Hello there, my lovelies! Thank you for coming back, to the regulars and the new faces! Remember, this story is not for kiddies so if you're under 18 you have to get the fuck out *angry emoji* and now, let's see what's in store for today. See you at the end for more nonsense, as usual, have fun and don't forget to comment! :3
TAKE ME WHEN YOU NEED ME
PART XX
The Master Chief was finally done with his scheduled surgeries. With the aid of more fast-healing agents, it was expected of him to make a perfect full recovery and be dismissed completely from medical care in four or five more days.
So, being positive, Cortana had less than a hundred and forty hours to spend with him.
Scratch at least another thirty-six hours of recovery time out of that pool.
That only left her with a hundred and four.
It stung her to be so aware that their time was counted and dwindling.
Since he was resting in the room and heavily drugged, Cortana decided to have lunch at the mess hall correspondent to her deck. She hadn't talked to the Lieutenant or to Linda-058 again, at least not after her mother arrived. They were probably occupied with the ONI agents, considering there were evaluations in order. And thank goodness she hadn't crossed paths with Locke either, in those days.
She noticed almost by chance that Kelly-087 was at the far end of the mess hall eating with the Lieutenant. They were alone. Cortana didn't think twice, she picked up her tray and headed to their table, happy to see familiar faces.
…even if it meant having to deal with Kelly's indifference.
Cortana greeted them both and surprisingly, Kelly responded. A little stiff, maybe -she focused on her meal afterwards- but it was a shocking gesture for Cortana. Fred invited her to sit, and she did so at a respectable distance from him, began to eat as well.
"How are your reserves doing, ma'am?" the Lieutenant asked, with a little smile.
Cortana smiled back. "Pretty good, thank you. I still have plenty."
"Good. We're gathering something else to give you before we go."
Right, they would be leaving any time now. This was just Fred making sure she would be fine once they weren't around to look after her anymore. He didn't seem upset about the fact, but his dedication to the task spoke volumes about the level of commitment he had towards John. It was a risk he and Linda took with honor.
Cortana shook her head. "Oh, no. Please, you don't have to do that…"
"Yes, ma'am, we have to." Kelly was the one who spoke, but she didn't look up.
"Kelly." Fred started, his tone was gentle. "Please?"
This time, she did look up. Her eyes -clear blue, almost gray- met her brother's.
Cortana observed as they held some sort of stare fight for a while, until Fred sighed. He didn't seem to have lost, but to give up. The Lieutenant shook his head and returned to his meal, carrying food to his mouth with a trace of lingering frustration.
"So, how's the Master Chief doing, ma'am?" he asked, after a moment of tension.
"He should be back on duty in less than a week, I think." Cortana replied, after a short, surprised pause.
She thought that Fred was being reported on the basics about his team leader's health. Or maybe, he was making conversation to appease Kelly's temper. Whichever the reason, the female Spartan didn't bow her head again and remained casual as she ate and overheard their conversation, her eyes shaded by the bill of her cap.
"Glad to hear that." Fred murmured, genuinely content.
He gave her another small smile, nodded at her tray.
Cortana caught the hint and ate, immerse in the low chatter noises of the mess hall. The Spirit of Fire wasn't in slipspace now but on stand-by on the vicinity of a space station, to resupply while they waited for the scheduled transports. Several ships were expected, some to recover the surviving personnel of SHIELD Base, another to take Locke and Blue Team away. The one she dreaded the most was the transport supposed to drop her and her mother back on Reach, as Halsey had decided. Where, allegedly, she would be spending the rest of her pregnancy.
And, of course, whichever vessel would deliver John to his new post…
Cortana left the fork on the tray once she finished with her meal, feeling uneasy.
"Do you… know where John will be shipped, after he's discharged from medical?" she asked, insecure.
Fred tilted his head. "I don't have information about it, ma'am, and even if I knew…"
"You're not at liberty to say, I know. I'm sorry."
He hesitated. "Well, consider this: you'd be the first person I'd tell if I could."
This somehow made Cortana feel more at ease. She had to focus on staying strong, just as she had told John. If she was going to build and execute that crazy plan of hers, then she had to stay positive. She had to eat well, exercise. She would have to like her life back in cozy old Reach with her mother, whether the perspective amused her or not. She got lost in those thoughts, contemplating her empty tray.
So deeply, that Cortana didn't even notice when Veta Lopis showed up, but she startled when the woman spoke, behind her:
"Afternoon, Lieutenant." she greeted.
"Inspector." Fred hailed back, feigning surprise.
"Elizabeth, Kelly." Veta nodded at them, dutifully, but she turned to Fred again even before the other women could reply: "Can I borrow your attention for a minute, Lieutenant? My Ferrets need some signatures on their paperwork."
"Sure thing. Please, sit with us."
"Thank you."
Cortana didn't miss the inquisitive look on Kelly's face, she was trying to hide a smile. Taking the initiative, Veta pulled a pad from inside her jacket and posted herself on Fred's left, close to him. Close enough to lay a discrete hand on his strong thigh, underneath the table, as Cortana couldn't help to see from her own post. Or the way Fred wrapped his large fingers around Veta's, giving her a gentle squeeze.
She looked away instantly, blushing a little. They were lovely.
Insanely lovely, oh God. Cortana peeled off the lid of the small recipient of jelly she had for dessert and ate it as she overheard their chatter, how Veta pointed at the documents and Fred used his thumb-print to sign them. Everything sounded very official, but the tone of their words and phrasing was undoubtedly intimate, almost like a code. Kelly continued to look at them until she realized of Cortana's empty stare onto her… and her expression shifted completely into stone-cold. The Spartan picked up her trash and stood up quickly, drawing everyone's attention to her person this time. She nodded to Fred.
"I'm done here. I'll be on the barracks if you need me." Kelly announced.
"Alright, thank you." Fred dismissed her and returned to the documents.
For some reason, Cortana didn't want to stay so close to Fred and Veta -alone with the eerie aura of restrained lust they projected and her own feelings and faults, mostly- so she abruptly grabbed her own empty tray, her trash and her half-eaten jelly, and jumped off the bench. Both the Inspector and the Lieutenant turned to see her leave, a little confused.
"If you excuse me." she said, in a hurry.
Without a reply, Cortana trotted behind Kelly, trying to keep up with her.
It proved to be a difficult task: standing well above six feet in height, her strong legs were capable of very long steps. Cortana hurried, but slowed down again when she caught sight of Linda, who was… talking to Ellen Anders? It seemed like she had said something funny, because Ellen was laughing, they both were waiting for their food on the line before the dispenser counters. No, Ellen wasn't just laughing, she was… wait, she was blushing? And Linda was smirking? Yes, that was a smirk. A flirty smirk. What…?
Cortana frowned, confused.
Since when Anders was such close friends with Linda?
Well, no time to dwell into it now. Shaking her head in disbelief, Cortana noticed that Kelly was almost out of her reach and ran after her, suppressing the distance until at last she got close enough to talk to her:
"You haven't seen John since he had the surgery, right?" Cortana asked, casually.
She had no idea why she chose that topic. The Spartan took a long while to answer:
"We don't have clearance to see him anymore, ma'am."
Cortana figured as much. Her mother had insisted until security got tighter around her precious Spartan, but she still hadn't been revoked because they couldn't just admit to the Captain that she lied about the engagement. Everything about getting perjury charges and going into trial sounded like a pain in the ass.
"Well, I do have clearance. I can get you in." Cortana smiled. "If you want."
Kelly stopped walking, she regarded the short woman in front of her with a wary look. Her clear blue eyes assessed her, lingering a moment too long on her stomach.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, at last, cautiously.
Cortana shrugged. "Don't you want to say goodbye before you're gone?"
"He will be fine. We'll see each other again, in the future."
"At least leave with a better memory of him than what you saw the last time. I promise, he's doing much better."
Cortana understood the reticence and mistrust. She was being a little too obvious and it was possible that Kelly wasn't as naïve as to not catch up with her ulterior motives. Thing is, she didn't have any ulterior motives until now.
The Lieutenant was a sweetheart, but he liked his regulation way too much.
Linda seemed to be… busy. Cortana had the feeling she would've talked.
That left her with Kelly and the last remaining hours of Blue Team aboard the ship.
If she could approach her, woman to woman…
"Please, I would like us to talk." Cortana pushed forward. "About John, precisely."
Kelly inhaled sharp, not really content: "Alright. Lead the way, ma'am."
x.x.x.x.x
John was still sedated, but he looked even better than the last time Cortana herself had seen him. No more yellowish shadow over half of his face, no bandage on his left arm. He had a lot more scars, especially on the left side of his ribcage, but it was mostly healed. The leg that had a femur replacement was tightly dressed and strapped, immobilized. Several IVs connected to his right arm continued to feed him with medicines and nutrition. Other than that, he looked just fine.
Kelly sighed deeply when she finally saw him resting, not suffering. Cortana stood on the opposite side of the room, the big bed holding John was between the two women.
"Why didn't you come before, when you still had the clearance?" she asked, softly.
"You were with him all the time, Miss Halsey." Kelly admitted, her tone was dry and her eyes didn't leave John's face. She was being honest and maybe it was too much to take in, but it was too late to take it back now. "It shouldn't have bothered me, but it did."
Cortana hugged herself under the jacket, looking down.
"I am aware that you are displeased with my… condition."
"It's not about you, ma'am. I'm displeased, as you put it, with the Master Chief."
'He didn't do anything wrong, it was all me.' she thought, but said: "Why?"
"He promised he wouldn't let it happen again."
Cortana blinked fast. "… what wouldn't happen again?"
The Spartan pursed her lips. She clasped her hands at the small of her back, striking a very professional pose.
"You see, the Chief and I... John and I have always been quite close."
A cold pinch of envy and jealousy invaded Cortana. For the wrong reasons, really.
Kelly didn't wait for a reply:
"He's my brother. I can't remember if I ever had real siblings... but we always had each other's backs." she started, her Spartan voice softened. "Ever since we were in boot camp. We didn't start with the right foot, I'll admit it: he stole my crackers, I beat the shit out of him. And I think he had a taste for my punches because he kept coming back for more. But eventually we got along. We teamed up with Fred, Linda and Sam and we became a solid group. We were the best of our company, John kept us all strong and together."
Cortana drew a small, warm smile on her lips. She remembered the pictures in John's service file, that six-year-old with intense steel-blue eyes and a shock of freckles across his nose. He looked like a little demon. She wondered if their child would resemble his features and she hoped he or she would, just in case she couldn't…
"Then Sam died." Kelly kept talking, yanking Cortana back from her lucid dream. "He was severely wounded and manifested his desire to stay behind. The Chief had to give him permission. John allowed him to die." she made a pause, closing her eyes: "We know that someday death would be required of us, but nobody wants to be the one giving the order."
"I'm sorry. I've read about that." Cortana whispered.
"He thinks it was his fault, that he's the only one that should carry the weight of what happened." Kelly murmured, her eyes were on John's sleeping face now. What she said next was almost inaudible: "Just like with the girl."
Cortana shifted her stance, her arms tightening around her own frame.
She wasn't expecting to dig so deep and so fast, thought that leading the Spartan into spilling some beans would be tougher. Well, Kelly hadn't said anything compromising, but it was a hint. A strand to hold on to. And Cortana knew that it was very deceitful of her to do this, but she wanted to check out how much of the story was true.
So, she straightened her pose:
"Was it Parisa?" Cortana asked, bluntly. "The girl you're talking about."
Kelly stiffened visibly, her blue-gray eyes shot straight to the other woman's face. She wasn't scared or angry, just shocked.
"Where did you hear that name, ma'am?"
Cortana figured that a bit of honesty would help: "My mother mentioned her."
"A word of advice? You shouldn't say that name anywhere near John. Ever."
"Why not?"
"Because that was his fault, indeed."
She felt like she'd been stabbed straight through her heart. Kelly held her stare.
The Spartan looked disheartened, the corners of her mouth had dropped down a little and put an accent to the barely noticeable lines of age on her strong face.
"Tell me about it, please. I already know my mother's version, I want yours now."
For a long moment, Cortana thought that Kelly would just back away and leave. After all, that story wasn't hers to tell. Buy maybe the Spartan disliked the situation enough to be frontal and disclose it in full.
Well, she was right about the second part:
"It was a long time ago… twenty-three, twenty-four years military calendar. Extraction gone bad. Parisa was one of the packages, we were running to the Pelican for evac, she was with John and they were right behind me. At some point I lost them, John didn't respond. I tracked back to look for them, there were enemies everywhere, the LZ was so hot it would burst in flames any second." Kelly shook her head slowly, as if she were trying to process everything to make some sense out of it. "I don't know exactly what happened. I found him clutching her body, there were at least twenty Innies dead around him, I saw him eject an empty magazine. Parisa was dead and he still held her in his arms, there was blood on her neck and all over his armor. John refused to move. I had to pull him away, he tried to punch me on the kidneys… I've seen him go berserk before, but that was… different. We had to leave her body behind, the Pelican was almost leaving. I had to drag him away."
The air got caught in Cortana's lungs, something icy cold dripped down her spine. So, did this mean that the first time he woke up after the surgery, when she was the only one in the room with him and he began murmuring nonsense… was John talking about Parisa? He had muttered that 'it was his fault' and that he 'should've taken her to the Pelican'. She thought he was talking about her, about SHIELD Base, but maybe…
Kelly was still going, her voice felt loaded with pain. "I saw the feral look in his eyes, ma'am. The way his hands were shaking. I thought he would break."
Cortana tried not to picture that terrible image in her head. Her eyes were burning wet with tears, it had to be…
'It must've been so painful for him. They only had a couple of days, but he already…'
'That wasn't love, Elizabeth. You know it couldn't have been love.'
"My mother told me that John and this girl had some sort of… relationship." she asked.
"Not relationship. They mated." Kelly wrinkled her nose; evidently, she didn't like the word one bit. "I can't really explain it, ma'am. Over the years, we Spartans have come up with… our own words, sort of speaking, for the things that we can't understand and are not explained to us."
Cortana tried to think fast. Kelly used a very blunt word, 'mating'.
So, her mother was right about something, it was related to instinct.
It was raw and animalistic, like the irresistible attraction they felt for one another. She considered John's possessive, jealous and dominant behavior. The way he reacted every time she pushed him back, reminding him that they were fucking only because she allowed it. Once, she told him that she was his to do as he pleased, but then she slapped him with ugly words, she refused his claim. Because she, in her selfish ignorance, had invited John to mate with her and stirred an ancient demon, lying dormant inside him.
Oh, God, what did she do?
How did John really feel about her? Was he aware? Did he understand it?
They made a baby together, for her. Because she asked. And he protected her and that baby, he had his second in command looking after her. John didn't just follow her orders, he protected his mate. A strange heat crawled up her body, burning so hot in her stomach that Cortana had to rub her belly slowly to ease it down. She had no idea how to feel about any of this, either, and all the emotions just bottlenecked in her throat. She was devastated, first. Anxious, second. Excited, came next…
There was no undoing it, now.
Kelly was looking at Cortana with a very intrigued expression.
"It took me a long time to figure it out." the Spartan said, softly. "I didn't like knowing that he'd been hurt, so I talked to him about it. And John said to me, 'never again'. He used to keep his promises."
"I…" Cortana started, stunned. Her heart was beating hard and fast inside her chest.
The Spartan was sharp: "You're going to hurt him, Miss Halsey."
The woman in question gasped, almost took a step back.
'She can read you like an open book, Elizabeth. Be careful.'
Cortana clenched her fists and froze, using the heat of her emotions wisely. At least now she had an idea of why Spartan-087 disliked her, it wasn't just jealousy. Well, the best she could do was woman up and take responsibility for it:
"I don't want to hurt him, Kelly." Cortana said, chin up and proud. She was in charge and she looked the part, now. "I am aware that I messed things up, somehow, but I will do everything in my power to work it out. And I'll start right when he wakes up again."
Kelly was skeptical, and it showed.
Cortana had to reassure her: "He won't regret what we did, I promise you."
Some hatchets were very difficult to bury, and whatever differences she had with Kelly would be left unsolved, for the moment being. The next morning, Cortana sat down to have breakfast with Lopis and her SPARTAN-III. Blue Team had abandoned the Spirit of Fire in the late hours of night-cycle, without a chance to say goodbye… but there it was, a second canvas bag full of sweet treats at the foot of her bed, when she woke up.
Cortana felt the urge to cry but shoved it back. No more tears, for now.
A little over four days was all she had to make peace with John, she had to start early.
x.x.x.x.x
"Checkmate." John said, calmly.
She blinked fast, several times, like coming out of a daze.
He laid back a little, tucking the pillow under his elbow. The head of the bed had been upturned in a mild forty-five degrees, so the Spartan could rest more comfortably instead of lying on his back all the time.
"Wait, what?" Cortana leaned over the chessboard. "You won, again? How…?"
"You're distracted." he observed. "Again."
Her cheeks grew red, she straightened her stance. Cortana was sitting at arms-length from him, one leg dangling off the edge of the bed. The holographic chessboard between them was flaring. Chess was natural for him, since he'd been methodically taught how to play and practiced it often with his teammates to keep the mind sharp. It was the only non-violent game the Spartans had been indulged with in their childhood.
But yes, she'd been very distracted. She'd been looking at him more than at the pieces.
John couldn't help to feel a pinch of gratification.
His leg still hurt, but her presence was a painkiller; with Cortana there, he could focus in something other than the discomfort that lashed into his bones. Chess had been her idea, after all, when she first proposed it Cortana sounded… a little too proud of herself. He found the perspective interesting, they didn't have much else to do anyway. Even distracted she was a decent player, but the lack of challenge didn't give him any satisfaction; it was mostly the thrill of sensing her shock and now, irritation.
Cortana tapped the replay on the pad and with a huge frown observed a replay of the match, speed increased for reasons. She reset the board, shot a hard glance at him.
"We play again." it was an order, indeed.
"I didn't know you liked to lose this much."
She gifted him with an even frownier brow. It was lovely. Sort of.
She picked the black pieces, this time. Their third match was more intense. John was a little surprised that he had to struggle to keep up with her speed more than once. At some point he almost lost track of the moves but just one look to her seductive, vixen-like eyes and he regained confidence. Cortana kept dancing her pieces around him, taking him down piece by piece. At some point, his white king ventured forward and captured one of her knights, surrounded by her pawns. She moved the other knight to safeguard her pawns from his king barreling across the board. John quickly picked one of his bishops to support the king. Check. Cortana had few options, now.
But she didn't seem very worried. She shifted her king a little, not out in the open.
He took the advantage and his king captured her remaining knight. Cortana frowned, eyes on the board. Why was he looking at her when he should be focusing on the game? Because she was beautiful when she was on the prowl. John had put her last bishop at risk, maybe even endangering her king too. She pulled her bishop out of the way between two of her pawns, placing his king in a delicate position.
He retreated his king, quickly.
She pursued with her bishop, keeping him at stake with the pawns.
John took a moment to think. He saw an opening.
Well, not an opening. Barely an opportunity to salvage the ruins that game was turning into: he pushed his king forward to the previous position and forced her to retreat her own bishop. Then John pulled his king back, and she pushed her bishop forward...
After a moment, it was evident that there was no honorable way out of that loop.
Realization hit her: "Wait..." Cortana started, her eyes opened wide slowly, along with her mouth. "I know what you're doing. This is a draw. And it's not just any draw, that's the Immortal Draw!"
She was looking at him now, mandible slack.
"You know the Immortal Draw!" Cortana squealed, half annoyed and half fascinated.
"Hamppe versus Meitner, Viena, 1872." John shrugged. "Dèja taught us about it."
"Your humbleness is shocking, Master Chief." she chuckled. "It's the first time in ages I have to try to win, you know. You caught me off guard."
Her admission made him feel warm with pride. He smirked.
Which was a mistake from his part, because now she was out for the kill.
With a quick move, Cortana propped herself onto her knees and crawled closer to him, disturbing the holographic projection of the chessboard. She dug an accusatory finger right in the middle of his bare chest.
"You wipe that arrogant smile off your face." she whispered, huskily, less than an inch away. "Because I'm going to show you who's boss, now."
Well, well. A challenge. Look at that.
"Bring it on." John smirked some more.
Their eyes met, insolent sapphire against taciturn steel-blue. The Master Chief inhaled deeply, slow, taking in her delightful scent. It made his skin crawl in a great way.
But John should've known he was fated to lose from the moment she sat back on her place and reset the board, smiling at him, arching an eyebrow. They underestimated each other, which had been a terrible mistake from the start, but now the superior intellect was in control. He sensed immediately the shift. Far from discouraging, her smugness only made the Master Chief more eager to thrive even at the cost of his own pride.
She won the next three matches in less than eleven moves each. It was embarrassing.
Her satisfied smile was unbearably sensual.
"I didn't know you liked to lose this much." Cortana mocked him and wiped the board, once more. "Would you like to go again, Master Chief? I can do this all day."
John blinked slowly, restraining himself.
He hadn't said a word ever since he lost the first game, and now…
The way she articulated those words, her voice sliding like silk all over him. Every hair on the back of his head stood on end, reacting to her tone and her lustful scent. She reveled on the confidence her superior wits gave her. She was all Cortana now, and it was hard not to react. He imagined her lying on her back with her smooth skin dotted in beads of sweat, her hair a mess on the sheets. Her sapphire eyes half-lidded, breath all ragged. John could almost feel the tight, welcoming depth of the sweet spot between her slender legs wrapped around his waist, squeezing him forward. Soft, warm and willing.
Writhing under him, digging her fingernails into his flesh, convulsing in pleasure.
Calling his name. Asking him for more. Begging him.
John gathered all the strength he had to poke himself right at the juncture of the femur head and the hipbone, digging into the stitches, so the bolt of pain would prevent him from doing or saying anything inappropriate. No. That wasn't going to happen again, it was over. Cortana was pregnant, he had to keep the distance now.
All objectives properly met, she had said.
It disappointed him to remember that he didn't have permission anymore.
"What got you so distracted?" she said, making John snap out of his own stupor.
"I guess I didn't have enough intel on my opponent." he answered, dryly.
Cortana tilted her head back, the expression on her face switched to caution.
"You're not a sore loser, are you?"
Oh, he had no trouble admitting it: "I am."
Now she tried to push back a smile, pressing her lips together, hard.
But the grin showed on her eyes, stirring John's demons even more.
She made the mistake to remain close. Close enough for the Spartan to snatch her wrist and pull her in, bringing her face again a mere inch away from his. She yelped, preventing her fall by placing a hand on his chest, pushing back. But Cortana didn't go very far when their eyes met, her dilated pupils froze on his defiant stare. His grip was strong yet it didn't hurt her. She gasped, quietly, just as a red shadow exploded all over her cheeks.
"Get me a deck of cards, any cards, and I'll show you who's the real boss." John said, in a low growl.
The scent of her sweet femininity invaded his lungs.
"… you got yourself a deal, Chief." she agreed, overwhelmed by curiosity.
That had been another mistake. He released her wrist at last, but she took a moment too long to back away and sit, the atmosphere between them had shifted again. However, their fun and games ended just a few seconds later, when Doctor Ellen Anders entered the room to check on John's status and remove the electrodes from his body.
Cortana said goodnight and left, although John could sense she didn't want to go.
He didn't sleep much that night. Neither did she.
x.x.x.x.x
The usual activity in recovery for a Spartan was to spend their time awake reading; it was a job while they couldn't do anything else. John recalled reading fiction when he was young, but even that fiction had been carefully picked and probably edited for the sake of Doctor Ford's flawless indoctrination protocols. His favorite pieces of fiction had been the mythological tales, especially ancient battles and epic journeys. In the field, however, the soldiers entertained themselves with simpler things. The Master Chief had seen ODSTs and Marines engage in different kinds of activities, mostly games of skill and luck.
Games of luck were the most interesting.
Spartans were supposed to be model soldiers, but you could be an excellent soldier and still pick up some bad habits along the way. Like card games, for example.
Cards were a mystery in the contender's hands, almost unpredictable, it was up to you to decipher the next move. Hardly ever out in the open as with chess. John learned dozens of different games, and he became really good. With cards, he was probably the best of the Spartans. Cortana picked up his challenge and brought a deck of cards the next day. Lopis got it for her: it wasn't a regular poker deck, but John knew the so-called 'Spanish cards'. All the figures were different, the style of the illustrations too.
It was good enough, he thought of at least thirty games he could show off with, just to make her hot and grumpy.
John would never forget her excitement when he played that draw.
She was genuinely aroused, it was unmistakable. Although he shouldn't, John found himself wanting to elicit those feelings on her again, wishing he knew their origin. Why did she still react like that? Her scent was a drug that made him feel good, no matter how much of a torture it turned out to be, in the end.
Well, Cortana played chess at the level of any grandmaster, but cards were her doom. So, after five or six different types of games, she capitulated.
"I don't know what I was expecting." she muttered, shaking her head.
John took the cards from her hands and shuffled them, with a tiny crooked smile on his face. He liked to win. Winning always got him in a good mood. But it wasn't fun to win if she wasn't going to argue, fight back and demand a rematch.
"You just had to put fifteen together, it's mathematics."
"Well, I guess cards are not my thing, Chief. Sue me."
"It's… just a silly game." he felt the need to excuse himself, immediately.
"Chess was more stimulating." she shrugged a little. "Unless…" Cortana started again, after a short pause, narrowing her eyes. "Unless you're cheating, and you haven't taught me everything you know about the game."
"I don't cheat."
His words were sharp, maybe a little too sharp. She was looking at him like that.
"Fine." she said, low. "Maybe you're just lucky."
John got a little slow in reshuffling the cards because he was now lost in her. Gauging her every reaction. Aware of every tiny twitch of her body. The Spartan was glad that he wasn't connected to the machines anymore and his own vitals were a bit more anonymous than Cortana's. She just poured out everything for his enhanced senses to catch.
When did he become such an expert in assessing her, now?
To mask the fact that he'd been checking her out for too long, John stretched his neck twisting his head to one side and then the other, popping a bone or two, until an indistinct shine on the corner of his eye caught his attention. It came from something brown and with a familiar shape. He turned to examine it.
"… what is that on the shelf?" John asked, cautious.
Cortana laughed, the sound ripped delightful shivers off his back. He enjoyed them in silence, as it was best to do.
"You just saw it now? It's been there for a while."
He smirked. "I guess I haven't looked much to the other side of the room, lately."
Oh, to see her blush was such an experience. He would never tire of it.
"It's a beer." Cortana cleared her throat and pulled some strands of hair behind her ear, trying to kill her warm grin. "You were still cooled down, but the Lieutenant came around with Linda, on the day of your birthday. They brought it. Linda said you would understand when you saw it."
John frowned hard, trying to remember.
Oh. Oh, that smug asshole. Blue Team was gone, now. He wouldn't be able to get back at them any time soon, but this was obviously just Fred's doing. The Master Chief ended up groaning under his breath, shaking his head.
"He's never going to let it go."
"What's that about?" Cortana asked, amused by his expressions.
A little flustered, he decided to explain:
"... Fred and I were assisting a platoon of ODSTs. It must've slipped off his mouth that it was my birthday, I had just turned twenty-one. It seemed like a great deal for the ODSTs so they got me a beer as a gift. Long story short: I didn't like it, worst thing I've ever tasted. Fred seems to think it's funny."
Cortana couldn't help but chuckle. She looked so lively.
"Well, it's funny. Maybe it wasn't the right beer for you." she kept smiling, any shadow of discomfort over the card game was now gone. "So, twenty-one, huh? That's 2532. I was born a few months later. Which is also funny."
Now she was the flustered one, avoiding his gaze. Cortana cleared her throat.
"You were a pretty baby." he remarked, out of nowhere. John put the cards face down on the data pad over his lap, they had been using it as a makeshift table for their little game. "Your baby is going to be as pretty as you, I'm sure."
Silence. Sweet, yet awkward silence.
He sensed another shift in her emotions. Cortana blushed to the roots of her hair.
"You… you saw me when I was a baby?"
"It was one time; Doctor Halsey didn't want her daughters near the Spartans."
"Oh my God, you saw me when I was a baby!"
She sounded more astonished than embarrassed, to tell the truth.
John tried to appease her: "Not on purpose. Doctor Halsey went to the next room over for a moment and I heard a gurgling noise coming from a carrier she had left on her desk. I peeked inside. Saw you. You looked at me and I backed away immediately."
And she was snorting, now. Her shoulders trembled, and…
Cortana laughed with all her heart, a tear or two brimmed to her eyes and she rubbed them off with the back of her hand. John didn't follow her suit but instead drew a small smile, a little concerned. What was so funny?
"I'm sorry, it's just… I'm picturing in my mind and it's…" she laughed again.
Her small hand grabbed his and squeezed his much larger fingers.
The Spartan's response was automatic: he squeezed back, hungry for her touch.
"I'm not realizing this just now. I've always been aware of the differences between us, and yet…" she shrugged. Her smile was lenient, now: "I'll think of it as a funny anecdote."
John chose not to say anything. He had no idea how to respond to that.
This time, she left the moment Doctor Halsey came in, unusually early, to do a check-up of his status. Night bells came and the lights inside the room dimmed to a light-blue hue from beneath, leaving him alone with the distant noises of the ship and the lonely chair on the corner. There was also an ammo crate parked under the chair, Cortana had left it there and she occasionally took candy from it. He hadn't asked about it, yet.
Silence without the sound of her breath felt wrong.
Dread filled him the moment he realized that another entire day-cycle had passed. T-minus two more until discharge. He wasn't just worried of failing the mission Cortana had set him, now.
x.x.x.x.x
The Master Chief tried to sit on the bed, just to reassure himself that he could.
Doctor Halsey said he would exercise in morning-cycle, but he couldn't wait. His body ached in ways it never hurt before, not only physically. He'd spent the nights alone looking up at the machinery on the ceiling, lucky if he managed to drift away for a couple of hours. So he pulled the sheets away and balanced his legs off the edge of the bed.
Pain shot through his hip and spine. John slid off the mattress until the bare soles of his feet touched the cold floor and, using the bed to support himself, he stood up.
It hurt like a bitch. A throbbing pulse running up and down. John hissed, pushed away from the bed. He managed to stay up; the fast-healing agents had been working in his blood for over three days now, but he understood the extent of the damage.
He knew he shouldn't exert himself, it would only delay his recovery.
A delay didn't sound so bad now, as a matter of fact…
John dismissed the thought. He propped himself back onto the bed, using the good leg, and hopped slightly to sit again, his good foot was still touching the floor.
A moment later, the Spartan noticed the steps down the hallway, outside the room, and the hairs on the back of his head bristled. Next came the bleep of the door control scanning someone's bracelet. The door slid over. Cortana was standing there, her figure radiant even in the dark. Dressed the same way he'd seen her a few hours before; hair down, fatigue's pants, boots, t-shirt. The jacket was missing.
She stopped dead on her tracks when she saw him sitting on the bed.
"John, what are you doing?" Cortana gasped.
"I thought you were gone." he said, in a rough whisper.
"Gone? I'm not going anywhere yet, Chief." she whispered back.
"I mean, for the night."
She took two more steps forward and waited. "I thought you would be asleep."
Why were they speaking in hushed tones? The whole wing was empty, John knew that.
He cleared his throat: "I haven't slept. Much."
And why couldn't he get two thoughts straight, now?
Cortana lowered her head and sighed.
"Well, I just couldn't sleep myself and…"
"Me neither." John hurried to say, interrupting her. Something very improper of him.
She looked at him, now. Her brow was furrowed: "Are you okay?"
"… it doesn't hurt anymore."
The words just rolled out of his mouth, involuntarily. He couldn't assert if he meant the surgery wounds or if it was something else, more ethereal. But one particular source of pain was indeed gone now. She rubbed her naked arm, slowly.
"Does it bother you if I spend the night here?" she asked, later.
It took him a short while to process the meaning of what she had just said. And there was no reason for him to make such a choice, but John patted gently the mattress and tilted his head. Cortana looked at the lonely chair on the corner and then at him. The choice was now hers. No words were needed; she relaxed as she approached, he pulled his weight back onto the bed and lied down, leaving an empty spot for her.
If she was willing to take it, that is…
Hesitant, she looked at the way John held the sheet open.
He saw the tremor running across her body. She was nervous.
A rush of heat warmed up his body; thankfully it was still too early for a more visible reaction. Fucking hell, couldn't he just hold it together for five minutes?
Scaring Cortana away was the last thing he aimed for.
How the tables had turned; once, she was innocent as prey. He didn't care if he scared her or not, the smell of her fear mixed with lust was arousing as fuck. He had put all of his efforts into pleasing her, actively demonstrating why she had picked herself someone like him. She'd been the one in control, but he was the one in charge. He had gone too far and taken too many liberties with her; John could admit that he was compromised.
Now the link was severed, he didn't have the right.
And yet, he found himself craving her.
After some short deliberation, she kicked off her boots and climbed onto the bed. There wasn't much room for two, especially if one of them was as large as an adult Spartan, but they managed. Cortana laid her head on his shoulder, he wrapped his arm around her. He acted on pure instinct and his instinct was telling him to hold her close. When she was all snug, John extended the sheet above them.
She squeezed closer, crossed her own arm across his midsection and let out a long sigh.
"For all the fucking we did, we never really slept together one night, did we?" she said.
John blinked several times, fast, eyes up on the machines.
"I don't think so." he admitted, and it was true.
They had always been in some sort of schedule or trying to avoid being caught. It had been just a few minutes or a few hours every time, sometimes rushed and sometimes more rewarding. Never enough.
No, it would never be enough.
"You're so warm." she mumbled, nuzzling his shoulder with her nose. "Let me sleep with you tonight, John. I want to know what it feels like."
A pleasurable shiver rand down his spine, washing more pain away.
"Is this… part of the mission?"
She chuckled and smiled against his skin. "Yes. And you're doing great."
"Alright."
Cortana didn't speak anymore, John tried not to lose his mind.
Long, silent minutes went by. The Spartan stopped overthinking when he noticed that the rhythm of her breath was slower, so was her heart. He looked at her peaceful, sleeping face, and a small smile tugged on the corner of his mouth. John could see her in the half-dark as clearly as in broad daylight, his eyes had that feline quality about them. Brushing his lips on her forehead -barely the ghost of a kiss-, he relaxed enough to try and get some rest as well.
TO BE CONTINUED
I know the chess game may suck, reason is I don't play chess and tried to incorporate the aforementioned draw without making it too long, too complicated or too boring. You can look up that game on YouTube if you want to see it. VERY SPECIAL THANKS AND KUDOS to Cor Tenebrae for guiding me through that, providing the inspiration and the tools to make the game something enjoyable ;D Anyway. I HOPE YOU LIKE THE MUTUAL PINING AND THE LONGING BECAUSE I DEFINITELY LOVE IT.
There were some more non-logged in users this week, here are my thanks to them:
OMG the alleged 12-year-old, I told you to beware, you innocent soul! But thank you for being around, anyway. You have the soul of a little demon, I hope that at least you're enjoying the story.
Lovely HELIOS, I think I kind of fulfilled your wish here without thinking, I'm writing several chapters ahead of publishing so this came out as a surprise, Kelly might not be very supportive but she does love John as a brother. Thank you for stopping by!
And last but not less important, REKT who is a newcomer, apparently. Thank you very much for the support and I hope to see you around more, I'm glad you're enjoying it. Halsey per-se is creepy, both here and in canon, I don't think I'm overdoing anything :P LOL
This was a long chapter, give me some love! Leave your comments on the box below, the feedback is always well received. Stay safe and see you next weekend!