Feather Meet Spear
Few things Della didn't expect to find when she got to the Moon: gold, rocket eating bugs, a whole civilization, a lover. That last one was especially surprising.
Not that she didn't expect it given the circumstances of her and Penumbra's meeting. It was inevitable that they eventually entered a romantic relationship.
And what kind of woman wouldn't fall for a tall warrior lady? Della Duck absolutely would and she has. She's fallen hard.
She was also a bit under the weather these days. Her ship is almost done, which filled her with hope, anxiety, fear, sadness and happiness. All these emotions made it rather difficult for her to sleep. Penumbra noticed it, her senses were sharp and not like Della was being subtle when she'd crawl out of their bed and go over her notes again.
Even Penumbra knew them by heart now, let alone Della who has written and re-written them over and over to make sure they were perfect.
"That one's wrong." The Moon warrior commented while leaning over her girlfriend.
"Wrong? Where?" Della picked up her calculation sheet and squinted at it. If she kept doing that it would ruin her eyes. "I don't think I-"
"Here." A rough, thick finger pushed the paper back down and pointed out a very clear and very easy to spot error. "It's a different number from the one you usually recite at this part."
So it was. Della tilted her head up, "You remember stuff like that?"
Penumbra shrugged, her face getting to a deeper shade "Hard to forget when you say it so often. Kind of like how you always tell me you really like me."
"So you do listen to me! I knew it!" She grinned in victory before taking on a more somber look. "This was a pretty dumb mistake to make though. If you didn't catch it and I used these to power the Spear of Selene it would have broken down. Like it did before." The duck leaned against her girlfriend's toned stomach, "I should have caught it. I'm only making my boys wait longer. Am I a bad mom?"
"Hm. I can't say I know how to accurately measure the degrees of motherhood but any mother that spends this many years trying to get back to her kids can't be a bad one." Penumbra leaned down and wrapped her arms around Della's smaller body, urging her to relax. "You're doing the best you can Della. And you're so close to your goal! You could leave any day now!"
As soon as she said those words she regretted them. Della felt the Moon warrior tense up behind her. When she tried to look at her Penumbra's hold tightened. She could never allow Della to see her upset. Leaving eventually was hard enough as it was.
"Penny..."
"Don't Della. It's alright." Penumbra was always strong, a warrior of the Planet Moon. She was strong for her people, for Lunaris, for herself, she would be strong for Della too when she needed it.
"Want to go back to bed and cuddle a bit more? I think we could both use some of that right now." There was no pushing Penumbra into admitting her feelings, even their romance was super slow because Della took it at her girlfriend's pace.
Della would leave eventually, but not today or tomorrow. They still had time to love each other.