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She hadn’t thought she would need to worry about rain.
In hindsight, it seemed silly to think it wouldn’t rain. Eos had lakes and oases with standing water, and they never seemed to dry up, despite the heat. Maybe activating Meridian had triggered the return of a noticeable weather cycle. But still, when she smelled ozone on the air, she hadn’t expected actual rain. It came down hard, in sheets around the Nomad. They’d navigated all sorts of terrain, but the water made the sand impossible to move through. She threw it into gear and pushed forward in all-wheel drive until they found one of the shallow caves carved into the mountain side and parked the Nomad under cover. Gil would never forgive her if she got the their ground transportation sunk in the sand or struck by lightning.
“Well. That was…something. Huh?” Liam stared out the front window, gripping the sides of his seat.
“I suppose it had to rain sometime.” She squinted out the windshield, but everything on the horizon was blanketed in grey clouds. The storm had rolled in so fast that she’d been tempted to think it would blow away just as quick, but it looked like they were in for a blustery afternoon.
“Yeah. And you said it yourself.” His smile revealed a row of even teeth, but he was still staring ahead. He was probably coming to the same conclusion she was. “You have the worst luck.”
Cressida opened her door and jumped out of the Nomad right as lightening cracked, striking a sad-looking little tree off in the distance. They had maybe ten feet of cave to move in outside the vehicle, and the rain was coming down so hard it was practically sideways. Even standing right beside the Nomad, she could still feel the occasional droplet on her cheek. Liam followed close behind. The low growl of thunder shook pebbles out of the walls.
The whole thing was a little bit of a pain, but there was also a twinge of pride because she, Cressida Ryder, had brought the rain back. No need for applause, ladies and gentlemen! She stretched her arms out and a breeze whipped a fine, cool mist into the cave. It swept over her armor and clung to her hair. She sighed and stepped back to where Liam was standing, close to their vehicle.
“So much for a picnic by the radio dish,” she said.
“Will you still have to repair it?”
She looked back at him. His shoulders were a straight line, stiff, but he looked slightly less than thrilled. Lightning struck again and he jumped. Very less than thrilled. She wrapped an arm around his bicep and squeezed.
“Are you alright, Liam?”
“Fine. Just a little rain, right?”
He didn’t take his eyes off the wall of water that shot down from the mouth of the cave, drilling into the rocky ground.
“Are you afraid of storms?”
There was the twinge of a frown on his face, which was answer enough, but after a moment he replied “yeah, a little. But everyone is afraid of something, right?”
The air around them crackled. She could feel in over her skin, the anticipation, and then with a crash, lightening arced down right in front of the mouth of the cave. He jerked her back against the Nomad as if the lightning would chase them fin rom outside. Very slowly, she reached out and gripped his hand tight. She signaled SAM to open the doors back up and practically crammed him back into the passenger’s seat, sealing the door shut behind him. She climbed back into the Nomad, and found Liam sitting where she’d put him, stock still. Liam was never that still; he was constantly moving or fidgeting or jiggling his leg.
There had to be something she could do, but she couldn’t think of much that would be helpful, so she did the only thing she could think of. She clambered over the center console, an awkward process in full armor, and squished herself into his seat. The seat was not built to accommodate them, but she maneuvered her legs over his until she was half in his lap. That seemed to get his attention. Liam made a quiet grunting sound in surprise as she flailed. She almost kneed him in the chest trying to get comfortable, and he had to help adjust her more than once so she didn’t topple right over and land on the floor. Well. No one had ever said she was graceful.
“What are you doing?”
“Helping. Now shut up and let me be cute.”
“Cress, this is—ow, you’re kicking me.” He heaved her knee away from his diaphragm, but she’d earned a slight chuckle in the process, which seemed like a good start. She pulled herself up into his lap so that they were eye-to-eye. Thunder nearly jostled her right off of him, but his arm seized around her middle at the last second.
"There. See? I’m helping.”
He kissed the tip of her nose and hugged her tight. She couldn’t feel his heartbeat through his suit, but SAM jumped in—helpful as ever—to let her know that it was unusually fast. She could see a sheen of sweat on his forehead.
“Do you want to play ‘I spy’?”
“There are all of three things in this cave.” He laughed, startled more than anything, but didn’t quite look at her. Cressida could feel the heat of his breath across her throat when he settled his chin on her shoulder.
“I know. I spy with my little eye something rocky.”
“Is it rocks?”
“How’d you know?!” She stripped off her gauntlets and tossed them on the ground so she could rest a hand on the back of his skull, holding him close. “You’re turn.”
His other arm wrapped around her legs, holding her in place. “Alright. I spy something purple.”
“My armor?”
“Bingo.” His breathing steadied. The rain was so loud she could hear it while inside the Nomad, and that was just plain impressive. He had a snug hold on her. She scratched her nails against his scalp in soothing circles.
“I spy something blue.”
“My armor?”
“Yup! You again.”
“I spy something wet.” He was still looking straight out the window like he was hypnotized.
She tapped her lip and hummed like she was thinking before he nudged her shoulder with his chin. “Alright, alright. The rain?”
“Mmhm.” A strong gust of wind threw rain against the windshield with a sound like a million bullets peppering the glass. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I spy something grey.”
"The sky?”
“No.”
"The clouds?”
“Nope.”
He pulled his head back to look up at her and he was so intent on figuring out what she could possibly be talking about that he barely even winced when lightning arched down to the ground.
“Okay, you got me. I give up.”
She tapped the zipper that was sitting on his collar.
“That’s silver.”
“Same thing.”
“No it’s not.”
“Is too.”
“That doesn’t count.” He grinned up at her.
“No one likes a sore loser, Kosta.” She rested her forehead against his and then, slowly, pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth until he yielded and kissed her back. His thumb rolled over her cheek.
“No one likes a cheater, Ryder,” he mumbled against her mouth.
She burrowed against him until she could rest her cheek on his chest. Liam had all but forgotten about the rain. His hand made a slow circuit from her shoulder to her elbow. She could feel warmth radiating from him again, a private sunshine.
“You’re the best, you know that?” He pulled her close to his chest, ignoring all the pointy ends on her armor.
“I’ll remember you said that the next time you’re mad at me.”