"Sooo," Fiona suddenly piped up in the darkness of their room, "I… had a little chat with La-La-Loverboy."

"Fi…" Sasha sighed, more exasperated by the nickname than anything else.

"Aaand I asked if he, you know, well I mean I figured we were getting on so well that if I was ever going to have the chance to ask-..." Taking a deep breath, Fiona went all in. "I asked him if he was just trying to mess around with you or what."

" Fi… " In what little light filtered under and through the holey door, Fiona could see Sash's uninjured arm move up for a facepalm.

"Well come on, it was now- uh, then or never. Anyway he said yes, of course, I mean duh , right? And I said, uh, well, I figured you wouldn't mind if I- I told him I thought you liked him too. Like him, I mean. I didn't say you don't like him anymore."

Oddly, Sash didn't groan, or even turn her head for an Annoyed Glare™. She just chuckled and asked, "What'd he say?"

"He said it was good to know-"

" What?! " Sash jerked upright, so angrily that Fiona instinctively sat up too. "What do you mean, ' good to know '?"

"Well, he seemed, uh, relieved I guess, maybe happy, I dunno, it's hard to tell with that guy…" Fiona looked up from the floor when light flooded the room. Sash was in the doorway, muttering to herself.

"Uhhh Sash, where ya going?"

"That moron! ' Good to know ' my ass!" she exclaimed, pretty loudly for the middle of the night.

As she stormed out the door, Fiona processed everything enough to leap out of bed and yell down the hallway, "Wait, why shouldn't he be surprised?!"


"Rhys, you moron, wake up!"

Oh god, they never got a break, what was attacking at this hour? Groggily, Rhys flopped out of bed and staggered the four steps to the door. Sasha looked ready to keep hammering once he opened the door, but she resisted and just glared up at him.

"Wha-what's up, what's going on?" Rhys asked, sticking his head out into the hallway to look for raiders or... whatever.

"You idiot, what the hell do you mean, 'good to know'?"

"Huh?" Rhys finally focused on Sasha, and boy was that a mistake. A lovely, lovely mistake.

She was just wearing a sports bra and shorts, her hair held back in the usual headband. He could see that badass scar, raised and gnarly as ever on her arm. Oh god and here he was in only a ragged, too-small t-shirt and boxers he'd had since before he started up Atlas. Oooh god not good, not good at all, especially the boxers, she was gonna kill him.

Crossing her arms across her chest, Sasha took a step closer and hissed, "I'm not really sure how much clearer I can be, moron !"

"I-I'm sorry, I'm lost." He put a hand to the doorjamb and leaned against it, partially to look cooler and partially to stay upright in his semi-conscious state.

"Fi tells you I like you and you act like you don't even know?"

Entering panic mode almost out of habit, Rhys stood upright and held up his hands in surrender. "Well, I- I mean, I kinda hoped-"

"You hoped ? Dipshit, I kissed you!" Sasha threw her hand in the air in sheer annoyance.

"Well, just on the cheek-"

"Was that not good enough for you?"

Oh god even when she looked ready to murder him she was still so… stunning. She didn't have a stun baton on her, did she? "No, no, nonono, I just didn't want to assume -"

"Assume what? That maybe I don't just kiss random people and let them stick stuff in my hair and…" She trailed off, her cheeks red. Probably mostly from anger.

"Well," Rhys began, that nervous chuckle of his returning, "I'm, you know, this is- this is important, I don't wanna mess-"

"You've been flirting with me since, like, the beginning," Sash said dryly, doing the arm-cross thing again.

"Why thank you for noticing," Rhys replied, giving her a finger gun. It was always nice to have one's efforts finally recognized. But then he remembered she looked two seconds away from throwing him to the skags, and he flinched back.

"Rhys." Her voice was sharp, cool. "What the hell?"

"Look, I didn't wanna go assuming you, uh, liked me," he yammered, waving his hands, "because I don't wanna ruin everything by being awkward and weird and I… this is really important to me. You're really important to me. And I can't afford to mess things up with you. So I-"

Sasha grabbed his shirt and yanked. The breath startled out of him, he got pulled down into a hunch, her face rapidly approaching. Oh geez she was gonna headbutt him and honestly he deserv-

Sasha kissed Rhys, right on the mouth. It took him a moment to comprehend, and another to build up the courage, before he tentatively put his hand to her waist. She was up on tiptoe, wrapping her arm around his neck. Leaning in against him, until he staggered back into his dinky room. His arms slipped around her, holding tight, mostly because he would have fallen over otherwise.

After thoroughly frying his brain, she pulled away. Looking at him with a lot of annoyance for someone who had just kissed him silly, she asked, "Is it clear now?"

Rhys's brain congealed enough for him to form words. "Sooo, we're, uh… dating?"

Sasha's angry expression broke into a laugh. "Yes, you airhead!"

The thought washed over him like a refreshing wave of… something nice. It was too late at night for prose.

"Really?" he asked no one in particular, squeezing her closer.

" OW ! The arm !" she yelled.

"Shit! Sorry, sorry." He quickly released her, putting up his hands.

The pause, though filled with elation, still quickly became awkward.

"Sooo…" Sasha said, eventually.

"Yeah," Rhys agreed with a breathy chuckle, scratching the back of his head.

"I should probably go back to bed…"

"You- you, uh, don't have to," Rhys's mouth blurted out, without the words ever filtering through his brain. Sasha's eyebrow raised, and there came her Silently Judging™ face. "Oh, nono, I didn't mean-..." Rhys explained hastily, "I'm waaaay too tired to- and we don't even know each other, that, ahem, well, so, I, just…" What little of his brain power that had been functioning was slowly melting away. Shit shit shit, this was why he couldn't have nice things.

"Rhys," she sighed, shaking her head with a little smile.

"No, I'm just saying, you could, you know, it's a long way back and-..." Oh, to hell with keeping up his cool pretense. "...I missed you."

Her other eyebrow lifted, her expression softening. Slowly it transformed into what he desperately hoped was affection.

"You can be adorable sometimes," she commented quietly. No one had ever told him that before. Well, not sincerely anyway. He was still trying to come up with something to say when she continued, "But it's still a bad plan, buckaroo. Everyone would see me leaving in the morning."

Deflating, Rhys nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"But I'm gonna hold you to that offer."

He looked up, smiling. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She was smiling back. God, he'd missed her.

Sasha cleared her throat and glanced back at the hallway. "Well, I, uh, better head out."

"Y-yeah, of course."

If they were really dating, shouldn't he give her a goodnight kiss or something? His hands hovered near her as he tried to decide if their relationship was at that level yet. Sash looked first as his hands, and then up at him with a playful sparkle in her eye. Putting her hand on his shoulder, she pulled him back down to her height and kissed him. Again. Twice in one night! Man, he really was a lucky guy.

"Goodnight, Rhys," she whispered, stepping towards the door. His hand had come to rest on her elbow, and he regretfully let his fingers trail down to hers. But all his measly courage had been welling up; when she reached the door, her arm extended behind her in his grasp, he caught her. Closing the distance, he leaned in and kissed her back.

"I could definitely get used to this," he breathed, his face so close to hers. Oh thank god someone had given him a toothbrush.

Sasha laughed. "What, me sneaking out of your room in the middle of the night?"

In a flash his courage evaporated. His eyes widened in terror at the fresh possibility of having royally screwed things up. "No, no, I didn't mean-!"

Tugging on his hand, she guided him in for yet another kiss. That was, what, four times now? Holy shit. "I know what you meant, Rhys," she reassured gently, "and… I could too."

What had he ever done in his life to deserve this moment? How had he possibly earned the way she looked at him, all warmth and affection? He was pretty sure he'd already used up all his luck in just surviving.

"Alright, buddy, I really need to go to bed. This floor is frigging cold."

"Oh, yeah, sure, sure," he bumbled out, standing upright before he could be an idiot and keep kissing her. "Goodnight, Sash."

"Goodnight, Rhys. See you tomorrow."

For once it wasn't a question. He was guaranteed - well, as much as ever on Pandora - to see her again tomorrow. It was about damn time. Grinning, he held up a hand and waved as she crept down the hallway. Before she disappeared around the corner, she paused to look back at him. With a grin of her own, she waved back.

Oh boy, if Fiona changed her mind about him, he was a dead man. Because there was no way he was leaving Sasha ever again.