Her eyes hardened as she settled back into her seat and she fixed him with a steely stare, frosted over with ice. "Talk to you?<em>Talk</em>to you?!? I've spent the last year trying to talk to you but you've been so wrapped up in your work, in your tinkering that I don't think you've spoken more than a dozen words to me over the course of it!"<br/><br/>"I've done everything I could think of to get your attention. Intimate dinners that you never came in for. Lingerie that you never saw because you never came to bed or even looked up from your work. I sent you notes. I arranged trysts. I even had a mock awards ceremony set up to honor you that I don't think you even<em>considered</em>attending because it would mean you would have to spend time out of your precious lab!"<br/><br/>She stood, her anger too great to remain seated. "And then, to top everything off... Today! You acknowledge my existence for the first time in over a month to invite me out. You don't tell me that we're going to be heading to one of the seediest markets in the region, let me dress us and make myself a target, took a two-seater transport when you<em>knew</em>you were going to be purchasing a slave, and while you did at least realize, eventually, what day it was, at no point did you ever wish me Happy Anniversary, instead offering to take me out somewhere and hope that we could get a table, with no idea what you were going to do with the slave you planned to buy."<br/><br/>"You don't find me attractive? Fine. I've accepted that. I've accepted that you share a bed with me out of convenience, that our marriage is nothing more than a social arrangement, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be happy that the first time you pay any attention to me is while going out to find a replacement for your bed."