Chapter Sixteen

(WARNING: there is a lemon in this chapter. I marked it so that it can be skipped; it goes to the end of the chapter.)

Arcadia was known for its jungles, but it was actually an agricultural planet. As such, there were plenty of farmlands.

I could look out the window of the space elevator and see fields so far below us. Green and uniform and stretching almost as far as the eye could see.

We'd been going down for a while, Blue Team and I, and we were nearly at the bottom of the tether. Ellen was already down there; she'd gone planetside on the first Pelican down.

Since combat wasn't expected - Arcadia was one of the few outer colonies that didn't hate the UEG - we didn't have to wear our armor. So I was in a loose blue babydoll dress that fell to just above my knees, and I had a duffle bag full of clothes on my shoulder.

The SPARTANs were in fatigues, and they had duffle bags, too. They didn't have their armor on.

They did have weapons, however - rifles slung over their backs and pistols strapped to their thighs - in case something did go wrong while we were down here.

And Ellen, when we landed and stepped out of the space elevator, was in grey cargo pants and an orange shirt, with her lab coat over the outfit. She had a datapad on her arm and a small floating camera magnetized to her belt for later use.

Her eyes looked me over. "Are you sure you want to wear that?"

I glanced down at myself. "W-why? Does it look bad?"

Maybe she was talking about the brace on my left knee; I didn't think it stood out, but I was so used to wearing braces that I sometimes forgot they were there.

"No." Ellen put a hand on her hip. "It's just a little Eridian."

She was talking about my clothes. "Well, I am Eridian."

"Yeah, but that's not a good thing here." She led the way through the small terminal and out into the sun.

I cocked my head. "Why isn't it a good thing? I-I mean…"

Ellen shrugged. "During the Insurrection, which Arcadia didn't support, Insurgents from Eridanus II came here and hid in our cities. We were subject to a lot of raids thanks to them."

"O-oh…" I looked down.

I hadn't realized. There was so much I still didn't know about the Insurrection.

My head shot up. "You could teach me how to dress like an Arcadian!"

We climbed into a maglev that would take us to the hotel we were staying in.

Ellen looked me over. "Why not? We have the rest of the day free, and we are in Clíona city."

"Great." A giddy smile overtook my face.

John, when he felt my excitement through the bond, basked in it as much as he could. He was working on pulling himself out of the emotional slump he was in

I grabbed a handle above me as the doors to the maglev sealed shut. My duffle bag was digging into my shoulder, but I readjusted it and tuned the pain out.

John and Fred were somewhat tense; their heads brushed the ceiling of the train car. And, at the slightest bump, Kelly and Lindas' would, too. It made it hard for them to do much of anything.

I turned to Ellen as the maglev sped into the city proper. "Where's the first artifact? A-all I see around the city are farms."

"We're taking a humvee to the first site," Ellen explained. "It's several miles away, in one of the nearby forests."

"Okay." I nodded.

The maglev stopped. An emotionless voice told us which stop we were at; some barely pronounceable Gaelic-sounding name.

Ellen touched my arm. "This is us."

The SPARTANs ducked out of the train first, eager to be out of the cramped space. Ellen and I followed at a more subdued pace.

We were at a small maglev stop on a city street. Skyscrapers surrounded us on every side, neon holograms and tethered walkways. This place was nicer than Elysium but it didn't have as many bright lights as New York City had.

Ellen jerked her head and started walking. "It's this way; come on."

And so we all followed her.

I slowed my pace and wrapped my right hand around John's left. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright," he assured me.

Between us and Ellen was the rest of Blue Team.

They hadn't been in many cities, not when they were at peace, and they were overwhelmed by everything happening around them. Flashing lights and innumerable sounds and so, so many people.

Fred was wary, Kelly was intrigued, and Linda was twitchy.

There was a mother and her young daughter on the sidewalk ahead of us. They, like most people, were staring at the giants with guns that were with us.

I caught sight of a little green figure in the girl's hand and my eyes widened. "John, look."

John looked down just as the little kid walked past. When he saw himself, fully armored up, in the girl's hand, he paused for a moment.

Of course, we'd both known that he was the most famous of all of us. But a toy line?

It was kind of awesome.

But John didn't see how it affected him, so he compartmentalized the information and stored it away.

We reached the hotel. Inside was a vast and lavish lobby with red carpets. I saw a dumb AI on a massive holotank in the middle of the room. He was dressed in a professional three piece suit, and had a pleasant air.

When we walked in he said, "Greetings! I am Colm, here to assist you! If you have a reservation, please make your way to the front desk and speak with our hostess; Mikaela!"

We followed his outstretched arm and saw a reception desk between two marble pillars. A young woman in a pristine grey and red uniform was there, with her hair in a slick bun and an earpiece in her ear.

"Good afternoon," she said with practiced cheer. "I'm Mikaela, like Colm just said. You six must be the team from the starship, aren't you?"

Ellen nodded. "From Infinity, yes."

Mikaela smiled. "Wonderful. I'll just make sure your rooms are in order. They were paid for this morning by the Office of Naval Intelligence and agents were sent to make sure they were...up to code."

John nodded; that sounded about right. We were here on an assignment for ONI; Ellen and I were the "essential" personnel, not Blue Team.

"Alright!" Mikaela printed six electronic key cards. "Here you go; every room is the same, so it's up to you where you would like to stay. If you have any issues, don't hesitate to have Colm or myself assist."

Ellen took the key cards from her hand.

"Thank you." I offered Mikaela a smile.

Ellen thumbed through the cards as we walked towards the elevators at the back of the lobby. "It looks like we're all on the sixteenth floor. Do you guys care where you sleep?"

"We'd prefer the four rooms on the outside," Linda said.

Ellen nodded and hit our floor number with her thumb. "Got it. That would be...sixteen-oh-two, sixteen-oh-four, sixteen-ten, and sixteen-twelve. Here."

Kelly took the four offered key cards and handed them out randomly to her teammates.

The decorated elevator moved us up towards our rooms.

With the current arrangement, Ellen and I would be sandwiched between the four SPARTANs.

Of course, I didn't plan on staying in my own room. It was hard to sleep without John, now. And he preferred sleeping with me to sleeping by himself.

We weren't hurting anybody, so what was the harm?

"Here, Tawny, you get sixteen-oh-eight." Ellen passed me a card.

"Oh." I readjusted my duffle once again and took the card. "Thanks."

"We'll get unpacked, and if you want to go shopping I'll meet you in the lobby in twenty."

I grinned. "Okay."

The elevator stopped on the sixteenth floor and the doors opened.

"Do any of you want to come with us?" I asked the SPARTANs.

Linda curled her lip in response.

"No, thanks." Kelly shook her head. "I heard this hotel has a game room; do you think they'll have chess?"

"I think we'll find out soon enough, Kels," Fred said.

Kelly and Fred had the first two rooms we came upon. Then me.

I unlocked the door and waved to John, Linda, and Ellen.

As soon as the door shut behind me I teleported to John's room, which was between Ellen's and Linda's.

I reformed just in time for him to unlock the door and step inside.

I set my duffle bag in the corner behind the door and teased, "Are you sure you don't want to come shopping with us?"

John put his duffle below the foot of the massive bed.

"I might need to think about it," he responded with false sincerity.

I sat down on the bed and looked up at him with an innocent air. "Well, you have twenty minutes to think about it."

His eyes scanned my body. "Twenty minutes is a long time."

"Oh, no." I shook my head. "I-I want to be able to walk, John."

John smiled a bit and kissed my forehead. "Alright."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and tapped his back twice with two fingers.

He pulled me up onto his lap and sat on the bed where I had been. He ran two fingers down my spine and tapped my lower back.

It wasn't unusual for John to be this affectionate, in the privacy of our room, but the emotions behind the affection were somewhat different from normal. All of the adoration and love was still there, but there was a more physical motivation.

Thanks to his augmentations, he had a severely decreased sex drive. I didn't mind; mine wasn't very high either.

But when he was in the mood? Oh, wow.

John followed my thoughts with a smirk. "We still have nineteen minutes until you need to meet Ellen."

I laughed. "As soon as we're back, I promise."

I didn't want to wait that long, either, which was the only reason John was pressing the matter.

But I also didn't want to cancel on Ellen. Especially since I'd been the one to propose a shopping trip.

John kissed my forehead.

I hugged him and closed my eyes, my head on his shoulder.

Then a serious thought hit me.

"John," I straightened up to meet his eyes, "would you get in a lot of trouble, if people found out we were sleeping in the same room? Not just here, b-but on Infinity, too?"

He looked at me. "I would. But no one's going to press it."

I looked down. "B-but you've never- that's not fair. Is there any way to do it...without sneaking? Th-that wouldn't get you in trouble?"

"People on long-term deployments are allowed to share a room if they're in separate beds," he said. "Or in the same bed if they're married."

"Oh."

Getting married was pretty expensive. It was also a huge step. Maybe not as huge as being bonded, but huge.

"If we did that," I began hypothetically, "got married...h-how would the name thing work?"

"Would you take my name?" John asked.

I rested my head back on his shoulder. "Which one?"

Legally, John's last name was 117. But we both knew his real last name was something else.

The UNSC and ONI kept it desperately hidden, along with the surnames of the other SPARTAN IIs, but I'd known John's family as a kid. I knew John as a kid, if only a little.

"The UEG wouldn't recognize my old name," John said.

"O-oh, yeah. Probably not."

That thought made me angry and sad for John.

"Would they let you take my last name?" I asked eventually. "O-or would they let me be 117?"

"They probably wouldn't let me take your name; they like the uniformity of our numbers."

I looked down. "Yeah."

"But they might let you take mine."

"Yeah…" I rested my head on his shoulder once more.

Marrying him, I would do in a heartbeat. And having a number for a surname wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

But marriage was such a massive step. The UNSC would no doubt publicize it; John was the hero of the UEG.

They'd even made a fake, less traumatic backstory for him and the other SPARTAN IIs that covered ONI's ass about their kidnapping.

If John and I got married they would exploit it for publicity, and I didn't know if I was willing to let them do that to John.

oOOOo

When John let me into his hotel room I all but fell onto the bed after discarding the crinkly shopping bags.

I'd had fun, don't get me wrong, but Ellen was a lot more extroverted than I was. She wasn't really extroverted, but she wasn't able to feel peoples' emotions either. I was socially exhausted.

John just looked down at me for a minute. Torn between amusement and confusion.

I rolled over and looked up at him. "I am so glad to see you."

He laughed through his nose and sat down beside my head.

I turned my face into his thigh and let out a breath. His hand came down and ran through my hair.

He tapped the back of my head twice.

I smiled. "I love you, too."

His thumb ran down my neck and over my collarbone. Not necessarily in that way, though it easily could become so.

And I wanted it to.

I pushed myself up onto my knees, where I was almost equal to his height, and kissed his nose.

When I pulled back he leaned forward and caught my lips. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me close. I ended up straddling his lap on my knees, still having to stretch to reach his lips.

(Warning: beginning of the lemon. skip to the Author's Note to avoid it.)

John rolled us over so that I was pinned to the bed beneath him.

I moaned into John's lips when he pushed his knee up between my legs. In the transition my blue dress had come up to my stomach.

As we broke the kiss for air I started tugging on the bottom hem of his shirt.

He pushed himself up onto his knees long enough to take his shirt off. I followed suit, shimmying out of my dress and letting it fall to the ground beside the bed.

John was there, kissing down my neck. As his lips travelled lower I unhooked my strapless bra and dropped it onto my discarded dress.

The lips on my nipple were at once cold and warm. My back arched almost involuntarily and my breathing deepened.

John grabbed my right hand and pushed me onto my back, pinning my arm above me. Then he continued his attentions to my breasts.

I ran my left hand, my free hand, over his buzzed hair. Felt the smooth metal of his neural lace under my palm.

His dog tags fell from his back and landed on my lower stomach. The surprise cold made a gasp break out of my lips before I could stop it.

I drew my hand around the back of John's head and along his jaw. He pulled his lips away from my breasts and looked up at me with his intense blue eyes.

Then he pushed himself up and kissed me again. He was still holding my right hand above me; I couldn't move my arm. His massive hand was warm around my wrist and forearm.

His other hand pushed into my panties and ghosted over my lips. My hips bucked without my permission and I moaned into the kiss.

Then two fingers were inside of me, stretching me out. His fingers were huge.

But they wouldn't stretch me as much as what was to come, I knew.

As he pumped his hand in and out of me I reached down with my free hand and ran it over the growing bump in the front of his pants. They were straining to contain him; the fly felt like it was a moment from bursting.

I fumbled to unbutton the cargo pants. When the button popped loose John pulled his hand out of me and stripped all of the clothes on his lower half off.

He glanced up at me with a question in his eyes, always making sure I was comfortable, then pulled my underwear down my legs when I nodded. He lined himself up. All nine inches of himself slid into me.

Despite having taken that before...that was a lot to take. I gasped a bit, and my fingernails dug into my palm at the splitting feeling he created inside me.

Of course at this point the pain was somewhat familiar, and seemed to somehow add to the pleasure.

I pushed my hips up a bit to better take all of him. His jaw clenched and he let out a sharp breath through his nose.

Through the bond I could understand his struggle a bit better; he desperately wanted to keep me safe, to not hurt my tiny, fragile body with his enhanced strength...but I felt so good.

"I'm not as weak as you think," I assured him. "Mess me up. I'm yours."

He pulled himself almost entirely out of me, then pushed back in. He leaned down, kissing my neck, and growled, "You're mine."

I latched my left arm around his back as he thrusted in and out of me. Each push in was a little harder than the last; he was letting his control slip and testing how much I could take.

My fingernails were doubtlessly leaving half-moons on his back, but he didn't care. He kept drilling me, each thrust harder and harder until I couldn't help but moan aloud.

oOOOOo
Author's Note: Here it is! I am not good at writing stuff like this but I did want to explore the idea so here it is lmao.

Also! The city they're in is named after Clíodhna, an Irish goddess of love and beauty, and also banshees. I think it's pronounced Clee-nah but don't quote me on that.

I love you guys!