Work Text:
Dani hadn’t planned to sit on the roof and look at the stars that night, but she had felt compelled to do exactly that. She didn’t think that anyone would come looking for her. It wasn’t uncommon for her to spend hours stargazing. There was just something about the night sky that interested her. When she was little Mama had bought her countless books on space and the stars. She knew many of the constellations and names of stars.
The night was clear. A perfect fall night. She could see the constellations and most of the planets. It was just a bit cold and she really hadn’t dressed for being outside. She hadn’t grabbed her coat. Climbing the roof had been a last-minute idea that she couldn’t resist.
It was calming to be up there in the cool night air. She could hear animals in the nearby forest, but the lodge was mostly quiet, most of its residents settling in for the night. She could sit up here for hours, ignoring what she needed to get done or the fact that she was losing sleeping hours. Yeah, she would need to get up in the morning and work around the lodge, but right now it was just her and the calming effect of the twinkling stars above her.
“Babe?” Aubrey poked her head up from the ladder. She started climbing onto the roof.
Dani turned slightly to look at her girlfriend approaching her. “Hmm?”
Aubrey looked at her concerned. “Aren’t you cold? You’ve been up here for a while.” Aubrey swung a bag off her back.
“I guess I lost track of time.” Dani started to register the cold creeping into her bones. She began rubbing at her arms.
Aubrey pulled Dani’s coat out fo the bag. She handed it to Dani then pulled out a blanket.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, but the nights are getting colder.” Aubrey sat down next to Dani. She threw the blanket around them. She snuggled up close. “So anything interesting up there?”
Dani chuckled as she turned her eyes back to the stars. She leaned her head on Aubrey’s shoulder. “There are a few planets you can see.”
“Really?” Aubrey started searching the sky. “How can you tell them from the stars?”
“Very carefully.” Dani pointed up. “Over there is Jupiter. And there is Saturn. Mercury is there and Venus is there.”
“Wow,” Aubrey breathed. “There’s so many that we can see from here.”
“We can see millions of stars and planets. The universe is huge.” For the millionth time, Dani wondered if she could see Sylvain in the sky. Earth’s scientists hadn’t found it yet, but that didn’t mean that one of those time pinpricks of light couldn’t be Sylvain.
“Do you know constellations too?” Aubrey brought Dani out of her thoughts.
“There aren’t that many in the sky this time of year. Just seven.” She snuggled closer to Aubrey. Aubrey wrapped her arm around Dani’s shoulders. Dani started pointing out the stars in the constellations. “The big ones are Aquarius and Pegasus.”
Dani wasn’t sure how long they sat on the roof. She pointed out all of the constellations they could see and even named off a few other stars. It was late into the night when the two girls began yawning. Aubrey made the first move to stand up. She pulled Dani up and packed away the blanket. They walked to the ladder holding hands. Aubrey started climbing down first.
“Thank you,” Dani said, a soft smile on her lips.
Aubrey looked up at her. “For what?”
“For coming to warm me up on this cold night. For listening to me ramble about the stars.” Dani wanted to say more but couldn’t think of a way to put her feelings into words.
Aubrey grinned. “Anything for you, Babe.”