Bretta has a dangerously high fever and is having trouble breathing. She admits to having been sick for a week. Normally forceful and fearless, Ingrid becomes emotional and begs Sasha to save her sister, acknowledging her past cruelty. Sasha warns that she can make no promises; Ingrid confirms that Bretta’s health score bars her from official Ward care.

Ingrid’s desperation pulls Sasha into a flashback of Lara dying in the Ward. In her final hours, Lara recalled their childhood game of princess and knight, in which Sasha always played the protector. Lara apologized for years of jealousy and died promising to tell their deceased family that their mother had been wrong about Sasha.

Now, hearing Ingrid’s pleas, Sasha agrees to try. She starts Bretta on an IV, treats her with supplies from the med bag, and then tells Owen about Bretta and asks him to secretly monitor her while the unit is aboveground. Owen agrees. Sasha tracks down the sick little girl who just arrived; her name is Daisy, reminding Sasha of her father’s pet name for her: “little flower.” Sasha gives Daisy’s mother her remaining antibiotics. When she opens the med bag’s front pocket for Kumar’s notes, she finds instead a handwritten message addressing her as “Death’s Angel” and telling her to let the dead rest. She realizes that someone knows she has been searching patient files.

Back at the living quarters, Tristian appears and refuses to leave despite Sasha’s demands. Her anger gives way to desire, and she admits that she doesn’t want him to go.

Sasha initiates a desperate kiss with Tristian. He matches her, but when he pauses to ask what she wants, she can’t admit the depth of her feelings for him and asks him to be a “distraction” for her. He agrees, brings her to the unit bathroom, and obliges. When Patrick knocks, looking for Tristian, Sasha speaks to him through the door while Tristian secretly continues pleasuring her. Patrick reports that the Force Commander is looking for Tristian and then leaves. Tristian finishes, steps back, and asks if she’s now distracted. He walks out, leaving her alone and shaken by his abrupt departure.

The next morning, Sasha checks on Bretta and finds Ingrid waiting. Ingrid won’t be going on the mission because she refuses to leave her sister; the mission team is now reduced to four. Sasha tells her that Owen knows about Bretta and will watch over her; she adds that she understands the impulse to blame someone else for a sister’s death. Two bells later, Sasha goes to the gear room and finds Patrick, who informs her that Command has called off the mission due to an unreliable weather forecast. Sasha recalls that Rumi and Levi had previously found something suspicious about the weather data. Patrick then reveals that Command has sealed all exits, trapping everyone in Haven.

Over the next 10 days, Haven descends into civil unrest as the illness spreads. Patrols increase, inter-sector travel is banned, and a curfew is imposed. Bretta’s condition worsens to the point that Sasha depletes the unit’s antibiotics treating her. Ingrid becomes ill as well but refuses to leave Bretta’s side. Sasha keeps drifting back to help the Ward with patients and quietly searches the files for Rumi. She and Tristian have barely spoken; he’s furious that Burdon has deprioritized surface missions, and he’s exhausted from working double shifts.

During a patrol, Sasha is pinned against a tunnel wall during a brawl; Tristian pulls her free. Afterward, Patrick asks her to deliver paperwork to Tristian in the commanders’ locker room. Once she’s there, Tristian asks whether Sasha wants another distraction; she counters that he was the one who left after their previous tryst. He explains that he left because she had only asked for a distraction, and he wants all of her; he doesn’t want to be merely a distraction for her.

The moment is broken when Kaleo appears and taunts Tristian, openly confirming to Sasha that Tristian and Burdon were once a couple. He reports that Jaxon is ill; Tristian dismisses Jaxon as Kaleo’s spy. Later, Tristian privately tells Sasha that Kaleo and Burdon destroyed his former unit, the Angels. At the door to their quarters, he pulls back and asks what their connection means to Sasha. She lies again, hiding the true depth of her feelings and insisting that their bond is just a distraction. He tells her that he wants all of her and refuses to spend whatever time remains to them pretending any different. He then says good night and leaves. Inside the living quarters, the rest of the unit keeps quiet company with Sasha.

Shortly after, Noah Henderson, Damien’s boyfriend, arrives to pick Damien up for a night together. He mentions in passing that he saw a visibly angry Tristian in Commander’s Hall. After Patrick and Isla go to bed, Sasha asks Levi about the Angels.

Levi recounts the history. Four years ago, he and Tristian belonged to Unit Thirteen. As the first Exploratory Unit, Unit Thirteen was nicknamed the “Angels” by Force Commander Ande, who viewed Tristian as a son and tasked him with saving Haven. The Angels included Kaleo, Henderson, Burdon (who was in a relationship with Tristian at the time), and three other members: Wilma Abbott, Conti, and Balakin. On a mission above, Burdon and Conti stayed behind, claiming illness. That night, Kaleo drew a knife, and Balakin stabbed Tristian from behind; planted attackers went after the rest. Henderson refused to join and escaped with Abbott. Levi fought Kaleo while a badly injured Tristian killed two attackers; Levi then half-carried Tristian back to Haven. Upon returning, they found that Commander Ande had reportedly died from illness, but his body was never seen, and the disposal was fast. Burdon had been named Force Commander. She publicly reframed the ambush as a thwarted mutiny; designated Tristian, Kaleo, and Henderson as heroes; and gave each of them their own units. Now, Levi explains that Tristian has never forgiven himself for refusing Burdon’s earlier pressure to take command from Ande; he believes that his refusal opened the door to everything that followed. Levi calls Sasha “Phoenix” and tells her that it’s never too late to start over.

Three more days pass without Sasha seeing Tristian. Unable to wait any longer, she gets his room number from Levi. She admits that she, like Burdon, has been hurting Tristian, and she openly declares that Unit Seven is hers. She enters Tristian’s room wordlessly and kisses him. He pulls back, refusing to use her. She undresses and asks him to “pretend” alongside her—to join her in the lie that their bond is only a distraction. Her expression betrays the truth of her love for him, and he pulls her close.

In Tristian’s room, they undress. He moves slowly, asking what she truly wants. Sasha finally admits to wanting him. As they have sex, he asks whether her declaration is the truth or a lie; she answers by pulling him into a kiss. Afterward, she acknowledges that she’s willing to pay any price for him.

Afterward, although he asks her to stay, she insists on leaving. He grows distant and then asks about the weapons she carries; she explains that they belonged to her father, an Army Special Forces soldier who trained her before dying in the war. Tristian offers his own grief in return, revealing that his father abandoned his pregnant mother before he was born.

Sasha discloses the details of her family members’ deaths, explaining that her mother died upon hearing of her father’s death, that Eli was killed by an intruder, and that Lara died after Sasha waited too long to bring her to Haven. Sasha then mentions Haven’s current crisis. Tristian reveals that nearly the entire observatory team has died from the illness and confirms Rumi and Levi’s suspicions that the weather reports have been falsified; the sky above is clear. He also admits to staying in his room to create distance from Sasha.

At the door, he kisses her and asks her to stay a little longer. She refuses, privately reflecting that she can’t ask him to carry the burden of her trauma. She abruptly leaves, her fears unspoken. In the tunnel, Kaleo intercepts her and warns that Burdon will use Sasha as a weapon against Tristian. He implies that he’s sleeping with Burdon and tells Sasha to watch her back, warning that people like the Angels are often brought down in Haven.