Chapter Text
#1. SLEEP TIGHT
His eyes opened right on cue, when the familiar ‘ding’ in his ear signaled the completion of the four-hour timer. Nap was over. Time to relieve Linda from watch duty.
He pinged. Linda replied with a green status light.
Everything was alright. The Jiralhanae hadn’t caught their presence yet.
A much-needed lucky break, indeed.
Frederick-104 took a deep breath, tasting the stale recycled air inside his MJOLNIR.
A flash of lightning lit up the inside of the cave. Weather was still bad outside, it seemed. He picked up the sound of rain violently tapping the leaves and calculated the distance of the storm’s eye by measuring the seconds between a flash of light and the subsequent roll of thunder. Under ten kilometers. Although his armor had state-of-the-art imaging systems, the Spartan waited for the next lightning to take a glimpse of the sleeping shapes of Kelly, near the cave’s entrance, and the Gammas, huddled together with their backs to the walls of the passage. Infrared and thermal just weren’t the same as good old light.
He pinged Kelly. She returned a green status light, of course.
The Lieutenant himself was sitting at the bottom of the shallow cavity, rifle perfectly caught between his hands. His back felt a little stiff, his senses a bit clouded. Fred pulled his weight to a straight sitting position and rolled his shoulders.
A huffing sound to his left, right next to him, jolted his awareness back to one-hundred.
The small shape shifted and turned.
Ah. Right. The Inspector.
Another blink of blinding light. She was sleeping on her side, dark hair tousled over her pale face, wrapped in a thermal blanket. More like, hugging herself because the blanket was past her waist; Lopis had to leave her jacket behind and according to his HUD’s temperature monitor, it was rather cold. She had to be shivering.
Fred shook his head slightly.
He pushed to a crouching position in absolute silence, ready to get up and get to work.
But before that, he reached out to pull the blanket over Lopis.
He wanted to believe that it was a simple gesture of kindness and that he would’ve done the same for any of his siblings. Maybe it was. Maybe it was more than that. Veta had been antsy all night before finally falling asleep. The cave wasn’t that small or tight, and she probably wasn’t worried about that either, but her distress kept Fred on edge more than the Brutes themselves. So, he didn’t just tug on the blanket and dropped it past her shoulder, no. The Spartan took a moment longer to ease the wrinkles on the polystyrene fabric and made sure that her back or feet weren’t uncovered either. All nice and comfortably wrapped. Safe. Sound. Calm.
He waited a few seconds until she stopped shivering.
Another sudden and unusually long burst of light showed him her face, still half-covered by hair but the tension on her lips and jaw had receded. She took a deep breath, shifting in her sleep, pulling the blanket tighter around herself. Fred couldn’t help a minuscule smirk.
He reached out slowly, again, maybe to move the hair out of her face…
Linda pinged him, impatiently. Right, watch duty.
‘Sleep tight, Inspector.’ he thought, unable to contain a grin.
The Lieutenant stood up, silent as a night predator, and climbed to the entrance of the cave. Not even a loose pebble squeaked under the soles of his boots. Walking past Kelly, he met the impassible gaze of her golden faceplate; she swept two fingers across, wishing him good luck. Fred answered in kind and dived deep into the jungle, to look for Linda’s carefully concealed nest.
#2. MORNING, SUNSHINE
It felt so good. For a moment there, he forgot about everything, literally.
He forgot about his name and his rank, his duty, his job. His past, present and limited future. Everything. He was just so comfortable, melting on the couch. God, when was the last time he’d slept this well? Ages. A resilient, perhaps impulsive part of him decided that he was going to stay down a little longer. He didn’t care if he didn’t fit well on the couch, even. There were other voices in conflict telling him, in a stern tone, that he had to get up and run through a shit-ton of intel, that it was late, soldier, he had to reach Baby Dragon and get the day’s orders; but he didn’t care. For a second there, Fred didn’t care.
He groaned. And slipped his hand under the pillow, to tuck it better under his head.
The pillow was warm. Slim and maybe a bit hard, but so warm…
It shifted under his cheek.
He didn’t think it was weird, a pillow that moved by itself. He was sound asleep, after all.
“Morning, sunshine.” her voice said, not devoid of irony.
It felt like fingers running through his hair.
He sighed. A shiver shook his spine and he just melted again, nuzzling the pillow with his nose, catching its scent of standard-issue soap. It had also been ages since the last time he had a dream so nice and peaceful. He liked her voice, it had a husky ring that...
Everything came back, like a bolt of lightning hitting his brain. The mission. The safehouse. The night before. A few rations, some poker. Laughter. Shared stories. The Gammas heading off to sleep, not without protesting. Smiles and more stories, a little more personal this time. The clock ticking into tall hours. Even his name, rank, duty and job, and the fact that he shouldn’t be so cuddly with the Inspector just bounced back into his consciousness. The data overflow made his blue-green eyes snap open immediately, finding the blinding sunlight dead ahead.
The shine hurt. He closed his eyes again and growled.
His head was spinning now, caught in that scent of soap and soft human musk that clouded his environmental perception. It was a smell closely tied to her, natural, private, she didn’t wear fancy perfumes. She wasn’t that kind of person. He would recognize her clean scent under any circumstances, the certainty of that fact was overwhelming.
Of course, it was her. Who else could it be?
“Lopis.” he mumbled, still a bit fuzzy.
“Easy there. Everything is alright.”
“What happened?” he croaked, almost afraid to move.
“You told me to wake you up in four hours.”
Again, that sensation… fingers running through his hair.
Her fingers.
Through his hair.
Fred tensed up like a piano string, locking every muscle in a sharp reflex.
He was pretty sure he had not been lying down on his side when he went to sleep. A series of loud thumps filled his ears and throat, a mixture of embarrassment and fear tainted his cheeks with a soft red. This was a man that punched Elites on the face and now he was shaking inside at the idea of falling asleep with his head on a woman’s lap.
Covering his eyes with one hand, Fred turned up to look.
His blue-green gaze locked with that hazel, amused stare. She was smirking.
“Can I get my leg back, or are you planning on keeping it?” the snark was on point.
“I’m sorry.”
She snickered. He didn’t get up but didn’t hesitate to turn away.
His face was on fire.
“I don’t mind, just started regretting it the moment I needed to go to the bathroom.”
Okay, time to move. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how…”
Fred uncurled his hand from beneath her leg, fast, and pushed up with his right elbow until he was sitting again, at arm’s length from Veta. She shook her head, then stretched her arms up and arched her back until every joint cracked, breaking off the stiffness of a night sleeping in an uncomfortable pose. She groaned in deep satisfaction. Then, the Inspector slumped back on the couch, with a long sigh, still smiling.
“You fell asleep and slipped my way. You just…” Lopis made a gesture with her hand, like a log dropping on her lap. “Like that. And you were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t have it in me to shake you awake and tell you to move. It seemed like you really needed it.”
Then she laughed, shaking her head again.
There was a… her smile trembled.
No, he wasn’t imagining it this time, her smile trembled a little. Her cheeks were flushed.
Fred’s eyes softened. He knew there was something he could (should) say, but…
“Well, you make a nice pillow.” he blurted out.
It was nothing like what he intended to say originally. Nothing like what he should’ve said, this was miles beyond unprofessional and stepping into unknown territory. But it just escaped his mouth before he could restrain his tongue.
The good news was that Veta returned it in kind:
“Thank you. You make a wonderful log yourself, Lieutenant.” she replied and stood up.
He simply watched her go and get lost within the corridors, looking for the bathroom.
#3. LAZY RIDE
“FRED!”
Her voice pulled him out of an underwater-like dream, and he followed like a fish caught on a line. Suddenly there was a thunderstorm of sound around them, the Spartan felt a violent breeze on his face. He wasn’t wearing the helmet. How come? Small hands were keeping his head still, warm fingers clutching him right under the ears.
He couldn’t breathe right. He couldn’t smell anything.
So tired. He felt so tired, he needed to sleep.
Fred didn’t think it twice, his eyes rolled back and he just…
“FRED, NO! STAY AWAKE!” Veta shouted, close. The Spartan blinked fast, coming back immediately. Everything was so blurry, fuzzy, deafening, confusing. “YES! THAT’S IT! OPEN THOSE PRETTY EYES FOR ME, COME ON!”
Breath choked in his throat, he coughed. Swallowed. It hurt, it fucking hurt.
He tried to talk but the words didn’t come out.
Where was she?
The Inspector. Was she okay?
He tried to ask about it, again, but for the second time the words didn’t happen.
Copper in his saliva. It might’ve been blood. He didn’t think it was his own guts, not yet. His chest felt like he’d been run over by a massive truck yet again. Something heavy was sitting on him, or at least that’s how he felt. He couldn’t move right. He couldn’t think right.
He couldn’t feel anything below his neck, for that matter.
He did acknowledge the familiar cold sting of biofoam seeping down his wounds, cramming and tightening the space between his skin and the undersuit. It stung everywhere, literally. A part of him groaned, trying to imagine the extent of the damage.
But without a cause…
Right. Of course, few things could knock down a Spartan.
Gravity hammer dead-center to the chest, in this case. Atriox.
He stepped too close, trying to get Veta away.
He had ordered her to stay on the back, twice. He told her this dumb idea wouldn’t work and she still wanted to try. She was so small, she thought she could make it to stick that grenade on the back of the Chieftain. And she did, but she wouldn’t clear the blast zone in time and he tried his best, he launched her like a cannonball to Olivia’s arms a millisecond before Atriox got him. Perhaps he should’ve trusted her instead of being afraid for her.
He remembered hearing the explosion, but that was… when?
Where were they? What was that horrendous noise?
Again, where was the Inspector?
The Lieutenant was so dizzy that he didn’t recognize the roaring engines of the Pelican or the desperate orders shouted around him by medics. Someone was saying that they were losing something, with a stern voice. Not him, right? They weren’t losing him.
Spartans never die.
He tried to take another deep breath.
“Easy, Fred. Easy, don’t get too worked up.” she said, somewhere above.
“Hold on tight, we’re almost there.” that was unmistakably Kelly, somewhere to his left.
He looked up, trying to manage those shallow breaths and enough motor control to stumble upon her hazel eyes. There she was. Fred managed a dumb, wide smile, full of bloodied teeth. Lopis seemed alright, apparently his head was resting on her lap and she was the one holding him straight. There was an open wound on her forehead that was bleeding down her cheek. The impulse to nag her about not using her helmet almost overwhelmed him, but…
“No… NO, STAY AWAKE. Look at me, Fred. That’s it. Easy there.”
He obeyed again.
If he focused in her eyes, it was easier not to succumb.
“Veta.” he breathed out, shakily.
“I’m here. I’m here, Lieutenant, please, just…” she bit her lip and scrounged up her nose.
Was she sad? Why?
“Did you get him?” he mumbled, his gaze still locked to hers.
“We got him.” she nodded, those trembling fingers caressed his ear softly. “Don’t speak.”
Fred swallowed again, wincing.
“I’m sorry I didn’t…”
“Don’t speak. Your chestpiece is bent inwards, compressing your heart and lungs. You could be bleeding internally, we can’t run a scan right now, please… please, just stay quiet, stay awake.” she cut him off. “Try to breathe slow.”
Veta bent over and pressed her forehead to his, her whole body trembled.
Fred froze, eyes wide open staring to the Pelican’s ceiling. His body began to ache.
“You had to get me out of the way, didn’t you?” she sighed, he could barely hear. “That was the single stupidest thing I’ve ever saw. I was planning to roll into the ravine, Fred. I was going to be fine.”
“You’re okay. I’m okay.”
Lopis huffed a choked laughter. Her fingers shifted, she was touching his cheeks now.
“Of course you are.” she growled, angry. “Spartans never die.”
“Veta…”
“Stop talking. Just… stop talking, please.”
He did as she said; the Inspector was already very upset.
#4. COMING BACK AROUND
(set a few days after entry #3)
It wasn’t difficult to breathe anymore, that was the first thing he noticed.
Coming back from the drug-induced haze, Fred-104 opened his eyes again to find a set of bright white walls and a deafening silence, only broken by soft bleeps. Hospital room, check. He felt fine, drowsy but mostly fine. In one piece. In silence, the Lieutenant counted to ten and then backwards, he listed the capital cities of Reach and recited a short song. His memory was okay, as far as he could tell.
A few flashes of the moments prior to losing consciousness played the images on the back of his mind. Atriox, the hammer. Roaring engines, stiffness and Lopis’ frightened eyes.
‘…your chestpiece is bent inwards, compressing your heart and lungs. You could be bleeding internally…’
The wound had been to his chest, not his head.
Right, maybe that’s why he had a tube shoved into his mouth, oxygen probably. Fred moved his fingers, they responded. Moved his toes and they responded too, at least he could feel them. Now, if he could only see them move…
When he managed to tilt his head a little, he stumbled upon her.
Lopis.
She seemed to be sound asleep, with her head resting on the curve of her arm propped on the edge of his bed. She was sitting on a flimsy chair, her lean body stretched in what seemed like an uncomfortable pose; the t-shirt didn’t get to cover the small of her back and he caught a glimpse of skin and the waistband of her fatigues. A jacket rested on the chair’s backrest.
She looked peaceful, her thick dark eyebrows weren’t scowling and the curve of her full lips was soft and content. The storm finally calm and collected. Unscathed, save for a few stitches on her forehead and shadows under her closed eyes.
But she seemed to be okay. It was good.
A smirk pulled from his lips, past the oxygen tube.
His own hand was just a few centimeters away from her curled fingers that clutched the blue sheet. He dared, and he did it: with barely the tip of his middle finger, Fred touched her knuckles and relished for a minute in the warmth of her skin.
Only if it were to check how real that sight truly was.
She took a sharp breath and opened her eyes, a little bit confused.
To find him staring down at her.
“You’re awake.” she observed; Lopis sprang to her chair by pushing her weight back with her hands. The next words were a relieved sigh: “Oh, you’re awake.”
Fred tried to speak, his throat was dry and sore. After a few attempts, nothing coherent but a couple of sounds made it out. The tube was also pestering. He pulled the silicone hose out under the Inspector’s protesting look, then decided that it could stay a bit as long as it didn’t bother his speech.
“How did we do?”
Of course he had to ask about the mission. Lopis grimaced.
“All according to Baby Dragon’s expectations.”
“And the Gammas?”
“They’re fine. Probably sleeping too, Kelly and Linda helped to keep them away from here.”
He groaned in approval. But didn’t stop studying her.
“So, what’s with the vigil?”
She hesitated, perhaps considering what to say.
“You were taking… too long to come back.” Veta explained, rubbing her tired eyes. “There were talks about a small embolism. Figured I might as well make sure.”
Lack of oxygen could do that.
Fred pulled the tube back into his mouth a bit more. Just to relieve her.
“How am I doing now?”
“Broken sternum replaced with a titanium prosthesis. All of your ribs were cracked, fixed with screws. You were lucky it didn’t puncture your lungs or your heart.” she commented, not very amused. “Apparently, now you have as much metal inside you as you wear outside.”
“Cool.” he smiled.
Lopis scowled slightly.
“Cool, huh?” she said, low and threatening.
The smile died instantly on the Lieutenant’s lips and something ancient crawled under his skin, commanding him to make himself small and invisible. The Inspector was angry. It didn’t show much on her face, but he could feel it. It irradiated from her and Fred was overly aware of it, every sense connected to her by almost painful tetherings.
It was fury and sadness combined, a scorching anguish. A disarming combination.
She pulled the chair closer, fixing him with that look.
“You could've died.” she said, simply, staring into his eyes. “You could've died.”
He didn’t know what to reply, or if he should reply.
A few seconds ticked by in overwhelming silence, until…
“Look, Fred, I know you're ready to sacrifice yourself.” Veta continued. Something gleamed in her eyes; she blinked fast a couple of times, clearly upset. “But I'm not.”
Those last words were only a husky whisper.
It took him a few seconds, but Fred understood that she didn't mean she wasn't ready to die herself. That much was clear. He bit the inside of his cheek, troubled.
By impulse, the Spartan grabbed her hand, clutching it tight inside his much larger fist.
“We did it.” he whispered, fighting against the tube installed in his mouth. “You’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
#5. AFTERMATH (alternative 1)
(set after “Sugarsweet” by author Volantis. Essential to understand the following snippet)
It continued to rain the whole night and well into the early hours of the morning.
Fred was usually a light sleeper, but he had let go beyond comprehension and just dozed off in the backseat of the car, with his back against the locked door, for longer than he had originally intended. And even if there was something hard perpetually poking the small of his back and if the posture wasn’t the most comfortable, he wouldn’t move.
He would endure, because when would they get another chance like this?
It was easy to understand: huddled on his lap, there was a petite woman.
Dark-haired and fair skinned, with a perky nose and full lips. Her thick eyebrows had such a personality, almost as charming as herself. She was pretty (beautiful) both in conventional and unconventional ways. Quite small compared to him, but just about the perfect size to hold. Veta hugged his waist with one arm, clutching the front of his shirt with the other, her sleeping face tucked under his jaw. He held her close, one arm wrapped around her shoulders, the other hand resting comfortably on her bent knees. And it felt so right, so damn good, that he couldn’t even be bothered by their soaked clothes or the chilly environment.
They were close and warm, relaxed, together. At last.
At some point Veta had kicked off her shoes. He followed.
It was a consensus, by that time, that they wouldn’t be going back to base soon. Or back to the bar, for that matter. Kelly and Linda would have to find their own ride, and Fred didn’t doubt that they had it all figured out already.
This had been their doing, he suspected.
He couldn’t be any more grateful.
When was the last time that he got carried away like this? Fred couldn’t remember.
It was, perhaps, the most intimate he’d ever been with anyone. He shared a deep intimacy with his siblings, true, but this was quite different in so many, many ways. He hadn’t kissed his siblings or confessed the things he had told to Veta last night. His pulse didn’t quicken when he saw his siblings, his face didn’t flush. They engaged him both intellectually and physically, but they didn’t ensnare him like the little Inspector did. He was powerless to resist her, since day one when she came straight up to him and accused him of murder.
Veta Lopis was mysterious and clever, exciting and intriguing.
He was crazy about her, the Lieutenant knew there was no more point in denying it.
The first pink light of dawn caught them asleep on that backseat, painting for the outsiders a perfect picture of the perfect couple. The Spartan was the first to come around and open his eyes, it took him a few seconds to realize where he was and what was going on. The strange, meager weight on his lap felt hot and unusual, as did the breath against his throat and the slim fingers tucked under his shirt, still in contact with the skin of his waist without barriers.
He wasn’t used to be touched like this. To be held like this.
To be loved like this.
A whole lot of things had happened between them in the past few months (years) and it all had come down to this: a moment, almost ruined by inexperience but turned wonderful. Special. Unique. Incredible. His lips still burned with the feel of her kisses. His body still ached in that instinctive way he didn’t know how to take advantage of. Not properly, at least. But neither him nor Veta let the awkwardness of the circumstances break apart the moment for both, they didn’t ruin it going after something they didn’t really know if they wanted, yet.
There was… a lingering ember, yes. There was something hot in there. Between them.
The key was to not let it burn down the house, but keep it warm and cozy.
For now, Fred would trust her with that responsibility, since he was the one lacking the skill.
But it felt so good to wake up and feel her there.
It was amazing to smell her. Touch her. Hold her.
Veta didn’t want to leave, he didn’t want to let her go either.
So, they stayed, and they chatted for hours on end refuged in the half-dark, lulled by the rain hitting the roof of the car and their hushed voices. Some very intimate secrets were shared. Lopis asked if he remembered his parents or something about his life before the conscription, to which he replied with complete honesty: he couldn’t say much, but not because of orders. It had been over forty years back. It was only natural that he had forgotten most of his real identity. Instead, and maybe trying to drive her away from that subject, Fred asked about the scars on her wrists and ankles, scars that he had seen once when they were getting ready to enter cryosleep. The answer almost made him regret the question, but he listened in silence and showed his support by holding her tighter, pressing his lips to her forehead while she spoke.
Veta told him about her teenage years, about the cellar and the man.
About the weeks in darkness, alone and restrained. About her escape. About her father’s death. About the promise she made to herself.
A lot of things about Lopis made sense, then and there. She didn’t have to give him details. Spartans knew very well the things humans did to other humans.
How much worse than the wretched Covenant they could be.
The Inspector unraveled her soul to him, the Lieutenant did as much as he could to repay the courtesy. Eventually, in that soft back and forth of secrets, wishes and hopes, Veta fell asleep. For some reason, it made Fred’s heart swell and thump heavily in his chest, that she had chosen to trust him so deeply, so blindly, as to lower her guard completely to him.
It was a treasure he would keep with his life.
A moment so perfect…
Perhaps as good as her kisses. He blushed a little thinking about it.
Fred let her sleep well past five-thirty, even if the parking lot had been deserted for a long while now. They had time. They didn’t have to be anywhere until the afternoon. The paperwork would still be there, waiting, when they returned. Kelly would handle the Gammas. Linda would entertain Baby Dragon and ping him if something was wrong.
So, he broke protocol a little bit more. He stared at her sleeping features, even dared to trace the shape of her beautiful lips in the air, hovering just at the right distance. He debated whether to wake her up with a kiss or just shake her slightly, and it felt so strange, out of place and yet so exciting. He was dying to kiss her again, Fred realized. He didn’t know if it was okay to do it when she couldn’t say if she wanted it or not, so he preferred to wait. He figured Veta would’ve liked it better if he asked first.
He was bursting with curiosity and fascination.
Well, the poor thing was caught under her spell, who could blame him?
They had time. Maybe limited, but it would be well-spent in the benefit of both.
Fred would make sure of that.
TO BE CONTINUED IN FOLLOWING CHAPTERS
DEDICATED TO: You, who are reading this. And to Volantis for the inspiration and the support, her fic is EVERYTHING. Unf. Such a lovely piece. All of her Freta pieces are lovely, GO READ THEM ALL! RUN, YOU FOOLS!
Alright, guys, I hope you liked this experiment! Please leave your reactions in the box below, I would be delighted to know what you think :3