A/N: Thanks for the fav and follow :)
"Are you sure you'll be okay to stay by yourself?" Hackett asked, yet again, as he prepared to leave. "It's not too late to change your mind."
Lucy smiled. "I'll be fine. If you were going to a conference on Earth or something, I'd definitely tag along. I could go sight-seeing or... something. But this, spending a month on a starship? No thanks. I'll be bored out of my skull within a day."
He chuckled. "You may be right. At least if you're here on the station, I know you'll have school to occupy your time." He looked at her sternly. "You will keep up your school work."
"Of course," she scoffed. "No way am I falling behind now. I still plan to graduate and go to university on Earth."
"Excellent plan. Stick with it." He pulled her into a hug. "If you find you don't want to stay by yourself, don't forget the Moreaus said you're more than welcome to stay with them. And you can message me any time, all right?"
She nodded.
He lifted her chin in one hand, forcing her to look into his eyes. "And don't forget what I said about Massani."
She huffed and rolled her eyes. "I know, I know."
They'd had the same argument at least half a dozen times in the weeks that had passed since the memorial service on Mindoir. And since Hackett had received notice of his next mission, brief though it was going to be, he'd worried over what would happen while he was gone. He wasn't stupid; he knew that if she needed someone to talk to, it was much more likely she'd message the bounty hunter than she would her own family. He also knew that if he forbade her from contacting Massani at all, she'd rebel and... only God knew what she'd likely do. So he kept up his warnings to her, in hopes that one of them would sink in and she'd decide to stay away from Massani on her own.
"Seriously, I'll be fine, Uncle Steven," she said, holding out one of his bags for him as he put on his jacket. "And yes, I'll be careful of Massani."
"Good." He kissed the top of her head, took the bag from her hand and walked out the door.
Fuck. Lucy woke in a cold sweat. It was the eighth time since her uncle had left that she'd had a nightmare about batarians. She hadn't told him about them, but she needed to do something. The lack of sleep was affecting her school work. She sighed and grabbed her omni-tool as she pulled on a sweatshirt and padded into the living room with a blanket.
It hadn't been until they were on their way back to Arcturus after the memorial service that she'd remembered the ping on her omni-tool. She'd pulled up her messages to find one from Zaeed: Send me a message if you ever need to talk. Any time. - Z
She decided now was the time to take him up on that offer.
Inter-Relay Text Chat
Location: Arcturus
From: Lucy
To: Zaeed
02:25 L: Hi
02:28 Z: Hey
02:30 Z: What's up?
02:35 L: I... crap this was stupid.
02:36 L: Forget it.
02:39 Z: Lucy, what's wrong?
02:40 Z: I wasn't kidding when I said you could message me any time.
02:50 L: Do you ever have nightmares?
02:52 Z: All the bloody time.
02:55 Z: Why do you ask? You have one tonight?
03:00 L: Not just tonight. Uncle Steven is... away... and I've had at least one every night he's been gone.
03:01 Z: Shit. And I'm guessing you haven't told him.
03:05 L: No. I'm afraid if I do, he'll... come home or something. Or make me go with him.
03:06 Z: Surprised he agreed to leave you by yourself as it was.
03:07 L: Why?
03:09 Z: I dunno really. I remember how bloody strict he was when I was with the Alliance. So I just always pictured him as the overprotective to the point of smothering type.
03:13 L: That's what I'm afraid will happen. I know he keeps trying to prove that he's more of a family man than Kevin ever thought he was, but at some point, that's probably going to translate into being the overbearing "dad" that my own dad just... wasn't.
03:15 L: I... um... sorry. I didn't mean to say quite that much.
03:16 Z: 'S all right.
03:17 Z: What was your nightmare about?
03:19 L: Batarians. The others have been the same as well, except those all involved me. I usually wake up gasping for breath, like somebody is choking me.
03:20 Z: And this one?
03:22 L: This one wasn't... it wasn't me. It was Kevin and Dad. And a couple of my friends.
03:26 L: Why were you at the farm that night?
03:28 Z: Picking up a bounty.
03:30 L: Kevin?
03:31 Z: Hell no.
03:33 Z: I was in town, saw your old man at the bar. I was already heading to the farm to see Kevin when the raid started.
03:34 L: Oh.
03:35 L: Did you go to Mindoir a lot?
03:36 Z: No. Small farming community like that, a criminal, particularly an alien one, would stick out like a bloody sore thumb.
03:38 L: Right.
03:40 Z: But I'd tracked this one into town. He ran off before I could nab him though.
03:41 L: Batarian?
03:42 Z: Yes. Should have known something was up.
03:43 L: Not your fault.
03:45 L: Thanks.
03:46 Z: For?
03:48 L: Listening.
03:50 Z: You gonna be okay?
03:51 L: I think so.
03:52 L: I'm gonna try to get some sleep now.
03:53 Z: G'night.
03:55 User Has Disconnected.
Three Weeks Later...
Hackett was positive something had gone horribly wrong. He unlocked the door to his apartment, stepped into the living room and was overwhelmed by the scents of... home. Of Buenos Aires.
Perhaps he'd hit his head at some point and been knocked out, because he had to be dreaming. He dropped his bags by the door, stepped into the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway.
Every surface was covered in pots and pans, and Lucy was in the middle of it all, dicing sweet potatoes.
Hackett raised an eyebrow. "What is all this?" he asked, walking over to the stove to see a stew bubbling away.
"It's a recipe Mom tried to teach me when I was little," Lucy replied, carrying a handful of sweet potato chunks to the stove and dropping them into the pot. She smiled ruefully. "She had more success with Kevin, mostly because... he could reach the stove."
Hackett grabbed a spoon to sneak a taste. "For something she tried to teach you, you seem to be doing quite well."
"Oh yeah. Well, after she died, Kevin decided to start a tradition of making this dish on her birthday. And eventually he taught me, with limited success." She added the rest of the potato chunks along with a cup of raisins and stirred it all together before putting on the lid. She turned away from the stove with a sigh. "I figured, with Kevin gone, I should continue the tradition."
An hour later, they were sitting down to a delicious cumin pork and sweet potato guiso. Lucy seemed nervous, and not just about the food.
"What's wrong?" Hackett asked refilling his bowl with a second serving. "You're not normally this quiet over dinner."
She shrugged. "Nothing. Just tired I guess. Had a long day."
"Lucy, it's Sunday. Unless you had some big school project, you did not have a long day." He ate a few spoonfuls before continuing. "You haven't been sleeping well, have you?"
She looked surprised but didn't deny it. "How'd you know?"
"Your English teacher called and said she was concerned about the quality of your last paper."
"Oh."
"So? What's going on?"
"Just... had a few nightmares."
"How many is a few, Lucy?"
She mumbled something he couldn't quite make out, but vaguely sounded like "almost every night."
He raised an eyebrow. "For a whole month?"
She shook her head. "Not... exactly."
He frowned. "Why didn't you tell me?"
She shrugged again. "I dunno."
"Did they eventually stop?"
"Yes. I... talked to Zaeed once," she said quietly, looking down at her bowl of half-eaten guiso.
"I see. And the reason you felt the need to talk to him instead of me?"
"You wouldn't understand."
"I wouldn't understand what exactly?"
"Never mind. Forget it."
Hackett got up and walked around to the other side of the table, crouching down beside her chair. "Lucy, what's wrong? Did I do something to upset you?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that." She sighed. "The reason... it was partly because I'm so used to being alone. I mean yeah, Dad and Kevin were... around, more or less, but I couldn't ever really talk to them."
"I can't honestly say I'm any less confused than I was before, sweetheart."
She didn't say anything for a minute. "I... was afraid that if I told you, about the nightmares, that you would take my independence away or something. That's also why I never went to stay with the Moreaus." She looked down at her hands. "And also, apparently I still had questions for Zaeed."
"I see. I'm not going to try to change who you are, Lucy. Ever."
She nodded. "Does it help that it was 0230 and I didn't want to wake you because I knew you had early meetings the whole time you were gone?"
He chuckled. "Yes, I suppose that helps a little." He stood up and began clearing the dishes. "How long was this chat, anyway?"
"About an hour and a half."
He set the dishes on the counter and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Lucy. You are forgiven. As long as it was just chatting."
"Of course. I didn't actually see Zaeed. Haven't seen him since the memorial."
Hackett sighed as he began washing the dishes. "Thank heaven for small miracles."
