A/N: Inspired by Heart-Of-Memories' "Of a Construct and a Hero", some random Halo ponderings and one-shots that have been on my mind awhile.

Disclaimer: Halo and all related materials are the sole property of Bungie Studios and its publisher Microsoft. This story is non-profit and written solely for the enjoyment of the fan community of Halo.

Takes Place: Post Halo 3; Human-Cortana/Chief!

Taking a nod from Heart-Of-Memories, here's a short of the Chief and Cortana before they're found by Rtas 'Vadum in the Gulara Corridor at a trading colony on an unnamed planet.

A/N: I've finally decided that I'll continue the storylines when I feel inspired to write them rather than trying to keep them in chronological order. Hence SOTT-Part 3 will come later, and now here's some much requested Chief/Cortana! This story is also set in the SOTT continuum, the reason for which you'll see.


The morning dawned like many others had before it on this nameless planet.

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, or nowadays simply John, took in the burgeoning sunrise with a distinct satisfaction from where he sat on the edge of a bed in a cheap inn. His armor sat in the corner, security systems enabled. His good mood was mostly because of present company, whom he was still getting used to being able to physically touch.

Cortana, his formerly-AI partner, was now a physical presence at his side instead of merely a voice in his head or an untouchable hologram emanating from his armor. They'd just come from a planet named Kaladan, where FTL drives were prominent and a significant portion of the planet's populace had cybernetic replacement body parts; everything from organs to limbs to the human brain and spinal cord.

It was there, after over a year of hoping, wishing, and wanting, that they had discovered a means by which John could keep his promise. Kaladan also had numerous people that were referred to as 'Full Synthetics', those whose entire body had been replaced with cybernetics.

It had taken them nearly three months to broker a trade for a VERY high-performance synthetic body, as well as an additional upgrade to his own MJOLNIR Mark VI body armor. Cortana had wanted nothing less than their current cutting-edge cyborg body. The model they'd eventually settled on had been built insanely tough, almost as tough as the MJOLNIR suit itself. It had been tailored for those who wanted to stand alone for years at a time with little or no maintenance.

With it, Cortana could leap up the side of buildings, punch through certain types of walls, wield .50 caliber chainguns, shrug off small bullet and plasma rounds, and sprint just as fast as he could. It also had Kaladanian Optical Camouflage and a long-lasting powerplant that could be modified to use a renewable energy source so that it would never run out of power. When he'd asked her why she'd insisted on such a body, Cortana had replied simply enough...

"I don't want to be a burden to you John, but more than that I don't want to be apart from you ... ever. I know your place is on the battlefield and I can't change that. What I can do is make certain that I can keep up with you, no matter where you happen to be."

The transfer had gone brilliantly, and the scientists on Kaladan, although they couldn't give him a 100 percent definitive answer, had told him that the synthetic body's cyberbrain mimicked a real one almost to a fault. Cortana had downloaded a number of troubleshooting guides and blueprints so that if they ever had any trouble, they would be able to fabricate roughly identical replacement parts without returning to Kaladan.

Cortana would in fact no longer be able to recall ALL of the Halo Data verbatim, but she could store it in the memory nodes and peruse it later. Her feedback loop problem wouldn't manifest either as the human brain was potentially limitless in its capacity for knowledge, although accuracy was sacrificed unless she continuously read and re-read the material on a regular basis. 'Use-it-or-Lose-it', just like a normal human brain.

After Cortana's transition was complete and she'd adjusted enough to her body, she and John had allowed the people of Kaladan to scan his MJOLNIR armor, specifically, the energy shielding systems. They already had energy shields, but their damage absorption ratio was less than half of what John's shields could take and their systems shorted out and failed frequently.

The shielding systems bought them Cortana's new body, as well as a full-time Kaladan equivalent of Active Camouflage, which could be activated and deactivated at will. The Kaladanians called it 'Optical Camouflage', and about the only disadvantage to it was that a user couldn't walk through water and not be noticed.

Both John and Cortana had scoffed at the notion, having caught a camouflaged Elite or Brute doing just that on more than one occasion, so they had been expecting that shortcoming.

All told, it was a pretty fair deal. Humans wouldn't lose much in the exchange and John had made a very good impression on them should the UNSC ever run across these people in the future. They were certainly humanoid, but did not classify as human according to genetic scans that Cortana had peeped at whilst in their networks. They were also a peaceful race of explorers, so as long as Humanity didn't fire the first shot, they wouldn't have any problems.

Now here they were on a nameless planet colonized only as a trading outpost in some gravity-wrecked part of the universe known as the Gulara Corridor, planning their next move and trying to find someone who was headed in the general direction of Earth, which was for this part of the galaxy, unexplored territory.

A hand fell on his naked thigh, and he covered it with his own. He reveled in finally being able to grasp warm, smooth skin that felt as close to natural as was possible that he often forgot that it was synthetic.

"Hey, how long have you been up?" She asked.

"Not long. Sun's only been up for a few minutes."

"Come back to bed, it's too early to be getting up." He smiled warmly as he watched her stretch and yawn. Apparently, sleep was a necessity she now required along with certain foods that were broken down by her body for fuel and self-repair maintenance. She had all five of the standard human senses, enhanced by a factor of five, or at least, that's what Cortana had estimated.

He chuckled as she let out a sound halfway between a groan and mewl whilst pulling him closer to her. She seemed to be enjoying the whole 'touch' phenomenon very much and she regularly wanted to cuddle up next to him after having been denied the ability to for so long.

He reluctantly settled back down behind her and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her in response to her unvoiced need. She wanted to erase the doubt from her mind, yet again, that this was some illusion or dream of the Gravemind's. Never had she been granted so many of her deepest desires and he supposed he couldn't blame her, given her captor.

He buried his face into her hair, relishing in the scent of her last shower. Amazingly, the Kaladanians had been able to match Cortana's unique shade of blue for both her eyes and her hair, though she could change it if she wished with some work.

"I'd almost given up hope that this day would ever come." She thought aloud.

"How so?"

"There were always obstacles between us; the whole AI/hologram thing was simply the most obvious." She murmured.

"Not that I can recall, beyond what you just said..." John replied, trying to figure out where this was coming from.

"Oh please John ..." She continued, turning over. She settled again with her forehead underneath his chin and her hands over his heart, which rhythmically pumped along under her palms.

"I was hardly the first woman in your life." She explained.

"I'm not sure I follow..."

"I've always thought that you're handsome in your own unique way. From the very first time I saw your photograph in Dr. Halsey's lab where I was born to the day we first met on that training course to today."

John simply remained quiet, letting her get whatever was on her mind out in the open.

"I was afraid that one of the others would start to see you the way I always saw you. I think the first time was when I reviewed the CSV of Linda."

"Linda? As in Linda-058?" John asked, feeling his heart constrict slightly.

Cortana's enhanced sensors within her new body picked up on the miniscule reaction.

"See? You do know what I'm talking about. She was on Blue Team from the very beginning. She was your Lone Wolf. Your Lonely Little Wolf. I never worried about Kelly at all. She was your kid sister, always crushing on your friends and staying at your back. First it was Sam, then for a time, it was Kurt..." She trailed off.

The names brought another bout of grief to John's heart. He'd never had time to mourn his fellow Spartans. After they had first crash-landed, he'd made her a promise that they'd get home and when they did, he'd find a way to give her a chance at life; tall words from a man hundreds of thousands of light-years away from home with no allies, no friends, and no ship. But they'd managed to get this far and by now it was only a matter of WHEN, not IF they ever got home.

"But I'm getting off track. Linda was your 'Girl-Next-Door'. She was on another three-man-team until you were made Squad Leader of the Spartans, and then you snapped her up without even pausing. She was a friend who wasn't too close and the two of you got along very well. To add to all of that, she was rather lovely."

"Go on..." John encouraged.

"I especially started to worry the more I reviewed your helmet camera footage from all your missions, and in each one, while you would have willingly died to save Fred or Kelly, you seemed willing to sell your soul to make sure Linda came out alive." Cortana seemed on the verge of tears at this point, and John's only reply was to grip her more tightly.

John offered no rebuttal, for it was true. He'd always had some chemistry with Linda that he could never explain or put into words. They simply MESHED. The only thing that had stopped him from thinking along these very lines was military protocol. She was his subordinate, and it would endanger every mission they went on if he allowed personal feelings to come into play.

"Then we found her, against all odds, floating in deep space around the ruins of Installation 04 and you just seemed so RELIEVED that we'd found her. I know it's selfish of me, but I was GLAD we couldn't revive her. At that point, I'd started to think of you as MINE and I didn't want her to take you away from me." She confided.

"Who else?" John asked. Obviously after that, Linda had been revived and transferred away after Operation First Strike onboard the Unyielding Heirophant with the rest of Blue Team while he had been whisked up to Cairo Station for a full debriefing and then the awards ceremony.

"McKay." She answered.

There was almost no way John could have forgotten that name.

"Melissa McKay? From Alpha Halo?" Now John was puzzled beyond belief. Sure he'd noticed that McKay had seemed to look up to him, but certainly he hadn't missed...

"Oh yeah. She was interested. At the time, I was beside myself. It seems you kept attracting those 'green-eyed monsters' as I was wont to call them from time to time." Cortana actually giggled a little, and John followed suit at her chosen nickname of his prospective others. The two previously mentioned ladies HAD had green eyes after all. At times it was like they read each other's minds.

"Then came my biggest worry yet, Miranda."

At this, John was stunned, but he caught himself before saying anything, Cortana had obviously thought otherwise.

"Another precocious green-eyed beauty, and me without any means to compete against her. It didn't help that there was the possibility of you wanting to act as her 'protector' after what you'd been forced to do to Captain Keyes."

And it suddenly struck John what Cortana must have been referring to, and he silently thanked whatever God was listening that he hadn't spoken out moments ago.

"There we were in the middle of High Charity, Civil War raging around us, and one of the first things that pops out of your mouth is how the Brutes had MIRANDA."

At this John winced. Before that moment, he'd never openly referred to a superior officer by their first name. He could easily see how Cortana might have misinterpreted that event. Hell, now that he thought about it, he'd never even called JOHNSON by his first name. Inwardly, he was hoping that Miranda had survived. He'd seen Johnson fighting for her life in the Ark Control Room at the rear of the crashed Pelican, and hadn't heard word of her since.

Despite all that, she hadn't yet broken down. In fact, it had only seemed to solidify her feelings for him back when their relationship had been limited to playful teasing and exchanging witty banter.

"Is that all of them?" He asked.

"Not really, those were just the heavy hitters." She grinned slightly. And it made his insides melt into pleasant nothingness all over again as her nude form lifted itself onto her elbows and began using her fingers to trace glyphs on his chest. Her figure was more than ample, and it nearly made his mouth water at times.

Beautiful AND Deadly.

And all his. Just as he was all hers.

"I suppose all of this is no longer an issue?" He asked.

"I wouldn't say that. I have you in my grip and I've gotta hold onto you now. Those green-eyed monsters aren't getting you ... nope, nope, nope ..." She whispered pressing her lips to his and lighting a fire in his chest yet again as his blood rushed south along with her exploring hands.

She ... sounded ... so ... SEXY ... when she whispered like that, easily ten times more so when she engaged in 'Pillow Talk'. Decades of inadvertently having his sex drive suppressed had most definitely caught up with him.

Which abruptly brought him to another reason he profusely thanked the Kaladanians for moments like these; Full-Synthetics were fully capable of enjoying sexual intercourse.

And after nearly four years as a bodiless hologram yearning in silence, Cortana had a playful streak a few miles wide and almost zero compunction against using it.

"I never stood a chance against you, did I?" John asked breathlessly as their hands desperately began seeking purchase somewhere, anywhere.

"None whatsoever." Cortana answered just as breathlessly.

"I'm yours." John confided.

"Ever since we met, I've always been yours."

"And that's the way it's gonna STAY." Cortana purred.


A/N2: This one took about 2 to 3 hours for me to accomplish, written in the middle of the night. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I'm of the impression that, now that Cortana's got him, she AIN'T lettin' him go! I actually like this piece, so let me know what you all think.