After late after dinner, usually when most of Infinity was sleeping, John went to the upper lounge. He liked to come here at this time, the lounge was usually empty. It was a large dimly lit room, and he came up here for his peace and quiet. He liked to sit down and look at his touch pad or just stand by the very large window that gave a beautiful view into space. He had also been going through a lot. He had just lost Cortana, and some 5 years before that he lost his fellow Spartans Kelly, Linda, and Fred. He didn't have a lot of time to think about all of that a lot with everything that had been going on while spending almost 5 years in cryo-sleep, from the Human-Covenant war, from the battles of the Halo installations, from the return of the Didact. John sat on the couch and scrolled through his touch pad.
"Mind if I step in?" a female voice said behind. John almost shit his pants. No one came up here this late. He turned around and saw Commander Sarah Palmer standing in the doorway. This was an even bigger surprise. He stood up at attention.
"No Ma'am" he replied, extremely puzzled.
"At ease it's after hours" Palmer said. You're in here a lot" she said almost disapprovingly.
"I like my peace and quiet. Don't get too much of it as a Spartan I'm sure you'd agree" he replied sitting back down. Palmer nodded. "How do you know I come in here a lot?" John asked her looking down at his touch pad.
"Well I try to come in here a lot" Palmer said walking up to the large window and looking out.
"What do you mean?" John said looking up in curiosity.
Palmer turned around and looked at him "YOU are ALWAYS in here. Yes I am a Spartan and DO agree with you."
"Well who's to say we can't share?" John said sarcastically.
"Well maybe" Palmer said back. "What you got on your mind John?"
This confused John, not many people called him John. Only Cortana, Dr. Halse, and occasionally Captain Lasky would ever call him John, or whenever he received an award, the officer awarding him would call his name out. He certainly didn't expect anyone else to call him John, let alone an officer who didn't really seem to like him.
"Just a bunch of sh…stuff" he said trying to avoid this topic.
"No shit, I feel the same way" Palmer said back to him.
"Well what's going on with you then?" John said to her.
Palmer sighed, "I need a man"
John looked up, he was very confused. "There's a lot of men on this ship, I think they do a fine job"
"No…you're not catching my drift" said Palmer slightly annoyed.
"You're right I'm not" John replied.
Palmer turned away from the window to face John, then walked to the couch and sat down next to him.
"I need a man for myself" she said. "I've dedicated my life for the UNSC and humanity and I just can't find love anywhere."
"It must be hard" John said not really knowing what else to say. It was the first time he saw a soft side to Palmer and actually felt sympathetic towards her. "Someone who works as hard as you and who is as successful as you are deserves someone great "
Palmer looked him, she gave him a half smile. It looked to John like she might start to cry, and he wasn't going to have any of that tonight. He stood up, looked at Palmer and said "Anytime that you want to come, here feel free. Don't let me stop you. "
Palmer stood up with him. "Can I tell you something?" she said playing with her fingers nervously.
This made John a little nervous, he wasn't the most social of people and didn't know how to handle situations like this. "yes" he said.
"I apologize if I came off as a bitch to you in the past" Palmer said looking up at him.
"It's fine" John replied.
"it's just…." She looked down again "ever since you came aboard I just can't help admiring you. I really like you and I just get so nervous when you're around because I know you don't even think of me that way let alone anyone else."
John was speechless, no woman ever came out and confessed feelings for him like that. "Um…I…"
"It's OK" Palmer said to him, "I didn't expect you to say anything, I just…." She paused and looked up at him. John was still looking at her. She came close to him, grabbed his arm, closed her eyes and kissed him on the lips. John stepped back, not expecting this or how to take it…she's a commanding officer, she can't do that, I can't do that, why me? Why would she kiss me? How dare she put me on the spot like that!
"I'm…" Palmer released his arm "I'm so sorry." She walked around him and headed for the door. John was still baffled. He had never had any feeling like this before. No one had ever shown him affection like that except for Cortana, who in John's mind could never be replaced. But this was different…he didn't have the stress of being shot at, or rushing to try and save humanity…no…this was different. This was a moment between two people in which war wasn't a part of…John liked this feeling.
"Wait" he said as Palmer made her way out. She turned around. John turned around walked closer to her, he grabbed her left arm, leaned in and kissed her. She kissed back, wrapping her arms around his neck. John grabbed her thick female Spartan thighs and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his torso and John squeezed her ass. The two made out for a while until someone stepped into the room.
Nick Sanchez had entered the lounge with a bottle of iced tea and. He looked up, and what he saw almost made him pass out. John was holding the woman he liked up while her arms and legs were wrapped around him as the two awkwardly stopped making out to look at him. His stomach began to churn and he felt like he was going to be sick. He knew he would never have a chance with her but the sight was still painful to see.
"Umm…my bad guys" and he turned around in a hurry so he wouldn't have to see any more of this disaster.
Palmer dropped from John's grasps "I should probably go now."
"Yea I uh…" John tried to find the right words "I should probably get to bed now"
"Yea me too" Palmer leaned in and kissed him once more before turning away and walking out of the lounge. John stood there, ecstatic and embarrassed at the same time. He had found someone to love tonight, this gave him butterflies in his stomach. On the other hand though, he had just been caught making out with the Spartan Commander while at the same duty station buy a fellow soldier. John almost wished it was anybody but Sanchez, he had grown to like him, the two had become acquaintances because they worked so much together. John was sure that he wouldn't tell anyone, not only because he was a classy guy and probably didn't care too much, but the fact that he would have to jump the chain of command, and that could lead to conflict nobody wants to deal with.
On the walk back to his dormitory, Sanchez kept repeating what he had seen up at the lounge over and over in his head. He knew there was nothing he could do to win Palmer over. She was his Commander, plus how could he possibly compete with the Master Chief after all he's accomplished? He couldn't, and there was no point dwelling on it. He knew he needed rest, the next was the joint operation with Fire Team Majestic at Galileo Base. He needed to be ready for that.
