People kept asking me to continue the previous "chapter", but I'd never really intended for it to be longer than one chapter. Sorry! If someone can encourage me with a good storyline or some random ideas, I might write a full Lasky/Palmer story.
Meanwhile, this just... happened. It's really, really short and way too sweet, but like I said, it just happened. It's more of a drabble if anything, really. But I thought some people may like it, because hardly anyone publishes anything Palmer/Lasky.
So here you go. If anyone has an idea or a request, my inbox is wide open. x
Sarah saw the world in front of her dissolve as her body involuntarily sagged. Though she had - hopefully temporarily - lost her vision, she hadn't lost her sense. The stretcher's fabric rudely pressed into her back where her armor was absent, and in that moment she felt weaker than she had in years.
She let out one last groan, giving all energy she had to try and move something of her body on her own, but her attempt failed as she lost consciousness, too.
Most people complain about waking up to white hospital walls and the smell of disinfectant. In that moment, however, the half-sleeping commander would have loved nothing more than that standard scenario. Instead, she had to awaken to be greeted by the smell of rusty walls and dusty sheets that smelled like a grandma's living room.
The first couple of seconds she was still high from sleep, but slowly the pain and harshness of reality kicked in, and she started to feel again.
The dryness of her throat, the aching muscles in various parts of her body, the sandy feel when her eyelids moved, the emptiness of her stomach, the hurtfully great lack of energy.
A faint sound to her right made her try and pull her head to the right, a curious reflex, which resulted in nothing but a hot, burning ache in her neck and a 'Sarah, it's okay, stop trying.' A voice that she recognized, but did not immediately identify.
But when she did, it washed over her in a wave of relief.
'Tom.' she croaked, emitting a small cough from her throat. She closed her eyes and tried to shift her head again in a tired manner, to get more comfortable, but the amount of effort that took held her back.
A barely audible thumping of boots on the steel floor announced the captain's closeness, and she heard a cheap, old chair scratching the floor as it was pulled towards the bed.
Warm skin touched her forehead softly. She tried to look up, hoping that at least she could still freely move her eyes without restraint. And she succeeded, as brown eyes stared back at her and Tom's mouth curled up in a pained smile.
His fingers brushed her hair out of her face, slow and intimate. Something that should have probably made her feel uncomfortable, but it didn't.
The last thing Sarah remembered before landing in this old emergency bed was a perfectly regular battlefield. She had absolutely no idea what had went wrong, what she had done, what had wounded her so badly.
She knotted her eyebrows together, wanting to open her mouth and ask what happened, but the man hovering above her beat her to it.
'Covenant. Camouflaged elite tried to assassinate you. He took his time. One of the little guys threw in a plasma to help his big buddy.'His voice was low and louder than she had expected it to be.
Lasky straightened his back and grabbed her undamaged hand, rubbing soothing circles over the back of her hand with his thumb and sat down.
'I was the first one to hear. Damn it, Sarah, you have no idea how worried I was.' His head was nearly between his knees at this point.
'I'm sorry.'
He replied with a soft chuckle. 'You have nothing to apologize for. The covenant, however, those bastards have some explaining to do.'
He lifted his head up again and their eyes met. It's amazing how few words have to be spoken in some situations and how much can be said.
His lifted eyebrows, the "I don't really have time for this visit but I don't really care", her slight pout, the silent "why can we only meet like this lately."
'You'll be okay. You're a spartan. One of the best, actually.' my spartan.
'Couple days, you'll be great. Like always.'
That's all it took for her. She lifted her chin slowly, every movement too quick being extremely painful in that moment, and he understood exactly what her body was trying to say.
The captain looked at the door for a swift second, making sure no one would burst in that second, and rose from his chair, put his hand to her cheek and his lips to hers.
And Sarah felt her muscles ease and her stress flow away, and that knot in her stomach left, as if she had been waiting for that since the very moment she was carried into this damned makeshift hospital room.
Their lips moved slow and comfortable, familiar with their territory, and in no more than 5 seconds tongues were brushing against each other and feelings were getting more intense.
The return of the scratch of the chair on the floor made them move away from each other. Tom's leg had slightly hit the chair as he leaned into the kiss.
He removed some strands of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes from her face again and smiled down at her, slightly pulling at his own lower lip with his teeth.
'You'll be amazing.'
His smile slowly faded as he looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
'I have duties.'
'I know.' a hoarse, swift reply.
'I'll be back.'
'I love you.'
The captain backed away until he was at the door again, then purposefully paused for a moment.
'I love you, too.'
And he turned around and stepped away from the room, to be back soon again.