Sap, sap, unforgivable and pointless sap...
It was pitch black in the hanger, and the hallway beyond the hanger, and the hallway beyond that. Kieran didn't mind, nor did he necessarily need the light. He'd walked this path enough to know it step for step.
Stifling a yawn, he debated turning around and going back to the Phoenix II to sleep, rather then take the long walk, elevator and then another walk, to actually get to his quarters.
But, the ship was no where near as comfortable as his quarters, so he dragged his feet and continued along his way.
He had no idea what time it was, since he'd crossed a time zone and flown straight through the night. But it was too tempting to get home, rather than stay another few hours in Baron. His business there was concluded anyway.
He wanted to go home. He wanted to see Cuore. He wanted to sleep.
Kieran stepped into the elevator and promptly hissed at the bright light. He mused a moment later he probably sounded like some sort of wild creature that had lived its' whole life in a cave.
It was a good thing no one was up and about at this hour.
"Ugh, Bab-Il, decrease lighting, please."
The system beeped, chimed, and then commented; "Decreased lighting by fifty percent. Better?"
The ending note of sarcasm made him frown as he leaned against the wall of the elevator. "Much, thanks. Take me home, Bab-Il."
She chimed again and he sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. The hum of the machine was far too relaxing, and he probably would have fallen asleep had Bab-Il not spoken up again. Her echoey, mechanical voice sounded a bit cocky.
"You seem…reduced. Was your trip too long?" Bab-Il asked.
"You're the one with the internal clock, you tell me." Kieran grumbled, rubbing at his face. "Seriously, was the elevator always this slow?"
"The elevator has not been altered. Likely, however, your perception of time is impaired due to lack of sleep."
He made a face, squinting up at the ceiling, "We could reprogram your snarky attitude, you know."
"I could also increase the lighting," the system fired back.
He smirked, shaking his head. Despite how…odd the computer was, he actually found it sort of endearing.
Finally the thing stopped moving and he sighed, pushing himself off the wall reluctantly and stumbling into more darkened hallways. "Thanks, Bab-Il,"
"You are welcome. Welcome back." she chimed.
He waved haphazardly over his shoulder and kept walking, counting steps until he finally reached the door he wanted.
The doors zipped open, and he walked inside even more darkness, although it felt so nice to be home he didn't even care. The very air felt relaxing here, and Kieran stifled another yawn as he walked, remembering at the last second to avoid a chair he always tripped over when it was dark.
A nice, warm, familiar bed was mere steps away, and Kieran gladly stepped through a doorway, looking forward to it.
But, as inviting as the room inside was, the bed was also empty and completely orderly, meaning it had been empty for quite some time.
He frowned.
If Cuore wasn't in bed, then she was probably working in one of the labs.
Again.
He rolled his eyes.
Ideally, he should probably let his workaholic wife know he was home, but that was a whole extra step to use Bab-Il's com system, or another trip down to the labs if he was really feeling nice.
Which, he wasn't.
Kieran just wanted to sleep, but it felt rude at the same time to not at least tell Cuore he was home.
With another sigh, he turned to use the com system only to come face to face with his wife, and the dagger she was holding.
"Oh," she said, looking drowsy.
He batted the weapon away, a little irritated. "I've told you it freaks me out you sleep with weapons,"
She flicked the blade away with a flash of silver in the moonlight, making it rest against her forearm harmlessly. "Sorry." she said quietly. "But I recall telling you it freaks me out that you don't sleep with weapons."
"I have one next to our bed,"
"Which takes you six seconds to retrieve," she argued.
Kieran sighed, too tired to have this disagreement with her.
She tilted her head and gave him a once over, "What are you doing here? You weren't supposed to come back until tomorrow."
Kieran could hear the lethargy in her voice, which was confusing considering that she hadn't been in their room. "I decided to fly back through the night."
Cuore frowned, "I would have waited up for you had I known,"
"I'm glad you didn't, it's late." he remarked.
His eyes had adjusted to the near pitch blackness of their quarters and he could make out blankets on one of the long-cushioned seats in the other room.
He frowned.
"Cuore, why are out here and not in bed?" he asked.
She blinked, but it did little to clear the sleep from her expression. "Oh, I don't like sleeping in our bed when you aren't here. It feels…anomalous."
She'd said the words as if they were the most normal things to say in the world, and Kieran couldn't help but smile slowly. She was sweet when she wanted to be.
He leaned down and cupped her face, murmuring, "Come on, we should sleep." He added after a pause, "Now that I'm home,"
Cuore smiled, nodding slightly. She leaned into his touch, which made him far happier then it should have, before kissing the inside of his wrist. "Okay."
If he wasn't so exhausted, he would have kissed her right then and there. But sleep demanded all attention at the moment.
Kieran randomly threw his jacket and shoes…somewhere off into the room, into the darkness and barely reigned in the temptation to literally fall into bed. Instead he crawled into it in a much more civilized way. He would clean up the airship and his clothes another day.
At this moment in time, there was nothing he could remember ever being as heavenly as the bed.
Especially when Cuore crept over and curled up next to him.
"Where's that dagger," Kieran asked sarcastically.
"On the nightstand," she replied.
"It will take you six seconds to get if we get attacked,"
He could hear the smirk in her voice, even laced with sleep. "No, it only takes me four seconds. My reflexes are more advanced than yours."
Kieran rolled his eyes at the predictably arrogant comment, but grinned all the same.
"I missed you," Cuore murmured.
He pulled her closer. "I missed you too."
Tomorrow they could go over his trip, share stories from the last week, move along with projects and probably argue.
But for now, he could finally sleep.
An obnoxiously piercing sound made them both cringe and Bab-Il's loathsome voice rang; "6am wake up alarm. Good morning."
Cuore sighed.
Kieran didn't even open his eyes, "I swear, Bab-Il, I'm going to rip out your crystalline fundament and toss it off the top of this damn tower."
Cuore giggled, shifted unfortunately away from him and began inputting commands into the panel nearby. He could hear her tapping instructions with swift fingers.
The alarm stopped blaring, and Bab-Il beeped a few times before falling silent.
Kieran sighed in relief.
"Do you want breakfast?" Cuore whispered, perched on the edge of the bed.
He turned to look at her, frowning. "No, I want to cuddle with my wife."
He half expected her to scoff at his whine and refuse, stating some excuse about work needing to get done or things she wanted to check on.
Instead, she smiled and crawled back over, resuming her former position.
Finally, everything was perfect, although a nagging thought bothered him, even in his slightly asleep state.
"When did you reset that alarm too?" he asked drowsily.
"Tomorrow." she replied.
Kieran grinned, "Perfect."
Cuore's soft giggle was the last thing he heard before he finally fell asleep.
Author's Note: I got nothing. Hahaha. I haven't had a lot of time to write for fanfiction lately, too many other projects, so while I work on my longer stories, I thought I'd throw up a short one-shot.
It's pointless, unforgivable sap! Hooray!
Actually, this is a random idea I've had for awhile.
Speaking of sleep, though, I need to go to bed, so this didn't get edited. I am SURE there are mistakes, so sorry about that.
Hope you enjoyed ;)