"Now enough with the thinking face," Wash chuckled as he leaned against the ship's railing next to where Carolina had been. "You're going to make York mad if he catches it."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Carolina smirked.
"Yes you do and you know he's going to get mad if you don't go down and enjoy yourself."
"I'm enjoying myself perfectly fine up here," Carolina replied. She gestured out at the open water, "Look at that view. It's relaxing and peaceful."
"Whatever you say boss," Wash nodded. They leaned against the railing in silence for a while, both enjoying the salty air as the boat made its way through the rise and falls of the water.
She sighed, "Do I really have the thinking face on?"
"Yup."
"I'm sorry."
"Not me you should apologize to," Wash chuckled. "And pretty sure I'm the only one who actually noticed anyway because I'm pretty sure we're thinking about the same thing."
"Chorus?" Wash nodded. "Yea. I just…I really hope the UNSC doesn't try to push them over. Kimball and the rest of the people fought like hell to have control of their own home for so long, it would be a shame not to let them have a chance at running it."
"I agree. So what are you thinking exactly?"
"Who says I'm thinking anything?"
"Come on boss, I've known you for how many years and worked with you for how many of those years. You got something up your sleeve. Now are you going to share it with me or not?"
Carolina chewed on the inside of her cheek for a few seconds before letting out a sigh and turning to put her back up against the rail to cross her arms across her chest. "Emma gave me a few ideas before on what we could do afterwards. She gets that I like being useful."
"What did she suggest?"
"Originally? Starting up the Project again."
"But-"
"Hold up. I'm not going to. At least, not exactly," Carolina continued. "I'm thinking there's enough of us left now from the remnants of it that we can at least share our experience and skills with the people of Chorus. Give them more tools to run things without outside influence."
"Ok," Wash nodded. "I'm sort of liking how this is sounding."
"Figured you might, which is good cuz I will definitely be needing your help," Carolina smirked.
"Count me in for whatever," Wash chuckled. "Course I'd love to hear more first."
"I'm thinking a task force, one composed of the soldiers of Chorus that Kimball recommends would be best for it," Carolina went on. "They're going to need to be able to show the UNSC that they can take care of things on their own. The people who have lived there know what it's like and know what's needed to keep the peace now they have it. The soldiers that the UNSC are going to bring on to the planet won't. They might try and start conflict or do something to make the original inhabitants mad."
"So you're thinking like a peace-keeping police type force?"
"Sorta," Carolina shrugged. "Still have to see what Kimball thinks. I want the guys' lieutenants included in on it. They all have special skills that need to be worked on and rounded and we can help them there. They'll be our first set of recruits."
"We're going to need a space big enough for it," Wash commented.
"I'm sure there will be a space we can claim and mold to our own," Carolina replied.
"True. I think it sounds like a great idea."
"Yea?"
"Definitely. Between your martial arts skills, North sharpshooting, Emma's computer genius, York's infiltration and technical know how," Wash chuckled, "Sounds like we could get a pretty good training program going."
"Don't forget your skills as well," Carolina nudged him with her elbow.
"Or the guys," Wash added.
"Or the guys," Carolina nodded. "I don't know how well they'd do on the whole teaching front, but I'm sure we can work with it."
"Oh definitely."
"Momma! You're missing it!"
"Better go," Carolina sighed pushing off the railing and walking down the steps. Wash stayed where he was thinking over what Carolina had suggested. It sounded like a solid idea and one that could hopefully keep everyone happy.
"You sure this is going to be a smart idea? You're going to have to hide it for at least a month," North pointed out as York as he grabbed things off the shelf at the store they were at.
"Hey, it might take me that long to get it set up," York chuckled. "And yea I think it's a smart idea. Ally absolutely loves watching those fish and I talked to the guy already. As long as I follow the directions step by step, we should have no problems what so ever starting up a tank ourselves."
"Yea and how the hell are you going to get the fish once we're not here anymore?" North sighed trying to point out the flaws in his friend's plan.
"Like I said, I talked to the guy already. They do off-planet shipping and it works pretty great. Hasn't had any problems with it," York shrugged.
"None that he's heard of," North rolled his eyes.
"You're just jealous because you didn't think of it first," York winked at him.
"Oh yea, that's it. Hit the nail on the head my friend."
"Besides, I figured there's that nice storage area on your ship we can hide it out in until we get everything settled and then moved into whatever place we end up in," York shrugged. "It's going to be great."
"That tank is huge."
"Well yea, it has to be," York stammered turning his back to look at the list the guy had written down for him to check that he had everything they would need.
"York, I'm pretty sure there are smaller ones you can choose from. She doesn't need a whole miniature ocean in your living room."
"Sure she does," York argued.
"Carolina is not going to want a miniature ocean in your living room."
"Sure she will."
"York. Think about it logically. I know you can do that. We're going to have to custom build this thing by the time you're done with it and I'm sorry, but I'm not all that great at aquarium crafting."
"I just want her to be able to add whatever fish she likes to it after she gets it initially," York huffed.
"Which she can still do with a smaller more manageable tank," North chuckled. York let his shoulders drop a little. "Look, I'm not trying to crush your idea. It's an awesome idea and Ally is going to go ballistic over having her own little fish tank with pretty fish to take care of. But keep in mind, she's eight, going on nine. If you want her taking care of it, you're going to need to give her something that she's going to be able to manage on her own."
York sighed, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck, "Yea guess you're right. What do you think, a hundred gallon?"
"No, York. I think half that would be perfect," North chuckled. "We'll keep the excess in case you need it in the future, but I think a fifty gallon in the living room would be the perfect size for her. It's still big enough, but more manageable."
"Fine," York relented. "But that means she won't be able to get a shark if she wants to."
"Why the hell would you let her get a shark?" North chuckled.
"It's better than a pony. Don't most girls her age want ponies or unicorns?"
"In what book is a shark better than a pony?"
"I don't know, man," York rolled his eye. "But what if the day comes and she wants a shark?"
"Then you tell her to become a marine biologist and study them," North pointed out. "Carolina is not going to let her have a shark and it's just stupid to let her have a shark. Small, pretty fish are perfect and she'll have plenty of fun with them. You want something with teeth, look into things with fur."
"What about if she wants a lizard or something? They have teeth but no fur," York pointed out.
"I'm going to leave the rest of the responsible pet owner discussion to Carolina," North grumbled rolling his eyes. "Let's just worry about this stupid tank of yours. What else do you need or do you have everything?"
"I think we're good."
"Alright, let's get this stuff checked out and get it stored up on the ship," North started pushing the cart towards the register. "Are you picking any fish out now or are you waiting until its closer to her birthday and everything is set up?"
"Good question," York paused to think. "Let's talk to the guy when we get up there."
North followed him up through the aisle, pausing anytime York found something he wanted to check out. After arranging for everything to be dropped off at their ship before the end of the day, the two set off to let Lopez know what was going on so the robot wouldn't be surprised about packages being dropped off.
"The one good thing about this present is the fact it's going to be like a living science experiment," York rambled on. "You see, you got to have the right salinity level and bacteria level and pH level. Basically all sorts of levels and microorganisms to keep the environment and fish alive so she's going to learn a shit ton of stuff from doing this."
"That's great," North chuckled.
"Yea. And then pops will be able to help out too cuz of the sciencey stuff going on," York sighed. "See, so it's going to not just be a fun thing, but a learning thing. Carolina can't complain too much about it."
"I don't see her complaining now that you downsized the tank," North chuckled. "You're a good dad, you know that?"
"Still getting the hang of it," York shrugged.
"Yea, but I'd say you did it with flying colors."
"Thanks man," York smiled. "You and Emma gonna do the whole parent thing?"
"There's a few conditions she has that have to be met, but yea, hopefully," North nodded. "How about you two? You going to try again?"
"Heh," York scoffed, "You see Carolina slowing down any to pop out another one?" North shrugged. "As much as I would love to, that right there will be the deciding factor. So therefore, I'm spoiling the hell out of the one I do have just in case. Especially since I missed the first eight years of it. Ooo, in fact! One fish for every birthday I've missed!"
"You are insane," North chuckled at his friend.
"I see you confusing insanity with brilliance again."
"Whatever man."
"I take it you got Ally's birthday present all squared away?" Carolina asked as she crawled into bed next to York.
"Of course," he chuckled wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in.
"You going to tell me what it is yet?"
"I suppose I could," York smirked.
"It's nothing horrible is it?"
"Course not. I mean, North was with me so you know I didn't go too overboard," York chuckled.
"I'm sure you tried."
"Would you expect anything less?"
"Not from you," she chuckled. "So are you going to tell me?"
"You mean you don't want to be as surprised as Ally is when she sees it?"
"You know I have ways of making you talk," Carolina grinned tracing her fingers down his chest.
"I am well aware of this fact. You've used it on several occasions though I also remember it back firing on you greatly at one point," York pointed out.
"That's because I was being pigheaded and stubborn."
"You? Never," York smirked. She grabbed a chunk of flesh and pinched. "Hey now, that hurt. Now do you want to know or not?" Carolina huffed and rolled her eyes at him. "It's just a fish tank."
"A fish tank?"
"Yes. Her favorite part of this whole thing has been watching those fish by the reef in the restaurant. So I figure why not take a piece of it with us…well not an actual piece, but the idea of it and let her have her own little eco-system type thing to take care of. See, not that bad."
"Definitely not," Carolina nodded. She kissed his cheek, "And it's really sweet. She'll love it."
"And you'll be happy to know, North talked me down…I wanted to get this huge set up but he figured you probably wouldn't want our own private ocean taking up our living room."
"Thank God for North," Carolina chuckled.
"Now since we're sharing," York shifted a bit underneath her, "What were you and Washy talking about this morning?"
"Just discussing some things."
"What kind of things? Come on, Lina. Don't start shutting me out now."
"I'm not shutting you out," Carolina replied rolling her eyes. "I'm still working on the idea. There's a lot of things that need to get ironed out and I want Kimball's take on it before I let you and everyone else know about it."
"Well I think I'm a little higher up on that ladder than everyone else." She huffed. "If you can bounce it off of Wash, you most certainly can bounce it off of me. We're together in whatever we do from the moment you stepped into that club all those years ago. Sure we've hit some bumps, but that hasn't stopped us. So come on, lay it on me."
"I'm thinking of Wash and I starting a training program with the people of Chorus so that they can get some sort of specialized unit going to show the UNSC that they can manage themselves without other forces coming in and trying to take over," she rattled off. "We would need you, and Emma and North, and the rest of the guys to help run it if we can get approval from Kimball to do it."
York thought it over for a little before he shrugged, "Not bad. Sounds like a really good idea to me."
"Think Kimball would go for it?"
"I think she would be stupid not to," York answered. "I know you and Wash and the rest have really grown to care about the people of that planet and this will give them their best fight against the UNSC trying to pull them out. It sounds perfectly capable to me and I would love to be a part of it."
"I was hoping you would," Carolina chuckled resting her chin on his chest.
"Like I said, we're in it together," York smirked leaning his head forehead to kiss her forehead. "Better or worse and whatever hell else that guy at the chapel said."
"You really know how to talk a girls pants off, don't you," Carolina shook her head.
"Why, is it working?" he moved his head to check. "Yours are still on. I must have to up my charm and romance skills."
She reached up and grabbed his face, kissing him into silence. "You really need to work on the shutting your mouth while you're ahead skill."
"But where's all the fun in that?"
"You would know already if you would just stop talking."
"But you know how much I love hearing myself talk. Not as much as I love you of course."
"Of course," Carolina rolled her eyes.
"Love you, Lina."
"I love you too."
A/N: Tomorrow/Friday depending how much I can manage to get written today the next arc will probably start. If work stays as it is and I can get the stuff I need to get together for bowling tonight ready, shouldn't be a problem, but we'll see. I'll at least update on what the next title's gonna be (most likely something with Promise at the front cuz i'm lazy lol) The birthday will take place in the next arc for those excited about it lol. Thanks for reading, you all are awesome and i love each and every one of you! 3
A/N: Attention attention, next arc is up and started as promised! Title of next arc is "Protect" cuz why not change it up a bit ^_^