Ello, This chapter caused me a lot of problems but I think I ended up with something I'm mostly satisfied with. I did end up writing a storyboard for this so I do have a solid plan on where this is going. I don't want it to be long and it's looking to be about 5 chapters in total. After that... I don't know. I might write some omakes or something if the reviews are heavy enough for it. I also plan to make a dumping ground soon for rogue ideas that interfere with the thinking for my main stories. I just don't know where to put it.

Anyways, enjoy my attempt at getting into writing.


My back was sore, my neck was sore, everything was sore. I should have just made that makeshift bed I originally would have for Texas, instead I fell asleep in my chair after she left. What time was it? My computer was right in front of me since I was in my chair, so I gracefully slapped the power button in my half consciousness state. The screen flickered to life as I stared at the bottom right corner, waiting for the clock to show itself. Just past six. Wonderful, now I'm sore and running off barely a lick of sleep. I could attempt to get in a few more hours before I had to be up and going so that today wouldn't be completely miserable, but not in this damn chair.

Lappland must go to sleep at some point, right? If she was still afraid, I could escort Texas back to her room. The whole purpose of giving her my room was to avoid Lappland and I think there is a solid chance she slunk off after realizing Texas wasn't going to show up.

New mission, sleep in my own bed. I peeled myself from my chair like a day-old piece of tape. Reaching my full height, I stretched in various ways trying to get the kinks out of my body. I would have rubbed my eyes, but my helmet was still on unfortunately. I awkwardly walked around my desk as I continued to attempt to wake up. Reaching the door, I focused unnecessarily hard to make sure I pressed the control panel to open it up. Task accomplished.

I looked out into the hallway before leaving my office. A majority of the lights were still off with only a few left on to give anyone up some ability to see. I wish they could have built my dorm room into my office or next door; it would have made everything so much easier. Instead, it was amongst the other dorms for organization reasons. Kal'tsit gets her own personal room away from everyone else, makes me pissed every time I think about it. Ignoring that train of thought, I continued my journey to my room. I was making less and less missteps as my body partially woke up with what little energy I managed to get from my sleep.

The familiar motion of walking from my office back to my own room kept me in check and before I knew it, I was standing in front of the door to it. I instinctively grabbed for the keycard, I usually kept around my neck, to my room. Except, I gave it to Texas. Damn it, hope she's awake.

I gently knocked on my door and waited a few seconds for a reply. Nothing. I knocked a bit harder and waited again. No response. I knocked aggressively this time to wake her up and waited. Nope. I slammed my fist into the door shaking it from the force of the hit and silently waited for any sign of life from within. No sound was heard.

I let out a deep depressing sigh as my head fell to rest against the metal of the door. I didn't think Texas was a deep sleeper, or were the rooms more soundproof then I thought? I debated just going back to the office and attempting to sleep in a more reasonable position. My eyes closed as my head laid against the door, nearly falling asleep again. The motion of me falling off the door as I my consciousness wavered woke me up before I crashed into the floor. Wow, I'm at risk of dying at this point.

I attempted another set of knocks, hoping Texas would respond this time. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…" I depressingly groaned as nothing happened, again. I had to get in, I needed my sleep. She must have really drained herself mentally to be immune to the racket I was making.

All movement in my body slowed as I transferred power to thinking. How do I get in besides my keycard? It was like a towel had been wrapped around my brain and refused to let anything in or out. I dumbly stared at the door, like a zombie waiting for its meal to walk out, as I tried to pull anything from my decaying mind.

Closure opens a lot of doors…

!?

THAT'S ABSOUTLEY TRUE. A rush of adrenaline tore through my body and all energy reserves activated to fuel me. A hand shot to my coat pocket as I scrambled for my phone. Whipping it out, I turned it on and rapidly dialed in Closure's designated number. I had a good amount of time before I felt as if I would crash right here on the spot, but that didn't mean I could diddle daddle. Each ring of my phone resonated through my head as I zeroed in on the sound. Surprisingly, I heard a click and some rustling come over the phone as my call was answered.

"Hello…?" a tired voice came through, sounding very much like I just woken her up.

"Good morning Closure," I greeted before cutting straight to the problem, "Can you open the door to my room? I locked myself out."

"Locked out? How did you accomplish that?" She asked still drowsy.

"I left my keycard in my room when I left." I answered hoping she wouldn't dig any deeper.

An annoyed sigh was barely picked up by the microphone on her phone. Three hours from now she would have been teasing me for the simple mistake but interrupting her sleep changed her mischievous and chipper personality into a slightly annoyed sloth.

"Good one Doctor," I heard some noise, of what I assume was her getting out of bed, "What are you even doing up this early, you're pretty religious about sleeping with no interruptions."

"Uh, I was going to use the bathroom." After I replied, a long pause drew out. "Hello?" I questioned. Did the call end?

Closure replied after I checked to make sure the call was still active, "Doctor, there's a bathroom in your room." I heard a giggle that froze me over. "Aaah, there's something deeper going on here than you simply locking yourself out Doctor, huh?" Well, shit.

I desperately tried to think of anything to say to worm myself out of this one, but there was no chance with me running at not even 20% functionality. Going back to what I said about sleepy Closure, we can scrap that. Normal Closure has come completely online, and she is hungry for some potential blackmail.

Not hearing a reply from me she said, "Well Doctor I was going to open your door so that I could back to sleep, but now I want to know something in return." I could hear grin through her voice. "Whatcha you doing up this early, hmmm?"

I was checkmated. There was no way I could get out of this blunder. It's not that bad, If I just explain the exact reasoning for why Texas was in my room, I should be fine. Closure couldn't falsify anything I say. Not with the hallway cameras to back me up, right? Right, no worries. "I let Texas borrow my room to escape from Lappland since she wasn't doing so well emotionally last night. I was hoping to get my room back to at least get some sleep after getting almost none in my office. That's it."

Ignoring my attempt to not imply anything, "Ooooooooh I see I see, finally making moves now Doctor. You've been staring at her for a long time, it's about time you did something." I heard a hum as she contemplated something, "I'll let you off the hook this time, but… I better see you exit that room holding hands or I'll be upset that you woke me up for nothing."

I doubt she would stay up to watch. "Texas doesn't seem like the hand holding type." Why did I try to make a snide remark? I don't know, we'll blame it on sleep deprivation again. No response came back and it took me a second to realize she hung up. Not a moment later, the door slid open on its own accord. That didn't go as planned but neither was the outcome terrible.

I stepped into my sleeping quarters and took a quick look around. Straight ahead on the opposite wall was another door that led into the bathroom. Ignoring that, the room opened to my right where my king-sized bed had its back center against the far wall. A nightstand was on its left side since that's where I slept. A wardrobe was pushed against the left wall and that was about it. The room was bland overall, but I was barely in it in the first place. The only thing I did in here was sleep.

Ignoring that, I could see a lump underneath the covers directly in the center of my bed. A quick tap closed the door as I approached the bed. None of my repetitive knocking did anything to disturbed her from her sleep, that was obvious from the steady deep breathing.

Texas had taken the right-side pillow to the center of the bed to use as a headrest. The left-side pillow, my pillow, was firmly grasped in her arms and held against her chest. Her face was buried into the top of it, barely leaving her nose free for air. Based on the shape her body made under the covers, that were pulled up to her neck, her knees hugged the bottom of the fortunate pillow to make up for what her arms could not.

I couldn't help but stare that the sleeping beauty for a moment. What the hell was I thinking? There's no way I could wake her up, the whole purpose was to give her a good night's rest and waking her up halfway through would nullify the point. Tearing my sight away from Texas's slumbering form, I left the bedside and went into the bathroom. I pulled two towels from their racks and grabbed a couple hand towels from underneath the sink. Entering back into the bedroom, I moved to the foot of the bed where there was ample space on the floor. I laid out one of the towels and placed the other bundled up next to it. My stack of hand towels was dropped down at the end of the spread-out makeshift bed to use as a pillow.

It'll have to do, at least it's better than sleeping in a chair, I can actually stretch out. I let out a long drawn out yawn at the thought of going back to sleep. There was one last preparation to make though. Unclasping my helmet, I took it off and moved to place it on the nightstand beside the bed. It might as well be a second head at this point, but it's still uncomfortable to sleep with. If Texas wakes up first… unfortunate I guess, that's how it will have to be.

Laying down on the singular towel on the floor, I pulled the other I left beside over me. Due to my height, most of my legs were still left uncovered, but I didn't feel like curling up to cover myself after sitting in that chair for hours. I briefly shuffled around the pillow made of towels to get a more comfortable position.

The moment my body felt I was still, I quickly dropped back into the deep sleep that it's been yearning for since I woke up.


I'm not sure how long I slept. I didn't set any alarms, and my body was too tired for its inner alarms to automatically wake me up. I was hoping to sleep as long as possible. Three or so hours of sleep wouldn't do me any good for the rest of the day, but with a solid seven or eight I could make what was left of the day as productive as possible.

That was the plan until a bunch of head rattling pounding came through the door to my dorm. How did Texas ever sleep through my knocking?

Sitting up, I dug through the pockets of my coat trying to figure out which pocket I left my phone in. Feeling the familiar way it sat in my palm, I pulled it from its hiding place to check the time. Half past ten, so roughly four hours of sleep. There's potential to tank my way through the day with caffeine alone. I threw the towel I had as a blanket off me and stood up from my uncomfortable bed. I did a couple of stretches to calm my bodies complaints from sleeping on the floor. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Texas's sleeping form still holding my pillow in her death grip. I still don't understand, she can't possibly be this deep of a sleeper, it didn't fit her workaholic tendencies.

Quickly stepping around the room, I grabbed my helmet from where I left it on the nightstand and slid it back on where it should be. With my identity safe, I approached the door. A single press caused the door to slide open to reveal a certain red haired angel with her hand up ready to destroy someone's eardrums with that nuclear knocking.

"Oh! Good morning Doctor! Did you sleep well?" Exusiai cheerfully greeted me.

"No, not really. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep." A yawn escaped from me at the word sleep, "I'm trying to get as much as I can to make up for what I lost before I'm forced to work. Don't worry about it, what do you need?" I questioned her.

Exusiai suddenly looked sheepish once she realized that she had interrupted my sleep, "Uuuum, never mind Doctor. I don't want to take up your time with a dumb question, you need to get as much rest as you can. As Texas would say, 'To be efficient, you need energy and sleep is the number one way to maintain it.'", she almost imitated Texas's neutral tone perfectly.

"But…" The Penguin Logistics employee scratched the back of her head. "That does lead into my question. Have you seen Texas? I couldn't find her this morning and she's usually up and going earlier than anyone else."

"Uuuh…" I couldn't just tell her that the missing wolf was sleeping in my bed. I'm pretty sure that's a hell hole that nobody would willing jump into. Maybe I could throw suspicion on Lappland? No, tensions are already high between her and Penguin Logistics, it would cause more problems.

Any chance of coming up with a believable answer was lost when a long drawn out moan sounded from behind me, "Exusiai? What time is it…?" Texas mumbled from my bed.

Hearing Texas's voice, Exusiai pushed herself past me to peer into my room. I didn't try to stop her and instead followed her gaze. We watched as Texas held her hands above her head and arched her back, putting some emphasis on her chest which was covered by nothing but a grey t-shirt. I couldn't ignore the free show. Finishing her wake-up routine, she finally noticed that Exusiai and I were standing there. "Doctor?" she asked confused, before I watched as the memories of the past night came back to her. A blush covered her face as she locked eyes with her co-worker.

A loud gasp erupted from beside me, "You didn't sleep because you were having se-!" I clamped a hand over mouth before her hypothesis could be heard in the hallways through the open door. Wrapping my other arm around her I pulled her into the room.

"Texas close the door." I said seriously. My commanding tone that I usually reserved for the battlefield shocked her into movement. She shot from bed and leaped for the door controls, precisely slapping her hand down them to activate it. I held Exusiai against me until I heard the click of the door firmly locking into place, sealing us off from the rest of the base.

I meant to let her go but I momentarily forgot when I noticed that Texas was wearing that grey t-shirt and only the t-shirt. My eyes started from the ground and were working their way towards the mountain tops when I felt a sharp pain in my hand. I push Exusiai away in surprise and looked at the teeth marks in my hand. She bit me!?

Her right hand rose up and swiftly came down to point at my chest, with her other hand on her hip she exclaimed, "AH HAH! I knew this day would come, when Texas finally got a boyfriend!" Her eyes narrowed as she attempted to blaze a hole into my retinas, "When's the wedding and what days can Aunty Exusiai visit the children."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Nothing like that has happened or will happen." I immediately tried to explain before she could start sending invitations to the false wedding. Rather than helping with the situation, Texas looked dishearteningly away from me. What the hell did I do? I'm trying to save our asses here.

"Wait… Are you saying… This was just a one-night stand?" What? I said nothing close to that, where the fuck that idea even come from!? The shadows seemed to reach out from the corners of the room. The approaching darkness made the golden glow of Exusiai's arts painfully bright as guns upon guns started manifesting behind her. She grabbed the barrel of one to bring it forward, "I don't care who you are, no one uses my Texas for a one-night stand, Doctor."

I have someone how walked straight into a Catastrophe without even moving. Whatever was affecting Texas was quickly pushed away as the situation reached lethal levels. "Wait Exusiai, you're getting this all wrong!" she called out to the enraged angel.

The armada of firearms threaten to disperse for a second at the sound of Texas's voice but remained. Taking the opportunity Texas gave me, I begged, "Please, let me explain everything before you gun me down."

"Pfffff… I wasn't going to kill you, Doctor." Exusiai laughed, "Only cripple you at most. Start explaining." The brief ray of hope her laughter brought was quickly cut off at that. I took a deep breath to calm myself, to make sure I told everything clearly.

"Right, so…"


Texas sat next to me, in her normal outfit, on the floor at foot of the bed while Exusiai sat above us. "I'm even more disappointed than I was before." Exusiai started after I finished telling her everything leading up to this point.

"Why?" I questioned, I thought she would be happy knowing it wasn't a hit and run.

"I thought you two would have gotten together at this point." Resting her chin on the palm of her hand she continued, "Even if it was a one-night stand, there would at least be a basis of a relationship to work off of." She stared past us as she pondered to herself for a moment.

"Welp!" she exclaimed as she sat straight up, "There isn't a challenge too strong for !"

I was afraid to question what was going on inside her head. A quick glance at Texas showed she was just as baffled at the exclamation as I was. I asked anyways, " …?"

"Yes! , your new personal love advisor." She beamed down as us, pleased at her new self-appointed title and position. "You two have been beating around the bush for too long, and it is my job as to lead you on the path to a long and healthy relationship."

With a firm clap of her hands she began, "Right, Doctor…" I stared up at her from my spot ready to see what journey her words would take us on now, "Do you like Texas?" Oh.

Do I like Texas? Yeah, of course. I've said it previously, she's dutiful, skillful, and a hardworking operator that I can rely on. She also has a calm and collected personality that I find easy to talk to, so we've ended up having some decent conversations. Well, I count them as conversations. I'm not so sure about the some of the more social operators. Anyways, I can easily say she is a friend.

I expressed these thoughts to , "Yeah, I like Texas."

"That's good," Exusiai nodded at my answer, "For a relationship to blossom one must be open with their feelings like a flower opening its petals to the sun otherwise it will never bloom." Said Exusiai very unExusiai like.

She whipped towards Texas and her personality came roaring back, "That goes the same for you! Do you like the Doctor?"

I had a faint sense of déjà vu as I watched Texas stumble over the question. Never have I seen her so out of her element than in the past twelve hours but she quickly recovered, "I respect everything the Doctor has done for the fight against Reunion, for the infected, and the care he puts into operators he commands."

I felt myself deflate at her answer. I'm glad she thinks so highly of me, but I was hoping she would say something else and Exusiai shared my opinion, "You two piss me off." I felt the room darken again as she glared down at us. "This is supposed to a session to help you two openly reveal your feelings to each other but instead you complement each other like simple co-workers."

I felt an immense weight lift of me as her gaze focused on her terrified co-worker, "I can barely get you talk as is. It took me years for you to call me friend, but the within months of working for Rhodes Island you've talked more about the Doctor than you ever even spoken to me." Her fiery gaze briefly flicked to me out of… jealousy? Texas looked like she wanted to reject but Exusiai cut her off, "Don't you start with that, 'I don't think of him like that,' crap either. I've seen the way you watched him work, your eyes never leaving him for minutes at a time. Odd for some lone wolf that seemingly doesn't care."

The heavens crashed down on my shoulders as she turned to me for my verbal lashing, "And you're not innocent either Doctor! Every time she walks within your sight it's like the joints in your neck have rusted and the only thing you can look at is her. She's the first person you check up on after every mission and you're like a dog waiting for its owner to come back after you have to send her out on one by herself."

Pulling back, she looked down on the both us like a God about to smite its mortal followers. "So, what are you waiting for!? There are too many beautiful women in this base for something not to go wrong. You two will both eternally regret it if you don't do something about these feelings now."

With her rant done, she visibly calmed which was seen as she childishly pouted at us, "You're lucky you both have me as a friend."

She wasn't wrong at any point. There was nothing stopping us from pursuing a relationship and she made it obvious that were both at least attracted to each other. Death? Yeah right, that felt more like an incentive once I thought about it.

Texas and I had gone silent after the rant, processing what Exusiai had said. Already being emotionally fueled, Exusiai didn't feel like waiting so she asked again, "What is holding you back?"

I could see that if I spent even a few more seconds thinking about an answer she might actually explode. Exusiai was a being that ran off emotions, she let them lead her through life, not caring to think about anything too much least it spiral her off onto a different path from one she currently enjoyed walking. For now, I was going to follow, "Nothing." I firmly stated.

I had temporarily appeased the God with my answer, but a mortal still had not responded. Texas must have had a similar train of thought because she also quickly answered, "Nothing."

"That's right!" Exusiai's intense aura fell back as she pushed up some invisible glasses and somehow pulled out a clipboard from behind her. Looking at what I would assume was an empty clipboard she began, "Here is my diagnosis as a professional Love Doctor. You two need to hang out during whatever free time you have and within a weeks' time, gone on at least one date. No objections, Doctor's orders." She jumped up and stood up on my bed making herself even taller than before. "This session will be free of charge but the next one won't be if you don't follow your treatment. Good luck!" Exusiai jumped over us, somehow managing to perfectly open the door so that she could basically glide out.

It was tempting to just sit there and process what the fuck just happened in the past hour, but the angel had given me an opening and I wasn't going to waste it. I stood up and looked down at the wolf-girl still staring at the open door. "I guess I'll check up on you at the trading post in a few hours, if that's alright with you?"

Hearing my voice, Texas turned to me and rose up from the floor once she saw that I had already done so. She nodded in acceptance to my question, "Yeah, that's alright Doctor."

Hearing her confirmation, I couldn't help but confirm for myself, "Does this mean we are officially together?"

A pregnant pause filled the room with silence that made a pit open up in my stomach as I feared the answer even though I shouldn't. "Yes, I guess we are." She quelled my fears.

"Guess?" I started, "That sounds a little uncertain to me. Put some confidence into your answer." I playfully jabbed at one of the reasons it took us so long to finally know our feelings for each other.

I watched as one of her eyebrows raised and her arms crossed, "Confidence? That's a little hypocritical coming from Mr. Dog Waiting For His Owner To Come Home."

"Huh, that's kinda rich coming from Mrs. I Don't Think Of Him Like That But Stare At Him Constantly Anyways." I immediately retorted.

She sent a glare at me, that held no actual threat, in response to my quick jab back.

A chuckle escaped me, "It has only been a minute and we are already fighting like a married couple, huh?"

Texas's face flushed at my observation, "Married!? You're thinking way to fast, we haven't even gone on that date yet."

"I think I'm thinking just fine, I can have my aspirations." I replied. I looked over my shoulder at the clock sitting on my nightstand to check the time. "About time you got to work, while I try to catch up on some missed sleep."

"Missed sleep?" she questioned.

"Yeah… I didn't sleep at all in my office, so I came back here to reclaim my bed, but after I saw how peaceful you were, so I slept on the floor instead." I gestured down at the towels that made my makeshift bed.

"Pervert… watching me sleep." She accused.

"Oooh, you want to start another? Welp…" I shrugged casually, "I wasn't gonna bring it up, but it seemed like you were strangling my pillow to death in your sleep. I was surprised you could breathe with your nose buried so deep into it." Not quite true but she didn't know that.

She barely managed to hold her emotions as to not betray that I got to her. "Maybe if you didn't smell so good." She sheepishly attempted. I expected an attack in response, but this must have been her own way in progressing our relationship.

I accepted her flag raised up for a truce. "Good, that means you always know where to find me." I said as a joke, which got a short chuckle out of her, before I deeply breathed to calm all the other jokes bubbling inside. "A hug before you go?" I asked spreading my arms out.

Instead of answering, she entered my embrace and wrapped her arms around me. I also closed my arms around her back and brought a hand up to stroke her soft silver hair. I brushed my hand through the long strands a single time before waiting to continue. I happy hum into my chest gave me the approval to resume and did so until we broke apart.


Fuck you to the guy who sent me 5 random clues after I sent him 7 of my 2's :C

I don't know what you expected from a Penguin Logistics Heavy Rhodes Island but I will hit you with more. Out of love, of course.