Hello lovies - I've been trapped inside since Sunday due to the weather, so I'm updating much sooner than I normally would be! Hope you enjoy!
.. . +.。 . . . . . 。 ゚。, ゚.
Rush ground his teeth together as the chatter of female voices floated down his far removed hallway. He had become rather accustom to no one exploring this part of the ship, and thus his quiet was normally uninterrupted, especially when he was working on something rather difficult. His woefully short pencil placed next to one of his remaining notepads, Rush closed his eyes letting his ears bring him the image of the hallway. So much time in space and off to the dark corners of the ship had left him adept at "seeing" through his ears.
"I found it a few days ago, during routine patrol. It will be much better than the normal quarters we use to use, it even has this large Ancient crate in there that if we could ever find enough water we could probably take baths in." Lieutenant James' voice pierced through the giggles, causing Rush to groan internally. No, not in his hallway, not now of all times, not when he had so much work to get done, and quiet time was too few and far between these days. Four people, Rush decided, waiting for more talking to be done so that he could identify the others.
"Oh a bath would be the greatest thing in the world right about now." Rush identified the speaker as Lieutenant Johansen, the soft sigh of the blonde female's voice carrying down the corridor. With her renewed affair with the Colonel, Rush's opinion of the female had dropped slightly, but her actions with Chloe kept the Lieutenant in his list of people that he could tolerate, perhaps even like.
"Those showers just don't make me feel clean, even if they do work to keep the smell at bay." Rush's brow arched, Chloe. The third of the group identified, Rush tilted his head, eyes closed as he listened still. The girls had passed his door by then, and the scrape of a heel followed by a feminine giggle, lead him to the identity of the last of their group, Park. So the entire girl's team was taking time away from everyone else to invade his hallway for who knew what.
"Rush is down here somewhere, not exactly sure. Not like he leaves anything in his quarters to make them look lived in." James said, as Rush heard the door two rooms down from him open, the collective gasp, followed by a string of giggles and laughs. Water sluiced into a container, as boots and items sounded their fall to the floor. Rush grit his teeth together so hard his jaw was hurting. Never mind that their "girls night" was happening in his hall way, never mind that they were making so much noise it was impossible to block their chatter out, no, it was the sound water and articles of clothing being removed that kicked him square in the gut, making it impossible to focus back on his work.
"Oh, TJ, this smells wonderful, and it's soaping up like real shampoo even." Rush closed his eyes, his jaw going slack at the sound of Chloe's appreciative sigh. Whatever budding interest that had happened between them in their shared captivity, their checkered time together, Rush was certain of one thing; he desperately wanted to hear her sigh again, her body stretched beneath him. His time with Mandy had proven that he still wanted, no, craved human contact, and he'd be damned if he'd pass by an opportunity to feel that relaxation once again.
"It does smell very nice," Park commented with another giggle. Rush blocked them all out as he paced his room, eyes closing and then opening again with forced effort. He was relatively sure he wouldn't bump into anything in the room; it wasn't large enough to house anything of import as of late. He pinched the bridge of his nose with a groan, stopping on the far side of his bed as he turned to walk back the other direction.
"Hopefully we'll be able to figure out something for your eyes." Vanessa spoke softly as she helped Park with her sensible flats. "Pink or red? Which one do you think Greer would enjoy more?" Vanessa teased as a blush rose across Park's face. Rush leaned his head against the wall as he tried not to imagine what was happening in that room, and damn it if his imagination wasn't sparing any expense in supplying him a tormenting array of scantily clad women primping for just the sake of driving him insane. Never mind that this group was four members of a very small group of people he tolerated, never mind that he was thinking inappropriate thoughts about one of them, he had work to get done and this distraction was keeping him from it.
"It's not like I can see it," Park laughed, folding her hands on her lap. "Pink, it's more feminine and reserved; he'd notice that more than the red!" Chloe laughed from where she was leaned over the crate, fingers busy scrubbing her scalp almost raw. Rush's hand fisted tightly as he forced himself to breathe, he had work to do, he reminded himself.
"So, basically everything you're not is what you're saying?" Chloe shot back, keeping the smile in her teasing, so that it wouldn't be taken the wrong way. Gods, her voice was captivating when he was distracted like this, Rush decided as he put his back to the wall, work forgotten for the moment.
"Just because you jumped the first good looking male on board doesn't mean you're any less of a .." Park trailed off into laughter as Vanessa started painting the other woman's toes. "Oh! You would know I'm ticklish and choose just then to do that!" Eyes still closed, Rush let himself slide down the wall, until he was seated, one leg straight out, the other bended so that he could rest his arm on his knee.
"What about you TJ? Any update on tall, dark, and brooding?" Vanessa asked, focused on painting so that the sting of jealousy didn't become any worse than it was. "Crawled into his bed yet…again?" Vanessa ducked as TJ threw one of the large squares of cloth they had brought with them at her, the corners of her mouth tugging into a grin.
"It's air out the dirty laundry night apparently!" Chloe felt herself grinning as she used one of the bowls from the mess to rinse her hair out, before taking another of the squares to wrap her damn hair up in. "Oh God, TJ, that's exactly what I needed, clean hair," Chloe leaned back against one of the other crates in the room, absently flexing her bare toes as she watched the other girls. Rush felt a low heat in his abdomen, his mind only supplying him with Chloe's image now, hair wet, hanging around her strong shoulders, and that annoying purple yoga top he yearned to pull off her.
"Apparently." TJ sighed as she took her turn washing out her hair. "No, I've not crawled into his bed, so wipe that thought from your mind. We were frozen for three years, and there's so much going on, and well it's not like we're going to get home any time soon, or even find another planet like that one." TJ smiled as she began suddsing up her hair, rocking to the balls of her feet as she let her nails scrub away the grime and sweat that seemed to always be clinging to her after a long day in the infirmary. "I still dream about that place."
"The waterfall," Chloe breathed, closing her eyes. "And the lake, so clear you could see the bottom, pristine like a park that had been preserved from outside influence for hundreds of years. The sight of the sunrise and sunset, making up new constellations from the stars." Rush held his breath again, as the image of Chloe in his mind shifted, a white summer dress in a field of flowers, hair blowing in a breeze and a "come hither" look on her face, only for him.
"Fresh air and enough food for everyone." TJ added as she started to rise out her hair.
"Rationally speaking, there has to be at least dozens of planets out here that would be the same conditions as Earth. We've known about a lot of them for a while, but the possibility of us running into another planet that meets all the criteria for being habitable is very possible. I mean, even in our own galaxy we have around 11 billion possible life sustaining planets that would be orbiting around the right type of sun like star, so it's not impossible to think that out of all of the galaxies, all of the stars, and all of what we've already encountered that we won't find something just as beautiful, if not more so in this galaxy." Park smiled to herself. "I'd like to feel sun light on my skin again." She added with a chuckle.
"Here Here!" Chloe chimed in, smiling at Park's optimism. Sometimes the ever perky woman grated on Chloe's nerves, but times like now was when she loved Park the best. Rush's eyes snapped open as he heard footsteps from further down the hallway. Measured steps, in boots, one of the military on board, male. Rush's lip raised in a snarl as he got to his feet.
"That's right; it's not all a loss." Vanessa nodded as she finished up Park's toes. They all jumped as a sharp rap at the door left them all silent. TJ looked over at Chloe who was already moving to palm the door release. Hair wrapped, barefoot, and dripping tendrils of water on her shoulders as the door slid open, Chloe found herself face to face with the one person she wasn't ready to talk to yet.
"Um, hey, everyone." Scott muttered as he looked at James and then TJ, his eyes finally settling back to Chloe as he rubbed the back of his head. "Chloe, could I speak to you for a minute?" He asked, his eyes tight with tension as Chloe stepped out into the hallway, the room suddenly silent as she leaned over to close the door from the outside.
"What do you want Matt? You're interrupting the one bit of peace that the four of us can carve out finally." Chloe had no intention of fawning, or even being anything other than snarky at the moment. Scott squared his shoulders and nodded.
"I only need a minute, and then I've got the get back to rounds. I wanted to apologize. I know as well as you that we had been unhappy with one another lately, and I let myself be blinded by something that obviously wasn't happening. I'm fine with us, with whatever we had, being over, and I'm sorry I didn't react with the best of behavior. I just wanted to say that for everyone's sakes, I'd like to still be on friendly terms, and if that's not possible, at least civil terms. It would be less uncomfortable for everyone if we were." Matt tried to smile, but found he could only frown. Before Chloe could answer, another door slid open down the hall, and an unruly Scot snarled as he took two steps out of his room. Rush's face was contorted into one of rage at the unwelcome interruptions. The women had quieted down, and thus were not the focus of his ire right now, but the boy that had hurt one of the few people on the ship he actually considered to be on level with himself, had just pushed Rush past the point of his already short patience. Especially since the youth had decided to bother them all, when his mind had been just turned off enough to start imagining a lithe body stretched out beneath him under starlight. Rush hit the panel for the door release harder than he had intended.
"And for my sake would you all please take yourself out of this hallway and to somethefuckwhere else?! Some of us are trying to sleep without listening to the latest update on your drama-filled lives!" Rush gave them both a dismissive glare as he stalked back into his room, the door sliding shut behind him. Fingers once again pinching the bridge of his nose, Rush stripped out of his clothing and thought he might as well try to sleep since the child wanting to play soldier had ruined the women down the hall's evening. Worse was that he found himself actually caring that their evening had been interrupted, which had lead him to yell at them like a crotchety old man catching children playing on his carefully manicured front lawn. Pulling the coverlet over himself, he laid there glaring at the ceiling waiting for his quiet solitude to become just that, solitude, once again.
"You better go." Chloe muttered as she opened the door to rejoin the girls. "If you're serious about what you just said, then I agree. It would be better for everyone involved." Chloe padded back into the room and closed the door behind her, leaving a confused Scott standing alone in the hallway. After a few moments they all four could hear his footsteps retreating down the hallway.
"Do you think Rush meant us too?" Park asked in a quiet whisper.
"I think it would be better if we do stay here any longer than we keep somewhat quiet. Better yet, let's head to the infirmary, there are no patients in there now, and we can all curl up in one of the corners there and continue our evening with no risk of poking the bear any more than we already have." TJ spoke quietly, not a whisper, but not above what would carry outside of the room.
"Leave the crate, I'll come back in the morning and set it aside for a pass through recycling." Vanessa said as she stood, taking one of Park's hands to help her to her feet. They all four kept as quiet as possible as they gathered their belongings, tucking the items they had brought with them into pockets for the trek to the infirmary.
"Well, we know one thing." Chloe stifled a giggle as they started down the hall.
"What's that?" Vanessa asked, guiding Park along as they retreated, TJ falling in step with them.
"We know which room Rush is in now." Chloe grinned, the glint of mischief promised evident in her eyes.
