"Hi, I'm Jack."
"Um…Oriana. Nice to meet you."
"Ditto."
Miranda stood to one side, expertly hiding her anxiety at the first meeting between the two most important people in her life. Jack looked relaxed and at home, one hand on her hip as she held out the other for a handshake. The former operative relaxed marginally when Oriana took it without hesitation – a lot of people would have been intimidated by the garishly tattooed woman, but she should have known her sister was made of sterner stuff.
"So where are you from, Jack?"
Miranda winced inwardly; her sister had no bad intentions, she was certain, but she'd inadvertently opened with a rather touchy subject. Luckily Jack took it in stride. She'd heard similar questions from her students, and had come up with a workable answer that shared no more than she wanted to.
"You know…around. Planets, ships, stations, whatever."
"That's interesting. My sister said you're a teacher now?"
"Yup. Grissom's gone, but my kids are still banging around the galaxy, smashing up the bad guys. I spend more time doing duty rosters than teaching, but I guess it's not too bad. How about you?"
"I'm studying colony development…first landers, at the moment."
"How's that work?"
"Well, you know…somebody spends months drafting meticulous colony layout plans, then somebody else sticks the wrong prefab in the wrong place and it turns into a free-for-all."
They settled into friendly enough small talk and Miranda heaved an internal sigh. Satisfied that the hurdle had been cleared, she ushered them firmly into the living area so she could go fix drinks.
When she returned a few moments later, she immediately regretted leaving them alone.
"So she's standing there, head to toe in geth juice, and she just says 'I may have miscalculated'."
Oriana burst into laughter at Jack's unusually animated retelling of Miranda's most shameful misadventures, and the former operative was torn between embarrassment, anger, and an unexpected surge of jealousy.
She tried to put it aside, but just then Oriana reached out to touch Jack's knee as she spoke – Miranda wasn't listening to the new topic of discussion, eyes fixed on the point of contact. Neither her relationship with Jack nor the one with her sister had come easily to her, so to see them bonding so quickly and easily with each other…she wasn't sure who she was more jealous of.
The vision of them together came to her mind's eye far too easily, along with a quick summation of all the reasons it would work out. They were much closer in age to each other than to Miranda; she didn't feel old, but the fact was that she'd been starting middle school when Jack was born and finishing high school when Oriana was. Not feeling it didn't make it not true.
She forced herself to step forward into the room, her grip firm on the tray of drinks and her eyes forward even as the list of reasons continued scrolling past in her mind.
Oriana was young and kind and open, everything that she wasn't with her deep secrets and her demanding, perfectionist ways. The only counter-argument she could come up with was that Oriana had never shown an inclination towards women, but then neither had Miranda…before Jack. The ex-convict clearly had a way with the Lawson women, at least.
As she set the drinks down in front of their owners and took a stiff seat opposite the couch where Jack and Oriana were still talking animatedly, she began to imagine what kind of bitter old woman she'd become if they truly did run away together. There was every chance, provided the war didn't kill her, that she'd live for another two hundred years with the knowledge that her sister and her lover had abandoned her for each other.
Oriana turned in her direction, familiar blue eyes bright and questioning as she sought Miranda's input on something – she hadn't been listening, and found herself glancing belatedly at the diagrams her sister had up on her omnitool. Something about colony layout grids. She fumbled together a noncommittal answer and hoped it was enough.
The rest of her sister's visit passed in a haze – she managed to fake up something when spoken to, but with each passing minute she sunk further into a haze of jealous anger, tinged with despair. They were the two most important people in her life, and she'd wanted them to get along…and she felt like a catty bitch for silently adding 'but not this well'.
And then suddenly it was nearly dinnertime and Oriana was standing to go.
"I'll walk you to the taxi stand," Jack offered in a rare display of gallantry that made Miranda's blood boil. She just nodded, afraid to speak lest her unruly emotions get the better of her. When the door slid shut behind them, cutting off the sound of cheerful chatting, Miranda let out an angry sigh.
"Get it together," she murmured sharply to herself, gathering the cups and tray to return to the kitchen, "It's highly unlikely that Jack will just leave you like that, and if she does then you just need to suck it up, tell her it's probably for the best, and move on with your life."
She fought back the tears that threatened, and grew angry again – with herself, this time. She'd never been so invested in any kind of relationship, and that had been by design. Look where getting involved had gotten her – weepy over a relationship that hadn't yet ended, so attached that she was jealous of her own sister. She stared angrily into the sink, hands clenched around the rim as she fought to get herself under control.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when thin arms encircled her waist, a pointed chin coming to rest on her shoulder. She hadn't even heard the door open, she'd been so wrapped up in her private drama. A good way to get yourself killed, Lawson.
"Jack," she acknowledged stiffly, belatedly picking up a cup to wash it. Jealous drama or not, temporary rental or not, she couldn't abide dirty dishes in the sink.
"I like her," Jack rumbled casually against her shoulder, and Miranda's heart clenched so hard she swore it was physical pain. "She's a good kid, reminds me of my students."
"Well isn't that nice," Miranda snapped irritably, unable to censor herself in time. She clanged the clean cup down into the drainer and picked up another, consciously fighting down her biotics lest she smash it accidentally.
Jack was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Baby," she began slowly, but Miranda shrugged her off.
"I've got to finish these dishes. It's almost time for dinner and I'd like them to be clean before we call for something."
Tattooed hands slipped from her waist to her wrists, holding her in place gently. "Baby," Jack began again, "Miranda. I'm not going anywhere, okay? Your sister's a good kid and I don't mind chatting with her, but…I'm not gonna go running off after a copy when I've got the original right here."
Sometimes it was utterly uncanny, the way Jack seemed to read her mind. Still, her anger was only partially assuaged, and she shrugged Jack off once again.
"Oriana is not a copy of me, she is her own person - and that's by design," she replied tightly, "As for the other, I don't know what you're talking about. If you're trying to imply that I'm jealous, you're sorely mistaken."
Jack laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, sure. How about, just as a mental exercise, we list all the reasons that me and your sister wouldn't work? I'll start: she's just a kid."
"She's nineteen, not a child. She's closer to your age than I am, in fact."
"What was that about not being jealous?"
Miranda didn't answer, and Jack continued.
"When I say kid, I don't just mean age. I mean, she hasn't seen all the awful shit out there in the galaxy, she's never really been hurt, never killed or seen somebody die up close, never walked into a mission expecting to die. She could never understand me the way you do."
"She's innocent," Miranda offered in a soft voice. She hadn't thought about that.
"Yeah. In more ways than one."
Miranda was about to ask for clarification, when she felt a hand slip possessively between her legs, stroking firmly for a second before pulling away. She gasped, and Jack chuckled…which earned her a smack on the thigh, one of the only parts Miranda could reach the way they stood.
"I assume my sister's had sexual intercourse before, if that's what you're getting at!"
"Maybe," Jack agreed amiably, still grinning. "But I doubt she could do for me what you do."
All the doubts and jealousies, conjured up in the dark of her own mind, were beginning to dissipate. She turned around in the circle of Jack's arms, rubbing against her deliberately.
"And just what do I do for you, exactly?"
Later, she left Jack lying in bed as she went to order a late dinner. Waiting for the food to arrive, she checked her email to find a note from her sister. She must have sent it immediately upon arriving home.
Thanks for having me over, Miri. It was nice to meet Jack finally! She seems nice, although she scared me a little when I first saw her. Maybe the three of us can hang out again sometime. ~Oriana P.S: I'm not trying to steal your girlfriend, so stop being jealous, okay?
She couldn't help but chuckle – she thought she was so good at hiding her feelings, but apparently both Jack and Oriana could read her like an open book. Perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing. She tapped out a quick reply.
That would be lovely. Just let me know when you're free. ~Miranda
She paused just after tapping 'send', and called back to the bedroom.
"Jack?" A sleepy grunt answered her, so she forged ahead. "Did you tell Oriana we were together?"
"Huh? No…why?"
She turned back to her omnitool with raised eyebrows. "Clever girl."