A few days after defeating the army of 50 Texe's, finally bringing the Director to justice, Carolina's assimilation into the Bloodgulch crew, and their return to Valhalla, it's night, and Carolina is laying in bed, thinking about a problem that has been on her mind for so long, it seems to be in her stomach now, making her sick. As usual thanks to her problem, it seems impossible for her to get to sleep, so she punches her pillow in frustration, and takes a look at her clock. 2 A.M. Tucker will have started his watch now.
"I owe him this," she mutters to herself, and gets out of bed.
After slipping back into her armor, leaving only her helmet, she opens the door to her room as quietly as possible. She didn't want to wake the others. Particularly Caboose. As usual, the night was frigid, but her suit's heating system made short work of that, as she made her way down the metallic wall of outpost 17-A, and up it's stairs, to find the annoying, but still likable, and absurdly charming Tucker, sitting down on the railing next to the grav-lift, flicking his sword on and off. Just like York with his lighter. This wasn't gonna be easy, but keeping this to herself wasn't gonna be either.
So she walks to him, feeling a nervous ache in her gut, and a lump in her throat, and quietly calls, "Hey, Tucker?"
"Whoa! Jesus!" Tucker starts, nearly falls off, and looks back to see who snuck up on him.
"Sorry,' Carolina says to him, scuffing her boot on the platform.
"It's alright, Carols. I just wasn't expecting company," he reassures her.
There's a short awkward pause, then she asks, "Could I join you?"
"Uh… Yeah. Go ahead," Tucker affirms.
To let out a little nervous energy, instead of walking, Carolina does a few handsprings and lands fluidly beside her companion.
"Wow. You are one incredible piece of work," Tucker compliments her, and adds, "In every way." Carolina could tell he was particularly referring to her appearance on that part.
'Thanks, Tucker," Carolina responds, and they stare for a minute at the crescent moon, shining like an LED. She tried not to think about how romantic this scenario looked.
"Listen," she began, breaking the silence. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you."
"Carolina, it's alright." Tucker replied. "You already apologized, and we forgive you."
"Yeah, but I treated you worse than the others, didn't I?" She asked.
Tucker looked away from her, as if not wanting to answer, but knowing that he probably should, so he answered very cautiously. "Well, yeah. I guess. But it's okay. Really."
"Yeah, I know. But I think you deserve to know why," Carolina said.
"Because I kept hitting on you?"
"Well, that was a little annoying, but the real reason is…" It was time to start confessing, and it seemed harder than ever for Carolina, but sucked up her hesitation, and started explaining.
"There was this guy… Who was very special to me. He was… He was..." She knew the next part she was going to say wasn't quite true, but it was the way she saw it, now. So she sighed and finished. "He was my boyfriend. His name was York."
"Oh yeah, Church told me about him. Sounds like he was a cool guy," Tucker commented. "But wow. I was starting to think it was impossible to get a guy to like you."
"Carolina continued. "Yes he was. And I thought it was, too for a while. And yet he did. Anyways he loved me. He proved it every day, and I did the same for him, for while. But then, my ego got bruised, and I forgot how I felt about him. And when he gave me a chance for us to leave all this shit behind, and what did I do? I chose my pride over him."
Judging by the way tucker's shoulders slackened, he seemed to be feeling pity for her. 'Don't beat yourself up about it," he told her. 'But what does this have to do with me?"
'Well, you see…" Carolina lost her nerve for a little, but with a great effort, she got it back and finished with, "In some ways, you're a lot like him. You remind me of him. Which makes me think about what I did, so I got angry at myself and took it out on you."
This seemed to have rendered Tucker speechless, for the first time Carolina could remember. But she waited patiently for his response, and soon got it.
"Oh. So does this mean that- you and I… Uuuh…"
Carolina knew where he was going. "Whoa buddy, your not that much like him,' She warned him, unsuccessfully trying to suppress a smile.
"Oh," Tucker said, seeming a little disappointed.
But Carolina didn't want him to fell like she was completely pushing him away, so she said, going for a little consolation, 'I'm not entirely over this, Tucker. So maybe. Maybe some day." She didn't want this to get too awkward, so she left the rest of that sentence out."
She was glad to see that that seemed to bring Tucker's spirits up a little. Then to her surprise, he confessed his own little secret to her.
'Well, since we're being honest right now, I've got something I want to get off my chest, too. I've never done any of the things I said I did with women. Except Grif's sister, and she was pretty easy. I just want to look impressive in front of my friends."
Carolina couldn't help but smile at this. The still-harsh part of her was saying "Pathetic," and the other one was saying, "Isn't that cute?"
But Tucker still wasn't quite done, apparently. "That, and I'm lonely. Pretending I'm a ladies-man just helps me cope."
This was the first thing Carolina liked about Tucker for reasons other than York. "Ya know, that sword of yours is impressive. I don't think you ever really needed to. You're the only one of these people who can fight, besides Wash." She didn't know for sure, but she was pretty sure that that made Tucker smile. Then she added. "But you don't necessarily have to stop. It's one of the things that make you similar to York. So I'd kinda miss it if you stopped. Do it for me. Please?"
"All right, Carols," Tucker said to her, and judging by his tone, he was definitely smiling. That gave Carolina a thought.
"Ya know. I've never seen you without your helmet."
"So?"
"Well it's kind of weird to have a friend, and I don't even know what he looks like."
Tucker didn't seem to be able to argue with that, so he put his hands on his helmet, and pulled it off.
Carolina didn't think that Tucker looked anything like York He had half-white-half-black kind of skin, angled features, and black hair with blonde streaks. But something about his smile reminded her of York. And this time, it was in a good way.
They stared at each other, smiling for a little longer, with thousands of unspoken words. Then Carolina noticed she was tired again, so she ended the moment by stepping back onto the platform, and saying "Good night, Tucker." But she didn't want him to think that this was over, so to show him, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Good night, Carolina,' he said back.
Then she walked back to her room where her bed was waiting, without another word, leaving Tucker in a better mood than he ever had since he enlisted, and flicking his sword on, and off again…