"Come again, Captain?"
"Repeat: we are approaching the destroyer in a Covenant Phantom. Do not engage. I'll send you the registration numbers for the ship shortly."
She was sent an all-clear status light. Although it would be a pain in the ass for the docking crew to secure the alien dropship with UNSC clamps, any Covenant tech that was in good enough shape for analysis was worth its weight in gold, and a phantom was one giant-ass piece of alien technology.
And they had an Engineer. It wasn't often she was able to deliver good news to CINCONI, but Parangosky was going to be over the moon about this find.
Even if it meant allowing the Covenant to invade Earth.
"Keep him stable! Don't you goddamn die, Romeo!"
She turned and watched Alpha Nine—sans Mickey who occupied the pilot seat beside her—crowd around Lance Corporal Agu. His breathing sounded painful and stunted, and she found herself wincing every time he drew in a shuddering breath. The Rookie was securing an IV drip to one of the overhead grips on the ceiling, and Buck and Dutch were loading him carefully onto a supply table—the only flat surface in the ship that wasn't the floor.
"I ain't gon—gonna die, Gunny," he rasped, grabbing onto Buck's arm. His skin was ashy and had a slick sheen to it, making it difficult to believe him. "Stop yelling…." His words trailed off and his head lolled to one side, his grip suddenly relaxing on the Sergeant's arm and going limp.
"He's out," Dutch stated. Concern spread across his wide features and he pressed two thick fingers to his friend's neck. "Still kicking, though. Should be fine, I think. You jabbed him with the good stuff yet, Rookie?"
The man nodded, and the three ODSTs sat back on their haunches from their half-kneeling position by the weapons table Romeo laid on. They looked as exhausted as she felt; they'd all spent a good twenty or so hours down in the city, fighting and hiding and taking fire at a steady rate ever since touching down. She'd like to curl up and take a day-long nap, but there was still the debriefing with ONI, getting Vergil situated, stabilising Romeo…
… And Buck. Though maybe she'd shelve that conversation until after she had a decent night's sleep. Lucky for her, he seemed satisfied with her earlier answer on where they stood, and he was smart and experienced enough to know now wasn't time to press the issue. They had more important matters to look after—and he looked damned concerned for his marksman.
He noticed her watching them and gave her a tired smile. She suppressed the fluttering sensation in her chest at the sight of it and returned the expression.
"ETA?" he asked from where he sat, sounding a bit breathless.
"Shouldn't be long. We're just leaving atmosphere now; I'd say we'll be there in thirty." And they were going to get the hell out of the system.
He nodded. "Good. I think he can last that long." Buck ran a hand through his hair and frowned at how much dirt and soot he felt on his fingers. "Can't wait for a hot shower."
"And a bed. Or a floor. Hell, I'll sleep right here if they need me to," Dutch added, getting a dreamy look on his face at the prospect of oblivion.
"They've got beds enough for everyone, Corporal," she assured the man. "ONI quality, too."
"Well I'll do without the spook part," he conceded. "Leave that for Gunny. Think you can fit his ass in one of your sleek spook bunks?"
Buck glared fire at Dutch, ready to bark out a sharp order to be quiet, but she merely smirked. "If he can't I'm sure I can make arrangements." She turned sharply on her heel before either could respond, but savoured the wide-eyed look she got from Eddie before she entered the cockpit, then heard furious, loud whispering behind her.
Mickey shrunk into his seat when he saw her standing beside him. "Everything OK, Captain?"
"Excellent. Just wanted to see where we were on our route, Private."
He nodded. "Close. I can see the destroyer. Shouldn't be too long." He paused. "Is Rom—I mean Agu gonna be alright, ma'am?"
"Looks like it. We'll turn him over to medical once we reach the orbital facility."
Mickey blew out a breath and slumped into the oddly shaped Covenant seat. "Good," was all he said.
She made sure the Engineer was secure and stable in the cockpit next to the ODST, but it appeared to be content just poking away at the controls. As long as nothing exploded or blared an alarm, she didn't much care what it was doing. Veronica set a video feed on it in the interest of observation that she'd let the techs watch later, then went to the first seat she could find and tried not to pass out until they made it to the station.
He almost—almost—collapsed into his bunk without so much as washing his hands, but one sniff of himself under his gear solidified his decision to clean up first. As much as he wanted to sleep, soiling his sheets and sleeping in his own dirt weren't very appealing prospects.
The destroyer—the UNSC Spearhead—they were on was spacious enough to accommodate an entire company of marines and then some—it'd seemed odd to him at first for the UNSC to send such a large ship to escort them, but then they'd just nabbed a Covenant phantom and a Huragok. They'd sacrifice supercarriers to collect those two things alone.
Right now Spearhead was operating with only its maintenance crew, a skeleton of naval staff and a research unit—meaning Alpha Nine had enough space to each have their own quarters, a luxury he hadn't had in over a decade.
He even had a private goddamn shower. He stood under the hot spray for well over fifteen minutes, until his skin was a dull pink and he'd washed the blood and dirt and sweat off of himself. It took all he had not to close his eyes, lean against the steamy wall and take a quick nap in the stall. God, was he tired.
Buck eventually managed to turn the water off and step out of the stall. He moved back into the main room wrapped in a towel, and almost had a heart attack when he saw someone move out of the corner of his eye like a fluid shadow.
"Jesus—!" On instinct his limbs locked in a defensive position, and Veronica graced him with a wry grin at the sight of him ready to brawl in nothing more than a towel.
"You were in there for a while. Almost came in to drag you out."
He put his fists down and slumped into the wall, now disappointed he hadn't spent an extra five minutes in the shower. "I didn't… what are you doing here?"
"Put some clothes on and I'll tell you."
Damn. Nothing fun, then. He shrugged and turned to the small dresser at the foot of the bed and pulled out some off-duty clothes.
He dropped his towel without ceremony, relishing the slight rosiness that tinted her cheeks when she saw he wasn't going to change in another room. She blew air hard out of her nose and looked at the wall instead.
"Never seen a soldier naked before?" he quipped, shoving a leg into his pants at a leisurely pace. He hardly thought she was embarrassed, but calling the flush to her face arousal wasn't really accurate either.
God damnit, he was too tired to figure out this shit right now.
"Plenty," she said curtly. "Most of them have a bit more decorum, however."
"Serve long enough and you get used to everyone seeing your bare ass," he replied, buttoning his pants and then pulling a t-shirt on. He frowned at the ONI logo stitched into the breast. "Besides, nothing you haven't seen before. And what gives with the spook logo? Serve one mission with you and suddenly ONI owns us?"
"No," she said slowly, as if he were a particularly thick boot. "But with Earth currently being invaded we couldn't find the time to pencil in a delivery of coffin-monkey shirts for the five of you."
"Oh ho, this is how it's gonna be? Where's all that sweet talk I heard ground-side?" He crossed his arms. He was tired as hell, but her spiky tone set his blood to flare. She always had the dual effect of turning him on and making him angry, a confusing combination that never failed to get under his skin—in a good and bad way.
He tried to imitate her voice, and threw a hand to his forehead for effect. "'Oh Buck, if I don't make it back, I just want you to know—'"
She levelled a look at him, the glare cutting off his words. "You know how it goes, Buck. Heat of the moment stuff."
"So you didn't mean it?"
"That's not what I said."
"Well then what the hell are you saying?" He was not in the mood for her cloak-and-dagger approach to this conversation. Either we can jump in bed or let me pass out.
The sudden shift in her expression surprised him. She looked… afraid? Sad? He couldn't really tell, but it took some of the fight out of him.
"God, I don't know, Ed. It's complicated." She rubbed a tired hand over her face. "And I know you're tired and I'm exhausted too, I just—I wanted to get this out of the way first."
He took a step closer. "It's doesn't have to be complicated."
"It is, though." She pursed her lips. "You know I'm a spook."
"I hadn't really noticed," he supplied, and some of her annoyance returned.
"So you also know I have to disappear often. There's a lot of things I can't ever tell you; I might be gone for weeks without any contact and when—if—I come back, I can't give you or anyone else an explanation. I've also made some enemies, too—people who would love to level the playing field by hurting people I care about." Veronica gave him a rare, soft look, and this time he gave into the urge to touch her. He grabbed her hand, testing the waters, and she squeezed his fingers.
"And I don't just mean hurt physically, Buck. Someone above me could make it their mission in life to make sure we never cross paths for the rest of the war or be able to line up leave time. They could saddle you with shitty jobs or insubordinate soldiers or—" She shook her head. "I could go on. My point is… it is complicated. Really complicated. It's not like the week we spent on Castellaneta where it was just late nights and expensive drinks and our jobs weren't involved."
"So?" he asked. "Veronica, I don't know if you know this, but this whole 'complicated' thing isn't really a surprise to me. Knew it the moment I met you. And now that I know you're a spook, I can go into this with a better idea of what the risks are."
"Even if those risks could mess up your career?" she asked.
"You kind of already did that, so I don't see how it could get any worse," he replied, revelling in the glare she shot him. "Besides, if we both make it out of the war in one piece, it would be nice to have someone to celebrate it with." He'd never thought about retirement before—had never seen a need to—but Veronica made him dare to dream about it. To think maybe he could one day have a normal civilian life and wake up at the same time every day in his own house—with her in bed beside him. Damn, what a nice thought.
She chewed her lip, clearly still not convinced, and he grabbed her by the arms. God, it felt good to touch her. "Is this what you came here for? To convince yourself that we are a bad idea?"
She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I knew you'd argue—say it didn't matter, that we could still do it—"
"—which I really mean; it's not just my dick talking—"
"—And that we'd end up at odds," she continued, ignoring his comment. "I just… I wanted to hear your side. And to let you know that I can't keep you safe from any potential wrath another agent may decide to take out on you in an attempt to disrupt my work."
He'd always assumed ONI had a lot of internal politics, anyway. He decided not to focus on how concerned Veronica looked and kept talking. That seemed to be working for him so far.
"I can take care of myself," he argued. "And who says we gotta go at it serious for now? You told me that we'd wait till the war's over—which is fair—but we can stick to simple for the time being. No strings, just like Castellaneta." He raised a brow in questioning, wondering how she'd take the offer. It was a good bargain, in his opinion.
Instead of answering the question, she kissed him. Hard.
Stars exploded behind his eyes, almost like he was about to faint. His hands immediately sought her hips, pulling flush against him, and Veronica grabbed his neck to keep his head in place.
Not that he would break away from her now. God, he'd wanted to kiss her for years, dreamed about it for so long it had become just a fantastical concept in the back of his mind. He'd hardly been celibate since she'd up and left, and he had no illusions about what her own personal life had probably been like, but he'd missed her. And from the way she was pressing her tongue into his mouth, he thought it fair to say she's missed him, too.
They both kinda fell towards the bed, and then she was on top of him and pulling at the clothes he'd just slipped on.
"Why'd you tell me to get dressed—" he said breathlessly into her neck, pulling on her own off-duty uniform.
"I hadn't expected our talk to go this well," she murmured back, her voice pitched and raspy in a way that made him shiver.
"Just—just so we're clear—"
Veronica ducked her head down to bite at his collarbone, and pressed her fingers over his mouth. "Stop talking, Buck—"
"If I fall asleep," he continued around her fingers, then bit back a moan when she slid a hand down the front of his pants. Aroused and exhausted was a combination he was more familiar with, but it was no less frustrating. "It isn't a reflection of my interest—"
"Noted." His pants were suddenly on the floor and she was making quick work of his briefs. He wasn't sure how she'd managed to get so much of his clothing off of him already, but he wasn't about to complain. He tugged at her shirt, and she shrugged it and her bra off in one smooth motion.
"Done talking?" she asked, raking her fingers over his chest and giving him a smoldering look.
Deciding the best course of action was to not be a jackass, he simply nodded, and she pressed her lips to his again.
There were more productive things he could do with his mouth, anyway.
The bunk was really only meant for one person, which meant they had to huddle pretty close together to get some sleep. All in all, it wasn't a bad arrangement, and she was so tired by that point that moving to a more spacious location never occurred to her.
Veronica rubbed her legs against Eddie's, trying to get warm. He was sort of hogging the blankets, and his room was too cold to sleep in naked now that they weren't doing anything besides lazing in bed.
She sat up and looked over at the bedside table, then winced when she saw the time. Shit. They'd slept for over ten hours.
"Buck," she whispered, shaking his shoulder gently. "Wake up."
He made a sour face and pulled her back down next to him. "No," he murmured into her hair, and she couldn't really find the strength to argue with him further—he was a pretty great personal heater.
She snuggled closer towards him, absorbing as much of his body heat as she could. "Well we have to get up soon," she reasoned instead. "Otherwise people will start noticing."
"I'll make them run laps if they say anything," he said sleepily. Buck pulled back enough to look down at her and grinned. "You marked me up good, so people will notice either way."
She pressed a gentle finger over a rather obvious red mark on his neck, grinning back. "Could just say it was a field injury."
He laughed. "Gives a new meaning to 'the Covenant screwing us over'," he said, and she snorted at the bad joke.
Buck sighed and pulled her close again, his chin resting on top of her head. "Jesus, I missed you, Veronica."
She stiffened at his words. "I thought you said no serious talk until the war's over." She didn't want to think about the way his words made her heart flutter—she couldn't afford a lot of emotional attachment right now.
He hummed in his throat. "I really missed having sex with you, Veronica," he amended, and she laughed into his collarbone. His hand slipped down to grab at her ass for emphasis.
"I think we can work with that," she said, then yawned. "We can—we can figure out the rest of it later."
He made a surprised noise. "Did Veronica Dare just postpone planning something?"
"Ha ha," she replied. "I'm not all work, you know."
His arm tightened around her. "So I've learned."
She pressed against him for a moment longer, trying to savour this, but they really did need to get up. "Speaking of work—"
"Guess we need to check on the Engineer," Buck finished, coming to the same conclusion. "I don't really trust Alpha Nine to handle it appropriately. And I need to see how Romeo's holding up." No one had come rushing into his quarters to tell Buck that his marksmen was dead, so she took that as a good sign.
Her mind drifted back to the Engineer and she smiled. "What, you don't think Dutch and Mickey would make good handlers for the Huragok?"
Eddie's only answer was a hard snort. Then he groaned into the pillow and sat up, disentangling himself from her and rubbing at his bare arms. "Jesus, this room is cold."
"I know; you stole the blankets." She grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around her, watching him walk over to retrieve his clothes off the floor.
"Part of my elaborate plan to get you to cuddle with me," he replied, grinning over his shoulder as he slipped pants on. "It worked, didn't it?"
"Very spook-like," she said with a smile. "I approve."
"I'll take that as an insult." He gathered up her own discarded clothing and tossed it at her, and she deftly caught them before they collided with her face.
"You leave first," she said, reluctantly letting the blanket wrapped around her shoulders fall and began putting on her bra. "Go start up some coffee. I'll come out in ten minutes."
He nodded. "You want food?"
She remembered that he could make really good French toast, and put on her best smile, which he immediately returned. "If you find anything edible on the ship, then yes."
"Reconstituted strawberries and granola coming right up." He finished dressing and slipped on his boots, then popped into the bathroom to comb his hair and probably see if he could hide the mark on his neck.
She was presentable by the time he came back into the bedroom. "I'll be off then," he said, looking to the door. "Find me in the kitchen."
"That was my first stop anyway," she replied, feeling at her hair to see if she needed to steal his comb or not—which, she decided, she did.
There was a moment of awkward silence with the two of them simply standing there. Surely Eddie was trying to figure out the protocol for goodbyes (even if only for five minutes) before he just gave up and asked her, as he usually did whenever he was unsure. She had to appreciate how candid Buck was with everything, even if he could be a bit blunt at times.
"Can I kiss you?" he asked, and she swore his face went a bit pink.
Veronica grinned. "Yeah," she said with a small nod. "Yeah, goodbye kisses are in the clear."
"Good." He grabbed her chin and ducked his head, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. It was a lot different from their frenzied kissing before, but no less welcomed. He was grinning when he pulled back, the awkwardness gone and his eyes twinkling. "I'll go make coffee and flimsy excuses to my squad now."
She smiled back. "I can't wait to hear them."