"Guess you two need more room than I thought," Lucy muttered as she struggled to close the seals on her armor. "My armor's getting too small for you to fit comfortably."
"You talking to the babies or your breasts?" Zaeed asked with amusement, standing in the doorway of the tiny armory in the master bedroom.
"Both really." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You just gonna stand there smirking or are you gonna help me?"
"Stand here." He ducked when she threw one of her gloves in his direction. "What the hell are you putting armor on for anyway? You expecting to run into a battle between here and Dr. Michel's?"
The last seal finally closed with a small hiss and she picked up her boots and carried them out to the bed. "It's not for the doctor, smartass," she said as she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on one of the boots. "I'm going to London, with Major Carlson's squad. We leave in six hours."
Zaeed picked up her other boot and held it out of reach. "Why the bloody hell would you want to do that?"
"Because I am tired of sitting on my ass, doing nothing to help end this war," she snapped, jumping up and snatched the boot from his hand. "You are too, Z. I can see it written all over your face, jealous every time Chris goes off to work because he's actually out doing something."
"Not saying you're wrong, but... I'm not the one who's pregnant and –"
She smirked. "I should hope not. Otherwise, we'd have to stick you in a museum for being some sort of medical marvel."
Zaeed rolled his eyes. "My point is –"
"I know what your point is, honey." She stood up again and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I'm not actually going there to fight; I'll 'let others fight for me' as you suggested all those weeks ago."
"So what's the point of being in London if you're not fighting?"
"I'm going there to help Anderson organize the final assault."
"Does he know about this?"
She leaned up to kiss him. "If you're so worried, you should come with me."
"I fucking intend to," he said, flicking a couple of the seals open again. "But you are not going in this."
Lucy raised an eyebrow. "You're all worried about me being there in the first place and now you expect me to just walk around in fatigues?"
"Of course not. Sit." Zaeed walked over to the closet and disappeared for a couple of minutes before he came back and set a large box on the bed.
"What's all this?" Lucy opened the top and gasped. "It's gorgeous!" she said as she lifted the top piece of armor from the box. "Where... how... why?"
"I bought you a new set when I bought my own. It's designed for snipers, so it's lighter and more flexible than... this," he said as he sat beside her and flicked open the last few seals. "I knew there was a bloody good chance you were going to find some way to weasel your way back into this war, so I figured you might want to be prepared. Of course, if I was a better husband, I'd be trying to talk you out of it, but..."
"But you're smart enough to know it would never work." She kicked off her boots and began opening the seals on her lower armor. "So if you knew I was going back out, then what the hell was all that about earlier?"
"Couldn't have you thinking I approved of this right off the bat, now could I?" he teased. "Then you'd go around believing you could get away with anything."
"I love you, so much. Have I mentioned that lately?"
He chuckled. "I love you too, sweetheart. Just promise me you won't go running after a goddamn Reaper on foot again."
"I promise. Once in a lifetime is more than enough for me."
From: Lucy
To: Uncle Steven
Subj: re: Ignoring a Direct Order
I'm not ignoring anything, Uncle Steven. You may have intended for me to remain on the Citadel for the rest of the war, but that's not the order you gave. You ordered me off of the Normandy for the rest of the war. And I won't be on the Normandy.
You know you could have saved yourself a hell of a lot of trouble by not doing everything in your power to convince me to rejoin the Alliance in the first place.
Good luck and stay safe. And in case this all ends in disaster, because I never said it enough when I was a kid, thanks for everything. I love you!
-Lucy
PS: Stop blaming Zaeed for decisions I make on my own.
