The rain had continued into the evening, cold and thick as it fell. The dreary weather had seemingly deterred the citizens of New Alexandria from utilizing the park, John finding himself alone by the pond. Occasionally, a citizen or two would pass under umbrellas turned against the drizzle, marching towards their destinations. The lack of life left the park hauntingly silent, save for the soft rustle of wind through the surrounding foliage and patter of raindrops. His head was still heavy with the sounds of the last deployment; weighed down by the constant noise of gunfire and the grunts of dying Sangheili. The gentle natural rhythm around him was calming, soothing, cleansing as he listened.

He counted the lights that started to illuminate on the water, glancing over his shoulder at the open grass that remained empty. He brought his focus back to the lights of the apartment buildings over the water, checking his watch. 5:45 rolled by, finding himself still alone by the pond. Perhaps the dreary weather had deterred her as well. He felt foolish as he stood there, the rain biting at his skin through his soaked civvies.

He turned at the sound of a dog's bark, finding the border collie bounding across the field to him, bright orange ball gripped in her mouth. Sadie ran to him, dropping her ball at his feet and jumping up onto him, her wet paws pressed against his legs as she barked happily at him.

"Hey Sadie," he greeted her.

She threw herself down at his feet, rolling over and showing him her white belly, tail pounding against the ground. John chuckled, crouching down and scratching the dog's belly.

"Sadie, you're such a pest," she sighed.

Familiar sneakers stepped beside the dog, the electric pink speckled with mud. John looked up, finding Violet standing above him, the hood of her rain slicker pulled up over her head. She had let her hair down since he had seen her in the lift, no longer twisted into the tight regulation bun, instead tumbling out of the hood of her jacket, twisting and curling slightly in the rain. He felt a twist in his belly that he couldn't quite identify when she smiled at him; that same warm smile from the first time they spoke that somehow felt brighter than the lights reflected on the pond.

"Sorry, we got a later start today," she explained, brushing away the strand of wet hair that stuck to her cheeks, " Someone ate a pair of shoes while I was at work instead of chewing on her perfectly good toys, so I had to pick that up. I won't name names, though, but it definitely rhymes with Bradie."

Sadie nudged her ball towards John's feet with a high while, her rear wiggling. He scooped up the wet ball, giving the pup a scratch between her ears. Sadie responded with a series of licks to his hands as if she were greeting an old friend.

"I told you, she's been looking for you," Violet said.

John looked back up to where she stood, hugging herself against the soggy weather. Sadie took his moment of distraction to strike, peppering his face with a furious frenzy of wet licks. Violet let out a snicker, apologizing profusely as he pinched his eyes shut tightly, turning his head in hopes to twist out of her licking range with little luck. She reacted down, giving the dog a gentle push back, but Sadie lurched back forward towards her new friend and continued to lick his face happily, "It's nice to see you too, girl."

He scooped the ball out of the damp grass, holding it up to Violet. Sadie leapt up like an errant spring, barking at him. "May I?" he asked.

Violet gestured towards the empty grass field, tucking her hand back into the fold of her arms, "I think she'd be offended if you didn't."

He gave the ball a toss, Sadie trailing after it in a spray of rainwater and mud. The ball touched down on the opposite side of the field, the dog following it in a low, agile sprint. He brushed the splatter of cold mud from his pant legs, watching the dog on her determined race across the grass.

"Sorry for dragging you out here in such shitty weather," she said earnestly, wiping the cold wet off of her cheek with the back of her hand, "It was really pretty up until a few days ago, and then it just started pouring. Bummer that you have such crummy weather on your first day back. How was your… trip?"

He shrugged, an unsure look on her face as she considered him, as if she were still determining if it were appropriate for her to ask. Sadie bounded up to him, ball gripped tightly in her mouth as she skidded to a stop, sitting in front of him. He bent down, holding out his hand for the dog, who instead dropped the ball on the ground beside his open palm. He shook his head, snatching the ball up and giving it another toss, Sadie bolting away in a streak of black and white, "It was," he searched for a neutral enough word, "fine."

"I'm assuming you can't say much about it," she acquiesced.

Rain collected on the edge of her hood, growing heavy and straining against the weight of itself. He felt the urge to wipe it away before it could drip onto her freckled nose. Instead, he tucked his hands into the pocket of his jacket, pulling his stare from the collection of freckles so vast he thought he could chart constellations in them.

"It's classified."

She nodded, following his stare to where Sadie approached the ball. She picked it up, giving it a few squeezes in her jaw before starting her run back to them. A silence fell between the two, John unsure of what to say. Violet shifted beside him, clearing her throat.

"You have been silent for 6.3 seconds, Chief. Humans can only handle 4 seconds of silence before they begin to experience feelings of discomfort or rejection. Talk to her!"

Sadie dropped the ball at his feet again, already starting to trot in the direction in which he had been throwing. He scooped it up again, tossing it several feet from where the dog ran towards, "I didn't expect to see you at FLEETCOM," he stated. Sadie skipped to a stop, paws sliding in the mud before snapping up the ball, "You don't strike me as military."

"I didn't say insult her, John," Cortana groaned, "Ask her questions about herself. Get to know her."

Violet feigned a gasp, pressing a hand to her chest in faux offense, "You wound me, good sir."

He looked over at Violet, the dark haired woman holding back a laugh at his bemused shake of the head. She dropped her hand, laughing that clear, high laugh, "You would be right though. I'm not. Just another lowly little civilian contractor- I'm a scientist."

"Yeah? What field?"

"Botany."

The hollow feeling returned to his chest at the word, flashes of memory flooding his mind. The word had meant nothing to him a year ago; just another discipline in which the UNSC weaponized. But now, it carried the image of a plant lab projected in his HUD in the ruin of his childhood home, cloudy memories of his father calling him into the room to show him plants that seemed to grow by magic. He pushed those memories down, glancing back to Violet with an acknowledging nod.

She hugged herself again, "I spent the last four years on a dying planet in the outer colonies working to implement artificial forests and farmland," she explained, "We taught the locals how to grow and sustain crops. It was a very, very modified version of what the UNSC tried to create with artificial ecosystems a few decades back. The hope was to teach the villagers how to provide for themselves so that they wouldn't become reliant on insurgent groups."

"Sounds like important work."

Sadie deposited the ball at his feet, panting heavily. He bent down again, the dog giving his brow an appreciative lick before he straightened back up, lifting his arm. Violet gave a little shrug, adjusting her weight on her hip and facing him again.

"It's a tree- mendous job, but someone has to do it."

He stopped mid-throw, giving her an incredulous look as the joke hit him. She smiled at him expectantly as if willing him to laugh, stifling a giggle. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, uncertainty lingering in the green.

"I believe she made a play on words. See, instead of saying 'tremendous', she used a domain specific word to her area of study-."

"I got it, Cortana."

"Oh, good."

He chuckled, shaking his head at the pun. She laughed again; a pleasant, happy sound that tilted her head back, punctuated with a snort. He liked the sound of it, the noise lifting the corners of his mouth. "Wow," he murmured.

Violet laughed, "Sorry, that was really bad. It usually kills with other botanists. Sometimes."

"No, it was funny," he assured her with a nod, "You're funny."

She dropped her eyes from his, her cheeks as pink as her sneakers as she brushed her hair out of her face again, tucking a wet strand behind her ear. Her eyes met his again, the uncertainty replaced with the same pleasant warmth that rang from her laughter, twisting that thing in his stomach he didn't know how to identify. "Thank you."

Sadie trotted back, her pace much slower as she neared John. She panted heavily as she dropped the ball, ears dropping with exhaustion before she flopped over, muddy paws pointed to the skies.

"I think I broke your dog," he said with a chuckle.

She gave a dismissive wave of her hand, laughing, "You can break her whenever you would like. She's going to sleep so well."

Violet whistled, Sadie twisting upright and sitting beside the woman as Violet fastened her lead. His heart sank at the punctuating action, signaling the end of the evening.

"Offer to walk her home."

He pointed across the pond in the direction of the transit station, "Could I walk you back to base?"

She shook her head, making a face as the collection of rainwater broke its tension on her hood and dripped into her face. She wiped her face, "I actually don't live on base. Perks of being a lowly botanist; the powers-that-be really don't care about keeping me close."

She raised a hand, pointing in the opposite direction towards the apartment buildings that towered over the park. He followed her finger to a familiar white building freckled with balconies, the building he had been watching before she arrived.

"I'm that one, actually."

"You didn't have to carry her," Violet laughed, "You're going to spoil her."

John shifted Sadie under his arm, the dog pressing herself against him with a happy groan. He had picked up the tired pup before they left the park after Sadie proved that she was not in the slightest bit interested in obeying Violet's whistles, tucking the pup under an arm. Violet had apologized five times on the short walk from the park to her building for the dog's behavior, John waving it off dismissively. He didn't mind, and neither did Sadie, staring up at him with adoration in her heterochromatic eyes as Violet led them down the hallway from the lift to her apartment.

"This one is me," she stopped halfway down the hallway, pointing towards the door brandishing D-43, smiling up at John as she leaned against her door. "It was really nice to see you. I'm sorry you got soaked, though," she said, gesturing to his damp clothing.

He shrugged, "It was worth it."

She dropped her eyes again, her cheeks turning that pretty pink.

"I'd like to see you again," he said, kicking himself for how quickly the words left his mouth, adding, "If that's alright with you."

She nodded, smiling up at him with that smile. "Yeah, I'd like that."

John returned her smile, nodding in return. A beat of silence passed between the two before Sadie scratched at the still closed door with a displeased whine, the pup's thoughts of the park now replaced by her motivation to eat. Violet sighed at the dog, scanning her access card on the pad beside the door. The light flashed green, the lock rolling in the tumbler and she gave the door a push open, dropping the red lead and letting Sadie dart into the dark apartment.

"She probably wants dinner," she explained as if in apology.

"I should let you get to it then," he agreed, tucking his hands into his pockets. She didn't move, instead continuing to look up at him wordlessly.

"Hold on one second, actually," she said, holding up a finger.

He nodded, watching as she disappeared into the apartment. John peeked in the open doorway, a light flickering on somewhere beyond the entryway. On the far wall, he could make out a series of shelves covering the walls in the dark, adorned with plants in pots and vases of various sizes and a few frames. Sadie trotted out of an unseen room, her lead still trailing behind her. She stopped in the middle of the dim living room, shaking out her wet coat beside the sofa, her tags jingling as wet and mud went flying.

"Ugh, Sadie!" Violet groaned.

Violet reappeared, rain slicker gone, her gray long sleeve water stained by her hair. She padded back up the entryway, her sneakers leaving a trail of muddy footprints behind her. She held out a slip of paper to him, his fingers brushing against hers as he took it from her. He inspected the sage green square; her comm number written in neat, bulbous print on the notepaper, a cartoon houseplant printed in the corner.

"This way, we don't have to stand in the rain to find one another," she said with a shrug.

John tucked the paper into his pocket, hoping his wet clothing wouldn't cause it to smudge.

"Not to worry, Chief. I have already programmed it into your contacts," Cortana announced proudly.

Violet continued to watch him, crossing her arms and leaning against the doorway. She missed the doorway, obviously miscalculating how close she thought she had stood to it, quickly correcting herself so that she leaned against it. A glimmer of embarrassment crossed her face, John smirking at her. "Okay."

"Okay," she repeated. She lingered in the doorway for a moment, twisting her wet hair around a fist. He wondered if it felt as soft as it looked. "Goodnight," she murmured, stepping into the apartment and pulling the door shut behind her.

"I like her."

"Cortana. We've talked about this."

"Right. Boundaries."

John shook his head, retracing the path they had taken back to the lifts. He yanked the hood of his jacket back up as he stepped onto her street, the pavement glowing under the streetlamps as the last lights of the evening dissipated beyond the horizon. He crossed the street towards the park, keeping a quick pace towards the walking path that would lead him pack to the transit station, ready to rid himself of the cold, rain sodden clothing that had only started to feel uncomfortable in the minutes since he had left her door.

He crossed the street towards the park, keeping a quick pace towards the walking path that would lead him pack to the transit station, ready to rid himself of the cold, rain sodden clothing that had only started to feel uncomfortable in the minutes since he had left her door. He stopped on the sidewalk, glancing back at the building. He counted the windows on the fourth level, his eyes resting upon the window of her apartment. Inside, a light flickered on, bathing the window in warm light. He stood as if transfixed by it, watching for a few moments before turning and continuing through the park, the light of her apartment reflected on the smooth surface of the pond.

Vannak was a horrendous snorer.

John laid on his bunk, eyes fixed upon the ceiling. The other Spartan's snores echoed off the walls, filling the barracks with the roaring noise. He lifted an arm, tucking it under his head, hair still slightly damp from the blisteringly hot shower he had taken upon returning from the park. The snores came to a conclusion, the room falling silent again, John closing his eyes in hopes to find the release of sleep that he had found so little of the last two weeks. He shuffled down on the familiar, firm mattress, Kai's covers shifting as she turned over a few feet away. He sighed, allowing his body to relax.

The silence disappeared as quickly as it came, another snore ripping from Vannak's bunk. His eyes opened again, an annoyed sigh whistling through his nose. He turned over, silently accepting that sleep was a mission he would be unable to accomplish that night. He reached to the shelf beside his bunk, fingers closing around the crumpled slip of paper he had peered at repeatedly since pulling it from his pocket that night. Her loopy handwriting stared back at him, the numbers slightly smudged, the cartoon face of the houseplant meeting his gaze with expressionless eyes.

He reached for his pad, tapping until an empty conversation thread appeared under her name.

"It is well past midnight, Chief," Cortana warned, "I doubt you will get a response at this hour. I would recommend against contacting her tonight. Many dating experts recommend waiting at least two days before making first contact in order to not seem overly eager."

117: Hey, goose girl.

117: It's John.

117: From the park.

He dropped his pad onto his chest, fixing hi eyes on the ceiling. He sighed, running his hands across his face. The sound of an incoming message chimed mere moments later, John nearly throwing his pad across the room in the speed in which he sat up.

Violet Harris: Hey, John from the park. Gotta say, I don't entirely hate goose girl.

Violet Harris: Thanks again for tiring out Sadie. She's been asleep since you left. She did, however, expect to be carried to bed. So I think you owe me one for that.

117: Anytime. I guess I do.

Violet Harris: Shouldn't you be asleep? I thought they kept you Spartans on a tight bedtime.

117: I could ask you the same thing.

Violet Harris: You've got me there, big guy. Guess I should turn in for the night. The plants won't catalog themselves tomorrow, after all.

117: They certainly won't.

117: It was nice to see you tonight. I had a nice time.

Violet Harris: :-) Me too. See you tomorrow maybe?

117: What is that?

Violet Harris: It's a smiley face. People put it to show they're happy.

117: Copy.

117: See you tomorrow.

117: :-)