A/N: So I seem to be buckling under the weight of my own precedence. I apologize for that, and I also must apologize for this: I don't know when I will be able to update next. I haven't had the time to put into my writing like I did pre-Arizona trip, and I truly feel as though the quality of these chapters has gone down because of it. I'm going to take some time to A) reassemble my buffer (because this post-as-soon-as-it's-written thing is honestly messing with my head, not to mention my proof reading cycle) B) produce better quality chapters and C) actually put some thought into the finale of the Unit 6 storyline, instead of writing without plan or direction as I usually do. My goal is to get full circle with Unit 6 before the next episode airs (a potentially ambitious statement, seeing as I don't actually know when that will be, but if the show is going to debunk my headcanons I want them all out on the internet prior to, as a matter of principle).

Also, fun fact: It's tough to type with a fresh tattoo on the wrist of your dominant hand. In hindsight, I could have thought that through a little better. ^^"

Let it never be said that Sapphire doesn't learn from her mistakes. It's been seventeen years almost precisely since she realized Ruby needed her to be as up front and expressive about the positive aspects of their association as she is about potential conflicts. It's what she has been striving for ever since, and expressing this more vulnerable portion of herself to Ruby is nearly effortless now.

'Nearly' being a key word.

It's easiest when they're alone. Sapphire doesn't feel painfully exposed to be reaching for Ruby in the privacy of the tiny room with only the communications machine. In fact, it's easy, because when it's just Ruby and herself Sapphire always has a better grasp of the notion that Ruby won't resent her for asking for affection, much less turn up her nose and reject it.

Still, some things are easier to ask for than others. There are some things that Sapphire knows she has and will never have the right to prod in to, and more and more she's beginning to understand why it took Ruby ten years to work up the nerve to ask her if she was happy.

Sometimes, Sapphire is coming to realize, not knowing anything is actually more of a comfort than knowing you're the only one. She hasn't peeked into the future; she's too scared of what she will find.

She hasn't asked, either, though she knows that she should. She should have brought it up the moment she started to sweat about it. Sapphire learns from her mistakes, damn it; she knows she can't let herself bottle things up, and she knows how important communicating with Ruby is. But she's doing this anyway, and she's frustrating herself with her lack of application. She can say she's learned, but it's not real until she's actually proved it with her actions. She knows that.

The thing is, there are some things that Sapphire just has no claim to.

It's been forty-seven years since they decided to explore more of whatever this is. It's gone by so fast that, in hindsight, Sapphire feels like she's missed chunks. To a gem fifty years isn't a long time, but these last forty-seven have felt even shorter than usual. Sapphire doesn't want to confront this now. She doesn't want to ever confront this, because she wants this to…

Well, it doesn't matter what she wants, does it?

Sapphire props her elbows on her desk and leans her temples into her palms, lets out a breath. It used to be easy to shunt these thoughts away—to the back of the mind with you, there's still time to enjoy the moment. Now they plague her more often than not, a relentless hoard of creatures buzzing, buzzing around her eye and ears, so many in number that she can't possibly capture and dismiss them all. All of her old coping techniques are falling short. Logic isn't working. Distraction has also begun to falter and fail. She won't look into the future for fear of what she might find. This is emotion, overwhelming and unreasonable, and it will not be stymied by her weak will or excuses. Frankly, Sapphire doesn't know what to do with herself anymore.

She feels Ruby's warmth, radiating and endless, standing next to her long before she hears, "I know you're not working."

"You're right," she mutters, closing her eye so she won't have to stare at the keyboard from under her bangs anymore. "I'm not."

Ruby braces one broad, red hand next to her elbow as she leans in, trying to crane her head down and around to make eye contact. "Well?"

The invitation to talk about it is plain. Sapphire has failed to meet her own goals for more up front and efficient communication, and Ruby has resorted to digging it out of her. It's enough to make a gem nostalgic. Just like the old days.

"I'm fine," says Sapphire, but she doesn't need her future vision to know that Ruby won't believe it.

She feels Ruby's body language soften next to her. "Is there something I can do? Do you need to sing?"

Sapphire shakes her head. "I'll be fine. Just give me a minute."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

The little "I can't" slips out before she can bite it back, and Sapphire's eye snaps open as she goes stock still. Her gem is pulsing frantically against her temple, and she can't breathe. Why did you say that?

Ruby doesn't hesitate to spin her around and brace her stocky arms on the armrests of the chair after that. Their faces are mere inches apart, and Ruby's expression is hardened with determination. "I won't take that for an answer."

She purses her lips together and shakes her head. No, this is not how this conversation is going to happen. She can't be so hopeless as to completely revert to the person she used to be in times of distress.

Ruby is unrelenting. "What aren't you saying, Sapphire?" Then the authoritative bark shatters to reveal the insecurity and unease underneath, and Sapphire's gloved fingers clench around the armrests. "Please, Sapph, you've got to tell me. Is it my fault?"

Well, technically, yes. But not in the way that Ruby is so worried about.

Sapphire is a lot of things, but she refuses to be the monster that makes Ruby worry over whether or not she's good enough. Not again. Not anymore. "We only have three years left," she says quietly.

"Three years left for—oh." Ruby's demeanor does a complete one-eighty. Her hands fall to her sides as she straightens up. "That's what you've been thinking about?"

Sapphire nods. Her breaths are coming in short, and she doesn't think she can meet Ruby's eyes right now. This is really happening. Whether she likes it or not, she's going to find the answer to the dreaded question very soon.

"You know," Ruby says with a small laugh that isn't exactly what one would call humorous. Sapphire glances up just in time to see her rubbing at her neck. "I always imagined this happening differently. Mostly with you just one day out and telling me whether or not I should leave. You know, a 'hey this has been fun but I literally do not see this working out, so you should probably just go away while you can' sort of thing."

Sapphire feels something invisible spear through her, but she nonetheless gathers enough of her wits to inquire, "Is that what you were hoping I'd say?"

"Well…" Ruby's hand drops, and she gestures helplessly. "No."

She's doing it again. She's making Ruby give something that she herself hasn't already offered up. It's like she can't stop. Why can't Sapphire stop doing this to her?

"But what about your freedom?" she asks softly. "Getting to the surface, seeing the sky?"

"Sapph, don't you get it?" Ruby throws an arm out towards the door. "I don't care about any of that!" Her voice lowers, becomes softer. "Not anymore."

Sapphire shakes her head. On one hand, she can't believe her ears—but on the other… "I can't ask that of you," she maintains. "I don't have the right. This is your freedom, it isn't right—"

"Yes, it is my freedom," says Ruby with firm new conviction. "I can give it to whoever I want. And, if you'll have me, Sapphire, I want to give it to you."

She's still shaking her head. "No. I won't let you shut the door on that, not for me—"

"I'm not doing it for you."

That gets her to stop. Slowly, Sapphire's expression changes as she looks at Ruby.

"I want to be around you because I love the person I am when we're together," Ruby says. "I want to become someone I can be proud of, and I've never felt like it was possible until I met you. We've helped gems here, Sapphire!" She makes a sweeping gesture to indicate the entirety of Unit 6, or maybe just their cohort. It's hard to tell. "As deep in the ground and isolated from the rest of society as we are, we found a way to make a positive difference. I've never been able to do that on my own." Her hand slaps against her thigh as it falls, and Sapphire doesn't think anyone has ever looked at her this way before. "I don't want to say here just for your sake, Sapphire, I want to stay for myself. Even if things don't continue as they have between us, I'll find a way to stay and keep making a difference regardless. To me, freedom doesn't matter as much as that."

Sapphire is floored. She couldn't have moved if she tried. She tries speaking anyway, but all that accomplishes is silently opening and closing her mouth. Finally, she releases a shuddering breath and puts her face in her hands. Her shoulders quake, but even she can't tell what from. "I have never felt so utterly self-centered before," she admits.

When Ruby approaches and gently tugs her hands from her face, Sapphire lets it happen. Likewise, she allows her head to be tilted back by the right hand on her cheek. Those eyes have never felt so warm before, she's sure of it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"Don't get me wrong," Ruby murmurs. "I have dozens of other reasons, too, and you probably won't like hearing them. But that is one of them."

Sapphire holds the hand on her cheek and turns her head so she can lean into the calloused red palm. Ruby's breath catches when she plants a kiss directly into the center of it. "I don't want to let you go," she confesses, though a part of her is screaming why are you doing this, you have no right, how dare you force your feelings on her, you have no right. "I didn't bring it up because I was so invested in the outcome being a certain way that I couldn't bear the possibility of hearing something else. I couldn't even Look for it." She swallows and closes her eye and grips Ruby's wrist tighter, with both hands now. Strong fingers flex against her forehead as she leans deeper into them. "I thought maybe I could be satisfied with fifty years, but I'm not, Ruby. I'm so selfish. I don't want this to end."

"Sapphire…" Her name is spoken in such a tiny voice, as if the very act of saying it is a miracle that requires too much breath.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be saying this. I shouldn't be trying to influence you. What I want doesn't matter. I told myself I wouldn't talk about it. I don't know what I'm doing anymore." And yet she pitches forward to synch her arms around Ruby's waist anyway. She presses her face into the strong warmth of Ruby's chest, trying to bury herself there in hopes that maybe doing so will save them both from her egocentricity.

Ruby doesn't react at first. She tenses at suddenly being seized, and it takes her a moment to wrap her head around what is actually happening. Then Sapphire feels the torso in her grip relaxes as an arm wind around her shoulders and the other hand stroke her hair back. "If that was what you wanted, all you had to do was say so."

Ruby's voice is thick with emotion, and Sapphire feels something inside of her seize up at the realization. She's just made everything worse, hasn't she?

Sapphire shakes her head into Ruby's shirt, curling her fingers into the fabric. It's hard to tell whether she is denying the plausibility of Ruby's sentiment or rejecting the idea that she has ever been in a position to ask something like this of someone else. Perhaps, she thinks, the two don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Ruby lets out an incredulous sound that is either a laugh or a groan as her fingers slide through the soft fluff of Sapphire's hair. "I can't believe you were worried that I would feel obligated. I would have dedicated everything to you fifty years ago, if you had let me."

That gets her.

"That doesn't make sense," Sapphire mutters into her torso. "You had no idea if this was going to work then."

Ruby's hand pauses in her hair as she leans back, and Sapphire can feel eyes boring down on the top of her head. "Are you questioning the legitimacy of my intuition?"

That gets her. Sapphire lifts her head and doesn't mind the way that her bangs are brushed out of the way by warm red fingers as she props her chin on Ruby's chest. "Intuition, or impulsivity?" she asks.

"Sometimes it can be both," Ruby huffs. She takes Sapphire's resulting snort of laughter as an invitation to haul her to her feet and swing her around so high that her legs nearly go parallel with the ground. Sapphire can't help the way she shrieks and laughs with delight, gripping Ruby's shoulders for stability. It's a weakness of hers, being handled in such a carefree way by such capable hands. It makes her feel light and happy and innocent, and the joy that Ruby clearly takes from seeing her like this only compounds it.

Her feet touch ground again, but they are still holding each other. Sapphire's fingers flex around Ruby's shoulders as she looks into the smiling face of her partner and wonders why she had ever been so afraid.

Ruby's grin fades some as she looks back. She says, "So, I want to do this—for as long as you want me around."

"And if I never stop?"

Ruby's expression is instantly wiped clean by that response. She jolts, stunned, but the serious look on Sapphire's face—if anything is going to scare her off, it's this, and what's worse is that the question had been entirely heartfelt—but then she smiles. It's a slow spreading of the lips, and the moisture that springs into her eyes makes her expression shiny and sincere. "Then I guess I'm not going anywhere after all."

For some reason, Sapphire laughs. It's a tender, ironic thing, hardly deserving of the term at all, but that's still the best word for the sound that leaves her. Affection surges within her, so lively and warm she thinks that she could levitate off the notion alone.

Everything she knows about being more than friends begins and ends with Ruby, and while perhaps that skews her towards the red gem by default Sapphire can't believe that she could feel this way about just anyone. It's only Ruby, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

There are still tears in the corner of Ruby's eyes. They aren't sad, but they are still there. Sapphire only hesitates for a moment before she leans in and softly kisses them away.

Ruby's smile changes, becomes warm and bashful. She touches Sapphire's cheek with her right hand. "This is only going to work if you genuinely want it to," she says in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

After all she's just witnessed in the last twenty minutes, Ruby still feels the need to say this. To double check. That is so like her.

Sapphire reaches up and holds her hand in place. Her response is dry but direct, because isn't it obvious? "Do you think I'd be here if I didn't?"