Quite a few flashbacks in this one.
Maria is grinning as soon as he reaches command and Jasper doesn't think it has to do with the fact that he left his shirt in his room.
Some itinerary list is open in front of her, and Maria jabs at it with her thumb.
"What's this? 'Foreign vessel'?" Maria asks, though it's obvious she has an idea.
Jasper was hoping against hope she wouldn't look so closely. "... It's Ruby," he admits.
Maria jumps to her feet with a wide grin. "Now this will be a real reunion!"
"Happy? Really — just 'Happy'?" Maria asks him, her confused frown bordering on disgust. Jasper feels shame well up in him, but fights it down. Not shame — embarrassment. But it wasn't embarrassing how Happy had made Alice so … happy.
"We can name her anything you want," Jasper told her, watching as she picked out new, plushier seats for the cockpit. Comfort over combat, now.
Alice nodded, having expected nothing less, and petted the floor. "You're happy."
"Well, Ruby Dagger — Happiness," Jasper tested it out and smiled. "I like it."
Alice shook her head, not looking up from the upholstery swatches. "No, just Happy."
Jasper looks Maria dead in the eye.
"Yeah, just Happy."
His proud defiance is lost on her, in fact she barely seems to be listening to him. Jasper watches as Maria circles the cruiser curiously, taking stock of all the changes. When she had last seen her — as Ruby Dagger — she was Jasper's first 'Big Shit' ship. Not some tin-can with a blaster bigger than the cabin. He had a bunk in there, even non-essential storage. The height of luxury in shit parts of the galaxy, and pretty shit everywhere else. He was nineteen when he bought her, and her tacky name was a testament to his bloated pride in her.
Maria had had a hand in everything about Ruby Dagger — the price, the shipyard, the spare parts, the shade of red, the weapons. She devised the tiny hidey-hole for a single last-resort knife herself.
Now, Happy was sweet and little — like Alice. New hull, new paint, a double bed, a hotplate. It had been a tight squeeze for two, even though Alice never took up much room. Hunting down the USS Midas had been the longest Jasper had spent that close to someone. Every time he looked at her now, he remembers how often he half-wished they'd never find them. Couldn't believe his life could get any better than Alice and Happy.
Maria strokes a hand down the neon-yellow finish and its glitter sheen with deep regret. "Poor bitch — look what he's done to you," she murmurs mournfully. She looks at Jasper with nothing but annoyance. "Well, so much for that reunion."
Jasper could have laughed at how absurdly happy thwarting Maria in this stupid little way made him feel. She's always living up to her name — Jasper gives his poor bitch a wink as he follows Maria back to command.
"He's castrated her!" Maria declares as she takes the Captain's chair. Nettie tuts, shaking her head with disappointment.
"For shame, Walker," she scolds him, and Jasper doesn't reply. He's beginning to become offended.
"A pearl finish now, proper comms array like he wants to be found!" Maria continues accusingly, and Jasper feels any enjoyment at her peevishness dry up.
Lucy shudders with disgust. "Pearls."
Maria flicks one of her hands, as though physically shaking off her annoyance, her knife slotting back into her palm with practised ease. As she settles back down, flicking and spinning her knife lazily in her fingers, for a moment Jasper can see the potential past she had.
Maria sat ram-rod straight in the chair, short but never miniscule. Maria had never been a bad leader, he never regretted following her. She taught him how to survive. He understands how she could claw her way up a military hierarchy. But he knew her, he knew why she'd washed out — dishonourable discharge. Her need for control trumped her discipline, everytime. But that didn't mean she wasn't disciplined, it only spoke of how huge her demand for control really was.
"Could've called me first," Jasper tells her. "I would've taken Happy, or Ruby, and met you where you needed me."
Maria grins, looks him in the eye. "Not if wifey had a thing to say about it," she shoots back.
Jasper never got away with lying to her, so he doesn't reply to that. Thing was — Maria knew him too. Or she used to, and it's too easy to see just how much he had changed.
"Don't think I'm made useless to you now?"
Maria's head whips back forward. "Oh, I do," she confirmed without hesitation. Jasper tried not to show it, but it still hurt. Somewhere in him was the fifteen-year-old stow-away, petty pilferer that saw the ex-soldier with stars in his eyes. "I wouldn't have come unless I was serious."
Jasper feels the shift, and ignores the creeping burn along his back. "What happened?"
"I miscalculated," she spits it out, and Jasper feels fear chap his shirt against his shoulders, making his nerves raw. "Lost more cubic miles than I ever have. Lucy's some of the best, you know it. But the tech's old and there's only so much she can do."
"... So you needed new tech," Jasper watches as she inclines her head. "You've gone pirate for yourself before."
"Exactly that," Maria says, and the grin is sharp on her face again. "And what better ship to take than one you're on, Walker?" she simpers as she says it, and then all expression is wiped from her face and Jasper knows he won't get anything else from her.
Maria glances at the itinerary screen and scowls again. "Oh — fuck off, Walker," Maria gripes at him, and Jasper turns to leave. "Fucking happy," she mutters, and it makes it harder for Jasper to differentiate the shame from embarrassment.
Alice is asleep by the time he enters their room. She wears nothing but the shirt he'd stripped off and when he eases himself into bed she immediately curls into his shoulder. He doesn't need to check if he woke her up because that was just her reflexes.
Jasper hadn't bothered asking how Maria found them — there were simply too many ways. The USS Midas was by no means a spy mission — Emmett charged his drinking tab to the ship when they were in port. Rosalie had new parts sent to them by courrier. Esme kept everything transparent and honest.
An honest ship, for an honest crew.
Alice and Jasper sat at the circular table, separated and put in the spotlight solely because Edward edged away from Alice sitting next to him, and Emmett had swung his chair to blatantly stare straight at Jasper.
"Bro, the scars?" he prompted, dragging his fingers down his own cheek.
Jasper blinked calmly as his mind raced for what to say. No one ever asked about them — under Maria he frequented only the same violent places that ensured his scars were no rarity. With Alice — he never needed to. She also liked buying him big Stetsons so he wouldn't feel gawked at.
"Which one?" he shot back, and Emmett only gave a surprised easy chuckle and glanced over to where Edward was trying to subtly shake his head.
"Okay, this meeting's minutes will be taken by our Captain," the physician, Dr Cullen, explained, mentioning to the plump woman Jasper had earlier mistaken for the Steward. "She has the nicest handwriting," Carlisle said in a gentle, amused whisper aimed straight at Alice and Jasper.
Jasper didn't know how to react to that — he also didn't know how to react when she pulled out a pen, of all things. He hadn't seen one of those since he was under ten years old, they were barely in vogue back on Earth.
Alice, though, nodded largely. "J. R.'s handwriting is really good too!" she told them cheerfully. J. R. He had made her promise not to give them his first name.
"Very nice," Carlisle said, and the genuine banality made Jasper want to trust him.
The response that some of Alice's comments garnered had caused Jasper to start — and win — many bar fights. Her eccentricities were obvious, but Jasper wasn't above using force to ensure she was given the respect he knew she deserved.
"I'll lead this meeting. We have a few people here with concerns about our newest hires," he said clearly, for the benefit of the minutes, as Esme scribbled dutifully. "Engineer Masen, please say your piece."
The lanky redhead puffed up like a disgruntled hen at the mention of his name. "I don't see why we are ignoring the fact that they warped right in front of us, of all places, and knew who we were!" he declared. His anger Jasper found hard to take seriously — his words smothered under a heavy mid-western accent.
Carlisle nodded consideringly as he said, "Alice has explained that she's able to garner—
"She told us she was experimented on while in cryo-sleep," Hale said, arms tightly crossed. She was one Jasper took quite a bit more seriously. Pretty blondes didn't become head engineers easily. "That she woke up in an abandoned laboratory and now … she's here and she knows everything," she said this with a heavy frown.
Jasper glanced at Alice, who grinned at him with a shrug. He specifically told her not to mention her background to the crew. So she switched up a few details and made the redacted version arguably worse. It sounded crazy, hell, if he wasn't so glutted with love for her he'd have the exact same suspicious look on his face.
Alice waved a hand at the crew. "Not everything — just a lot of things," she assured them.
"I don't see why we just take them at their word," Edward barged on, glaring openly at Jasper. "I wouldn't be surprised if he brought a whole heap of shit to our door-"
"If you have a problem with me, sir," Jasper cut in, getting to his feet as the other man physically flinched at the pure contempt that dripped from the last word, "it would be my pleasure to take this up with you privately." His smile was sharp and mean.
The man blinked at him, shock registering on his face. "Um, no? That's the whole point of this meeting? I don't trust you one iota?" the man prompted, looking at Jasper like he was crazy.
Jasper flicked a glance at the rest of the crew and saw parallel hesitance on their faces. They were surprised at him — not intimidated. He felt off-kilter, especially seeing their Captain, fluffy pink pen in hand, nod once, encouragingly, at him. Like he was the spitting feral cat, like he needed kid gloves.
For a moment, he felt a little lost, and when Carlisle calmly invited him to sit down again, he did so, not looking at Alice as her little hands reached over to rub his back.
"It is worrying that a foreign ship with no connections to us managed to find our exact coordinates," Ms Platt agreed, scribbling quickly. "Let's turn our biggest weakness into a strength!" he brandishes the fluffy pen in the air like a cheer. "J. R., I'm sure you'll make a fine watchman. We'll be happy to hear any security recommendations you have."
Jasper was still digesting the information as he nodded. "Be an honour, sir," he told her, more than a little shocked at the immediate promotion. Alice clapped her hands twice, looking pleased and satisfied.
"Now," she began seriously, "I'd like to bring another order of business to the table?" Alice looks to Carlisle, her brows raised for confirmation. He gives a nod, looking slightly surprised.
"Room assignments. I'm afraid the quarters Jasper and I were given just won't do, I'm so sorry, really," she sighed a little, and gestured between herself and Jasper. "It's just a teeny bit too small for two people."
Engineer Masen immediately said; "One and a half."
As Emmett boomed a laugh, Jasper tried not to show any expression on his face. He wanted the best for her always, but they had arrived yesterday and this seemed to be pushing hospitality. Plus what Edward had said was quite funny and Alice wouldn't forgive him if he laughed.
"Thank you, Edward!" Alice said with a wide smile, her hands clasped at her throat. "We would be so glad to switch with you. J. R. has back problems, you understand," she said graciously. Jasper glanced around the table. Engineer Hale braided her own hair, Carlisle quietly took a sip of his tea while he pinched one completed-but-not-yet-tied braid for her. Esme seemed to be … doodling? When Jasper glanced at Emmett, the man made eager eye-contact with him; he'd been watching them like an avid tennis fan. The big man grinned and Jasper found himself easily able to smirk back at him.
Edward shook his head, though he seemed mostly amused. "I don't think so."
"I do," Alice assured him as she leant her little body over and smiled in his face. "Play a game of checkers for it, too."
Engineer Masen watched Alice's bright grin for several long moments, and neither of them moved.
Finally, the man rolled his eyes and slumped backwards. "... Fine. But not for free," Masen turned to Esme and said urgently; "Captain, please note in the minutes an 'IOU' — I will be cashing in."