2/5 – beta-read by Justine.
xxx
He's watching Laura across the breadth of her desk (where did they find that, anyway?). Her head is bent over fuel reports, a pen in the corner of her mouth, and his mind has drifted to thoughts of anything but work. Her hair would be falling over the papers if she hadn't pinned it back; it looks good up, though, a coppery-auburn tendril or two curling over her ears, the rest pulled into a messy ponytail high on the back of her head. Her sleeves are rolled halfway up her arms, and her position in the chair is more casual than she'd usually allow. It warms his heart to think she's so comfortable with him.
She does look tired, though.
A brainwave strikes him as she glances up slightly, making a notation on the sheet in front of her. Before she can speak, he voices it.
"I'm going to order up some coffee," he says, giving her the tiniest hint of a smile. Privileges of rank and all that, but he plans on making it himself. "You look tired. How 'bout a break?" He gestures to the reports still piled before her. "They'll wait."
She smiles, taking the pen out of her mouth and twirling it between her fingers (the only part of her he's seen that even begins to show her age, but she still has graceful, delicate hands).
"All right," she agrees, leaning back in her seat. Her eyes say she knows what he's been doing while she's been reading the reports. He might say she has a sixth sense, if he hadn't known she's seen him looking before (a smile and a change of subject, smooth as ever).
When the coffee arrives, it's already been brewed, so he pours it for Laura first (milk and a flat spoon of sugar, just the way she likes it). She thanks him prettily. He can feel her watching him as he makes his own drink (two sugars, no milk), a prickle on the back of his neck. It's not an unpleasant sensation.
On a whim, he lifts his head suddenly, directing his warmest smile at her (so glad to see her healthy enough to be tired instead of the deadly exhaustion that had plagued her before).
The grin that lights her sweet face in response is pure pleasure, and for a moment he imagines he can see the fresh sparkle of the vivacious teenager Laura must have been a few decades before, bright and lovely.
But of course, he realises a few minutes later, he saw her: she never really left.
-tbc