Wow! Long time no speak! Started a new job and it has been craaaaazy! I'm also started deployment preparation even though I'm not leaving for a while and that's quite the undertaking, getting all my ducks in a row-I'm sure my military readers can understand. I've still been writing though, I write on my train commute! Kinda a short fluffy chapter but I hope you enjoy!
"Dr. Black?"
She shook her head. "I beg your pardon?"
"Your independent research, how is it going?"
Apparently their department meeting had dissolved and her professor mentor was now trying to initiate their weekly one-on-one.
"It's going well," she said vaguely. Ever since she had been here she had gotten the feeling that people were very interested in her ideas, almost a little bit too interested. She supposed that one can't just revolutionize galactic travel and expect people to treat you normally.
"How is your family?"
Cortana didn't feel like making small talk but she proceeded to answer questions and make chatter, her mind miles away thinking about everything from slipstream travel and forerunner glyphs to John and their hopefully impending getaway.
John sat with Joan, correcting her penmanship as she wrote the alphabet and her numbers.
Write "Dad," he said.
"D-A-D," she slowly wrote. She was very measured, she made each letter carefully paying attention to make sure the letters were even.
"Now write Joan."
She smiled and did so.
"Okay, here's a new one," he wrote BLACK.
"What letters are those?"
She examined the letters carefully before pronouncing "B-L-A-C-K."
"That's your second name, write Black," he instructed.
"I have two names?"
"Yes you do," he confirmed. She smiled.
"That's silly!"
John almost agreed-he had lived almost his entire life with only one name aside from a Spartan tag and a rank.
"You're Joan, but Black is a little special because me and Mommy have the same last name, we all get to share it," he explained.
"It makes you my dad?"
"Well no, I'm your dad because I'm your dad, not because we have the same last name, but it helps other people know that I'm your dad and that your mom is my wife."
She digested this knowledge.
"How about we learn some more names," he proceeded to write Sarah and Tom on her board.
"Do you remember a little while ago when Sarah and Tom visited?"
She shook her head sillily. He knew she was just teasing.
"Don't you remember the nice picture you drew?"
She shook her head and smiled at him.
"Remember Tom gave you the nice bear?"
"No," she said, starting to laugh mischievously. John couldn't help but smile, she thought most things were games.
"I remember how much you liked Sarah, remember she's tall like me," he explained.
"Yes, I liked her, I want her to visit again," she grinned, resting her chin on his knee and looking up at him.
"How would you feel if she came and spent the night?"
"I think we could have a lot of fun," she said carefully. John chuckled-he could tell she was measuring in exact amounts of 'fun' she could have. John had to wonder how you could quantify fun but it somehow made sense in his daughter's head.
He looked at his watch, it was 1400.
"It's nap time," he said quietly. Joan frowned.
"No," she whined.
He sighed. "How about we nap together?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Okay," she frowned. He picked her up and carried her to his bedroom. He didn't tell Cortana about this-she was adamant that Joan not go into their room, she insisted that it was supposed to be their private space. He knew that this made more sense but she was so stubborn and she was miserable to deal with if she didn't nap, so he figured it was the lesser of two evils.
They laid down together on his bed. She giggled, trying to distract him from sleeping by asking him silly questions and even attempting to tickle him, which didn't really work.
He patted her hair down and kissed her forehead.
"Close your eyes," he said. She did and within ten minutes she was asleep. Watching her fall asleep was one of the most beautiful things he had ever witnessed. She slept so peacefully, so sweetly without a care in the world. Sometimes he felt overwhelmed by the fact that he had been entrusted with caring for her, the enormity of caring for another life, a human life that was a part of him. She was just so important.
He wondered if his mother or father had held him and kissed him while he slept. She was so trusting. Why wouldn't she be trusting when she knew her father would do anything for her?
He thought of Naomi's father. He was sure that Naomi's father would have done anything for her as well. It pained him to think of his grief, of the helplessness he must have felt.
As quietly as he could, he got out of bed and went back to the living room where he dialed Lasky's connection.
Tom had just gotten home from work. Sarah wouldn't be home for a few more hours, her day was usually a bit longer than his. His comm tablet rumbled indicating he was getting a call.
From the Chief?
He pressed the button and the image expanded into the room.
"Am I calling at an okay time?" he asked.
"Of course," he said leaning back into his couch.
"Apparently there is a holiday on Friday and Cortana was wondering if you and Sarah would be willing to stay the night at our house with Joan so we could have an evening together," he paused. "I don't trust anyone with Joan, but she really liked Sarah, talks about her sometimes," he trailed off a little.
Tom felt a surge of warmth in his chest-Joan liked Sarah enough to request her presence.
"It's actually Sarah's birthday that day but I didn't have any plans, we were probably just going to order in dinner and go to bed. I have Fridays off because we do a compressed work week with ten hours each day so every other Friday is free, and Sarah only has to go in that morning. We could be in New York City by 1300 your time," he said.
"If you don't want to spend a holiday and a birthday with my three year old I understand entirely."
Tom laughed. "Joan is a pretty fun kid, it's kinda relaxing when you're around adults all the time, I'll double check with Sarah but I think that will work out just fine, don't worry about it," he smiled widely.
John nodded slightly. He felt awkward ending transmissions, saying goodbye felt weird so he just hung up even though that could perhaps be considered rude.
He called Kelly and Fred next.
Since it was so far away, the connection took quite a while to make until a slightly frazzled looking Kelly answered.
He wasn't used to seeing her look that way, she always looked entirely put together even when she was juggling a busy schedule.
"Hi John, hold on a second," she went out of the screen quickly and he heard a crash and then wailing.
"Samantha you know we don't run in the house and now look, you fell down the stairs and broke Daddy's favorite picture frame," he heard her sigh exasperatedly as Sam continued to cry.
She walked back into the frame carrying a crying Sam while bouncing her up and down.
"Can I call you back after I sort this out? I'm sorry," she spoke over her screaming toddler.
"Of course," replied John ending the transmission. As he did that, the door buzzed.
Who could that be? He cursed when he heard what was most assuredly Joan stir in the bedroom-it would have been good if she had slept at least a half hour longer.
It turned out to be a treadmill delivery and John couldn't help but feel very confused. Cortana came home early and looked a little frazzled as she set her briefcase down. She looked at the treadmill and groaned.
"John why would you tell them to set that up in the living room when we have three rooms we never use," were the first words she said. Joan had taken off all of her clothes in preparation for her second elective bath that day and John couldn't help but sigh.
He had just wanted the delivery men to leave, Joan had woken up from her nap and been revitalized in energy-she had proceeded to take out all of her toys and construct a blanket fortress in her bedroom, nearly collapsing a bookshelf on herself in the process. She then flooded the bathroom by turning on the sink and closing the sink drain for no apparent reason and he had cleaned that up.
He felt annoyed when he stepped on a toy she had left lay. It had been the last straw when he went to go sit on a chair in the dining room. He sat down slightly annoyed which he had apparently done too quickly and the wood leg on the chair snapped clean off. He looked at the ruin of a chair and the delivery men asked:
"Where do you want this?"
"Anywhere is fine," he said, trying to make sure his frustration wasn't entirely evident. They were still very clearly scared when they put the treadmill unceremoniously down in the living room and left as quickly as possible.
John felt himself starting to lose his temper. He heard Joan start the bathtub water like she knew she wasn't supposed to and he walked over to the treadmill that was still folded up in the living room, it had taken three men to lift it up here and he picked it up with one arm.
"Okay, where do you want it?" he asked shortly.
Cortana frowned.
"It's not very heavy but I need you to hurry up so I can make sure our daughter doesn't flood the bathroom for the second time today."
"How about we calm down, you go put it in one of the spare rooms and take a breath or two while I deal with our demon child in the bathroom," she said taking off her jacket.
She walked to the bathroom where Joan had unraveled all the toilet paper and taken all of the shampoo and poured it into the bathtub.
"Joan Black you will turn off the water right now," she said sternly. Joan looked at her and very deliberately kept splashing water.
Cortana frowned. She turned off the water and pushed the toilet paper to the side with her foot then grabbed Joan under her armpits. Joan started to kick and whine.
"Absolutely not young lady. You might be able to pull that stuff with your father but you're dealing with Mom now and I'm not half as patient. We're going for a time out and we're going to pray that your father hasn't had an aneurism."
She wrapped a towel around her. She took her to the library and sat her on the chair but she immediately made to get off of it.
"No," Cortana said firmly sitting her down. "You need to sit for a bit. It's not okay to play in the bathroom, especially without Mom or Dad," she said decisively. "It's also not okay to take advantage of how nice your daddy is, you have him wrapped around your little finger don't you," she said more to herself. She could tell John struggled with disciplining Joan. He made rules and most of the time Joan was good about following them because she enjoyed praise but when she did decide to truly act out, largely because she had a lot of energy, John was usually at a loss.
Joan whined "Mooommm-"
"Look, you have to sit on this chair for five minutes and that time doesn't start until you are quiet and calm. If you refuse to do that then you are going to bed early while Daddy and I have fun all by ourselves," she explained.
"No," she cried.
"Well then let's start your five minutes and then help clean up the mess you made."
Joan crossed her arms underneath her towel and glared. Cortana started a timer on her watch and sighed.
As the five minutes of quiet continued, Cortana watched Joan stop frowning and just get bored which was good, at least she had calmed down a bit.
The timer beeped and Cortana sighed.
"Okay, five minutes are up. That wasn't so bad. Now let's go change into pajamas early and then go make sure Daddy is alive."
"Dad isn't dead!" Joan exclaimed. Cortana had noticed that Joan was very literal. Oftentimes games of pretend were frustrating to her if they didn't make logical sense and ridiculous fantasies that children often enjoyed held very little draw for her.
Perhaps it's because she lives in a world of the mythical and legendary as it is, Cortana thought to herself.
"No, not yet," sighed Cortana. The man could survive two wars but raising their daughter seemed to be presenting a different challenge for him-a challenge he couldn't shoot.
John sat on the couch and closed his eyes. His comm tab had started to buzz again and he answered.
"Hi John, sorry that took so long," Kelly spoke clearly.
"It's fine, we had our own saga unfold."
"Sam say hi to Uncle John, you remember Uncle John," Kelly said, propping Sam on her lap. Samantha smiled at him softly. She seemed so sweet in disposition.
"Hi Uncle John," she said quietly.
Kelly gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Where are Cortana and Joan?"
"We're here, we just got done with a time out," said Cortana as she sat down next to John and pulled Joan onto her lap.
"Pajamas already?"
"One of those days," Cortana smiled.
Fred sat down next to Kelly.
"So we leave tomorrow, everything is all booked and I'm just getting done packing everything," sighed Kelly.
"You seem stressed," commented Cortana.
"I shouldn't be, but something about taking time off work and leaving the system for the first time in a while has just got me on edge. Sam is very sensitive to other people and their feelings so when I feel upset she starts to get upset," she ran a hand through her hair.
John remembered this characteristic that Samantha possessed. She was extremely sweet in nature but also very sensitive. He considered himself someone rather difficult to read-only Cortana or other Spartans, usually Kelly, had ever really been able to get an accurate read of how he was feeling based on observation alone, but on days where he felt even the slightest bit more on edge Samantha would pick up on it very quickly and almost seem to worry or cry more often. John could already tell she had a very strong intuition, much like how Kurt had always been somehow in tune with feelings around him.
"Sammy I'm so excited for you to visit my house, we will have so much fun!" she exclaimed.
Samantha smiled bashfully.
"Aren't you going to talk to cousin Joan?"
Samantha started to flush and buried her face in her mom's chest, feeling embarrassed at the attention.
Kelly chuckled and smoothed her daughter's hair down.
"Anyways, we have everything ready to go it's just a lot, but it will be great to see you all, I feel like it's been forever even though it really hasn't been in the grand scheme of things."
"We'll start planning for your arrival, we will make sure to show you a good time," said Cortana smiling. "Joan say bye."
"Bye!" she shouted excitedly. She started to hum a tune distractedly. Kelly laughed and ended the transmission.
"Now we're gonna help clean up the big mess you made," said Cortana firmly. "Go pick up your toys, start with the ones in the living room, I know you're a big girl and I can trust you to do this," she said sternly. Joan sighed.
"I am just so busy," she bemoaned dramatically as she started to pick up her toys.
"I know sweetheart, sometimes it's hard to be so talented," Cortana said sarcastically as she went to the bedroom to go change into more comfortable clothes.
John sighed. This had turned out to be a longer day than he had anticipated. How had he gone from saving the human race to stressing over his daughter destroying their house? Joan continued to pick up her toys.
Cortana came back changed and kissed him like she usually liked to when she got home from work.
She pulled out her datapad and started typing something.
"Okay, so if Joan is driving you up a wall being what the Covenant really meant when they said demon," John chuckled a little at this, "I have an idea, I think she has too much energy, we should put her in a class!"
"What kind?"
"I don't know, there's everything here, you could take her three days a week to start and whatever it is she likes, but hopefully it could be something that tires her out a little bit."
John thought back to the morning at the park.
"Joan made a friend at the park, I exchanged contact info with his mother and they were leaving to go to a mixed martial arts class."
Cortana smiled. "Well there we go, get the info on the class and we can ask Joan if that sounds fun to her. Chances are she'll be delighted, she's a bit of a go-getter, I wonder where she gets that from," she laughed.
John smiled. She was getting to an age where he could really see her very distinct personality. She was very much like her mother, not only in her attitude but she was smart. Cortana had decided shortly after coming to Earth that she would start teaching Joan Italian.
John had asked, "why Italian?"
"Because it's easy and it was the first language I ever spoke in so why not?" Cortana had shrugged.
After a week, John had had trouble getting Joan to stop asking for things in the new language. Eventually Joan had learned that he didn't understand and started doing it to tease him. Her face when she joked reminded him so much of her mother it was a little unnerving.
John messaged Maysilee and after an oddly lengthy conversation-John didn't understand the lack of concision-he got the information and price of the classes.
"Wow she seems like a doozy," said Cortana laughing while she read the message transcripts.
"Are all civilians like that?"
"No, not really, I think it's part of the neighborhood here. People have a lot of money here and, unlike us, have had it for a very long time."
"Do we have enough money that we could live here?"
Cortana laughed. "You would have a heart-attack if you realized the obscene amount of money we're making right now, it's almost nauseating. Your retirement is pretty good, an E-9 with all the decorations you have, it's a pretty sweet deal each month but the payments I get on the Hyperlight engine for the rest of our lives," she shook her head "It's absolutely ridiculous, we could probably buy a moon if we wanted to in a year or so. My colleagues all think I'm insane for wanting to move back to the Outer Colonies, we could buy a mansion here on Earth. When we get home we should fund a few scholarships and figure out other things to do, they don't need our money here on Earth," she replied.
It was strange to John-outside of the military money usually had a direct correlation to power, and even in the UNSC, the higher your rank the higher your pay grade. It was strange to think of their family as wealthy in a monetary sense because they had everything they could possibly need, things that couldn't be purchased.
"We should give most of it away, it's not right for us to live excessively."
Cortana snorted. "I think out of most of the people you'll bump into, you deserve a good chunk of change more than most, what with saving the entire species a few times over."
"You can't put monetary amounts on that, it's just not right. It was my duty."
"I understand. I didn't invent the hyperlight engine for money, I did it to advance mankind. And because I was bored," she added.
He nodded. "It would be selfish if you didn't invent things."
Cortana shrugged. "I don't think that's true, with that rationale it'll be selfish for Joan to be anything but a Spartan, she'd save the UNSC millions being ready to wear Mjolnir without augmentation," she said.
John tensed up. "We don't know if she's that strong yet."
Cortana gave him a look. "You can deny it if you want but she is your daughter in every sense, that is very plain to me. Catherine is probably itching to do some tests but I don't think she'll come near Earth if she can avoid it," she looked over at John who looked a little graver than usual.
"What are you going to do if she wants to be a Spartan, you have to admit the thought is going to cross her mind at least once when she starts to make some realizations."
John shook his head. "I just…I don't want that for her. I want her to make her own choices, I want her to live without expectations and duty, I want her to belong to herself."
Like he never had, were the unspoken words.
Joan ran up to them. "I've picked everything up, can we play a game?"
John lifted her up to his lap and smiled softly. "Sure, what do you want to play?"
He could think about her future when it happened. Right now they could just play a game.
Sorry if formatting is a little off, I'm updating from work and it's a windows computer and I'm used to a Mac. I'll edit it tonight if it looks too terrible.