Today is A VERY SPECIAL DAY. Regarding everyone who expressed worry, I was going to address the negative response about the Cortana/Lasky thing with a long-ass commentary about women's sexual freedom and traditional media… but instead I'll remind you that despite finding other men attractive, Cortana hasn't been romantically or sexually involved with anyone since she started her affair with John, and that was LONG before she fell in love with him. Don't sweat it so much. I keep telling you this story has a happy Jortana ending and I'm not going to ruin that. I absolutely despise the cheating angle myself and wouldn't use it as a romantic outlet or make it part of an ideal ending, Jeez. It's all part of the plot, relax.
A SMALL NOTE: to the benefit of narrative purposes, we will skip some time forward, fast, and we will pretend that real-time communication between Reach and Sanghelios is possible. Anyway see you at the end!
TAKE ME WHEN YOU NEED ME
PART XXVII
PLANET SANGHELIOS – Urs System
There were talks about another operation. Everything pointed out that Jul 'Mdama had been active again after several weeks of dead-end investigations; big things were happening all over the UNSC encampment at Nuusra. Soon, they would have a new location.
He knew his duty was to be sharper than ever, the roll-call could come at any time.
But John had the feeling that things were slipping away.
Time, for one. Memories too. It had been eleven days on the military calendar since Cortana's latest contact, a little less according to the Sangheili standard. By now, John had calculated the pattern: she sent her messages every six to ten days. He was used to the ritual of expecting her and this delay made him uneasy. If anything, the Spartan had been keeping close track of the weeks, doing the math.
The child would be born in about sixty-eight standard days, now.
John wasn't about to neglect his vow to serve -a fundamental part of his integrity relied on staying true to his core beliefs-, but if it wasn't for that encrypted folder he kept hidden within his armor's memory banks, the Master Chief doubted his ability to focus. A million suspicions popped in his mind, all the time. The need to protect her messages was stronger than the common sense to delete them once read.
The portrait in the thigh-pocket of his armor was another violation to the terms of his release from therapy. And yet, those little acts of insubordination were… comforting.
x.x.x.x.x
There was something different about the drugs, he knew it.
Still a shot a day, usually by night. Yet, something wasn't the same.
In a rush of desperation, John realized that he had difficulties to remember her smell.
It didn't come to him right away, he had to actively think of several other things related to Cortana to get it right. Or what he thought was the right memory of her scent. He wasn't sure anymore and it made everything worse. Even her real face -more solid than the one in the drawing- was less and less clear in his thoughts. This upset him, deeply. How long had this been going on, without him noticing?
How much longer would it take? How many more shots until he forgot about her?
John was ripped away from those troubled thoughts by a chime.
The tension that kept his nerves on edge dissipated when he saw the familiar flickering yellow icon. The Master Chief hurried to display the inbox before his eyes, to find the new message and open it. Again, no sender and no timestamp.
But this time, it didn't have any text. Only an attachment, a few kilobytes.
He frowned, worried.
John blinked once, to download the attachment. The meager file opened on the right side of his HUD, and at first he had trouble acknowledging what he was seeing. A curled mass of pale-colored shapes, floating in a blurry reddish-brown environment. He tilted his head to the right side, trying to make it rotate or shift angles, but it wasn't a tridimensional model. He had received just a flat picture that resembled…
… a little human being?
The air escaped his lungs eerily slow when he finally pieced it all together.
It was a human being, indeed. An unborn child, small, still underdeveloped. The facial features were all there, on the oversized head: three slits made the closed eyes and mouth, a soft little bump for a nose and a little shade of hair. Two shapes tightly pressed against the cheeks were tiny fists with nails and everything, and the curled-up segments attached to the elliptical body were legs and feet. The quality of the image had been downgraded several times to make it lighter.
Alien sensations overwhelmed him. John closed his eyes for a second.
She delivered: she got him eyes on the crops.
It took its sweet time, but this was their child in her womb. Fifty-two days to go.
It was surreal. The little he knew about children -the basics, how they were created and how they came to the world- hadn't prepared him for this. But the Master Chief managed to rein in his emotions and examined the picture once more, taking in every detail. Warmth was spreading inside his chest, reaching out every deep and numb corner of him.
John realized he was breathing fast, the exo-suit was bleeping. A label flickered amber on the taskbar of his HUD. He couldn't control himself. Not anymore. He fumbled with the latches under his chin and took the helmet off, to take in fresh air. The suit continued to complain about his altered state, pointing out the vitals off-range.
He knew everything was being recorded and reported, and he didn't care.
Just, how much longer?
How much longer until he couldn't recognize her?
How much longer until he forgot he had fathered another human being?
How much longer until he couldn't think for himself anymore?
She told him to be strong. She made a promise, he made a promise…
Without hesitation, John turned around and slapped the rifle to his back, tucking the helmet under his arm. The look in his eyes must've been frightening; every serviceman he came across hurried out of the way as he moved like an avalanche to the maintenance hub. In the hub, Fireteam Majestic was running through the assembly stations in the process of getting outfitted for patrolling duty. Thorne and Grant nodded when the Chief stormed by their general vicinity on the way to the workshop. He didn't look at them.
John sat on a bench and turned the helmet over in his hands, eyes on the interior.
After a moment of intense search, he found it: a strange little casing on the back.
It would only take a screwdriver and some patience to dismount the little chamber and pull out the injector. He stopped for one second to consider the consequences. This would get him in trouble, he knew it. Another violation: tampering with his equipment, refusing to accept the medication.
There would be punishment. He would take it.
They could seize and search his armor, analyze all the stored data. Find her messages.
They could punish her, too. She shouldn't be contacting him.
This last bit made him swallow hard.
… John made a mental note to back-up everything into his pad, a cracked piece of shit he kept because it had a good battery-life. He would delete everything from the memory banks. No more immediate access to her messages, but it would be safer. The Master Chief unscrewed the concealed casing and yanked it off his helmet. It was with great satisfaction, too, that he crushed the little thing between his armored fingers.
An oily yellow fluid slipped through his knuckles, dripping to the grated floor.
No more numbness, no more memories slipping away.
Disobedience was such a thrilling sensation, he noticed.
How long until SECTION-III caught up on his rouse?
He was willing to wait them out, alright. The well-trained dog had begun to stir awake.
x.x.x.x.x
What does the UNSC do when a Spartan refuses to comply?
Arrest and court martial are probably the first things that should come to mind. There were no records of rebellious Spartans accessible to lower ranks, so, no point to compare. Such a situation was high brass' darkest nightmare, how the fuck are they supposed to stop and arrest one of those war machines? With more of them, if anything.
They could only hope.
But what does the UNSC do when a SPARTAN-II gets difficult?
Well; they call their mother. Literally.
Fully armored and not in a very good mood, John entered the sealed cubicle and rested his massive weight on the hard bench posted in front of the desk, a holo-screen flickered to display a split-screen on stand-by. It was the same every month: mandatory psych eval. Never interviewed by the same examiner twice, never heard back of the results. The tests were pretty standard, he answered as best as he could.
He pulled the helmet off and placed it on the corner of the desk.
The right side of the screen shifted to a view of his own pale face. John observed the deep shadow his furrowed brow threw over his eyes. The Master Chief tried to relax, he had to put up with this. The left side of the screen shone with the UNSC logo until someone else showed up on the other end of the comm.
Dangerously familiar blue eyes stared down at him, now.
"Doctor Halsey." he observed, a little stunned.
Halsey sighed. "Hello, John."
She seemed a lot older than he remembered her. Odd.
For some strange reason, he didn't snap immediately to attention, but he did squeeze his fists. Defensively. That part of his instinct was still there.
"Are you going to evaluate me?" the Chief asked, wary.
"There will be no evaluation today."
This threw him off his rhythm. John was ready to tackle down another tedious session of pointless questions, not this. He didn't like surprises: sometimes there was little room to improvise. This was one of those times; he knew he could've faked it with anyone else, but not with the good Doctor, no. She would see right through him.
"Then why are we talking, ma'am?" he went one step forward and just asked.
This didn't sit well with Halsey. One of her Spartans making the questions? Ha.
"I'm concerned about you, John." she started, tilting her head with arrogance. "Your statistics have taken a significant drop in the last forty-five days, two-point-seven percent below standard. You're not taking your medication anymore. What's going on?"
So, it didn't take them long to discover that the injector module was missing.
John was counting on it, anyway.
"The drugs were impairing my performance." he stated, blunt.
"Is that so?"
"My memory wasn't one-hundred-percent reliable. Efficiency is top priority."
"And you think the medication is to be blamed?"
"Yes, ma'am."
That exchange was way faster than the usual talk between them. Halsey kept situations under control by speaking slow, patronizing but still kind of motherly. The rapid fire was an evidence of instability from both sides.
The Doctor lowered her gaze, checking something on her pad.
"Perhaps the dose is a little too high." she admitted. "It needs adjustment."
"Doctor Halsey." John insisted, assertive. "I won't take them anymore."
He felt considerably better. Stronger, more focused. More active, even.
His memory was steadier, too. He was clean at last, according to the armor's blood and urine tests; nothing else but trace amounts of the vitamins and other nutritional supplements derivate from the everyday meals. The woman remained silent for a long time, working on her pad, thinking. From that angle, Halsey looked a lot like Cortana when she did that, the resemblance was uncanny.
He figured he couldn't make very specific questions, but…
"Ma'am."
Halsey looked up, frowning. She didn't like being interrupted.
The Spartan didn't say anything, at first. He was considering how to approach this.
"What is it?" she encouraged him, softly.
John pursed his lips and hesitated again, taking a deep breath through his nose.
"You can speak freely, John." Halsey nudged him, reading his mind: "I've protected the line, nobody is recording."
Not even her, it was implied.
"Are Spartans allowed to have families?"
Of all the things John could've asked her, this one surprised her the most.
The drop in his performance wasn't just because of the drugs, Halsey had taken it into consideration before calculating the proper dosage. Her perfect boy was in rebellion, now. She had to placate him somehow, it was why SECTION-III had called her, after all.
They didn't want him rogue. Not him.
"The SPARTAN-IV have families. You know that, John."
"Then why am I not allowed?"
She looked down at her pad again and blurted out: "Do not compare your generation with subpar ODST turned into thugs. You're a SPARTAN-II. You were carefully made and endorsed with a duty that..."
"If they're subpar, then why…?"
"Enough!" Halsey raised her voice a little. "You're out of line, Spartan!"
They fell silent again. The annoying bleep of John's exo-suit made the woman drop her shoulders and try to relax. She didn't need him stressed. This was getting out of hand again, just like that time when he threatened her, in the medical ward of the Spirit of Fire.
"Doctor Halsey." John called her attention again, more confident.
"John, stop. This is inappropriate."
"I want to ask you about your daughter."
Yet another short silence. Halsey found his eyes through the screen.
"You know you shouldn't."
"I know." he nodded once. "But I still want to. Will you answer, ma'am?"
On his end, John figured that if the good Doctor didn't want to talk, she just had to shut down the commlink and forget about it. He felt at liberty to press on:
"I need to know." he pleaded.
Halsey gave him a strange look. Not cold, not warm either.
He was being polite despite all, she had to give him that.
"What do you want to ask?" the woman budged in, calmer now.
Did she talk about him? Did she think about him?
Did the good Doctor know that Cortana was texting him, illegally?
How much did she know about his situation, about what they did to him?
But first: "How is she?"
"Elizabeth is doing fine. She is working very hard with me aboard the Infinity." Doctor Halsey answered quickly, again. She paused, added the following in a softer voice: "My grandchild is scheduled to be born on October the fifteenth."
John's heartrate increased violently.
The exo-suit ratted him out, again; this new information made him forget about every other question he wished to ask. That blurry capture of the baby inside her womb flashed in the back of his mind, overwhelming his focus.
October the fifteenth. That was less than forty days to go.
His child would be born in less than forty days.
The good Doctor continued talking. "She doesn't know the sex, yet. She claims that she will find out when it's born. Strange idea, if you ask me. But she's always been like that, a peculiar girl."
John frowned again, feeling uneasy.
Something burned in his eyes. What was it? He blinked fast, trying to clear his sight.
The words just came out of his mouth, uncontrollable:
"The drugs were affecting my memory. I couldn't remember her right anymore."
This seemed to cause an impact on the good Doctor. She swallowed hard, looking away for a few seconds.
"So, that's why you decided to break your equipment?"
"The MJOLNIR is still one-hundred-percent operational." he stated, dead-certain of his words. But he needed to do this: "Doctor Halsey…"
"I understand how you might feel." she cut him off. "We will suspend the medication for now. But about your assignment, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do, not my call. You will complete your deployment as it was scheduled."
John let out a relieved sigh, the bleeping of the exo-suit remitted a little.
"Yes, ma'am."
"I don't know what she told you, but I don't think it's going to happen."
This time, the Master Chief met Doctor Halsey's sapphire-blue eyes over the screen.
She had promised him that he would hold his child, and the she would see him do it.
It was the only hope that kept him there, soldiering through a pointless mission. Palmer and her SPARTAN-IV were more than enough of an aid to the Arbiter in his hunt for Jul 'Mdama, nobody needed him on Sanghelios. It was painfully obvious that ONI wanted to keep him far from his mate and progeny.
Why? He still didn't understand what was so terrible about it.
He just wanted to see her again.
"I don't want to forget her." he confessed; his voice was rough.
Halsey pursed her lips again, but this time, her brow showed a different emotion.
He didn't recognize this emotion.
"Then don't forget her, John, but move on from her. My daughter is completely out of your reach now, and you have a duty."
This angered him deeply. He frowned harder, looking away from the screen.
The last thing John-117 wanted to hear, was that he had to quit at something.
"You can keep me away from her." he said, serene on the outside. Telltale signs of a storm were raging inside the steel-blue of his eyes. "But you won't take her away from me."
The Master Chief stood up, snatched his helmet off the desk and exited the cubicle.
x.x.x.x.x
After that talk with Doctor Halsey and successfully moving Cortana's messages to his battle-scarred pad, the Master Chief felt more confident. He had clarified his intentions and was willing to guard the secret with his bare teeth if push came to shove. She didn't send any more pictures, true, but the messages kept coming every six to ten days. He memorized all of them. She could say a lot of things in few words.
ACROSS THE STARS AND FAR AWAY
I SWEAR I WILL RETURN ONE DAY
AS SURE AS THE RIVERS REACH THE SEAS
BACK IN YOUR ARMS AGAIN I'LL BE
Cortana did this, sometimes. She texted him little pieces of songs or poems, not exactly coded information for him to decipher. The contents weren't the most important part, it was the act he held so dear. The persistence.
She didn't give up, even when she had nothing to tell him.
He wasn't going to give up, either.
x.x.x.x.x
John's motivation had kicked up several notches.
For one, relations between humans and aliens were soaring: there would be a summit on Sanghelios. The Covenant War was in its final stages after decades of turmoil and loss. The Covenant itself was breaking apart, different factions were rising up on their separatist causes and some had come to see each other eye to eye. The humans and the Sangheili were of the few that held some respect for one another, inspired by Thel 'Vadam's message: the enemy of their enemy was their friend. Now, UNSC high brass had agreed to alliance talks with the Arbiter and his people.
Also, he was excited because 'the day' was getting closer, fast.
Things were looking good. Another monthly psych-eval came and went.
The examiner commented on the improvement of his statistics, in sync with what was expected of a Spartan of his class. His position as tactical advisor of the Sangheili council gave him a certain leverage with Palmer, she allowed him some independence as long as there were results. The upcoming summit had to be wisely planned. It wasn't just randomly decided: aside from the alliance talks, it was supposed to incite Jul 'Mdama and get him to fall into an ambush. Palmer decided to make the Master Chief his second in command for the event. He could have any assets he deemed necessary for the job; he just had to ask and if it wasn't crazy, she would get it for him.
John had requested his team, without hesitation.
Surprisingly enough, SECTION-III granted it. Maybe because it was Palmer asking.
Fred, Kelly and Linda, arrived to the Nuusra encampment a week before the summit, with the rest of the supporting battalion. John awaited just outside the LZ with Fireteam Majestic standing on attention. Majestic had been temporarily incorporated to Blue Team -an honor for the young Spartans-, so everyone exchanged salutes and from then on, John joined his combat siblings for a proper introductory tour.
Of course, as soon as the camp's AI cleared them into the comm network, Fred pulled John, Kelly and Linda into a private conversation:
"So, this is where you've been all this time." he commented.
"Did you miss me?" John replied, dryly.
"I won't say some people were worried." Linda quipped. "But Fred was unbearable."
Fred scoffed. Kelly was walking behind them, right in front of Majestic's leader.
The whole team was visibly uneasy, John could sense their concern and read it on the way Fred and Linda hurried to fall into step with him, marching to his sides. Even Kelly, keeping her distance, was making a statement about how she felt.
"I have some intel that Lopis got for me, if you want to hear about it."
John halted, aimed his golden faceplate towards Fred's.
"Not here." he said, simply. "Tonight, after the briefing. We'll talk, all of us."
The response caught the other three off guard. Since when John talked about things?
It made them consider how dire the situation had to be.
"You better. We got a lot of catching up to do, Chief." Kelly commented, softly.
They didn't have to keep wondering about it. If anything, Blue Team was committed to support one another. They were siblings, not by blood, not by choice, but bound altogether. John didn't add anything else, he turned around and guided them through the buildings.
His lack of words was also a statement, quite a loud one.
UNSC INFINITY (in orbit around REACH)
THIRTY WEEKS AFTER SHE LAST SAW HIM
Lasky had pledged his help, and help he provided.
Cortana knew she would have to go to war with the UNSC since the very first moment she knew she loved John. Her plan was simple enough: attack both legally and publicly, while guarding herself from any possible attack. The SPARTAN program was in the eye of the masses; disturbing rumors about abducted children incited protests although the figure of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 elicited great admiration.
She knew she was probably being watched or followed, she just had this feeling…
The most important thing that Lasky did, was to give Cortana her self-assurance back.
Two weeks after her crisis at the restaurant, Cortana met with Petra Janecek, a reckless journalist with important connections. She mentioned owing a couple of favors to Tom, and that Tom had promised her a big story if she played her cards well enough.
At first, Cortana didn't like this woman much, didn't know if she could trust her; but she trusted Tom enough to give it a shot. Petra proved to be competent and serious. She had a history of bringing dirty secrets into the light, and this was a story both heartbreaking and shocking. It involved the Hero of Humanity itself. A desperate woman. A baby, fruit of an illicit love. The Office of Naval Intelligence, everyone's favorite monster. A conspiracy to keep the ill-fated lovers away. A legal conflict ten miles long. It had it all to be mass-media dynamite. She was on board immediately.
In the following months, Cortana used her own communications software to exchange information with Petra and her partner, Benjamin Giraud. Recently, Petra had advised her to lawyer-up even more and Cortana did so. Development was slow.
She was due in eighteen days. Her case was barely in diapers.
She wouldn't get to see any results before her baby was born. Cortana thought of going to her mother for a special favor, make a deal with SECTION-III to bring John in for the birth. Even if it was for a couple of hours. He had to be there, he had to see his child. He deserved to hold it in his arms.
She had promised him, they had to understand, this wasn't just a whim!
Despair wasn't helping her, for sure.
Being busy didn't help her either. Keeping up with everything carrying an eight-and-a-half-month pregnancy wasn't easy. She felt heavy and uncomfortable, waddling around like a stumbling cow. Little Bean moved more than ever, some nights it didn't let her sleep. Phase Four of the Infinity's upgrade program was going well, it kept her occupied during the day. Trying to get John back kept her mind busy until late at night.
At least her mother didn't pester her as much, which was a success.
The other plan was working well, too. Tom's contribution was key: making Catherine Halsey believe that her daughter and the Captain were dating turned out to be surprisingly easy. Cortana's hypothesis was that, if her mother thought she'd moved on from John, she would stop messing with her.
They only had to flirt a little when the good Doctor was near, allow him to touch her arm, shoulder or waist. Smile and be cute. Go out or have a meal, be seen together around the ship. With all the business they had going on together, it wasn't hard. Tom was a real sweetheart. He spoke with passion about how helping the Master Chief to be reunited with his family was his way to thank him for saving his life. He was very committed.
Cortana couldn't help to feel like an ungrateful bitch for using him like this.
She hadn't felt like that in a long, long time…
Even more so, when she contemplated the things she would have to ask of him if the development of the case required deeper intervention.
x.x.x.x.x
Cortana had been feeling uneasy all morning-cycle. Unnaturally sluggish. Lightheaded and tired, too. She didn't want to eat by the time of lunch, which was odd.
In the afternoon-cycle, she stood up maybe too quickly and the world tilted.
Clutching to the edges of her desk prevented her from plummeting down.
'Something isn't right.' she thought, a little scared.
She made her way to the Infinity's medbay, resting her weight on the walls, holding her belly with a trembling hand. Just about entering an elevator to find the ship's internal tram, she came across a Spartan fireteam. One of the Spartans, armored in bright red, saw her fall and caught her before she hit the floor. The Spartan didn't panic, of course, she knew what to do: find the fastest way to the medbay.
x.x.x.x.x
She woke up in a bed. Someone was feeling her forehead with a cold hand.
First, Cortana thought of her mother. But once her blurry sight cleared out, she saw…
"Ellen." she observed, stunned.
Of all people, Cortana never thought she would find Ellen Anders.
Was she dreaming? Was she still on the Spirit of Fire, and all this time passed had been the dream instead? Her pulse raced, an annoying bleep made her dizzy again. She didn't know what to say. Fortunately, the Asian woman broke the ice:
"Elizabeth, hi. How do you feel?"
"What are you doing here?" she asked, still surprised. "Where are we?"
"I'm working, of course. You're still on the Infinity." Anders smiled, tucking her hands inside the pockets of her coat, her cheerful expression dropped a little. Making conversation could help soothe the patient, so she continued: "It's a long story, but to make it short… I got divorced and requested a transfer here. They had a vacant spot." when Cortana tried to prop herself up on her elbows, the Doctor pushed her back gently. "No, Elizabeth, you have to lie down. Please."
Although she should've been worried, Cortana's mind was racing. She couldn't help it.
The divorce comment made her blink fast, now definitely shocked.
Ellen had divorced Jameson Locke. Why? Last time she checked, Cortana would swear that she looked very much in love with her husband. Even if he was a lying, cheating prick. Snapping out of the sudden stupor, she noticed the blue gown and the electrodes attached to her chest and head. It didn't make her feel better. Instinctively, one of her hands went down to her belly and observed how tense the skin felt. Little Bean was quiet.
"Is my baby okay?" Cortana asked, quickly.
Anders nodded. "For now, yes. The heartbeat is steady, the scans are normal."
Cortana mumbled, disoriented: "What happened to me?"
"A Spartan brought you in an hour ago, she said you were walking down a corridor and fainted. Your blood pressure was high." Ellen's words were soft, so calm. "Do you feel any pain, headache or uneasiness?"
"No, I feel fine now. Just tired. Very tired."
"Your exams didn't come out very well. You're overly stressed."
"… I've been very busy."
"You're close to due date, right?"
"Eighteen days to go."
Anders scowled. "You should've taken maternity leave forty-five days ago."
"I know. But I have so much to do, I just couldn't…"
"No work is more important than this little thing inside you."
Ellen's voice was severe now. Cortana closed her eyes for a second or two, rethinking her words from before; she had sounded just like her mother.
"I'm sorry. What happens now?"
"We'll keep you in observation for a couple of hours, see how you do."
"If I get better, can I leave?"
"Sure, straight to your home to rest. No more work for you."
Cortana hesitated: "… and what if I don't get better?"
Anders made a grimace. "The CMO will decide, then. But most likely, we will have to induce the birth early, to help you both."
The words shook Cortana deeply, filling her heart with fear.
It was too early, she was entering the thirty-eight week. She should make it to forty.
Iron-willed as usual, she tried to remain calm, to sleep.
But her blood pressure didn't settle; instead, a potent headache attacked her.
The Infinity's CMO, Doctor Quinn, decided it was enough waiting. No time to drop the patient to the private clinic on Alexandria 2, where Cortana was supposed to be treated. The baby had to come out so the mother could be properly stabilized, her high blood-pressure could hurt the child or even kill it. It was decided that Little Bean would be born in space.
Catherine Halsey was called in, as her closest relative at hand.
Cortana listened to the CMO explain the procedure to her. Her head was spinning. It was too early, too early! She panicked, which didn't help her situation. Truth is, she'd been fighting the part of her brain accepting that John wasn't going to be there for the birth. This was the major cause of her distress, really.
She had failed her promise. It hurt so much.
Spiritually and physically. The feeling was so strong that it ended causing contractions and eventually, her water broke before the CMO or her assistants could intervene. Cortana was so, so scared…
PLANET SANGHELIOS – Urs System
T-MINUS FIFTEEN DAYS TO GO
The Master Chief shifted his weight from one leg to the other, checked his weapons for the eleventh time. Everything was in order, he was overly aware of it. The radio chatter was nominal, all fireteams were constantly reporting. John finished fidgeting at last by adjusting the latches under his helmet.
The summit hadn't started yet and it was already taking too long to end.
The Lieutenant, standing no less than six feet away, was looking at him twiddle.
"Something wrong, Chief?" Fred said through a private channel, just the two of them.
John barely grunted in response, making Fred tilt his head a little bit.
It was the first day of October, military calendar.
Too early to be this jumpy, but he had a strange feeling.
Standing atop the cliff, John, Fred and Fireteam Majestic caught all the heat of the Urs Sun directly above their heads, but the spot was perfect to oversee the landing port and the building's entry. The place had more security than the very HIGHCOM, thanks to John and Kelly's careful planning and to Fred's expert distribution of resources.
The Lieutenant sighed. "We should've switched places with Fireteam Lambda."
"They got lucky." John added, nodding.
"Well, you tossed the coin."
The Chief didn't answer, again. His eyes drifted beyond the edge of the cliff, checking the double line of Marines, Spartans and vehicles posted around the temple's entrance. He spotted a gray and white MJOLNIR with a bulbous golden faceplate near a Scorpion tank, quite far behind the line of Marines. Then, he looked at Linda's nest on the other side of the canyon, keeping targets in her sights from a secluded window carved in the rock.
A slight pinging noise made John's skin crawl in a good, familiar way.
It surprised him, too. How long had it been since the last message? Four days?
His stomach lurched, suddenly. What if something was wrong?
He took a few steps back to move away from Fred's line of sight and opened the inbox immediately. He tried to keep his cool, didn't want the exo-suit ratting him out.
Three words. No sender, no time-stamp:
IT'S A GIRL.
John frowned, staring at the words in mild confusion. What kind of riddle was this?
His heart leaped when the full meaning finally sunk in.
Allegedly, Cortana wanted to wait until the birth to find out, that's what Doctor Halsey told him. If she was telling him this, did it mean Little Bean was born, already? But, it was too early! Still fifteen days away, why…?
It was a girl.
She was telling him that it was a girl!
John couldn't control the emotion that took over his face, twisting the severe corners of his mouth into a small, crooked smile. Sounds choked down his throat. John didn't notice he was standing almost too still to be alive until Fred touched his forearm, he turned to find his combat sibling's faceplate.
"Seriously, what's wrong?" the Lieutenant asked, worried.
"It's a girl." John managed to say, dumbfounded.
Fred tilted his head down, seemingly confused, but after a few seconds he tilted it back up, sharply. John didn't have to explain further. Fred didn't say a word, whirled around on his heels and trotted towards the edge of the cliff.
A channel privy only to the four members of their squad opened on John's HUD:
"Blue-three, Blue-four. Guess what? You two owe me your desserts for six months."
"I didn't copy that, Blue-two. Please repeat." said Linda.
"Oh, I did copy." Kelly intervened, scoffing. "Fred, you lucky bastard."
Linda was confused: "What's going on?"
"It's a girl. He won."
Silence over the line, until everyone caught up.
Linda groaned, devastated about the bet. "Do we at least get to name her?"
"I think congratulations are in order, right?" Fred tried to steer everyone around.
On his end, John tried to fight back a huge grin very improper of him.
"Thank you." a growing pride in his chest almost choked the words before they could leave his mouth. "But I'm pretty sure she already has a name for her."
UNSC INFINITY (in orbit around REACH)
SIXTEEN HOURS AFTER THE BIRTH
Once again, Cortana was holding her heart in her fist.
More specifically, in her arms. Wrapped in a gray blanket, soft and warm.
And she was beautiful, so small. So angry.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the baby finally caught the nipple to feed. Cortana realized that she'd been blatantly lied to: breastfeeding hurt, it wasn't a pleasant experience at all. The nurse that helped her out said that it would take her some time to adjust, she just had to relax. But Cortana was sore from the whole ordeal of the birth itself, the physical torture didn't seem to end. She couldn't just relax.
No. It was a deeper kind of agony what kept her on edge.
But she just had to take that little bundle and cuddle it close to feel a lot better. Oh, the little one was a time-bomb; so tiny and yet, so irritable. The brand-new mother begged the nurse to leave her alone, her senses ached for a moment of silence. She needed peace to hear her baby breathe and groan, just close her eyes and imagine that everything was perfect, that she didn't give birth before she had expected it and completely unprepared. It was in that quiet when the baby budged in and began to feed.
Suddenly, a cluster of confusing and intense feelings piled up on top of each other and overran her. After a few seconds of unsteady contemplation Cortana couldn't hold back the tears anymore: she allowed herself a time to cry, purging the pain off her system. She just couldn't stop. She had enough control to manage weeping and staring at her hungry baby girl, brushing the little wrinkled forehead with the tips of her fingers.
"Your papa would be so proud of you." she mumbled.
Her voice cracked, the knot inside her throat was getting more painful. She winced, her breast was very sensitive and the baby's gums hurt her. The truth is that she had no idea what John's reaction would've been; but if the warm memories of their time together at the Spirit of Fire told her anything, it was that the Spartan would've been curious and careful, but eager to get close.
He would've asked to hold her, for sure.
Again, a ghostly blade twisted inside her heart, making her emotions bleed.
Cortana sniffed in the tears, trying to compose herself. "So, here's my promise to you, my sweet: you will get to know him, someday, and I'm sure you will love him as much as I do. He's a good man, after all."
Her free hand wandered blindly through the shelf until she caught the shape of her pad.
Cortana set up the device's camera, hurriedly, and held it from a high angle.
The nurse would return any time soon. She did her best to craft a smile.
One, two, she took at least three pictures.
A soft knock on the room's door made her snap back to reality.
Cortana quickly hid the pad under the bedsheets and scrambled around to tuck herself in, shifting carefully to hold the little one without interrupting the feeding. The baby cooed and continued with her business, frowning and crunching her tiny fists. She suckled in with ravenous intent, the pain had receded. A little smile tugged on the mother's lips.
It wasn't the nurse that had returned, though.
The petite and grizzly figure of Catherine Halsey entered the room, devoid of her usual arrogance for a change. She was just a little gray woman standing with her hands in the pockets of her lab coat, with no idea of what to say or do. Everything had happened so fast. Cortana stared back at her for a second, then remembered to brush the tears away from her face and she did it with the palm of her hand, hastily.
"Mother." she said, her tone a little more broken than intended.
"Lizzie, how are you?"
She smiled wide, although her eyes were intensely red and she was trembling.
"I don't know." Cortana admitted, shrugging. "It's so strange."
Halsey dropped her shoulders a little. "May I come closer?"
Cortana nodded. The good Doctor walked to the right side of the bed and stretched her neck a little, to check on the baby girl. Her face didn't particularly say anything, there was no hint of what she was thinking. Frustrated, Cortana tried hard to control her temper and not ask her to leave, she was on edge and…
Halsey took her hands out of her pockets and brushed the baby's head with her fingers, barely touching. The little girl groaned but didn't stop feeding.
"She is so beautiful, Elizabeth." the grandmother murmured. "Perfect."
Cortana swallowed hard. 'I swear to God, if you dare to imply that she's perfect just because you built John that way, I will bite your ear off.' she thought, irritated.
But Halsey's next words changed everything:
"A perfect little girl, indeed." she repeated, nodding to herself. With a quick sigh, the good Doctor squared her shoulders again. She rubbed Cortana's arm softly with her cold fingers, in a way that felt comforting. "I wasn't the best of mothers, but I did keep you both safe for as long as I could. Now that she's born, this will be twice as hard. It's on you to be strong and make yourself heard if you want your happy ending."
"So, you're not going to interfere anymore?"
Halsey looked at her, now there was surprise in her sapphire-blue eyes:
"Interfere? Lizzie, I've been holding them back. Why do you think ONI hasn't barged into this room yet, to make their demands?"
Cortana shivered, immensely aware of the cracks in the thin ice she was standing on.
Yes, the difficult part had only just begun.
The time had come, at last. If she wanted to survive this deadly game of chess, she had to be swift, smart, plan five steps ahead and build up her defenses, tight. Gather her allies. Be fierce. Fight like her Spartan. Become a strategist. She was supposed to hold the upper hand, all the time. She had to be powerful, unstoppable.
She had to bring Cortana into the game, the fearless and audacious. The lioness.
Her face changed completely; doubt, fear and pain vanished upon command.
"I have a card up my sleeve." it was all she said.
"I'm sure you do." Halsey nodded, with a sigh. She patted the daughter's arm, half-heartedly. "Just make sure not to send him too many messages in a row these days, there will be extra attention around you. I know you must be excited, but be careful."
Cortana blinked and frowned, feeling a little cold up her spine.
"You knew. And you didn't stop me?"
"Lizzie, please, you're my daughter." Halsey scoffed. "There's no stopping you."
And they both knew she had tried. For a few more seconds, they looked at each other in the eyes, intensely; there was some sort of understanding, deep and unspoken. Between the two, the baby let go of the nipple and cooed again, angrily, nuzzling her little nose on her mother's warm skin. Cortana shifted her arm a little and proceeded to cover her swollen breast with the sterile gown.
Carefully placing one hand under her daughter's head and the other one propped on her little butt so she would be holding her from beneath, Cortana lifted the baby before her and both grandmother and mother observed her, tiny in the big bundle of fabrics.
Three generations of Halsey women seemed to be a little too much for the universe.
"Did you pick a name, already?" the good Doctor asked then, softly.
Cortana nodded, holding her head up with pride. "Yes. And it's a good, strong name."
PLANET SANGHELIOS – Urs System
SIX DAYS AFTER THE BIRTH
It took longer than expected, but John received another message.
He transferred it to the pad, for safekeeping, and had to wait until after debriefing and a shower to finally be able to check it out. A few words with an attachment. His heart raced as he hurried to tap it open.
At first and again, he had trouble deciphering the image, but once he found a point of reference everything fell in place: her smile, on the upper right corner of the frame. Cortana wasn't showing her face, just her smile, and below it, the curve of her naked breast and a bundle of blankets in her arm. It looked like she'd taken the picture with her pad, hastily. There, between the blankets, John distinguished an unfamiliar shape: a little human face, all red and wrinkled. The baby was feeding, suckling on her breast, tiny fists pressed on her mother's skin. She looked flustered.
And so small. He could probably fit her whole in one of his hands.
Text on the bottom of the image read: '09-27-2558 - Sarah Jane Halsey'.
John lowered the pad, resting it on his naked thigh. His hands were trembling.
He had fathered a baby girl.
He had a daughter named Sarah.
What to do, now? It didn't surprise him that he wouldn't know how to deal with this. It was probably the most alien experience he'd ever been through, it would take some time to assimilate the emotional response his body produced. John didn't want to reject the feeling, but to enjoy it. He wanted to stop feeling out of place whenever he experimented it.
"Aw." cooed Fred's voice, from over his shoulder. "She's got your frown."
John was quick enough to shoot an elbow into Fred's gut.
The Lieutenant just chuckled, backing off, towel hanging low on his hips.
"Come on, Chief." Linda was behind them, in her t-shirt and underwear, leaning on the doorframe of the locker room. "A little peek? That's our newborn niece right there."
John caught himself before saying the wrong thing. Linda was right: if anything, Sarah was their niece. They were excited and curious about all of it, waiting for the next message as eagerly as he was. Even Kelly, whom according to Fred didn't take it very well when she first learned about the baby, was interested.
John budged in and handed Fred the pad, so they could take a good look.
His siblings had shown more curiosity over his daughter than anyone else, so far.
Doctor Halsey had fulfilled her end of the deal, at least; the Master Chief received an official communication from SECTION-III informing him that Elizabeth Sarah Halsey had given birth to a healthy baby girl, six point five pounds in weight. That was all it said. No mention to his position as the father or congratulations, nothing. It was just a note.
It felt a lot less exciting than the picture, for sure.
UNSC INFINITY (in orbit around REACH)
EIGHT DAYS AFTER THE BIRTH
A light knock on the door of her quarters made Cortana snap her head up.
"Come in." she answered, distractedly.
Thomas Lasky entered the room, sharp and handsome in his neat uniform.
"Are you ready to leave?"
"Are you taking me home, Tom?" she smirked, a little provocatively.
He could've commanded the ship's AI to notify her, didn't have to come by himself, but seeing that blush on the Captain's cheeks was uplifting. She still had it, twelve pounds heavier and with her face rounder, her dark hair reaching her waist now. Her breasts were full and her hips, more pronounced. Cortana was used to be lighter, to fit in smaller clothes, but she didn't dislike her appearance now.
She found herself… curvier, more alluring. And Tom seemed to think alike.
He cleared his throat. "There's a Pelican ready to drop you and baby Sarah."
"You're not coming." she observed.
Tom shook his head, softly. He was Captain of the Infinity and on duty at the moment, not married to her, not the baby's father, not even a relative of theirs. Just a good friend that had helped the brand-new mother along the way, and he was very aware of it. There were a lot of things that were more confusing than they should be between them, they didn't need this to become a problem too.
"I was hoping to have a talk at my place." Cortana said, shrugging. "But I suppose we can do it now, if you have a minute."
"Sure, what is it?"
Cortana sighed deeply.
"I wanted to say thank you, for everything. That, on one hand. You've been very kind. I wouldn't be anywhere closer to get John back if you hadn't gotten Petra's contact for me. We're making progress." she looked down, uneasy. Tom knew how the case was going, she kept him updated. "But there might be some new complications. My mother's attention, for one. She's been all over me since the day Sarah was born and delegated her work to one of her assistants to come with me planet-side. If she's going to keep watch on us all the time, I won't be able to work in peace."
"I know Catherine can be harsh, but maybe she's changed..."
Cortana scoffed and frowned, absolutely in rejection of his words.
"Tom, I've been contacted by ONI as well. I'm scared." she cut him off, fast. "I didn't think it would reach this point, but… I guess it's time. I'm considering moving into Stage Three of the plan, if you're still on board."
"Oh, wow." Lasky's eyebrows shot upwards. "Stage Three, that's…"
For a long moment, they didn't say anything.
Tom was standing in the middle of the room, Cortana by her desk, upon which rested a carrier with the sleeping baby safely tucked in. He moved closer, close enough to look into the woman's eyes and see the true depth of her worry. She had explained her carefully crafted plan to him, he was aware of the requirements and the consequences; it was all the same for him, but it wouldn't be for her.
"I know." she murmured. "It's up to you, of course."
The Captain looked at the small child inside the carrier, taking a deep breath.
That was the daughter of the Master Chief. The man he owed his life to.
"Well, the upgrades are almost done. The fleet will be heading to Sol System in about sixty days..." he observed, weighing the options in his mind. "It won't be much of a hassle, I suppose."
"So…" Cortana started, hesitant. "You're okay with it?"
Tom took one step forward and laid his hands on Cortana's shoulders, tracing a gentle smile on his lips. His thumbs pressed small circles against the soft fabric of her blouse, the gesture was instinctive for him.
Their eyes met, wary sapphire-blue against warm dark-hazel.
"I am. I promised I would help. Baby Sarah has to be protected."
"Tom, I don't want you to…"
"Let's do this." he insisted. "What's one more drop to the ocean, right?"
Cortana pressed her lips into a hard line, worried, but when everything soaked through her mind, she relaxed her shoulders and answered his cheerful smile in kind.
PLANET SANGHELIOS – Urs System
TWO WEEKS AFTER THE BIRTH
"Something good has happened." the Arbiter observed, clicking his mandibles.
John turned his head around.
"Sir?" he pretended he didn't understand, of course.
"You're not mourning anymore. Your posture is different. Arrogant. Confident."
The Arbiter walked around the massive holo-table of his council room, approaching.
John tensed up instinctively, but not because he was afraid of the alien.
The summit went way better than anyone could've expected, reaching the sign of an alliance treaty with the Swords of Sanghelios after four days of talks and negotiation. Jul 'Mdama didn't take the bait and as a result, there were no casualties; relations between the parties had improved overnight. The rest of Blue Team didn't have to leave the planet yet, under Commander Palmer's request; their presence was a boost for morale and extra skilled hands were always very welcome. Cortana's latest message indicated that she was in a safe location with their daughter, that both were healthy.
Yes, he'd been in quite the good mood lately. John considered it all a big win.
The Master Chief followed Thel closely, at least the Arbiter had the good measure to not stand so close to him.
"Are you going to tell me what the good news are, Spartan?"
He took a deep, slow breath, considering whether to speak or not.
Was it wise to keep revealing sensitive -personal- information to this creature?
"My progeny." John ended up saying, in a soft growl.
The Arbiter intertwined his long fingers together, expectant.
"It has been born, I figure."
"Yes."
"Good news, indeed. I am intrigued."
"About what?" John tilted his head down, inquisitive.
"What it looks like, naturally. I've never seen human offspring just born."
The Master Chief hesitated. If he didn't want to, he didn't have to.
It could be dangerous, he knew he should be careful.
But there was something like a debt of honor; Thel 'Vadam was sincerely interested.
"I have one image."
Thel looked surprised. "Oh. Well, I'm pleased to hear that."
Checking that nobody was looking at them, John plucked out the cracked pad from his forearm, tapped it open, spent the good part of a minute diving through the file system to find something. Then, he handed the device to the alien. The Sangheili picked it and flipped it over, suspicious, and was greeted by a confusing image: a little blurry, one of the corners had been purposefully scribbled over with sloppy black traces. Squinting, rotating the pad over its center to find the best perspective to understand it, the alien gasped something that resembled a laugh and clicked his mandibles.
"Ah, yes." he said, tapping a certain part of the picture with one of his long claws. "The frown. It is your progeny, indeed."
John scowled. Why everyone kept pointing out the frown?
The Arbiter nodded slowly, pensive: "Does it have a sex, or it hasn't shown yet?"
"It's a female." John answered, a little bit of pride slipped in his voice.
"Does it have a name?"
"Sarah Jane."
"Hm. Congratulations, Spartan. May your progeny be strong and swift like yourself."
"… thank you, Arbiter."
The alien growled, clicking his mandibles with excitement.
He kept staring at the picture, perhaps amused or perhaps captivated. He struggled to resize the image -his claws were too long to properly handle the touchscreen- and centered it on the child's red and angry face.
"This one will be quite fierce." he prophesized. He continued to inspect the image on close-up. "Did you scratch over your mate's mammary glands like that? I assume those are her mammary glands, you humans seem to have them located on your chest." Thel pointed at the blackened areas.
John's reply was sharp: "Focus on the baby."
The Arbiter growled another laugh. The golden armor resonated like a sack of coins.
"I'd say it's very pretty but I'm not sure if it's appropriate."
"She's perfect." the proud father clarified.
"Perfect is a much more appropriate epithet, you are right." Thel hummed, moving his mandibles slowly. He returned the pad to the Master Chief, holding it with both hands as if it were a treasure. "I assume you will be leaving us, now? To bestow blessing upon your newborn offspring and present her to your leaders, right?"
John caught the pad and froze, instead of pulling it back towards him.
The Arbiter twisted his head to the side, his small golden eyes full of curiosity.
"No. I'm not allowed."
"What do you mean, you're not allowed?"
The truth is, John knew he couldn't request leave being in the middle of an assignment. He had never requested a leave before, true, but he thought the birth of a child was a motive with enough justification and tried anyway. He had the official communication to back up his claim, although neither his name nor service number were listed in the document and he wasn't acknowledged as a related party in any way.
The request, of course, had been denied. He suspected it wasn't just because they were in the middle of an assignment.
"It's classified."
The alien's voice dropped an octave, turning rougher and deeper:
"Who does not allow?" he growled, angrily.
John didn't respond, this time.
He just shifted his position slightly, breaking apart from the Arbiter. The Master Chief genuinely believed that it was an effective way to end a conversation. Turns out, it wasn't. At least, not for the Sangheili. Thel 'Vadam bristled, all the articulated plates of his golden armor rippled through his body in response to the reactions of the muscle underneath.
"This is an insult. Beyond an insult! A blood brother, forbidden to see his offspring!"
"She's safe." John reassured him, quickly. "That's all that matters."
They were both safe.
At least, that's what he hoped for.
x.x.x.x.x
ALEXANDRIA 2, PLANET REACH – Epsilon Eridani System
FORTY-TWO DAYS AFTER THE BIRTH
"It's just a blood sample, Miss Halsey." the woman in uniform said, with a little smile.
Cortana's cold stare pierced her through, like a hunting knife.
Lasky shifted on his feet, standing with his back against the wall; they had allowed him entrance for some reason. Safe in her mother's hold, Sarah's clear eyes were wide open and filled with fear, the unknown people scared her. A male lab technician brought the needle closer to her chubby arm, which Cortana herself held for him.
A second later, the needle was inside the flesh and drawing blood.
Her daughter's cries resonated through the white, sterile room. Little Sarah squirmed in her arms, her high-pitched screams were loud enough to pierce the ears. Cortana closed her eyes and held the baby closer, kissed her head softly to distract her from the pain. The child kept crying until her little face was red, long after the technician took away the syringe.
"Good girl." the woman nodded, hands clasped behind. "She's a fiery one."
'Wouldn't you know?' Cortana thought, gifting her with a spiteful look. 'Her father is one of your siblings, after all.'
The following weeks after Sarah's birth were hectic. Not just because she was a first-time mother with fear of her own inexperience, but also because after months upon months of not showing their ugly faces -but not ignoring her-, ONI had finally decided to say hi. Their offer was suspicious, to say the least, and it even surprised her that they were willing to negotiate at all: the Office of Naval Intelligence would steer clear of her way in exchange of a sample of her daughter's blood, her prints and a non-invasive full-body scan. It was all bullshit, for sure; ONI wouldn't just stop following her, spying on her. Trying to get to her daughter. They would never take the knife out of her gut as long as she was the mother of a child sired by a SPARTAN-II.
On the other hand, not complying could've been far, far worse.
Unless… no. Not yet. The time would come.
Catherine Halsey had been ominous and quite clear: ONI wouldn't let it rest. It was all leverage and politics; in some twisted way, John was considered as UNSC property and by extension, they could say the child was their property as well. If she wasn't strong enough, these people could take her baby girl away and make an experiment out of her. Nobody had ever laid their eyes on the biological offspring of a Spartan, never existed one before. Not due to lack of trying, apparently, but to lack of compassion. Cortana tried to remain stoic, hugging her daughter and rubbing her back until Sarah calmed down and stopped crying.
The technician transferred the blood into several vials, inside a small case.
The scans of her body and prints had been already completed. This was the last part.
"Admiral Osman…" the young mother started.
"Don't worry, Miss Halsey. I appreciate your cooperation."
The tall, dark-haired woman stared at the baby with a strange expression.
What exactly was she looking at? Had she never seen a baby before?
Was she measuring how much the little girl resembled her father, by any chance?
Cortana had done so, many times. She used to bring Sarah to her bed to feed her in the middle of the night, the lamp above her bed's headboard bathed in light a round face with pouty lips and a soft little nose, a splash of dirty blonde hair atop her head. Her eyes were gray-colored, not fully developed yet. The more she looked at that pretty chubby face, the more she saw her father in the shape of the brow and the nose.
"She is truly beautiful. You must be proud."
"I am." Cortana bit back, rising her chin. "And I'm sure her father would be very proud too. If he were here, I mean."
Osman's face hardened. She eyed Lasky for less than a second, and later she smiled. A myriad of small wrinkles settled on the corners of her eyes.
"If he were here, indeed." the Admiral said, her tone was cold despite the grin.
Cortana wanted to yank her daughter away from these people, right now. To get back home on the double, fill the bathtub with warm water and scrub herself and little Sarah thoroughly, until the smell of hyena was gone.
The technician ended his tinkering and nodded at the Admiral.
Sarah's big clear eyes were staring back at this person, over six feet tall, olive-skinned and well groomed. She looked the part of an Admiral, alright, it wasn't just the uniform and the resting-bitch face. It was something in her predatory gaze, too, that made one freeze and pay attention to her. Even the baby sensed it. The woman extended her significantly larger hand with a nonchalance that made Cortana so incredibly irritated.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Halsey." Osman addressed her with her chin held high, awaiting a response to her cordial greeting. "And your daughter, of course. Don't be a stranger; after all… we're like family, in a way."
Cortana bit her lip and despite herself, shook the Admiral's hand.
The woman's large fingers closed around hers, for a second there Cortana feared that her fragile bones would be crushed under Osman's Spartan-like strength. But Serin Osman hadn't undergone most of the SPARTAN-II documented augmentations, she didn't make it all the way through and had been washed out of the program. It was still truly remarkable that she made it all the way to Admiral, nothing to be taken lightly.
Sarah still sniffled, but she wasn't crying anymore.
Then it was Tom's turn to greet -if reluctantly- his superior officer; he saluted first and then he extended his left hand for Osman to shake. The unconventionality made Osman hesitate at first, but she replied the appropriate way.
The door opened for the couple to leave that claustrophobic room. Upon stepping into the corridor, Cortana and Tom were met by military policemen, all of them armed. Without another word or look from her part, the Admiral exited behind them and turned to leave down the opposite way, followed by the technician that carried the samples and a few of her minions in black ONI uniforms.
Cortana watched the tall woman's back until she disappeared turning on a corner.
'We'll see each other again.' she thought, confident. 'Next time, I'll do the teasing.'
They walked together escorted by the MPs to the lobby, trying to ignore the looks they were drawing from other ONI operatives in the area. Tom huddled closer to her, looking his part as Cortana's partner.
"Tom?" she whispered, angry. "Do you understand what I meant, now?"
"I do." he answered, with a hand protectively sitting on the small of her back.
"How does Stage Four sound for you? Three is not enough anymore."
"I'm starting to warm up to it, all things considered. I'll be leaving soon, anyway."
"Good. I'll make the arrangements." Cortana nodded.
She rummaged inside her big backpack and pulled out a small fishermen's cap, yellow in color, that she put on her baby girl's head before exiting the building.
TO BE CONTINUED
IT'S A GIRL! CONGRATS, MARINES! We're all uncles and aunts now. ALSO, LONGEST CHAPTER YET! I cried a lot writing that conversation between John and Halsey. Yes, my take on Halsey is a bit bitchy in this one, but she does love him like a son. And there we have John, a bundle of clogged emotions and showing off his little girl to everyone, it's so fucking cute, poor thing… also, what's going on between Cortana and Lasky, now? Many secret plans. Hmmm. Now we have some comments for the non-logged users:
New face here, 2LAZY2LOGIN I get the feeling I know you, but still, you're right in everything you're saying. Lasky is quite the character and I'll make sure that he stays a cinnamon roll. Thank you for stopping by!
Dear FROG31791, thank you for sticking around! The support is appreciated!
And now for the beloved LIZZY OF DUNWICH, yeah, I did get you there, didn't I? LOL unfortunately for us both, it's not as much as a scheme as it is a circus act, but I do think Lasky is a proper ally for the lovebirds. He will be there for Cortana when John can't, and give her the tools to help bring her Spartan back. I think it was in Spartan Ops that he kind of went under the table with Osman, I remember Palmer saying something like "I won't see you court-martialed over that woman" or similar, referring to Halsey. I ABSOLUTELY love Tom with Palmer, they make such a power-couple LOL I'm not sure I'll have the proper time to develop them as a couple indeed but I'll make sure to give the characters some good closure, that I can promise. Next episode will be BIG in events, so make sure you don't miss it! Thanks for the support!
Well, strap on, my lovelies, because if this chapter was INTENSE, next chapter is going to be VERY HARD. Final push before the moment of truth, stay tuned and let's see how it goes! Please, consider leaving your thoughts for the mother and baby in the box below! The dad will appreciate them too :D