Chapter Three
A tapping on the window startled her for a moment, and she headed back up front. Rodney had a pile of things on the platform, and was... lighting a candle?
"I thought... Well, I might as well join you. I don't mind a cold MRE from time to time. And the jumper you are in has no way to heat yours, sorry." He blushed.
Elizabeth pulled a face, "Oh, mine has to be cold? Ugh. You really don't have to..."
"I want to. I don't mind." He had placed a few candles at one side of the platform. They shone a warm glow over the front of the jumper, as the light faded in the open bay. Looking up, she could see stars in the night sky above them.
"I'll just go and get mine..." she slipped from the pilot's chair and retrieved an MRE, and the glow sticks.
Rodney chuckled as she broke a couple of glow sticks and placed them near the window. He peeled open his MRE. "What are you having?"
"I thought I'd try the chicken and rice. You?"
"I found meatloaf in jumper two." His grin was triumphant, and she laughed.
They ate in silence for a while, exchanging smiles in the fluorescent and flickering lights.
"How is yours?" she asked, after a while.
"Pretty good, yours?"
"Foul."
He looked a little upset, and she took pity on him. "Fowl? Get it?"
He closed his eyes"Oh boy. That's terrible,"he groaned.
She laughed with him.
Holding up a packet, Elizabeth said, "I think this calls for some chocolate, don't you?"
He waved a foil sachet, grinning."I'm going to have tropical fruit in custard."
"That is gross, Rodney."
"Thank you." He grinned, and tucked in hungrily.
Tidying away his packets, Rodney looked concerned. "Are you sure you are all right in there, Elizabeth?" He got on his hands and knees and leaned onto the window, his elbows resting on the sill, his face not far from hers.
She blinked, feeling tired, if she was honest. Being stuck in a puddlejumper, away from all the arrangements and preparations for returning to Earth, had let her adrenaline drain away, she had nothing to strive for in here. She felt drawn by his concerned blue eyes focussing on her.
"I'm fine, Rodney. I just..." she reached out a hand and pressed her outstretched fingertips to the window.
He stared at her hand, then placed his own hand over hers, their fingers mirroring each other, wanting to touch.
"It won't be long, I promise," he whispered.
"Thank you."
They stayed like that, fingertips across the glass, for a moment, until Elizabeth drew her hand away, smiling awkwardly.
"Well, perhaps I should get some rest. It's the fastest way to pass the time I suppose, and it was already very late…"
"Yes, of course," Rodney interrupted, "You can, ah, use the rear bench cushions, and, ah…"
"Rodney, I'll be fine."
"Yes, yes, of course, I'll just," he waved a hand vaguely, "I'll sleep out here."
Well, she knew he couldn't sleep in here, so that was no surprise, but… "Aren't you going back to your quarters?"
He looked at her as if she had grown an extra head. "And leave you here alone? No way!"
She tried not to show it, but she was so grateful. The thought of being stuck in the jumper bay all night, completely alone, was a terrible thought. "Thank you, Rodney, I mean it."
"Least I could do," he muttered, and disappeared, presumably to find blankets and other useful items.
Rodney returned with enough jumper bench cushions to carpet the gateroom, and a pile of blankets the size of her office. Elizabeth watched in fascination as he proceeded to fashion himself a kind of eyrie on top of the platform. She pressed against the glass, smiling in amusement, watching him.
Fluffing a pillow that had come from nowhere, he glanced around, satisfied with his handiwork. He was kneeling in the middle of his cosy bed for the night.
"Very nice, Rodney," she laughed, and it turned into a yawn.
"Yeah, it should do. How's your…? Oh." He realised that she had done nothing about her own bed, but had probably been watching him all that time. "Sorry, I would do yours if I could." He looked a little crestfallen.
She grinned, "I only wish you could, Rodney. Goodnight." She brought her hand up to the window, and touched it with her outstretched fingers.
Blinking, he reached out his own hand, and pressed his hand to the window over hers. "Goodnight, Elizabeth."
TBC