As they made their way back to the main part of Fort Salem hand in hand Tally felt a nervousness at being seen holding hands with her.
Sarah felt this and stopped, "You're nervous?"
"Well, I just, I don't want you to regret this if people see us holding hands. We haven't told anyone yet and to just show up hand in hand might cause trouble," Tally looked at her sadly.
"I'll do whatever makes you most comfortable, Tally, but I would never regret this," Sarah just held her hand to her lips and kissed it.
Tally felt her reassurance through their link and smiled grasping her hand tighter, "Okay, only if you're sure too?"
"Tally, there is nothing anyone could say or think that would make me want to hide this. I'm not ashamed of you or this, they're all bound to find out eventually. If you wanted I would get down on one knee in front of all of Fort Salem and pledge my love to you. I will do whatever you want," their hands still grasped.
Tally giggled and bit her lip, she really was never going to get used to Sarah Alder being such a romantic, "Okay, okay, then I want to do this. If everyone is bound to find out then let it be on our terms."
Tally pressed a kiss back to Sarah's hand then intertwined their fingers, taking a deep breath Tally nodded as they continued on their way.
And heads did turn as they made their way to the main building, Tally was blushing and Sarah didn't pay the stares any mind, she was used to being gawked at by enemies and admirers all the same.
As they reached the steps of the main building Tally heard her name called behind her and she turned to see Raelle and Abigail jogging to her, their expressions filled with fear and surprise as they saw Alder turn around at their arrival.
Abigail stared wide eyed at their hands intertwined, "Whoa, what's going on here Tally? Where have you been? What's going on, I said that already right?" She leaned over to Raelle who stared in disbelief as well.
Raelle stared at the pair with her mouth agape, "I'm confused. You do realize your hand is attached to hers right?"
Abigail looked like she was having some sort of mental breakdown, "I must be having some bizzaro dream, that's it."
Raelle walked up and poked Alder in the arm, eliciting a glare from the ex-general, "Please don't poke me, cadet."
Tally watched in amusement as she watched her unit go through an existential crisis and giggled nervously.
Raelle took a deep breath, "What's going on Tally, you guys were about to kill each other the other day and now you're," she just pointed at them holding hands, "Doing that."
Tally looked at Sarah who only nodded at her, Tally took a deep breath, "Well, you see guys, they're retiring the biddy program and that means she was going to die but we kind of got married so that they can't do that. So yeah, we're kinda married now," Tally smiled and held up her ring finger.
"I think I need to sit down," Abigail bent over with her hands on her knees trying to process this.
Raelle was doing better at holding her shit together, "So you guys aren't actually like...in love?"
"Oh, no we are!" Tally looked at Sarah again who nodded at that.
Abigail looked at them with panic in her eyes, "Does my mother know about this?"
"We have not informed General Bellweather yet," Alder spoke up and shot the girl a look that made Abigail's blood go cold.
"Well, we don't really get the whole story but if you two aren't at each other's throats….in a bad way," Raelle just winked at Tally, "Then we support you, right Abs?"
"Uh, sure, I uh yeah, whatever makes you happy, Tal."
"Thanks guys, well, we should probably go tell General Bellweather," Tally gave a nervous look at Sarah and squeezed her hand.
Once they made it to Sarah's old office which made Tally sad to think about since they had so many memories in this office, she could only imagine the memories Sarah had of this office.
Sarah felt her twinge of sadness and paused to tilt her chin up, "Hey, now, none of that."
Tally put on a smile and Tally knocked on the door and Sarah smirked, "Oh, so you do know how to not barge into someone's office."
Tally ignored her and opened the door at the, "Come in," from the otherside of the door.
"Um, excuse me, general. We have something we wanted to tell you."
Petra didn't look up from the paperwork she was going over, "Yes, what is it Tally?"
Sarah cleared her throat causing Petra to look up with wide eyes and immediately zeroed in on them holding hands, "Well, it's a good thing I'm sitting because I'm very confused about whatever this is."
Tally gave a lighthearted laugh, "Yeah, Abigail had a similar reaction, only she wasn't sitting."
"Let me just get to the point of our visit, Petra, Tally and I have been handfastened. We are very much in love and she's going to help me find a way to no longer need biddies to continue on living. Since the biddy program is to be retired which will inevitably result in my death given a few years. So for now I wish for the army to recognize our union and hold off on discontinuing the biddy program, for now."
Petra stared dumbfounded, "You agreed to this, Tally?"
"Geez, why is this so hard for people to believe? Yes, I agreed to this, like she said we are in love. I admit this did happen very fast but I don't regret it. I promised I'd help her regardless, we're bound now, so if she dies, I die," Tally squeezed her hand in reassurance.
"Excuse me if I'm having a hard time believing this, you were both ready to kill each other the other day. Do you have any idea what you two have done?" Petra pinched the bridge of her nose as a headache came on.
Sarah rolled her eyes, "So dramatic, Petra."
Tally held in a laugh and covered her mouth, she never had a front row seat to watching Sarah antagonize Bellweather before.
"Sarah, you still have a few years left of your biddies, you could've done this without going this far."
Tally glared at the general using Sarah's first name, she wanted to be the only one using her first name, nobody deserved to use her first name.
Sarah smiled and placed her hand on Tally's head to calm her down which had its desired effect.
"What we do in our own way is just that, ours."
Petra stood trying to assert herself, "Yes, but I'm still her commanding officer-"
Sarah glared, "We are well aware, Petra. Just think of this as if the Imperatrix had arranged this. Now you know and I politely request her assistance, as long as it doesn't interfere in her training. I mean it's the least you could do after…." Sarah just waved her hand out as if presenting the office to her.
Petra glared at her, "Fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with her training or her units."
"Very well, thank you for your time, Petra."
Tally turned back to the general for a minute, "I know this isn't conventional and it's confusing for everyone. But know that I did this all of my own consent and despite what transpired the other day I believe in her and I do love her. If anything this will motivate me to be better in training so I can be the soldier that would make her proud, that can help her."
Petra only nodded and sighed, waving them away so she could try and process everything that just happened.
The biddies stood in the hall patiently waiting and Alder nodded her thanks to them for putting up with all the running around.
Tally was distracted by somebody taking down one of the paintings of Alder and immediately rushed after them, "Um, excuse me, what do you think you're doing?"
The soldier paused and stared from Tally to Alder who stood with one eyebrow raised then back to Tally, "Uh, General Bellweather told me to move this to storage before it can be put in the museum."
"You can't just put it in storage, that's history, that's her history!" Tally grabbed the painting from the confused soldier, "That's my wife!"
Tally tried to take the painting from the soldier but it was moved out of reach, Tally growled and tackled the soldier reaching for the painting.
Sarah sighed and pried Tally out of the tangle on the floor and dragged her down the hall, painting and all, leaving the soldier confused about what just happened.
"Tally really, it's just a painting."
Tally pouted as she held the painting to her chest, "But it's my favorite one and it doesn't deserve to be in storage, that's disrespectful."
"Well, now it's yours," Sarah sighed, "It's hard to imagine how angry you were at me last week and now you're like this."
Tally glared at her, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing darling, I just love your fire and passion. You know I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere, you don't need some old painting."
Tally only blushed and sniffled as she held the painting to her like it was the most precious thing, "I know, it's just, this is a part of you. After all you've done for all of us, all you've been through, it's like you covering up Nicte's history. It isn't right."
Tally felt the pang of regret and hurt through Sarah's link and she immediately regretted the comparison, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean."
Sarah held up her hand, "It's okay, Tally, it's fair. You're right. Let's put this painting away and grab you and them some dinner."
Tally nodded and took her hand once more, "I'm sorry about today, you must be tired."
"Not at all, it's been rather amusing, it beats sitting behind a desk doing paperwork all day. And I think they're rather amused by it all," as she turned to the biddies trailing behind them.
Tally winced and whispered sorry to all of them, each one of them smirking. She turned back to the painting in her hand and pulled it back to look at it, Sarah taking a glance at it and smiling.
"You like my hair down." Sarah just said it like it was a known fact found in a textbook.
Tally looked up blushing, "I well, you're beautiful no matter what, but I am quite partial to your hair down. But I don't mind it like this too," Tally stopped and ran her hand over the loose braid and brought it to her lips to kiss it.
Sarah looked at her with surprise and a light blush colored her cheeks.
"I'm not ready for others to see you with your hair down, it's another thing I want to be just mine. At least for now," Tally couldn't meet her eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm so childish and selfish."
Sarah pulled her into herself and kissed her breathless, "Then I'm just as selfish because I don't want to share you with anyone."
At that moment Tally's stomach growled and Sarah's eyes went wide with surprise and amusement, Tally blushed, "I'm sorry. I require regular feedings."
Sarah smirked and placed another kiss to her pouty lips, "One hunger at a time Craven, let's hurry and get you fed."
Tally buried her face in the lapels of Sarah's coat, "Oh goddess, Sarah, what have you become?"
Sarah only laughed, the biddies all thoroughly amused trailing behind them, the quest to put the painting away forgotten and the quest for dinner on the horizon.