How are you guys? Sorry it's been a hundred years. Been busy with things. Also who else has been playing Halo like, nonstop since tuesday? My husband and I got each other an early christmas gift with an xbox one and MC collection...it is bliss, Halo 2 is beautiful, I have so many feels.
Giving you guys a fluffy romance chapter. This chapter was SO hard for me, and normally this story is really easy to me but I don't think it shows too badly. I have SO much written in the future of this story but bridging the material between what I've already published and that stuff is challenging. I hope you guys enjoy.
Sarah found herself once again feeling a little uncomfortable with how high end the apartment was. The elevator was entirely glass and gave a panoramic view of the sprawling marvel that was New York City.
She grew up on Luna so skyscrapers and flashing lights weren't really a feature. Luna was modest with simple infrastructure. She had run away around fifteen to join the UNSC, but Luna was still home in many ways.
They arrived on the fiftieth floor and Tom rang the doorbell.
The Master Chief, or rather John, answered the door. He looked rather frazzled. He was half dressed in attire more formal than she'd ever seen him wear since he was usually a t-shirt kind of guy.
They heard crying.
Oh fuck.
"Joan what's wrong?," Sarah heard Cortana begging in the next room. The wails just got louder.
Sarah watched John fumble with a tie until he very clearly decided he wasn't going to bother and threw it on the dining room table.
"Make yourselves comfortable," he said distractedly walking to the next room where his ailing toddler was.
"What the hell did you get us into Tom?," she whispered irritatedly.
"Look those two have saved the human race a few times over and we are officers in the United Nations Space Command, I think we can handle a three year old," he said determinedly.
"I don't know what you were taught in officer school but I am thoroughly unequipped for this kind of thing."
Sarah eavesdropped on the conversation happening in the room over.
"We can't leave her with them like this," said John over his daughter's cries.
"No. Out of the question, I have been fantasizing about these evening for weeks, Joan is too dependant on you she–"
"She is not too dependant on me, she is three and I am her father," she heard John growl.
Oh shit, they're going to get into a fight.
"This is really awkward," she said quietly to Tom.
"I'm sure they'll work it out," he said a little unconvincingly.
"John I know that but I am your wife and we haven't had sex where I felt anything but exhausted or you weren't covered in some sort of bodily fluid for three years so we are leaving Joan with the Captain and that is final!," Cortana screeched over her daughter's wails.
Sarah wanted to die right then and there. She heard John groan.
"I understand Cortana, do you think I like this? I can't just explain to Joan that Mommy and Daddy are feeling sexually frustrated because Mommy has a new job that keeps her away all day."
"Dear God can we please record the Master Chief saying the phrase sexually frustrated and just loop it through the Spartan Bays? Jesus H Christ," sighed Sarah running a hand through her hair.
"Okay you're right, this is awkward," acquiesced Tom.
"Don't call me Mommy for Christ's sake, I have a name, it's Cortana!"
"I wasn't calling you Mommy Cortana I was talking about Joan."
"And I'm sorry my job keeps me busy, you're being a huge hypocrite if we want to talk about being a workaholic, you know I can't help it!," she yelled, ignoring him.
"I understand you need to do your job well, I'm just saying that there are a lot of factors–"
"I don't care, I really don't care what the factors are I just want to get out of the house with you," her voice shook and tapered off.
They started speaking more hushed and Sarah swore that she heard Cortana crying.
"Cortana, let me try again," she heard John say.
"I give up, I'm a terrible mother."
"No, that's not true."
"I just can't do this, I can't deal with sharing you constantly. I just want one evening, if that makes me a selfish and terrible mother I can't change it," they heard her sob.
"I know, I'm sorry, we'll go out, I promise just let me take her for a few minutes. Go finish getting ready, we can make our reservation still," he said.
I feel so uncomfortable right now.
Sarah watched Cortana shuffle out of the room they had been arguing in, clearly trying to escape their notice so they didn't see her but it didn't work too well, she was visibly upset.
After about fifteen minutes of awkward silence, Joan seemed to have stopped crying. John came out with the three year old who was still pouting but looked a little more composed than the crying mess she surely had been a few minutes ago.
"See Joan, do you remember Sarah and Tom? You had so much fun with them last time they were here," he explained, he seemed like he was almost begging her which Sarah was sure thousands of parenting books said you weren't supposed to do but he seemed to be beyond caring about what was acceptable in bargaining with your three year old.
She nodded, eyeing them warily.
"Now, Mom and Dad want to spend some time together,"
"But why can't I come?," she said, starting to get upset again.
Sarah watched John's expression go to one of sheer terror. Clearly this was a conversation they had already had.
"Just because sweetheart, but I promise you'll have fun with Sarah and Tom, okay?," he said carefully. He was clearly beyond explaining himself.
"And I promise that we can go do something together this week," he bribed.
She nodded.
"Now, why don't you play a game with Tom and Sarah while I go talk with your mother," he coaxed.
The little girl sighed and nodded, finding their terms agreeable.
John set her down on the ground and quickly walked back to his bedroom without saying a word to either of them. He was very clearly stressed.
They simply stared at the little girl until her parents came out of their bedroom, clearly more composed though still a little discombobulated.
"Okay, I'm sorry about that, but it seems like we've got ourselves at something of an armistice," said Cortana sarcastically.
Sarah couldn't help but chuckle at her choice of words.
"I've written down everything you need to know, bedtimes, meal times, entertainment options and where they are. She knows the rules, she's going to behave, right?," said Cortana looking at her child expectantly.
Joan nodded a little sadly.
"When you have her in bed, please help yourselves to anything you want, I've turned down the guest bedroom and you're welcome to the jacuzzi tub in the master bath, seriously it's nice so have a good time," she winked.
Sarah laughed and Tom looked a little embarrassed which made Sarah laugh even harder.
"Okay Joan, time to say goodbye to Mom and Dad," Cortana said carefully.
Surprisingly, Cortana leaned down and kissed Joan swiftly and Joan smiled.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow sweetheart," said John, picking her up and kissing her on the cheek.
"I love you," she said hugging her arms around him.
"We love you too," he replied, setting her down. He looked more upset than Joan did at this point. Sarah couldn't help but wonder if John was the one having the meltdown instead of his daughter.
"If you need anything just call us," he said looking at them both.
"I think we can handle it, we're going to have fun, right?," Tom asked, looking down at the little girl.
Joan nodded quickly, obviously warming up to the idea.
Sarah watched John sigh shakily and nod his head.
"Okay," he said a little nervous sounding. Cortana looked like she wanted to practically run out of the house as she all but drug her husband out the front door.
"Do you want to color like last time?," Tom asked kindly. Joan crossed her arms and shook her head 'no.'
"Well what do you want to do?," he asked patiently.
"I want to make dinner," she said authoritatively.
"Okay," said Sarah.
Joan hoisted herself up on the counter tops and reached for a datapad that had cookbooks on it. She flipped through it and declared "Let's make this," to a large chocolate cake.
"We can't eat chocolate cake for dinner," said Tom.
"Why not?," she asked, clearly confused.
"Because it's not healthy, how about we make a chocolate cake but we order in dinner?," he asked.
"Good move," said Sarah. She didn't really want to cook dinner with a particular three year old.
So Sarah ordered in and Tom started cake making. Joan was very insistent upon measuring ingredients herself and turning on the oven.
Surprisingly dinner went well.
Joan helped frost the chocolate cake after they had eaten the delivery food and got plenty of the frosting all over herself. She giggled the whole time, licking her sticky fingers and smearing some on Tom.
God that's cute, I think my ovaries are tingling.
Sarah groaned.
"What's wrong?"
"She's just really cute," she sighed.
Tom chuckled.
They ate the cake and she proceeded to get herself so messy that they had to give her a bath.
Sarah took off her clothes and chucked them in a hamper in her bedroom but she ran away and started running naked through the halls, thinking it was funny for them to try and catch her.
Sarah chased her through to the living room. She was running around in circles, naked and covered in chocolate giggling.
Holy shit, she's fast.
"I don't think normal toddlers move this fast," said Sarah to Tom, watching her run around and bounce on the couch.
Sarah had to exert a significant amount of effort to be quick enough to catch her but not too rough that she would accidentally break something.
She giggled as she kicked her legs, jokingly trying to get away.
Strong too, if I didn't try to prevent her from slipping away she'd get out.
Tom turned on the bathwater and Joan giggled, blowing bubbles in the water and splashing enthusiastically.
"This is my shampoo," she said pointing at a bottle with a duck on it.
Tom squirted a small amount in his hands and scrubbed her hair free of chocolate frosting. She squinted her eyes when he dumped water over her head to rinse and coughed out some water that she'd accidentally swallowed.
Then she very quickly took a pump of what was clearly John's shampoo and squirted it in the tub.
And she started breaking out into a rash.
"Shit, what is that?," asked Sarah, pulling her out of the tub and draining the water.
She groaned and took the shower head and sprayed her off but she already had a spotty red rash forming on her legs.
"Well it doesn't seem to be bothering her," he said lightly.
"Yeah but now we look like idiots," she groaned, toweling Joan off and taking her to her room to put her in pajamas.
John checked his tablet for what must have been the third time in the last hour.
"John, she's fine," said Cortana, picking at her dessert.
John sighed.
"I'm sorry, you're right," he put the tablet on the ground.
Cortana smiled softly. "It's okay. I'm sorry I got angry with you. I'm happy that you're a good father, I really truly am. I just...sometimes I do miss when it was just us," she said quietly.
"Don't feel badly about that, I miss it too sometimes."
She looked surprised. "Really? You just...you're a really good father, you seem so happy."
"I am happy, I love our daughter but it doesn't mean that I don't get lonely sometimes."
"Lonely?," she asked, taking a sip of her aperitif.
"I lived for years with you inside my head, it was difficult to adjust to it being just me again," he said quietly.
She felt herself get warm.
"That's maybe the most romantic thing you've ever said to me," she said quietly.
He laughed. "You've heard me think worse, don't think I couldn't tell when you were rifling around in my brain."
She blushed a little bit.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "When I would be doing armor maintenance or eating in the galley when I would mysteriously recall thoughts about how I liked the sound of your voice or that I had a dream with you in it the night prior? Is that ringing any bells?"
Cortana laughed. "And here I thought I was being sneaky, I guess I wasn't so clandestine."
John thought back to the dreams he used to have of himself and Cortana. They hadn't been anything too strange, usually just dreams of them talking or doing something together, like sitting outside or in a pelican together. Sometimes he had dreams that she was just another soldier fighting alongside him. Other times she would be a civilian and they would meet by chance. He hadn't understood why or how he had had dreams like that, he'd never lived a civilian lifestyle and didn't even know how to think about it. He wouldn't have understood the idea of going out on a date like this, and he probably would have been too dense, too focused to even really think of Cortana in that light back then.
He was happy to have this time with her. She had made a great effort to look nice, even going out and buying a dress. It was dark blue and wrapped around her, accentuating all of his favorite features of hers, from her hips and breasts to her eyes. He knew that she had done that very intentionally, she knew him well.
The restaurant was in the hotel they were staying at so it was simply charged to their account. They went upstairs to the suite they had rented and lit a fire.
Cortana ordered a bottle of champagne to their room.
She carefully popped open the bottle and poured it into the champagne flutes. She looked at him coyly as she raised her glass to his. "To us," she said simply.
He felt a little embarrassed at how much she affected him. "To us," he agreed. He clinked his glass with hers and took a sip.
There's no way this was cheap, Cortana probably ordered the most expensive bottle on the menu just because she could.
"You look very beautiful," he said after he'd finished his glass and poured himself another.
"You look nice," she said, smiling at him. She quickly finished her second glass of champagne, got up and sat on his lap, resting her arms on his shoulders.
"But you know I prefer you without clothes," she said playfully, leaning in to kiss him.
He was where she was in seconds, his hand buried in her hair and his other gripping her thigh.
God its been way too long.
Sarah sighed.
"I had no idea that putting a three year old to bed was so difficult. How many stories did she demand we read?," she asked, sitting herself down on the couch.
"I think five," said Tom, sitting down and cracking himself a beer.
She looked at him. He looked tired, but he was pretty good with kids. Better than she would've expected considering he almost never spent time around them.
"Do you want children?," she asked quietly. She knew there were certain implications with the question but couldn't help but asking.
"Someday, but I need to make Admiral first so I could maybe spend some time with them," he sighed.
"You think Admirals have more time?"
"No really, but I could probably delegate to Captains a little more, deal with policy and people which I'm good at."
She shrugged.
"Everyone reports to someone," she said cynically.
"True. I just don't want to have kids and never see them. But I'm getting old so maybe I won't."
She scoffed.
"You're not old. Besides, I'm like eight years younger than you."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh so you're thinking of me having kids with you," he said snarkily.
She blushed. "Well no, I, well, I mean, if you–"
He burst out laughing.
She smack him on his arm irritatedly.
"Fine, I don't want your stupid babies," she grumbled. He just laughed harder until she started laughing too.
"So, do you wanna hit up that jacuzzi Cortana was talking about?," she asked when they stopped laughing.
"Thought you'd never ask," he chuckled.
They stopped by Joan's room and pressed their ears to the door to be sure she was sleeping, or at least not making any noise before they went back into the master bedroom and took off their clothes.
Surprisingly, Tom had more scars than she did. He had a few gunshot wounds and a lot of scars from his cytoprethaline allergy. She knew they irritated him but she didn't really pay them any mind.
She loved her Spartan body. She loved being tall and strong. She felt invincible as a Spartan, even though she knew she was actually quite the opposite–she had had plenty of Spartans under her command die. She thought of DeMarco and him hitting on her and couldn't help but chuckle.
What a guy he was.
She slipped into the hot bath and sighed.
"Damn, these guys live large," she said, enjoying the feeling of the warm water on her skin. She leaned back and closed her eyes, relaxing in the water.
"How was your day today?," he asked lightly. He turned on the jets. The tub filled up so that the water flowed over the edge, warmed up and cycled through again so it stayed continuously warm and pleasant.
"Eh, it was fine, went on a ruck which I haven't done in a while so that was fun, no armor or anything so that was cool. Then I did a bunch of paperwork, had to go down to ONI for a while to deal with some spook bullshit and then I met up with you."
She thought of her day in detail.
"I also bumped into that other Spartan–II, the one that's the Admiral's assistant," she said lightly.
Tom knew when she said the Admiral she meant Admiral Osman. When they talked about the Admiral, it was always her. She was easily the most powerful people in the galaxy so it singled her out a little bit.
"Yeah? You guys talk about anything?"
Sarah shook her head.
"She makes me feel awkward," she said lightly.
"Why, that's ridiculous," he said wiggling his toes in the water.
She shrugged.
Tom knew she still felt bad about the Spartan–IIs and the pressure she felt in trying to live up to them. Tom had limited interactions with the Spartan she was talking about, but the few times he had seen her she was either engrossed in the Admiral's schedule or her ODST boyfriend. They were always getting lunch together, always walking around together, Tom didn't think they were separated any more than they needed to be.
"You should know you probably think about the whole thing more than they do," he said softly.
"I know, I should probably go see a shrink or something," she deflected.
They sat in the bathtub for a little bit longer. It wasn't an intensely sexual experience despite being naked but it was extremely relaxing.
She got out of the tub and slipped on a bathrobe Cortana had clearly laid out for her.
"She's a great host, I can't believe she went to this much trouble for us to babysit her kid," she said lightly.
"I think she really wanted this night out, I'm glad we could do something for them," he said putting on his own robe.
Tom started cleaning himself up for bed and Sarah went into the main bedroom.
She looked around. The bed was huge. She supposed that John was a large man but damn. She looked over and saw a door open to a closet.
Don't be nosy, don't be nosy.
She gave up rather quickly and walked in.
Cortana has a lot of clothes.
Everything from fine cashmere to summer dresses were stocked in her wardrobe. She supposed if you were a civilian you actually had to think about what you wore. She opened a drawer and saw some very, very beautiful pieces of silky lingerie.
Damn, I need to get myself some of this stuff.
"Sarah what are you doing?," Tom asked, standing in the door of the closet looking at his girlfriend holding up a skimpy piece of lingerie.
"Stop acting like you're better than me and look through the Master Chief's closet with me."
"This is bad," he said, though he clearly had no intention of stopping.
He turned to John's side of the closet. He had way more clothes than he would have guessed. He also hung up his t-shirts instead of folding them which Tom found interesting. He opened a drawer and saw, of all things, a paper book.
Why would he hide a book like this?
He had to look at it.
The cover was blank but he opened it to the title page.
I Love Female Orgasm: An Extraordinary Orgasm Guide
"Dear God," he said.
"What is it?" She turned around and looked over his shoulder.
Her eyes widened a fraction and she shook her head in disbelief.
"God bless John–117, that's all I've got to say. God bless that man," she started laughing so hard she started to cry.
Tom tried his best to put the book back in its place as carefully as he could.
"What a guy, saves the galaxy multiple times over and gets his wife off," she said walking into the guest room that Cortana had set up and fell down on the bed.
"Keep talking like that and I'll start to get jealous," he said seriously.
She stood up and looked at him.
"You don't need a book though," she said lowly. She let her bathrobe drop to the ground.
He smiled.
"Damn," Cortana sighed, falling back down on the bed and running a hand through her hair.
"I think we've made up for some lost time tonight," she sighed, her heart still racing in her chest. She sighed and rested her head on his chest, listening to his own heart beat quickly.
I will never, ever tire of that sound.
The sound of his heart was everything to her. It always had been, from the moment she met him to when she had left him, his heart was all that mattered to her. She laced her fingers in his and closed her eyes.
"I love you John, I'm sorry for any distance between us lately," she said softly.
She felt him shake his head.
"No, it's my fault too. I need to take care of you. You work hard."
She looked up at him.
"Look at us, both of us acting all sorry," she chuckled.
He kissed her again. He hadn't taken the time to simply kiss her and enjoy her in recent memory. It was easy to forget how transient their lives were, how time could just melt away.
He loved how she kissed him. She was soft and beautiful and everything about her was perfect for him. He never could've imagined the feelings he felt for her. He also couldn't imagine his life without her. It was an impossibility. She was everything to him. Not only that, she was the mother of his daughter and that meant more to him than he ever could've known. He kissed her on her neck like he knew she liked. She craned her head back making it easier for him and sighed.
"Again?," she gasps, a clearly a little shocked.
"You were the one," he kisses down her throat and the tops of her breasts, "who was talking about how we didn't," he kisses underneath her breasts and she gasps again, "take enough time for each other," she moans loudly and he can't help but smile.
Her physical responses are a language he knows how to read, and he can feel the storm building in her body in the way her stomach tenses when he lets a hand run along it or the glassy look in her eyes when he catches them.
"If you can keep up I've got plenty more," she growls, sitting up and wrapping her legs around his waist.
"I'll be fine," he says, his hands gripping her tightly.
She can't help but admire his form. The striations of his chest muscles are thrown into sharp relief by the soft light of the room coming from the soothing lamps and candles she lit.
"Don't have to tell me twice," she says cockily. She leans down and kisses him again, moving her hips against his and doesn't even care how greedy she's being.
He swore in between kisses and pushed her down onto the bed. She felt him clutch her thigh harder, hard enough that she thinks it might bruise but she knows he can't help it, and she can't really help but enjoy it. She hadn't thought about it until she had a body but something about the raw strength he possessed made her feel a little crazy.
"You haven't been this impatient before," she breathed against his ear, settling her knees on either side of his hips.
He swept a hand through her tousled hair and enjoyed its coarse texture as it fell through his fingers and the way her breasts pressed against his skin.
"Can't help it," he replied lowly.
It was all frantic and ragged, almost involuntary. A bead of sweat started to track down his face.
When they finished this time, it was with groans and bodies pressed flush together, his strong hands gripping her hips tightly and her name on his lips. When it was over, their lips met softly, chastely even.
He closed his eyes and let his body feel completely heavy. He couldn't move, all he could feel was his useless limbs and her soft skin against his.
After a few minutes he turned off the lights and crawled under the covers with her.
"I love you, Cortana," he said softly, kissing her softly on the crown of her head.
"I love you too John," she replied, closing her eyes and falling asleep.
Sarah couldn't help but notice when the couple came back in the morning they had quite the spring in their step. Even the normally stoic Master Chief had a smile on his face.
Someone definitely had a good time.
Cortana hugged her she was so thankful.
"Thank you both so much for coming," she said quietly–Joan was still sleeping.
"It was no problem, she has a bit of a rash from something in the soap she insisted on putting in her bath but she was fine, read books, went to bed fine," said Tom.
"Wonderful, thank you again," she said happily.
Sarah sighed as they walked back to the train station.
"Can we agree on not having kids for a while?," she said, clearly tired.
Tom smiled. They had never really talked about the future. It was still difficult for them, when the future had once been such an uncertainty. But now it was something they could think of, and he knew he wanted a future with her, whatever kind of future it was.
He grabbed her hand and paid for their train tickets.
"Not for a while," he said softly. He kissed her on the cheek and she smiled softly.
Tom Lasky you're a good guy.
Joan woke up and was absolutely delighted to see her parents home.
"Daddy!," she yelled when she came out into the living and saw her father. She ran to him and jumped up into his arms, hugging him and giving him a kiss.
He chuckled. "You'd think I had been gone for a year," he said more to Cortana than to Joan. She reached for her mother and John handed her to Cortana.
"Hi sweetie, did you have a nice time with Sarah and Tom?," she asked.
She nodded excitedly.
"How about we get you dressed and then we go out for breakfast?"
"Do I get pancakes?"
"If you would like," she replied.
"And orange juice?"
Cortana laughed. "All the orange juice you could possibly want."
Joan smiled and Cortana took her to go get dressed.
I love that child.
Even if being a parent was sometimes difficult, John knew it brought him more joy than he ever could've imagined.
Cortana brushed Joan's hair quickly and dressed her in her boots and tights with a little dress that was purple.
My kid is so well dressed.
"Ready for breakfast?," she asked brightly. Joan was so excited she jumped up and down. She loved going out for breakfast on a Sunday. She could always tell it was a special occasion.
John smiled when she came out dressed in a little purple dress with little flowers printed on it.
"Come on Dad, let's go," she insisted, grabbing his coat for him of the doorknob excitedly. He laughed at her eagerness. He loved her enthusiasm for just about anything.
"Thank-you," he said politely taking the coat. He looked at her smile and her sweet little face and tiny little hands that reached for his.
She is my perfect little girl.
It had been nice to have a break from everything before Fred and Kelly came to visit, but he wouldn't trade this little girl for anything.
And here we are. I hope you all enjoyed. Until next time. Please review it brightens my day and makes my heart sing!
PS: That book is a real book and I recommend it for all, men and women alike. Life changing and I'll leave it at that.
