Part three – Heartfelt moment

I was sitting up on his bed, doing up the string on the side of my underwear, a smile on my lips as the Commander asks from behind me, "Are you sure you need to go?"

I look over my shoulder and take in the sight of him lying on his side, still in the nude as I say, "Yeah, my sisters haven't really seen me in a couple of days and I know Monty will be ready to kick down your door at any moment looking for me."

He laughs and flops onto his back as he says, "Well, at least I know I'd go with a smile on my face then."

Once I finish with the knot I turn and lean across him to kiss him again before I ask, "So I guess us being friends is out the window now."

He pulls me down and on top of him, his hands sliding down to my stern as he says, "I think that was ruined yesterday morning."

I push myself up to be straddling him with my hands pressing down on his chest while I look around for my top and say, "Yeah, but I think this made it worth it." I bit my lower lip, I wanted to say something else, but when I spotted my top I got off of him and went over to it and started to put it on as I asked, "So, what are we now?"

Please don't say night raid buddies.

He's quiet for a moment or two before he says, "I'm not sure."

Ugh! That's worse!

I'm stunned as I look at him and zip up my top before I snap, "Well, figure that out! I'm not just going to be a torpedo target for you!"

I move around the room collecting up my stuff before I head to the door and slam it closed behind me.

Jerk.

I start my walk home and look up at the stars as I smile up at them, thinking about what I just did and how it had felt really, really good, too bad he ruined it. I mean tonight was the night, that I felt like I was more than just his friend. I felt like I was finally getting all the benefits that everyone thought I was getting already.

I put my arms up behind my head as I walk back to my quarters; I'm halfway there when I see Brooklyn checking her phone with some take-out in one hand. When she looks up and sees me and my stupid smile she asks, "So? Did you two talk?"

My cheeks went bright red. We didn't do a lot of talking, we mostly played hide the torpedo.

Her head tilts to the side and a smirk came to her face as she said, "Didn't do a lot of talking huh? So why are you out here?"

I sigh as how things ended comes to mind before I tell her how things didn't end well. She sighs and shakes her head before saying to me, "Humans have a saying, 'why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free.'"

I blink a couple of times as I say to her, "I don't get it."

She laughs and puts an arm on my shoulder as she says, "You gave it up right?" I nod and she continues, "So he got what he wanted, did you get what you wanted?"

My brow knits together for a moment; I got the affection I wanted, sort of. Nothing was said, but I was left feeling good after, at least till I tried to talk to him about it after. I sigh and say to her, "Not really. I got almost what I wanted. I want something defined that is more than friends."

"So make him buy the cow if he wants the milk." She says to me.

It takes me a second before I slowly nod in understanding and ask, "You're saying that if he wants more, I should make him commit?"

She taps the end of my nose a couple of times. I let my hands down and fidget with the hem of my skirt as I ask her, "Did it feel good for you with your old commander?"

She gives me a sad smile as she says, "Christian was wonderful, tender, and sweet every time. I miss him, a lot actually."

I bump my hip against hers as I say, "So call him, or look him up on Juustagram."

She sighs and looks down before bringing up her phone and showing me a Juustagram profile of a young man with platinum blond hair and grey eyes with his arms around the waist of a redhead with rust-red eyes and she said, "I did look him up, he's moved on."

"Aww geez, sorry about that Brooklyn." I say to her and rub the back of my head.

She shakes her head and puts her phone away as she says to me, "I made my choice about this years ago. If anything I'm happy for him, I follow him on there, he seems really happy with Zara."

The two of us kept walking towards the dorms for a while before she offered out, "I'll kick his butt tomorrow about letting you leave like that."

I lean over and hug her as I say, "Thanks, Brook!"

XXXX

Once I was up in my quarters, I counted the shoes by the door, all of my sisters were here right now, this was confirmed as I heard another moving playing. I adjust my skirt a little and poke my head in to see Columbia, Denver, and Monty all sitting on the couch. Columbia twists and looks over her shoulder to see me before making a subtle nod and eye movement towards my room, I give her a nod and quietly make my way there.

A second after I slip in, Columbia follows me in and asks, "Where ya been?"

I have my back to her so I can keep the redness of my cheeks to myself while I take off my underwear and toss them over to the laundry pile before slipping on some fresh ones and say to her, "I saw the Commander."

"Yeah? Oh! How did it go on Sunday morning?" she asks me, moving to belly flop onto my bed.

I sigh and fill her in on everything, and I mean everything, when I'm done she looks at me, a scowl on her face as she says, "And he just let you leave?"

I nod and start getting into a tank top to sleep in as I say to her, "Brooklyn said I should make him buy the cow if he wants more milk."

She rolls onto her back and says, "I would've made him do that before getting the milk."

I flop down on my back beside her as I sigh out, "Yeah, but that was the last thing on my mind beforehand. I was more worried about trying to make my first time good for him."

"That's all well and good, but how was it for you?" she asks me.

I run my hands up and down my belly as I say to her, "Good, really good. I want more, but I want more."

Columbia nods and says, "Well, let's not tell Monty until we have to, otherwise we'll be needing a new base Commander."

I laugh as I tell her, "Agreed."

XXXX

XXXX

I was surprised that a few days had gone by and I hadn't heard from the Commander, I mean I know that Brooklyn said she was going to kick his butt for how things ended. Still, I thought for sure I would've heard from him by now. I sigh inwardly I kind of want to poke him to see how he's doing, but I've got to stick to my guns, but how long can I wait around?

I drop my phone beside me on my bed and roll over to look out the window. I know why I want to hear so badly from him about what we are now, it's because I just had to go and say something in the heat of the moment. I had told him that I loved him, I mean there is no denying it at this point, but it'd hurt when he didn't say it back right away, then again I think he was focused on something else at that moment.

As I lay there looking out at the stars, my phone gets a message from the Commander, asking me to meet him at the gym again. I sigh and roll out of bed, making sure to put on shorts this time, tight ones that'll be a pain in the stern to take off, just to try and slow myself down if I get sucked into another boarding action.

XXXX

When I get there, I see him sitting on the bench again, looking just as good as ever. He notices me almost right away and smiles at me and my mind is filled with images of the last night we were together, the last time we were here. I move to take a seat beside him and brush some hair behind an ear as I ask, "So, I'm here, are you ready to answer me?"

He's quiet for a moment, great he's only called me out here to try and get his torpedo wet.

We sit in silence for a few moments longer before I stand up and sigh out, "Look, just be upfront with me. If you're not feeling the same, then just tell me and we can move on."

Again he's not saying anything; I turn and start to walk away. I can feel the tears starting to build, but I feel him take my hand and he says, "I love you. I was blind to it, and it took others opening my eyes to it, but I've been in love with you for a long time."

I stop walking, this was what I wanted to hear right?

I take a second to center myself and I ask, "Then what are you going to do about it?"

"Make it official." He says.

I turn slightly to see over my shoulder, I see him as he gets down on one knee and he has a ring box in his other hand as he continues, "Your sister Columbia was right, I think without knowing it I'd been acting like we were married. You were always there for me, always the one for me Cleve. So, let's make it official."

I let go of his hand and run into him, knocking him over as I snuggle into him and say, "Took you long enough." After a heartbeat, I look up at his face and I ask, "I hope you've got enough bed space."

He looks puzzled for a moment and asks, "Are you late or something?"

I blink a few times it takes a second for it to sink in, the other part of Vestal's class about how humans and kansen were… compatible, and then I recall that we didn't use contraceptives that night. I shake my head slowly from side to side as I say, "No? At least I don't think I am. I mean I wouldn't know for at least another week. But I was talking about my sisters, I'm not leaving them on their own."

He sighs and laughs out, "Monty is going to kill me."

I laugh and put my nose into his chest before taking a deep breath as I say, "I'll talk to her."

"Please do." He almost begs me.

I look to my left and see the ring box on the ground, so I reach for it and open it to slip the ring on my left ring fingers as I say to him, "Yes. Let's make this official."

XXXX

XXXX

A/N: Thanks to everyone that was along for this ride. I know it was short, but it told the story I wanted to tell. Now, please sit back and await my next project, which is spawned off of two shorts I did for u/CaptainMattiasTorres on the subreddit series A Mother like No other, with my run with it being labeled "The Italian Vacation".