Lexa/Zophie
Notes: The original version is over on AO3 if you want to check it out.
Zophie's pov
Being stuck in the same ship had its issues, like not having any alone time or always waking up when Ella took to wailing again. It wasn't terrible, for me. We were going to the same planet as my brother, and I'd always been a people person to begin with. Lexa, on the other hand, had a harder time since she spent so much time in isolation before the flight. She had a tendency to snap at everyone else and hideaway in one of the tiny arranged rooms. Maybe she thought more about how we were still alive while most of our people weren't.
The explosive yelling was vibrating through the ship again. Ella seemed fine sleeping through it on my chest. I kept my eyes on the passing stars. It was the third time today, I think. Time was hard to keep track of in space. But what right did I have to complain when so many didn't even get a ship to escape on?
"You know, she used to date my brother. She seemed so happy then. There was a light to her that she lost when her brother died. I'm going to find him, and she'll be okay again. We'll all be okay," I whispered to Ella.
Silence settled like an aftermath, and Lexa stormed past me a couple minutes later. Crayton came over a moment later, red in the face. Tension coiled through his body like a compressed spring. He held his arms out for Ella and said, "You go talk her down. I'll take care of Ella."
It seemed to be an agreed upon arrangement. Crayton was better with Ella and I with Lexa. I eased the sleeping infant to her cepan and went after Lexa. She was on her bed with a computer on her bed, typing away. She had changed after her brother's death. We'd kept in touch, but our relationship seemed to have changed as well.
I plopped down beside her and just watched her work. She didn't look at me. The quietness wrapped around us. I missed this; I missed feeling close to her even in silence. Even on this small ship there was this distance between us. After a moment, she turned and looked at me. "Crayton sent you to talk me out of blaming the elders again, didn't he?"
Her gaze pierced me, daring me to argue. I eased further on the bed. "It's not really my argument, is it? I'm just here to calm you down. Maybe we can just. . . talk, like we used to. Not just about the fights and crying babies."
She looked down at the laptop. "Like what? What do you want me to say, Zophie? That I feel like our government screwed over our whole planet, that we have no way of talking to anyone outside of this ship, and I can't fix that. We don't have a home anymore. Everyone back there is dead, and we're on our way to a different, bigger, planet that another ship is going to." She took a deep breath and started typing away at her laptop.
"We're here, and there's a chance you can see Janus again. Maybe you could get together, again?" I could still see them picnicking and flying aircrafts together. They'd been laughing a lot. I was happy for them, even if I felt like I was always outside an inside joke.
She paused and turned back to me with a gentler expression. "Zophie. . . Janus and I were never more than friends. We were flying partners. Seeing him again isn't going to magically fix everything. It's still going to be shit, and our home is still going to be gone."
My breath caught in my chest. "But you had late night flights and picnics. . ."
She was intensely watching me, something in her gaze put a lump in my throat. "It wasn't romantic. I liked someone else."
I wasn't sure what was going on, but I was leaning forward, captivated by something in her. She leaned closer as well, a spark in her eyes. And then our lips connected. I was jolted by the reminder of how close we were, but then I relaxed, letting out a sigh. She pulled away a moment later.
At some point my eyes had slipped closed, and I opened them to see her smirking at me. She closed her laptop. "Think about it. I'm going to see what I can do about navigating to the same landing site as Janus's ship."
She sauntered off. I touched my lips stunned. Had she kissed me, or had I accidentally started it? Think about it. So was she offering us to be a. . . thing? A burst of excitement filled me. This was beyond the concentrated hope of seeing Janus again. I really hadn't expected the close quarters to push relationships. Then again, I hadn't thought there could be anything between Lexa and me.