Christine Zeta closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt a migraine coming on. The math was just not working out. She was supposed to be flying into deep space next week, she was supposed to be at home, maintaining a planned schedule that would prepare her body to adjust for prolonged time in space. She was supposed to be relaxing, and yet here she was at work, trying to figure out just what would be waiting for her when she got to her coordinates. Sometimes she really hated her job. Christine opened her eyes and glared at the textured grey walls of her small workspace, she didn't think it was too much to ask to know what she was looking for, but the masses of every single substance she put into her computer didn't account for the displacement that seemed to dominate the area she was headed for. Then again, Cadmus wasn't sending her out to find something typical, unknown was the name of the game. After all, new things made better weapons than old. She set her head back down on her desk, she hated not knowing things.
Two strong hands came down on her shoulders, making her tense, "You really should be at home, Chrissy." She could hear the smirk in his tone and her body immediately lost its tension. She smiled despite herself but quickly focused into a frown and kept her head against the desk,
"Keep touching me and I swear I will rip your hands off," she growled before turning to fix a death glare on him. She held eye contact with him for a few seconds before a smile finally broke through her act. She laughed openly and took his outstretched hand, allowing him to help her up.
"Some how I don't feel too worried about it," he said with a cocky grin, pushing an elbow into her side as they made their way to the elevator. She couldn't help but smile and shake her head a little. Ben. He always made her smile. As they reached the curb in front of the ground level Cadmus building a blue sedan pulled up in front of them, window down as Amy called to Ben.
"How about we go out for dinner tonight? I brought one of your sports coats in case we pick somewhere nice. Oh, hello Christine," she said with a smile before Ben leaned in her window and kissed her cheek chastely. Christine smiled and gave her a small wave.
"Always good to see you, Amy. I'll see you Tuesday, Ben" she said, turning on her heel to head towards the employee parking lot. She took another look at the building she had just left, she wouldn't be returning here until after her mission. On Tuesday she and Ben would go to the hangar and make final preparations for deep space, then the next day would be take off. She felt her stomach drop a little at the thought, it wasn't her first mission by far, but she had never gone this far before. And once again, she did not like not knowing things.
Opening her car door she sidled into her seat, closing the door sharply behind her. Christine flipped the mirror down and looked at her reflection. Frazzled. That was the best word to describe her. Her skin was pale and too red in the cheeks, her hair haphazardly pulled into a ponytail, though that didn't prevent a few stray strands from pulling loose to add to her disheveled appearance. She sighed and tried to soothe it down to little avail. She knew very well that she would never look like her partner's wife. Amy was beautiful, golden skin and smooth blonde hair. She constantly looked like she had just stepped off a runway, by far on of the most glamorous women Christine had ever known personally. She looked again at her mousy refection and compared herself to the woman. Amy and Ben looked like they could grace a Macy's ad together, she and Ben would just look like a pity date. She sighed and pushed her glasses up her nose, pulling her car out of the lot and directed it back to her home.
Christine flipped on the lights in her apartment and made her way to the freezer, selecting from her surplus of frozen meals and sticking the small plastic box into the microwave. As it heated, she made her way over to her collection of DVDs, figuring that her schedule for tonight was already so ruined that there was really no use in trying to salvage it. After little more than a moment's hesitation she selected a movie and popped it into the player, a tiny sliver of excitement building within her at the thought of a distraction. She heard the bell ring in the kitchen and headed back towards he food, stopping momentarily to grab a fork before peeling back the plastic and stirring her food. She retraced her steps back to the couch, starting the movie. She snuggled into the couch as her anticipation began to grow- this was her favorite musical in movie form and so she settled in for the long haul.
"You alone can make my song take flight, it's over now the Music of the Night!" Christine couldn't hold back her tears anymore as the heartbreaking words filled her ears. She buried her face in a pillow and felt her shoulder shake as both pity and anger filled her. The Phantom of the Opera always did this to her even though she knew it wasn't real. She just felt so bad for the Phantom and she couldn't help but hate that pretty boy Raoul. Why couldn't the leading lady just see that beauty wasn't everything and that Phantom was just right for her? Christine wiped at her eyes and flipped off the television, trudging into her room without even thinking of the empty plastic bowl and fork she had left on the coffee table. She collapsed into her bed and was forced to lay there for a while as sleep eluded her. Just as she was beginning to drift away, her mind was drawn back to her upcoming mission, her dreams consumed by thoughts of what could be out there waiting for her among the stars.