Hinn_Raven prompt: Yorkalina "Okay, am I drunk or did you really just say that?"

Wondering Why We're Here
Chapter Fifty-One: Yorkalina: Options

When she thought back to the conversation it carried so much more weight than what she thought at the time.

At the time it was innocuous, hardly worthy of note. It didn't seem all that out of the ordinary from other late night rendezvous with him. She never quite figured out how he stowed the booze out of the hall, she was just grateful for the privacy and the ability to talk to someone in a setting that didn't necessitate professionalism.

She was glad for York and that was enough to let almost any of his dumb conversations fly.

"We could leave," he said, seemingly out of the blue.

Carolina traced her thumb around the rim of the cap before popping it off. Her eyes only leaving her drink to see York staring at her rather intently. It more than raised a brow from her.

"What?" she asked.

"We could leave, right now," York went further, stretching a little closer. "It's still nuts around here after the thing with CT but… we could wing it a bit. No team is better for the job than you and me, right?"

Still a bit lost in the conversation, Carolina lowered her bottle and scowled back. "Okay. Am I drunk or did you really just say that?" she demanded, a little haughtily. "Are you actually talking about going AWOL?"

Her tone and her expression must have been enough to make York realize the conversation was not as open as he thought. He shifted back, turning his head off from her and looking somewhat disappointed before taking another swig of his own. He didn't address the questions.

"Freelancer isn't what we were promised," Carolina admitted, looking to her lap. "It's… It's more complicated. And we don't know everything. But it's still for the greater good. For preserving the human race… for ending this goddamn war. And that's a mission I believe in. Don't you?"

She waited a moment, hoping desperately for an answer, but York remained uncharacteristically quiet.

"We're too tied to it all anyway," she said a little bitterly. If there was a hint of doubt in her voice she would never admit to it herself. "I mean… would you really be willing to leave Delta behind at this point?"

York's head tilted downward. "He could come, too."

"York."

"You're not even going to think about the what-ifs? About the possibility of us leaving and getting away from all this?" he pressed.

Carolina shook her head, looking at York almost sympathetically. "You've had too much to drink, York. I don't have time to think about After the War. I'll worry about that when it comes."

He didn't say anything else, just shaking his head and looking away. Saying it all that way – that he didn't seem to think that after was truly there.

It was easy to write it off then. They always had dumb moments that were lost a few drinks later. And that was precisely how Carolina decided to handle the moment. She did, and only a few weeks later would Freelancer lose everything. And so would she.