The hologram computer displayed the time left for arrival: 1 day and 12 hours. How could time go so slow? How could time just feel like it stopped when the enviroment is tense and awkward between two people?

As much as Isaac wanted to say something to Ellie to convince her to talk to him again, he was certain that it was a process, ignoring how long it would be, she had to do to get on with her life. He himself technically took 3 years and two human lifes to do so. He wished the best for her... and maybe more.

The time was spent, sleeping, checking the controls of the ship... but no words were said.

Ellie took her time to think, remember and reconsider stuff. She was remembering when she got to the CEC facilities on the Sprawl. It had been exactly... 4 years ago.

"That's right... I started working at the CEC on the Sprawl around a year before Isaac had lived that hell on the Ishimura... poor bastard. I didn't have any major problems except the fact that I..."

She had no major issues when she started working there rather than the fact that she didn't know anybody. At first she was just a cargo handler while she did the pilot training and received her license for public, private and cargo transport. During her days at the cargo bay, she met Sorensen and Susan, her very first friends... they even were part of the group in pilot training.

Sorensen was older but less mature and a clown by nature... he himself got kicked out two or three times out of the instruction for trying to play funny guy, though it could have been more if Ellie hadn't cover up for him. Susan, was more quiet. She inicially aproached Ellie to ask her how to do a certain instruction they were given, from there they talked how they both came from the Earth and from there it was common sense that they became friends.

After 1 year and receiving their licenses, she finally started working at the cargo pilot group along with Sorensen and Susan. It was there were she met HIM.

She met Kaleb, their captain, and boss. He would be taking care of them for a while. It wasn't long before they became close, Kaleb always gave a certain order and Ellie accomplished it succesfully, unless it was just him acting foolishly. If he acted like an asshole on a rookie, she told him straight that he was being one. If he was being a good guy... she mostly didn't say but, tried to show her appreciation.

When they started going out or rather... fell in love, was around two years ago. She and him were left alone working overtime to move a delicate cargo that their supervisor hadn't seen on the shipment list. So basically they were saving their superiors ass when:

"Goddammit, Langford! If we move this using the relay station, we'll be here all night! Are you stupid?"

"Shut the fuck up, captain! If we don't use the relay station, that leaves moving the ship around the cargo bay and you know that placed has all the squad ships stationed, we'll probably crash the ship and damage the cargo!"

It was obvious they thought differently on how to move that certain cargo to it's destination. Going to the relay station assured them safety to the cargo but it's rout took them all around the Sprawl and it would take hours. But Kaleb's idea was to go through the cargo bay, Ellie's old workplace, if they wen't through there it would took them as much one hour, but all the ships were stationed there and it would prove to be difficult to move through such a small space.

"You're such a stubborn bastard when you really wanna be one , did you know?"

"Shut it, Langford... and you better do this thing. I still am above you and I can fire you"

"Then do so! What should I care? Think I would suffer if I didn't see you again?"

"But I would goddammit!"

Ellie didn't know how to react, she didn't see that coming. She just tried to figure what to say but she just managed to say:

"W-what?"

"Ellie... you're the most stubborn, irritating, stupid and oblivious woman I've ever met in my entire life!... but that's exactly because I... love you"

He jut leaned and kissed her. She just didn't react fast enough to kick him away or something like that.

"Now... you know I'm not good at this... so... um... go through any way you want... but let's finish this"

"I... um... well... o-okay..."

The rest of the time they spent doing that assignment, Ellie was smiling and blushing as she never had before. She was extremely happy to have heard what she heard and to have been kissed, like she was a teenager again. Some may call it stupid and some may call it, ridiculous... but it's undeniable that the first kiss in a relationship is the best kiss.

They started going out since then, it always went low profile, because it wouldn't be seen correctly that a captain and his subordinate were going out. It was a happy time in her life.

"Then what happened?" Someone interrupted her thoughts... or... were those her thoughts?

"Huh?" Ellie looked back and saw Isaac sitting and saw him leaned forward like listening to something.

"You were telling me about Kaleb... and your friends..."

"W-what the...?" She just realized she had been thinking out loud.

"It's okay... now I can see why you fell in love with him... he sounds kinda like you in a certain aspect..."

"W-well... uh..." She was hesitating, and looked away because she was sure she was blushing.

"Hey... there's no need for that... at least you're talking to me... hey, should I carry on were I left off on my story?"

"Do whatever you want... I'm gonna ignore you" She still wanted to keep that attitude... so she wouldn't show that she was changing her mind, although she didn't realize that she was talking... she felt lighter, dropped a heavy burden by saying it.

"Well... where was I...? Oh, yeah! I was saying that later that night I was meeting with Nicole, so I..."

He was meeting Nicole later so he decided to hurry up to the tram station and as soon as he got to the shopping area, he entered the "Hobby cafe". Lousy name, but one of the greatest cafes on the whole station, beign one of the last to keep using real coffee beans instead of instant or something like that, maybe her taste for coffee was as her taste in reading books.

He got there an hour earlier, but as soon as he got sight of Nicole entering the cafe he waved at her and made signals. She quickly greeted him and sat across him from the table.

"So... um... how are you doing?" He didin't know how to start... he was hoping she started talking and he just had to reply.

"Oh, great! A little tired from work but, nothing I haven't suffered before while being a Senior Medical officer, hahaha..."

"Hahaha..." He just managed to laugh that a bit, as he didm't know what to talk to her about... but he remembered some stuff about her office that he could use "...Hey, so... I remembered when I saw you yesterday at your office... you had books, but the real kind of books, not text logs"

"Oh... yeah, it's some sort of thing I have for it... my father used to be a collector and had a library until he went out of business because of the text files that now are sold"

"Oh... sorry..." He felt he had done something stupid... even though he didn't expect that result, it kinda felt like it was his fault"

"Don't mind it... I'm happy I have you here to tell you"

"Oh... yeah, it's okay... no p-problem!" He felt like this was going worst and worst by the second. He was bad at noticing flirting from women, differently from women who are skillful to notice it.

"So... Isaac. Shall we order?"

"Yeah... sure"

She had a black coffee, specifically colombian coffee, at least it seemed he did something right. He ordered an Irish coffee. Both of them, had a croissant with it.

For the next half an hour, the talk went better. Isaac was talking more confidently and Nicole seemed to be responding correctly to his actions. They later asked for the check... but Isaac had forgot something...

"Oh... damn!... my... wallet... I think I... lost it and I can't pay without it... I don't even have my credit cards or anything..."

"Well... then I'll pay, it's not like I'm not enjoying, so it's okay this time"

"But I can't let you p-"

"Don't be so stubborn. If you don't have money then I have to... you'll repay me somehow..." She winked and looked for her wallet in her purse and paid.

After that they started walking around a garden built inside of the station, and as now it was dark, they could walk around quietly. There were lots of flowers, bushes and trees, and a beautiful fountain. It looked like someone took a lot of care when building it.

"Again, Nicole. I'm so sorry for not having been able to pa-"

"And again! I said I didn't mind, I'm happy doing it..."

As they walked alongside the fountain, he felt like he couldn't do anything else wrong, and how wrong he was.

"Well, admit that at least I should-"He started to apologize again while he turned to face her, but accidentaly he hitted her in the face and dropped her into the fountain."- Oh fuck!"

Isaac quickly jumped into the fountain and helped Nicole, who now had a nose bleed and was soaking wet. He just managed to say he was sorry over and over while she repeated over and over that it was nothing... at the end, he lent her his jacket and he walked her home, which seemed to be quite near from his apartment.

"I guess... that you must hate me right now. I'll repay you the money of the coffee as soon as I can and I'll make sure I get that ja-"

He stopped talking. Couldn't talk, couldn't breathe and couldn't feel anything besides what he was feeling, a warm, surprising and always well recieved kiss. As soon as Nicole broke it up she said:

"How many times do I have to interrupt your apologies? For you to understand I like you as much as I assume you like me?" She looked him with a smile on her face and this time he kissed her. She started opening the door and as she entered the apartment:

"Call me... I'd like to hear you say it next time we meet..." Then the door closed and he couldn't still believe what just happened, that day, he ran to his apartment, jumped around, sang cheesy love songs and felt like he was the luckiest man alive.

From there, Isaac and Nicole kept seeing eachother, most of the times without accidents and without emergency rooms at the hospital. After 3 weeks of that they started oficcially going out.

It was a great relationship. They seemed to be made for each other, they might have some differencies sometimes, or different tastes, but it was all a really good thing because they still loved each other.

Three years later he pushed her to apply for serving in the Ishimura for six months, there of all places. They talked almost every day. And they still would saw eachother together in the future. Or that was like that until the red marker was uncovered and all of those horrible situations started. Isaac's participation in the Ishimura and then on the Spawl finally destroying it's influence.

"And... that's pretty much it about how she and I started dating her and all that" He wasn't looking at Ellie. Didn't plan to.

"Hahahahahahahahaa...!" She just started laughing like she was crazy.

"W-what's so funny?"

"She... she just sounds like a male version of Kaleb hahahahahahha!" Someone could have called her crazy hyena without a mistake for how she was laughing.

He wasn't going to say a thing, because as she was now laughing, it was better than anything. Specially some cases of depression.

As soon as she calmed down from the laughter explosion she suffered. She sat normally and said harshly: "Not like I'm interested in Nicole or anything..."

"Well... it was you who asked, Ellie"

"Well... now I regret it, ok? Now let me be" She crossed her arms and looked away.

"Aww come on, we we're talking just fine right now!" he said as he tried to reach her.

"How do I make you understand I want you to leave me alone!" She stood up and raised her hand and was getting ready to slap him when he grabbed her hand and pushed her to the wall really fast.

"How do I make you understand that I... that I..." He couldn't say it... he couldn't. He might feel it but the words wouldn't come out.

"That you what! Hate me? Want me to leave you alone too? Or maybe...!"

"That I love you, Ellie! Don't you understand? I love you!"

The clock on the computer kept reducing the time they had to spend together alone inside the ship. Now it was showing: 23 hours... just 23 hours to sort out theirproblems... or sort out their feelings.

Well... it's been some time, I've been quite busy with school trying to not get yelled at because of my grades. I'm smart, my problem is that I don't study enough XD (That's just pretty words to say that I'm a lazy jerk XD) But enough about school... let's get into the fic you read! I feel kinda uncomfortable but honestly I also feel that if I didn't upload it soon, I would have never done it. I feel that the way I worked out this chapter is rather based on out of character situations... maybe. I kinda gave the story for both of them, no surprise why this is my longest chapter. From 1400 words aprox. to 2000 aprox. hahaha. Well, as always I hope you enjoyed and I want to specially thank: Painted7, McQueen 2.0, odalys-ortiz and other many readers who in such a nice way reviewed my fic. I'll be finishing this one soon... maybe one or two more chapters but I'll keep writing.

P.D: McQueen 2.0 please reply my pm about the pilot and an engineer community invitation you made me... if anyone can contact him... I'd be thankful XD. See ya all and take care.