A/N: So, it's been a while... Things have been crazy lately amirite :S
Dying for the second time since arriving in Andromeda had given Sara a little perspective. Life was short. A third death might be slightly more permanent (or perhaps she might prove to be indestructible. Wouldn't that be a turn of events? Sara Ryder, human Pathfinder, superhero) and she didn't want to go with Regrets. Regrets that involved sneaking around her ship to avoid her problems. Problems with Scottish accents and names such as 'Science Officer' and 'Suvi Anwar'. It occurred to her that this was perhaps not the sort of perspective Lexi, who was growing increasingly frustrated with Sara's recklessness, would have hoped Sara to find after her ordeal on the Archon's flagship, a thought that brought a smile to her lips. No. If Sara was to die tomorrow, she knew she would regret creeping around like a fool trying to avoid Suvi in an attempt to ignore the way that accent and those eyes and that…everything made her feel. She had decided to embrace her feelings (or more... Tolerate them. At arms' length.) in the hope that would give her some semblance of control over herself. Besides, crushing on her Science Officer wasn't the travesty she had thought it would be. It wasn't as if she intended to do anything about it, she couldn't afford the distraction it would bring. She might as well enjoy the warm fuzzies she received from being in the same room as the redhead while waiting for those feelings to dissipate.
"I am a disaster," Sara muttered, pushing her chair back from her desk and getting to her feet. She had been going through her messages at her personal terminal for what felt like years but was probably closer to an hour or two when mention of the Tempest's resident Science Officer had broken her concentration (although if she was honest her concentration had already been suffering greatly from the sheer boredom of dealing with messages about meetings and supplies and that one email from Tann she had been avoiding…). Her eyes felt itchy and her neck was stiff from spending so long hunched over her desk, staring at a glowing screen. She laced her fingers behind her head and arched her back, stretching out her spine and sighing contentedly as she felt several satisfying pops between her shoulder blades. What she needed was a break. She let her arms drop, snatching her headphones from her desk and pulling them onto her head as she left her quarters. She tapped a finger against her omni-tool and loud rock music immediately blocked out any other sound, blaring through her headphones. Sara grinned as she climbed the ladder outside her room to the corridor above, humming along to the music, a pleasing distraction from the more tedious duties of a Pathfinder. The Tempest was empty, the crew all ashore in Kadara Port, most likely getting up to no good in Kralla's Song. Lexi would stop them from causing too much chaos. Hopefully.
Sara entered the wide open tech suite and danced her way up the ramp to the vidcon above, grabbing the railing to swing herself up the final few feet. Her boots hit the floor with a loud thud, and she spun round, preparing to continue her one-woman-rave but instead found herself skidding to a halt when she locked eyes with a very surprised redhead.
"Suvi, hi!" Sara announced loudly, unable to stop the sloped grin spreading over her face, the pleasant warmth in her chest.
Suvi gave an amused smile and dropped her datapad onto the sofa beside herself, then lifted her hands to mime pulling headphones off.
"Oh!" Sara realized she had shouted. "Sorry…" She whispered sheepishly, pushing them back so they hung around her neck instead, blasting music that could be heard perfectly albeit sounding tinny coming from headphones instead of speakers. She tapped her omni-tool cuff to turn it off.
"What're you doing here?" Suvi asked curiously. "I thought you'd be out with the others…" Sara usually jumped at the chance to escape and blow off some steam, especially when the likes of Peebee and Drack would be there encouraging her to get up to all kinds of mischief.
"I was being boring and reading emails," Sara said with a crooked grin, leaning back against the vidcon console opposite Suvi. "What're you doing here?"
Suvi lifted her datapad and waggled it at Sara. "Being boring and reading," she replied playfully. "I thought I'd make the most of having the ship almost to myself."
"And here I am crashing the party," Sara pushed herself off from the console. "I'll let you get back to it-"
"No, wait," Suvi interrupted and Sara halted, looking at her expectantly and earning a faint blush from the redhead when Suvi realized she didn't have anything else to add, that she just didn't want to cut their conversation short. "Um…I was just reading." She motioned again to her datapad.
"Oh?" Sara asked.
"Nothing important," Suvi said quickly. "Just a story."
Sara gave a slow grin, noting how embarrassed Suvi suddenly looked. "What story?" She asked, cocking her head and thumb-hooking her belt.
"Oh, nothing interesting," Suvi attempted to sound casual, waving a dismissive hand.
Sara paused for one moment, then lunged across the gap between them and grabbed the datapad. Suvi gasped in surprise and snapped a hand out to take it back, but Sara was too fast.
She turned her back on Suvi and darted away, tapping the screen to bring up the title. "Capture Her Heart?" She read aloud. "Ooh, sexy!" She laughed.
"Ryder," annoyance edged her voice as Suvi spoke Sara's name. Sara turned to face her, taken aback at her tone, to find Suvi holding out one hand for the datapad, awkwardly refusing to meet her gaze.
"You don't have to be embarrassed. Peebee has a whole stash of smut books," Sara attempted to comfort her, holding out the datapad.
A frown wrinkled Suvi's brow. "Firstly," she replied as she reclaimed her stolen belonging, "I really don't need to know about what Peebee has stashed away. Secondly, it's not smut, it's a very sweet love story, and thirdly..." She hesitated, looking uncomfortable and dropping her gaze to her feet, "…you're teasing me," she mumbled the last part.
"I'm sorry," Sara said genuinely, feeling a pang of regret. She was much too used to the friendly banter and good-natured ribbing between herself and the rest of the crew, it was so easy to forget that not everyone appreciated such jokes. "Being an asshole comes as naturally to me as breathing."
Suvi laughed as she sat back down on the sofa, curling her legs beneath herself. "No, it doesn't," she replied, still smiling.
Sara gave her a sloped smile in response, crossing the distance between them to sit beside her. "So... What's it about?" She asked, gesturing to the datapad resting on Suvi's thighs.
"Oh, um..." Suvi looked down at her lap, rubbing her thumb against the corner of her datapad. She hadn't expected Sara to express an interest after taunting her about it. "It's a slow burn friends-to-lovers between a C-Sec detective and her new partner. A little mystery but mostly just relationship stuff." She glanced up at Sara, gauging her reaction.
"Not what I thought you'd read in your down time," Sara admitted.
Suvi tipped her head, arched one eyebrow. "No?"
Sara flashed a grin. "Not scientific enough."
Suvi gave a half laugh, clearly having expected that answer. "Well, contrary to popular belief I do need an escape every now and then."
"Andromeda is pretty intense," Sara nodded in agreement, gaze drifting towards the window that offered an almost completely uninterrupted view of Kadara outside; the ramshackle port they were docked in, the vast plains and mountains beyond.
"Yes," Suvi spoke quietly. "Though I know I can only imagine how much worse it is for you, being amongst all the... Fighting and horror. While I'm safe here seeing it all second hand."
Sara's eyes flicked back to Suvi, surprised by the sudden seriousness of her tone. Suvi's ocean eyes watched her worriedly. It had barely been a week since the Archon jabbed a needle in the back of Sara's neck, since Sara had opened up somewhat to Suvi and admitted it had spooked her, and Suvi had helped push aside that fear and sat with her all night long. It had been nice, though letting her guard down had made her feel somewhat anxious around the redhead. More so than usual.
Sara reached up to rub a hand against the back of her neck, fingers searching for a scab that was no longer there. "It's not ideal," she replied with a devil-may-care grin. "But it is what it is. Besides, knowing you're safe here gives me one less thing to worry about." The look in Sara's eyes changed then, the mischievous spark replaced by something heavier.
Suvi opened her mouth to respond, perhaps to ask Sara exactly what she meant by that, but was interrupted by the sound of swift footsteps in the lab below. Sara craned her neck back curiously to see who it was, peeking over the railing and seeing Kallo making his way up to the vidcon.
"Ryder!" He greeted enthusiastically when he saw her, almost jogging up the ramp towards them. "What are you doing here?" His eyes moved between Suvi and Sara, reflecting the bright light flooding through the wide windows.
"Well, Kallo, this is my ship," she explained to him, watching as he approached Suvi with a steaming mug in each hand and held one out to her. Suvi murmured her thanks and cradled it in both hands, steam curling up from piping hot tea.
"I know, I just thought you'd be out with the others," Kallo explained, remaining standing as he eyed Sara with intrigue, having expected the Pathfinder to be at Kralla's with the rest of the crew.
"I just couldn't bear to be away from you," she told him dramatically, fluttering her eyelashes.
"I knew it," Kallo replied with a poker straight face, as Suvi unsuccessfully tried to hide a snort of laughter in her mug of tea.
Sara looked sideways at her and grinned while getting to her feet. "I should go."
"You don't have to," Suvi protested.
"Not on my account," Kallo added, stepping back as though ready to leave in Sara's stead.
Sara pulled a wry expression, looking like she had swallowed something bitter. "There's a message from Tann I've been ignoring since yesterday…" She admitted. Suvi arched one eyebrow, sensing more. "He marked it 'urgent'."
Suvi gasped, "Ryder!"
"It's Tann! He'd probably mark a nutrient bar stocktake request as urgent too!" Sara insisted, though she knew she really should have spared the message more than just a cursory glance at the sender name.
Suvi laughed. "Go!"
Sara flashed an impish grin as she walked backwards down the ramp, waving at them both, "going!"
Kallo walked to the railing, looking over it and watching as Sara jogged away, pulling her headphones back on and flicking her omni-tool. "I know I'm not as well versed in human interaction as I could be," Kallo began, turning away from the railing and sitting beside Suvi, looking at her seriously. "But have you considered Ryder might be attempting to... Court you?"
"Don't," Suvi said, frowning and shaking her head.
"Don't?" Kallo asked, baffled.
"Don't give me hope."
"All I'm saying is, examine the evidence." Kallo smiled at his friend. Sara had become a regular feature on the bridge of late, brought Suvi gifts. Simple things like scans and data from the field, sometimes cups of tea unasked for but well appreciated. Thoughtful things that seemed ordinary on the surface, but not to Suvi. They were things she cherished.
"She stole my book and laughed at me," Suvi told him.
Kallo made a sympathetic noise. "Well, judging by the interactions of the rest of the crew I'd say that's a good thing. They're always trying to annoy each other to show affection. Liam put salt in Ryder's coffee yesterday."
Suvi raised her eyebrows at that as she mulled his words over. Sabotaging Sara's coffee was a dangerous move. "I suppose you're right…" She murmured, lifting her mug to sip at her tea.
A sudden shout, muffled by door panels and a deck but nonetheless recognizable as Sara, rang through the ship, "Goddammit, Tann!"
Kallo's large black eyes blinked slowly, "was that…Ryder…?"
Suvi sighed. "Tann must have sent a nutrient bar stocktake request," she said, sharing a grin with Kallo. "And someone really needs to talk to Ryder about turning down her music if she's going to shout all the time."