He looked up from his desk, raising his arm. "Here!"
The mail officer rolled his cart over and handed him a small box with his name and base location on it. It was from Christine. Inside was a data crystal. He placed it in the viewer, not noticing he was holding his breath.
"Hi Marcus. God I miss you, I hope you're still talking to me. You never mail me anymore since you got drafted. You must be really busy defending all of us back here," she said on the screen. Marcus wasn't sure himself. "I've got news, I hope you can be happy for me, Ben asked me to marry him."
"Well, that's enough of that," Marcus said popping out the crystal and tucking it in his pocket. This he would have to take in small doses with lots of alcohol.
"Dear John Letter?" Neil asked leaning in. Neil Kendall was a skinny kid from Canada. And about as close a friend as Marcus had in EF. He was the same age and sat next to him in Intel Ops. Together they were in charge of maintaining an up to date Minbari Culture intelligence database. It was boring work and Neil was the chatty sort.
"No. We had a Dear John Conference a year ago, complete with posters and descriptive diagrams," Marcus grumbled.
"Were you with her long?"
"Only about ten years." Seeing the right look on Neil's face as he tried to do the math, he continued, "We grew up together."
"Aw, that's sweet," Neil cooed. "Childhood sweethearts."
"Shut up, Neil," Marcus snapped, getting back to work.
Twenty minutes later Neil tapped his shoulder. "So what happened?"
"What?"
"With the girl."
Marcus sighed. "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"No. What happened?"
Seeing there was no way past Neil's obnoxious nosiness. "When I finally came to join her there last year she'd met BEN. I went there a semester then I got drafted. And here I am. Lovely Downtown Io."
"Did you kick his ass?"
He rolled his eyes, "No, I happened to like him a lot, as luck had it. Real nice fellow. I wished her all the best and made a speedy departure."
"Man, that sucks."
"Thanks for reiterating that point, Neil," Marcus smiled sarcastically.
"You gonna go to the wedding?"
Marcus looked around the Special Ops office, then at Neil. "No. I think I'm going to be a bit busy, with the war and all."
"Oh yeah," he said. "You should at least send a card."
Marcus nodded, "I'll get right on that." He rolled his eyes, then mumbled under his breath, "When pigs fly."
"Cole! Kendall! You boys got a problem deciphering that Minbari Warrior Caste book of procedures?" the Executive Officer barked from across the room.
"No sir," Marcus said giving Neil a scolding glance and turned back to his screen. When the Commander turned away, Marcus reached out a hand ad slapped Neil on the back of the head without even removing his eyes from his work.
"Okay, what's up?" Ivanova rumbled, tossing down her sandwich at the Zocolo restaurant where she and the Ranger were having lunch.
"Excuse me?" he said, looking away from the crowd.
"You're not even paying attention to a word I'm saying. Which is even worse than normal when you hear only what you want to."
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, it's nothing, nothing," he said turning to face her completely, away from Christine buying lunch a few feet away. He wouldn't have agreed to have lunch here if he'd known she'd stop by. He didn't have it all planned as to what, if anything, he'd do. He tried his best not to watch her and stay out of her line of sight.
"Listen, if you have work to do don't let me hold you back," she said with a total absence of malice or sarcasam. She normally was terse for not paying complete attention. "We can do this later."
"Nonsense. Nonsense. Let's get back to the Centauri jumping boundary lines-"
"That was ten minutes ago," Ivanova scowled mockingly, crossing her arms.
He grimaced, biting his lip. "Drazi running guns to Mars?"
She shook her head, with a hint of a smile. In recent months they'd grown in their working relationship. She had grown more casual and obviously more comfortable with his constant presence, and in other ways more on guard. He didn't quite know how to define it really.
"I'll shut up now," the Ranger said, looking down at his hands. "If you wouldn't mind…Susan," he motioned for her to rewind the conversation and restart what she'd been saying.
Just then Christine turned with a look of recognition over her shoulder. Marcus looked away trying to disappear as she set her tray down a table away and approached the pair gape-jawed, walking in slow cautious steps.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, barely glancing at Ivanova, then back at Marcus, eyes wide. "I'm sorry, I heard you talking from over there, and I could swear you sound like I used to -"
Marcus smiled uneasily, glancing from Susan to Chris, then stood slowly, he was sure the women could hear him swallow back his discomfort "Hello Christine," he acknowledged uncomfortably, forcing on a smile.
"Know-" she finished her sentence, her eyes widened, and she let out a sudden exhale that sounded like she'd been punched in the stomach. She put one hand to her chest, the other over her open mouth. Ivanova looked at her like the woman was crazy.
Marcus froze in place. She just looked at him, examining his face for a few moments despondently. Then Christine grabbed him, and kissed him in a desperate crazed frenzy, lips pressed hard to his shocked own, her hands pulled at the material at his shoulders.
She finally whispered in a choked gasp, "It is you! You're alive, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!!" She threw her arms around him, gripping him tightly to her, tears running down her face.
Marcus looked to Susan and tried in a look to pull on a confident smile like this was all just part of the job. Ivanova didn't look convinced.