the bed they were down to there underwear, and very quickly that too was gone as they lost themselves in the fire of their passion.

Anna awoke the next morning feeling deeply contented, and with a smile on her face like she was some outrageously lucky winner she recalled with a blush the previous nights' activities. Scott had never touched her quite like that, was love the reason why the sex last night had been so good? She knew without a doubt that Matt loved her, you can't hurt someone that much if they don't care for you deeply. Did that mean that Scott had never loved her, and was just interested in her for her body? A new and disturbing thought entered her head if Scott knew how Matt felt about her, had he been dating her for the subtle indirect suffering that Matt had suffered through year after year? Her eyes widened, it was a wonder she hadn't destroyed Matt's love for her or twisted it beyond all recognition.