Okay, so, in hindsight, maybe Sara shouldn't have agreed to watch Cora's plants while she was away.
The thought was dawning on her as she looked over several of them that were turning different colors that they were definitely not supposed to be turning.
She sighed, shutting her eyes tight and pinching the bridge of her nose. She stayed like that for several minutes, until she heard the door to the room hiss open, and she nearly started in surprise.
"Sara?" She heard the familiar Scottish accent.
"Suvi?" Sara asked, confused. "What are you doing here?"
"SAM told me you were troubled with something."
"Nice. Thanks, SAM," Sara deadpanned.
"I'm pleased to have helped," SAM replied.
"That was sarcasm."
"I know. I simply chose to ignore it."
Suvi giggled, making Sara turn her attention back to her. "Is everything okay?" Suvi asked.
"Yeah!" Sara said, a little too loudly. She cleared her throat. "I mean—yeah. Everything is a-okay. Great, even."
"Sara is lying," SAM supplied.
"SAM! Seriously?"
"You have been distressed about killing Cora's plants for nearly three days. I'm worried its going to start affecting your work."
"Okay, SAM, I didn't know it was possible for you to be dramatic, yet here we are," Sara said. "Plus, they aren't dead," she continued quietly. "…yet."
Suvi only giggled again, and for a moment Sara wasn't so upset.
"What's wrong?" Suvi asked.
"Cora asked Sara to watch over her plants while she was away, and Sara has killed them. That is why she is distressed."
"SAM. You really aren't helping. At all," Sara deadpanned once more.
"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad," Suvi said with yet another light laugh, before she actually looked over the plants. "Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh.'"
"I mean—they aren't completely dead," Suvi said, obviously trying to placate Sara.
"Yet."
"We can still save them," Suvi said.
"But how?"
"Sara," Suvi started. "Do you know anything about plants?"
"Not really, no."
"Then why did you agree to watch over them?"
"Because!" Sara said, throwing her hands into the air, frustrated. "She said all I had to do was water them. That it would be easy."
Suvi was obviously trying to hold back her laughter. "Okay, look," she said. "The yellow ones mean that you've watered them too much, and the brown ones probably mean you've watered them too little. Have you been consistent at all?"
"I mean—"
"No," SAM answered.
"I'm trying," Sara said, pinching the bridge of her nose again.
"It's okay," Suvi said soothingly. "They're salvageable."
"Really?" Sara asked, hopeful, looking back up at Suvi, who merely nodded encouragingly. "Will they be back to normal by the time Cora gets back?"
"When does she get back?"
"Tomorrow."
"Oh."
"'Oh?'"
"Well…" Suvi trailed off for a second, before taking in a deep breath. "The good news is: they won't die by tomorrow. But the bad news is: there's no way to make it look like they weren't dying in the first place."
Sara let out a loud groan. "Great. Cora is going to kill me."
"Maybe," Suvi said, grinning. "But at least the plants won't be dead."
"Oh, har-har," Sara said, sighing. "She trusted me to watch over them."
"It's okay," Suvi said. "She'll be forgiving."
"Have you met Cora? Do you know how intense she is?"
Suvi grinned. "At least you tried?"
"Here's hoping she looks at it that way."
Suvi stifled another laugh as she picked up a forgotten spray bottle full of water. "Come on, let's just water these plants," she said. "You'll have green fingers in no time."
"But I don't have green fingers," Sara said, frustrated, as she rubbed her temples. "I have fingers of death."
Suvi laughed out loud. "Oh, I'm sure your fingers are good for other things," she said, distractedly, as she began to spray some plants. It must have taken a moment for her to register what had just come out of her mouth, because she paused her movements before blushing. "Wait. That sounded weird. I didn't mean for it to sound weird," she said. Sara snorted a laugh, causing Suvi's blush to deepen. "Oh, shut it."
"Sara's talents seem to lie in combat and field work," SAM helpfully supplied.
"Yes. That's what I meant," Suvi said, rushing her words.
"Are you saying I can't be gentle?" Sara asked jokingly.
"No," Suvi said, once again rushed. "I wasn't—" Sara's loud laugh cut her off, only making Suvi sigh. "Are you going to help me with these plants or not?"
"But don't you want to know what else my fingers are good for?"
"What?" Suvi asked, voice several octaves higher than normal.
Sara snorted again. "I've been told I'm exceptionally good at tickling."
Suvi was still blushing, but managed to give Sara a deadpanned look.
"No one has ever told Sara that," SAM said.
"SAM! How do you even know that?" Sara demanded.
"Your heart rate accelerated with your statement, indicating that you were lying."
"That's not why my heart—" Sara cut herself off, sighing. "Can you stop, SAM?"
"I'm sorry. It was not my intention to cause more distress," SAM said.
Suvi giggled, though her face was still slightly red. "So you're only good hitting things, gotcha."
"I mean there are other things that—" Sara groaned in frustration. "SAM ruined it."
"I apologize," SAM said. Sara only rolled her eyes.
"Then, in other words, you're not good at tickling," Suvi said mirthfully.
Sara raised a brow. "That sounded an awful lot like a challenge."
Suvi's expression slowly dropped as she realized what was going on in Sara's head. "How did that sound like a challenge?" She asked, slowly backing up. Sara only took a small step forward for every step Suvi took back, grinning quite evilly. "Sara, trust me, you don't want to—"
She was only cut off as Sara's hands darted for her sides. Suvi tried to block the other woman's hands, but Sara was faster than her, and Sara won the short battle to reach Suvi's sides.
Sara began tickling Suvi.
Suvi laughed, still trying to block Sara's hands, but Sara came out victorious each time.
"Sara—haha—I'm serious—hahaha—"
"I'm sorry, what's that?" Sara asked, still grinning evilly, over the sound of Suvi's laughs. "I can't understand you."
"This is—hahaha—this is not—haha—"
And the next thing they knew, they'd fallen to the floor. Sara atop Suvi, with Suvi trying her hardest to protect her sides from the attack, laughing all the while. She did her best to struggle out of Sara's grasp, only to fail each time.
That was, until, Sara seemed to hit a tender spot, and Suvi all but punched Sara in the jaw.
The onslaught of tickling suddenly stopped as Sara nursed her jaw, looking down at Suvi in shock.
"Oh, my gosh, Sara—I'm so sorry—"
Suvi was only cut off by Sara's loud laugh. "Jesus, do you punch everyone who tickles you?"
"I tried to warn you," Suvi said sheepishly. "Besides, who still tickles people, anyway? What are you, twelve?"
"And a half," Sara said in a very correcting way, causing Suvi to roll her eyes. "But my god, you certainly pack a punch. Maybe we should take you out into to the field. Those Kett won't know what hit 'em."
"We've already discussed how bad of an idea that would be."
"That was before I knew how hard you could hit."
Suvi snorted. "Are we going to focus on the plants now?"
"I don't know," Sara said with a smile playing at her lips. "I kind of like where I am right now."
"Where you're—" Suvi cut her own question off as she seemingly noticed their position for the first time. Sara was still straddling her hips. She had the sense to blush once more, but still rolled her eyes. "You have no shame."
"No, I don't," Sara agreed in a soft laugh, leaning down so her face was closer to the other woman's.
They stayed like that for a minute, with Suvi giving Sara a deadpanned look while Sara looked down at her, grinning.
"Oh, honestly, Sara," Suvi finally said. "Either kiss me or get up."
Sara wasn't sure if Suvi was joking, but decided to take her chances. She leaned down the rest of the way to connect their lips.
They barely had any time before suddenly, they heard someone clear their throat pointedly.
"Cora!" Sara greeted, a little too loudly, immediately standing up and helping Suvi along the way. "Uh, when did you get back?"
"Just now," Cora said slowly, watching them with a suspicious, raised brow. "What's going on?"
"We were just taking care of your plants," Sara said.
"By… kissing," Cora slowly surmised. "On the floor."
"We, uh… we thought they'd enjoy the view?"
Suvi nudged Sara, hard, making her grunt in pain.
"Right," Cora said, once again slowly. "How are the plants, anyway?"
"Sara almost killed them," SAM supplied.
"Okay, SAM, what the actual fu—"
"What?" Cora demanded, walking past them. "Oh," she said after looking them over. "That's not too bad. Honestly, I feared worse."
"What?" Sara almost demanded. "Then why ask me to watch them?"
Cora shrugged. "Feared worse. Hoped for the best." Sara merely peered at Cora through squinted eyes. "Oh, come on. It really shouldn't have been so hard."
It grew quiet for several long, slow moments, and Sara felt awkward.
"Anyway, uh, I'm sure Suvi has some Science Officer stuff to do. You know; licking rocks, writing a bunch of pages about dirt…" Sara trailed off, and Suvi rolled her eyes. "And I've got some Pathfinding to do... so, uh… be seeing you!"
With that, Sara grabbed Suvi's hand and they quickly exited the room, while Suvi laughed.
"But the plants!" Cora called behind them.
"They aren't dead!" Sara shouted back.
Cora sighed.
A/N: I don't even know. But thanks for reading, and leave a comment if you'd like.